BadCrab Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Tank: Mr Aqua Exquisite Ultra 22 Gallon Frameless Low Iron Glass Aquarium Dimensions: 36" x 12" x 12" Lighting: Two AquaIllumination Sol Blue, EXT Rail & EXT Hanging Kit Filtration: Fluval FX6 Powerhead: Ecotech Vortech MP10 w/ PicOAquarium Shallow Shield Heater: Cobalt Neo-Therm 150w Substrate: Tropic Eden Reeflakes Grand Select 30lb LiveRock: Tampa Bay Saltwater 15lb Salt: Red Sea Coral Pro Running Temperature: 79F Start Date: 8/13/15 Updates: 8/15/15 Day 3 Tampa Bay Saltwater Liverock & Macro Shots Bonus Barnacle Action 3 Quote Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Sounds awesome, but how do you have the temperature before the tank is started tomorrow? 1 Quote Link to comment
BadCrab Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 I've been waiting for this tank to come back in stock for months and it finally shipped last week. I'm bringing the salinity up and installed the MP10 and Neo-Therm tonight, tomorrow morning I will pickup a freight package from Tampa Bay Saltwater and bring it home and add it to the tank before I head out for work. I've been extremely impressed with pictures of this new rock (created by Walt Smith) on other forums. The hanging kit for the lights and a DIY screen top kit will be arriving from BRS sometime this week. I still have no clear direction on setting the FX6 up. The Intake/Outflow are both 1", where the largest lily pipe size is 17mm or 5/8"; Finding efficient plumbing adapters to do this is proving frustrating - and 3 lily pipes (2 in, 1 out) are costly. I'm also considering a MAME Overflow plumbed directly to the FX6 but that too is an expensive investment if it doesn't work. Quote Link to comment
BadCrab Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 Just unpacked the rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater and I'm blown away at the quality. I got only a few small pieces but they are covered in barnacles, sponge, and tunicates. It's actually going to be a shame to cover it with coral. I'll take and post pictures after work assuming I'm not exhausted. Sneak peak cell phone picture! 5 Quote Link to comment
charnelhouse Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 That's some sick looking rock.... 1 Quote Link to comment
dpoltsdsu Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Wow that rock has a ridiculous amount of life on it. That's awesome 1 Quote Link to comment
Muraki Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Another Mr. Aqua 22L. This will be fun to follow. You should sump it! Certainly worth the extra work. Quote Link to comment
BadCrab Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share Posted August 14, 2015 That's some sick looking rock.... Wow that rock has a ridiculous amount of life on it. That's awesome I can say hands down that it is the nicest live rock I've ever seen. Florida maricultured rock tends to be thick with life but I really wasn't expecting the consistency to be so high. There were half a dozen porcelain crabs clinging to the rock when I first pulled it out of the box. It's shipped completely submersed in water (in about a dozen thick plastic blags) and arrived completely safe. It is freighted by air same day you order (I requested the redeye.) Freight is expensive and pushed my total cost to just under $10/lb So far no traditional pests (mantis, algae, aiptasia, etc) I found two suspicious looking crabs and removed one (the other escaped... for now...) Another Mr. Aqua 22L. This will be fun to follow. You should sump it! Certainly worth the extra work. That is something to consider, but I already had the FX6 in the closet. If I add a sump it will be much later - I'd want to do it right with a MAME overflow, sch80, and a custom sump. My friend says he can cut down the intake for the Fluval so it will fit in the tank but I was already looking for an excuse to ditch them they work but aren't very pleasing to look at. I did find a barbed reducer 1" to 5/8" from a pond supply website. I think I will order three of those (the 1" to 2x 5/8" wye reducer doesn't exist, im sure of it, and this is why we need to be able to 3D Print plumbing adapters) and just grab a 1" wye. Then I can order some nice looking lily pipes... Quote Link to comment
