D Z's garage frag tank(formerly CAD 34G Mini)

February 25, 2015

I too am waiting for Nano Box and Bluefish Mini....and now my MP10W delivery was delayed. I need something to pass the time.

February 25, 2015

I have just finished reading your post and found it most interesting.

I have a Cad Lights 34 (now 1 year old) and the PL50 Elite Skimmer. The tank is really very good. The only problem I’ve had is that the black acrylic came unstuck after 3 months and we had to put some silicone in to fix it. It’s not been a problem since but looks a bit lousy from the top as the silicone shows a bit too much.

I have had the same problems with the skimmer as you guys. It takes a lot of adjusting to get it skimming and overflows quite a lot if I don’t empty the cup in time (every couple of days). I’ve had the skimmer for 4 months now and before that I had the Tunze 9002 which I couldn’t get to work at all (maybe had a bad one) I’ll be waiting in anticipation to see how your new skimmer works before changing the PL50E.

If your interested in my set up it's here http://rayjango.com

Keep up the good work

February 25, 2015

I have just finished reading your post and found it most interesting.

I have a Cad Lights 34 (now 1 year old) and the PL50 Elite Skimmer. The tank is really very good. The only problem I’ve had is that the black acrylic came unstuck after 3 months and we had to put some silicone in to fix it. It’s not been a problem since but looks a bit lousy from the top as the silicone shows a bit too much.

I have had the same problems with the skimmer as you guys. It takes a lot of adjusting to get it skimming and overflows quite a lot if I don’t empty the cup in time (every couple of days). I’ve had the skimmer for 4 months now and before that I had the Tunze 9002 which I couldn’t get to work at all (maybe had a bad one) I’ll be waiting in anticipation to see how your new skimmer works before changing the PL50E.

If your interested in my set up it's here http://rayjango.com

Keep up the good work

Glad you enjoyed my journey thus far. Your tank looks nice. I love the idea of the webpage. I like the idea of being able to split the information up into different sections(pages). I may have to give that a shot. Sorry to hear that about the false back. I have heard of a couple others here that had the same problem as you with the acrylic disconnecting from the glass. Glad to hear you were able to fix it, but still sucks that it happened.

I will definitely be posting about the skimmer once it comes out.

In other news, my wife just called me all frantic saying that the tank is completely full of bubbles and the display looked like it was about to overflow. My guess is my FF has gotten clogged and the display is not draining properly. Not quite sure why the bubbles, though. I just had her turn off the return/heater/skimmer and let it drain into the rear chamber. My powerhead is still running and the house is 75 degrees so I guess it should be fine till I can get home and figure out whats going on. I really hope InTank gets this new basket finished soon. I really need something in place of this FF ziptied to the teeth...

February 25, 2015

Glad you enjoyed my journey thus far. Your tank looks nice. I love the idea of the webpage. I like the idea of being able to split the information up into different sections(pages). I may have to give that a shot. Sorry to hear that about the false back. I have heard of a couple others here that had the same problem as you with the acrylic disconnecting from the glass. Glad to hear you were able to fix it, but still sucks that it happened.

I will definitely be posting about the skimmer once it comes out.

In other news, my wife just called me all frantic saying that the tank is completely full of bubbles and the display looked like it was about to overflow. My guess is my FF has gotten clogged and the display is not draining properly. Not quite sure why the bubbles, though. I just had her turn off the return/heater/skimmer and let it drain into the rear chamber. My powerhead is still running and the house is 75 degrees so I guess it should be fine till I can get home and figure out whats going on. I really hope InTank gets this new basket finished soon. I really need something in place of this FF ziptied to the teeth...

Sorry to hear about your bubbles problem. Hope it clears up OK. My skimmer overflowed again last night and that caused a lot of bubbles but only in the sump. I have one sponge with FF (in a sock) on the top. I change the FF twice a week and swap the sponge once a week. Seems to work OK.

