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72g Bowfront (re)Build- I've Got Green Mushrooms! (1 Viewer)

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SCUBAFreaky

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This is my tank when the pandemic started back in March. It's not an awesome FTS but you can get an idea of what I was starting with. LOTS of green bumpy mushrooms!! Lots of them.

20200311_183459.jpg

I've been wanting to post my tank (re)build thread for a while now. I started my first reef tank in 1995. Bought mail order live rock from Florida. Used compact florescent bulbs. Had a few softies and LPS in a 15 gallon tank when the term nano tank was not a buzz word yet. I slowly upgraded tanks over time and ended up with this 72g bowfront after my 30g sprung a leak at 3 in the morning. In 2015 this aquarium was a mixed reef tank. It was mostly LPS and softies with a few sticks. The first coral that starting showing signs of stress was my teal candy cane. It probably had 40 to 50 polyps which started from a single polyp in 2012. For some reason it started ejecting its polyps. I did water changes. Checked my parameters over and over. Changed all the bulbs. Had a nearby reefing buddy help me try to troubleshoot it. But we got stumped in the end. I slowly watched all of my corals die...except for these green mushrooms. I never did figure out what happened. My heart was broken for sure. I suspect root cause(s) to include: salt that stratified during shipping wacking out my parameters, bad test kits, lighting too strong while having high nutrient levels (not actually blaming the high nutrient levels), lack of knowledge, and not being a member of MARSH and seeking help from a larger community. So for 4 and half years my tank became a fish only tank...along with a couple hundred green mushrooms. I just couldn't deal with another crash.

Fast forward to October, 2018. I went on a 2 week SCUBA diving trip to Indonesia. We stayed at a private dive resort out in the middle of nowhere. We had to take a 2 hour private charter plane ride from Bali to get to the resort. The diving was beyond amazing. Blew mine and all of my dive buddies minds on how spectacular the reefs were. The coral density and diversity was absolutely stunning as well as the fish density. Truly amazing. When I got back from the trip I started to get the bug to get my reef tank going again. I spent a little over a year updating my knowledge base. I didn't realize how out of date my knowledge was in just 3 and half years. I watched a TON of videos produced by a supply company in Minnesota that sells reef supplies in bulk. Those guys helped me get fired up about reefing again. Thanks Randy and Ryan!

Once the pandemic started...it was time. Here is a FTS of my tank as of tonight. And thanks to a Filter Lens thread I bought the Ice Cap lens and filter kit this past weekend. What would we do without Amazon?!

20200909_234057.jpg

Still have a lot of mushrooms!!!

Equipment list:
  • Neptune Apex Controller with 2x EB8 Energy Bars, pH probe, Temp Sensor, and 1/2" Flow Meter
  • Trigger Systems Sump 26 (with 4"x14" felt sock filter)
  • Reef Octopus VARIOS-2 Controllable DC Return Pump (792 GPH)
  • Cobalt Aquatic 250W Accu-Therm Submersible Heater
  • Clear Water Systems CW-50 Algae Scrubber (with dedicated Sicce Syncra Silent 0.5 Pump)
  • Aqua Ultraviolet 15w Classic UV Sterilizer (with 1/2" Neptune flow meter and dedicated Hydor Seltz D 750 gph DC Pump)
  • 2x Hydor Koralia Evolution 550/600 Pumps
  • 2x Hydor Koralia Evolution 750/850 Pumps
  • 2x 150w Metal Halide with Ushio 20K Double Ended Bulbs
  • 2x 48" T5 ATI Blue Plus
  • Reef Brite 48" Blue XHO LED
  • BRS 4 Stage 150 gpd RODI System with booster pump
  • I use either Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt or hw Wiegandt HW-Marinemix Reefer Salt when Tropic Marin is out of stock
Livestock:
  • Pair of Ocellaris Misbar Clownfish, named Marlin and Cora
  • Pair of Three Strip Damselfish, named Bonnie and Clyde
  • Bristletooth Tomini Tang
  • Red Stripe Angelfish
  • Female Melanurus Wrasse
  • Spotted Mandarin
  • Emerald Crab
SPS:
  • Dancin’ Polyps
  • Teal Stag
  • Sunset Monti
  • Meteor Shower Cyphastrea
  • Purple Sand Dollar Porites
  • Bird of Paradise Seriatopora (Bird's Nest)
  • Golden Leptoseris
  • Superman Monti
  • John Deere Leptoseris
  • Blue Pavona
  • Forest Fire Digi
  • Purple Cap
  • Green Cap
LPS:
  • Terminator Blastomussa wellsi
  • Green Duncan
  • Bicolor Hammer Euphylia
  • Hologram Hammer Euphylia
  • Neon Green Candy Canes
  • Purple on Green Frogspawn
  • Green on Green Frogspawn
  • Baby's Breath Favia
  • Blue Eye Lithohyllon Chalice
  • Tri Color Oulophyllia
  • Large Pastel Alveopora
  • UC Senorita Blasto
  • Pink BOObies Chalice
  • UC Tiger's Blood Blasto
  • Purple Tip Duncan
  • JF Yellow Bandit Chalice
  • Two Tone Teal Candy Cane
  • Teal Candy Cane
  • Orange/Peach Octospawn
  • BigR Gumdrop Acan Echinata
  • Rainbow Acan
Softies:
  • No Shortage of Bumpy Green Mushrooms
  • RBTA
  • Blood Red White Lace Border Ultra Rock Anemone
  • Green Flower Anemone w/ red outter border and yellow inner border
  • Green Ricordea With Orange Spots
  • Orange Ricordea
  • Orange/Blue Ricordea
  • Kenya Tree Soft Coral
  • Blue Clove Polyps
  • Wintergreen Pipe Organ
  • Green Tip Toadstool
  • Papaya Clove Polyps
  • Japanese Pink Koji Wada Nepthea
  • Blue Florida Ricordea
Zoas:
  • Bambam
  • JF Crybabies
  • JF Visuran
  • Nirvana
  • Purple Palys
  • WWC Peachy Kings
  • Gobstoppers
  • Scrambled Eggs
  • Green Bay Packers
  • TSA Blowpop
  • Sunny Ds
  • Kedd's Reds
  • Blue Steel
  • Butt Kissers
  • Tequila Sunrise Maybe
  • Phobia
  • Solar Fusion
  • Rainbow Hornet
  • Gaterade
  • Blue Tubbs
  • Armor of God
  • Pink Zipper
  • Mandarin
  • Red Hornet
  • Blue Hornet
  • Joes Crab Nebula
  • Bob Marley
  • Illuminati
  • Pink Diamond
 
