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MedRed

Jun 22 2009, 01:27 AM

After many questions, much deliberation, and a few setbacks... The tank has lift off!

06.24.2009

07.03.2009

07.10.2009

07.12.2009

07.15.2009

07.20.2009

07.22.2009

08.02.2009

08.06.2009

08.09.2009

08.19.2009

09.12.2009

Equipment:
34 Gallon Solana
Solana Black Modern Stand
Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155
Vortech MP40w
Custom Dry Dock
Sunpod 150w with 14,000k Phoenix (planning a 250w w/ Actinic upgrade at some point)
Sapphire Aquatics Solana/Cardiff NanoSkimmer (arrives this week)
100w Stealth Heater

Fish:
Blue Spot Jawfish
Tail Spot Blenny
Shark Nosed Gobies (pair)
Naked Clownfish (2)

Inverts:
3 Peppermint Shrimp
Nassarius Snails
Cerith Snails
Nerite Snails

Corals:
Gonoipora (? Species)
Gorgonian (? Species)
Ricordea Florida
Zoas (including blue tubs and armor of the gods)
Hammer Coral
Torch Coral
(? coral)

________________________________________________________________________________

Original Post

QUOTE

After many questions, much deliberation, and a few setbacks... The tank has lift off!

Sorry for the cloudy water... I was moving sand around with the vortech on and ended up with a cloudy mess. I will not be keeping the bulb long term. It\'s a left over 10,000K Ushio I had lying around. I\'ll be using a 14,000K Phoenix bulb. I didn\'t want to waste the new bulb while the tank was cycling.

Equipment:
34 Gallon Solana
Solana Black Modern Stand
Tunze Osmolator Universal 3155
Vortech MP20
Custom Dry Dock
Sunpod 150w with 14,000k Phoenix (planning a 250w w/ Actinic upgrade at some point)
Sapphire Aquatics Solana/Cardiff NanoSkimmer (arrives this week)
150w Stealth Heater

I\'ve had quite a few hitchhikers already...

1 hermit crab

3 of these corals (I have no idea what they are)

I also have noticed some tiny starfish, a few bristle stars, and a few small zoas I forgot to take a picture of.

foofooree

Jun 22 2009, 03:01 AM

Yes! And thus begins an epic journey.
Nice hitchikers! Sounds like you lucked out

Psychosis

Jun 22 2009, 03:04 AM

If you got a hitch hiker mini nem I'm afraid I'll have to kill you.

Haha tank looks great man.

edit: If it is a mini nem I'll totally buy it.

MedRed

Jun 22 2009, 03:26 AM

What is a mini nem? I have three of them. The rock came from an established reef. I think the tank had been set up for over 2 years.

I think I did luck out on the hitchhikers... I actually have something to watch in the tank. lol

foofooree

Jun 22 2009, 03:27 AM

QUOTE (MedRed @ Jun 22 2009, 04:26 AM)

there's always something to watch in a reef

Psychosis

Jun 22 2009, 03:32 AM

I all ways misspell the scientific name, and since it's late probably every other word as well, but mini carpet nems are highly sought after. I couldn't be sure that's what it is, I don't have my own as a personal reference, but you could count yourself very lucky if that is the case.

MedRed

Jun 22 2009, 03:57 AM

I have no idea. There are three of them. They are open during the day and seem to close up somewhat at night. I'm just glad they are happy with my cycling tank. I haven't checked any paramaters other than the specific gravity. I was going to wait until this Thursday or Friday. I also need to get one more piece of live rock to complete the scape.

I am making a vow to fight coralline algae anywhere that's not on a rock.

davidr2340

Jun 22 2009, 11:13 AM

Looks great!

Nice to see this tank finally up and on it's way bro!!!

Remember... I'm holding that frag of my hammer for ya!

ryanmilo

Jun 22 2009, 09:52 PM

Just replaced my bulb to a pheonix and what a difference, nice start. Are you going to use a chiller or fans?

MedRed

Jun 22 2009, 11:53 PM

Thanks David! Ryan, I don't plan on running a chiller or fan. I have 3 tanks with Metal Halide lighting and glass lids over them. Nothing runs hotter than 80 degrees.

lakshwadeep

Jun 23 2009, 12:49 AM

mini carpet anemone = Stichodactyla tapetum

d'Espresso

Jun 23 2009, 01:09 AM

looking good there bro. Cycle time right? how long have it been? i like your rocks and that vortech! can't wait to have mine coming in soon. check it out!

dpnano

Jun 23 2009, 01:32 AM

nice tank man i like the solonas they look nice and modern does the light come with the tank, how much do they run the tank with light?

MedRed

Jun 23 2009, 03:01 AM

QUOTE (lakshwadeep @ Jun 22 2009, 09:49 PM)

mini carpet anemone = Stichodactyla tapetum

Thank you sir... helpful as always. Do you think my little guys looks like green hairy mushrooms?