The web site took a fair bit of figuring out but in the end it was quite easy. Same with everything, once you know what your doing things come a lot easier. If you need some pointers to get started on a web page just let me know, I can certainly point you in the right direction.

http://rayjango.com

February 26, 2015

Sorry to hear about your bubbles problem. Hope it clears up OK. My skimmer overflowed again last night and that caused a lot of bubbles but only in the sump. I have one sponge with FF (in a sock) on the top. I change the FF twice a week and swap the sponge once a week. Seems to work OK.

The web site took a fair bit of figuring out but in the end it was quite easy. Same with everything, once you know what your doing things come a lot easier. If you need some pointers to get started on a web page just let me know, I can certainly point you in the right direction.

http://rayjango.com

Well, I figured out my problem, and Ill explain down below. First, though, I did decide to start a site yesterday. It is still very much in the making, but check it out:

https://randy-lindsay.squarespace.com/config#/|/

Soooo, I got home from work last night, grabbed a quick dinner and then went to look at the tank. First thing, I went ahead and turned everything back on to see if I could get it to do the same thing my wife had described. Then, I noticed that the ATO container was empty even though my wife said she had filled it up earlier that day, uh oh. Tested the salinity and it was 1.020.....I just cannot catch a break. Everything was finally starting to look good again!!!

So I decided to just syphon the extra water back out of the tank and into a 5 gallon bucket and just "top off" from that over the next couple days, instead of RODI. That way the salinity would just come back up slowly. I had just assumed that my ATO got stuck on, which I was not very happy about as I have never had any problems with this Avast Marine ATO.

So a couple hours later, I hear the ATO running dry again!!! I go and look at the tank and it has bubbles like crazy in the display and looks like its about to overflow, just like my wife had described. I also notice that the 1st chamber is really high and that is when I realize what my true problem is. The bottom of the big piece of FF that I had ziptied in the first chamber had gotten sucked down under the first baffle, causing the water flow to decrease quite a bit. This then caused the water level in the pump chamber to drop drastically, letting the return pump pull in air, and causing my ATO to dump all the water back into the tank....SMH! On the bright side, it didn't really make anything worse, and at least now I know what caused the issue in the first place. Also, I can still sleep easy at night knowing it was not my ATO's fault. Needless to say, I drained the water back out again, and fixed the issue with the FF.

So now I get to see how my coral reacts over the next couple days. Everything was open and looked ok last night, just a little bit slimmy. The only piece I am really worried about is the blue maricultured acro, since it was already stressed out. On the bright side, this may fix my Alk issue :unsure:

February 28, 2015

I have a Cad Lights 34 (now 1 year old) and the PL50 Elite Skimmer. The tank is really very good. The only problem I’ve had is that the black acrylic came unstuck after 3 months and we had to put some silicone in to fix it. It’s not been a problem since but looks a bit lousy from the top as the silicone shows a bit too much.

Mine did the same too. I think they have some real quality issues. I haven't done anything with mine but it has bowed and detached and catches the light and looks goofy. It's a shame - the tank design is awesome but the manufacturing and assembly less so.

February 28, 2015

Well, I figured out my problem, and Ill explain down below. First, though, I did decide to start a site yesterday. It is still very much in the making, but check it out:

https://randy-lindsay.squarespace.com/config#/|/

Soooo, I got home from work last night, grabbed a quick dinner and then went to look at the tank. First thing, I went ahead and turned everything back on to see if I could get it to do the same thing my wife had described. Then, I noticed that the ATO container was empty even though my wife said she had filled it up earlier that day, uh oh. Tested the salinity and it was 1.020.....I just cannot catch a break. Everything was finally starting to look good again!!!

So I decided to just syphon the extra water back out of the tank and into a 5 gallon bucket and just "top off" from that over the next couple days, instead of RODI. That way the salinity would just come back up slowly. I had just assumed that my ATO got stuck on, which I was not very happy about as I have never had any problems with this Avast Marine ATO.

