Soulpatch's 150 SC build

[soulpatch]

Originally Posted by homer1475

Man were you drunk when you took those pics? haha

Seriously though, those are some of the worst pics I've seen you take. Tanks looking real good and seems things are going well.

No free coral for you whenever you come my way. LOL

New phone and was playing with some settings. I was not a fan of the pics EXCEPT for the sunset mille since this is one of first pics that the pinks and such came out in the picture showing close to what I see in real life.

Originally Posted by cincyjim

Loving the tank and everything you have done for it. What is the name of the coral in the 6th picture?

It is a type of fire red digi. The interesting thing with this one though is that the growth tips are blue and not the typical white on most fire reds. It has a particular name but I dont recall. I have it on a card at home so I can try to remember to look for it later.

[soulpatch]

Hitchhiker nem...



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[soulpatch]

Added this guy tonight...

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[JonezNReef]

Very nice....what kind is it and how big?

[soulpatch]

Crocea clam. Its about 3.5 inches long

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[cincyjim]

Sweet! I was just looking for one of those this morning. Clam prices are threw the ceiling right now. Where did you get it at? Did you place it on the sand bed or rock?

[soulpatch]

I got it from lfs. Its on the sand bed right now but will likely put onto a rock with acans around it for serious color pop

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[homer1475]

Reef of the month!

Congrats my friend, well deserved.

[mav3rick478]

Woohoo congrats on RTOM!

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[cincyjim]

Congrats on ROTM! Well deserved!!!

[soulpatch]

Thanks guys. Picking up a coral or 2 tomorrow to celebrate. LOL

[cincyjim]

How's the clam doing? Have you moved it up in the middle of the tank?

[soulpatch]

Originally Posted by cincyjim

How's the clam doing? Have you moved it up in the middle of the tank?

Its doing well. I have yet to move it as I have been away for the past 2 weekends. Literally been home for 3 days of the last 17 or so. Lots o webcam viewing of the tank though and using the apex to ensure my ATO stays filled (have 2 5 gallon buckets with MJ1200 pumps in them hooked up to apex to pump in water to ATO bin as needed)

I will likely move the clam onto a rock this week about 1/3 of the way up the tank. Not sure I want to go any higher as that gets into my SPS realm and the clam is the wifes selection so not totally a priority of mine. HA HA

[Thornbreaker]

Hey Soul,

I just watched episode 12 this afternoon. I appreciated your discussion on your skimmer. Knowing you have a bunch of fish in the tank and it's handling the bioload well is good information. I think I'm going to at least start my tank with the same skimmer at this point.

What water height are you set at for the skimmer?

I'm looking at 3 different sumps at this point (Windrider, R-300 EShopps, or a Trigger Systems Emerald) for my future sca 150 gal. They all have their plus and minuses, but at least the windrider has a set water height as the baffle isn't adjustable.

[soulpatch]

I believe I have the skimmer currently at around 8 inches of water but I can measure later tonight.

If you are looking for sumps know that Trigger will customize them for you basically for free should you want other things done. I had additional holes, changed colors, moved walls, and made mine slightly longer all for same price as a stock emerald 39. It took an additional 2 weeks or so to get to me but it was worth it.

My next sump though when I move will likely be a BAO or 302 Aquatics custom sump with a matching refugium. Then I can have heater holders, inserts for all my various tubes, wire management, matching reactors, redesigned sock area, and more.

[Thornbreaker]

Originally Posted by soulpatch

I believe I have the skimmer currently at around 8 inches of water but I can measure later tonight.

If you are looking for sumps know that Trigger will customize them for you basically for free should you want other things done. I had additional holes, changed colors, moved walls, and made mine slightly longer all for same price as a stock emerald 39. It took an additional 2 weeks or so to get to me but it was worth it.

My next sump though when I move will likely be a BAO or 302 Aquatics custom sump with a matching refugium. Then I can have heater holders, inserts for all my various tubes, wire management, matching reactors, redesigned sock area, and more.

