bryman
New member
Hello all. I've been gone for a while, but no I am not dead 
. I saw Jay yesterday at the reef conference in Schaumburg and didn't recognize him without his ponytail. Pretty cool though that I ran into several people that recognized me. Seems that we still have a community around 
Anyhow, I've been through my share of ups and down in the hobby, and if you followed my tank build thread on the other big site (formerly), you may be familiar with my tank. Long story short - was pretty successful with SPS, then started to over-think it and play with Alk, used biopellets, and lost everything. I am now going back to my original methods with one change:
- Big refugium chuck full with various macros and critters. It's so packed to the surface so it works as a turf scrubber too.
- Good-sized skimmer - AquaMaxx EcoMaxx EM200 (best I've used)
- Tiny bit of ROX carbon in a bag in sump
- Same ATI bulbs I used to run - 4 Blue+, 1 Aquablue Special, 1 Purple+
- One Change - Calcium reactor instead of Dosers. AquaMaxx Star S2 with AquariumPlants.com electronic solenoid. Running Aragonite and about an inch of Dolomite for extra Mg. I really like stability of my Ca reactor.
I am getting back to my 10G weekly water changes and using the synthetic as close to natural seawater I can find: Crystal Sea Bioassay Laboratory Formula Marinemix. I did re-aquascape a while ago with Tonga branch so I have a lot of filling in to do with SPS. It's not much to look at yet, but you gotta start somewhere.
FTS:
I recently picked up some SPS from AquaPros (really impressed with his stuff lately) as well as Jason Fox yesterday at the show. I do have some survivors that have some coloring up to do, except my purple Stylo that is more massive than ever and still looking good.
From left to right - ORA Bird of Paradise, JF setosa, awesome Aussie with yellow tips/red polyps from Aquapros, and Frag Farmer Red Robin(JF)
Left to right - Tierra del Fuego (coloring up), Pink Lemonade (top), Vivid Rainbow Delight (bottom from JF), ORA Pearlberry (JF), Green Slimer, True Undata:
Left to right - Sweet Aussie similar to DFS strawberry mint from Aquapros, Tyree Icefire (I sure hope, guy swore it was the real thing):
Left to right - Aussie with teal polyps/yellow tips from Aquapros, JF Sunset Mille (top), Baby blue Aussie with green polyps from Auqapros, Battlecorals Rainbow's Army:
Left - Nub of Red Planet that is recovering and starting to color up:
Blue Squamosa that thrived through the bad conditions and doubled in size. He likes it dirty
And here is my non-saltwater pal Frank. I won him yesterday at the conference and got him a little Aqueon 2.5G setup. Thinking of maybe making it a little planted picotope but I have little experience with FW anymore:
. I saw Jay yesterday at the reef conference in Schaumburg and didn't recognize him without his ponytail. Pretty cool though that I ran into several people that recognized me. Seems that we still have a community around Anyhow, I've been through my share of ups and down in the hobby, and if you followed my tank build thread on the other big site (formerly), you may be familiar with my tank. Long story short - was pretty successful with SPS, then started to over-think it and play with Alk, used biopellets, and lost everything. I am now going back to my original methods with one change:
- Big refugium chuck full with various macros and critters. It's so packed to the surface so it works as a turf scrubber too.
- Good-sized skimmer - AquaMaxx EcoMaxx EM200 (best I've used)
- Tiny bit of ROX carbon in a bag in sump
- Same ATI bulbs I used to run - 4 Blue+, 1 Aquablue Special, 1 Purple+
- One Change - Calcium reactor instead of Dosers. AquaMaxx Star S2 with AquariumPlants.com electronic solenoid. Running Aragonite and about an inch of Dolomite for extra Mg. I really like stability of my Ca reactor.
I am getting back to my 10G weekly water changes and using the synthetic as close to natural seawater I can find: Crystal Sea Bioassay Laboratory Formula Marinemix. I did re-aquascape a while ago with Tonga branch so I have a lot of filling in to do with SPS. It's not much to look at yet, but you gotta start somewhere.
FTS:
I recently picked up some SPS from AquaPros (really impressed with his stuff lately) as well as Jason Fox yesterday at the show. I do have some survivors that have some coloring up to do, except my purple Stylo that is more massive than ever and still looking good.
From left to right - ORA Bird of Paradise, JF setosa, awesome Aussie with yellow tips/red polyps from Aquapros, and Frag Farmer Red Robin(JF)
Left to right - Tierra del Fuego (coloring up), Pink Lemonade (top), Vivid Rainbow Delight (bottom from JF), ORA Pearlberry (JF), Green Slimer, True Undata:
Left to right - Sweet Aussie similar to DFS strawberry mint from Aquapros, Tyree Icefire (I sure hope, guy swore it was the real thing):
Left to right - Aussie with teal polyps/yellow tips from Aquapros, JF Sunset Mille (top), Baby blue Aussie with green polyps from Auqapros, Battlecorals Rainbow's Army:
Left - Nub of Red Planet that is recovering and starting to color up:
Blue Squamosa that thrived through the bad conditions and doubled in size. He likes it dirty
And here is my non-saltwater pal Frank. I won him yesterday at the conference and got him a little Aqueon 2.5G setup. Thinking of maybe making it a little planted picotope but I have little experience with FW anymore:
