# New Tank time!



## Flexin5

I decided it's time to change things up a bit. i love my peninsula tank but it's hard to work on. standing on a stool and having the tank up to my armpit so that i can move a frag on the floor is getting old. i've always wanted something euro braced too.

so the new tank is Sig's old one. which one? (he's gone through so many lol)

it's the 36x30x18 euro braced miracles tank. i had to take a door off and two railings but it's in the house now!












i'm going to do a nice scape, 3 small islands with shelves and this tank will be sps dominated. most equipment will be transfered over but i'll have to make a new sump. all fish and inverts will be moved over aswell.

for ligting, i'm switching back to the AI sol super blues. i think two of them will be good enough and i just had much better success with them over the hydras. i'll be ordering the EXT mounting rail or i might hang them from the celing again i'm not too sure yet. i'm going to take my time with the scape aswell to make sure it comes out nice.


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## Marz

Congrats!!!! Love that tank BTW.


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## Bullet

Very nice tank ! 
Can't wait to see how it comes along !


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## explor3r

Go Jason go!!!1 thats a very nice cube I would say, lets see what do you with it.
Ohhh the pressure is on


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## PaulF757

Me likey the tank.


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## tom g

*awesome*

That is great man .cant beat any of sigs tanks .curious and interested
to see how u plumb this man.if I remember correctly this is the
tank with one hole drilled ...following this for sure..
cheers 
tom


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## Kooka

Looks good, subscribed


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## Flexin5

thanks guys! 

as for plumbing, i don't know if miracles tempered that back glass, so instead of risking it, i'm just going to leave the return as you see it, i might shorten up the loc line, and the one MP40 will be on the back so there won't be much equipment seen in the tank - i like it that way..lol

first thing is to do is get a sump made up.


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## rburns24

-
Nice tank. Will be following.
-


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## Mikeylikes

Nice tank ! Keep them pics coming showing the progress.


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## Marz

Mikeylikes said:


> Nice tank ! Keep them pics coming showing the progress.


+1 progression pics would be awesome. Interested that you are going back to SOLS.


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## 50seven

I may have discovered the secret to NOT getting a new tank:

1. Never go to the aquarium store. Here you will see giant new tanks that will force you to think, "Man, this would look good in my house..."

2. Don't learn new things. This week I was at my glass supplier and for the first time I saw a sample piece of regular glass next to a sample of Starfire glass. Drool...

3. Don't read epic build threads on RC or any of RC's TOTM. The explanation is obvious.

4. Don't go to Sig's house. He will tell you what his next tank plan is, and offer you an amazing deal on the one he has now.

5. When your friends tell you that they are upgrading their tanks, hang up the phone/close the thread immediately. Nip peer pressure in the bud.

6. Tell your significant other that they are all that you need for happiness and fulfillment in life. Practice this many times in the mirror until you get it right. Saying this many times a day will slowly free you of the emotional need to seek after a larger tank.

Practice these steps consistently and you might succeed in NOT upgrading your fish tank. Best of luck to all!

 Have fun Jason!


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## Marz

Last post +100 Genius!!!


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## PaulF757

Marz said:


> Last post +100 Genius!!!


That was hilarious but so accurate.


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## tom g

*Lmao*

kevin has it figured out .....


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## sweet ride

Ya more pics!!!


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## duckhams

Looking forward to seeing what you do with the rockscape! I've been thinking about a square tank for a while. I like them a lot!


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## Flexin5

picked up some stuff this week already..lol but my home internet is down so i'll have to take some iphone pics tonight.

some opinions on this sump design? (first time designing a sump so hope you enjoy my ms paint drawing LOL)


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## Flexin5

Picked up some stuff, couple pieces of dry rock that I have to hack apart and another ai controller


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## fesso clown

Looking good. 
I would advise against that sump layout. The first(drain) section as a fuge is not a good idea. a) too much flow b) all the crap coming down from your tank will get stuck in there. 
I would skip the fuge all together. I think (this is only my opinion) that you should choose between a fuge or a frag section. 
If you really want a fuge AND a frag section in your sump I would advise that you make the first (drain) section big enough to house your skimmer, that's where it will count. make the second section the frag area and a third for the return pump and then make the last section a fuge with a high baffle and a T off your return pump to feed it. 
Just my 2 cents. 
Congrats on that tank, are you shutting down the other one? It was/is looking fantastic!