QUOTE (d'Espresso @ Jun 22 2009, 10:09 PM)

looking good there bro. Cycle time right? how long have it been? i like your rocks and that vortech! can't wait to have mine coming in soon. check it out!

Thanks... it is indeed cycle time. Your tank is sweet!

QUOTE (dpnano @ Jun 22 2009, 10:32 PM)

nice tank man i like the solonas they look nice and modern does the light come with the tank, how much do they run the tank with light?

Thanks dpnano, I already had the light hanging around. I found a good deal on the tank and stand for $424. I'm not sure what a good deal on a sunpod is, although I see them quite often in the classified section. I originally bought my sunpod for $249.99 from petsolutions. If I had it to do over I would have bought the tank and had a stand built or found another stand. It's pretty cheaply made. I do love the drawer however.

MedRed

Jun 25 2009, 02:38 AM

Been gone a couple of days. The tank is all clear now. Diatoms have set in already.

Here's a better picture of the coral

Lucked out on some truly live rock!

Just noticed this monster today... there were two near each other, now there's only one. Time for some apt killin'!

mniven

Jun 25 2009, 09:52 AM

medred, quick question: I'm considering investing in this tank and was curious about the noise level. Would you consider it fairly quiet compared to other tanks you've had, or is it on the loud side?

Noise always seems to be the first question my wife asks me when I tell her I'm considering a new tank!

Thanks.

GentleBen

Jun 25 2009, 10:03 AM

QUOTE (mniven @ Jun 25 2009, 10:52 AM)

medred, quick question: I'm considering investing in this tank and was curious about the noise level. Would you consider it fairly quiet compared to other tanks you've had, or is in on the loud side?

Noise always seems to be the first question my wife asks me when I tell her I'm considering a new tank!

Thanks.

The Solana is my first saltwater tank but I find it to be very quiet. It's certainly better than all the fresh water tanks I have had over the years.

MedRed

Jun 25 2009, 11:05 AM

My FW tanks are have zero noise level since they use virtually silent canisters. Like GentleBen says, the this tank is very quiet. The only noise I have so far is the gentle whirring the vortech makes. I'm not running the skimmer yet so I can't give feedback on that. I did upgrade the skimmer so hopefully that will keep the noise level down as well.

The_Yellow_Pony

Jun 25 2009, 11:08 AM

Nice start!!!!

juice that aip.....NOW!!!!!!!!!

Walking_Target

Jun 25 2009, 11:29 AM

yep, get some joe's juice or Aiptasia-X and KILL IT WITH FIRE.

The_Yellow_Pony

Jun 25 2009, 11:30 AM

Lemon juice is cheaper ^_^

EDIT:

I bumped you to page 2

MedRed

Jun 25 2009, 11:43 AM

Thanks Pony, where can I get a syringe?

The_Yellow_Pony

Jun 25 2009, 11:46 AM

Pharmacy's....just plead your case. They tend to be more understanding when they know your not looking to shoot up ^_^.

If they give you a hard time, farm supply stores usually carry them.

MedRed

Jun 25 2009, 11:56 AM

do I inject the base? or right down the middle?

foofooree

Jun 25 2009, 01:22 PM

You're getting diatoms! Cycle time

I think that you just inject the middle, but I'm not sure.

coachfraley

Jun 25 2009, 02:08 PM

Great looking setup, and that is some nice LR (apart from the aiptasia).

Keep the pics coming as you stock it up!

RLC

Jun 26 2009, 10:31 AM

Looking good so far...Now all you need is a Mantis Shrimp.

MedRed

Jun 26 2009, 11:27 AM

QUOTE (coachfraley @ Jun 25 2009, 12:08 PM)

Great looking setup, and that is some nice LR (apart from the aiptasia).

Keep the pics coming as you stock it up!

Thank you... i had to tear the tank down to nuke the aipts. My scape is different now, and i'm not sure if i like it.

QUOTE (RLC @ Jun 26 2009, 08:31 AM)

Looking good so far...Now all you need is a Mantis Shrimp.

I would love a mantis shrimp! My LFS had one once upon a time. It was a total bad ass! Maybe one day i'll do a species tank for a cranky ol' mantis shrimp

RLC

Jun 26 2009, 02:41 PM

Yeah our Mantis is way cool. We are going this weekend to pick up a turbo and a fish or two to put in with him. We use to have a few different fish with him in the 29 and a Turbo snail. He didn't even pay any attention to them. He would look at the Turbo but never strike at it. We can't wait to see more pics.

foofooree

Jun 26 2009, 03:08 PM

QUOTE (MedRed @ Jun 26 2009, 12:27 PM)

My scape is different now

You know, we love pics

RLC

Jun 26 2009, 04:39 PM

Yes more pics.

