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Sailfish's Dorm Cube Romance!


Sailfish

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Hi! This is me and my dorm cube romance :)

FTS (24.04.2013)

ftsfront24042013.jpg

 

FTS (04.05.2012)
dscf3403ftsfrontrendere.jpg

  • Tank specs
  • Dimensions: 13.8"x11"x11" ≈ 7 gallons
  • Live rock: 7.3 lbs
  • Live sand: 4.4 lbs
  • Lighting: PAR38 20.000K
  • Circulation: Vortech MP10
  • Heat: AquaEL 50W Unbreakable Heater
  • Evaporation: DIY ATO
  • Mechanical/chemical filtration: JEBO HOB filter (filter floss, 2tbs activated carbon and 1tbs GFO)
  • RO/DI unit: Unsure about the brand (75 gallons per day)
  • Fish
  • Amphiprion Ocellaris (GF: "Nemo")

    Corals
  • Green Ricordia Florida
  • Orange Ricordia Florida
  • Zoanthus sp.
  • Hammer coral (GF: "Dick")
  • Yellow trumpet coral (GF: "Muffin")
  • Suncoral

    Clean Up Crew
  • 2 x Turbo snails (GF: "The Stig" & "Discus")
  • Blue legged electric hermit crab (GF: "Herbert")
  • Nassarius snails

    Other
  • Sabellastarte magnifica, feather duster (GF: "Purple Haze")
  • Randalli's Pistol shrimp (GF: "Randall")
  • Pink bubble tip anemone (GF: "Casa di Nemo")

"GF:" means "Nick name made by girlfriend:" :lol:

I am a Norwegian student, attending medical school in Poland.
I couldn't go six years without reefing so this is the result :D

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Thanks, guys! :)

Sry, about the lighting showing in the pictures. I will switch to my PAR38 20.000K Bulb as soon as I find a clever way of mounting it over my tank :P

 

Here's some more pictures from the startup:

 

Saltwater from the store

saltwaterfromthestore09.jpg

 

Testing for any leakage

testingforleakage.jpg

 

Use what you have...

usewhatyouhavewg.jpg

 

FTS

dormtank1styear091111.jpg

 

Left view

leftside091111.jpg

 

Front view

front091111.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

Sry for not giving updates for a while, the studies have been very time consuming...

 

It has been some changes:

- I have drilled all the rock for coral pegging

Ofcourse it was not very easy putting the rock back together as it was, but I managed to keep the same idea, I think.

 

- I have added live sand

Tank looking much nicer with the white sand!

 

- I have added 2 turbo and 2 nassarius snails

Hopefully they will munch on some algea during my holiday.

 

Now I'm currently on a 2 week Christmas holiday i Norway, and the tank is living happily in Poland.

I was planning on setting up an ATO before I left, but I was not completely finished (no snail guard on the float switches and such) so I decided it could go 2 weeks without top off.

 

Don't worry, I have measured how much freshwater that evaporates from the tank in one week, 0.16 gallons, so 2 weeks will be no problem regarding salinity. I even dropped the salinity down a bit over some days before leaving to make sure it kept below 1.025 even after loosing 0.32 gallons of freshwater.

 

I will post update pictures when I go back to Poland :)

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Trogdor447: I hope I managed to keep that clean look after the drilling and rescaping! You can judge when I come back to Poland and posts some pics ;)

 

Ok, so I think I have most of the fish/critters list down.

1 x Amphiprion ocellaris

1 x Purple Firefish

1 x Green Clown Goby

1x Yellow Watchman Goby

 

1 x Blood Red Fire Shrimp

 

2 x Nassarius Snails

2 x Turbo Snails

1 x Electric Blue Legged Hermit Crab

 

I have also thought about a pistol shrimp to go together with the YWG. Any thoughts on that? Would the tank size have anything to say? :unsure:

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've been back in Poland for a couple of weeks now and I feel everything is coming together regarding the tank setup. I have done many improvements on the tank and thought I would share them with you :)

 

The first I did after ariving back in Poland was to make the light stand for my 20.000K PAR38 LED bulb and its holder.

