Consider the die cast, the gaunlet thrown, the hat tossed in, etc.

Good luck!

Welcome to the dark side! Where we do everything the big guys do, only smaller!

From the bedroom


From the kitchen



It would seem that the Deep Sea 24 is a bit much. I'll have to dial it back some.

Stuck a 3 way elbow I had on the pipe to make a splitter. Still splashes a little outside, but a hood over top would fix that. I guess I should acquire one.


Still may replace the airpump with a smaller one that is a bit quieter.

The other problem I'm having is that the sand is small enough to get sucked into the undergravel. I need to get some live rock over it I guess.

Some more pics before I go to bed....

This is what the surface looks like. I'm guessing the air lift is giving suffecient flow. Too bad it's spewing sand too


From the windows..


To the walls

you might want to either screen off the ugf grille to limit the sand (i had the same exact problem) or sprinkle cc over the grille then LR (no sand over that area).

i still get a trickle of grains but we're talking about one or two granules every few seconds (most of which are carried away in the current) versus mt. vesuvius before.

you're using a clippie? man, that's like wearing a clip-on tie. jk

i like the 3-way elbow idea to limit the splash. a variant you might want to try is slightly extending the elbow output (i.e. insert a short pipe length). this was the bubbles 'pop' inside the pipe versus around the tank. you still get all the benefits but much less splash.

the con to that is the 'look' and for such a small system the addt'l light blockage from the extended pipe length.

The clipie was $9. The in the tank was like $26. The clippie works for now. I'm actually thinking of using a flat heater in the tank that Hydor makes. But it doesn't have a temp control so I'm not sure if I trust it. Either way, the clipie may go. I'm not impressed with it's holding of temperature.


I thought about a grille originally, but i couldn't find one around the apartment that worked to my satisfaction, so I decided to risk it. I think I may pull all of the sand and rock out and figure something out though if the situation doesn't improve.

Light blockage won't be an issue if I do what I think I want to do.

As far as the bubbles, I'm thinking of putting a cover over the tank anyhow, so it's no big deal for now.

for the grille, you may want to try a cut-to-shape tank divider sheet. i've used that method in the past with success on sw ugf's (sand issue mainly). i had to heat-stake the sheet (which is perforated) to the grille but you could just weigh it down.

For now i wrapped the UGF in a ziplock sandwich bag and poked a few holes in the bottom (possibly not enough).

Looks like it might of fixed the sand issue, but I'm going to let it run until the water clears some more (kicked a lot up moving things around) before i decide. It seems to have made the water much more spurty now though instead of the steady flow of bubbles it did have.


Also redid the rock work. I like some of the new rock work better and some a lot worse. Pics later tonight.

and now that I'm custom, here are the new pictures that I promised yesterday.

I redid the rock work today. I like this best so far.

gawdam, you're using the 24? mega-airflow.

Considering the undergravel portion was wrapped in a plastic bag with a few holes poked into it, the air flow is'nt so bad.


Well, when I first set it up, it was pretty bad. When I added the splitter it was reduced to pretty good levels. With the plastic bag around it, it's a lot weaker, but very spurty and seems much more irregular.

I was looking at the tank eariler and watching little things float around. Seemed to be suffecient flow to be moving everything around in the tank. May not work well for SPS far from the outlets, but should be suffecient for everything else (And sps near the outlets would probably be fine)

Crap it is spitting sand again. I may just go bare bottom. I need to figure out how to keep this dark color that i'm enjoying though.

Odd, my tank may have a small leak. I need to keep an eye on it and see if it is indeed leaking on the bottom corners.

One corner has been having some salt build up. Hopefully this is from spilled water and not from leaking water.

the salt spray from the bubbles can build up significant salt creep and water.

Possibly, but it's the corner furthest from the pump and the lid over the bubbles should keep the spray under some check.

I would think any leak would be going a bit faster then this one seems to be though.

The vibrating is getting old. I'm going to blame it on the UGF, but i wish I knew how to fix whatever is vibrating.


Still getting some sand spat up by the air lift. Not sure if it is less now and I can possibly just wait for the sand to settle or if it's just a continuing problem. I'm not convinced I like the look of bare bottom though as I like the flow and unevenness of sand. Perhaps egg crate as a base with sand over top so I can filter sand out of the problem areas.

Felt like updating since I'm bored. Toying with the idea of adding trace substances in additive form to the tank to see how it helps things (if at all). Found a source of the following trace elements

• ascorbic acid (vitamin C)
• calcium (mineral)
• choline (base, part of the vitamin B complex)
• fructose (sugar)
• glutathione (peptide amino acid)
• hyaluronidase (enzyme)
• inositol (sugar)
• magnesium (mineral)
• nitrogen
• phosporus (mineral)
• potassium (mineral)
• sorbitol (sugar alcohol)
• vitamin B12 (for proper function of nervous system and metabolism)
• zinc (mineral)

Checking Kent's web site to compare, their supplements inject some of those things in additions to other. The price of this source destroy's what Kent is charging though so maybe as I am 99% sure this supplier's product will not harm my tank.

