Sniperhank's UPGRADED 55 gal Build

[Sniperhank]

They are trees. So pretty tall.


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[Sniperhank]

Things with the mangroves are going well. Daily spritzing truly is the key. The two taller ones I put in the overflow are doing the best I think. The ones in the sump are slower growing, but have all put roots down except the one that just didn't make it. I'm going to find a pool noodle and cut a chunk off the end to float the ones in the sump inside that.

The trumpet coral is doing great since nuking off the vermethids. One head is even splitting. So pretty excited. Now to figure out what to do now that it is growing and the hammer coral on the other side of the tank is also getting quite large.
There is also recovery out of the periwinkle monti. Can't wait to see it actually start to grow out. It also appears the same can be said for the marshal island latana that I thought was dead after my alk dosing precipitated down on it. Thing is just attrociously ugly, but there are not only polyps out, but there is a part that is showing as fleshy regrowth.

[paul87]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

Things with the mangroves are going well. Daily spritzing truly is the key. The two taller ones I put in the overflow are doing the best I think. The ones in the sump are slower growing, but have all put roots down except the one that just didn't make it. I'm going to find a pool noodle and cut a chunk off the end to float the ones in the sump inside that.

The trumpet coral is doing great since nuking off the vermethids. One head is even splitting. So pretty excited. Now to figure out what to do now that it is growing and the hammer coral on the other side of the tank is also getting quite large.
There is also recovery out of the periwinkle monti. Can't wait to see it actually start to grow out. It also appears the same can be said for the marshal island latana that I thought was dead after my alk dosing precipitated down on it. Thing is just attrociously ugly, but there are not only polyps out, but there is a part that is showing as fleshy regrowth.

Sounds like things are going great, glad to hear man.

[Rockster2]

Tank and corals look great. I started experimenting with mangroves about three or four months ago and now have about a dozen growing pretty nicely. Most of the ones I purchased already started to grow roots so that was very helpful. Can't say I've ever sprayed them down although I do know that the excrete salt through the leaves. I have them suspended in the refugium in a drilled out cup so that I can keep them at the proper water level while still maintaining flow thru the roots.


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[Sniperhank]

Well, haven't been able to do much of anything with the tank with only 1 day off last week and only 1 this week...water change and that was it. Was scratching my head as things didn't look as well as they were 2 weeks ago, but thought that I was only seeing a very small snapshot of my tank as it was normally lights out when I would see it.
Come to today...woken up by a rattling as I was sleeping on the couch. The pump running my reactors is toast. Can hear something in there being pushed around and can't do much of anything about it. It isn't pushing water at all. While trying to address this, see that my skimmer isn't skimming. Unplug it and pull it apart, nothing inside the impeller or anything. Put it back together and plug it in...nothing. Won't start back up. Do that a couple more times and still nothing. So, now skimmerless and reactorless...though have a feeling things have been running like this for several days at least. We'll see what can come out of things on my day off on Monday, but this is a pretty big set back and nothing to be done about it at all.

[mr_X]

What pumps were they? Odd that they both went at the same time....

[Sniperhank]

They went at the same time...along with the power supply to my Xbox One. Must have had a major brown out or similar issue while I was at work. They were a Rio Hyperflow 10 and a Sicce SE 200 on my Eshopps psk-75. Already ordered and ready to show up on my porch.

[mr_X]

That sucks! Lucky your fridge or house heater didn't get cooked!

[paul87]

Man sorry for the bad luck! That really stinks. like Mr. X said though, could have be ALOT worse.

[Sniperhank]

Yeah, it's an ongoing issue here. Why I have the computer on a surge protector AND a volt stabilizer.

[Sniperhank]

Just got done installing the battery backup for my Vortechs. Currently only have one of the two hooked up to it, but it already works when I tested it. I'd have both if the cord was long enough, but it'll do for now. The setup just wasn't planned out to have everything like it does now. If I was able to redo it all, most of the electronics would be under the tank rather than laying off to the side. Maybe something for the next set of days off, if it is even possible to make happen. Still, really happy to have another Ecotech product on the setup.

[Sniperhank]

The pump for my reactor showed up while I was at work today. Already hooked up and running. Thank god. Tomorrow I'll see what I can do tomorrow about switching out the media.

[Sniperhank]

An interesting side to the normal junk going on in my tank...what are the thoughts on this guy: Aquarium Lighting & Monitoring: Milwaukee Instruments Smart Lux Light Meter
We always have discussions here and there about PAR and PUR, but how about LUX? Would be pretty neat to have something to screw around with. I remember someone using disposable ones that you'd use in your garden, but never on how the use turned out. If only there was someone near me with a PAR meter to even see how both measure up to one another.

[mr_X]

If you have some disposable income, then by all means! Seriously though, I don't think it's going to tell you much more than how far your total lighting is penetrating effectively. I'd rather know what useful light is at different levels.

[Sniperhank]

I agree with that. But when you work 3 overtime shifts at work in a week you end up scraping the bottom of the barrel for things to read when you watch kids sleep from 11p-7a... Would still be cool to mess with devices that can measure light in the system.
When it comes to disposable income, I want the new mounting brackets for my radions. Ecotech should just be able to charge me directly at this point. Thankfully birthday is coming and have a wife and mother to try to manipulate into getting them so I can buy myself a birthday coral. Looking at a really neat acro that is encrusting prone more than anything and from the minimal info I can find can even get aggressive towards other sps.


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[nanoreefz]

What kind of SPS is it hank?? I'm curious now!


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[navaljonf]

Hydnophora?


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[mr_X]

Originally Posted by navaljonf

Hydnophora?


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If in fact this is your coral, I argue the common label "sps". I mean, look at this example of Hydnophora Exesa-

[Sniperhank]

Well, no that isn't what I'm looking at. I'm looking at a boss acro.

[Sniperhank]

Just thought I would share my accomplishment. As I've been making my setup much neater all around, I decided to finally move all of the ballasts and backup under the tank. Shouldn't be so hard to simply walk around the tank anymore.