Jump to content
ReefCleaners.org

28 gal Hex of awesome—1 year old


MyLiquidBlue29BC

Recommended Posts

MyLiquidBlue29BC

 

This page will be updated with the most current stats.

 

I lost this tank in my divorce settlement, but it has a great little hex. I will miss it!

 

FTS

1 year

 

0AC9C406-8F0F-4CFC-A25B-C5BA7AEBC26C_1.j

 

3 months

 

9B347421-F8AA-4758-B08E-73A9CBE0B30E.jpg

 

1 month

F8A08804-4821-46BD-ACC1-3B70D1446358.jpg

 

In the begining...

FF8FCD2E-8DAA-46F6-B973-F03610D06D77.jpg

 

Equipment

Black Box LED (55 3 watt Bridgelux LEDs, full spectrum with moon lights)

28 gallon acrylic hex tank

2 Koralia 400s

100 watt Rena Cal heater

100 watt AquaClear heater

AquaClear 70 with filter floss and ClearFx Pro

 

 

Livestock

 

fish

1 Ocellaris Clownfish

Target Mandarin

Harptail Blenny

High fin Goby

 

 

inverts

blue leg hermits

Tronchus snails

Florida Ceriths

Dwarf Ceriths

 

.:planned:.

Pompom crabs

Sexy shrimp

 

macro

caulerpa prolifera

Blue Ochtodes

Cheato

 

.:planned:.

Red Grape

 

coral

Florida Ricordea

Acans

Palys

Zoas

Shrooms

Encrusting monti (northern lights)

Dendro

Toadstool

Birdsnest

 

.:planned:.

Yumas

Link to comment
  • Replies 51
  • Created
  • Last Reply
MyLiquidBlue29BC

I should be getting the tank this weekend. In the mean time, I drew a scale footprint of the tank and sketched out my rock work design so I could order rocks. There is already 17 lbs of Key Largo Prime Cuts rock on the way from Marco Rocks.

 

For filtration, I will most like have an overflow with a small sump or fuge, but I won't know for sure until the tank gets here.

 

I'm also debating repainting the stand and two back panels.

 

Exciting!

Link to comment
MyLiquidBlue29BC

I ordered the rocks yesterday. They arrived today before noon with their free ship option.

 

It was packaged really well. All the rocks were individually wrapped:

8504B337-0322-4AB5-B1DA-EEE1821C3200.jpg

 

Here is the largest and the smallest. I got five total.

8F87E504-5B66-4AEF-9BD2-17A83E280C35.jpg

8DCB09DB-60B0-494E-AE1D-7E7E4F013ACD.jpg

 

And the rubble:

9E06555E-3577-46FD-BB25-2ECD247EDDD3.jpg

I'd say that is a testament to really good packing!

 

I put all the slabs in a bucket with old tank water. Hopefully it will leech any phosphates.

Link to comment
MyLiquidBlue29BC

The tank is here :) I have no idea what to do with the 22 year old "sump" though.

 

Here are some picks:

0B21CA0E-A4D1-46E4-A334-8A7BB3673449.jpg

 

Wet/Dry Sump:

B4243678-4DB0-42B3-96C4-4444996B5530.jpg

 

4435D1C2-71C2-4548-9B46-9CE7F1A3FA17.jpg

 

And apparently this thing twirls around:

D8DE184A-DF75-4428-86FE-51327ECEB155.jpg

 

There are no baffles between the big chamber and return pump chamber. You have to take the tank off and dismantle part of the stand to tank the sump out. Maybe I'll just put a heater and basket or cheato or something? Any ideas?

Link to comment
MyLiquidBlue29BC

Okay...after a lot of going back and forth, I'm not going to use the sump. I think the sump is totally usable, but the stand makes it very hard to get into the sump. I'm hoping to get an AquaClear 70 and some more sand today. My last piece of indecision is about painting the back panel. I'm thinking: yes, it needs a background, but I'm not sure if I want dark blue or black.

 

I hope I can get it wet this weekend. :)

Link to comment
MyLiquidBlue29BC

I started the aquascape. Let me just say, thank goodness I only have to do this once. First ledge is super heavy...might start over in the morning.

Link to comment
MyLiquidBlue29BC

Everything is transfered from the BioCube to the hex. Here is what it looks like:

 

E470F3B6-88EE-47BE-895E-59F17A33009B.jpg

 

There are some small rocks that I didn't know what to do with on the left side of the tower. They will be moved tomorrow. I will also be adding sand.

 

I wasn't able to do the two towers like I planned, but I still like the way it turned out. It is very stable this way too.

Link to comment
MyLiquidBlue29BC

That will look nice when its covered in coral!

Thank you :) I pretty happy about how it so far. I know I want to stick some fluffy macro and gorgs in the back and there will be Space Monster palys somewhere, but that is as far as I've gotten on the corals. Any suggests?

Link to comment

Thank you :) I pretty happy about how it so far. I know I want to stick some fluffy macro and gorgs in the back and there will be Space Monster palys somewhere, but that is as far as I've gotten on the corals. Any suggests?