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SCUBAFreaky

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Here are my favorite LPS corals.

This is probably my current favorite coral in my tank. BigR Gumdrop Acan
20200909_232152 (edits).jpg

Pink BOObies Chalice
20200909_232136 (edits).jpg

Tri Color Oulophyllia
20200909_231748.jpg

Blue Eye Lithohyllon Chalice
20200909_230918 (edits).jpg

JF Yellow Bandit Chalice
20200909_230931 (edits).jpg

Orange Octospawn
20200909_221050 (edits).jpg

Terminator Blasto
20200909_230643 (edits).jpg

UC Senorita Blasto
20200909_232341.jpg
 
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SCUBAFreaky

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Softies and Zoas. I will mention here...that I LOVE Zoas!!

Green Tip Toadstool. I really like toadstools. Every reef tank I've had has had some sort of toadstool in it.
20200909_231351 (edits).jpg

Rock Flower Anemone
20200909_231936 (edits).jpg

The start of a garden...even though they're just on a frag rack.
20200909_220650 (edits).jpg

Blue Tubbs in the center and Gaterade Zoas on the left 20200909_221321 (edits).jpg

Sunny D Zoas
20200909_231001 (edits).jpg

Bob Marley Zoas
20200909_231159 (edits).jpg

"Tequila Sunrise Maybe" Zoas. This is how they were sold to me. Truth.
20200909_231231 (edits).jpg

Blue Steel Zoas
20200909_231331 (edits).jpg

Green Bay Packer Zoas. Don't see these very much any more but I like them. Had them in my previous tank as well.
20200909_231516 (edits).jpg
 

ITreefer

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This is my tank when the pandemic started back in March. It's not an awesome FTS but you can get an idea of what I was starting with. LOTS of green bumpy mushrooms!! Lots of them.

20200311_183459.jpg

I've been wanting to post my tank (re)build thread for a while now. I started my first reef tank in 1995. Bought mail order live rock from Florida. Used compact florescent bulbs. Had a few softies and LPS in a 15 gallon tank when the term nano tank was not a buzz word yet. I slowly upgraded tanks over time and ended up with this 72g bowfront after my 30g sprung a leak at 3 in the morning. In 2015 this aquarium was a mixed reef tank. It was mostly LPS and softies with a few sticks. The first coral that starting showing signs of stress was my teal candy cane. It probably had 40 to 50 polyps which started from a single polyp in 2012. For some reason it started ejecting its polyps. I did water changes. Checked my parameters over and over. Changed all the bulbs. Had a nearby reefing buddy help me try to troubleshoot it. But we got stumped in the end. I slowly watched all of my corals die...except for these green mushrooms. I never did figure out what happened. My heart was broken for sure. I suspect root cause(s) to include: salt that stratified during shipping wacking out my parameters, bad test kits, lighting too strong while having high nutrient levels (not actually blaming the high nutrient levels), lack of knowledge, and not being a member of MARSH and seeking help from a larger community. So for 4 and half years my tank became a fish only tank...along with a couple hundred green mushrooms. I just couldn't deal with another crash.