MedRed

Jun 26 2009, 04:49 PM

lol... i'm not sure if it's a permanent scape.

fishboy87

Jun 30 2009, 08:07 PM

the original scape was pretty cool

MedRed

Jun 30 2009, 10:34 PM

my second scape is torn up as well now. I have an aiptasia i can't get to. I may just say forget it, and add a peppermint shrimp when the tank cycles. I've been so busy i've not had a chance to check params either.

Ando

Jun 30 2009, 10:45 PM

I'm jealous! I love rimless!

Have FUn!

TriggerHappyDude

Jun 30 2009, 10:55 PM

QUOTE (MedRed @ Jun 30 2009, 10:34 PM)

Are aiptasia bad to have in the tank? I googled pictures of them, and I appear to have some small ones growing.

Ando

Jun 30 2009, 11:18 PM

They might take over in the long run.. just get some peppermint shrimp. usually does the trick

I have some popping up in my tank and need to get rid of them too.

TriggerHappyDude

Jun 30 2009, 11:36 PM

Thanks Ando, sorry didn't mean to try to thread jack you here MedRed, awesome start to your tank.
What skimmer did you upgrade to? If its the Sapphire Aquatics one, its deadly silent. Love it.
We want to see more pics of this tank bro!

MedRed

Jul 1 2009, 01:26 AM

Thanks Ando, I had two aiptasias. I was able to kill one... but the other darts into his hole way too quick for me to puncture him with the syringe... it's like the little bastard is mocking me. We'll see how he likes his peppermint tank buddy.

Kamikaze

Jul 1 2009, 01:44 AM

QUOTE (MedRed @ Jul 1 2009, 12:26 AM)

I hope you have luck with the Pepermint, I have three and two nudibranchs that supposedly eat aptasia and I still have a few biggin's mocking me as well.

MedRed

Jul 1 2009, 02:53 AM

grrr... That's no bueno. I really don't want to put a scape back together until they're gone unless I know something in the tank will eat them.

MedRed

Jul 14 2009, 04:13 AM

As everyone knows... 13 days worth of posts were lost with the corrupted server data. I can't reconstruct the thread... but i'll repost some of my previous updates.

MedRed

Jul 14 2009, 04:18 AM

7/03/09

QUOTE

So after chasing aiptasia around the tank, I couldn't get my scape back to a way that I liked it. I decided to go for coral surface area this go around. Presenting: "The Atoll". It's a little cloudy as made quite a mess moving the rocks and sand around.

I tried to offset it, but the rocks and the size of the tank weren't cooperating too much. I have pods all over the glass. I think i'm about ready for a clean up crew. hopefully the param check agrees.

You can see I have bryopsis on the glass. The FW world has an algae that's just as much of a PITA (cladophora). i'm going to check my paramaters and then begin dosing the kent mg and raise my mg levels to 1600 ppm.

7/10

QUOTE

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15340113#post15340113 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MedRed
[B]Major Update:

I've switched to the 14000K Phoenix bulb... and I have my first coral! kind of... lol I guess they are anemones.

Starting to look like a reef?

What is this algae?

7/12

QUOTE

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15347523#post15347523 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MedRed
Introducing... Ricordea Rock... I plan on adding 1 more ricordea. I'm saving the two lower shelves on the right of the rock for two nice yumas. I also added the first fish today! a green clown goby. I forgot to take a picture of him while he was acclimating. He's hiding out in the branch rock on the left. I can't get the camera to play nice to take a decent picture of him.

MedRed

Jul 14 2009, 03:07 PM

The King has arrived and brought his court jester with him!

I introduced him to his throne with a dasani bottle with holes poked in it and the bottom cut out of it.

Success!

I had to use the flash on these next two pictures to get them to show up.
The court jester doesn't think anything is very funny at the moment

Here is a picture of the clown goby... He will not be in this court for long

DAHNIC561

Jul 14 2009, 03:42 PM

awsome spotted jaw makes me wish i had sand...

and your crazy if you think your goin' 2 catch that golby with-out tearing down your rock work...

MedRed

Jul 14 2009, 05:38 PM

Thanks Dahnic, I know on the clown goby... where there's a will, there's a way big lesson for me on doing my homework first.

MedRed

Jul 14 2009, 09:19 PM

Teaser Video of the Blue Spot...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmILAnl4YaI

He is constantly watching me! I've caught him several times dumping sand out of his house.. as soon as he notices me... he quits and watches me with intense distrust... lol. This is the best I could get of him close up... when I'm further away... he pokes his entire head out.

davidr2340

Jul 14 2009, 09:25 PM

Awesome new fish bro!!!

Now I really want a BSJ since my LFS has ten of them in right now for $99.99... Which around here, is a helluva deal!!!

Congrats!

MedRed

Jul 14 2009, 10:07 PM

Thank you sir... he's full of personality. Hands down my favorite fish.

MedRed

Jul 15 2009, 01:07 AM

another update tomorrow!

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