Bryan's Cadlights Artisan II 70G Mixed Reef

ThePorkchopExpress

ThePorkchopExpress

New member
Hey guys, been a while but I never posted tank pics. Well I recently moved to a bigger place which allowed me enough room to finally upgrade from a 34G All-In-One to a 70G plus 30G sump. I imported everything over from the 34G except the sand because the Tropic Eden Aragasnow sugar sized sand I was using kept blowing around after installing my Maxspect Gyre. So I went with the bigger grain Tropic Eden Reefflakes sand this time.

Tank/Stand: Cadlights Artisan II 70G
Lights: 1x AI Hydra 52, 2x AI Prime
Flow: Maxspect Gyre 130, Ecotech Vortech MP10
Skimmer: SCA-302

New tank has really only been up for a little over 2 weeks and everything is doing great. I do have a diatom bloom from the new sand but I expect that to go away any day now. I'm going for the minimalist look. My 34G was far too packed for my liking and I decided to not add anymore rock. I will only be adding more fish to get my nutrients up since I'm always measuring 0/0 NO3/PO4. I'd like to get a little bit of nutrients in there because of all my SPS.

Livestock is SPS dominant but a true mixed reef. I have anything from xenia to cespitularia to bubble corals to z's and p's to acans to plates to montis to many sps. Actually the current star of my tank is a $400 true yellow plate coral. I can't even capture how bright this piece is on camera...

Some of my livestock include:

SPS
Acros
RR Orange Passion
ARC Fireworks
TCK Goldrush
TCK King
PC Superman
WWC Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Tierra Del Fuego
UC Bali Shortcake
ORA Red Planet

Montis
UWW Starburst
Jason Fox Aquaman
Jason Fox Speedbump
RR Nautispiral
Reeftec Starburst
Superman
Rainbow
Darth Maul

LPS
True Yellow Fungia
Rainbow Golden Hammer
CC Wonkavision Chalice
Yellow Torch (w Blue tips)
2x True Orange Hammers
Neon Yellow Hammer
Scoly
Fox Coral
Bubble Coral
Rainbow acans

Softies
Z's/P's
Rainbow Rhinos
Rastas
Pink Krakatoas
Scarface
Everlasting Gobstoppers
Goblin's Fire
Electric Oompa Loompas
Scrambled Eggs
Sunny D's
Woodstocks
Maraschino Cherries

Blue Cespitularia
Frilly Mushroom

NPS
Dendros
Tube Anemone

That's about 3/4 of what's in the tank that I can remember the names of. A lot are no names.

Pics:

























I'm terrible at taking pics of my SPS. They never come out right so I'm not even going to try...
 
very slick and neat system! Looks very clean and well organized. Looking forward to seeing updates as it grows out.
 
thats what i was talking about whn you texted me time back :) this is awesome ( :spy: now i know where to source from when i get back in to the hobby; if i do :D )
 
Thanks gentlemen...i'll keep practicing taking livestock pics

tinman said:
thats what i was talking about whn you texted me time back :) this is awesome ( :spy: now i know where to source from when i get back in to the hobby; if i do :D )
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yea tin, you set the ball in motion! i wasn't really planning on getting a new tank as my old one was doing fine but you put that thought in my head and it just became a necessity...it was a lot of hard work to be honest - i still ended up hiring people and they really discouraged me from transferring all my livestock right away with the new sand and water...so we basically moved both tanks to the new place, set up the new tank with new water and new sand, set up old tank with all the livestock again, waited 2 weeks while seeding the new tank with bacteria and checking alk everyday between the two to make sure no alk swings. Fortunately most of my SPS made it - i only lost 2: an ARC Ultracake and a Rommel's Rainbow :(
 
ThePorkchopExpress said:
Thanks gentlemen...i'll keep practicing taking livestock pics



yea tin, you set the ball in motion! i wasn't really planning on getting a new tank as my old one was doing fine but you put that thought in my head and it just became a necessity...it was a lot of hard work to be honest - i still ended up hiring people and they really discouraged me from transferring all my livestock right away with the new sand and water...so we basically moved both tanks to the new place, set up the new tank with new water and new sand, set up old tank with all the livestock again, waited 2 weeks while seeding the new tank with bacteria and checking alk everyday between the two to make sure no alk swings. Fortunately most of my SPS made it - i only lost 2: an ARC Ultracake and a Rommel's Rainbow :(
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i know :) but it came out beautifully i think ..

one piece of advice .. unless you know the guy and can trust their word DONOT add any sps, with all these flat worms going around DONT risk it :)
 
tinman said:
i know :) but it came out beautifully i think ..

