Cali Kid Corals

Casey's Red Sea S-1000

Full tank shot looks great. Hope it feels good
Most definitely feels good! About 20 years in the hobby and I can finally feel that I'm at the "dream tank" level. In terms or tank, equipment, livestock, overall health and growth.


Light rack is now complete. Picked up some Quanta Pro LED bars from @Da_Neefer . These things rock! Spectrum is close to the tried and true ATI Blue Plus T5 for that coral pop. They produce a strong punch compared to other brands like Orphek or ReefBrite. He has a couple more Quanta bars from his tank tear down so if anyone is looking to try some, send him a message.

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In good news, finished building the side cabinets to complete the aquarium wall. The right one also holds all my electrical power. Decided to match my kitchen cabinets (behind where photo is taken) instead of matching the Red Sea flat white panel look.

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In bad news, lost my clownfish of 8 years and 3 tank moves :( Found her dried up behind the stand so assumed she jumped. I've never put a screen on top for aesthetic reasons, but maybe it's time. She wasn't the most expensive or rare, but very sentimental.
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In good news, finished building the side cabinets to complete the aquarium wall. The right one also holds all my electrical power. Decided to match my kitchen cabinets (behind where photo is taken) instead of matching the Red Sea flat white panel look.

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In bad news, lost my clownfish of 8 years and 3 tank moves :( Found her dried up behind the stand so assumed she jumped. I've never put a screen on top for aesthetic reasons, but maybe it's time. She wasn't the most expensive or rare, but very sentimental.
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bummer. If you need another clown, my black ice is free. Or I'll buy yours if it's a female.

my tank has a screen too and like you it's leaning against a wall.

those cabinets are staring at me
 
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In good news, finished building the side cabinets to complete the aquarium wall. The right one also holds all my electrical power. Decided to match my kitchen cabinets (behind where photo is taken) instead of matching the Red Sea flat white panel look.

View attachment 47427
View attachment 47428

In bad news, lost my clownfish of 8 years and 3 tank moves :( Found her dried up behind the stand so assumed she jumped. I've never put a screen on top for aesthetic reasons, but maybe it's time. She wasn't the most expensive or rare, but very sentimental.
View attachment 47429
Bummer. As you’ve found, it may take a long time, but it will likely happen eventually. Even lids aren’t always perfect with small gaps and such, but imo they are a must
 
Long overdue journal update.

The bad:
Late September I had two back to back week long trips and I broke the rule of not making any changes beforehand. Right before leaving, the dosing pump for my kalk reactor developed a leak so I replaced the tubing but did not recalibrate it. Not even sure how long it was leaking water instead of feeding the reactor and how much. After being fixed and pumping way more than before, my dkH shot up to 12 causing some major bleaching and coral loss. Lost a lot of sps, corals were all pissed off, colors were drab across the board. Many are still in recovery but some are back in full swing now. Finally got around to installing a KH Guardian to monitor alkalinity and hopefully catch mishaps like this in the future.

The good:
Been adding to my fish collection and have been able to acquire many of the ones on my wish list. Can you tell I like leopard wrasses?

I also installed a Reef Octopus CR200 calcium reactor and in the process of transitioning over from two part. My consumption before the mishap was starting to climb way up so this was the right time. Also for stability because I've been having issues on this tank with balanced alk:calcium levels. Skimmer was upgraded to a Reef Octopus Elite 220SSS, mostly because I found a good deal on one and want to run ozone eventually, this one is compatible.


FishQty
Blue tang1
Gem tang1
Fox face, one spot1
Flameback angelfish1
Bimaculatus anthias3
Lyretail anthias2
Royal gramma1
Sleeper goby1
Helfrich firefish2
Purple firefish1
Orange firefish1
Leopard wrasse, blue star1
Leopard wrasse, meleagris1
Leopard wrasse, black1
Leopard wrasse, moyer1
Leopard wrasse, choati1
Leopard wrasse, ornate1
Copperband butterfly1
Molly miller blennie1
Clownfish, ocellaris1
Chalk bass1
Bangaii cardinal1

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Great looking side cabinets! did you build those yourself?
RTA (ready to assemble) kitchen cabinets. The pieces come in a flat pack then screw, glue, and in my case paint match for assembly. 1/3 the cost compared to if I went to a cabinet shop.
Nice fish list. Needs more anthias!
Why you want to run ozone?
I had 5 lyertails and 4 bimacs originally. The weakest females in each group eventually got bullied and disappeared. Never replaced them

I want to try getting the water clearer with ozone. Even with carbon I get some hazing, especially when looking through the side with 7ft depth. Other half of the reason is playing with new toys :p
looks good. how'd you like the aqua vitro skimmer? were the interesting features useful?
I'm very impressed by it. It's made with what seems like molded plastic, so less solid feeling than a high end cast acrylic skimmer, but it was very consistent and pulled dark thick gunk. I liked that water level had no affect on it because of the stand pipe design. The sock was kind of funny but it was effective at trapping bubbles.
 
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Long overdue journal update.

The bad:
Late September I had two back to back week long trips and I broke the rule of not making any changes beforehand. Right before leaving, the dosing pump for my kalk reactor developed a leak so I replaced the tubing but did not recalibrate it. Not even sure how long it was leaking water instead of feeding the reactor and how much. After being fixed and pumping way more than before, my dkH shot up to 12 causing some major bleaching and coral loss. Lost a lot of sps, corals were all pissed off, colors were drab across the board. Many are still in recovery but some are back in full swing now. Finally got around to installing a KH Guardian to monitor alkalinity and hopefully catch mishaps like this in the future.

The good:
Been adding to my fish collection and have been able to acquire many of the ones on my wish list. Can you tell I like leopard wrasses?

I also installed a Reef Octopus CR200 calcium reactor and in the process of transitioning over from two part. My consumption before the mishap was starting to climb way up so this was the right time. Also for stability because I've been having issues on this tank with balanced alk:calcium levels. Skimmer was upgraded to a Reef Octopus Elite 220SSS, mostly because I found a good deal on one and want to run ozone eventually, this one is compatible.


FishQty
Blue tang1
Gem tang1
Fox face, one spot1
Flameback angelfish1
Bimaculatus anthias3
Lyretail anthias2
Royal gramma1
Sleeper goby1
Helfrich firefish2
Purple firefish1
Orange firefish1
Leopard wrasse, blue star1
Leopard wrasse, meleagris1
Leopard wrasse, black1
Leopard wrasse, moyer1
Leopard wrasse, choati1
Leopard wrasse, ornate1
Copperband butterfly1
Molly miller blennie1
Clownfish, ocellaris1
Chalk bass1
Bangaii cardinal1

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You really like these Leopard wrasses :). I did not have them on my radar for fish, but they look super pretty. But this Gem Tang is probably the star of your tank…?
 
It's been one year since moving into this tank from the last 120 gallon peninsula, so it was time I scraped the glass and give it and the inhabitants some proper shots! The first year has had its share of ups and downs. Some my mistakes, so unknowns. Not the same level of thriving as the last tank but 1 year is still young in the big picture. With such a wide tank, I can't quite get flow dialed in for a mixed reef where sps are happy with high flow, but LPS not so much. With the calcium reactor dialied in, things are on the upswing and I'm seeing growth again. Even ones that have only encrusted for years I'm seeing axial coralites finally!

FTS. The challenge with such a wide tank is that it's hard to capture details when doing a full shot. Especially since most people will see this on mobile or a <24" monitor.
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