My 50 Cadlights Cube Artisan 2 Build
- Thread starter DD
- Start date
DD
"Rambo"
The reefer
Active member
DD
"Rambo"
Jaime, when it encrusts the rock I'll cut you a piece
Cool. Just let me know. Keep up the good work on the tank.
Thanks Jaime, first frag is yours!
DD
"Rambo"
Quick update time:
It's been a while since my last update. The main problem I've had with this tank is sps STN'ing on me. I think that even with the Dr. Tims one and only, the tank just wasn't quite ready for sps just yet.
I've spent a bunch of time fixing problems with water chemistry and I think I finally have it under control.
Phosphate's were way higher than I like for a while. I kept seeing brown algae all over the glass so I installed the tlf 150 with a bunch of GFO. That took the phosphate levels down to reasonable levels, but a few days later, the phosphate went back up. I replaced the gfo again, and now levels are at .05ppm. I'm pretty pleased with them now.
All of the sps that was in the tank, only got moved there when I was having some strange issues with my 27 cube. I think something died in the tank, something I didn't add. My only guess is that it was a sponge growing on the rock where I couldn't see it which caused my ammonia to go up to .2 ppm. Not terribly high, but anything readable is no good IMO. I panicked, moved the majority of my sps over, then they proceeded to STN. Well, lesson learned.
So I moved the majority of sps back to my 27, where they've been doing well for now. I'll probably begin moving them back slowly over the next couple weeks as long as the parameters remain stable in this tank.
Here is one of the colonies I picked up from the DD tour yesterday. It's a rose colored stylophora. It's roughly the size of a softball!
This second pic is of a random colony of paly's. Not sure what they are. I checked zoaid.com thoroughly and couldn't find any that matched. The closest was sour apples, but they have slightly different colors.
Here is a FTS:
None of the corals are in their final locations yet. I'll start experimenting with placements once I get everything I want to transfer back into the tank.
I also picked up two awesome frags while on the tour. One is a really pretty setosa, the other is a ridiculously colored blue granulosa. They were both so expensive I normally wouldn't have purchased them, but figured I would just get them since I don't drive 6-7 hours to go coral shopping normally lol!
I'll get pics of the setosa and the granulosa once I can move them over to this tank. They're currently on a frag rack in my 27 until I feel it's safe to move them over.
One thing to keep in mind with Divers Den is that their corals and fish are extremely well cared for. That's why the price on most of their stuff is up there. I've never seen such healthy corals before with the exception of an lfs or two I've been to around here.
All four corals I bought opened up right away, with the exception of the stylo colony and paly colony. The lights were pretty much all the way down when I added them. The two frags extended polyps within 5 minutes.
It's been a while since my last update. The main problem I've had with this tank is sps STN'ing on me. I think that even with the Dr. Tims one and only, the tank just wasn't quite ready for sps just yet.
I've spent a bunch of time fixing problems with water chemistry and I think I finally have it under control.
Phosphate's were way higher than I like for a while. I kept seeing brown algae all over the glass so I installed the tlf 150 with a bunch of GFO. That took the phosphate levels down to reasonable levels, but a few days later, the phosphate went back up. I replaced the gfo again, and now levels are at .05ppm. I'm pretty pleased with them now.
All of the sps that was in the tank, only got moved there when I was having some strange issues with my 27 cube. I think something died in the tank, something I didn't add. My only guess is that it was a sponge growing on the rock where I couldn't see it which caused my ammonia to go up to .2 ppm. Not terribly high, but anything readable is no good IMO. I panicked, moved the majority of my sps over, then they proceeded to STN. Well, lesson learned.
So I moved the majority of sps back to my 27, where they've been doing well for now. I'll probably begin moving them back slowly over the next couple weeks as long as the parameters remain stable in this tank.
Here is one of the colonies I picked up from the DD tour yesterday. It's a rose colored stylophora. It's roughly the size of a softball!
This second pic is of a random colony of paly's. Not sure what they are. I checked zoaid.com thoroughly and couldn't find any that matched. The closest was sour apples, but they have slightly different colors.
Here is a FTS:
None of the corals are in their final locations yet. I'll start experimenting with placements once I get everything I want to transfer back into the tank.
I also picked up two awesome frags while on the tour. One is a really pretty setosa, the other is a ridiculously colored blue granulosa. They were both so expensive I normally wouldn't have purchased them, but figured I would just get them since I don't drive 6-7 hours to go coral shopping normally lol!
I'll get pics of the setosa and the granulosa once I can move them over to this tank. They're currently on a frag rack in my 27 until I feel it's safe to move them over.
