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Steely's 20H version 2 (new pics)


steely185

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So diving back into things after a long absence. I'm starting up a 20H for the time being with a 40 breeder in the works. Parts for my 20 High should arrive Wednesday. The 20H will have 30lbs of live rock, 30lbs of sugar sized (0.2mm to 1.2mm) carib sea sand, a Koralia 2 and a Koralia 3. Lighting will be a 150 watt sunpod with a phoenix 14K bulb arriving Friday. I may add a skimmer at a later point but for now I will go without. This will be a mixed reef, softies, SPS and LPS.

 

Here are some pics of the tank pre contents. I will update in a couple of days when the equipment and rock are in the tank.

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So here was the old school 55 from 15 years ago.

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Steely's 40 breeder build

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Well... my equipment should be sitting on my front doorstep as I am writing. I will get things started this afternoon and pick up the rock tomorrow night. This should give the sand time to settle. I may take some pics tonight but will probably wait until the rock is in the tank.

 

The phoenix 14K should be here on Friday. If there is one advantage it is that the rock is from an established aquarium.

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Well I added everything about 6 hours ago and still waiting for some sand to settle. This may take a bit with no filter.

 

I am very happy with everything so far. I love the sunpod and I'm very happy with the MH. I am also very happy with the K2 and K3 running on this tank. It will be nice for the future SPS. I only used about 20lbs of sand rather than the 30. It wasn't arag alive so it's no loss and I can use it on future tanks.

 

Here are some new pics all be it cloudy pics but you can still make out the flow. The camera gives a deeper blue than is present but it's a handheld.

 

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Here's a link to a video so you can get a good view of the flow rate.

 

video of water flow rate

 

 

That's all for now. I'll post some pics tomorrow of the new rock hopefully.

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Just got an update from fed ex and my phoenix 14k is arriving a day early. I will replace the stock bulb this afternoon. Looking forward to the live rock now

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Live rock has now been added. Phoenix 14K has now been put in the sunpod. It's time to wait for the sand to clear and cycle away.

 

Hell of a bargain on the rock. $35 for 30 lbs of live rock from an established tank. Gotta love that. Live rock sells locally for $5-$12 a pound. I'll post some pics when the water clears.

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I picked up a aquaclear 30 today to help clear up the water and use in a jam. I'm only using the sponge in ac30. Pics are coming soon...

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So the water has cleared a lot. Still not near perfect but good enough to get some pics with some detail. The pics don't fully credit the brightness of the tank or blue tint from the bulb.

 

I love the rockwork though because it gives me several perches for sps and caves for fish to hide. It will give me a lot of room to work with when it comes time for coral placement.

 

Let me know what you think.

 

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surface2.jpg

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The water has finally cleared and I decided to use the iphone to take a better picture. Let me know what you think of the rockwork

 

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Here's an angled shot to give some better perspective. You can also see the hitchhiker scallop that came with the bargain rock.

 

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I need to pick up a digital timer and a small fan. I'm a little concerned with the temperature swing that I'm seeing. Tank starts at about 78.5 and rises to about ~82.5 A few times a day with with a fan on the surface should fix things nicely. Gotta love those metal halides.

 

Finally. The watcher of the tank. B)

 

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fishdaddy0831
The water has finally cleared and I decided use the iphone to take a better picture. Let me know what you think of the rockwork

 

d1816dd5.jpg

 

 

Love the aquascaping man.

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I like the 'scaping. It has a range of light intensities which will be good if you have a mixed assemblage of corals.

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I like the 'scaping. It has a range of light intensities which will be good if you have a mixed assemblage of corals.

 

Thanks. It's got some cave work that will work great for the fish and lower light corals. The K2 and K3 provide a ton of flow which will be great when SPS is added. Some of the rockwork does a good job of shielding some of the flow for lower flowrate corals.

 

The best thing about the rock was the price of it.

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Picked up a couple of test kits today. I'll post a full rundown of the parameters this evening. Still early but fun to track.

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The tank will have been set up a week come Wednesday.

 

Here is the breakdown of the parameters.

 

Spec Grav: 1.023-1.024 (in between)

pH: ~8.2

Cal: 480 ppm

KH: 11

Phos: 0

Amm: 0.25 (best I can tell from the color index)

Nitrate: 0

Nitrite: 0

 

Still very early on and I'm in no rush what so ever. It's just fun to monitor.

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Thanks. I'm suprised how well it came out considering I scaped it when the water was cloudy. I couldn't see just how everything was being placed.

 

I really like the rock scape.
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steely185

So I've been noticing a few more hitch hikers (a few zoas, snails, and what I think was a peanut worm) lately so I figured the water parameters were cleaning up. I decided to test my water this morning and here are the stats. Please keep in mind this was about 30 minutes after the light came on this morning.

 

Temp: 79.5

Spec Grav: 1.023

pH: 7.8

Cal: 400 ppm

KH: 8

Phos: 0

Amm: 0 (best I can tell from the color index)

Nitrite: 0

Nitrate: 0 (best I can tell from the color index)

 

I don't plan on adding anything anytime soon as I like to be extra careful. I plan on testing the water over the next couple of weeks before I even add a cleanup crew.

 

On a side note I have done a little work on the 40 breeder and you can check that page out for an update.

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steely185

The brown algae bloom has begun on the rocks and as I figured the cycle is nearing completion. I will still give it some time though but you have to like a quick cycle using rock from an established tank.

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