one piece of advice .. unless you know the guy and can trust their word DONOT add any sps, with all these flat worms going around DONT risk it :)
Click to expand...

yea i haven't bought anything local in a very long time, i've just been buying stuff from the reputable vendors like jf, cc, and others i trust and even then i bayer dip and scour the frags for eggs

anarchy said:
This thing looks awesome! Wish mine looked this organized
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thanks man...i learned from my previous tank that simple is sometimes better...less products and equipment, less maintenance, less chances of error...i threw out most of the products that i never really used and nowadays all i really do is scrape the glass of algae a few times a week, check alk every day/every other day, dose amino acids, and just monitor the corals for any changes...if i noticed any negative changes, then i check the other stuff like NO3/PO4...hell, i don't really even do water changes as regular as i used to, i've been using those KZ auto supplements for my iron and potassium and everything's been doing well...having a doser for Alk/Cal really simplified things for me...less stuff means less stuff to organize :)
 
2015.06.07 - Small Update

Added this month - WD Tenuis, Joe's Rainbow Acro, Reef Raft Pretty in Pink, RMF Red Devil Nasuta

I've been playing around with the camera more trying to get better shots. Still not great but I did take a few acceptable shots :)



Naoko's Fairy Wrasse


Rainbow Acan and CARs


McCosker's - RIP buddy. He got hit with ich and weakened, he couldn't survive the bullying of the Naoko and went into hiding.


Naoko's, Yellow Tang, and Bluestreak Cleaner - I've found the ones from Africa will take mysis shrimp but it's 50/50. I've had 2 from Africa in the past that ate like champs but always found a way to jump out. There's just something about the Bluestreak I love.


Last but not least my newest SPS to the tank. I figure now is a good time to start a progress thread. This is my new WD Tenuis. Not much to look at currently, he had a rough shipment and when I was pulling him from his frag plug he actually broke in half! But he's been showing great polyp extension lately and is healing up. Top left of WD is an RMF Red Devil Nasuta, far left is a TdF, and to the right is an ARC fireworks...of course this pic is non-representative of their actual colors, I'm still learning how to take these pics :/
 
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About time for an update.

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New lights and new frag tank! Switched from a single Hydra 52 and 2 AI Primes over the DT to 2 Hydra 52 HDs and a Hydra 26 HD over the frag tank which is plumbed to existing sump. It's been working well, fragging and moving to the frag tank has very little color shift, if any. I also now have 2 Gyre 130s along the back coupled with an MP10 on one of the sides in Reef Crest mode to produce some random flow. It's actually working great this way.

In the cabinet I turned my 55w UV online and the output is now going out into a new ATS. It's been doing great in keeping nutrients low. Maybe a little too great because at times i read undetectable NO3/PO4 which isn't too good for SPS...

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This guy is going to be a stunner when he's all colored up. It's the UC Bali Shortcake. I got him as a 1" frag and brown. It turned green almost immediately under LEDs like pretty much everything else going from T5/MH to LED. Stayed green for MONTHS. Now it's finally about halfway to it's potential. Pink body, yellow tips, blue new growth.

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TdF. Poor guy's gotten fragged several times this week alone. Walt Disney Tenuis is encrusting and polyps have all turned bright yellow. I'm told after yellow comes the pinks and oranges. We'll see, I'm not holding my breath anymore.

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Frag tank is starting get real full...

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Suffered a near catastrophic crash due to potassium overdose. Practically all my montis were affected. My sunset and Starburst cap colonies were hit real hard and barely survived. Lost a bunch of acros as well, some long time colonies to boot. Orange Passion was down to like 5 polyps but hung in there. It was so bad, I could see polyps with no skin around it. Now everything is rebounding and almost back to full health. Pictured here is an ASD Rainbow Phoenix that barely survived. A UWW Sunburst that's showing off it's orange polyps. The JF speed bomb monti. That JF Aquaman barely made it as well. 90% of it STN'd but it's now coming back.

I made the mistake of buying Cornbred corals directly from Cornbred. Here's a tip. Don't do it. They come around 1/2", cost a pretty penny, and are never colored up. Bottom left is the Cornbred Holy Grail acro that's a booger, cost over a hundred, and came all green. Flaming Pink Lemonade was all green as well. Not even a slight hint of yellow. Won't be making that mistake again.

Anyways, the tank is back on track. I was able to correct my issues just in the nick of time. I had corals dying daily at one point. Now I'm going to keep things simple.
 
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