Thanks Soul. By the way, my apologies. I originally watched your video a while back and saw a "CJ Aquariums" had replied, and at some point I checked his stuff out. I got confused on whose was what. So if I confused you on "episode 12" that's entirely where it came from.

[soulpatch]

no worries. I do need to update and start posting my other videos. I have a few others I actually went through the trouble to start editing but never posted.

[soulpatch]

So my clam decided to move on from this life. I had moved him up onto a rock slightly in the tank before going away for a weekend (bad idea to make changes) and when we came home he was pretty receeded in his shell. I moved him back and fed him but over course of next 3 days he regressed more and more till I finally pulled him.

I am not sure if my lack of maintenance the past month impacted things but everything tested ok. I have removed socks (found a pep shrimp living in my one mesh sock so win...), changed carbon in reactor and turned back on as it was off, cleaned skimmer cup, trimmed macro in fuge, and vacced out the sludge that has settled in the sump. All glass has been cleaned so now I wait.

It is also almost August so new T5 bulbs will be needed then. While I like my setup I think I will change one actinic to blue plus since I now have the actinic reef brites...


More to come tomorrow as it is reefapalooza time so I am sure I will have some additions....

[soulpatch]

So got some goodies today and will take pics tomorrow...

Another Walt Disney, orange passion, bubblegum digi, bubblegum mills, and a rainbow mille without a name.

Almost bought a 600 homewrecker frag but it was only a nub and would have taken all my money...

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[cincyjim]

Sorry to hear about the clam. They are one of the most challenging animals in this hobby. Sounds like you had a great shopping day

[soulpatch]

In a way glad I didn't get the homewrecker. The orange passion doesn't look like it will make it. Seems to be stn at the moment...

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[soulpatch]

Orange passion did indeed die off. I have pinged bio reef who sold it to me and am awaiting them to invoice me for shipping for replacement piece. I might need to call them as they messaged me back on Monday but not heard from them since. Might just have to write it off who knows.

My other pieces are doing prety good and I remembered that the WWC piece I got was a Suicide Squad acro. I am horrible with names so in a way glad I have this thread to remember.

So not like I am shy to spend money BUT while at the show Coralvue announced their upcoming alk monitor. I was iffy on getting theirs or awaiting Pac Sun or Neptunes eventually till the rep said 2 things:

$600
Apex compatible (with AIM module)

I was sold. So now I await its release so I can keep track of my tank and be able to better dial in my calrx (which is working awesome) as my consumption constantly changes from growth and new additions.

So now I will need to sell off my race fairings most likely (not going to race again anyway) and perhaps finally start fragging some corals. I have a milli who needs trimmed back as well as a stylo and a few other items.

Once the tank is fully dialed in I will likely make the plunge on a few collector SPS and see how I handle them. I also need a few more fish which I will look for at end of summer when I am home more and not at beach constantly. Fish to come are:

starry blenny
naso or powder blue tang
foxface

[ReefWreak]

Always plenty of fancy corals to get. Waiting is the best thing you can do, since eventually the prices come down as availability increases.

I've been watching the Alk Monitor progress... I'm super excited too ever since seeing the first tech demo of them. On my big tank I'll get one fo sho. not for now though.

I wish CoralVue would have announced their USA release of their CoralCare lighting... arghhhh.

Last one, with the fishes, the first and third are great ideas, but the Naso won't fit and could/would get aggressive, and the powder blue are good, but they're just super susceptible to disease. Since you've been good about QT with the new tank, it probably won't be an issue, but it's just something to keep in mind. They're often called ich magnets.

[cincyjim]

You certainly are moving along very well and you definitely are doing it smartly by planning in advance. Sorry to hear about the coral, hopefully they will make it right.

[soulpatch]

They finally got back to me so hopefully I get invoice today. Won't be able to get it till after next week as I'm at the beach this week...

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