 

Back view

diylampfixturebackweb.jpg

 

I made it out of 1/2" PVC pipe. Nothing is glued, so if I want to change anything, I can! This makes light acclimation of new corals, by inserting a long PVC piece in the vertical position to raise the LEDs higher of the tank and then gradually changing for shorter and shorter pieces until I reach the desired height, a breeze! B) (*whoo loong sentence* :D )

 

I also had to make an adapter to secure the bulb holder to the light stand.

 

Chop sticks glued and taped

diypartofadapterforlamp.jpg

 

Adapter without sleeve

diyadapterforlampholder.jpg

 

Adapter with sleeve mounted to lamp holder

bulbwithholderandadapte.jpg

 

I used three pairs of chop sticks, which I glued, taped and sawed to fit the lamp holder. I then measured out a small piece of PVC to be the lamp stand side of the adapter. I then glued the taped and sawed off chop sticks inside the small piece of PVC. Last I added a PVC sleeve to easily connect the adapter to the PVC pipes of the light stand. Voilà, custom adapter!

 

This is how it looked when I had hooked it all up!

 

Overview with light stand

overviewofsetup1stlight.jpg

 

Overview closer

ftswholetank1stlightpos.jpg

 

FTS front

ftsfront1stlightpositio.jpg

 

FTS left side

ftsleft1stlightposition.jpg

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Thanks, guys! :)

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. A pity I can't seem to get my camera to capture the real deal, if you know what I mean, because of the LEDs...

 

I am also making my own DIY ATO.

 

Front view, Algea magnet with bracket, main float switch and flood sensor (no snail guard)

diyholderforfloatswitch.jpg

 

Superolateral view of one of the holding brackets, main float switch and flood sensor (no snail guard)

diyfloatswitchandflooda.jpg

 

Underwater look of the floatswitch with the snailguard mounted

diyfloatswitchsnailguar.jpg

 

I will be using two float switches. One of them will be in the water with a snail guard, controlling the water level. If by any reason the main float switch get stuck in the "down" position I will have a second float switch, which is usually in the "down"/"on" position since it is hanging above the waterline, that will cut the power to the airpump when the waterlevel raises too high.

 

I would also like to mount my BOYU flood/dry alarm, so if the main float switch get stuck and the water raises to the "new" waterline, controlled by the second float switch, I will hear it. THe alarm will also go off if the water level goes under the desired height.

 

Problem: I didn't know that the float switch wouldn't handle 220V AC. It was by share luck that I bumped into a thread telling that if the voltage exceeds the maximum voltage for the float switch that the current could arch, causing the pump to keep running even when the float switch is in the "up"/"off" position. I checked the maximum voltage for my float switch and it said 100V :blush: I got a solution from gordons here on NR, mounting a RELAY! :D So waiting for the 12V DPDT Relay in the mail.

 

By the way, sorry about the dark and bad pictures. I only have an old Fujifilm f30 digital camera -_-

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Thanks! I will try to keep this baby in constant evolution! :D

 

I wasn't to happy with the first position of the light. The lit area on the LR was too small.

So, I did some remodeling of my PVC lamp stand, by adding a 45 degree elbow and some differently length PVC pieces.

Here is the result.

 

Overview to show the shape of the new version of the lamp stand

overviewoftank2ndlightp.jpg

 

FTS, front, with the new light position

ftsfront2ndlightpositio.jpg

 

FTS,left, with the new light position

ftsleft2ndlightposition.jpg

 

What do you guys think of the height between the water line and the LEDs?

How much light is reflected out of the tank because of the angling, do you thing?

bulbdistancefromtank2nd.jpg

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By the way here is some pictures showing the RO/DI reservoir and the outlet hose on my DIY ATO.

 

Actually, first I tried having a pump in a clear container with a rather thick hose (fitting the pump outlet) up to the DT. But I felt that the big hose outlet was difficult to fasten safe and secure in the DT, and I got scared that it would somehow "pop off" while I would be on a small vacation or something...

 

Here, showing the clear container with the pump and big hose from the first setup

diyrodiwaterreservoirwi.jpg

 

Big ATO hose outlet into DT

diyfloatswitchandatohos.jpg

 

I then made a airpump driven version with a 1.6G water jug and two pieces of air line tubing. This was great!

