Cali Kid Corals

40g ADA move and upgrade

I’m haven’t had enough time to finish my new rock sculptures, so here are some current tank shots. I’m happy everything is doing pretty well but unhappy with how messy everything’s gotten. I thought zoas wouldn’t want to spread up to where SPS are getting blasted with light... the new fish (tang, fire fish and six-line wrasse) are good and have taken tank feeding to a new level: 1-2 frozen cubes, pellets, and acropower or reefroids every day. I’m keeping up iron dosing for the chaeto and large water changes to balance out all this nutrient import. The acropora like all the feeding.
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Wlachnit said:
Looking good! Can't remember...Have you decided on the tank size?
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Yes - we picked up a Reefer 450 (90g 59”x22”20”) and a second AP700, so there will be one AP700 per 30” of tank same as our current 40g. But we have to finish some other home projects and the new rock work before it can get set up - partly out of practicality and partly to keep the domestic peace :)
 
Update on the rock sculpting project - the last piece (not shown below) is soaking in a bleach mixture so everything should be rough-chiseled and clean by next weekend, ready for final touches & epoxy. The “table” rocks are still about 4” thick and pretty heavy, kind of scary to have up high in a bonsai structure, so I may end up thinning them out and carving more caves.

One set of rocks - possible configuration #1:
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Another possible configuration - side view (ignore the candle stuck in to hold things in place):
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Top view:
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I’d suggest taking a hammer and chisel and chip away some of that smooth cut like to make it look more natural. Is config 1 resting against glass? If so, would be more a fan of config 2. :)


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Chromis said:
Update on the rock sculpting project - the last piece (not shown below) is soaking in a bleach mixture so everything should be rough-chiseled and clean by next weekend, ready for final touches & epoxy. The “table” rocks are still about 4” thick and pretty heavy, kind of scary to have up high in a bonsai structure, so I may end up thinning them out and carving more caves.
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But, Keep in mind that the rock's true weight is much less under water..... ;-)
 
Gablami said:
I’d suggest taking a hammer and chisel and chip away some of that smooth cut like to make it look more natural. Is config 1 resting against glass? If so, would be more a fan of config 2. [emoji4]
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The rocks will not touch glass, one of the improvements I’m trying to make is to be able I find any corals that fall off rocks (I’ve lost quite a few corals to the bottom of the rock pile).

Yea there is still a lot of “polishing” that needs to happen to make things look more natural. One of the problems with starting out with big rock is everything looks chunky. I may actually scrap the whole thing yet and start over with epoxying small rocks together.
 
Wlachnit said:
But, Keep in mind that the rock's true weight is much less under water..... ;-)
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True, but I haven’t figured out how I’m going to counterweight the structure at the base, since I will probably bump into the structure many times, my Darwin clownfish takes me by surprise all the time with a nasty bite and I can’t help reflexes!
 
Finished one rock - I might be able to saw my existing rocks in half and put them flat side down on the top of the new rock. Hard to see but there’s a Y-shaped tunnel chiseled into it.

The pedestal is emarco with rubble pressed into it.

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Looks great! Btw, for counterweight, you can always dowel into a large piece/panel of acrylic that would sit on the bottom prior to your sand or substrate.


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Finished shaping the new pukani rocks. Next need to start these cycling while we finish the other new tank prep.
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I’m thinking of building a floating light canopy similar to @Gablami since his looks really nice, and adding two 48” T5 retrofit to the AP700s. Which two T5 bulbs would people recommend? The idea is just to illuminate the shadows of the acropora, but something that makes acropora greens magically look more yellow would be a plus.
 
Chromis said:
I’m thinking of building a floating light canopy similar to @Gablami since his looks really nice, and adding two 48” T5 retrofit to the AP700s. Which two T5 bulbs would people recommend? The idea is just to illuminate the shadows of the acropora, but something that makes acropora greens magically look more yellow would be a plus.
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I don’t know if it can turn green into yellow, but for 2 bulbs with ap700 I would do both ATI blue plus, and use the ap700 to get the exact hue your eye prefers. If you had 4 bulbs I might mix it up, but with 2 I would keep it simple and have the same bulb.


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Chromis said:
Finished shaping the new pukani rocks. Next need to start these cycling while we finish the other new tank prep.
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I’m thinking of building a floating light canopy similar to @Gablami since his looks really nice, and adding two 48” T5 retrofit to the AP700s. Which two T5 bulbs would people recommend? The idea is just to illuminate the shadows of the acropora, but something that makes acropora greens magically look more yellow would be a plus.
Click to expand...
Wow, that is some great work. You’ve really got an artistic eye.
 
The new tank rocks are hopefully cycling now. They soaked in bleach for a week, then were rinsed by garden hose and sat outdoors in open air for another few weeks (which may have turned into months now that I think about it) before I finished cementing them. Then they sat in the sun another week while I did my last water change out of my 40g breeder. My husband has been trying to get rid of this workhorse garage tank but it’s made for a great mixing station - you can clearly see when sludge or salt crystals are starting to form. I was hoping to make it into a quarantine or frag tank, but now, it’s the rock cycling tank. I added a “donor rock” from the back of my established tank to seed bacteria and coralline algae and am running a Kessil 350 over it with all blue spectrum. There are also two heaters to keep it above 70F in the cold garage. The other things we wanted to do before setting up the new tank are coming together - solar panels are online (don’t have to worry about electricity anymore) and central AC is being installed next week. Between the solar battery backup power wall and AC hopefully we can avoid another heat wave affecting our tank. The AC guys are going to reroute the floor vent that is sitting under where we want to put the new tank, but I’m going to partially close it off and use it to route the top up water tube from under the house. So, remaining tasks are to build the new canopy and figure out the new top up tank location. Getting closer! The rocks will probably be totally cycled by the time the new tank is up...
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The bacteria doesn’t need any light to propagate. Also, it benefits from the warmer water but it actually doesn’t need that either. I’m envious of your solar power wall battery.
 
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