But I probably won't. It's just an amusing thought. I'd probably get better results from just buying supplements from the LFS if I wanted to go with supplementing the tank.

Dosing is not needed if you are doing weekly water changes.. there is plenty of the trace elements in the salt.

I agree. In a tank that size, dosing is not needed at all.

But I love my tank, and Seminal plasma looks like it could benifit my corals.



:-P
(there is a reason that I never named the source of the elements... and why this idea amuses me... and why I won't do it most likely)

OK, sand issue.

Try as I might, the sand keeps on getting picked up by the air lift. While I could blow sand off the rocks multiple times per day, and while this would improve my circulation, I think not.

So i went to lowes and checked out the egg crate. Huge sheet and cost almost as much as the tnak. So I walked over to the acrylic section. Picked up a scrap sheet that would work for 25 cents. Doing good so far.

I cut out a shape a bit smaller then the bottom of the tank. I then cut a notch for the piping. All rough cuts. Apparently using the dremel on high speed likes melting acrylic. Oh well. I wasn't worried how it looked.

I pulled the rocks out of the tank and some of the sand. I was too lazy to worry about getting all of the sand out so I sat down the UGF and stuck the acrylic over it (nice fit really, I was surprised). I then dumped the sand back in and put the rocks back in.

there are a few problems with this plan:
1) I forgot how I had the rocks in there exactly, so the new layout is different. I don't like it quite as much. I'll have to tweak some later.

2) I forgot to put support pieces under the acrylic on the side away from the ugf. Oh well, it can bend. Shouldn't cause any problems and I'm not pulling the ###### back out.

3) The sand I left under there? Well I'm hoping that the UGF will pull most of it out and that for the most part, more sand won't fall down under. This may be a pipe dream and I'll find out more so in a few days once the sand has finished shifting around. Hopefully this works out as the plastic bag trick didn't work like I hoped.

Don't get me started on sand! Your solution sounds pretty good though! I had similar problems (my sump return is on the sandbed) and the only thing I found that could stop it was to switch to a coarser grain of sand.

I hope it works for you,

Ed

And we are bare bottom. Sand was still getting spewed. I added some agronite from my other tank hoping it was coarser. It was getting spewed too. So I sucked all of the sand out. That was fun. I don't like the look so much (i really like sand), but I think the only other options i would have would be to color some coarse agronite or use aquarium gravel (though that has a certain charm to it really.

Added some more rock. Just a piece or two of rubble to make the ground less bare, nothing worth taking a new pic over. Found a fish I want to put in the tank and I have it on hold till tomorrow to see if it chills out and starts eating.

i figured answering your thread was more appropriate than continuing to tag my own.

how about a non-photosynthetic tank? e.g. deepwater setup or sun coral/black coral, etc. i don't think anyone's doing any one of those.

a seagrass tank or macroalgae only? i've been thinking of adding turtle or shoal grass to my fowlr for plant deco. it's plastic right now.

Originally I was thinking of doing LED lighting, but the delay in finding out if it would be legal (and it still seems questionable) pushed that idea out of my mind. I was thinking of doing individual lighting for each coral working in a spotlight type set up. That way I wouldn't need a sheet of LED's on top, but just a dozen or so aimed around. All in the water for extra effect


I was thinking thje Current USA light, but nano tuners is sold out and I'm not sure I want to pay $50 for it elsewhere. I'd love to use the 18x2 dual fixutre and use the antics for dawn/dusk lighting (switching so that no more then 18 watts at once), but i don't want to spend $90 on lighting for this tank and it would be a bit too large as it's 12x7.5.

The coralife mini will probbably be used inspite of it's bulbs (which i don't like).


A non-photo tank sounds interesting. Put in chili corals and sun coral, but I'm not interested in the maintainence of the sun corals at least. Plus that means I'd have to take out a good chunk of the rock that is in there. I'd rather have a Dali type effect using mushrooms and similar with them "dripping" over the rock work.

Oh well, for now i've got a reptile lamp over it that i'm not using currently. It's only 20 watts (coil lamp) with this as a specturm:

UVB 3% (290 - 320 nm), UVA 15% (320 - 400 nm).

Should be enough for the algae to munch on until I figure out what i want to do.

Hell, with this shallow a tank, it would probably work fine for lighting for low light corals like shrooms and zoa's.

i really liked the way the LR was the first time. there can't be that many pieces in that pico. look at your old pics and try positioning them like before. the black sand looks cool. can't wait to see it up and running w/ zoos and shrooms.

