50b Sumpless Mixed Reef Build! - Page 10

BigJohnny · 09/02/2015, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Isaacs55

Oh man lol well they got me lol. I think what did the trick then was a coraline smoothy I made with a couple coraline rocks lol

Haha nice, I need me some of that. The purple tech definitely helps but certainly other ways to do it. I'm jelly, need that purp son.

Isaacs55 · 09/02/2015, 09:07 PM

Haha u can never go wrong with some purp lol I used an old whole saw and scraped all the top layer of coraline off from a 5 lb rock I bought, for the purpose of doing that, in a bowl and poured that over my powerhead. That's what I'm guessing worked the most.

BigJohnny · 09/02/2015, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Isaacs55

Haha u can never go wrong with some purp lol I used an old whole saw and scraped all the top layer of coraline off from a 5 lb rock I bought, for the purpose of doing that, in a bowl and poured that over my powerhead. That's what I'm guessing worked the most.

Amen, where'd you get that purp rock homie?

Isaacs55 · 09/02/2015, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigJohnny

Amen, where'd you get that purp rock homie?

My LFS has nice deep dark purple coraline rock. It's about the only good thing from my LFS though haha

BigJohnny · 09/03/2015, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Isaacs55

My LFS has nice deep dark purple coraline rock. It's about the only good thing from my LFS though haha

Haha nice, yea there are 4 lfs in my area (1 worth going to). 1 is absurdly overpriced, 1 barely has a saltwater section, 1 is so old and gross, and the newest one is my go to. It specializes in corals and has pretty solid prices (varies depending on the coral). I would never buy live rock from any of them though haha. None of the ones they are selling have coralline anyway.

I would always order from vivid but it ends up being more expensive unless I order $225 worth and get free shipping (which is what I did last time). If I only want one or two frags my lfs is the way to go, I just have to make sure I clean em up good:

- remove existing frag plug
- dip aggressively
- scrub with a toothbrush
- dip in peroxide if necessary to remove nuisance algae.

The last 2 frags I bought from them (the teal purple chalice and the ethereal monti undata were very clean though).

Hopefully I have enough coralline on my frags to get it going soon. I'm growing tired of the diatom/white rock combo.

BigJohnny · 09/04/2015, 03:30 PM

Driving back from MACNA right now, oh boy was that awesome. 1000s and 1000s of frags, everything you can imagine. Let's just say I set a budget and ended up exceeding it by $85. I'll post pics later tonight once I've got everything in a tank

Happyschneider · 09/04/2015, 10:56 PM

I wish we had something like MACNA over here. Really jealous!

BigJohnny · 09/04/2015, 11:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happyschneider

I wish we had something like MACNA over here. Really jealous!

It was my first time, holy smokes was it awesome. I got lost like 5 times. I couldn't find the places that were holding my frags that I bought because there were so damn many vendors! Seeing all the upcoming equipment was very cool as well, not to mention all the display tanks.

If you ever have to come to the states, I strongly recommend timing it so you can go to next years. Quite the experience if your a reefer.

BigJohnny · 09/04/2015, 11:33 PM

Ok, here is what I came back with

:

Unknown Orange Zoas

Rainbow 7-Up Acan

Mystic Sunset Montipora

Reverse Sunset Montipora

Violet Orange Montipora

Fruity Pebbles Montipora

Montipora Group Shot

Blue Green Tenuis Acropora (first acro in the tank!)

Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseris

Apologies for the cell phone pics. Your just gonna have to trust me because they don't even come close to doing these corals' colors/fluorescence justice. They are absolutely stunning.

Isaacs55 · 09/04/2015, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigJohnny

Ok, here is what I came back with

:

Unknown Orange Zoas

Rainbow 7-Up Acan

Mystic Sunset Montipora

Reverse Sunset Montipora

Violet Orange Montipora

Fruity Pebbles Montipora

Montipora Group Shot

Blue Green Tenuis Acropora (first acro in the tank!)

Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseris

Apologies for the cell phone pics. Your just gonna have to trust me because they don't even come close to doing these corals' colors/fluorescence justice. They are absolutely stunning.