One thing to keep in mind with Divers Den is that their corals and fish are extremely well cared for. That's why the price on most of their stuff is up there. I've never seen such healthy corals before with the exception of an lfs or two I've been to around here.
All four corals I bought opened up right away, with the exception of the stylo colony and paly colony. The lights were pretty much all the way down when I added them. The two frags extended polyps within 5 minutes.
Funlad3
Well-known member
Dom! The tank is looking great, and I like how you added corals instead of anemones this time around. And AWESOME corals at that! 
Once it gets a bit larger, I'd love a piece of that stylo; it'd go great next to my neon green one, which I have a piece or two of as well.
Well, I want to see some pictures of the DD fish system, so enough of your tank, show me the money!
Once it gets a bit larger, I'd love a piece of that stylo; it'd go great next to my neon green one, which I have a piece or two of as well.
Well, I want to see some pictures of the DD fish system, so enough of your tank, show me the money!
DD
"Rambo"
Dom! The tank is looking great, and I like how you added corals instead of anemones this time around. And AWESOME corals at that!
Once it gets a bit larger, I'd love a piece of that stylo; it'd go great next to my neon green one, which I have a piece or two of as well.
Well, I want to see some pictures of the DD fish system, so enough of your tank, show me the money!
Thanks Ben! I didn't take any pics of the fish systems because that's where everyone was. My buddy I'm sure did. I'll ask him to text me some of the pics.
I'll be able to cut you a piece of that stylo soon. Maybe I'll cut it when you're done with the trap.
DD
"Rambo"
Thanks Steve! The first stylo I saw was one that I've been looking for since December. It was a pink stylo, but the only problem is that it was a mariculture, frag sized "mini colony". They wanted $80 for it. Then I saw the massive rose colored stylo colony for not too much more. Pretty easy decision! Vivid aquariums has the pink stylo frags so I may be putting an order in with them in the near future.
Unfortunately the only photos I took are in the announcements section in the DD tour thread. My buddy took some, but I know it'll take me a while to get them from him. Sad part is I brought my dslr and only took a few pics lol! I was too amazed at everything to snap very many pics, plus there were a whole lot of people there so it was difficult to get really good shots.
The reefer
Active member
Great looking tank Dom. I have to stop by one day to check it out.
DD
"Rambo"
Thanks Jaime! I'm just really glad it's stabilizing. The parameters were all over the place but now they're finally in range of what I've been shooting for. I'll move some corals over after they stay stable for another week or so.
I've begun to see green algae start to form so I couldn't be happier
DD
"Rambo"
Sorry it's been so long, Dom! My dad has given up on using to catch his second clown, so assuming I can catch my Potter's Angel quickly (which I should be able to do), I can have it clean and ready to finally go home with you this weekend!
Sounds good. I'm not in any hurry. I'm just trying to limit how much I've been driving. I've put more miles on my ride since starting this hobby than in the last 2 years for everything else lol!
DD
"Rambo"
DD
"Rambo"
Quick update time:
The two colonies I got from divers den are doing really well so far. The couple frags I had left in the tank when the sps weren't doing so well are on their way downhill. Still haven't figured out the cause.
I just got done installing my chiller, so hopefully the temp swings were the cause. I'm just glad to have one to do checked off for this tank.
If the temp swings aren't the culprit, I'm not sure what the heck is going on. Next step if it doesn't stop is to remove all sps, bayer dip them again, then put them in my crammed 27 cube for now. The sps that I moved over there have all pretty much recovered.
Next to do is install the wxm module. I'll try and get that done tomorrow, hopefully lol!
The two colonies I got from divers den are doing really well so far. The couple frags I had left in the tank when the sps weren't doing so well are on their way downhill. Still haven't figured out the cause.
I just got done installing my chiller, so hopefully the temp swings were the cause. I'm just glad to have one to do checked off for this tank.
If the temp swings aren't the culprit, I'm not sure what the heck is going on. Next step if it doesn't stop is to remove all sps, bayer dip them again, then put them in my crammed 27 cube for now. The sps that I moved over there have all pretty much recovered.
Next to do is install the wxm module. I'll try and get that done tomorrow, hopefully lol!
Tethered_Limbs
Active member
Hopefully the swings were the issue, don't want anything happening to those nice pickups from DD! The WXM module is a cinch to setup, once you get the module itself installed of course 
DD
"Rambo"
Hopefully the swings were the issue, don't want anything happening to those nice pickups from DD! The WXM module is a cinch to setup, once you get the module itself installed of course
Thanks Erik, I'm hoping it was the swings. Everything else is fine parameter wise. Ever since I started kalk it's been stable.
I picked up one of the frags that are not doing well and took a really close look. Nothing seemed unusual on it. Checked the underside too and nothing. No red bugs either. It's really strange.