Fast forward to October, 2018. I went on a 2 week SCUBA diving trip to Indonesia. We stayed at a private dive resort out in the middle of nowhere. We had to take a 2 hour private charter plane ride from Bali to get to the resort. The diving was beyond amazing. Blew mine and all of my dive buddies minds on how spectacular the reefs were. The coral density and diversity was absolutely stunning as well as the fish density. Truly amazing. When I got back from the trip I started to get the bug to get my reef tank going again. I spent a little over a year updating my knowledge base. I didn't realize how out of date my knowledge was in just 3 and half years. I watched a TON of videos produced by a supply company in Minnesota that sells reef supplies in bulk. Those guys helped me get fired up about reefing again. Thanks Randy and Ryan!

Once the pandemic started...it was time. Here is a FTS of my tank as of tonight. And thanks to a Filter Lens thread I bought the Ice Cap lens and filter kit this past weekend. What would we do without Amazon?!

20200909_234057.jpg

Still have a lot of mushrooms!!!

Here is my equipment list:
  • Neptune Apex Controller
  • Trigger Systems Sump 26 (with 4"x14" felt sock filter)
  • Reef Octopus VARIOS-2 Controllable DC Return Pump (792 GPH)
  • Cobalt Aquatic 200W Accu-Therm Submersible Heater
  • Clear Water Systems CW-50 Algae Scrubber (with dedicated Sicce Syncra Silent 0.5 Pump)
  • Aqua Ultraviolet 15w Classic UV Sterilizer (with 1/2" Neptune flow meter and dedicated Hydor Seltz D 750 gph DC Pump)
  • 2x Hydor Koralia Evolution 550/600 Pumps
  • 2x Hydor Koralia Evolution 750/850 Pumps
  • 2x 150w Metal Halide with Ushio 20K Double Ended Bulbs
  • 2x 48" T5 ATI Blue Plus
  • Reef Brite 48" Blue XHO LED
  • BRS RODI System with booster pump
  • I use either Tropic Marin Pro Reef Salt or hw Wiegandt HW-Marinemix Reefer Salt when Tropic Marin is out of stock
My next several posts will be close ups of my favorite corals.
Thats a lot of shrooms!
So jealous of the scuba diving expedition, definitely on my to do list soon.
Thanks for sharing.
 

PicassoClown

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I’ve always got zoas if you’re looking to grow your collection :) Your inferno nem looks like just a regular RBTA to me but it is a very beautiful one! I’m in love with that gumdrop acan and the pink boobies, I wish I had the space for some frags myself! And those “tequila sunrise” zoas are beautiful!! I’ll definitely be on the market in a year or so for a couple polyps!!
 
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SCUBAFreaky

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I’ve always got zoas if you’re looking to grow your collection
I will definitely ping you at some point for sure!

:) Your inferno nem looks like just a regular RBTA to me but it is a very beautiful one!
Yeah, I didn't know any better what the difference between an Inferno and just a RBTA was at the time. Its tentacles don't bubble up as much in my tank and the orange portion tend to get very long. But I agree, It is pretty regardless of what type it officially is. I'm thinking he's going to split soon.

I’m in love with that gumdrop acan and the pink boobies, I wish I had the space for some frags myself! And those “tequila sunrise” zoas are beautiful!! I’ll definitely be on the market in a year or so for a couple polyps!!
I got lucky picking up the BigR Gumdrop Acan from @RedSeaRoss last week. The Tequila Sunrise Maybe zoas have started off as a slow grower but it seems like they're really growing now. You will definitely have first dibs once it can be fragged.
 
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PicassoClown

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I will definitely ping you at some point for sure!


Yeah, I didn't know any better what the difference between an Inferno and just a RBTA was at the time. Its tentacles don't bubble up as much in my tank and the orange portion tend to get very long. But I agree, I it is pretty regardless of what type it officially is. I'm thinking he's going to split soon.


I got lucky picking up the BigR Gumdrop Acan from @RedSeaRoss last week. The Tequila Sunrise Maybe zoas have started off as a slow grower but it seems like they're really growing now. You will definitely have first dibs once it can be fragged.
Thank you!
 

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You weren't kidding about the mushrooms. They're everywhere!!!
 
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SCUBAFreaky

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Zoa eye candy tonight. Got some new ones in.

JF Poison Potion (These are the most expensive coral I've ever purchased)
20200927_224804.jpg

Pink Diamond (The ones in the very back with yellow tips. These are probably tied for my current favorite zoa)
20200927_225541.jpg

Queen Strat
20200927_224821.jpg

Green Agave
20200927_225104.jpg

JF Cry Babies (I have had these for quite a while but I think they tie for my current favorite zoa. They just look stunning!)
20200927_225628.jpg

JF Visuran (So, I wasn't a fan of these for the longest time...until I started taking quality pictures of them and never realized how pretty they really are. To the straight eye they just look bright orange.)
20200927_225644.jpg
 
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