 

My taste in corals is a little off the beaten path.... how about a small chili coral under the ledge :) They like to grow upside down.

Link to comment
MyLiquidBlue29BC

 

My taste in corals is a little off the beaten path.... how about a small chili coral under the ledge :) They like to grow upside down.

That sounds like a great addition for the tank. Have to take advantage of all if my ledges. :)

Link to comment
MyLiquidBlue29BC

I ended up having to drop one of my spare heaters into the tank before bed last night. It is taking both 100 watt heaters to get a stable temp. My BioCube was running at 81 because it is a BioCube and that is about as low as I could get the temp with the lights on. Right now the hex is able to hold the 81 with both heaters. I'm going to drop it down to 78 over the course of today. I am guessing I'm going to need to get 150 watt or 200 watt heater. The two I've got in my tank are so old (but SUPER reliable) so getting a new one will be a good thing.

Link to comment
MyLiquidBlue29BC

I shall stalk this build. :ninja:

Lol thank you :D Sand and new pics soon. I can't wait to add a jawfish. I wonder if I could get away with a pair :)

Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix

Lol thank you :D Sand and new pics soon. I can't wait to add a jawfish. I wonder if I could get away with a pair :)

 

Add the fish slowly though. Maybe QT the Jawfish pair first, add one, then wait two weeks and then add the other? Gives some leeway for the filtration to catch up.

 

P.S. I'm secretly a fan of overstocked tanks. So I should probably be the last person you should ask for fish stocking advice. :ninja:

Link to comment
MyLiquidBlue29BC

 

Add the fish slowly though. Maybe QT the Jawfish pair first, add one, then wait two weeks and then add the other? Gives some leeway for the filtration to catch up.

 

P.S. I'm secretly a fan of overstocked tanks. So I should probably be the last person you should ask for fish stocking advice. :ninja:

I could add both and be fine on bioload, I just don't know about my footprint. If they share a burrow that would work, if not, then I would be in trouble. I've seen them do both at my LFS. The two that were in the same tank but not sharing were spitting sand into each other's hole.

Link to comment
Snow_Phoenix

I could add both and be fine on bioload, I just don't know about my footprint. If they share a burrow that would work, if not, then I would be in trouble. I've seen them do both at my LFS. The two that were in the same tank but not sharing were spitting sand into each other's hole.

 

Maybe get a true mated pair and see if that works?

Link to comment
MyLiquidBlue29BC

I looked at some at the LFS today and saw a few really pretty pearly ones. I hope they will be there next week.

 

Here is what it looks like now. I added sand and moved around the smaller rocks I didn't know what to do with last night.

 

FF8FCD2E-8DAA-46F6-B973-F03610D06D77.jpg

BB9EE0F2-0E36-4FFA-BE6C-8A8D52406D48.jpg

 

 

I have the blues on 20% and the rest of the spectrum on 30%. I love the light, but I'm so afraid I am going to melt something!

 

Also picked up a Northern Lights monti because my husband just HAD to have something and I wouldn't let him get a fish or spend more than $20.

Link to comment
MyLiquidBlue29BC

So I've been finding these little snails in my tank for a while now. I first thought they were whelks and I was throwing them out; but the looked so much like my "Tongan nassarius snails" I stopped throwing them out. Come to find out what was sold to me as nassarius snails were whelks. I don't know if the little ones are babies from the two I purchased or were hitchhikers and then bread, but there are definitely some breeding whelks in my tank.

 

Big, purchased whelks:

 

91F04D5E-03B1-4061-9A21-B1158AFDA6AB.jpg

 

Little, not purchased whelks:

53DBABEE-9A78-40A4-A22E-6B7191578BC4.jpg

 

B9004D50-D884-45F1-88C1-61E4A754A620.jpg

 

Time to catch these things! Too bad I don't have a mantis to feed.

Link to comment
MyLiquidBlue29BC

I added a yellow headed jawfish today. He went right down into the rocks after being placed in the tank. I hope he likes it and feels comfortable soon. :)

Link to comment
MyLiquidBlue29BC

So this was an I spent too much money on my tank kind of weekend. In addition to the jawfish, I replaced my ClearFx and bought blue ochtodes, some sort of red macro, and a polyp of space monsters.

 

Here are so pics:

 

6618E08C-D2E6-4BBB-9030-2C194191C38D.jpg

This is the macro side of my tank. You can see the new red macro in the front and the ochtodes in the back.

 

32183924-7C93-48CE-BD65-5CD92355DB41.jpg

Close up of the ochtodes. I got enough to spead it out in 3 small clumps. Hopefully they all do well, but if not, I'm sure at least one spot will.

 

78F58014-67BB-4CB0-80CA-16A8E1B8C4A0.jpg

Can you see the jawfish in his hideyhole? :)

Link to comment
MyLiquidBlue29BC

The macro looks really nice!

Thanks :) I'm still trying to figure out what the red macro is. It feels like plastic, so I'm guessing it's lightly calcified. It is also bumpy. It doesn't seem to have a holdfast. I've read about quite a few species and nothing seems to fit. The guy I bought it from said the name started with an S. Any idea what it might be?

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions


×
×
  • Create New...