Dorado's 3'x3' Cube

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#81
that asd tort is really nice. always love me some nice blue acros

idk what phone you have, but honestly some of my best pics seem to come from no filter on, take the pics during a whiter period of light, then just crank the warmth up to max and tinker with a few other settings and it looks decent enough. kinda fails to pick up reds well, but whatever
 

Dorado

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#82
tank looks great, growing super well. I like that shot with the channel, torches and sps overhead.
Thanks, I call that channel "torch valley." It's the only place in the tank that the torches seem to like, nice calm current with not too much light.
 

Dorado

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#84
Loving the top down shot. It is really filling out.
Yes things are definitely filling out which is creating the next problem that I need to solve. Some of my colonies are really starting to create some dead zones and choke out other colonies. I'm thinking about trying the octo pulse 2, but then I would have three different brands of powerheads; (2) tunze 6055, (1) MP40 and (1) icecap 4k gyre.
 

Dorado

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#85
that asd tort is really nice. always love me some nice blue acros

idk what phone you have, but honestly some of my best pics seem to come from no filter on, take the pics during a whiter period of light, then just crank the warmth up to max and tinker with a few other settings and it looks decent enough. kinda fails to pick up reds well, but whatever
Thanks, that tort looks a lot nicer in person, it'll be large enough to frag soon enough. I have an iphone, but my problem only seems to happen once I'm trying to shoot something >18-24" back in the tank. I've tried apps and filters but they don't make a difference once I reach that distance.
 
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#86
Thanks, that tort looks a lot nicer in person, it'll be large enough to frag soon enough. I have an iphone, but my problem only seems to happen once I'm trying to shoot something >18-24" back in the tank. I've tried apps and filters but they don't make a difference once I reach that distance.
ah yeah, same issue for me. i mostly can't take great pics of anything in the back half of the tank. seems like zooming anything more than 3x just comes out doodoo lol
 

Zoaspun

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#90
Nice tank!!! how much did the tank itself come out to be , planning to get a tank similar and am trying to decide between custom made and the IM ext 112 .
 

Dorado

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#91
Tank, stand and canopy out the door and delivered were $4200, but CDA had a nice promotion at the time. Tank by itself was $2400 before discount.
 

Dorado

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#94
I recently made a few changes in the tank and got rid of a few large sps colonies including the aussie gold, rainbow granulosa, green birdsnest and RR prometheus. I've filled those gaps with frags of orange passion, cherry bomb, and various millis. One thing I didn't take into account was how much alk and calcium those colonies were sucking up. I quickly found that my alk/cal levels had risen quite a bit because of it and had to make some adjustments.

I'm also thinking about getting rid of the large zoa rock pictured below to make room for a clam bed. My only concern is that getting rid that many mouths at once could disrupt my tanks nutrient uptake causing a spike. I know that zoas suck up some nutrients, I'm just not sure how much. Anyone have any idea?
IMG_4486.JPG


I also added 6 new fish;
-3 more lyretail anthias for a total of 8. I was a little worried about adding more anthias to an existing school, but they were integrated with very little squabbling. I love anthias, they bring so much life and color to the tank.
-2 springeri damselfish. These guys are really pretty, I'm surprised that i haven't seen them in more tanks. They like to hang out in between the staghorn branches. Reminds me of pictures you see of reefs with fish living in the shelter of coral
IMG_4469.JPG

-1 Lubbocki fairy wrasse. This guy is a real beauty, but I have rarely seen him in the last week. He hides in my zoas most of the day, coming out only to feed. Hopefully he gets more comfortable soon.
IMG_4474.JPG

While I was scraping coraline off of the overflow in the back, I had a rare vantage point of the tank and thought it would make a nice picture. If only I could find a way to get rid of the light reflection
IMG_4442.JPG

My next goal is to get my tank in a position to run itself for at least two weeks. I'm going on vacation in a couple of months, and while i'll have a house sitter, I want the tank to be pretty automated. The biggest thing will be integrating a kalk stirrer instead of just dosing out of a bucket that I mix every week. I have the Avast K2 on its way, we'll see how that goes. I also plan on putting a ring camera inside the stand and on the side of the tank so I can monitor things occasionally when I'm gone.
 
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#95
looks great dude

yeah i don't get it either, the chrysiptera damsels aren't really too bad at all and are beautiful little fish. and totally agree on anthias, i miss my little school of sunsets
 

drexel

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#96
Looking good! Yeah, no matter how I adjust my reactor after removing large colonies/pieces, alk always rises. I usually let it fall over the course of a week or two. Gradual rises and falls are never an issue, it’s those short roller coaster events that do more damage and I think nutrients are far more damaging than alk. At least that’s been my experience. I wouldn’t worry about nutrients rising too much, it’s the other direction that fires the damage. What clams are you thinking about adding?


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Smite

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#97
Your tank is looking awesome, Brian. Lubbocks is a highly underrated fish as well IMO. Best bang for your buck as far as adding color to the tank in the wrasse family.

You've got a great mix of color and growth in that top down shot. Very nice
 
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#98
Looks great man everything has really grown in nice. Totally agree on the damsels. I avoided them for a long time because of their wrap and I’m sure other hobbyists do the same.

But man are they beautiful and watching them dart in and out of the reef is so entertaining.

I don’t think pulling those zoa colonies will “make or break” your nutrients.
 

Dorado

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#99
looks great dude

yeah i don't get it either, the chrysiptera damsels aren't really too bad at all and are beautiful little fish. and totally agree on anthias, i miss my little school of sunsets
Thanks Matt, sunsets are nice, did they not get along? I really wanted to get a few bimacs but I was worried about what would happen with multiple anthias species.
 

Dorado

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Looking good! Yeah, no matter how I adjust my reactor after removing large colonies/pieces, alk always rises. I usually let it fall over the course of a week or two. Gradual rises and falls are never an issue, it’s those short roller coaster events that do more damage and I think nutrients are far more damaging than alk. At least that’s been my experience. I wouldn’t worry about nutrients rising too much, it’s the other direction that fires the damage. What clams are you thinking about adding?


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Thank you! Yeah I'll just watch and wait on the alk. I usually keep it around 7.8-8 but it shot up to around 9.5 after getting rid of those colonies. The growth tips have subsided on my other sticks, but other than that everything seems ok.

Yes, nutrients have been a challenge to keep up, it's a large part of the reason that I got some more fish. I guess it was more of a curiosity than a worry of whether or not removing the zoas would have much effect on nutrient levels.

I'd like to get a squamosa and a maxima, but I've had a hard time finding any. Clam Mania had a few tiny maximas at CFM, but it didn't seem like John was interested in making a sale.
 
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