metrokat Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 This tank was retired on March 11th 2012. What a great little tank it was. FTS: Nov 23 2011 Details: Oceanic BioCube 14 Gallons MJ900 pump Stock lights Ecoxotic Panorama Pro 12K/453nm + Magenta/453nm stunner strip Removed false floor in chamber one to fit Oceanic Skimmer and Submersible heater Removed bio balls, chamber cover & false floor from chamber 2 Used a zip tie to suspend chemipure to false floor of chamber 2 Purigen on top of False floor Floss on top of that Koralia Nano Macros Red Glacilaria Halimeda Incrassata Chaeto Flame Algae, (Bryothamnion sp.) Inverts 3 Virgin Nerites 3 Nerite Snails 2 Nassarius Snails 3 Scarlet Hermit Crabs (murderers) 1 Blue Porcelain Crab ( Dufus ) (Dingbat) 125 Dwarf Cerith Snails 9 Astrea Snails 1 Zebra Pistol Shrimp at large, armed and dangerous 1 Black Pistol Shrimp! most like a HH 3 Dwarf Planaxis (eeny, meeny, miny) (presumed dead) 1 Sexy Shrimp (Bubba) banished to pico 2 Limpets 1 Zebra hermit crab presumed dead 2 Light blue hermit crabs Fish 1Yasha Goby (Piggy) 2 Blue Neon Gobies (pair) (Mater & unnamed) 2 Baby Ocellaris (Max & Ruby) Corals ORA Green Birdsnest Caribbean Rose Coral Blue spotted mushroom Green Stripe mushroom Blue mushroom Eagle Eyes Neon Blue Zoas Blue Hornets Orange Zoas Pink Zoas Hidden Cup Corals Blastomussa Kenya Tree sent to pico Neon Green Leather Various unidentified zoanthids Red mushroom Orange Ricordea (was supposed to be yellow) Purple palys gifted to the trash bin Green Leopard Palythoa Unidentified palys Green Paly Yellow Sea whip Yellow ball sponges GSP Duncan Superman rhodactis (meh) Rainbow Monti Tangerine dream Acan some red acan Sympodium Hellboy Favia Pink Gonipora ORA Spongodes Hi everyone, this is my first post, I'm very excited to be here. I'm a newbie, my first tank (a friends actually) was set up over thanksgiving in 2010, I learnt a lot over the months and my brand new shiny BC14 is up and running with 10lbs LR, 10 lbs live sand for about 4 days now. I am awaiting a shipment of gulf-view's premium decor rock. With the first tank I realized that it was so important to have a good aquascape design, a composition. The first tank has some beautiful corals and 3 fish and I can spend hours watching it but it doesn't make me go "wow". I don't know if mine will either but it wont be because I did not try. I googled pictures of peoples tank to death, most favor the "wall" look, "valley" look, some feature arches and of course that amazing bonsai scape is just to die for. In my little 14G it is a bit of a challenge. i started out looking for "shelf rock". Shelf rock is thin flat LR that resembles a ledge. You can use it to display coral especially if you have a tank suited for SPS (mine is not, it's a stock biocube). I traced out the shape of each rock on paper. Then I made a framework out of plastic straws (I was showing pictures of it to my LFS guy and he went "wow you are nerrrrdy!" you have to understand what a huge complement that is, I'm a girly girl, pink nails, branded handbags, in the fashion industry blah blah) anyway. Here's a picture of my straw-scape: Then I added the traced outlines of the shelf rock to see how I like the height etc. (I made a paper pattern of the BC footprint to work on too). Finally I took a 1/2 inch PVC pipe and every kind of do-hickey that you could use (cross, elbow, 3 way connector 45 degree connector, I bought like 100 of these things!) sawed the PVC into bits and different heights (didn't know I had a saw in my apartment!). This is what it looks like: Now that i am expecting the deco rock the scape will change, I read online that using acrylic rods is better (first of all they are skinnier so i dont have to drill mega holes in my LR. Plus the skinniest PVC (1/2") is too big for a 14G tank. In the pic above the exposed pvc was going to be covered up with live rock etc but it would greatly reduce the open space design of the aquascape. So that's my first post. I know you all have more experience than me, so I would appreciate your comments. I'm currently also awaiting a shipment of acrylic rods from us plastics. Can't wait! Link to comment
rrcg50 Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Hi everyone, this is my first post, I'm very excited to be here. I'm a newbie, my first tank (a friends actually) was set up over thanksgiving in 2010, I learnt a lot over the months and my brand new shiny BC14 is up and running with 10lbs LR, 10 lbs live sand for about 4 days now. I am awaiting a shipment of gulf-view's premium decor rock. With the first tank I realized that it was so important to have a good aquascape design, a composition. The first tank has some beautiful corals and 3 fish and I can spend hours watching it but it doesn't make me go "wow". I don't know if mine will either but it wont be because I did not try. I googled pictures of peoples tank to death, most favor the "wall" look, "valley" look, some feature arches and of