drewgrano Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 FTS 10/12/14 FTS 9/30/14 FTS 9/17/14 So I started my CAD Lights 4 Gallon build last night. I attempted a minor aquascape but the water was so cloudy it was pretty difficult. I have some more rock that I can mess with after work tonight. I actually don't think its terrible right now. Pretty simple, but sometimes simple can be a good thing. But before I get back at it, I was hoping for some suggestions? I have about 2 lbs of additional rock to play with. P.S. - I'll clean the glass tonight. Thanks for any suggestions! Link to comment
Smithjm5 Posted September 17, 2014 Share Posted September 17, 2014 I think it looks pretty good now, maybe break up that big piece a little? Link to comment
drewgrano Posted September 19, 2014 Author Share Posted September 19, 2014 Day 3: I added a blue EcoPico LED strip to the stock lighting. Wish I would have bought two! Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are all at 0 and I'm hoping it stays that way. I bought the live rock and sand from my LFS, so I'm hoping I have zero cycle, or a very short one. I can't wait to start stocking this thing. Stock Lighting Stock + EcoPico LED EcoPico Only I'm definitely going to have to invest in a camera... Link to comment
cindyp Posted September 19, 2014 Share Posted September 19, 2014 looks good! i have to play with my fotos in photoshop. it's just really hard taking them with the LED lights on. the colors come out all strange. looking forward to your build! i just started a cadlights 8g myself. i think i'm stocked up full on corals, now just need to get fishies in october. Link to comment
drewgrano Posted September 20, 2014 Author Share Posted September 20, 2014 Day 4 Nitrates around 5-10 ppm, i'm thinking that's a good thing? Link to comment
drewgrano Posted September 25, 2014 Author Share Posted September 25, 2014 Well, I woke up super excited to buy my first coral today. Unfortunately my night didn't quite go as planned. I ended up picking out a beautiful torch from my LFS, along with a couple cerith snails. When I got it home I decided to cut the dead heads off using a dremel. Well I got about half way through the stem when the thing practically exploded. I don't know if I got the dremel a little crooked or what, but the poor little guy is mighty beat up. There's cracks kind of everywhere. I attempted to put him back together with super glue, but I have low expectations. I guess time will tell... Link to comment
cindyp Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 oh dear. a pretty coral. i hope he recovers. Link to comment
drewgrano Posted September 25, 2014 Author Share Posted September 25, 2014 12 hours later and the torch is inflated quite a bit more than I expected. However my super glue surgery definitely failed. Both sides have blown out further, and the right side has a couple of pieces hanging by soft tissue. Maybe the left head will make it at least? Link to comment
cindyp Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 12 hours later and the torch is inflated quite a bit more than I expected. However my super glue surgery definitely failed. Both sides have blown out further, and the right side has a couple of pieces hanging by soft tissue. Maybe the left head will make it at least? good gracious, what happened!!!! were you trying to shorten the end? poor coral. hard lesson learned. Link to comment
drewgrano Posted September 25, 2014 Author Share Posted September 25, 2014 It was attached to a much bigger piece with 5 other dead heads on it. I was just trying to remove the 2 good heads! I think I inadvertently might have been twisting the dremel a little as I was cutting which caused the whole thing to bust apart. As careful as I thought I was being, I will definitely be even more careful next time! Link to comment
cindyp Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 here's hoping at least one head survvies. Link to comment
drewgrano Posted September 27, 2014 Author Share Posted September 27, 2014 48 hours later and the torch is actually looking great! The two snails are doing good too. I'll probably stop by the LFS tomorrow and pick up coral #2! Link to comment
cindyp Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 just go easy on the tools! ha! Link to comment
fragtal Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 I'm still deliberating over which tank to get, but I don't see the 4 gal size on the CADLights site--can they be bought elsewhere? Called customer service and they have them, but had not added them to the site since the sale. They gave me the sale price so now I have a 4G on the way! About how many actual gallons in the display area? Thanks! Link to comment
drewgrano Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 Hmm.. Not sure about gallons in the display area only. I can't even remember how many gallons it took to fill the whole thing up after adding the rock and sand. But I can tell you that you'll love the tank. It looks great in my living room. And when I inevitably upgrade to something a bit bigger, it'll look great in my office at work! Link to comment
fragtal Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 I really like the flat rock off to the right in the photo, but can you get behind the larger one for maintenance? Link to comment
drewgrano Posted October 2, 2014 Author Share Posted October 2, 2014 Yea, I just taped some filter floss to the end of a stick and that's working so far. If need be, I'll do the same with a small razor blade to gently scrape stuff off the wall. Link to comment
Cameron6796 Posted October 2, 2014 Share Posted October 2, 2014 Looking good, I see you've taken a liking to torch corals, they are one of my favourites. The damaged torch looks like it will be fine, no need to worry Link to comment
drewgrano Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 FTS update! I'll get a better one tonight w/ some closeups when I don't have to deal with reflections. I actually think the zoas in the bottom left are doing the worst... only about half of them ever open up at a time. A lot of times most are closed. Link to comment
fragtal Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Very nice, just three weeks old! So did your nitrates ever get any higher than the 5-10 level? Link to comment
drewgrano Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 I test every other day and no never above 5-10. I've never been able to detect any ammonia or nitrites. So far the only difficulties I've had is attempting to glue corals down. It never goes as planned, but part of the fun i guess! Link to comment
drewgrano Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 My always unhappy zoas Link to comment
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