SWE Custom 180ish Reef Display

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Thanks again, Matt!

[bella d]

Woah, nice tank! Is the corraline not growing at the top because of high light intensity?

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It could be but, I think its from weekly waterchanges. It is much less noticeable IRL

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So back in April I might have accidentally put a coral in with Acro Eating Flatworms. The tank never looked better this month. Unfortunately, our long term goal is to be able to sell out of the display. So, the tank came down. I put in some fake corals, acid bathed the rocks, and put all the live corals in QT.

First we took the live corals out, then chopped off all the bases. While we didn't find any eggs, this is a long term tank and we don't want wait to find out if the tank was infected or not. ugh, we lost years of growth, the trunk of the Purple monster was about 3". It was too thick to get at with the band saw so I had to use the tile saw and Frag tool 5000 (rusty screwdriver). The biggest piece left is less than half the size of the original colony. The stag and centerpiece green coral survived well.... so far. I lost my two colonies of Hawkins echinata. Fortunately, ORA is just a call away. The granulosa bleached out, but we expect it will recover... at least till the next dip. We plan on leaving the tank coral free for a few months and to do bi-weekly dips in the QT to be sure there are no worms.
Its really a big blow, but I have seen some of my friends go through this and we know the tank will be even better the next run. I already have some ideas of what I want to do with the next catharsis!

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Since our visit in CA, Li has been itching to do a display that is popular in the better stores around LA. I call it the LE display. The LE display has select SPS to frag, and all the best LPS colonies that come in. There are even a few choice softies here and there.
Li is out scrounging for choice dry rock to create his wonders with. The previous live rock has seen its final acid bath. This was the third full bath with acid, and it proved too much for the structures. We have some great rubble filtration for sale now though...

On a personal note... I am freaking out that there are no plans for an SPS dominate tank and trying to dream up an excuse for one at home... I suppose I can be happy with my frag tank and just grow up some nice colonies for the time being

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http://www.vividaquariums.com/default.asp

inspiration videos inside.

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Teaser: Looks like Li has most of the rock work done in the back. I'm not sure if he said he was curing it in system or out of system... but it looks sweet!