I cant believe its actually starting!!!


Time to feel the wrath of CASABUBU!!!!

GO 05 REEFERS! 05>04 ....simple math tigahboy!

Good luck in the contest Casabubu! Do I want to feel or fell the wrath or rath?

lol....

Good luck

04>05

whens my stuff going to come!!!!

%^&* Fedex! -should've came last friday, the day before the starting date!!

Yay stuff came!!

heres a pic of all the stuff I ordered



With coralife aqualight on



And the pump that saved me (power filter was back ordered)

is that light the 18w Coralife light....how is it staying there...do you have a glass hood..the only glass hood i could find was a solid one...like there was no openings...how are you getting it to stay on top....thanks in advance

I bought the glass top with mine and cut it with a cheapo diamond blade cutter $3 at the hardware store, took all of 5 minutes.

http://scott.fluidimagery.com/fish/sw/pico/03-day1.jpg

i dont have a dremel.....SP?

I was about to ask the same question. How is that light holding there. Does it like fit perfectly in width size?

hahaha im glad that you asked!


As you can see in the pic, the light is resting on the wire. It works for now, but I will probably put a glass cover over the tank soon.

WOW, that's awfully dangerous man. One little shake and that thing goes into that tank and forget it, lights out. It's ok now because there is no water.

Ya, i know, I just put it like that for the picture

no...actually i have had the coralife 18w light and it droped into my 10g twice....let ti sit for a while and dry...it worked after bith times...i still have that light and it still works but i got a new one for the contest....anyway...im not suggesting you leave it like that but im jsut saying mine worked..after being droped in the water 2 diff. times

Just put two paint stirrers under the light across the tank. It'll rest perfectly.

good idea, JxMetal, but for now im thinking of hanging it or building a canopy.

I ordered my live rock and live sand today !! I ordered from premium aquatics, as I have had great expieriences with them in the past. I bought 5 pounds of lr, 4 pounds of ls, 1 margarita snail, 2 nassarious snails, and 2 baha red leg hermits.

Now I play the waiting game

well, turns out I cant ship livestock via priority mail, so I only ordered the live rock and live sand.

omg.... I was playing around with the 9w bulbs that came with my coralife fixture (trying to design a canopy), and I droped one of them. Well, it droped like 3" and SMASH!! The reef gods are against me in this tank!

Things gone wrong thus far:
1)equipment was delayed 4 days
2)power filter was back ordered (still havent received it)
3)couldnt get livestock I wanted because they cant be shiped via priority mail
4)Live rock/ Live sand order was delayed because the livestock couldnt be shipped
5)actinic bulb cracked and my lfs doesnt stock it

sorry about the rant, just had to get that out

Keep on trucking... Lots of time left. Eventually, your luck has to swing.

I know how you feel... my tanks are finally on their way, but I just found outthatthe stand/cabinet I ordered from target.com was backordered, and will not get here untill the 10th atthe earliest, 14th at the latest! I'll wish you luck if you do the same for me! lol!

Jared

well in that case, good luck Jared!

Arggghh! Sorry to hear of your problems, lets hope that's the end of them now. I'm still waiting on my lights/pump too. Fingers crossed that it all comes together in the end for us.

Best regards

Ann

Well, im starting my canopy today. I am using birch wood.

I just got done making my canopy, tho I don thave the electronics in it yet. cant wait to see what you come up with

I finished my canopy today !! It actully came out quite nice. Now I have to fill the canopy, stain the canopy, and make a base. Now I just have to find my stupid camera so I can snap a pic....

I actually have alot planned for this canopy. I will be having two parabolic reflectors (one for each 9w bulb), two individual switchs for the 10k and actinic light, an ATO inside, and a fan.

Also, I heard from both premium aquatics and thatpetplace.com (where I bought my equipment). Premium aquatics fixed my order and (hopefully) shipped it yesterday. So hopefully my lr/ls will come tomorrow. Also, thatpetplace.com told me that my backordered filter will come in on the nineth, and wont arrive at my house untill around the sixteenth.

So, pretty much good news today (though I still have to order a new actinic bulb)

Yea I think that I'm gonna end up buying a good reflector for mine to get the most out of the 18 watts I can. I just posted pics of my canopy in my thread. Birch is a light wood right, color wise.

Yes, birch is a very light wood, and with the stain, I hope to keep it that way.

