Patrick's 81G - the last dance

[FinalPhaze987]

Looks good. How stable is it? Think you can drill frag plug size holes without it breaking?

Stable as can be, despite its cantilever design. I'm sure it can be drilled, the thing is solid and dense. That also is on of its downsides, as it doesn't have much porosity when compared to the rest of the rock I have. Great fit for the look, not so much for the surface area.

 

[Kensington Reefer]

do you have concern that at some point your coral growth will be large enough break the original support structure?

 

[FinalPhaze987]

do you have concern that at some point your coral growth will be large enough break the original support structure?

I think the main scape will be able to handle whatever I throw at it, that one is super solid. The smaller one is yet to be tested, but i doubt I'd be placing that much on it to have it be of concern.

I may be setting myself up for alot of pruning to avoid corals from growing into one another, but that would be a nice problem to have.

 

[Kensington Reefer]

I think the main scape will be able to handle whatever I throw at it, that one is super solid. The smaller one is yet to be tested, but i doubt I'd be placing that much on it to have it be of concern.

I may be setting myself up for alot of pruning to avoid corals from growing into one another, but that would be a nice problem to have.

Trimming….
You can only do that when you’re successful!
@derek_SR get ready for frags!

 

[FinalPhaze987]

In attempts to free up some space in the tank, I sold a large aussie branch and the largest Indo piece i used when setting the tank up..I figured the beneficial bacteria i wanted to seed the main scape had to have spread in the course of 7 months..besides, despite selling the two big pieces, I still got plenty left in the back..what could go wrong?

Well, a crap load..i was appreciating the clear sandbed and watching the fish swim in the open areas 1 week after pulling the rocks out, then noticed I was getting early stages of cyano in the sand and small pop ups in the rock work..

Before selling the rocks, nutrients found a happy medium based on what i was feeding..NO3 ~10 / PO4 ~0.03-0.07

Numbers would hold pretty solid for a couple weeks until the next 30% water change then, after the sale, they just didnt..

I fail to remember that I just got this tank wet in January and it may take a little longer to rebound from the lost surface area.

It's been clean since then..Just gotta keep a close eye on PO4 from bottoming out, but still got some cyano stragglers here and there.

Flow has helped in kicking up off the crap that it thrives off..but I gotta say, maintenance on Gyres really sucks. I love the flow it brings, but having to do a citric acid soak every month can be quite tiring.with things stable again

With things seeming to stabilize again, I decided it was time to kick things up and aquire some of the select pieces ive been eyeing for a long time now. I hit up @coralexotic and he had the perfect pieces available. Vivids insanity, HW, JF Jolt, OG Avenger, MC Prom queen ,etc.i was feeling brave...and its time to step things up.

Tin has got some awesome stuff..i spent the better part of my day slowly getting these guys in their spots and pretty happy with the look that's taking shape. He was a great guy to deal with and there's no worry about corals not making it through shipping..being local, its all WYSIWYG ..