I'm sooooooo jealous! That reverse sunset is sexy! Putting that one on my list lol all your montis are sexy though. Dang great stuff so far! I'm waiting for my parameters to stable and then it's on with buying corals lol

BigJohnny · 09/05/2015, 12:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Isaacs55

I'm sooooooo jealous! That reverse sunset is sexy! Putting that one on my list lol all your montis are sexy though. Dang great stuff so far! I'm waiting for my parameters to stable and then it's on with buying corals lol

Haha thanks bud, I'm a montipora addict so to come home with 4 cool ones was awesome. Had to get an acro though because you can't have a tank with just encrusting montis, it'd be too flat!

How's your tank coming along, are you still cycling?

BigJohnny · 09/05/2015, 12:41 PM

Some fresh pics of the rainbow 7-Up acan, the 7-up comes from the lemon lime colored center.

Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseris in full lighting

Montis in full light:

Some other pics

BigJohnny · 09/05/2015, 12:49 PM

Ignore the ugly drip acclimation tube hanging on the left side of the tank. I plan on switching over some of my frags from qt soon so I left it submerged to avoid mildew and having to prime it again.

Das awesome · 09/05/2015, 01:43 PM

So jealous of those corals man! I wish I could get some but neglected my tank too long so everything's off. Gotta fix all that up first then I can start adding corals again. Keep up the good work!

Swope2bc · 09/05/2015, 02:03 PM

Looking amazing!!! I can't wait to see those things in a year or so!

BigJohnny · 09/05/2015, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Das awesome

So jealous of those corals man! I wish I could get some but neglected my tank too long so everything's off. Gotta fix all that up first then I can start adding corals again. Keep up the good work!

Thanks man, I'm really happy with what I've got in the tank right now. Over time I will be adding some more acros but plan on waiting a bit. Right now I have 17 frags in the tank and 4 in qt so once I add a few more acros and everything grows out it will be quite full in this 50g.

Once these all start growing out a bit, I will be at the point where the weekly drop in Alkalinity/Calcium is too large to be stable enough for my/the corals liking, nor easily replenished by weekly water changes. My plan is to go with kalkwasser initially and then supplement with 2 part once everything really takes off and the kalkwasser is no longer sufficient.

The good news for you is that once you get everything straightened out in your tank again, it will be a lot easier to keep it there than it was to get it back!

Keep in touch and when the time comes where I can frag, I will hook you up with frags of those same corals if you want!

BigJohnny · 09/05/2015, 02:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swope2bc

Looking amazing!!! I can't wait to see those things in a year or so!

Thanks! I can't wait either! Still trying to figure out where I want to put everything but luckily have some time since I'll be light acclimating everything for a while.

Isaacs55 · 09/05/2015, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigJohnny

Haha thanks bud, I'm a montipora addict so to come home with 4 cool ones was awesome. Had to get an acro though because you can't have a tank with just encrusting montis, it'd be too flat!

How's your tank coming along, are you still cycling?

Good man! Nope cycle has been complete since the 4th day of setup! My wife actually came home the other day with a 1.5" blue hippo tang! I was devastated! Nice gesture but it was my fault for not telling her what fish we cant have in our aquarium. Lfs wouldnt take it back! I was going to sell it but I'm holding off and going to let it stay for a while till I feel it's too big for the tank, like 4" or so and then I'll trade or sell it.
FTS

Das awesome · 09/05/2015, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigJohnny

Thanks man, I'm really happy with what I've got in the tank right now. Over time I will be adding some more acros but plan on waiting a bit. Right now I have 17 frags in the tank and 4 in qt so once I add a few more acros and everything grows out it will be quite full in this 50g.

Once these all start growing out a bit, I will be at the point where the weekly drop in Alkalinity/Calcium is too large to be stable enough for my/the corals liking, nor easily replenished by weekly water changes. My plan is to go with kalkwasser initially and then supplement with 2 part once everything really takes off and the kalkwasser is no longer sufficient.

The good news for you is that once you get everything straightened out in your tank again, it will be a lot easier to keep it there than it was to get it back!

Keep in touch and when the time comes where I can frag, I will hook you up with frags of those same corals if you want!

Hahaha yes!!! I definitely will! I've mainly got my eye on that leptoseris and encrusting monti's!!! When do you plan on placing everything on the rocks?

