Juice’s 54 Gallon Build

[jgking21]

Thanks Tyler! I'm really happy with how it turned out, just have one spot in the tank with little flow. I'm probably going to add a Koralia 1 to fix that, the K1 is in my 25 and that will probably be coming down next weekend. That will be a sad day, but gives me more time and money for the 54!

New frag this weekend, rose milli:

Now off to get lost in the tank!

 

[TylerHaworth]

Haven't seen an update for a while, what's up?

 

[jgking21]

Hey Tyler, Thanks for stopping back by.

Well, I went out of town for 10 days and the tank survived, got back last weekend. I've got lost of slime algea, it started about 3 weeks ago. It does seem to be slowing and I've been doing a 5 gallon water change like every other day. The week before I left it was everywhere, when I got back it wasn't as bad. I lost my 2 monti frags and the green slimer frag, I think I may have a poor quality bulb but plan to get a new one next week. I took down my 25 gallon tank and put the 2 brains in the 54 and they look great. I also put in the few ricordea frags and they look good also. Chuck, Mimi and Spot (the fish) are all fine and seem happy, they can always see me in the room and they all come out to the front. The light has gone out for the night, but I'll try to get a picture up tomorrow.

 

[TylerHaworth]

The dreaded slime algae! I'm battling it right now... I think I'm making some headway... try scraping with your fingernail and using a turkey baster to suction at the same time... it seems to be helping for me.

Sorry to hear about the lost corals, I bet that hurts... I'm worried about my Caulastrea because its flesh has seemed to be receding for the past few days, although today it looked like it may be a little better.

Glad your fish are doing well though... I don't even have any!

 

[brikeibur]

We need an update!!!

 

[jgking21]

Big update, I got Engaged! All my money has been going to the ring, so no additions. I seem to have got the algea issue under control. I did 5 gallon water changes like every other day. I'm down to 10 gallon water changes once or twice a week, depending on my schedule. All the fish are fine and seem very happy. I'm letting the coraline take off before I add any new corals, which you can see growing on the rocks, powerheads and overflow. The open brains are doing great! I'm pretty happy with just letting it establish it self for now, the future holds alot more for this tank!

Here are some pics of the tank today:

 

[sneaks03]

Congrats on the news. Now your tank money becomes your wedding money, trust me I am 2 months out from my wedding. It's worth it though. Love the tang btw!

 

[Reefmack]

Congratulations to both of you!

 

[sneaks03]

Thanks Terry. I know I am looking forward to it, marrying my best friend of 7yrs.

 

[Reefmack]

Just be sure you also still stay best friends- very important!

 

[sneaks03]

Got it covered!

 

[jgking21]

We were best friends for 3 1/2 years before I got off my lazy butt and started dating, 1 1/2 later and I couldn't wait to propose!

 

[Reefmack]

 

[jgking21]

Nothing new, just wanted to keep posting pictures so down the road I can see how things have changed. I'm just waiting to let the tank mature before I add any corals, I still have no idea why some frags died awhile back other than the tank wasn't ready. The Coraline is really starting to take off. Here are 2 pics, one with flash and one without.

 

[Reefmack]

Lookin good! How's your spotted hawk doing? I got a Flame Hawk last week and he's a real character to watch!

 

[jgking21]

He's great, all of them are doing good! The spotted hawk has found so many little holes in the rock work, its fun to see where he pops out next. I love the Flame Hawks, they add so much deep red to the tank!

 

[Reefmack]

They are comical. Mine perches vertically in crevices in the rock, and on my Monti Cap, and all kinds of weird places. If he's in the shade he can be hard to spot, even if he's right in front of me.

 

[jgking21]

Did my first water test in about 3 months and was pleasantly surprised!

Salinity - 1.026
Temp. - 81
pH - 7.8 (doing a 5 gallon w/c tomorrow and adding a buffer)
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - around 5
Calcium - 480
Alk - 7 dKH
Phosphates - Undectable

Probably going to the fish store tomorrow night, so I may have them double check my tests. Hoping to pick a frag while I'm there, I haven't added anything to the tank since I had a few frags die!

 

[Reefmack]

The readings look great. I usually have my pH run borderline low and SeaChem Reef Buffer has really helped keep it up.

 

[jgking21]

Today I watched one of the Brain's eat a small dwarf cerith snail! I saw it about a week ago, the Brain had captured the snail, but I moved it thinking it fell on the brain. Then today, I notice that 2 of the Brain's mouths were open wide and then I noticed a snail in there. I was really worried that the Brain couldn't handle it, but as I kept watch it seems the mouths have closed and the Brain looks good. I would have taken a picture, but you couldn't really see that it was a snail it was eating.

In another note, I got a 3 frags over the weekend. Here's a picture of one, the others were a small birds nest and a piece of pink monti.