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Chris' CAD Lights 45g Shallow : Another Re-Scape (Video)


cnseekatz

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Ali has been closed on the weekends lately because of some health issues. If you let me know before you come down, I'll grab one for you during the week, and meet up with you when you're in town. Just give me a call!

Thanks for the heads up and the offer :). I'll let you know toward the end of the month what the plan is! You aren't planning to go to MACNA?
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Thanks for the heads up and the offer :). I'll let you know toward the end of the month what the plan is! You aren't planning to go to MACNA?

 

I'm not going to MACNA, that's my bachelor party weekend! omgomgomg

  • Like 2
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I'm not going to MACNA, that's my bachelor party weekend! omgomgomg

omgomgomg

 

Good excuse to miss it :). I'm only going because I've never been and it's right here. Just a hop, skip and a jump away :).

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One of my BTAs decided to crawl halfway across the tank one night. I kinda like his new spot.

 

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Hammer coral is super happy. I even fragged off a few heads.


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Green Tort is happy too!


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Good ol' fashioned SPS fight!

 

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It's been a little while since my last update, so here's the news.

 

Everything is going well. My corals are happy and growing, and my (remaining) fish are doing great. After spending months in the tippy-top of the back left corner, where it was happy and couldn't hurt anyone, one of my BTAs decided to go for a stroll. I shared a photo in my last post. The spot it decided to move to wasn't terrible, but it just kept inching over to the side, and ended up stinging my prized Oregon Tort. He was deep inside a hole, so there was no removing him from his spot. So I needed to rework some of the rock to give him room to extend and be happy. As tends to happen, moving a rock or two ended up being a total and complete overhaul of my aquascape. I tore down everything, and rearranged my rocks. I relocated a handful of SPS, LPS and zoanthid colonies. I like the new layout. It is very different than it was, and while it doesn't adhere to my original goal for the tank, I think it looks pretty cool, and I think the corals are better situated for light and flow, and have more room to grow without running into each other.

 

Regarding my battle with aiptasia, I seem to have gained the upper hand on an infestation that was getting out of control. The addition of a handful of peppermint shrimp and an aiptasia eating filefile into the display have eliminated all the visible pests. I also added 7 good sized berghia nudibranches into my fuge, and even though I haven't seen them since I put them in, I can tell they're doing their job.... slowly but surely.

 

My tank's dimensions make it difficult to get a good FTS, so I shot a quick and dirty video instead. I didn't edit this at all (except to add cheesy music), but it gives you a good look at the new scape, and an idea of how things have filled out.

 

Enjoy!

 

  • Like 7
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  • 2 weeks later...

That video needed to be longer ;). Looks fantastic! The toad is still my favorite thing :).

 

 

This tank is amazing. A huge inspiration.

 

 

Nice looking tank!

 

Thank you guys! It's been a rocky road, but I think it's in a good place. Now I just need to figure out how to get rid of the latest outbreak of diatoms. I feel like you fix one issue, and then something entirely different pops up. It's always something!

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Went to the LFS today for some water, came home with three new fish. Since I lost two of my three leopard wrasses, I've been wanting to find something new to bring some life to the tank. So when I saw a tank full of tiny juvenile Lyretail Anthias, I couldn't resist, so I grabbed a pair. They're gorgeous and are open water swimmers, so I think they'll fit in well. They're pretty cute too, about an inch long each! I also picked up a Diamond Goby to help clean up my sand bed a bit (as you can probably tell by the cloudy water in the photos below).

 

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cute! I didn't have much luck with anthias in my tank so i hope yours does well and then you can tell me your secret =P. I would love to try them again. I think my issue is because I only feed the tank once a day and they need multiple feedings or lots of pods.

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I love the anthias but am not home enough to keep a feeding schedule for them. Hopefully they do well for you they look sweet!

 

 

cute! I didn't have much luck with anthias in my tank so i hope yours does well and then you can tell me your secret =P. I would love to try them again. I think my issue is because I only feed the tank once a day and they need multiple feedings or lots of pods.

 

I've been at home most days so I'm not too worried about multiple light feedings. I think that my refugium will do the bulk of the work for me. I also have an auto-feeder if/when they're able to eat pellets.

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What happened to the leopards? I've always loved those fish and I plan to keep them in my next build. I'm curious to know what happened.

 

I had three leopards (different species), all happy together. The Potter's began transitioning to male, and was getting aggressive, and was bullying the Blue Star. One day I came home and my Potter's and my Chaoti were dead on the floor. Don't know what happened or why they both jumped, but it was a sad day. It's tough to successfully introduce leopards, so to lose two (one pretty rare) fish was rough. I tried another Potter's, but couldn't get him to eat. If I ever seen another Chaoti, I'll take a shot, they're really gorgeous.

 

Plan a nice screen top on your next build if you plan to have leopards.

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I finally got around to creating a screen top for the tank. I've had enough carpet surfers, so I bought a screen top kit from BRS (http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/diy-aquarium-screen-top-kits-1-4-netting.html). It was pretty easy to put together. It required a hacksaw to trim the rails, and a spline roller to fix the netting to the rails, but besides that it was simple. I don't love having a top on the tank at all, but hopefully this will protect my fish going forward.

 

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I saw a cool post on R2R about creating a broad, flat container for chaeto out of egg-crate. Based on that article, I put one of these bad-boys together. I love the idea of flattening out the ball, while keeping it (somewhat) contained so that it doesn't float around willy-nilly. The container can be flipped from time to time to allow for lighting the underside of the mat, and the growth can easily be trimmed as it grows. I get more surface area, which should allow for more light penetration, and better water circulation. We'll see how it goes!

 

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Very cool chaeto organizer :). Guess who's getting a fiddle leaf fig??? My friend and neighbor is moving out of state and she is going to rehome her fig to me. I'm sad about her moving but pretty excited to get her tree! It's ginormous. I hope I can find a good spot for it :lol:.

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Very cool chaeto organizer :). Guess who's getting a fiddle leaf fig??? My friend and neighbor is moving out of state and she is going to rehome her fig to me. I'm sad about her moving but pretty excited to get her tree! It's ginormous. I hope I can find a good spot for it :lol:.

omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg

 

Just make sure it has a lot of light, and they dig fresh air whenever they can get it.

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omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg

 

Just make sure it has a lot of light, and they dig fresh air whenever they can get it.

:happydance:

 

I have 3 options to try so hopefully one will work. If not, I'll put it outside under my porch. It should love it there :).

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I've been battling cyano of some sort or another recently. I've had trouble getting my skimmer dialed in (what's new?), so I think that's played a part in it. I bought a bag of Chemi-Pure Blue and tossed it in my sump. It seems to be helping, and the red/brown devil is fading off of my sand and rocks.

 

In other news, I bought a used vortech battery backup, because... well, it just makes sense to have one doesn't it?

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