dpoltsdsu Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 I can say hands down that it is the nicest live rock I've ever seen. Florida maricultured rock tends to be thick with life but I really wasn't expecting the consistency to be so high. There were half a dozen porcelain crabs clinging to the rock when I first pulled it out of the box. It's shipped completely submersed in water (in about a dozen thick plastic blags) and arrived completely safe. It is freighted by air same day you order (I requested the redeye.) Freight is expensive and pushed my total cost to just under $10/lb So far no traditional pests (mantis, algae, aiptasia, etc) I found two suspicious looking crabs and removed one (the other escaped... for now...) That is something to consider, but I already had the FX6 in the closet. If I add a sump it will be much later - I'd want to do it right with a MAME overflow, sch80, and a custom sump. My friend says he can cut down the intake for the Fluval so it will fit in the tank but I was already looking for an excuse to ditch them they work but aren't very pleasing to look at. I did find a barbed reducer 1" to 5/8" from a pond supply website. I think I will order three of those (the 1" to 2x 5/8" wye reducer doesn't exist, im sure of it, and this is why we need to be able to 3D Print plumbing adapters) and just grab a 1" wye. Then I can order some nice looking lily pipes... What other life have you found on the rocks? Will the tank have a very small cycling period due to the rock being subermged the entire time? Quote Link to comment
BadCrab Posted August 15, 2015 Author Share Posted August 15, 2015 What other life have you found on the rocks? Will the tank have a very small cycling period due to the rock being subermged the entire time? I'd rather show everyone, but my kitchen is a straight up disaster right now, and I would hate to give away my mountainous stack of pizza boxes so soon. So, pictures later this weekend. There were at least half a dozen visible porcelain crabs when I first pulled the rock out of the box. There are two varieties of tunicates (red and white) along with a branching pink sponge and also orange sponge. Dozens of small snails. And, as mentioned earlier, *completely* covered in living barnacles. Obviously not everything will live a long life in home aquaria. The "typical experience," according to Tampa Bay Saltwater, is a slight elevation in ammonia (~1-2ppm) and able to support a light bio-load after a week (without any upfront waterchange) Quote Link to comment
BadCrab Posted August 16, 2015 Author Share Posted August 16, 2015 I've added some photos to the main post, which I will try and keep updated. The light hanging kit isn't here yet so this is still under the kitchen lights 8/15/15 Day 3 And here are a few macro shots. I am very new at photography and any tips appreciated. Again, not expecting this stuff to live. I'll pickup a bottle of live phyto this weekend and at least try. 3 Quote Link to comment
charnelhouse Posted August 16, 2015 Share Posted August 16, 2015 Awesome looking stuff. I have no sponge experience, what are the chances of that stuff staying alive? Quote Link to comment
cromag27 Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 Is this your first tank since the move? Quote Link to comment
BadCrab Posted August 17, 2015 Author Share Posted August 17, 2015 Awesome looking stuff. I have no sponge experience, what are the chances of that stuff staying alive? I've never *tried* to keep it alive before, so I can't say with certainty. I'm going to be feeding Fauna Marin LPS Pellets, Reef Nutrition Live Phyto, and the new PE Mysis / PE Calanus packs so hopefully some of it will stay around. Is this your first tank since the move? I've had the 5g set up for a while but nothing has really thrived in it. Going to redo it with a sandbed and some Zoas/shrooms/other softies, with a nano top off and see how it does with some more hands-off hardy corals. Since I started working in the industry full time I find that I don't want to spend what free time I have leftover troubleshooting, trimming, and generally maintaining in such a small footprint. Quote Link to comment
Marc.The.Shark Posted August 17, 2015 Share Posted August 17, 2015 That is something to consider, but I already had the FX6 in the closet. If I add a sump it will be much later - I'd want to do it right with a MAME overflow, sch80, and a custom sump. My friend says he can cut down the intake for the Fluval so it will fit in the tank but I was already looking for an excuse to ditch them they work but aren't very pleasing to look at. I did find a barbed reducer 1" to 5/8" from a pond supply website. I think I will order three of those (the 1" to 2x 5/8" wye reducer doesn't exist, im sure of it, and this is why we need to be able to 3D Print plumbing adapters) and just grab a 1" wye. Then I can order some nice looking lily pipes... This is the closest thing that i found to a 5/8" Y connector. At one point i thought i was going to need it, but went a different route. If you have the 1" to 5/8" reducer, then use this, maybe that'll solve your problem http://m.ebay.com/itm/Plastic-5-8-3-Way-Y-Pipe-Connector-/361284101440?nav=SEARCH 1 Quote Link to comment