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## Kooka

+1 to the above. You need to have the skimmer in the same compartment as the drain, otherwise you'd be getting major microbubble issues in your display, not to mention all the crud getting lodged in the refugium from your drain. I'd say after that it's up to you where the refugium and frag rack go. Personally the layout I'd be most comfortable with would be: Skimmer/drain - refugium - frag rack - return pump.


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## 50seven

For best performance, I'd have to agree with fesso. Having the "poop skimmer" in the first section will cut down on air bubbles and put all the dirty stuff in one compartment. Currently my drain from the DT goes straight into my refugium, the first section of which is a compartment of LR. It constantly gets coated with detritus, so a replaceable filter screen is in the works for that spot.

Having a lower flow in your refugium would also be better. Best way is like fesso said, put it as the last and feed it off the return pump. Or have a completely separate tank as a refugium...

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


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## Flexin5

ah good idea. 

i would forget a refugium all together to be honest, but with my skimpy rock work in the tank, i need a place to house more of it. 

to be honest i fully forgot about the entire microbubble thing, so i will put the skimmer in the drain section aswell, so i'll have drain/skimmer -> frag rack -> return pump up with a manifold feeding the refugium next to it. 

one thing i'm doing with this tank is that i'm going to make a manifold with a bunch of valves and hose ends to run reactors, or direct flow. i have way too many maxijets (i think i have 4 now?) in the sump and that's just a mess of wires and wasted power. 

and yes, the current tank will be moved over and torn down. kinda sucks because i finally got GSP to cover most of the overflow..lol but i've always wanted something more on the shallow side.


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## 12273

Flexin5 said:


> picked up some stuff this week already..lol but my home internet is down so i'll have to take some iphone pics tonight.
> 
> some opinions on this sump design? (first time designing a sump so hope you enjoy my ms paint drawing LOL)


Awesome tank! Can't wait for my cube to be done .

By the way. Love the poop in the skimmer collection cup. Very accurate and even tapers off. Impressive

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## Jesurex

lol someone had to revive one of sig's tank

good job man, keep up the good work


...and that for 40G is available for you


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## Flexin5

^thanks again for the tank man!

a little sump action. also picked up what I think should be enough dry rock. going to get working on the scape, pick up some new sand this week, as well as order my baffle glass, get that all made up and it'll be time to start the plumbing to fill it


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## darthvictor

Woo exciting! Looking forward to your updates


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## Bullet

Looks exciting !

Good luck !


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## Flexin5

little sneak peak at what I've been working on. not yet finished have to do some finishing details on it but you get the idea. I'm hoping that a cleaner shrimp will make a home in there.










night time looks pretty cool I think.


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## Jaysan

Flexin5 said:


> little sneak peak at what I've been working on. not yet finished have to do some finishing details on it but you get the idea. I'm hoping that a cleaner shrimp will make a home in there.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> night time looks pretty cool I think.


sick looking bro


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## mauricion69

If you wanted to see if the glass was tempered you could look at it through a polarized lense.


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## Flexin5

You're right, I'm still on the fence about drilling it tho.

Got the sump glass today, $80 for 7 pieces, 1/8th" thick. Fair price IMO at a little over $10/cut and it was done the next day. Just need to pick up some silicone this weekend and I'll probably start to make the sump Monday or Tuesday.



I also got the bottom corners cut to fit over the existing silicone for a nice fit


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## mauricion69

Who do you get your glass from?


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## Flexin5

got the glass from northstar glass. positive experience, called him up late yesterday and it was ready first thing today.