course that amazing bonsai scape is just to die for. In my little 14G it is a bit of a challenge. i started out looking for "shelf rock". Shelf rock is thin flat LR that resembles a ledge. You can use it to display coral especially if you have a tank suited for SPS (mine is not, it's a stock biocube). I traced out the shape of each rock on paper. Then I made a framework out of plastic straws (I was showing pictures of it to my LFS guy and he went "wow you are nerrrrdy!" you have to understand what a huge complement that is, I'm a girly girl, pink nails, branded handbags, in the fashion industry blah blah) anyway. Here's a picture of my straw-scape: Then I added the traced outlines of the shelf rock to see how I like the height etc. (I made a paper pattern of the BC footprint to work on too). Finally I took a 1/2 inch PVC pipe and every kind of do-hickey that you could use (cross, elbow, 3 way connector 45 degree connector, I bought like 100 of these things!) sawed the PVC into bits and different heights (didn't know I had a saw in my apartment!). This is what it looks like: Now that i am expecting the deco rock the scape will change, I read online that using acrylic rods is better (first of all they are skinnier so i dont have to drill mega holes in my LR. Plus the skinniest PVC (1/2") is too big for a 14G tank. In the pic above the exposed pvc was going to be covered up with live rock etc but it would greatly reduce the open space design of the aquascape. So that's my first post. I know you all have more experience than me, so I would appreciate your comments. I'm currently also awaiting a shipment of acrylic rods from us plastics. Can't wait! Any time you want to be "needdy" you can scape a tank for me . Nice job Link to comment
Pickle010 Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 and very cool! There is a guy on my local reef club that does all kinds of incredible scapes with acrylic and a mix called Emaco (sp?) It's like a cement that is reef safe. He is on here as well... I believe his name here is jestersix - might want to look him up he may have some advise for you if you PM him. I don't know how often he actually visits the forums here though. Link to comment
Hydronaut Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 There is a guy on my local reef club that does all kinds of incredible scapes with acrylic and a mix called Emaco (sp?) It's like a cement that is reef safe. I believe a company called Fauna Marin makes a product called 'Reef Scape Foam' which would probably accomplish a similar effect. It could be used to coat the PVC and give it more of a rock-like appearance until it becomes covered in coralline, while still maintining an open aquascape. Link to comment
jestersix Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Fiberglass works much better than acrylic. Emaco 400 will do wonders. I'll send you a ton of info (probably way more than you want) from work tomorrow. Link to comment
Maroon Clown Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 Thanks everyone! Now how do I get notified whenever someone replies? to the right of the thread title it says options, click there, then track topic. and to NR Link to comment
pico-reefer Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 hey pickle thanks for the tip, I PM'd jestersix.EDIT: oh wait, he replied here too! doh. very nice! may i ask where you got that shelf rock? Link to comment
metrokat Posted July 20, 2011 Author Share Posted July 20, 2011 Thanks, I got it from my LFS (see this thread http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=276969) ASk your LFS if they have shelf rock, I know online you can get it from bulkreefsupply dot com aquacon dot com very nice! may i ask where you got that shelf rock? Link to comment
wartskin Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Wow ur like my dream girl but really..... way cool rock work and the fact that you thought it out so much is even cooler good luck and have fun with it Link to comment
WillWork4Frags Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 Ah, reef girls You could also try to hide the rods/pvc by using foam and aragonite. So the columns would look more natural. Another idea would be to get rubble and run the rod through them so they have a "stacked" look. This would also give you more support for the shelves. Here's some inspiration! Good luck! Link to comment
adolfo425 Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 I like your ideas about elevated rock work and shelves. You have a great concept going there. Stacked rocks would help hide the rods without losing height on the elevated rocks but might take the spacious feel. Foam with sand around the rods would look nice but not sure if you wanted to do that. Good luck on the stacks people here are very helpful. Link to comment
