55 Nano Reef Rebuild

Here is me just messing around with some plugs but you get the idea, Cali Tort, Oregon Tort, West Side Tort, Rainbow Tort, maybe a Miagi Tort.

And I did mention my frag rack having some nice colors so here is a teaser, sorry about the photography, it is not my specialty by any means.

As far as updates go I did add a nasty rogue file fish that started nipping at my euphylllias a few weeks ago. I didn't pay much attention as I have a bunch of hammers and frogspawns and this made me confident that he could not inflict enough damage to one single specimen. Well a couple days ago I saw that one of my prize crocea clams was retracted into its shell with some slime emitting from it with this little fiel fish sitting right next ti it. I shoed him away and observed some over the next hour and sure enough he comes back and take s a bite out of the clam mantle. I had to remove a large number of corals but I got is A$$ Out! Now I am just fumed about it, this clam was years old and spawning in my tank,beautiful colors...Did I mention that I still have aptasia in the tank. GRRRR.

Things are looking pretty good coral wise so I figured this would be a good time to get things listed during a time of success.

Tank Specs:55 Gallon Display 55 gallon baffless sump filled most of the way so about 100 gallons water volume.

Illumination:Display is lit with 2 AI Sol LEDs and the zoanthid refugium lighting is a Aquabeauty LED.

Filtration: is a Aqueon 55 gallon HOB Filter with carbon and a moded coralife 125 skimmer with catalina pump.

Circulation: is a catalina 1000GPH return pump Td off, a maxi jet 1200, a small koralia at the other end of the display, and a koralia 750 in the sump to keep the coral happy.

Dosing: Magnesium Chloride, Magnesium Sulfate, Sodium Carbonate, Calcium Chloride, Carbon Dose, Aquavitro Fuel, weekly and Biweekly water changes of 10-15 gallons using kent.

Target Parameters: PH 8, Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 4-7, Phosphates .1, Salinity 1.023, Magnesium 1200+, KH 7-8, Calcium 420.

Feeding: Fish get Omega One marine pellets, frozen brine, mysis, blood worms, and coral bumbo. Mostly broadcast fed.

FTS Update.

OK OK, one thats not cropped so you can see all the clutter still.
I have moved out the brain along with a few other corals. As the LPS and Acros grow there is less and less room.



And look at these hammers, almost trimming time again.

Lets see here, this rock has since been covered in coraline and the corals have changed but basically the rock was a success.



As you can see the higher flow next to the blue stag has caused some clustered growth particularly in the tips.

I wanted to add some surface area to the left side of the tank now that the right side was coming to. I still wanted my Euphyllias underneath so I could't go with the classic bolder or the plate rock. So my solution was some "Tongan" Branch rock to add that valuable coral grow space but still let some light through to the LPS underneath.



Some choice pieces of branch rock were chosen for this new rock work.



Marine epoxy for the sealed seems here, no drilled holes, rods, or zip ties. Although in retrospect they would have made this much stronger. I sure hope that SPS and coraline coem on strong and act as cement el natural.



All fused together and ready for action...Acro action that is.



I really like it, now lets hope it fits alright.

Just to show the actual scale of this piece here is a picture of myself, Badxgillen ,holding the new rock formation. This was all just very nice base rock I had acquired over the years from other hobbyists breakdowns, makes me want to construct more arcs but I don't want maintenance to be too cumbersome. I have a few other pieces but not quite as large as these and not nearly as jagged, most of these longer pieces of base rock come in smoother.



Now lets get this thing wet!

Now just look at that! It was a bit of trouble getting the old rock out and getting this one in but well worth it...A word of the wise for people doing rock work like this in the future, rock scratches the glass much more easily than you may think and I actually put a couple dings in my front pane while inserting this large structure. At least I can only be angry at myself here but boy was it awkward.



I plan on covering this thing with quality acropora and maybe, just maybe a few montiporas.
Say goodbye to those frag racks!