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## Flexin5

well after a few snags with glass sizing, I finished my first sump. I think it came out alright

putting in the first baffle. also had to measure for the skimmer and the vertex sock holder.










my diy ghetto baffle holder. basically got a 90degree and superglued two magnets onto it, then two strong magnets on the other side held it square.










and all done:



















also got the tonga rock and sand in, now that the sump is off the list I can finish up the rock work, then tackle the plumbing and I can start to fill it.


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## fury165

So, are you happy with the Tonga rock?


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## Flexin5

^very happy! i made a quick call to him and asked for just the stick part of the rock, instead of like a clump with sticks attached to it. it's only 4lbs but more than enough for what i need.


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## Flexin5

rockwork


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## Bullet

Looking good Buddy !


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## explor3r

I would never say something like this but you know me and I consider myself your friend I think you can do better aquascape than that Jason....play with the rocks for a bit, place them go away for few minutes come back look at it and from there u go.
At the end of the day is whatever you like....good luck


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## y4zhuang

I agree with Alex. I think you have the height down pact. The left part, I think you can improve. Also the fish has needs. Reducing the stress by having little caves and hiding spots would make the fish happier. I like the pillar idea, but maybe try to build up to the height. like a tree trunk has roots and a base. This way it doesnt look like just a stack of rocks. we want something functional for the fish as well aesthetically pleasing for the eyes. Just want to put my opinion out there. If you take a few pics of different aquascapes, we can always provide some feedback  Yah in the end, go with what you feel looks and works best for yourself.


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## 12273

If you take a look through my build thread I made pillars with cpvc pipe and the rocks don't fully touch and it leaves little caves all over. Shrimp and 6 line love em !!!! 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Marz

I don't really have any great knowledge on this as you know I am still a noob...but...I did find this link very helpful when i started and often refer back to it.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2217633


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## Flexin5

ya i was having a hard time picturing it so i added sand to have a more completed look. i think i'm going to get rid of the left tower, and make kind of a hill for a drop-off look.



something like this:


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## 12273

Try slipping that left Column close to or in between the other two. Give it a stretched look and have a couple zoa rocks coming off it leading to the empty space on the left . Just an idea  


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## Flexin5

that's not a bad idea actually, i wanted to leave some open space for the tangs.


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## Bullet

Oh yeah, the tangs !

I was wondering when you would get to that !!


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## fury165

What happened to your shark?


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## 12273

Sharks with frickin laser beams attached to there frickin heads? 

Sorry, had to. 


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## Marz

Really must punctuate it with....


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## Flexin5

LOL! 

shark never ate. i would hold a piece of shrimp near it and it would bite the tweezers only


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## Marz

That's too bad. It was so cool when it was in the sac.


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## Flexin5

it was cool, wish it was around longer lol

about to get my plumbing on...



got my plumbing on....



the reason behind this manifold was because in my current tank, I have maxijets galore. reactors,UV, flow etc, with tubes running everywhere and not to mention all those little pumps add up in terms of power. atleast this way it's just a turn of a valve if I need it. just need to pick up one more fitting and glue everything in place and I can start to fill it.


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## mauricion69

Thats Amazing.... I still have my N64 hooked up too. Anyone up for a GTAA Mario Kart tournament? Lol


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## Jaysan

mauricion69 said:


> Thats Amazing.... I still have my N64 hooked up too. Anyone up for a GTAA Mario Kart tournament? Lol


haha, of all things, you see the n64! LOL


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## Flexin5

LOL i just bought goldeneye off of ebay, retro gaming is where it's at! 


btw will trade frags for starfox 64


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## Marz

I don't believe I will ever part with my dreamcast or N64...and starfox isn't going anywhere


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## Flexin5

Well big step today, I hate this part because I always think there's going to be some kind of massive flood lol, but aside from two pin hole leaks so far so good. I think I'll have to get a stronger return pump for a bit more return pressure. Should be full in a few days.


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## Flexin5

cycling.............


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## Bullet

Big step 
Congrats !