Also, I will be making a parabolic reflector. I recommend that you do the same as it will save a ton of money . I am using aluminum sheets from homedepot (in the gutter section). They cost 75 cents, and are very reflective. Also, they are very maleable and can be bent into many shapes easily.

well thats the stuff I'm using, what shape are you making yours?

Yea I like a light wood but I just used the wood that I had layin around.

Im going to get it as close to this: http://store1.yimg.com/I/lamps-now_1870_11889655 as I can get. How do you plan on bending it? I think I will bend it with a metal ruler.

I usualy use the edge of a table, or somethign really straight, and then bend it using a book to press it. it bends it really evenly and cleanely.

Good idea, I think I will do that.

Interestingly enough, this canopy has not been very expensive to make:
$5-wood
$0.75- aluminum
$0- fan, ac-dc converter, and switches

total cost:$5.75

post some pictures of this hood! i wanna see so i can make a hood for 5.75 too

GOD!!! I cant find my FRICKIN camera!!!! I really want to update though! The hood came out beutifuly. Now off to look for the camera some more...

Yea I had my wood already, and the alumunum was layin around the house. Only expensive part was the light, $40, but I figgure it'll be worth it.

I FOUND MY CAMERA !!! Of course, it cas in the most obvious place...on top of my stereo... It always seems like the things you lose are always right under your nose.. whatever im just glad i found it!

Im taking pictures as we speak

Time for an update!!

Her is my new canopy. It is made out of birch plywood, yet i still managed to have only grain exposed


Hers a pic of it on the tank


Heres the inside; ready to be filled


And heres an example of what all the pieces look like. as you can see, I cut all the edges at a 45 degree angle. It was a tedious task, but I think it really enhanced the look of this canopy.

wow to not be lazy, if you check out my hood I have nails expoesd, but it only took me an hour to make mine, it was a spur of the moment thing. good job it looks great

Im happy the way my hood came out . Anyways, I should have gotten my lr/ls yesterday....

btw; does anyone know if stock participants are allowed to install moonlights in there canopy? Im assuming its o.k. because the guys who bought the current fixture get it automatically, however some verification would be nice.

Well, just got an email from premiumaquatics that says my package was not actually shipped till wednesday, and wont be arriving untill friday . Its o.k... it just gives me more time to finish my base!

How did you like the coralife light before you broke it? Did it seem to be omre then sufficient.

I was pretty happy with it, however, it seemed to have a more blue hue to it then I expected. It definentaly seemed sufficient for softies and most lps.

I'm thinking of doing softies only, so I may give it a shot. There is still one other option I want to look into though first.

Alright, I got my live rock and live sand in yesturday night. The tank is up and running right now. I have been pretty busy with a waterpolo tournement and studying, but I will try to update sometime tonight.

gosh my live rock is sooo clean! I havent seen any hitch hikers yet-not even a small snail!Unfortuanantly my dad went on a buisness trip and took the camera, so no camera updates till next wednesday

ARRGHH I need a camera!! Theres so much to update! I installed the switches, parabolic reflectors (which came out awesome), ballasts, and I am almost done with the ATO (truly automatic, not a drip system). Also, I decided to leave the fan out of the canopy during winter. I will try to get pics tommorow or the day after.

Finished ato and base! I know these updates are almost useless without pics, but just letting you guys know . Also, my backordered filter should be coming within a couple days. Unfortuanantly, my dad wont be coming untill late at night on thursday, and I wont be able to take pics till friday

On another note, My live rock has excellent shapes (mostly marshall), but is very clean. Im finally starting to see tiny macro algae poping out of the rocks. However, I still have not seen a single moving or coral hitchhiker. I just watch the tiny little sea fans scattered on the rocks.


Test Results:

4 days ago:

trite:1
trate:2
amonia:0.5
PH:8.2

Today:

trite:0.5
trate:1
amonia:0-0.25
PH:8.2

So not much of cycle for this live rock. I think it has to do with how clean it was.

Oh and one more thing. I must say that the parobolic reflectors are amazing! They seemed to nearly increase the light output by a factor of two

Alright, this thread is in need for an update!

first, we have a pic of the inside of the canopy. Notice the switches on the right, the paroboloic reflector in the middle, and the ATO on the left.


Heres a pic of the ATO. It automatically fills the tank with water when it needs it, and does not use the drip meathod


And finally the fts. Remeber, I still havent replaced the broken actnic, hence the white hue.


More pics to come. My camera needs to charge

That is some nice looking rock... off to a good start!

I love the rock also. Its the "nano rock" from PA. I havent aquascaped at all though because I plan to put alot of rock in the power filter when it comes.