The black sand was removed due to the ugf doubling as a snow globe generator. if i could find thick grain black sand, this may change, but for now, bare bottom. Which is part of what led to more rock being added, I'm trying to hide the bottom somewhat.

For those wondering where I've been. I just ordered my light for the tank today. Until then, the reptile lamp will do.

Just added corals today. This light makes them look pretty I must say.

Nice mushrooms, the last one is particularly cool looking.

Best regards

Ann

Got some new corals today and finalised what my theme is going to be. Not original for sure, especially at this point, but it seems like a fun idea.

For those curious, until I fill you in completely, this should be a major enough clue.

Quick update. Shots are poorly focused, lit, and framed. :-P

The green and red ric from above seems to like the ground. He's slothing to it now. I really need my light to arrive. It should be here on the 1st. I'm kind of ###ed because i found somewhere local with the coralife one for $30 locally (would of been barely cheaper then the group buy after shipping).

That is one nice looking yuma... even under that light! Can't wait to see what it looks like under the good stuff.

yeah the light does nicely for the colors. It would be good for real deep water stuff I guess as 20% of the light is below 400nm (Atnics are around 420 to 460 it seems from Current USA http://www.current-usa.com/products/sunpaq.html). too bad the corals go in and out of seemingly reaching for light.

For those who think they put too much money into their tank....

So when I was up in Richmond for Turkey day I picked up a Mantis Shrimp (hence the Wonderland theme... I've got a bubbler, mushrooms. and now a catepillar). He's been bashful and hiding for the most part, but he was creeping out some today. Since my buddy came over to see it today I stopped by Petco to see if they had any feeder Ghost Shrimp. No they don't, but they do have medium hermit crabs for a buck and a half or so. So i grab two, decide to risk a feather duster and a blood shrimp as well, both for my main tank. I acclimate everything and all seems well.

Couple hours later when my friend shows up we notice that the fire shrimp is doing the back stroke on the sand. Petco won't take him back (no guaruntee on salt), the tang is picking on him, he's lost his antenna already, I don't think he's going to make the evening. So I toss him in the 2.5 where he will be free from predatation from the mean mean fish.











So yeah, the Mantis eats well tonight.

On a side note, there are now 3 hermit crabs of various sizes in wiht the mantis because he hasn't eaten them yet.


Well at least he's eating something. The store I bought him from claimed they were giving him hermits for snacks between ghost shrimp, but he hasn't seemed to interested in them.

Pictures cus i felt like taking some.

Was supposed to be food.... Sad hermit in snow


Purply


Don't know what it is exactly


Greeny

Great tank dood, now you just need some 10k + actinic. Btw...nice call on the catapillar, I heard they do real well in low-light reef environments.

mm.. I think the mantis is a Gonodactylus Chiraga. Coloration seems right (greenish olive drab) but mine almost seems too big to be one.

One more feeder crab pic as he was near the glass like he wanted to be shot.

if it's the one I think it is, it seems the are a low water species, so can handle a wide varieties of light.

Either way, he seems to like hiding for now. I only got a good look at him when he was pulling the sickly shrimp into his burrow. He may get braver as time moves on.

Hurry up and post a pic of the Mantis, they are such cool critters. I do feel sorry for the snacks, I mean hermits, though.

We need to see a pic of your tank with the new lighting asap, I hope that you get it today.

Best regards

Ann

It's on the FedEx truck for delivery as of 8:30 this morning. Which means it can arrive probably around 4~4:30 if FedEx is consistent with their past. But who knows. Oddly, the light that's on there seems to be doing better then I had expected. Save the green and pink yuma from earlier, everything seems to be doing well. The yuma didn't look too good so I moved it to a better light where it seemed to do even worse. I doubt it will make it through the week.

And I'll get a shot of the Mantis when I can. Right now he's so shy that the onyl time I managed to get a good look at him was when he came out to grab the shrimp and I just happened to be there.

what kind/color morph mantis did u get?

not sure yet. So far.. green. I'm guessing Gonodactylus Chiraga from this page ( http://www.grimreefers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3216 ) but nothing really to base that guess on other then color and that I have him, so the easy to find one being most likely.

He hasn't come out long enough for me to get a good look at him. I should of paid more attention when he was in the jar.

Tried poking at him with a wooden skewer to see if i could coax him into coming out (read as, ### him off so he charges out after it).


didn't work. He just smacked at it in the burrow.


Oh well.

Light arrived. Isn't going on the tank since I don't have the legs for it (it won't really fit well on the glass and I'd rather not have it coated in salt.). Reptile light will have to continue to suffice for now until i figure out what to do next.