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## WiseGuyPhil

Did you say pin hole leaks? Was this in the plumbing or the tank? How did you correct this issue?


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## Flexin5

^this was in the plumbing. there were two, one from the bulkhead and one from a joint. the one for the joint was an easy fix, just slabbed on a bunch of pvc cement and it's nice and sealed. 

the other was from the bulk head, came from the inside part of the threaded part, where the slip meets the PVC. this is the second bulkhead that's leaked, i don't think they are manufactured like a PVC fitting is, it's a little loose, but some silicone jammed up and around the bottom of the bulkhead and around the PVC seals it up. had the same issue with my current tank but all is well now. also i find that once salt water gets going it will find alot of small holes and the salt creep will plug it; you can notice this on loc line.


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## WiseGuyPhil

Yikes!! I highly recommend you cut and redo your plumbing. If your fittings were leaking, cut replace. Putting glue around the outside will not bond properly.

Also, did you rough up the inside of the fitting a bit with sand paper before using the glue? By roughing the inside of the pvc joint you create crevices for the cement to adhear to which creates a better bond.

As for the bulk head, I also recommend SLIPxThread fittings. It sounds that you pushed the pvc directly into the slip fitting. Vibration's from the water draining can make the bond lose.

Just my recommendation 



Flexin5 said:


> ^this was in the plumbing. there were two, one from the bulkhead and one from a joint. the one for the joint was an easy fix, just slabbed on a bunch of pvc cement and it's nice and sealed.
> 
> the other was from the bulk head, came from the inside part of the threaded part, where the slip meets the PVC. this is the second bulkhead that's leaked, i don't think they are manufactured like a PVC fitting is, it's a little loose, but some silicone jammed up and around the bottom of the bulkhead and around the PVC seals it up. had the same issue with my current tank but all is well now. also i find that once salt water gets going it will find alot of small holes and the salt creep will plug it; you can notice this on loc line.


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## fesso clown

I know it totally suck to hear it but Phil is right. I did a mend job like you did, both ways too one I added pvc glue to a fitting that dripped a tiny bit and the other I siliconed around a bulkhead/slip connection. Both failed eventually. Mine were tiny tiny tiny leaks too... 

best bet is to re-do it now before your established. Totally sucks dude.


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## Flexin5

yea not really worried about it to tell you the truth, as the sump is right under the drain anyways. i ordered a new bulkhead, but it's simple to just drain the overflow and re-do it as the drain is not very long or complicated.


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## explor3r

Flexin5 said:


> cycling.............


Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!let the fun begin


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## 12273

Looks awesome! 


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## Flexin5

Thanks fellas,

One thing I have to comment on, is that the jaebo return pumps are whisper bloody quiet. The tank is next to the tv and I wasn't happy with the amount of noise it made as much as I tried to quite it down. I seriously can't even hear the jaebo pump even if I listen for it.


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## fury165

Looking good Jason


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## Flexin5

^thanks Rog!

well little update, didn't see much of a cycle, threw some test pieces in there and they are doing great, tried some zoas, LPS and even some easier sps and all are doing great. also tossed in two clowns and moved over my orange shoulder tang and all are happy, no ich or signs of stress.

also santa came early, and when I say santa I mean march from fragbox with my new lights LOL



picked up two units of 2 bulb aquatic life T5's, 39w 10k. two sol superblues or hydras will go inbetween them and then all will be hung from the celing. hopefully this will give me the color on sps that I've been looking for but i'll be swapping out the bulbs for some ATI's very soon.


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## Flexin5




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## Marz

Saweet!!! I really have to come see it in person (wink wink nudge nudge )


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## Bullet

Great work Jason !


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## Flexin5

thanks guys!



Marz said:


> Saweet!!! I really have to come see it in person (wink wink nudge nudge )


for sure buddy, let me know when you're free


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## deeznutz

Looking good! Why not a ATI power module hybrid? That would look nice. You would only need the 24" model.

-dan


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## Flexin5

thanks! i thought about it, but i had all these sols and hydras kicking around so i figured i might aswell use them.


