Juice’s 54 Gallon Build

[jgking21]

So it's been about 11 months now and I figured I'd hoop back on. I had to stay away for a bit, seeing everyone's tanks made me really want to work on mine. I got married over the summer so now my money doesn't have to be dumped into the wedding any more!
Update: Over this period I lost the Spotted Hawk and the Mimic Tang. I now have 2 clowns and a cleaner shrimp and all have been doing great for some time now. Frags went south, but the Brains and Mushrooms have been doing great. I decided to let the tank just sit for awhile before doing anything, the time has now come to start on it again. I've had a huge bubble algae break out, so I'm working on that now. Hoping to get an Emerald Crab soon! Did get one frag last weekend and hoping to get another this weekend. Doing a 5 gallon water change when the light comes on and will hopefully get a picture up later today.

 

[jgking21]

 

[jgking21]

A few more pics, I love pics!

Meet Bam, in the tank for 3 hours and right to work!

A few zoas I got over the weekend:

 

[TylerHaworth]

Need.... Updates!

 

[jgking21]

Been a while so I thought I'd get moving again.
Haven't lost anything in a while! Bubble algea is getting under control thanks to Bam (Emerald Crab).
He had it almost completely gone, but we've had a small outbreak since.
Bought 2 stoney's last night from Mainstream Aquatics, I'll have pictures later.
Did my first test since Oct.:
Nitrates - 0
pH - 8.2
Calc. 460
KH - 8
And will get in another 5 gallon water change tomorrow.
Pics galour to come later, when the light comes on.

 

[jgking21]

So here are some pics:

First the watermelon zoas I got a few months back. They are actually growing!

New Frags:

FTS: without flash, then with flash

 

[Nowellsy SNR]

Great additions

 

[jgking21]

A little video at feeding time:

 

[johnkd24]

I had to register to tell you this tank looks awsome. The corner bowfront looks great. This has inspired be to want to start up a second tank.

 

[jgking21]

Thank you for the kind words! I hope you do get to start up another tank, I want to myself!

 

[TylerHaworth]

Glad to see you're still around buddy! Is that an ORA Red Planet frag? How's it doing?

 

[jgking21]

Yep, it's an ORA Red Planet. I hate the plugs so I fragged the frag and both are doing great. The frag on the plug has healed and I'm hoping it will grow more on my diy frag rack so I can frag it again! I've also got an ORA Plum Crazy I'm doing the same thing with. My tank is finally starting to take off, I'm super happy with it now.

 

[TylerHaworth]

Awesome dude, glad it's all come together... When things are going well it makes all of the work worth it!

 

[jgking21]

Well this shall be interesting. I broke a baffle the other day when cleaning the skimmer. So I went to Lowes and got a new piece of glass. I just emptied the sump, luckily all I had was some live rock, a few snails and an emerald crag who's been nipping at my sps's, and put it all in a 5 gallon bucket. This way I still have a "sump" running. I was able to get the tank cleaned up and it's drying now. I'll put the new baffle in later today and then put the tank back together tomorrow. I'm expecting some type of mini-cycle from the die off of the coraline in the sump, I tried to clean as much as I could but there is alot in the bubble trap area I can't reach. I'm going to run carbon when I get it set back up to hopefully help, the saga continues!

 

[jgking21]

The Baffle change out was very successful, then on to a new problem. My Ballast went out, it wasn't a very good one anyways, but lasted 2 years. So I ordered a new one along with a new fixture to get a larger exposure area. I ordered a Lumatek 250W Dimmable Vallast, M3-LK1221 Premium Aquatics - M3-LK1221 Aquarium Supplies, and a Sunlight Supply LumenMax 3 Pendant, SL-904335 Premium Aquatics - SL-904335 Aquarium Supplies, all from Premium Aquatics. My old fixture only had about a 6" x 7" area where the light came through, this is around 11" x 11" so I'm hoping to see a different in what is shaded and not now. Hoping to have it all on Monday, pics to come when its all installed.

 

[jgking21]

New light is in and hung, I love it!

 

[TylerHaworth]

Looks excellent, everything looks so crisp and clean!

 

[jgking21]

I have a few Red Planet frags if anyone in the Charlotte, NC area would like to make a trade.

Tank as of yesterday, very happy with how things have finally started to move.

 

[PSU4ME]

Really Nice setup Juice.....seems like everyone is happy!

 

[jgking21]

I want to keep this chronicle going as I like to look back and see where I've been. It's been a year and not much happened in that time. The tank ran very smoothly and all the corals were growing. It's been a tough year for my wife and I and I didn't put the time in that a tank needs. I had a massive bubble algea problem and was just getting discouraged. With a baby coming I decided to end the coral and go to a fish tank. I was able to get a very nice new return pump and a few other little things for all the corals at a local shop. I purchased the inserts from Petsmart and am pretty happy with them. I decided to go with them for cost reasons, but also I'd like to add another and wanted them all to look similar. Here's the final picture before the corals were removed and another from today.

My plan is to add another small insert, then I'd like to have a grouper and an eel. I purchased the Trigger the other day and he's doing pretty well. I will be trading in the other fish before I get the grouper and eel. Also, right now I have a 14K 200W M/H light and I just don't want to replace the entire thing so when it's time I'm going to go with a 10K 100W bulb. I did keep two corals that are attached to the overflow, so I'd like to keep them growing. I can hopefully keep fragging them and at least trade them in for snails from time to time.