homer1475's 80 gallon build

[homer1475]

I always feed at night, so I never see feeders during the day. Going to work at 3am makes feeding at night very easy. I thaw my food and mix it up before I go to sleep, put in the fridge till morning. before I get in the shower I throw the bottle in my tank. Just before I leave for work I give everything a squirt. I use a large squirt bottle(think general ketchup bottle you would see at a diner) with a long piece of RO/DI I melted to fit over the bottle. Works very well.

I'm thinking the SSC really took a big shock as one side the main stalk is all white, only the small polyp tubes have some color still. Everything else is doing well though, so it might just have gotten beaten up in the bag. I'll attach a photo and see what you guys think.

While I appreciate the gesture, vacation, the few corals I bought with Soul, and a few ultra rainbow acans I bought from Austin Aqua Farms has me strapped for cash. Besides there is currently nothing wrong with my SC skimmer. I was just looking for a new toy to tinker with.

I had a good time, Soul might differ as I made off with his acans....... He's quite a bit younger then I had imagined. You know when you talk to someone on the net you have a mental image of what they should look like, least I do, and I had pictured him more my age I guess. Great guy though and I enjoyed the time we spent. Just wish we could have done a little longer as the drive really had me whipped. I really just wanted to eat, and go to bed. Unfortunately I couldn't find a damn motel so I had to drive another 7 hours home. lol

I still can't believe his LFS met me an hour after he was closed so I could pick up those corals.

You know I've been thinking lately how pale my corals look. I was looking at pics of certain corals when I first got them and comparing to now, they certainly are paler. Plus I have 0 corraline growth and very slow coral growth(something like my brown monti should explode in growth, but just grows slowly). So I have been doing some reading on nitrate dosing as I have always tested 0 NO3 and very low PO4. I'm wondering if I'm starving my corals with 0 nitrates? I kind of wonder lookingback at photos, if this is what happened to all my corals and it was not the algae. Even though I was testing 0's I was still stripping the water even more with aggressive GFO use. What little bit was still available the GHA was using up before the corals could use any.... Something I've been pondering and sounds logical to me.

Anyways I ordered in some spectracide stump remover and am going to give it a shot. Certainly can't hurt as the small amount thats added can be removed with simple WC's.

And yes I have used 3 different nitrate test, Salifert, RedSea, and NYOS. All come back as 0. Hanna ULR PO4 is .003. To me that screams starving the corals from what I've been reading.

[homer1475]

For some reason my camera does not want to focus on this. But you can see the one side has lost it's nice green stalk and just the polyp tubes still have some color.

First photo is the bleached side. Other pic is of the other side.



Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[homer1475]

My wife would skip shopping to go visit tanks. While she doesn't understand the science, or want to be involved with the work, she certainly loves to go pick out fish and corals with me. Hey if it keeps her engaged and not b*tching about the money being spent, it's all good.

[homer1475]

Well I hate to say it, but I signed up on reef 2 reef today. The knowledable people that left here, are over there.

Plus I don't have to post something and see I'm the last poster for the entire day. FWIW, this place is dying a slow painful death.

I'll most certainly still be here, but I think for general knowledge of the new ways to reefing, over there is where it's at.

I certainly hate how busy everyones avatar section is, and all the bombardment of sponsors, but you have to take the good with the bad.

EDIT:
Cannot believe the filter over here, you can't even mention another forum without it being blocked out. You can certainly say ReefCentral over there. Already have many times.

[cincyjim]

I did the same thing a few weeks back.

[homer1475]

Lol I've been over there all morning, I was looking for the "like" button on your post.

[cincyjim]

Post... I didn't make a post lol.

[ReefWreak]

:-/ It's a common complaint. There are a number of threads with reasonable suggestions, but short of more sponsors, giveaways, and a flashy new interface (which is cost prohibitive and a ton of work, too much for the volunteer army running RC) RC is what it is and won't be changing.

I make a concerted effort to stay on RC, but every google search for anything reef related now goes straight to R 2 R. I wonder if they have "invested" in that as well. It is what it is, but it makes it harder to stay on RC. I'm thankful that most folks with useful information make an effort to stay on both sites. R 2 R definitely has a lot more shitty sales-ey information than RC does or ever did. I know a lot of sponsors cross-over and are on both sites, but the core sponsors who are active here on RC tend to be more advanced hobbyists and more honest with more general knowledge. I tend to see a lot more shilling and bad/self-serving advice over there.

Hopefully RC makes a comeback, but I'll be here keeping it alive (as much as I can, I just don't have the time to post like I used to).

SSC looks nice, sorry it's bleaching. Glad most of the other corals are looking good. It's also funny what you mentioned about the age thing. I've had that interaction most of my time in the hobby, since I've always been the younger one since I started around 18-19 where most were in their mid 30s or older. It's great that there is such diverse interest in the hobby though, meet a lot of good people from lots of different walks of life. Video games used to have that too when I played, though it was more homogenized than reefing has been.

[soulpatch]

HAHA Glad I am younger then you thought I was. Though I am now worried as to how old I come across. LOL

As for clay-boa I go on there some. The live sales can be pretty epic.

The advice though I find as very hit or miss. Good advice can be drowned out by shills or sales pitches which is a deterrant for me. I find some of the answers more thought out over here for equipment and general reef questions. I find clay-boa to be better as sales, sponsors, and livestock questions.

