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Venkman's reef: New FTS


DrVENKMAN

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Greetings and salutations Nano-Reef,


Fluval EDGE 12, A journey into the beauty of limits and contortion

I got this:

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Added some wetness and rock: (Juneish 2013)
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Then waited...Then waited some more...

Added Fizzbitch and Gunn and their BTA friend Steve.
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With 180 days and 10,000$ later, it now looks like this:
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And from the couch it looks like this. (October 4th, 2013)
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And I have been sitting here staring at it ever since.

Rescape (November 8th, 2013)
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image_zps5141b702.jpg



1/6/2014: I really need to get my hands on a real camera to do the colors justice. My phone won't take pictures with under blue light so I have to crank up the white intensity which makes everything look purple and brown. Soon.

http://s881.photobucket.com/user/lincolnjbutler/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsb5da4194.jpg.html]image_zpsb5da4194.jpg[/url]

3/27/14 still taking poor quality pictures

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7/24/14

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Changed the glass and volume. July 2014

 

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November 2014

 

http://s881.photobucket.com/user/lincolnjbutler/media/angleview_zpsaa10b34e.jpg.html'>angleview_zpsaa10b34e.jpg

 

http://s881.photobucket.com/user/lincolnjbutler/media/fts_zpsfca07c1e.jpg.html'>fts_zpsfca07c1e.jpg

 

http://s881.photobucket.com/user/lincolnjbutler/media/_MG_5097a_zps2bfb1bd5.jpg.html'>_MG_5097a_zps2bfb1bd5.jpg

A Journey into the Beauty of Limits and Contortion

A Journey with Slightly More Volume and Flexibity
Fluval Edge 12

34 Gallon Rimless Mr. Aqua

Tunze Streamline
AI Nano w/ controller

Ai Hydra

Tunze Osmolator
2 Koralia 425
Jebao Wp10

Jebao RW8
AC30 Mod
20lbs live rock 15lbs live rock
30lbs sand

Livestock:

2 Ocelaris clowns

1 Potters Angel

1 Yellow Tail Damsel

1 Neon Goby

1 Midas Blenny

1 Scooter Dragonet
1 green BTA named Steve
1 Rainbow BTA

1 flower anemone

2 Sexy Shrimp
3 2 Emerald crabs
1, 2 ,3! Hitchhiking crabs
3 Electric blue hermits

2 trochus snails
10 Cerith snails
4 Turbo astrea
2, 1000 Tiny hitchhiking starfish
6, 2 nassarius snails
1 Peppermint Shrimp- Murder still under investigation.
30 Christmas Tree Worms moved to QT tank to open up the substrate

Corals:

LPS

Torch
Bubble
Frogspawn
Hammer
Godofwar Acan
Candy Cane
Kryptonite trumpet
Christmas favia
Pluto Favia
Duncan
Miami Hurican chalice

Soft
Green Star polyps
Yellow Polyps
Zoas
Blue Xenia
Pom Pom Xenia
Ricordea
Encrusting photosynthetic Gorgonian

Tracy Morgonian Gorgonian

SPS

Pink and green bird's Nest
Pink Bird's Nest
Neon green/purple bird's Nest
Table-top tenius Acro
Purple Pocillophora
Pink Lemonade Pocillopora

Rainbox Stylopora
Blue tip Acro Hermit crabs knocked this frag off 4 times, STN.
Neon green Acro
Soloman Island purple cap
ORA neon green Stylo
Neon green/blue Stylo
ORA Birds of Paradise
ORA Neon green bird's nest
Tubbs bird's nest
Tyree bird's nest
Blue Hawkins Echinata
Porite - moved to QT tank

SSC

Red Planet

Myagi tort

Blue tort

Blue matrix acro

Purple plasma acro

Garf bonsai

Tricolor acro

Highlighter acro

Green milli

Rainbow milli

Tyree Rasberry Limeaid

Frogskin Acro

blue tip stag

Superman Monti

Reverse Superman Monti





NH3:Hopfully none
NO2:Hopefully none
NO3:No Idea
PO4:probably some
Ca: 380-450
ALK:9.0-10 dKA
PH: PH meters about as reliable as the weather in new england
Temp: warm
SpG: 1.025

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Last night I read somewhere (I think it was OSRAS) that when using the API test kit, if you only shake the nitrate test solution #2 for only 30 seconds as indicated in the directions it causes false negative readings. It stated the solution should be shaken for at least 2 minutes. I did not believe that shaking for 30 seconds or four hours would make any difference. If there was an issue such as this why would API recommend in their instructions to shake for 30 seconds and not for 2 minutes? In attempt to prove this statement wrong I went home and tested this; shook vigorously for thirty seconds, 0ppm, shook for 2 minutes, 5-10ppm. Commence water change. Maybe my tank stability is an artifact of not shaking enough. This would be the first time I could ever be accused of not shaking it enough.

 

Does anyone out there have any experience with this or have another test system in addition to API to corroborate these values?

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  • 4 weeks later...

After 306 hours of staring at the tank this way...

 

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I decided the aquascape needed a slight change. The rock structure to the left blocked out too much light and was not quite as sturdy as the other two. Having three tall structures made it incredibly difficult to work in the tank, removing one gave me room to move around and makes maintenance much easier. I also removed all rubble and transferred the porite with the xmas tree worms to my backup tank to add some more negative space.

image_zps293a86da.jpg

 

LPS garden

 

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I love the Fluval Edges for their top down view, makes the small opening at the top almost worth dealing with.

 

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It seems tradition here on NR to now apologize for the fact that I do not own hundreds of dollars of professional photography equipment. I am a lazy hack with an iphone camera; I’d rather spend my money on corals.

 

The skimmerless and sumpless tank has been harboring SPS for 60 days with only 10-20% WC/WK. So far no losses (hopefully it stays that way). I am starting to notice considerable growth with the purple pocillopora, green Stylo and Birdsnest. The montipora on the other hand has enjoyed a rough couple of weeks, it seems the snail and emerald crabs are getting together when the lights are out and running a campaign to unattach it from where ever I glue it to. I have since added a pink lemonade pocillopora, another birdsnest, neon acro, blue tip acro and another very strange colored neon stylo I found at an LFS.

 

I bought Kent NANO A&B to start dosing, figuring the day will finally come when my Ca drops. I have not started using it yet as my Ca reads between 480-520, Alk is 11-12 dKa and Mag is up in the 1200s with just weekly WC w/reef crystals. I am assuming once the LPS/SPS start getting a bit bigger this will change, but its there if i need it.

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Anyone else on NR using a fluval 12?

 

I am thinking about trying a light diffuser panel to reduce the spot light effect without raising the ai nano in the hood. Does anyone have an experience using light diffusing panels? Do the sell the material seperatly or will I have to hack it out of a fluorescent light fixture?

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..... .....~Crickets!~..... .....

 

I am getting ready to stock this 12 gallon with a mated pair of mandarins, 3 or 4 tangs, a trigger, a puffer, a mantis and some pipefish. Possibly a jellyfish and the neighbors cat.

 

Do you think you could bonsai a tang if you put it in a jar and didn't feed it? Fempto tang build FTW.

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That last post should get the tang police's attention. Lol. I like the look of your tank, especially after you re-scaped it. Looks like you got a pretty good variety of corals too. Is the ac30 the only thing you have for flow?

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Is the ac30 the only thing you have for flow?

I also have a koralia 425 in the top corner. I started with an Aqueon powerhead, but hated its guts, and giant suction cup and lever system, It was really difficult to detach. So difficult in fact I broke two of them, had to drive at the speed of light at 8:49 pm on a saturday night to get one from a LFS before they closed till tuesday. I love the magnetic attachment and the small size of the koralia, not very expensive either.

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I really hope you didn't actually spend 10000$ you must really have money to blow or find 12 gallons worth it cuz I'm baffled ( in a good way

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I really hope you didn't actually spend 10000$ you must really have money to blow or find 12 gallons worth it cuz I'm baffled ( in a good way

 

No I didn't, I was trying to be facetious but now I am realizing that 10,000 is not a completely unreasonable order of magnitude. What that like 3 or 4 vortechs? I tried to do this on the cheap, I am probably in to it for 900.00 including a small backup tank, which is about twice as much as I though it would cost.

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i like ur trident scape =P. very cool stuff. is this tank only 2 months old? please say yes, so i dont feel bad for overstocking my 3 1/2 months old tank with so much stuff =P

 

 

No I got the tank in June and had it up and running soon after. It was a CUCOWLF for most of the summer, as I got busy being a gypsy. I started stocking it around the end of August.

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Yesterday I witnessed one of my emerald crabs gnawing on a bit of duncan polyp. I cursed at him multiple times and thought about getting the beating stick to put the fear back in him. Luckily for the crab, I got distracted before I could give him a beating of a lifetime for mauling his sessile roommates. It turns out the beating would not have been necessary. Thanks to either my cruel words or molecular artillery of the "helpless" duncan, the emerald crab was found this morning directly under the duncan no longer encumbered by the need to breath, no longer a subscriber to life, no longer a member of the CUC but a mess needing cleaning up, ready for the drawn butter and wedge of lemon. DEAD.

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Since my iphone camera can't handle the blue color of the LEDs I put it on manual mode and cranked up the white channel to take the last fts. Then I saw something shinny and walked away from the tank. Went to work. Came home in the morning after working the night shift, wondering "why does the tank looked so bright?" I left the damn thing on all night at full blast, the sun never set that night on my little reef. The coral looked very confused in the morning; hopefully with time it will forgive me. lesson learned, updating build threads is harmful to nano reefs.

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ll_maynard_ll

I like what you've done on a smaller budget and with what looks like great success. Especially the aquascape with the towers. I too am strapped for cash, or my wife has it all, I don't know. I discovered macros though as a means to combat unwanted test readings and my lazyness. Don't worry, as jealous as we are of all the pricey reefs you read about on here, there are still a number of them that are done for less than the price of a nice led setup. Keep the great stories coming, I loved the one about the crab!

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I like what you've done on a smaller budget and with what looks like great success. Especially the aquascape with the towers. I too am strapped for cash, or my wife has it all, I don't know. I discovered macros though as a means to combat unwanted test readings and my lazyness.

 

Macro is on my list of things to add. I would like to put some dragons breath in there and/or red grape for color but I have yet to find it at a LFS. I also plan on putting in some chalices in the lower light areas, a neon green nepthea, a few more acans on the front of the middle tower, and an open brain where the small frag of bubble coral is on the left mount...... and 3 or 4 tangs. Then I'll be set.

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