So a couple hours later, I hear the ATO running dry again!!! I go and look at the tank and it has bubbles like crazy in the display and looks like its about to overflow, just like my wife had described. I also notice that the 1st chamber is really high and that is when I realize what my true problem is. The bottom of the big piece of FF that I had ziptied in the first chamber had gotten sucked down under the first baffle, causing the water flow to decrease quite a bit. This then caused the water level in the pump chamber to drop drastically, letting the return pump pull in air, and causing my ATO to dump all the water back into the tank....SMH! On the bright side, it didn't really make anything worse, and at least now I know what caused the issue in the first place. Also, I can still sleep easy at night knowing it was not my ATO's fault. Needless to say, I drained the water back out again, and fixed the issue with the FF.

So now I get to see how my coral reacts over the next couple days. Everything was open and looked ok last night, just a little bit slimmy. The only piece I am really worried about is the blue maricultured acro, since it was already stressed out. On the bright side, this may fix my Alk issue

That's too bad - I hope things come back together for you. Like you said, take it slow when bringing the salinity back up and fingers crossed! I noticed in another post you mentioned you were considering the JNS WS1 skimmer. I am also. I tried the original PLS50 and didn't get on with it. Currently i have a Tunze 9001 on there and it's ok but I can't get dark skimmate from it - tea colored at best. Do you have any more info on the skimmer or details of anyone who has used it on one of these tanks?

February 28, 2015

Well, I figured out my problem, and Ill explain down below. First, though, I did decide to start a site yesterday. It is still very much in the making, but check it out:

https://randy-lindsay.squarespace.com/config#/|/

Soooo, I got home from work last night, grabbed a quick dinner and then went to look at the tank. First thing, I went ahead and turned everything back on to see if I could get it to do the same thing my wife had described. Then, I noticed that the ATO container was empty even though my wife said she had filled it up earlier that day, uh oh. Tested the salinity and it was 1.020.....I just cannot catch a break. Everything was finally starting to look good again!!!

So I decided to just syphon the extra water back out of the tank and into a 5 gallon bucket and just "top off" from that over the next couple days, instead of RODI. That way the salinity would just come back up slowly. I had just assumed that my ATO got stuck on, which I was not very happy about as I have never had any problems with this Avast Marine ATO.

So a couple hours later, I hear the ATO running dry again!!! I go and look at the tank and it has bubbles like crazy in the display and looks like its about to overflow, just like my wife had described. I also notice that the 1st chamber is really high and that is when I realize what my true problem is. The bottom of the big piece of FF that I had ziptied in the first chamber had gotten sucked down under the first baffle, causing the water flow to decrease quite a bit. This then caused the water level in the pump chamber to drop drastically, letting the return pump pull in air, and causing my ATO to dump all the water back into the tank....SMH! On the bright side, it didn't really make anything worse, and at least now I know what caused the issue in the first place. Also, I can still sleep easy at night knowing it was not my ATO's fault. Needless to say, I drained the water back out again, and fixed the issue with the FF.

So now I get to see how my coral reacts over the next couple days. Everything was open and looked ok last night, just a little bit slimmy. The only piece I am really worried about is the blue maricultured acro, since it was already stressed out. On the bright side, this may fix my Alk issue

Your link to the website doesn't work. It's asking for a name & password. Glad you found the problem.

Mine did the same too. I think they have some real quality issues. I haven't done anything with mine but it has bowed and detached and catches the light and looks goofy. It's a shame - the tank design is awesome but the manufacturing and assembly less so.

I spoke too soon, the acrylic is starting to come unstuck again. Their customer service is not very good either.

March 1, 2015

I spoke too soon, the acrylic is starting to come unstuck again. Their customer service is not very good either.

That's too bad. I have found they will often address things if you bug them a little but at this price point, I don't expect to have so many issues.

March 2, 2015

That's too bad - I hope things come back together for you. Like you said, take it slow when bringing the salinity back up and fingers crossed! I noticed in another post you mentioned you were considering the JNS WS1 skimmer. I am also. I tried the original PLS50 and didn't get on with it. Currently i have a Tunze 9001 on there and it's ok but I can't get dark skimmate from it - tea colored at best. Do you have any more info on the skimmer or details of anyone who has used it on one of these tanks?