[homer1475]

Totally agree with the assessment reef, I just get so bored over here as the amount of meaningful posts lately has seen a rapid decline.

I will frequent both sites for sure and keep $$ support over here as it's more needed.

This was my first reef home and will remain so until they shut it down.

[homer1475]

I was thinking more like my age actually(43), but if I had to guess I would say late 20's early 30's?

FYI I'm terrible at guessing age.

On a side note, went on vaca, came home with a major cold. I haven't been out of the house since I got home.

And Soul, you really need to thank your LFS for me. He certainly went above and beyond to help me out.

[soulpatch]

Wish I was late 20s or so. Just turned 36. So not so far off your age.

My LFS is going to start online orders soon with shipping so be prepared to have some more awesome pieces available to ya for decent prices...

[homer1475]

See older then I thought.

And when he does that, you'll most certainly have to give me the site address.

[homer1475]

Well I'm done with RC..... After recent events this morning I'm pulling my donations and am done participating here.

I'll still be around and will post from time to time, but this is no longer my main reef forum.

Moving to a place where 99% of the people are nice, don't treat you like you have no idea what your doing, actually give solid advice from people that have been in the hobby way longer then anyone left on here, mods don't hand out random infractions for fun, and they actually update the site to modern instead of having a forum thats stuck in the year 2000.

I tried to stay here, but it's painfully obvious certain people only want certain people here, so I'll just choose to stay away.

[homer1475]

Umm.......

So after being over there for a few days, I can't leave RC.

[soulpatch]

HA that is my problem. I LOVE the sponsor section and live sale portion but otherwise it is like playing a first person shooter on xbox where a bunch of kids are yelling and their opinion is only one that matters.


Being able to talk directly with vendors though is AWESOME and their live sale events are really cool.

[homer1475]

OOh i agree 100% with you. It's like romper room over there.....You have to wade through the BS to find an actual meaningful post.

I've just learned how to use the ignore list here. All is good now.

As a side note and seeing as this is a build thread, I might as well put something in here tank related.

SSC has started color up nicely now and has full polyp extension. Guess it just needed some time to recover from being tossed around in a bag for hours? The deep water acro has some growth on it, as well as the stylo.

Ats is working as it should, finally. I have to scrape about a cup of algae off it weekly. Only thing I've noticed with it is its more slimy algae then nice thick mats of GHA like it should be. From my understandings it's because of low nutrients like my test kits have been telling me.

Ordered up some seachem flourish(PO4), and a bottle of spectracide stump remover(100% potassium nitrate). Should have that by the end of the week and we'll see how it goes.

[Pellikan]

Although you don't know me I've been following your tank build thread all along. I may have commented once or twice but nothing really memorable. I, for one, am glad you're sticking with this thread. I enjoy reading it and learn lots. Thanks for taking the time to post your experiences.

I'll now resume lurking (and learning) in the shadows.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[ReefWreak]

I'm glad I haven't checked your thread in a few days! I would have been heartbroken to see you go!

It's always tough over there, and as usual SP hit the nail on the head. Those auctions are siiiick. But otherwise, kids room, and I don't want to be John Kelly.

Sorry you had a run in with someone over here. I'm butthurt that someone tagged my build thread "dumpster fish". But otherwise the advice, knowledge, and history are still here. It just needs a stronger future too.

[homer1475]

Yeah I just don't like how busy it is. Not the amount of posts, but how busy any page you go to is. It's eye overload and I cannot concentrate.

Apparently there are quite a few people who follow my build thread but have never posted in it, as above. I received several PM's to keep it going and to not leave RC. Shocking as I had always thought it was pretty much about 4 of us that actually watch and post. LOL learn something new every day.

Makes me happy that I have actually helped people with this and the biocube thread, and they would like to see it continue.

I thank you guys for making me realize the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.

[soulpatch]

The other site has some serious benefits. I like that manufactorers are on there more and chatting to customers more so then here. I like that you can send requests to live stock companies over there and sit in on their live sales or exclusive sale events.

The site has a ton of good things but it is set up as a money grab and as such the number of ads, lack of moderation, and overall need for many to one up another is annoying.


That all said I do wish RC would go down a bit of the same path in some regards. The website needs an overhaul and we should be more welcoming to vendors in an effort to continue membership and knowledge exchange.





Now as for the tank:

All great news about the SPS pieces i gave ya. How is that acan doing?

[homer1475]

Acans doing great actually! Slightly color shifting, but like I mentioned earlier, I believe it's because of a lack of nutrients. Which I hope to remedy very soon.

[blacklabz]

Glad to hear you are sticking around. I'm another lurker that has followed your thread and learned a lot, even ended up getting an SC Aquarium based of your experiences.

[soulpatch]

I really think sc owes me a tank at this point...

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[homer1475]

Originally Posted by soulpatch

I really think sc owes me a tank at this point...

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

I would tend to believe you here. At the very least a major discount on a new tank.

On to tank news......

Got a bottle of spectracide stump remover last night. After hours of reading I found a calculator planted tanks use to give me my exact numbers. Mixed up some stuff, dosed according to the calc, tested an hour later, 2ppm right on the button.

Now to keep it going to see if I see any effect in my corals.