Cali Kid Corals

Patrick's 81G - the last dance

finalphaze987

finalphaze987

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Greetings yall!

Back at it again and finally getting something setup to jump back in. I took a break for 10 years and jumped over to FW planted and plants for a while but couldn't find the same satisfaction I did with a reeftank.

Started at this in 95 keeping a bubble coral and 2 aiptasia alive with VHOs in a 50 gallon and have had multiple tanks since.

I told myself that if I'm going to do it, I gotta do it right and future proof this thing for the long run. As we all know, that doesn't always pan out the way we thought it would.

Before buying the tank things already got expensive..I found that the floor of the area needed reinforcement and, having an older house, the electrical needed upgrading. Flooring was old and needed replacement and no central heating/cooling would make temp control a nightmare.

-Old wood floors were replaced with Vinyl planks -Changed out the breaker box to 300amps
-Reinforcement in the subflooring was installed by out contractor to be able to handle the weight
-I had a 18k BTU minisplit installed above the atra to help with temp control

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By this time, I'm around 5 grand in and thinking the tank is in sight...boy was I wrong...

My better half points put that if we were to remodel anything around the tank things could get messy. She had a point, so we decided to get everything don't before even thinking of the tank..

-recessed lighting
-refaced the fireplace
-replaced all the windows
-a new coat of paint

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Finally! Ready to build!

I went back and fourth between an IM ext and the Fiji Cube EXT and decided to go with Fiji Cube due to its larger size. Fiji Cube had it available for 15% off so that helped sway my decision as well.

For the aquascape, I decided to go with one from WaterLife Marine out of Korea. His work on IG all caught my eye due to the bonsai like siluettes. I originally ordered it in September of 2023 and didn't have it show up until February of this year. One of the things I'm glad was planned in advance.
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The stand that came with the package measures in at 32" high and I wanted to have a little more height to comfortably work in there, as I'm not a small guy.

I decided to go with AluFab for the stand because I found their customer service to be best out of the ones I reached out to.

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I wasn't sure what lights to go with, so I had so.e very universal light bars constructed to the stand.

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Got around to unwrapping the sump and skimmer today. So many choices and while I wanted to go with the tried and tested royal exclisiv I used in previous builds, decided on an Ultra Reef instead.

The fiji cube sump is on the smallerside despite upsizing to the next one up, but will do the job and leave me room to tuck reactors next to it and not having to have it outside of the stand.
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It was packed pretty solid...no movement at all with bubble wrap all the way around. Still couldn't avoid a few breaks here and there, but for coming from the other side of the world, I can't be mad.
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Coral reefer said:
Thanks! How much work did they do? Looks like a giant piece of Tonga branch
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Looked like alot of gluing and cutting...the tops of the scape are flattened off to glue frags to it and the layout is tiered to maximize display:

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Since it was the look I was going for I decided to bite the bullet and pay the man...its a better job than what I could have done trying to recreate it..when attempting to do a bonsai inspired aquascape, mine looked a bit of a mess:
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I’d love to know how much it cost. If you do t wanna post maybe pm me? Totally cool if it’s none of my business. Looks really good to me. Is it a lot of small branch pieces glued together then?
 
Coral reefer said:
I’d love to know how much it cost. If you do t wanna post maybe pm me? Totally cool if it’s none of my business. Looks really good to me. Is it a lot of small branch pieces glued together then?
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Not cheap, yeah it looks like all tonga branch glued together, with powder marco rock on the joints, then maybe a liquid epoxy base covered in the powder rock. Curious as well, no need to post publicly.

finalphaze987 said:
mine looked a bit of a mess:
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I know how much work this stuff takes and the second scape you made looks great too! Biggest difference between the two structures is the base starting material, and using the powder rock to get uniform color early. The second doesn't matter at all after a year and the first is all opinion. You did a great job, keep making scapes!
 
Coral reefer said:
I’d love to know how much it cost. If you do t wanna post maybe pm me? Totally cool if it’s none of my business. Looks really good to me. Is it a lot of small branch pieces glued together then?
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After shipping and import fees everything came out to ~$875 for the piece. He made everything to spec as far as fitting it perfectly with in the tank dimensions I gave him and being a one off, I expected to pay right around there. He sent a repair kit with some glue and sand that he used on the joints...tough stuff, I was able to balance a couple cans of soda on a repaired joint to see if it would hold an hour after repairing it.

