fort's 57 gallon Rimless Reef Build

[Sniperhank]

The SPS with the snail...is that a german blue polyp?

[fort384]

No polyps in that pic, just the SPS, and 2 snails (the bluish thing is a snail with algae on it).

[Sniperhank]

Saltwater Aquarium Corals for Marine Reef Aquariums: German Blue Polyp - Aquacultured

[fort384]

oh.

Well, the polyps are green, not blue... but otherwise it looks exactly like that. Is there such thing as a german green polyp?

[Sniperhank]

If only! I think trying too hard to "fix" my tank made me have an aneurism and am now color blind.

[redsea]

I'm really likeing the tank fort!

It was funny, I was looking at your signature and saw an Anthias and thought "that is new isn't it, did I miss something?"

Then I checked your thread and there was indeed an Anthias there! It looks great! I see the Royal Gramma has become less antisocial too!

[fort384]

Yup, all the fish have been a lot more active and out and about. The anthias loves swimming through the holes in the rock work. The royal gramma is definitely out more and more, but still sticks to the left side of the tank only. He found a small cave/hole in a piece of live rock and has made it his home... he darts in there any time he gets startled. There can't be much room in there, but it is cool when he comes out, he swims straight up and down, and just peaks his head out to make sure the coast is clear.

My new little tiny hammer that I bought last weekend is not doing to great... I moved it a little bit today during my weekly water change to see if I see any improvement. Everything else in the tank looks great, and I am seeing some growth in all the coral, but particularly the jasmine polyps. There are at least 5-6 new heads on it as I can see where it has grown off the rock it came on and grown onto my rock work. Cool.

[fort384]

Tank is still doing well - most everything is looking pretty healthy. The anthias has really colored up some since I brought it home and has a lot more pink in it now.

The unidentified (birds nest?) SPS is doing extremely well. I swear it has grown some in a week.

Only real trouble is with this hammer. Is my tank just not destined for hammers or something? I moved it a bit several days ago, and it looked worse. I just moved it again today.

[Ftfunnative]

Awesome tank. I've been having issues with my hammer as well. Was looking great and now I can't find a place he likes. Keep sending us pics!

[Ibrahim]

It's a Green Birdsnest.

[scottayy]

Question about how you guys do your frags. You don't detach them from the plug or glue them down? How do they grow about your rockwork and such?

[Sniperhank]

Depending on the coral really. Some will overgrow the frag plug and attach or encrust themselves onto the rock. This is even easier if you drill a hole in the rock for the plug to fit into.

I have only ever glued 3 frags, and they were of rics. When I got them, they were on a miniscule amount of rock...talking smaller than the size of the fingernail on your pinkey. I just got a larger piece of rubble from my fuge and attached them. The first time I did it I used a moldable 2 part epoxy. It worked ok...but it was a pain and because of it being a softie was difficult to push it into the epoxy and took 2 attempts to get it to hold. I just got done using actual glue on my 2 new rics. So much simpler. Just threw some glue onto a frag plug from an SPS I killed, stuck it in, and held for 30 seconds. If it was still slightly loose, I added more glue around it. Depending on the glue, this is how mine was, adding a small amount of saltwater makes the hardening process go faster.

[Sniperhank]

Any updated photos/news forte? How about that troubled frogspawn?

[fort384]

The frogspawn is looking better every day. The hammer, not so much. I will post some new pics tonight or tomorrow.

[Sniperhank]

Cant wait. Im still having tank troubles. Im glad yours have basically worked out.

[scottayy]

I'm just wondering how most people deal with frags. Do they let them grow on the plug? Detatch and epoxy? Cut off the plug part and let them grow over the rockwork?

[HairlessPotter]

I usually break the stem off the plug then just let the coral grow over it, I'll leave the stem on if I have a place to stick it in the rock. On my green birdsnest I used needle nose pliers to grab the chunk of glue, not the actual coral, that glued it to the plug. I carefully broke it off then glued it straight onto the rock. On lps and softies I'd just let it grow over the plug though

[scottayy]

I have always taken a fine toothed hacksaw and cut them off the plug (LPS) and then epoxied them in place.

I guess I should keep them on the plug a bit so I can move them around to their preference.

Softies always came on a piece of rock rubble so I just sit that in a groove.

[HairlessPotter]

I've always been too scared to hurt my corals. That sounds like it works good though! Maybe just leave them on the plug until your sure of placement then cut it off

[fort384]

Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks with work, but fortunately the tank is cruising along. I haven't really added anything new in the past couple of weeks...

The small blue hammer is now dead, unfortunately. I have no idea what it is but I can't keep a hammer alive in this tank apparently.

All the corals are doing well. The frogspawn has continued its recovery, and is looking better and better. The colony of zoas that I thought I killed with my lighting issues is still recovering as well, and a few of the polyps have started opening up on it again. The xenia I added is doing very well and it is growing quickly already.

Here are some pics: