Vicki's 20G

[phoenix91]

Tank: 20G tall AIO

FTS: MAY

 

 

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Lighting: Par38 20K reeflamp from LEDTriC

Livestock:
2 clowns (1 Picasso- Darcy/1 Occy - Lizzy)
1 blue damsel - Bingley

CUC: Reef cleaners CUC
Hermit crabs
Brittle stars
and a monster bristle worm if he's still around that is.

Corals:
Various Zoas/Palys
Frogspawn
Blue/purple mushroom
GSP
Green Devils hand leather
Hybrid hammer
Acans
Red monti cap
War coral
Pink birdsnest
Millepora
Pink finger leather
Green Pocillopora

[phoenix91]

After an unfortunate incident with my biocube:

 

 

I'll be going through my third upgrade in 6 months (some kind of record?)

 

My tank in a tub will be relocating into a 20 G, this 20 G:

 

 

the puffer in this tank will be evicted and moved into a nice planted 10 G.

 

So far the week has gone well, my tub tank has fared nicely under less than ideal conditions and all the corals seem okay, some are even happy.

 

 

[phoenix91]

Since i am poor and will need to reuse a lot from my biocube i've decided to do a 20G DIY AIO

 

 

 

Cutting plastic this after noon then silicone and it will sit for 2 days.

 

Can't wait to get my fish off my living room floor.

[phoenix91]

 

nearly there!

 

sand/rocks/fishies will all go in tomorrow night.

 

Still looking for the source of the knocking sounds, and in the process have managed to set up a 3 g pico. Might keep it up and see if i can get the mushrooms/xenia/kenya tree to overgrow it.

[phoenix91]

Tank transfer done. Only took 3 hours of prep (new water etc) and an hour and a half to get everything and everyone moved from one side of the room to the other. My arms are killing from lifting buckets of water and i was pretty sure i'd killed my female clown for a while there.

 

The water is cloudy from adding new sand and moving the rocks around in it so i'm sure the fish are annoyed. Haven't seen the damsel since i put him in but he's pretty tough.

 

Pics tomorrow when it's less murky.

 

Oh and my dad found me this really heavy duty light fixture so i'm going to order a par38 LED bulb soon.

[Paigee]

Yikes what happened with the cracked tank!? Glad everything made it in the temporary tub! That would be nerve wracking. I like how you made the AIO on a standard tank, do you plan on painting it so that it isn't so visible?

 

And would you mind posting some more detailed pics/description of that AIO area? I'm interested to see how you plan on running it

[JR!]

looks well put together. hope it all works out

[phoenix91]

Paigee, Yeah it was nerve wracking while i was moving everything, i had to get my dad to come help me so we could lift all the rocks (he still managed to break things)

 

I made the AIO out of a standard tank because right now i am poorer than poor, i looked at a new tank but just had no money to put into one so i wanted to be able to reuse everything from the biocube.

 

I can see if i have anymore pics taken of the AIO bit while i was making it, the silicone lines aren't perfect but hey, it was my first time doing it.. if i did it again i would smooth the lines. I didn't end up painting it, i quite like the idea that i can see the filtration but it's separate from the main part; with this tank i've gone for function over fashion. It works so i'm happy.

 

Jrmiller, thank you!

[phoenix91]

New tank photos!

 

That heater is gone now it was just in there while the transfer was happening to make sure the water stayed the same temp.

 

 

Yes, that wire is ghastly to look at but i haven't figured out what i'm going to do with it yet, maybe move it to the side of the tank?? I'll figure it out when i find out where needs more flow. The bulb is just a compact fluorescent right now, i wanted to see how that lamp would look (and check that it worked). I'll be getting a par38 bulb soon.

 

 

Lizzy and Bingley happy in their new home!! Lizzy has perked up now she knows her buds Bingley and Darcy moved with her. The move across the room was very stressful for her; she's hard to catch and i thought she was struggling after i'd put her in, then she saw her friends and was completely fine. silly fish.

 

 

I'm quite happy with how the move went overall. I like that i could keep the bridge bit of my 'scape even if the rocks are now in a straight line. I did have to reattach with glue and epoxy so i hope it holds as last time it was done when the rocks were dry.

 

After everything has settled a bit i need to re-glue my corals, a few were pulled off when moving from the biocube so they didn't accidentally get squished or damaged.

[sublunary]

Looks great! I love the new scape. Pretty great for something originally planned for a different tank.

 

I'm glad the move went smoothly. And I'm really impressed by your DIY AIO. Very cool.

[phoenix91]

Thanks. I am the master at rigging things to work.

 

Also apparently good with DIY

[phoenix91]

Just ordered the par38 20K 18w reeflight from LEDTriC.com. They were having a sale so i thought i'd give them a shot. Hoping it comes speedily!

 

Tank is doing great, Darcy's fins are healing after his spats with the Mrs. The corals all look okay despite having inadequate lighting. Water change tonight should perk them up a bit. I think i'll be gluing the corals back in place tonight during the WC.

 

 

Although i am liking the more open feel of this tank i sure do miss the biocube; the fts just isn't up to snuff yet.

 

 

I've also discovered that aiptasia grow very very quickly at lower temps. I had a heater malfunction in one of my fw tanks so stole the heater out of the 3 g weed tank and the 2 aiptasia in there have taken off. Mushrooms don't seem to care that the water is only at 70 either. I'll hopefully be shifting that rock back into the 20g tonight, minus aiptasia!