The guy who did it has an Instagram that I contacted him through @wl_marine , but beware, this dude takes REALLY long and has a crap load of people ticked at him on R2R.

I agree with @H2OPlayar , it does look like a bunch of Tonga branch glued together. Kinda like a really thick totoka or branchy pukani rock that used to be available.
H2OPlayar said:
Not cheap, yeah it looks like all tonga branch glued together, with powder marco rock on the joints, then maybe a liquid epoxy base covered in the powder rock. Curious as well, no need to post publicly.



I know how much work this stuff takes and the second scape you made looks great too! Biggest difference between the two structures is the base starting material, and using the powder rock to get uniform color early. The second doesn't matter at all after a year and the first is all opinion. You did a great job, keep making scapes!
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Thanks man. I was going to use that scape when I started to build a IM15 but decided to go bigger. I didn't sweat the color too much, as it would have all gone purple eventually...the rock, cement, and glue all really added up in the end tho lol
 
I'm thinking about having an expansion box made by Alufab to match the stand...something to house the auto top off reservoir, ADJ power switches, and maybe some LiFePo4 back up batteries.

Since it won't be holding the weight of a tank, I doubt it needs to be as thick as the stand...anyone have any experience with using 1 inch profiles? Should I stick to 1.5"?

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While exploring my light options I'm torn between 2.

Set up 1: ATI straton pro 204

Set up 2: two G6 radion blues, kessil 360x blue in the middle with 2 AI blades (glow and grow)

Set up 2 a little overkill? I'm thinking coverage and shimmer, it would give me everything I'm looking for, but the cost of the whole setup is a tough one to justify for shimmer.
 
Got a drip tray made at Tap plastics. I liked the one on Parkers reef and thought this time around it would be a good idea...originally looked for silicone under the sink type mats but couldn't find one with the proper dimensions.

Overall I think it came out with a clean finish. Only did a 1 inch lip. Thought it would be too shallow but when I water tested it, it held a good amount of water.
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finalphaze987 said:
Got a drip tray made at Tap plastics. I liked the one on Parkers reef and thought this time around it would be a good idea...originally looked for silicone under the sink type mats but couldn't find one with the proper dimensions.

Overall I think it came out with a clean finish. Only did a 1 inch lip. Thought it would be too shallow but when I water tested it, it held a good amount of water.
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Super cool. I wasn’t aware they built custom things. How much did it run you if you don’t mind me asking?
 
MarcosDelgado0 said:
Super cool. I wasn’t aware they built custom things. How much did it run you if you don’t mind me asking?
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I had 3 pieces made by them. A corner piece to hide wires, this drip tray and a side panel for the control boards. All together it came out to $400.

The tray was the biggest of the 3, but the corner piece was pretty complex and is still being made.

Not the most cost effective option, but when you need something precise they do good work.

During covid I worked so much I didn't have the time to care for a tank so I got into collecting Korean succulents. When having some sneeze guards made for the hospital, I asked worker if he would do a custom job to cover my plants and worked out well.
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Finally got around to plumbing this thing. I would work on it for an hour after work and made one too many mistakes gluing fittings together. Eventually told myself that this was a task that needed my FULL attention and had to dedicate some time...buying new fittings is getting expensive and pushes the build out a week.

The return lines are all dry fit and awaiting some unions still. The drains are complete and good to go.

Not sure if it's still there, but there used to be a plumbing store in the industrial area of South Hayward. I gotta find some time to drive there one day, as I can't recall the name for the life of me.

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finalphaze987 said:
Finally got around to plumbing this thing. I would work on it for an hour after work and made one too many mistakes gluing fittings together. Eventually told myself that this was a task that needed my FULL attention and had to dedicate some time...buying new fittings is getting expensive and pushes the build out a week.

The return lines are all dry fit and awaiting some unions still. The drains are complete and good to go.

Not sure if it's still there, but there used to be a plumbing store in the industrial area of South Hayward. I gotta find some time to drive there one day, as I can't recall the name for the life of me.

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Man that’s beautiful
 
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