My minimalistic 180g SPS tank

[codydemmel4]

Originally Posted by Pife

I'm guessing your calcium mix isn't strong enough or your magnesium is out of whack.

the calcium mix is definitely right unless i got a bad calcium mix from BRS. I am not sure how to test that, any suggestions and I will.

For the magnesium, i will check that tomorrow.

[codydemmel4]

Originally Posted by Flanders

I was going to suggest a sand tiger conch or three for your sandbed, but it looks like the algae is all gone already. The tank is looking very nice.

i may still get a couple of those, right now i have a yellow diamond goby and he is doing an okay job but some days it seems he is lazy and then i have a decent amount of algae and then it seems like he goes nuts for two days and there is very slim. its funny and cool to watch

[DML08]

Nice man, whats your current bulb line up?

[codydemmel4]

Originally Posted by DML08

Nice man, whats your current bulb line up?

thank you

right now it is 4 blue plus and 4 coral plus but when it is time to change the bulbs i am going to go with 6 blue plus, 1 purple plus and one coral plus. seen a couple of really really nice tanks with that combo.

[DML08]

Originally Posted by codydemmel4

thank you

right now it is 4 blue plus and 4 coral plus but when it is time to change the bulbs i am going to go with 6 blue plus, 1 purple plus and one coral plus. seen a couple of really really nice tanks with that combo.

Nice, thats the next line up I was planning on running, right now I have 6 blue+, 1 purple + and 1 ABS

[cpllongjk]

Love the rockscape! Great job and grow babies grow!

[codydemmel4]

Originally Posted by DML08

Nice, thats the next line up I was planning on running, right now I have 6 blue+, 1 purple + and 1 ABS

how do you like that? I also have a reefbrite on each side, so im hoping its not too blue for the corals because i love the blue look to the eye but also still want good growth and color.

[codydemmel4]

Originally Posted by cpllongjk

Love the rockscape! Great job and grow babies grow!

thanks, i really appreciate it

[codydemmel4]

This red mille is starting to grow yellow tips, if it continues to color up like that it may be one of my favorites in the tank






This yellow one, is starting to grow a nice blue ring around it, I think this is going to be a stunner




this yellow tenuis with blue tips is probably still my favorite




green mille is starting to get great PE and showing some signs of yellow, very hard to capture with an iphone and a gel filter haha




red planet in the back is starting to color back up and have great PE, the blue mille is going to be a stunner




this blue acro is coloring up more and more and is having great PE





green slimer is growing and showing good PE




updated FTS with the new addition, regal angelfish in the bottom right along with the yellow coris wrasse, very cool fish




last but not least the closeup of the regal angelfish
he is eating flakes and frozen food already, he was eating at the LFS

[reefmutt]

Still love that scape.
Corals are looking really good, as well.
Seems like growth is about to really take off.

[codydemmel4]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

Still love that scape.
Corals are looking really good, as well.
Seems like growth is about to really take off.

Thank you! I really hope so, just gotta keep the alk and calc stable since it is still a "newer" tank I check it almost everyday to make adjustments

but with all the fish, i have been trying to keep phosphates around 0.04-0.10 but i am having a hard time getting it off 0.00, I guess I have to feed more which is hard to believe because i feed flakes 3 times a day and usually 2 frozen cubes too. I also am dosing 24ml of AcroPower everday (1ml every hour through the dosing pump)

I am running a reef octopus skimmer with gfo, if i cant get it off 0.00 while upping the feeding, I am going to take off the gfo.

[codydemmel4]

What do you guys suggest i do with that small red monti starting to grow really close to the acro? Scrape it off??

[reefmutt]

The acro should sting it back. But eventually the monti will just grow around the acro, staying out of reach of its mesenterial filaments.. could look cool down the road.. usually the monti wins, though, just out of sheer speed and coral volume.

[codydemmel4]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

The acro should sting it back. But eventually the monti will just grow around the acro, staying out of reach of its mesenterial filaments.. could look cool down the road.. usually the monti wins, though, just out of sheer speed and coral volume.

yeah i definitely dont want the monti to win, especially since it is just a cheap red monti.

[codydemmel4]

Some night time shots again with just the iphone and a gel filter so sorry for the crappy quality





















my only LPS

[codydemmel4]

have these coming my way on Thursday

[Geeray]

You have several really nice pieces. I'm really digging the scape as well...

[codydemmel4]

Originally Posted by Geeray

You have several really nice pieces. I'm really digging the scape as well...

thanks a lot man, have to decide on which pieces to sell and get rid of soon.

going to let all of them color up for 3-4 more weeks and then sell at least 10-20 of the frags that are mostly one colored. anyone that i think still has potential i have to get rid of. I am starting to like getting larger maricultured colonies and letting them color up for the same price people are paying for a 1 inch stub.

[makers marc]

I love the scape as well, are there just two acrylic rods forming a T? Also, any issues with the fish fighting for sleeeping spots? Some must sleep at the top corners right?

[joshky]

Love the aquascape, can't wait to see it fill in a bit more. Those pieces coming in are amazing, hopefully they hold those colors, they're beautiful!

[codydemmel4]

Originally Posted by makers marc

I love the scape as well, are there just two acrylic rods forming a T? Also, any issues with the fish fighting for sleeeping spots? Some must sleep at the top corners right?

I dont have any acrylics rods in there actually. the base is all live rock and so is the right side, all just zip tied and used marco cement to put them together. the left side does have 2 pvc pipes that I covered in sand, used zip ties and cement to keep everything together.

I have not seen any fish fighting for sleeping spots but I am thinking of how to add more rock in the back to give them more sleeping spots without getting rid of the clean look. There actually is a good amount of rock behind the main structure that is hard to see, I would say around 12 inches of rock front to back and around 10 inches wide with multiple hiding/sleeping spots.

[codydemmel4]

Originally Posted by joshky

Love the aquascape, can't wait to see it fill in a bit more. Those pieces coming in are amazing, hopefully they hold those colors, they're beautiful!

Thank you!

I am hoping they hold the colors and also change some too, they all have multiple colors throughout the coral so I am excited to see them color up

[Rakie]

Looking good! I like the new one with the blue corallites and yellow rim. Great color on that guy

[codydemmel4]

Originally Posted by Rakie

Looking good! I like the new one with the blue corallites and yellow rim. Great color on that guy

Thank you! I am really looking forward to watching them color up, especially those tenuis and the peach/orange mille

[codydemmel4]

Over the past 4 weeks, my phosphates has tested 0 every time on my hanna tester so I just took my GFO offline to hopefully get some phosphates and color up my SPS.

I am going to monitor my phosphates probably once every 3 days for a little then once a week. I also will see what it does to the color of the SPS, hoping it darkens majority of them. I am hoping for phosphates between 0.02-0.15. I also havent been able to grow cheato, and I am thinking this will help and keep my tank more stable.

The real test will be to see if I have to up my 2 part dosing which means my coral are growing more and consuming more alk and calc, thats what I am hoping for most