I have not found a whole lot of people using the WS-1, but out of the people that I have found everyone loves it. I have also heard a lot of good things about JNS skimmers in general. As of right now, you cannot find on stateside anywhere, and it seems like no one is planning on bringing in any more. With that being said, I have talked to Aquamaxx and they will be releasing their version of the WS1 sometime in April, supposedly. This will be handled the same way that they released the HOB-1(which is the same as the JNS VS-1), so it should be a solid skimmer, and will fit great in our tanks.

Your link to the website doesn't work. It's asking for a name & password. Glad you found the problem.

I spoke too soon, the acrylic is starting to come unstuck again. Their customer service is not very good either.

My website is still in the trial period so you have to just choose the visitor option and type in the code displayed. I am still debating if I want to pay the $8/mo for the website or not, but am leaning towards it. Let me know what you think.

March 2, 2015

I have not found a whole lot of people using the WS-1, but out of the people that I have found everyone loves it. I have also heard a lot of good things about JNS skimmers in general. As of right now, you cannot find on stateside anywhere, and it seems like no one is planning on bringing in any more. With that being said, I have talked to Aquamaxx and they will be releasing their version of the WS1 sometime in April, supposedly. This will be handled the same way that they released the HOB-1(which is the same as the JNS VS-1), so it should be a solid skimmer, and will fit great in our tanks.

My website is still in the trial period so you have to just choose the visitor option and type in the code displayed. I am still debating if I want to pay the $8/mo for the website or not, but am leaning towards it. Let me know what you think.

Excellent job on your website with some really good photos. You don't need any pointers from me. I host my site on Hostpapa in Canada, They've done a good job so far and are quick to answer my questions. I use wordpress with the customizr theme and it has everything I need so far. Are you thinking about putting a blog on it as well?

March 2, 2015

Excellent job on your website with some really good photos. You don't need any pointers from me. I host my site on Hostpapa in Canada, They've done a good job so far and are quick to answer my questions. I use wordpress with the customizr theme and it has everything I need so far. Are you thinking about putting a blog on it as well?

Thanks. Yea, considering adding a blog section, just want the rest of the site built first for the most part. I have a lot of content that I can add in there, I just need time to work on it all.

March 9, 2015

I am happy to be writing to report good news for once! The tank has pretty much rebounded from the FF clog/salinity drop incident. I tested my salinity at 1.024 on Friday so figured it was time for a water change. Then, on Saturday, I got the following test results:

Salinity: 1.024

Nitrate: 2-3ppm

Phosphate: 0.00

Calcium: 410

Alk: 10.9

Mag: 1160

So my alkalinity is still a lot higher than I want, but I am wondering if that is due to my mag being slightly low now. I dosed 25ML of Tech M Saturday night, then got this on Sunday:

Calcium: 400

Alk: 10.6

Mag 1240

Then, I dosed another 15ML last night, which should put me up around 1300 where I want to be. Now, hopefully my Alk will drop down to around 8-9.

In other news, my wife's car was at the Hyundai dealership and I was there Saturday picking it up. The dealership just happens to be about a mile down the street from World Wide Coral, so I figured I would stop by. I went planning on buying a Turbo snail, and that is it. We all know how that usually goes, though. So here is what I ended up getting!

OJ - the new Target Mandarin

20150307_175616 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

20150307_175551 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

So far, he/she is doing great! How do you go about determining sex for a mandarin? He/She has been very personable, right up against the front glass looking at me. He/She has been hunting pods here and there and not really showing any signs of stress at all. It was a pretty healthy looking mandarin, definitely the healthiest target mandarin I have seen at a local store in the past 6 months, which is why I decided to go for it. I had noticed a decent amount of pods on the rocks and send lately and added a bottle of tigger pods as well. I am planning on getting some live brine this coming weekend to start the process of trying to train it to eat that, then frozen brine after that. Then, if I can get it on frozen brine, that should open the door for other frozen food. Keeping my fingers crossed....

