Cali Kid Corals

Thomas' 29G TruVu

Installed a Hydros X3 controller, more details here.

Next I just repaired and replaced my Ecotech battery that has been dead for a good 5 years. Got some good instructions from @phatduckk and telegraham here. Had to drill out the old rivets, install the new battery, then close it back up with machine screws. Works like a charm so far and it's a good 50% lighter with the LiFePO4 battery (plus lasts way longer).

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No fancy rewiring or soldering, really easy swap for a fraction of the price of a replacement.
 
Picked up a yellow wrasse from High Tide and added it a few weeks ago (of course had zero interest in any sort of pest control). But it's a nice splash of yellow. Impossible to photograph though!

Cranked up lighting by 10% and finally seeing SPS growth and color:

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The bubble gum digi and the DBTC Oregon tort is finally showing brighter blue.

Indo gold torch from the May Cali Kid frag swap is looking nuts:
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Now:
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Wilsoni corals growing slowly but healthy:
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Neptune lobo starting to split:
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Poor attempt at a top down:
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FTS:
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Picked up a Nexus Burst anemone (listed as a 1/4 orange but closer to 1/8 at this point). It's an interesting possibly chimeric bubble tip that can have varying orange or green characteristics depending on how it split. This one is maybe the size of a quarter special ordered at High Tide:

14k:
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Actinic:
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Some updates: lost the scooter blenny to a midnight jump. So I put eggcrate to block the rest of the top and cut a section out for the Hydros feeder. Yellow wrasse and buan goby are growing and making a bit of a mess with the sand. Phosphate drifted up to 0.68 ppm but no algae or growth issues so far. Started adding a manganese + iron supplement and I'm seeing an explosion in chaeto growth. Mn was always undetectable on ICP before, but this is about 3 weeks of growth removed:
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Growth shots for frag swap corals (9/10/23-today):
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Then some longer term growth and recovery shots for others (lord #2 was fragged in half):
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FTS:
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Tank is still doing well. Learned that Acan echinatas absolutely destroy most any other LPS (makes more sense why "acans" aka lords were moved into a new genus) and lost my holy grail micromussa. Chaeto growth is still insane with manganese addition and I've filled up my fuge again in just a month.

I've been experimenting with an 8L kalkwasser container every week vs. a 2L addition every few days. The extra CO2 in the house during these cold days or perhaps the age of the kalkwasser is definitely blunting the pH benefit:

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Vertical line denotes when the bottle was switched out. I also noticed this time of year, the pH drops earlier than before, so I pushed up my fuge light and kalk pump turning on an hour sooner.

Picked up three new lords from @Invictus:
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And currently trying to trap the buan goby to put him back into the 12g since he's constantly dribbling sand on things. Then I'll transfer the spotted mandarin since I've gotten it trained to eat whole mysis now.
 
Darkxerox said:
Tank is still doing well. Learned that Acan echinatas absolutely destroy most any other LPS (makes more sense why "acans" aka lords were moved into a new genus) and lost my holy grail micromussa. Chaeto growth is still insane with manganese addition and I've filled up my fuge again in just a month.

I've been experimenting with an 8L kalkwasser container every week vs. a 2L addition every few days. The extra CO2 in the house during these cold days or perhaps the age of the kalkwasser is definitely blunting the pH benefit:

View attachment 50837

Vertical line denotes when the bottle was switched out. I also noticed this time of year, the pH drops earlier than before, so I pushed up my fuge light and kalk pump turning on an hour sooner.

Picked up three new lords from @Invictus:
View attachment 50838

And currently trying to trap the buan goby to put him back into the 12g since he's constantly dribbling sand on things. Then I'll transfer the spotted mandarin since I've gotten it trained to eat whole mysis now.
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I believe it is the CO2, not the age. I have the same issue at the moment, and I have been always using the same amount of Kalk solution.
 
I'm going to try picking up some CO2 absorbing media and attaching it to the vent line on my container to see if that helps.

So updates: picked up a Hydros X4 controller and have a rope leak sensor on the way. Really like how the XP8 energy bar replaced two WiFi power strips and looks much cleaner. I'll be able to repurpose my X3 and strips for something else.
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Moved the ReeFi light off a switching outlet per Daniel's recommendation and now just using the Vortech battery backup for the MP10s.

Chipped some coralline algae off the overflow (if anyone wants to see how thick it gets after about a decade of layering and urchin munching:
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Pretty sure the warehouse in the east bay you are referring to was Tropical Paradise in San Leandro. I used to work there and recognize the stand!
 
BAYMAC said:
I read it as that he's referring to TruVu's warehouse in Hayward. I spent a lot of time there lol
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Ahhhh you might be right! But given the time frame, I’m almost certain that stand came from Tropical Paradise! It was not particularly unique but we had a builder who built all his stands almost identically to this one.
 
It's held up pretty well during this time! Little bit of peeling where the overflow used to splash in the sump, but still solid.
 
Solitaryensis said:
Ahhhh you might be right! But given the time frame, I’m almost certain that stand came from Tropical Paradise! It was not particularly unique but we had a builder who built all his stands almost identically to this one.
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Do you ever hear from Eddie? He's still in Tonga, right?
 
SepToob said:
You install that wave engine and gyre yet?
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Not yet, just got back from a two week vacation. Lost the WWC wilsoni that wasn't happy before I left but everything else looks great. The new Manila Spy and Palmer's blue millepora from Reefbum survived and got burnt a bit from my lighting, but are recovering. Same thing happened when I got the Oregon tort from @JVU but that's since adapted.

FTS:
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The Nexus Burst anemone is starting to develop more colors as well, purple tips, white specks, etc (looks way better in person):

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Moving into year 18 of the tank, hoping to grow out these great corals into bigger colonies!
 
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