Ritter's 75 Gallon Reef

Nice pics Gabe and some sweet corals too, you definately got it going on. Love that Scoly.

New additions. Finally a Royal Gramma!


Red Millepora


Pink Birdsnest


Lobo


I think I'm done with my fish stocking for this tank. I think I would like one more fish but I can't come up with anything reef safe that is compatible with the fish I have already. I now have a yellow tang, pair of clowns, royal gramma, lawn mower blenny, bangaii cardinal, watchman goby. I would LOVE a dwarf angel but I've had bad luck with them nipping at my corals. Maybe I'll get brave one day and try again.

Here's where all the work takes place. I've taken my carbon/gfo reactor offline since I got the new skimmer I think I was cleaning the water too well and the sps were turning pale. They are colored up again now that the gfo is offline. I'll probably run it again in small amounts depending on how the tank does for now. The growth really takes off when I'm running the gfo. I've cranked up the feedings since I've added the bigger skimmer and it seems to be helping the fish and the corals. The fish are looking fatter and I've started using foods for sps corals and I haven't had any cyano or hair algae outbreaks so far. I do have some of this pain in the butt grape caulerpa that is weaving it's way between the rocks but that's pretty easy to remove by hand and I read that no amount of low nutrients will help get rid of that stuff.




I'm not using chaeto anymore in my fuge. I never really saw it do any good except for it was always full of pods. It trapped a bunch of detritus and the pieces that fall off make a big mess and get all over my pumps. I think it is beneficial for a tank and I may try some again in the future but I really don't have a need for it right now. I do have several pieces of live rock and it's getting covered in life that you don't normally see in a display like small feather dusters and sponges. Right now it's just kind of a cryptic area to reproduce pods for my mandarin. I'm not running a light on the live rock except to view the fuge area occasionally. It's full of those big amphipods and copepods and I think the larvae from those are really good food for corals. I did some reading about Steve Tyree using cryptic areas in his tanks and most people seem to think he's an idiot so maybe I am too.

Check out all the dusters growing on the rocks. There are some crazy looking sponges growing on some of the rocks too. There's a big white one with tentacles coming out of it and some of those bright yellow ones.

Forgot to add, I recently added a JBJ ATO unit and it works great and since I dose for alkalinity through my top off water it has really locked in my alk so I don't even have small swings anymore. I just add baked baking soda in my top off jugs and the ATO does the rest. I expect to have to start dosing calcium soon so I'll have to change my routine up then but my calcium stays at a good level with biweekly water changes. I'll probably start using kalkwasser if needed.

Just after I typed the post above I saw this! I blame you Donnie! The brain doesn't seem to really mind but the clown would have to pick out the most expensive coral in the tank as a host.

Ha Ha, Don't blame me, I just suggested I'm surprized they didn't go for the Frog Spawn like mine did! Hey, you can always get you a red bubble tip Anemone, would look good in there!

Looking amazing Gabe! That brain is insane, and the red milli seriously needs a macro shot! :-)

Looking good Gabe! I am really envious!

Everythings looking great Gabe. Beautiful...

Thanks everyone. I hate wasted space so I'm going to add a frag area in the sump. I already have a magnetic frag rack and I ordered 2 of Evil's Par38 leds yesterday. They should be here by Wednesday and I'll figure out the best way to mount them when they arrive. I figure they should work great for a small frag area, especially since I can focus the light directly on the frags. I couldn't decide if I wanted a 12k or 20k so I got one of each. If nothing else I'll be the guinea pig and let everyone else know if it works out or not.

Evil's Par38 Leds

For frag growth in a sump area I would go with the 12k for sure. From what I read they'll get the fastest growth. 20ks will help more light reach deep into the tank... once again... not from personal experience but from what I read.

I'm going to use both so I figure out which one grows better. I don't know why people say 20k bulbs won't grow corals because they will and possibly better than lower kelvin bulbs. Maybe because the sun is 6500k then people think that is the color needed to grow corals but most of that light is filtered out as soon as is hits the water so you're getting a blue 20000k spectrum under water anyway. Check out this article by Dana Riddle who knows way more about lighting than I do,
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2008/12/aafeature1/view?searchterm=None

Lights are coming today! I couldn't figure out how to mount the lights over the sump so I browsed at Lowe's and found these clamps. I tested them out last night and they are rock solid so there's no way they can fall into the tank. Those other clamp on lights are too flimsy and wouldn't even hold it's own weight even when tightened all the way. These hold really tight to the tank and even if the bulb tilts down it won't get into the water.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_203216-1373-FL-301NPDQ12_4294857041_4294937087_?productId=3122293&Ns=p_product_prd_lis_ord_nbr|0||p_product_quantity_sold|1&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl_Work%2BShop%2BLights_4294857041_42949370

Got everything setup. The lights are really bright. I'm using a few tester frags for a little while before I put anything else under the light. The only difference between the 20k and the 12k is one blue bulb instead of a white. I have frags under each and some between so I can figure out which works better.








The rocks in the fuge look really nice under these lights. The shadows are really defined and the light makes the rocks really look more natural. I think these lights would look awesome on a nano tank.

Those are really bright Gabe. I'm puttin my money on the 12k for growing the corals, I think the 20 k is more for humans to look at, the corals should use the 6500K more than anything else.

Very cool. Who has two thumbs and is jealous?

lol

Looking good Gabe! Let me know which one of those lights you like the best. I will be moving my frag tank under the display soon and I will be in the market for some lights.

The article you posted was really interesting. My experience = 10,000K grew corals like weeds but it was too yellow for me. My growth almost stopped with 20,000K bulbs and it was too blue for me. However, the coral colors were AMAZING. These days, I try to stay right in the middle of the road.....

What's funny is the Phoenix was the bluest bulb had used and it had excellent growth. The Ushio was about the most 10k colored I used and I really couldn't tell any difference. My red planet is happy with the new radiums I can tell. It was almost totally white under the ushios and it's got that nice red planet color again now. My growth is a little slower right now but I'm not running GFO. I'll be using it again soon so I'll see if it's the lights or the phosphates slowing me down. The colors are excellent though.

Teaser pic! New stuff has arrived. I'm super curious on the "extra zoas". Can't wait to see what they are.

That's what I'm going to start doing! Post that I'm getting new corals and just show pictures of boxes and plastic!

WOW awsome BOX !?!?!?

Wow...tough crowd. Can't we all just take a moment to admire good service and a nice packing job?

Great service Gabe...beautiful packing job!!

i said nice box


now get with it and post those pics