kgoldy Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 I'm thinking I may just go with the DSB- filling with more oolitic and figi pink #0... Then throw some crushed coral and shells (a bag I've had sitting around for months) around the base of the rocks to encourage pistol shrimp to use it to stabilize their burrows. That method seems to have worked for a few people before. http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/show...d.php?t=1162963 Link to comment
bitts Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Thats an interesting thought & sounds like it would work pretty well. Link to comment
kgoldy Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 Got that stuff ^ from petco or petsmart forever ago... Was originally going to use it to cherry pick shells for hermit crabs... This seems like a good excuse to finally use it. Haha. Link to comment
reef-luva Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 WOW!!! 10+ ...nice build..... I like the exposed sump with the decorative wall hiding the goods. Did you see that some where or was that an OG idea? This is definitely "custom"...can't wait to more!! Link to comment
bitts Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Don't know if there's any og idea left in this hobby.But I think we can put this whole build down as, as close as can get, now n day's. Link to comment
kgoldy Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 Well the cabinet was completely custom, I can say that much. Display sumps have been done before... But I've never seen one exactly like mine. I took a general idea from bitts and ajmckay and modified it to my own needs. So- 24 hours later, no leaks. ATO seems to be malfunctioning though... Haven't had the time to mess around with it too much though... Gotta work to afford my reefing addiction, after all. And if I don't make time for the gym, I might die next time I do a water change... A combined 26 flights of stairs (up and down) holding full 5 gallon water buckets kicked my ass yesterday. Edit- come to think of it... I don't think I've ever seen a rockwall in a sump... so yeah, I guess that qualifies as an OG idea. Link to comment
kgoldy Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 "For a sand bed to contain the most animals of the most species, it really should have a distribution where sediment sizes span from about 2 mm to 0.063 mm (2 mm to 1/16th mm), and where most of the particles are in the 0.250 mm to 0.125 mm range. This will make a sediment that is acceptable, if not perfect, for most animals." -Ron Shimek How Sandbeds REALLY work Hmmm... Guess I better find myself some really freakin fine grain stuff to top off the rest of the DSB. Even the oolite doesn't make it into that category. -edit Screw it. Keeping the substrate level I currently have. It'd be impossible to get the right grain distribution at this point. Link to comment
bitts Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 lol Oh & the small stuff can come from things that settle out. Link to comment
kgoldy Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 What do you mean? Link to comment
spanko Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Incredible build. Following along. Link to comment
bitts Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 organics like detritus & such that settles it the pore water. Link to comment
kgoldy Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 So you think I should proceed with adding more oolite? Link to comment
bitts Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 the only other thing Ican think of that may also be good to add is 1) the sludge from you lfs. But this can come back to bite you since more than likely you cant really qt it. 2) Refugium mud. As to the oolite I'd always say yes to it since its in the middle of the grain sizes helping with the particle distribution curve. Link to comment
kgoldy Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 Dedicated a lot of today to lighting... I'll upload the pics soon. I'll have to read through the photography forum so I can capture the raw awesomeness going on over my tank. Link to comment
kgoldy Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 Tunze Osmolator- One loud ass alarm. Haven't messed with it since I first set it up- then unplugged it because it filled and tripped it's own overflow sensor. Gave my used Bubble Magus a vinegar bath and scrubbed the crap out of it. I couldn't see where the bubbles were in the thing with all the calcerous algae the last owner let grow in there. Also, the sediment that came from the unwashed sand (never doing that again!) became mud and stuck all over the skimmer. I'm going to have to really do some research about how to tune this thing. I'll set it so the bubbles break well below the neck... Then come back an hour later, ot's fine... fifteen minutes after that I hear gurgling, and it's overflowing. WTF? Fuge should now be pretty sufficiently primed with bacteria. And probably some pests I'll have to deal with later too. The nasty looking bag is stuff that was scooped from the bottom of the LR holding tanks at Pets Warehouse in Copaigue. No matter what I say, I can't convince the guys there to give me a scoop of mud from their refugium... There are so many worms and goodies- but they're so convinced that the mud is so old (8 years) that it'd do more harm than good. I'm just going to have to go there on a busy day and grab one of their new guys... Link to comment
kgoldy Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 Tossed the rest of the funky stuff into the display. There were a few pieces of coraline in there, so hopefully I'll get a jump start on some coloration. I'll be feeding the tank some left over phyto feast and other junk I let go stale to encourage bacterial growth. I think I'll be moving my BC29 into this tank in the next three weeks or so. Link to comment
gutterguy Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Awsome build man, my dry rock from RC started to get corraline in less than 2 months Lets see some light!! Link to comment
kgoldy Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 So I spent an hour... maybe a little more, in Home Depot playing with pipes to create a light hanger. I needed something strong- but also wanted something decorative. I wanted to go with copper because it's pretty, but I don't trust it to hold the weight of both of my LED lights. I was thinking maybe fill it with "Great Stuff" or Gorilla Glue to make it really strong- but I have no idea how long it would take to cure to full strength. The other options were galvanized pipe, and black steel (gas pipe). Galvanized doesn't paint well, so I went with the gas pipes. After opening a lot of fittings and assembling a few mock-ups in the plumbing aisle- I finally settled on using 1/2" pipe for the vertical supports, and 1/4" pipe for the rest. Here's what the first attempt looked like: And possible colors- I'm going to let the women of the house pick which one. Over the tank: Apparently 1/4 steel pipe flexes a fair amount with just a little weight pulling down on one end... So I had to spread the supports a little wider. Awsome build man, my dry rock from RC started to get corraline in less than 2 months Lets see some light!! Just cuz you asked for it.... This is the view my cats and dogs will have of the display. Pretty kick-ass if you ask me. And some more vanity shots... Just playing with macro settings... Still have no idea how to use a real camera. This Cannon G10 has way more going on than I know how to deal with. Link to comment
kgoldy Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 Playing with lights... There are two buttons/cords to control each light. One controls blue and purple, the other controls white and blue. This shot is white/blue only on the left and blue/purple only on the right. When I get the RKL working, I'm going to dedicate and entire PC4 just to the LED lights. Here's why- First 30 minutes of day cycle (left - off .... right - blue only) 31-60 minutes into day cycle (left - blue ... right - blue) 61-90 minutes into day cycle (left blue ... right blue and white) Day time- full strength lighting. (left blue and white .... right blue and white) 90-61 minutes before night cycle (Left blue and white .... right blue) 60-31 minutes before night cycle. (left blue ... right blue) 30 minutes before night cycle (left blue ... right off) Link to comment
kgoldy Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 For those who may have noticed the water level looks crooked... The rim of the tank is about 1/4 high in the front right corner. I will NEVER recommend anyone to buy a Deep Blue Professional product, ever. Link to comment
kgoldy Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 Pretty neat. I like the coral pegging idea. http://www.reefvideos.com/ Link to comment
kgoldy Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 So I'm wondering if I should make a DIY led light for the fuge- which would be mounted directly above on the "ceiling" above it... Or if I should get a par30 from BoostLED with tight optics to mount to one of the corners. Link to comment
spanko Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Do you still have some flex in the light stand? Link to comment
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