Some dragon's breath

20150307_165223 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

A cool Pom Pom crab(he doesnt have any pom poms, though)

20150307_165209 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

And my torch decided to drop off one of the new baby heads, so I am trying to see if I can get it to attach to a piece of rubble.

20150307_182034 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

20150307_182028 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

And a couple cool random shots of the tank that I took while acclimating the new stuff!

20150307_165611 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

20150307_165704 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

20150307_165529 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

March 9, 2015

So many people are picking up target/green mandarins lately!!

Mine took to frozen bloodworms right away. You could try that. My clowns love it too, so it doesn't go to waste of Jonas isn't in the mood.

March 9, 2015

Looking awesome man !! Glad to hear things are getting back on the right track with the tank.

March 9, 2015

So many people are picking up target/green mandarins lately!!

Mine took to frozen bloodworms right away. You could try that. My clowns love it too, so it doesn't go to waste of Jonas isn't in the mood.

I know, I noticed that too. Actually I somewhat blame you for my impromptu purchase! LOL. I had been contemplating one and always look when I go to the LFS. I always told myself that I would only get one that was already eating frozen, but last week after seeing yours I decided to just go for it the next time I saw a healthy target in the store.

Ill have to pick up some frozen blackworms and give that a shot.

Looking awesome man !! Glad to hear things are getting back on the right track with the tank.

Thanks bro. I hope you get past your issues as well. Keeping my fingers crossed for you when you go home on Friday!

March 9, 2015

Hurray! About time you had some good tank karma!

As for sexing mandarin fish, the males have a spikey first spine on their dorsal fin whereas females do not.

March 11, 2015

Hurray! About time you had some good tank karma!

As for sexing mandarin fish, the males have a spikey first spine on their dorsal fin whereas females do not.

Thanks! So in a bit of more good tank news, I randomly found the purple zoa frag that had fallen into the hole in my LR! And to boot, it looks like it sprung a new polyp while it was lost! It is not the happiest, but I'm sure it will pull through.

Also, I did finally get a look at OJ's dorsal fin, and I am pretty sure he is a male!

Did some more testing, and my parameters are pretty out of balence. How can I get the Alk down and get this tank to stabilize?

Sal: 1.023

Cal: 390-400

Alk: 10.9

Mag: 1240 (dosed another 15ml)

March 15, 2015

Got something very cool this weekend, did a 10 gallon water change last night, photo dump tomorrow......

March 16, 2015

Well it was a good weekend. My wife was out of town with out 4 month old, so it was just me and my older son(hes 5). So I picked him up from school on Friday and we decided to make the rounds to a couple LFS's. We had a great time, resupplied on some frozen foods, picked up a large container for larger water changes, and a pretty cool piece of coral(more on this later)...

So Saturday was the day for a large water change. I mixed up about 10 gallons of water to 1.025. Alk on the WC water tested perfect to 7.8. I was a little nervous becuase right before starting the change, I tested my tank and somehow it had dropped a bit to 1.021, but I went ahead with it anyways. I am glad I did, because everything in the tank responded great! Here are my parameters as of last night:

Salinity: 1.025

Cal: 410

Alk: 9.8

Mag: 1280

I might do 1 more large change next weekend, and I think the tank will really be back on track, then I just need to keep everything stable.

So back to the new addition. I picked up an awesome blue/purple/green/yellow Wellso and I am just in love with this thing.

Commence Photo Dump!

The new Wellso:

DSCN4644 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

DSCN4680 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

On Saturday night, it was in all out feeding mode

DSCN4739 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

DSCN4737 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

Some random Z and P Pics

DSCN4668 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

DSCN4667 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

DSCN4665 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

DSCN4655 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

DSCN4652 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

DSCN4650 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

DSCN4647 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

DSCN4621 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

DSCN4607 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

Finally got a couple cool shots of the Pom Pom

DSCN4586 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

I just randomly found the pom pom chilling by the Wellso the first night

DSCN4720 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

And I got this awesome shot of OJ

DSCN4596 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

And just a little bit more random stuff

DSCN4685 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

DSCN4605 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

I found this on my glass, should I be concerned?

