Cali Kid Corals

Konkers' 40 gal stretch hex

konkers

konkers

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Last December my neglected 14 gal BioCube developed a small leak. It had never really done well and it's sole surviving inhabitants were a clownfish, a hermit crab, and a handful of snails. I used this as an excuse to upgrade the tank and learn more about proper care.

I went with an Oceanic 40 gal strech hex that Aquarium Concepts had in stock, 40lbs more live rock (in addition to the ~25 I had before), 20 lbs more live sand, and a canister filter (to hold me over till I set up a proper sump.)

A month later here's the setup:
  • Oceanic 40 gal stretch hex
  • DIY ~15 gal acrylic sump
  • DIY acrylic hang on back overflow box (still tuning the durso)
  • CPR AreoForce Skimmer
  • Mag 5 return pump
  • BioCube hood for lighting (stopgap till I decide on real lighting)
  • Apex Controller
  • Auto top off using aqualifter
  • 2x Koralia 2 power heads
    Fluval G6 canister filter (slowly removing the media now that the sump is set up)
    2x Jager 150W heaters (still deciding if I want to run these off the Apex or just use their internal temp control)


    Livestock:

    ~15 turbo/astrea snails
    1 quite large red legged hermit crab
    1 clownfish (not sure if it's ocellaris or percula)
    1 juvenile yellow tang (I know it will outgrow the tank in a year or two. If this tank does well I'll have upgrade fever before then)
    3 emerald crabs
    1 cleaner shrimp (who took a ride into the sump this weekend)
    cheato in the sump

Here's some pictures of the sump and overflow box. I'll take some pictures of the tank tomorrow when the lights are on.





 
Thanks. It's definitely a 6 foot nice job. At 1 foot it looks a bit messy (dripped solvent, chipped teeth.) I'm pretty happy with it for my first adventure into acrylics.
 
w00t! When I got home tonight and measured my nitrates, I got a zero reading!

Here's a couple Andy Goldsworthy-esque images of the last two weeks of nitrate tests:



Water parameters are rockin at:

Temp: 78.6-79.0 F (heater cycle)
pH: 8.11 - 8.23 (daily cycle)
ORP: 340 mV
Nitrate: 0ppm
ALK: 11.2 dKH
Ca: 405 ppm
Mg: 1290 ppm
Phosphate: < 0.03ppm

A lot's been happening in the last few weeks:
[list type=decimal]
[*]Took the canister filter out of the system
[*]Switched from an inline 250W Hydor heater to two 150W Jager heaters in the sump controlled by the Apex
[*]Added a guard to my HOB overflow
[*]I got a Lumen Bright 250W pendant with a 12K Reeflux Bulb
Replaced the durso with a Hofer Gurgle Buster
Got a RO/DI unit
Switched from Instant Ocean to H2Ocean salt
[/list type=decimal]

I just did a water change and set up a quarantine tank with the old water.

Time for some corals! I'm excited!
 
Tank parameters tonight:

Temp: 79.2 (Apex)
PH: 8.21 (Apex)
SG: 1.02475 (instant ocean hydrometer)
Alk: 16 dKH (Salifert)
Ca: 340 ppm (Salifert)
Mg: 1080 ppm (Salifert)
Phosphate: 0.1 ppm (Salifert)
Nitrate: 10-20 ppm (old API)
Amonia: 0 ppm (old API)
Nitrite: 0 ppm (old API)

The high Alk was from raising the PH using Kent PH Buffer. I've now switched from Instant Ocean salt mix to D-D and am adding calcium chloride to raise the Ca while waiting for the Alk to drop. I'm hoping that water changes with D-D will slowly raise the Mg.
 
How do you like the hex shape so far? I have a standard hex with one point on the wall it allows me to see all sides of the rock. Mine is plexi so most corners are bent and the cleaning magnet goes around them fluidly.

Great set up. Like the cave off center.
 
I stopped by Green Marine today and spoke with Jim. I'm going to pick up 3 frags from him next Friday for the swap.
 
Now that the tank has stabilized I've started stocking. When I was at Green Marine picking up frags for the swap I picked up a Kryptonite Candy Cane and an Ultra Maxima.



 
Monday's weather was warming up and my loft started heating up mid day. My tank temp climbed to a degree F above my setpoint. I grabbed a fan and pointed it at the top of the tank and cooled it down. Yesterday I improvised a better solution with some parts I had laying around (old PC fans, a 12V 1A wall wort, and some acrylic). This is now attached to the apex and doing a good job of keeping the tank cool. We'll see how it goes this summer when it really start to heat up. I have a feeling I'll be needing to refill my ATO more often.

Man.... I have to get some zip ties that are not day glow yellow.

 


The swap was loads of fun. I'm really glad I opted to pick up some frags from and participate. From the swap I got:
  • Green Slimer Acro from Tuberider
  • Montipora (purple rim w/ green plating) from Arthur Lo
  • Montiopra Capricornis from reefboy1 given to me by Mario (?) when he got a better colony through impromptu DBTC
  • Pink Birdsnest from unknown
    Tri-Color Acro from Bookfish
    Purple Death Zoas from wkahwkah
    Misc mushrooms from Fingerwrinkles
    Who's Your Daddy Favia from Neptune in the Raffle

The mushrooms were not attached to any rocks when and got blown around when I tried to put them in the DT. A couple got lost in the rockwork and the rest I moved back to the QT with some rubble hoping they'll attach to that.

The stonys went into the DT yesterday and are starting to color up. I have the SPSs on a frag rack at the bottom of the tank and am raising it a little each day.

The Zoas are still in the QT while I decide on a place to put them





I also got a brittle star hitchhiking with the shrooms. He's now in the DT hiding in the rockwork.

 
Some pictures from today. I'm getting better at taking/processing them. The green slimer's coloring up nicely and the tri-color is nice and bushy.





 
Nice sump and plumbing.

How are your critters doing in the hex? I hear that the water flow in a hex can create disorientation in livestock. Not sure if this has been proven or if you're noticing any problems as such.
 
Reef Keeper said:
Nice sump and plumbing.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm, of course, already thinking of what I'm going to do differently when upgrading.

Reef Keeper said:
How are your critters doing in the hex? I hear that the water flow in a hex can create disorientation in livestock. Not sure if this has been proven or if you're noticing any problems as such.
Click to expand...

Everything seems to be doing great. I have my flow set up so that there are two powerheads at the top creating fast turbulent flow leaving the bottom with only moderate flow.
 
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