BigJohnny · 09/06/2015, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Isaacs55

Good man! Nope cycle has been complete since the 4th day of setup! My wife actually came home the other day with a 1.5" blue hippo tang! I was devastated! Nice gesture but it was my fault for not telling her what fish we cant have in our aquarium. Lfs wouldnt take it back! I was going to sell it but I'm holding off and going to let it stay for a while till I feel it's too big for the tank, like 4" or so and then I'll trade or sell it.
FTS

Aw man! Even a baby one needs more space than a 40b brotha. Obviously better than having an adult in there but it will be stressed regardless.

That's bogus that your lfs wouldn't take it back! Not even for half price or something?

Your best bet then is to put up a help rescue add on your local reef clubs forum and on here with your area in the title. Someone will be willing to help you out!

Your scape looks tight btw.

BigJohnny · 09/06/2015, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Das awesome

Hahaha yes!!! I definitely will! I've mainly got my eye on that leptoseris and encrusting monti's!!! When do you plan on placing everything on the rocks?

The Jack-O-Lantern lepto is so crazy in person, won of the most beautiful complex corals I've ever seen. Obviously the montis are sick as well. My cell phone pics don't do them justice, at all.

I will finish light acclimation in the next 2 weeks, at which point I will put everything in trial locations and observe for another week or 2 to see if they respond well. If I have no issues, I will glue/epoxy em down!

I can't wait to see all the colors of my montis completely covering the rocks. Then acros sticking out on the tops. Acans and chalice down low. It's going to look like a double rainbow tropical cornucopia of goodness.

I'm thinking about putting the lepto on the island rock in the center so that it encrusts and actually looks like a jack o lantern.

BigJohnny · 09/06/2015, 01:06 AM

Correction, the "reverse sunset montipora" is actually "rainbow sunburst montipora" so much cooler.

A reverse sunset is green with orange polyps:

Rainbow sunburst is actually green/teal/ purple with orange polyps:

Here's mine now, you can clearly see teal and purple in the base-

And here are some big specimens-

Epic. I thought it was rainbow sunburst when I bought it but dude was convinced it was reverse sunset. All I knew was it looked tight and had atleast 3 colors so I said eh, why not. Glad I did. It was only $25!!! Gotta love MACNA!

BigJohnny · 09/10/2015, 09:17 AM

Ok so now I don't think its a rainbow sunburst monti because those are rare and have different coloration even as frags. I did find a reverse sunset morph with similar coloration to my frag

My frag:

Reverse Sunset Morph pics:

That is the closest match overall to my frag. I'll just have to see what it looks like when it grows out! A lot of multicolored montis don't show all their colors unless they are on uneven surfaces.

On a side note, I was able to acquire a legit UWW Rainbow Sunburst Monti frag! Yesssss! Definitely different than what I have now so well see how they compare in a few months. Rare and expensive so be nice to me and I'll sell you a frag down the road

Frag:

Colony:

Also bought 2 new zoas

Pinwheels

Random Aussie Zoas

Happyschneider · 09/10/2015, 11:34 AM

Those really pop with colours. Very jealous!

Swope2bc · 09/10/2015, 02:49 PM

Looking amazing!!! I just picked up a couple more for me too!! Pics on my thread later tonight or tomorrow.

09/02/2015, 09:07 PM	#227
Isaacs55 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Riverbank CA Posts: 906	Haha u can never go wrong with some purp lol I used an old whole saw and scraped all the top layer of coraline off from a 5 lb rock I bought, for the purpose of doing that, in a bowl and poured that over my powerhead. That's what I'm guessing worked the most. __________________ Isaac T "It doesnt hurt to Read...Read...and Read some more" "You dont know where you're going, until you know where you've been" New Tank Build: 40 gallon mixed Reef Current Tank Info: 40 gallon mixed Reef, Mars Aqua LED

09/04/2015, 10:56 PM	#232
Happyschneider Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Basel, Switzerland Posts: 350	I wish we had something like MACNA over here. Really jealous! __________________ My build thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2517452 180 liter, sumpless reef, no skimmer for the moment. Current Tank Info: Juwel VISION 180, currently only invertebrates, planning to have low bioload as I have no skimmer and no refugium for the moment.