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## sig

very nice tank. glad to see it in good hands and finally in use

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## Flexin5

^well you made it first haha

finally found my memory cards and reader.  
don't mind the lights I still need to hang them.




























and a few characters of the tank:


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## Jiinx

oh! How did I miss this? 

This is such a great tank. I love your choices of fish. And there's something about seeing Greg's old tanks being passed onto fellow reefers! 

I love cubes. So much so that my next upgrade is going to be a cube! Even though that area where my tank is, is really fit for a rectangular tank....

Are you planning to add any more fish? Is this the 85 G tank? 

sarah


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## Flexin5

Jiinx said:


> oh! How did I miss this?
> 
> This is such a great tank. I love your choices of fish. And there's something about seeing Greg's old tanks being passed onto fellow reefers!
> 
> I love cubes. So much so that my next upgrade is going to be a cube! Even though that area where my tank is, is really fit for a rectangular tank....
> 
> Are you planning to add any more fish? Is this the 85 G tank?
> 
> sarah


hey Sarah how's it going?

thanks very much! I'm loving the depth to the tank, really changes things up, almost like it's more 3d looking. this is greg's old 85 gallon tank, I love it when he upgrades haha I'm not planning on adding many more fish, at most maybe 3 anthias because the 4 I had in the old tank I'm gifting to my uncle....and I can't catch them..lol and I might add a few fire fish, hopefully they will make their bolt holes that one rock in the front like I hoped.

picked up a bunch of sticks tonight:


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## altcharacter

Love the rock work dude


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## Flexin5

^thanks buddy! I need to drop by soon

I kinda went frag crazy lol

just snapped some craptastic pics really quickly before I head off to work:


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## Patwa

nice 'scape....you using a fisheye lens there? or some sort of ultra-wide? and yeah, holy frags man


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## Flexin5

^thanks man, ya threw on the sigma 9mm fisheye for fun.


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## fesso clown

Looking great! What's the yellow fish?


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## Flexin5

thanks buddy, that's my orange shoulder tang, that has yet to turn gray


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## Flexin5

been a while since I've updated this. here's what been going on:

something happened with the tank. I'm not entirely sure, but for about a week the tank was cloudy and I had no idea why. filter socks, carbon, water changes, you name it, I tried it. I believe it was some kind of bacterial bloom but I'm not too sure. ontop of that, I forgot to turn on the ATO one day and the water line was too low to pump any warm water back to the display, so I had the temp dip to about 71degrees.

then, I had magnesium dip to about 1050-1100. all of these swings combined with the bacterial bloom led me to a lot of bleached out sps frags, and I lost quite a few fish. this really sucked, especially loosing most of my nice, healthy fish. all that remain is dori (thankfully, she's been with me the longest), a melanrus wrasse and the clown tang.

after a massive waterchange, and just leaving things alone, the tank settled and started to bounce back quickly. it's nice and clear now, the remaining fish are nice and healthy, and I've worked hard on getting params back into proper ranges. now I'm dosing using a jaebo doser, fragbox dosing container and 3part. the tank is doing better than I've ever thought, and with the combination of T5's with the AI hydras, I couldn't be happier with the colors and polyp extension. anyways here's some pics and a crappy fts for now  big thanks to march @ fragbox for getting me things as soon as I needed them quickly


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## sig

I like image # 3 from to top. It reminds me "finger" to the whole world 
and says - I will survive 

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## Bullet

Wow sorry to hear of your losses Bud - my condolonces 
Glad that things have bounced back


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## explor3r

Thats right Jason never give up!! keep it up buddy


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## Windowlicka

sig said:


> I like image # 3 from to top. It reminds me "finger" to the whole world
> and says - I will survive


If that coral didn't have a name before, it does now: "Gloria Gaynor"!