BadCrab Posted August 27, 2015 Author Share Posted August 27, 2015 I hung the AI Sols (which will eventually be replaced by a Nanobox Hybrid from Dave) I moved over two walking dendros and two scolys (a nice S. australis which I will keep in this tank, and another unIDd which is not as nice and wont stay.) Rock moved around slightly. I started feeding Fauna Marin LPS Pellets on a daily basis, along with a few drops of Reef Nutrition Phyto-Feast Live. The majority of the barnacles appear to have died already, and there was a small algae bloom. Still waffling about how to connect the FX6, and I have a Gnome Skimmer I need to get an air pump for and install, too. Photo updates this weekend for sure. Quote Link to comment
dpoltsdsu Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 Looking forward to the photos, too bad the barnacles aren't making it Quote Link to comment
Muraki Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 Looking at pictures of the FX6 for ideas, that thing looks massive. And what kind of look are you going for when getting it hooked up, and a refresher on the issue you are coming across? I can't find your original thread on this. Quote Link to comment
BadCrab Posted August 30, 2015 Author Share Posted August 30, 2015 Looking at pictures of the FX6 for ideas, that thing looks massive. And what kind of look are you going for when getting it hooked up, and a refresher on the issue you are coming across? I can't find your original thread on this. Yeah the FX6 is basically a 5g bucket with a big pump in it. The Intake/Outflow hardware on the FX6 are designed for deeper tanks, so I will need to cut them down to size. they are also ugly. my initial thought was to use Lily Pipes instead (very popular in planted tank world) but the connections for the FX6 are 1" and the largest lily pipe sets that are sold are only 17mm (5/8"); Two intake pipes, One outflow pipe means I'd need to go from 1" > 5/8" for the outflow & a wye 1" > dual 5/8" for the twin intakes. This is not cheap and the pipes are a pain to keep clean. I'd just like everything to look minimal. Quote Link to comment
xmas_one Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 How about making your own out of PVC? You can paint it black and maintain a pretty sleek look. If you trim the 90s going up and over the rim of the tank, they look pretty good. Quote Link to comment
BadCrab Posted September 9, 2015 Author Share Posted September 9, 2015 I am absolutely exhausted from MACNA this year. I work at a very small installation & service business in northern Virginia, and we teamed up with a local coral retailer and local arcylic tank manufacturer to rent a double-booth in DC this year. I got to meet many of the people I look up to in the industry (Koji, Lemon, Kohen, Vargas, and so many more,) watched amazing presentations on fish collection, saw all the latest reef gadgets, oogled all the most expensive corals, and generally made trouble with the help of the local DC bartenders. I ate dinner at a table with Steve T of InTank. The whole thing was tiring and exhilarating and I wish I could do it every weekend of the year. So no new pictures, but things are coming along. After MACNA, I got the cable management done (everything plugged into a Mr DJ) and attached the FX6 using stock intake/outflows. I'll figure something else out in the future. I picked up a tiny Fungia polyp at the show (along with nearly 200 frags... but those are for the business. some might leak over to this tank eventually though) which brings the current coral to: 1 plate, 2 scoly, 1 chalice, 1 toadstool, 1 pavona, 2 walkin dendros. Still no fish, but we bought a tank full of aquacultured clowns from Proaquatix right as the show was packing up so I'll probably pick two for this tank in time. I didn't take many pictures at MACNA (much less busy people then me can do that ) but here are two I took with some of my Reefing Idols: Quote Link to comment
Snazxy Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Woah what happened to this build Quote Link to comment
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