d2mini's "Essential Focus" Mixed Reef Build

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by KnightMetro

Man, I get more excited to hear of a new d2mini build than the release of the next Game of Thrones book.

Takes about as long too.

I've been following you for years. Not going to stop now. Keep them coming.

LOL, thanks!

Originally Posted by Chibils

No way, there will be like...

At least 2 more fish in here by the time TWOW comes out. Maybe a few corals if GRRM is extra slow...

I don't know what any of that is, but we just finished season 3 of Game of Thrones.

Originally Posted by saf1

Mr. Seaweed Blenny is a nice looking fish actually. I must say, very nice fish.

Thanks, he's pretty cool for a hitchhiker!

Originally Posted by rholguin

Wow!!! Excellent build. Just read finished reading through the whole thread. I really like the attention to details and a very beautiful reef. Great photography as well.

Thanks!

[d2mini]

New pics.
Labeled in the watermark as usual.

[Bdial]

Awesome pics Dennis.
I think I'm right but I could be wrong. TWOW - the winds of winter. GRRM - George Martin.
You need to finish those episodes like asap

[liverock]

gramma finally came out to play?

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by liverock

gramma finally came out to play?

Yep! As soon as I dropped in the three Springeri Damsels on Friday evening he was out front and center.
So weird. lol

[Chrisq0904]

Originally Posted by d2mini

Yep! As soon as I dropped in the three Springeri Damsels on Friday evening he was out front and center.
So weird. lol

Do these damsels get aggressive like most others?

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[d2mini]

Originally Posted by Chrisq0904

Do these damsels get aggressive like most others?

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No you should be fine as long as you don't have other damsels.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...73&pcatid=2073
Cheap, pretty and reef safe.

Michael Paletta has these in his new tank, too.

[saf1]

Originally Posted by d2mini

No you should be fine as long as you don't have other damsels.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...73&pcatid=2073
Cheap, pretty and reef safe.

Michael Paletta has these in his new tank, too.

Damsels get a bad rap honestly. If you do a bit of research on them before hand usually you can have several in a tank with reasonable size of course. I currently have a mated pair of Azure's that add a slash of color and speed.

Nice photo's. My next tank will have a few additional damsels such as Starcki and Talbots. Also going to try a few Royal's together. Heard it can be done but need to do a bit more research first so the inhabitants don't all try for the same crevice to sleep in I'm not running that kind of tank!

[drummerboyevil]

Originally Posted by saf1

Damsels get a bad rap honestly. If you do a bit of research on them before hand usually you can have several in a tank with reasonable size of course. I currently have a mated pair of Azure's that add a slash of color and speed.

Nice photo's. My next tank will have a few additional damsels such as Starcki and Talbots. Also going to try a few Royal's together. Heard it can be done but need to do a bit more research first so the inhabitants don't all try for the same crevice to sleep in I'm not running that kind of tank!

The springers are food for flatworms to boot!


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[d2mini]

Originally Posted by drummerboyevil

The springers are food for flatworms to boot!

Those must be some BIG flatworms!!!




So just to update from the past week or so...

I'm now up to 7 fish.
In order of addition...
1 Seaweed Blenny
1 Royal Gramma
1 Juvi Wyoming White Clownfish
1 Powder Brown Tang
3 Springeri Damselfish

Feeding is up but Nitrates continue to fall and are down to about 10 ppm.
Food for the fish has been exclusively Larry's Reef Frenzy.
Food for the rest of the tank has been a daily dose of Reef Nutrition's PhytoFeast and some Oyster Feast mixed in with the fish food.
Occasionally some Reef Chili.
I have not checked P04 yet. Honestly I'm not all that interested in it.
The PB Tang pics on the rocks all day long. I haven't seen him eat Reef Frenzy or Nori yet, other than a quick pick at it. He ate fine in the store, so whatever algae is on the rocks is fine with him so it's fine with me.

I've also started dosing.
Started with 13ml per day of each of the Triton Base Elements, except for 3A which is the Magnesium.
Waiting for my Mag to drop to acceptable levels.

Speaking of algae... the Mars Hydro has been running 8 hours per night for the past two weeks.
The display drains directly into the fuge per the Triton Method and I've got some funky stuff growing already. The chaeto is already triple it's original size at least.
I also tossed in a couple clumps of the Mermaid Sea Fan macros that TBS sent, just to see how they would do down there.
But check out the growth of the mystery algae/macros on the floor and the red baffle.
I also have a few other macros coming in from Live-Plants.com later this week.





The corals I have in the tank also seem to be doing fine so far.
The edges of my big Turbinaria cup coral took a little beating on the way home in the bucket but those have healed.
The blue plate coral I transferred back in from the office nano hasn't skipped a beat.
My new open brain seems to be doing fine, as well as the frags that were gifted to me like the rainbow acan, JF Jackolantern, a plating monti, and encrusting monti, and a few chalices.
I also took a frag of my purple stylo from the office nano.
Too quick to see growth yet, but all colors and PE look good so far.

All in all, everything seems to be running well and staying pretty stable.
Hard to believe the TBS rock and sand all went in just 25 days ago.
Not even a month!

