KrazyKuch's & Michika's 180Gal Tank Build

michika · #1 09-14-2008, 03:54 AM

I hit up RC today, and amazingly avoided coming home with more clams! I did come home with 3 SPS colonies, and ReVive coral dip to try out. I've been waiting for this product for a long time, and to have Kevin at RC bring it in for me is fantastic!

So as I was dipping the new colonies in ReVive I came to understand the reasoning for the "this is not a cleaning product" disclaimer on the package. It smells so strong! I'd forgotten how harsh some of the traditional cleaning products smelt!

Tonight we have some polyp extension, but not a lot. All these colonies had considerably better extension at the store. I am not sure how I feel about ReVive over TMPCC as my usual incoming dip of choice. The recovery time from the dip to have full polyp extension seems less with TMPCC, but who knows, this is only the first time I've used the product. The trade off between the two products though is that ReVive has some AEFW potential, and I think as a preventative its worth it. AEFWs scare the crap out of me.

Anyways, so I've decided I do not care for the AquaConnect bulb, or whatever the other non-XM bulb I have on the tank is. Colours don't pop, and SPS beneath it just doesn't thrive. Clearly this is not the bulb for me, and I will, after we move, change it out to something else.

Its nice to see my clams are growing. This gigas is now just about 1/4" away from the glass, however when the mantle is extended, it does touch the glass. When you have bigger clams sometimes it hard to see that they really are growing.

This was the Vlamingi just after I had my hand in the tank to place the new colonies.

Lance · #2 09-14-2008, 04:54 AM

Lookin' Good! I really like that coral in the first pic. What is it?

Delphinus · #3 09-14-2008, 05:00 AM

Heh, I miss babysitting that gigas!

michika · #4 09-14-2008, 05:07 AM

Not sure what it is. The other two colonies don't photograph well unfortunately.

The gigas probably misses all the other clam friends it made at your place!

michika · #5 09-14-2008, 02:44 PM

I just wanted to share this thread, Gone Solar. Its an awesome idea and I wish for our big tank something like would be possible.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1457056

michika · #6 09-14-2008, 04:34 PM

So a few reasons why you should keep up with your regular WCs and dosing. Apparently the kalk. reactor has been bypassed for the last week due to a stopped up check valve. I didn't know this until this morning.

Last water change was August 9th, so over a month ago, and it shows. Coupled with the lack of a kalk. reactor, and my numbers are looking pretty abysmal. Ca. 345, dKH 4!, Mg 1275, Nitrate 71, and phosphate 0.11. Water change is being prepped, and I will raise up the levels in the new water instead of just dosing the whole system as usual. Then I can come back and dose the tank. On the plus side my pH is great, and so is my temp!

Polyps are out on some of the new SPS. I also had Kevin rearrange some of the SPS in the tank. Hopefully the orange digitata, which isn't doing so well, will perk up and start to improve. It used to be on the right side of the tank at the bottom. Its counter part, a green digi, was just 3" above it and its doing better.

The sump is going to be completed today, and we've decided to drill the holes for the bulkhead after is assembled rather then wait for a bulkhead to drill it. This will give the silicone 2 weeks to dry, and if the sump doesn't get drilled before we move, then at least we can use it for water storage.

michika · #7 09-15-2008, 02:13 AM

Alright so 9 hours after dosing just a few tablespoons of baking soda to raise my super low dKH I am now seeing the usual crazy polyp extension I am used to seeing when my tank is healthy. I'm sure that getting a few other things adjusted will result in more polyp extension, but for now I can actually see the change that just a little bit of baking soda has made.

This is one of the new colonies, it was the one previously pictured as being dipped.

BlueAbyss · #8 10-17-2008, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michika

I just wanted to share this thread, Gone Solar. Its an awesome idea and I wish for our big tank something like would be possible.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1457056

I read this thoroughly and think it to be a wonderful idea as a retrofit in a home! Natural sunlight has GOT to be the way to go... sunlight is free (unless you have to install sunpipes to get it) if unpredictable, you can't replace a good set of lights.

This is, of course, assuming that at that time I will be living somewhere that has some sunshine in winter. Not sure that something like this would work on the coast where it tends to be cloudy and/or rainy and/or foggy.

And since this is a REALLY old thread your tank is awesome and I hope one day to be able to have the success that you guys have had. Your tank is beautiful and an inspiration to people like myself who are just starting out in this hobby

BlueAbyss · #9 10-17-2008, 09:22 PM

Hey, just a thought, but could some of your fish deaths have been caused by parasites or some sort of internal worm or something?

michika · #10 10-17-2008, 09:24 PM

Awe! Thank you.

Things should be well underway to getting back this weekend. I keep promising to do a photodump of some of the disaster, but I keep forgetting.

I'm also going to be making food tonight & tomorrow, so I'll have some photos of that process to share as well.