[21093r53]

Just ordered the par38 20K 18w reeflight from LEDTriC.com. They were having a sale so i thought i'd give them a shot. Hoping it comes speedily!

 

Tank is doing great, Darcy's fins are healing after his spats with the Mrs. The corals all look okay despite having inadequate lighting. Water change tonight should perk them up a bit. I think i'll be gluing the corals back in place tonight during the WC.

 

 

Although i am liking the more open feel of this tank i sure do miss the biocube; the fts just isn't up to snuff yet.

 

 

I've also discovered that aiptasia grow very very quickly at lower temps. I had a heater malfunction in one of my fw tanks so stole the heater out of the 3 g weed tank and the 2 aiptasia in there have taken off. Mushrooms don't seem to care that the water is only at 70 either. I'll hopefully be shifting that rock back into the 20g tonight, minus aiptasia!

Good idea! Aptasia are the devil!

[GregBox]

Why arn't you happy with FTS It reminds me alot of how my tank looked a few months back, same triple island scape and everything.

 

Interested in how that PAR 38 works out. Im eyeing them up as well.

 

Edited for spelling.

[phoenix91]

Good idea! Aptasia are the devil!

 

You know if i was leaving it in the 3 g i would leave them alone, they're not too bad. I have majanos in the 20 keeping a check on the yellow polyps.

 

Why arn't you happy with FTS It reminds me alot of how my tank looked a few months back, same triple island scape and everything.

 

Interested in how that PAR 38 works out. Im eyeing them up as well.

 

Edited for spelling.

 

I am fairly happy with it, i just liked how the rocks looked in the biocube, the way it was set up just looked better.

 

There should be 1 more island in there by tonight when i move the rock with mushrooms on it back into this tank.

 

I am very interested to see how it looks too. i'm glad i came on here this morning and spotted their site.

[phoenix91]

NEW LIGHT!!

 

Just opened it today because i was out all day yesterday (spending $$ on my horse).

 

I like this light. A little bluer than i thought it would be but already the corals seem happier and more open, plus i can actually see the colours as opposed to everything looking a dull colour.

 

 

 

 

The pics might be a little blurry, this light seems to show every little smudge on the glass.

 

I only ordered the 1 for now since the tank was on CF's before and then has been on a regular light bulb for about 3 week; i also have it really high from the tank and will lower it as everyone get used to the intensity after being starved of light for weeks.

 

Also ordered some prazi-pro to treat Lizzy's white stringy poop. I hope it gets here in the next few days, she's still acting normally and eating but i'd rather nip this in the bud before she gets worse.

[sublunary]

New light looks good! i hope everything adjusts ok - regular light bulb to that is a huge jump.

 

And you have a horse? I want to see a picture!

[phoenix91]

Thanks. I've got it on very short light periods right now with the lamp high above the tank. I'll lower it and increase the timer gradually. All the corals were nice and open when i first switched it on, soaking up the nice light.

 

Yes i do, i have a mustang x appaloosa. He's 10. You're in luck, he's a camera hog.

 

This is us

 

 

and him when he was getting in shape.

 

[sublunary]

I admit, I know next to nothing about horses, but he's gorgeous! Thanks for sharing. And I kind of love his hat...

[phoenix91]

I admit, I know next to nothing about horses, but he's gorgeous! Thanks for sharing. And I kind of love his hat...

 

 

No problem. He's definitely my baby so i love sharing photos of him with anyone really.

 

He has a whole range of head gear. He probably hates that i dress him up but he's fairly tolerant The year before it was antlers. At halloween we're going to do a barn dress up contest, my plan is to dress him up like the TARDIS and go as dr who (matt smiths dr)

[sublunary]

Omg the TARDIS horse will be amazing. I hope he lets you do it.

[phoenix91]

Oh he will, he lets me hang all over him and just stands there rolling his eyes. He's a good boy! Asking him to walk calmly up a hill is another matter entirely though. I'll take photos, it will be hilarious!

[roninmagik1]

thanks for the info you listed where you got your light, but i was wondering, once you bought the bulb, where did you get the lamp? is it hanging from the ceiling? the picture you had, it looks like a long flexible gooseneck style....would like more info please, as i'm getting lights for my 20 long pretty soon!

 

thanks, Jason

[phoenix91]

thanks for the info you listed where you got your light, but i was wondering, once you bought the bulb, where did you get the lamp? is it hanging from the ceiling? the picture you had, it looks like a long flexible gooseneck style....would like more info please, as i'm getting lights for my 20 long pretty soon!

 

thanks, Jason

 

Hey,

 

The lamp is on a long gooseneck, attached by a clamp to my bookcase. I actually got it (well my dad got it) from a company we deal with at work. They had a few left over from display stands and he managed to snag one a while ago; he was going to use t to hook up over a machine at work but then decided i could have it for the tank. It's a pretty heavy duty fixture, quite heavy and well built.

 

I was going to use a lamp from lowes i think, had a similar design but was lighter, but then i got a free one so i was set. Depending on how much $$ you're looking to spend you might want to try the usual (lowes/home depot). You could also look at Graingers, they have some nice task lighting fixtures which i guess is just like what i have, a tad more expensive than lowes etc but i bet they're better made and probably more sturdy.

[phoenix91]

 

 

 

 

The clowns stringy poop cleared up nicely and as far as i can tell using the prazi pro didn't affect anything else in the tank.