DSCN4677 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

And a couple new FTS

DSCN4637 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

DSCN4638 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

March 18, 2015

So I think a sunburst anthia will be my next addition to the tank. After that, maybe a sunrise dottyback, just not sure how aggressive they can be. It would be the last fish to add to the tank, so that is good, but I am still slightly worried. Anyone have any experience with sunrise dottybacks?

Also considering starting my own pod and phyto cultures. Might start he pod culture this weekend and see how it goes, then start the phyto in a couple weeks.

March 18, 2015

I really like that wellso, makes an awesome center piece and its so vivid. Did you get that from WWC by chance? I remember seeing one just like that for a while now that I wished I had space for. I don't think you should get the dottyback though. My springeri dottyback has behaved great with my clowns so far and very active but he was able to destroy my entire pod population in a week, my ruby red couldn't even accomplish that. I wouldn't want your mandarin to lose all their food.

March 18, 2015

I really like that wellso, makes an awesome center piece and its so vivid. Did you get that from WWC by chance? I remember seeing one just like that for a while now that I wished I had space for. I don't think you should get the dottyback though. My springeri dottyback has behaved great with my clowns so far and very active but he was able to destroy my entire pod population in a week, my ruby red couldn't even accomplish that. I wouldn't want your mandarin to lose all their food.

Thanks! I got it at Top Shelf. Actually, I think I know exactly which one at WWC you are talking about. I took a pic of it when I was in there the weekend before.

20150307_151124 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

As for the dottyback, I am aware that it will compete with the mandarin for pods. That is why I am planning on starting a pod culture so that I can continue to dose pods to the tank, without it being a huge financial burden. I still am on the fence regarding the aggression though. I may just go with an orchid dottyback instead, as they are known to be the least aggressive of the dottyback family.

March 18, 2015

Thanks! I got it at Top Shelf. Actually, I think I know exactly which one at WWC you are talking about. I took a pic of it when I was in there the weekend before.

20150307_151124 by cchsoracle, on Flickr

As for the dottyback, I am aware that it will compete with the mandarin for pods. That is why I am planning on starting a pod culture so that I can continue to dose pods to the tank, without it being a huge financial burden. I still am on the fence regarding the aggression though. I may just go with an orchid dottyback instead, as they are known to be the least aggressive of the dottyback family.

Yeah that's the WWC. Top Shelf has been getting a lot of really nice looking pieces but they are always so large now. They had about 20-30 colony size SPS for sale a few weeks ago. I think you definitely got the nicer wellso of the two though. I think dottyback aggression is just on a fish to fish basis, my springeri is scared of my clowns at times and he actually gives them lots of space when I feed and never tries to take the clowns food. Good luck with the pod population, just make sure you keep lots of phytoplankton in the culture tank for the pods to munch on and they will reproduce like crazy.

March 18, 2015

Yeah that's the WWC. Top Shelf has been getting a lot of really nice looking pieces but they are always so large now. They had about 20-30 colony size SPS for sale a few weeks ago. I think you definitely got the nicer wellso of the two though. I think dottyback aggression is just on a fish to fish basis, my springeri is scared of my clowns at times and he actually gives them lots of space when I feed and never tries to take the clowns food. Good luck with the pod population, just make sure you keep lots of phytoplankton in the culture tank for the pods to munch on and they will reproduce like crazy.

Yeah, thats the plan. I have never done either pods or phyto, but it doesn't sound too hard. The pods sound pretty easy, the phyto seems pretty straight forward, you just need to make sure not to contaminate the culture. I have been using Algagen Phycopure in my tank daily, which is supposed to help the pods reproduce in the tank, but that gets expensive fast. Having my own pod and phyto culture would definitely be ideal. The only thing I am worried about is the only place I have to set it up the cultures is in my garage, which can get somewhat hot in the summer.

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D Z's garage frag tank(formerly CAD 34G Mini)

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