Scott's 55 gallon reef build

[scottayy]

Thank you, Jlsardina (what's your name?). You are one of the posters that I admire most on here!

Can you guys help me with something? I'm confused when a coral needs "moderate to high" lighting but it's placement is "bottom".

In my mind, moderate to high lighting means closer to the light as in middle to top of the tank. Or does it mean one would need moderate to high lighting to be able to keep it on the bottom? I'm confused.

Could someone clear this up for me?

[Jlsardina]

Originally Posted by scottayy

Thank you, Jlsardina (what's your name?). You are one of the posters that I admire most on here!

Can you guys help me with something? I'm confused when a coral needs "moderate to high" lighting but it's placement is "bottom".

In my mind, moderate to high lighting means closer to the light as in middle to top of the tank. Or does it mean one would need moderate to high lighting to be able to keep it on the bottom? I'm confused.

Could someone clear this up for me?

Lol thanks. My name is Jodi.

In my mind- a coral such as that would be on the bottom of the tank (or just above if possible) with no obstructions in lighting from above coral or rock. However- you would still need to have strong enough lighting to reach the bottom of the tank. For example- a frogspawn meets those requirements. You can have a frogspawn in the bottom third of the tank without having it in the sandbed. If it wasn't happy in the sand bed you could slowy move it up the tank until it was happy.

Sometimes if you have that good of lighting and a coral needs less lighting then you can shadow it somewhat under a rock ledge.

[scottayy]

Okay, thanks. And by bottom/middle/top, does it mean in relation to the height of my tank or the height of my rockwork?

[Jlsardina]

Originally Posted by scottayy

Okay, thanks. And by bottom/middle/top, does it mean in relation to the height of my tank or the height of my rockwork?

Tank. It's based off of level of light received I believe.

[Bearchumjs]

If you had a high level light coral that's supposed to be bottom level of the tank, could you place the coral higher in the tank to meet its light requirements?

[Jlsardina]

Originally Posted by Bearchumjs

If you had a high level light coral that's supposed to be bottom level of the tank, could you place the coral higher in the tank to meet its light requirements?

Depends on the coral I guess. Some need the sandbed due to fragile tissues. Some need the rocks to grow.

I guess if it needs the sand bed to flourish but needed to be higher up, you could create a type of "basket" that you could have sand in and raise it in the tank.

[Buffy]

Thanks for asking, I was wondering myself

[scottayy]

Okay some updates..

I wanted surface movement for the shimmer effect of LEDs. So I put my MJ 400 Pro (500 GPH) on the side of the tank pointed towards the middle of the surface. Provides a nice shimmer!

But, the MJ is loud which is why I don't use it. I ordered a koralia 750gph and will replace the koralia 240 on the left side with that. Then I will have the 240 agitate the surface of the water for the shimmer.

I ordered 50 lbs of reefrocks.net rock. Going to make a new rock structure and hopefully cover up the whole back wall and have some caves and shelves.

Ordered two led moonlight units.

Tomorrow I remove a layer of the window screen. Can't wait!

[Bearchumjs]

Originally Posted by scottayy

Okay some updates..

I wanted surface movement for the shimmer effect of LEDs. So I put my MJ 400 Pro (500 GPH) on the side of the tank pointed towards the middle of the surface. Provides a nice shimmer!

But, the MJ is loud which is why I don't use it. I ordered a koralia 750gph and will replace the koralia 240 on the left side with that. Then I will have the 240 agitate the surface of the water for the shimmer.

I ordered 50 lbs of reefrocks.net rock. Going to make a new rock structure and hopefully cover up the whole back wall and have some caves and shelves.

Ordered two led moonlight units.

Tomorrow I remove a layer of the window screen. Can't wait!

Sounds like things are coming along well! I look forward to your rock work update.

[scottayy]

Thanks!

Before making this thread I was stagnated about doing all of the stuff I really wanted to do. Putting it here has inspired me to get it done!

Another note on the lights. I'm surprised how cool they are. After being on all day (well, about 8 hours) I decided to touch the fixture. It was room temperature or cooler. I could not feel any heat at all. Before these lights I mounted a 6" fan in my canopy for my t5's and I would regularly get temps of 80-81F. With these LED's and without that fan, my water stays at 78-79F. Very welcome! I will put up with the noise of the fans built into the fixture. It's not annoying like a pump noise would be.

[PistolPete]

How long did it take for your Clowns to host your BTA?

[scottayy]

It only took about 20 minutes after I put them in the tank. However, they have stressed it so much I think it is dying. It no longer has tentacles; they have shrunk all the way in and it looks like bumps now. Does this look like it's dead/on it's way out?



Also, this was sold to me as a frogspawn. I thought it was just a different species or something but I can't really find any frogspawn like it on google. Is it something different, or is it really bleached? I've had it for a long time and it's grown and looks really healthy.

[Ibrahim]

That looks alot like a torch.

[Jlsardina]

Originally Posted by Ibrahim

That looks alot like a torch.

Or an octo hammer. But it does appear to be bleached. Try moving it down away from the light and adding vitamins with a spot feed.

[scottayy]

After googling, it looks like what is called an octospawn, which is a species of frogspawn. Moderate light, moderate flow. The one I saw looked like mine too, same color.. do you still think it is bleached?

I'm asking because I get my new rocks thursday and I want to have everything in proper place.

Here's the other one i saw http://www.livingreefs.com/attachmen...-55-52_188.jpg

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Wow that is a nice coral, some type of frogspawn seems right. I havent checke this thread in a while, sweet build man!

[HairlessPotter]

I just checked this thread out. Looking great so far! I'll be tagging along from now on

[scottayy]

Hey thanks guys. Tomorrow new pump, rock, and moonlights come in.

[Nu-Nu the eel]

More rock?! Does this mean your going to get to rockscape? Haha its the best part about saltwater tanks!

[scottayy]

Well, RIP BTA.

I put the maxi jet in there to agitate the surface water. I didn't pay attention to the size of the openings on it - much larger than the koralia. The anemone found his way in there and got chewed up. I removed what I could.. I hope this doesn't foul up my water too bad.

He was so stressed from the clownfish I almost feel a little relief for him but I'm sad at the same time.