[Grayhead]

Your planning ahead as well as natural gifts for this hobby is remarkable. Thank you for taking the time to include everyone in your rewarding adventure. You set the bar high for everyone. Most people at this stage would forget their build thread. But you continue to help others with their projects. Kudos to you

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by Grayhead

Your planning ahead as well as natural gifts for this hobby is remarkable. Thank you for taking the time to include everyone in your rewarding adventure. You set the bar high for everyone. Most people at this stage would forget their build thread. But you continue to help others with their projects. Kudos to you

Thanks for the kind words!

[shaggss]

Originally Posted by d2mini

New pics.
Labeled in the watermark as usual.

Hi Dennis

Looking great as usual!

Is that another damsel in the background? Or something else?

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by shaggss

Hi Dennis

Looking great as usual!

Is that another damsel in the background? Or something else?

LOL, yeah... but in the foreground, not background.
Otherwise I'd have to name him Godzilla.

[Chibils]

Originally Posted by d2mini

I don't know what any of that is, but we just finished season 3 of Game of Thrones.

TWOW is book 6 of the series, and GRRM is George RR Martin. I was making a jab about how long it takes him to write the books.

You gotta get caught up, man, season 6 was great!

I'll stop derailing the thread now. Tank is looking great, love your photos!

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[nemosworld]

Originally Posted by d2mini

CONSTRUCTION IS COMPLETE!

If you go back to the very beginning of this thread I showed some pics of the house before we moved in. And now here you can see the changes!
A whole new office space was created with some new partial walls, dining room moved to the bay window area, and kitchen cabinet extended with new pantry and built-in microwave.
The original microwave over the stove will eventually be replaced with a vent hood that actually does it's job as a vent.










And again, here is where the tank will sit...

Love the home Office, you have out Mac me. LOL!

[d2mini]

I’ve been playing around with the Apogee MQ-500 par meter.
The three radion pros are 16.5” above the water.
The yellow measurements are as close to the center of the tank as I could get when rock wasn’t in the way.
The extra row of blue along the bottom were measurements taken close to the front glass.
This is the AB+ Coral Lab program and it’s running at an overall brightness of 65%.
Thinking of upping it a little over time to get the upper tier nearer to the 300 mark.

But this is my first time using a par meter so open to suggestions.
Tank will be mostly sps and lps.
From what I've heard, mid-200's is the sweet spot.

[bitwise]

By what means are you limiting / taking up phosphates? I know you have a bunch of stuff in your fuge. Are you running any GFO or anything else right now?

[SPS_77493]

Make sure to get the readings with powerheads ON and OFF and compare results.

Water movement will impact par numbers.

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by bitwise

By what means are you limiting / taking up phosphates? I know you have a bunch of stuff in your fuge. Are you running any GFO or anything else right now?

No gfo. I stopped running it in my last tank, too.
I haven't even tested p04 in this one yet.

Originally Posted by SPS_77493

Make sure to get the readings with powerheads ON and OFF and compare results.

Water movement will impact par numbers.

I couldn't get a constant reading with powerheads. It was all over the place.
Had to turn off all circulation.

[mpderksen]

When I did mine, I was told to add 10%, since the blues impact the meter differently. This is second, or third-hand knowledge, so cross check that.

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by mpderksen

When I did mine, I was told to add 10%, since the blues impact the meter differently. This is second, or third-hand knowledge, so cross check that.

Were you using the MQ-500?
This is the new one that is supposed to have a better handle on the blues.

[Fish Everywhere]

Just was skimming through this thread.... great tank Dennis!

I have 2 questions though, if you don't mind:

1. How are you even keeping those sponges alive? Everything I have heard says they are impossible to keep without an NPS system. They are looking great, not only surviving but seem healthy!

2. How does the Powder Brown behave in a 4' tank? From what I know, its a lot less aggressive, less neurotic, and less 'pacy' than the Powder Blue Tang. Think its fine in this size tank? Curious, because its one of the fish I really would like in a 120 I'll be setting up in the near future.

Thanks!

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by Fish Everywhere

Just was skimming through this thread.... great tank Dennis!

I have 2 questions though, if you don't mind:

1. How are you even keeping those sponges alive? Everything I have heard says they are impossible to keep without an NPS system. They are looking great, not only surviving but seem healthy!

2. How does the Powder Brown behave in a 4' tank? From what I know, its a lot less aggressive, less neurotic, and less 'pacy' than the Powder Blue Tang. Think its fine in this size tank? Curious, because its one of the fish I really would like in a 120 I'll be setting up in the near future.

Thanks!

Thanks

1. The tank is only 4 weeks old. Come back to me in 6 months! I'm dosing PhytoFeast daily and one or two other things here and there. We'll see how it goes. Some of these sponges tend to last longer than others for me. For instance, that red finger sponge in the front is usually the first to go south, whereas the larger orange one in the back tends to last the longest in my tanks. But this is the first time I'm actively trying to feed them.

2. He seems fine. He's not a big swimmer. Spends most of his time weaving in and out of the rocks and grazing on them all day. Doesn't seem to have much interest in nori yet, nor the frozen food. I guess the rocks are providing what he needs for now.

[d2mini]

Anemone in da house. Not as colorful as I had hoped for or as seen in the seller's pic, but it'll do for now. A little hard to see but it has a green base.