metrokat Posted August 7, 2011 Author Share Posted August 7, 2011 Ima reef girl! yeah! So! I'm finally done aquascaping. Thank you to John who sent me a care package of marco rocks and lots of advice. I shall name my first fishie after him. Voila! I worked on my scape for probably 6 hours at a minimum. I wasn't the best with the marco rocks, in fact after letting it set for 30 minutes the structure didn't hold. I added more rods and more mortar and also used aquamend (home depot does not sell the other epoxy anymore). I made the marco rocks mortar dry consistency and it almost set right in my mixing pail! Made it wetter and it wouldn't dry so I had some noob issues. All good. I'm actually quite pleased with myself! As for drilling, I bought a masonry bit but some of these rocks were so dense it was impossible to drill and I didn't have the courage to continue before I broke something. I ah have like a small hole in my carpet and another one in the ah wooden floor even tho I used thick cardboard protection. The most challenging part was my concern over keeping my hitchhikers alive. I have a rose coral, several yellow sponges, 3 anemones, lots of clams (one giant one!), hidden cup corals and more. We shall see in the coming days if anything dies. I found a baby brittle starfish in the middle of it all. And a red bristle worm too but he's in the bucket. Have 10 lbs live rock left over! Any takers? I did not end up using the PVC as they were far too thick. I used an acrylic rod 1/4 inch which was easy enough to cut and given my troubles with drilling, I'm glad it was only 1/4 inch size that I needed to drill. I'm mostly pleased with the placement, but I'm still tweaking. (yes I made a little cave, you can see that at the bottom right, might need to get a goby or something for it ) Link to comment
WillWork4Frags Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 Zomg a reefer girl that uses power tools too? The scape looks great! It's unique but somehow has a natural look to it. And your corals/macro look good together. I like the 2nd picture personally. Keep us posted! Link to comment
Builder Anthony Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Just do your nails? I think it be cool to have somehing overlap and hang from the top of the two rocks on the right but i cant really figure out what would do that. Link to comment
metrokat Posted August 22, 2011 Author Share Posted August 22, 2011 No, that pic was from last week. lol Just do your nails? Link to comment
Builder Anthony Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Well nothing wrong with being in style i just like girls nails when there all done up.Hope things go good with your tank i was messing around with mine for a long time today since i had the day off.The left side looks really neat.Id add something to the right side though ..........maybe something that overhangs the cliffs.Im not sure what but i guess the hunt for things like that makes this hobby fun. Link to comment
28g nano noob Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 looking good so far better then i can say for my self..lol me and aqua scape just dosent work Link to comment
Builder Anthony Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 lol no toes my freind likes toes but to me there just toes.Have fun ..take care Link to comment
21093r53 Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 looking good so far better then i can say for my self..lol me and aqua scape just dosent work NO ONE IS EVER TRULY HAPPY WITH THEIR OWN SCAPE Link to comment
savageajc Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Love the straw layout, and nice job with the tank any stocking plans yet? Link to comment
metrokat Posted August 23, 2011 Author Share Posted August 23, 2011 N00 pitchurs! FTS (yup, lots of Chaeto, thank you bighead278) Humpty, the humongous clam Need an ID on this red macroalgae Also need an ID on this green macro algae tuft (no it's not hair algae!) Link to comment
kgoldy Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 Any higher resolution version of those pics? Hard to get a look at the unidentified macro. And nice liverock, btw. Looks like tons of stuff came on it. Link to comment
metrokat Posted August 26, 2011 Author Share Posted August 26, 2011 Huge pics as requested, what are these macros? (No, this one is not GHA) Link to comment
metrokat Posted August 27, 2011 Author Share Posted August 27, 2011 I love how the tank changes with each new addition FTS I need to get rid of that clump of green macro that is on top of Humpty. It's blocking my view. The left and right sides of the tank along the glass get the worse diatom blooms during lights on. The right side I stir up and blow away with a baster and less light. The left side has patched of thick gelatinous blacking slime. There is good flow that side, the GSP and anemone are waving about as if in a hurricane. Stirring does nothing. Link to comment
MrBill2u Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Beautiful tank!! Keep us posted on how you are weathering the storm! Link to comment
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