 

Showing the 1.6G water jug (ATO reservoir) and air lines. The little airpump sits on the floor behind the green and big RO/DI water reservoir (Not ATO related)

diy2ndversionatoairpump.jpg

 

New ATO hose outlet

diy2ndversionatohoseout.jpg

 

A variety of positives with the new setup:

1. I don't have to worry about the outlet hose "popping off" because it is way thinner and more flexable, aka. way less tension and power to "pop off" :happy: .

2. It does not deliver the RO/DI water as quickly as the first version, meaning there will be less of a salinity shock for the tank. :)

3. I don't have to worry about the pump running dry because of an empty water reservoir. The only thing that would happen if the ATO water reservoir got empty now, is that the airpump would push air out of the outlet hose, instead of water. When the waterline in the DT would get low enough my "low water alarm" would go off. B) Still, it is very unlikely the water reservoir would get empty since I always calculate with a good safety margin, how much water the ATO will deliver while I'm gone on something. And when I'm home I automatically do a gaze or two at the ATO reservoir when working with or looking at my tank. :)

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Deff flatworm

 

And that means oops?

Should I treat this problem before adding corals or is it no drastical problem?

I've never had flat worms before, lol...

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You can treat with flatworm exit, but I had success with siphoning them out via airline tubing.

I see that melevs reef also had success with your suggestions: http://www.melevsreef.com/flatworms.html

Ok, so I'll probably start siphoning them out and treating with Salifert Flatworm Exit after my winter break back in Norway.

 

ID anyone?

I have also discovered another strange creature.

I am quite sure it is some sort of snail...

It usually sits in the exact same spot, but just the other day I discovered it while roaming about not to far from it's usual spot. I then noticed that the spot, on the LR, it usually sits on was completely white as snow, as if the snail had been eating the coraline algea :o

I checked the tank about half an hour later, and it was back on it's white LR spot.

Then again about one hour ago I saw it moving around again. I hurried to find my camera, but don't you think the little bugger was back on his same old white LR spot when I finally found my camera?

 

gotchamothafukamarkedwe.jpg

 

gotchamothafuka2markedw.jpg

 

My girlfriend checked the rest of my LR and it seems to be two more white spots that looks like the one under the snail. Any connection?

 

Also, I'm afraid if it is eating coraline algea (which means it wants calsium an magnesium?) that it will start munching on my stone corals when I introduce them?!

 

Since I already had my clear container by hand I got a pic of my currently only coral, GSP.

 

Here seen superiorly

gspsuperiorviewweb.jpg

 

I have placed them on a LR isolated a bit out on the sand bed, so that they will not overtake the entire tank :)

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Hi, all!

 

I have just visited Rafal, another reefer I found over youtube, and looked at his beautiful reef tank.

I also got some frags back to my dorm tank! :happy:

 

Rafal with his tanks :)

rafalwithhistanksweb.jpg

 

FTS

ftsweb.jpg

 

FTS, front view

rafalftsfrontweb.jpg

 

Rafal's tank and me (the dark shaped object in the lower left corner :lol: )

stankweb.jpg

 

Clowns enjoying themself :happy:

clownsenjoyingthemselfw.jpg

 

BIG hammer coral and red acan in the background

bighammercoralandredaca.jpg

 

Clam

clamweb.jpg

 

Dragonet and fire shrimp, surrounded by stunning corals

beautifulacrowithdragon.jpg

 

Acropora?

nicemontiporaweb.jpg

 

More pics in next post... :o

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Time for frags!

 

Frag garden

coralgardenweb.jpg

 

My Euphyllia frag, ID anyone?

myeuphylliafragweb.jpg

 

My Trumpet frag :D

mytrumpetfragweb.jpg

 

mytrumpefrag2web.jpg

 

I'm SO HAPPY!! :happy::happy:

 

Will post pics of them in my tank, in a couple of days, when they have opened up fully :)

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I'm home in Norway, spending my winter break!

But still I think of my tank in Poland... :P

 

Lately I have been thinking about pros and cons against glass top and no glass top.

Currently I have the stock glass top, with the cutout for the stock HOB filter in the back, on my tank.

Since I changed the stock PC lighting with the PAR38 LED bulb the evaporation has dropped to almost nothing.

 

Does the glass top serve any purpose a plastic screen (for jumpers) wouldn't?

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