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## sig

Windowlicka said:


> If that coral didn't have a name before, it does now: "Gloria Gaynor"!


how are you doing? any fishes

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## Windowlicka

sig said:


> how are you doing? any fishes


Life is good, thank-you, sir! No fishies for the time being - I'm enjoying living vicariously through you guys (yes, I've been quietly following your latest "YABT"* thread! )... My latest hobbies are every bit as expensive as glass boxes, but require regular 'oil' rather than 'water' changes!

* YABT - Yet Another Bloody Tank


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## Flexin5

Windowlicka said:


> Life is good, thank-you, sir! No fishies for the time being - I'm enjoying living vicariously through you guys (yes, I've been quietly following your latest "YABT"* thread! )... My latest hobbies are every bit as expensive as glass boxes, but require regular 'oil' rather than 'water' changes!
> 
> * YABT - Yet Another Bloody Tank


classic/muscle/track car? if so then nice!

just some quick shots


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## Marz

Looks like it's really doing well!


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## Flexin5

^thanks buddy! can't complain! been a while for an update. just letting things grow out nicely while maintaining nice color, added a MP10 for some more directional flow (it worked on the 1/2" thick glass) aswell as the next step up jaebo return pump. plenty of flow now.

also got a new birdfish lol jk


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## Marz

Love the bird fish


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## Flexin5

little bit of an update, been off sick this week so just trying not to be bored. cleaned up the lights and raised them, also cut back on my lighting time. I noticed things getting a bit light/pale so I've also been feeding a bit more aswell. aside from that everything is going well, getting nice color, nice growth and all the fish are nice and happy save for a picky eating powder blue tang.




























unknown green with purple polyp acro










RR pretty in pink (thanks again Alex!)










RR golden Buddha









sunset milli









RR candy apple milli 









unknown









pink lemonade and other unknown


















there's a few more designer pieces but their pics didn't come out very well. maybe when they grow out more.


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## explor3r

Very nice Jason I love the third picture where all the fish are in formation and the Tang is posing for the shot. Once all the SPS take off your tank is going to look amazing.
Thank you too


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## noy

Looks good and good luck with your new additions.

Nice panther grouper don't see that too much (except at big als). I would love to get one but i have too many small fish.


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## Flexin5

thanks guys, the panther grouper is super tiny. very cool looking fish and when i saw him at the store and how small it was i picked it up. the smallest fish in my tank would be the 5 fire gobies, and those are about 3x his size, when he gets too big, i've re-arranged my refugium for a home just for him. the main reason behind him was because i read that they are big poopers, so i got him to add nutrients to the tank.


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## sweet ride

system is lookin good buddy!


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## CamH

Are using any special lenses for those pics or just macro mode?


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## Flexin5

CamH said:


> Are using any special lenses for those pics or just macro mode?


I jump between my 24-70 F2.8L for the full shots and the macro 100mm f2.8 for the close ups.


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## 12273

Flexin5 said:


> thanks guys, the panther grouper is super tiny. very cool looking fish and when i saw him at the store and how small it was i picked it up. the smallest fish in my tank would be the 5 fire gobies, and those are about 3x his size, when he gets too big, i've re-arranged my refugium for a home just for him. the main reason behind him was because i read that they are big poopers, so i got him to add nutrients to the tank.


He or she will poop a lot when they're 20 inches on size! Lol.

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## Flexin5

here's a little update. just in grow out mode, keeping things stable and letting the tank do it's thing. not many new additions with the exception of a tiny clam. took the pics as the tank was going to sleep, lots of encrusting, not so much growing outwards yet with the acros.


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## goobafish

Nice shots. That purple/pink polyped green acropora is beautiful, great depth of field on the shot.


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## picoreef

I see future frags! lol. Love the new tank. 

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## duckhams

Love the parrot perch and the panther grouper! Your conure looks fascinated by the fish, what a great shot.


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## Flexin5

Been a while, just letting everything grow out.


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## notclear

goobafish said:


> Nice shots. That purple/pink polyped green acropora is beautiful, great depth of field on the shot.


I am almost sure that it is ORA Red Planet that he got from me some time ago


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