09/04/2015, 11:33 PM	#234
BigJohnny Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Richmond, VA Posts: 1,642	Ok, here is what I came back with : Unknown Orange Zoas Rainbow 7-Up Acan Mystic Sunset Montipora Reverse Sunset Montipora Violet Orange Montipora Fruity Pebbles Montipora Montipora Group Shot Blue Green Tenuis Acropora (first acro in the tank!) Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseris Apologies for the cell phone pics. Your just gonna have to trust me because they don't even come close to doing these corals' colors/fluorescence justice. They are absolutely stunning. Last edited by BigJohnny; 09/04/2015 at 11:41 PM.

09/05/2015, 12:41 PM	#237
BigJohnny Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Richmond, VA Posts: 1,642	Some fresh pics of the rainbow 7-Up acan, the 7-up comes from the lemon lime colored center. Jack-O-Lantern Leptoseris in full lighting Montis in full light: Some other pics Last edited by BigJohnny; 09/05/2015 at 12:49 PM.

09/05/2015, 12:49 PM	#238
BigJohnny Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Richmond, VA Posts: 1,642	Ignore the ugly drip acclimation tube hanging on the left side of the tank. I plan on switching over some of my frags from qt soon so I left it submerged to avoid mildew and having to prime it again. Last edited by BigJohnny; 09/05/2015 at 01:39 PM.

09/04/2015, 03:30 PM	#231
BigJohnny Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Richmond, VA Posts: 1,642	Driving back from MACNA right now, oh boy was that awesome. 1000s and 1000s of frags, everything you can imagine. Let's just say I set a budget and ended up exceeding it by $85. I'll post pics later tonight once I've got everything in a tank

09/05/2015, 01:43 PM	#239
Das awesome Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 322	So jealous of those corals man! I wish I could get some but neglected my tank too long so everything's off. Gotta fix all that up first then I can start adding corals again. Keep up the good work!

09/05/2015, 02:03 PM	#240
Swope2bc Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: BC, Canada Posts: 1,066	Looking amazing!!! I can't wait to see those things in a year or so!

09/06/2015, 01:06 AM	#247
BigJohnny Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Richmond, VA Posts: 1,642	Correction, the "reverse sunset montipora" is actually "rainbow sunburst montipora" so much cooler. A reverse sunset is green with orange polyps: Rainbow sunburst is actually green/teal/ purple with orange polyps: Here's mine now, you can clearly see teal and purple in the base- And here are some big specimens- Epic. I thought it was rainbow sunburst when I bought it but dude was convinced it was reverse sunset. All I knew was it looked tight and had atleast 3 colors so I said eh, why not. Glad I did. It was only $25!!! Gotta love MACNA!

09/10/2015, 09:17 AM	#248
BigJohnny Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Richmond, VA Posts: 1,642	Ok so now I don't think its a rainbow sunburst monti because those are rare and have different coloration even as frags. I did find a reverse sunset morph with similar coloration to my frag My frag: Reverse Sunset Morph pics: That is the closest match overall to my frag. I'll just have to see what it looks like when it grows out! A lot of multicolored montis don't show all their colors unless they are on uneven surfaces. On a side note, I was able to acquire a legit UWW Rainbow Sunburst Monti frag! Yesssss! Definitely different than what I have now so well see how they compare in a few months. Rare and expensive so be nice to me and I'll sell you a frag down the road Frag: Colony: Also bought 2 new zoas Pinwheels Random Aussie Zoas Last edited by BigJohnny; 09/10/2015 at 09:26 AM.

09/10/2015, 11:34 AM	#249
Happyschneider Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: Basel, Switzerland Posts: 350	Those really pop with colours. Very jealous! __________________ My build thread: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2517452 180 liter, sumpless reef, no skimmer for the moment. Current Tank Info: Juwel VISION 180, currently only invertebrates, planning to have low bioload as I have no skimmer and no refugium for the moment.

09/10/2015, 02:49 PM	#250
Swope2bc Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: BC, Canada Posts: 1,066	Looking amazing!!! I just picked up a couple more for me too!! Pics on my thread later tonight or tomorrow.