quartapound Posted October 12, 2015 Share Posted October 12, 2015 Hey guys, I’ve never actually made a thread for my tank before, but the tank will be turning 5 years old this November and I figured now would be a good time to start something out. This can definitely be considered my first saltwater aquarium, I started out with a 10 gallon bought from kijiji a few months before I got my cube, it came with a clownfish and a damsel, which got me hooked, and I bought the 45G Marineland Cube with overflow (24x24x18) from Incredible Aquarium in November 2011. The tank has been through 2 moves in those 5 years, as well as some neglect, and lots of learning… I’ve come a long way from where I started, but I’m still far from where I’d like to be! Current tank setup: 45G marineland Cube (24x24x18)with built in overflow (overflow leaves much to be desired… one of the only things I wish I could change about this tank) 20G DIY sump, 3 sections, had to dismantle my bubble trap when I upgraded my skimmer. Vertex IN-100 Protein Skimmer-- Upgraded from Bubble Magus NAC 3.5 Vortech MP-10 ES powerhead Mag 9.5 return pump 2x150W heater BRS media reactor with carbon and rowaphos BRS 5 Stage RO/DI system 25G shallow frag tank (36x20x7.5) plumbed into my DT/Sump 4xATI 24’” 24Watt T5HO (3xBlue Plus 1x Purple Plus) in a Sun Blaze 24” x 4 T5HO fixture (Workhorse 5 Ballast)--I just recently decided to add this to my system sept 2015 DIY LED’s surrounding the T5’s - 18x Cree XP-E Royal Blue 3W, 10x Cree XP-G Cool White R5 3W powered by 2x Meanwell ELN 60-48D drivers Neptune Apex Jr Controller with temperature probe DIY Arduino Controller for Feeding, Lighting control and dimming, ATO (using Arduino Mega 2560, Ethernet Shield, relay board, PH probe, temp probe, RTC, DIY Dosing pump --amazon/ebay ‘special’... 12v Peristaltic pump running @6.5v, ALK dosing Auto-Feeder hacked to be controlled by the Arduino DIY ATO-- using Arduino, float switches, relay board, Toms aqualifter pump SMC IP network cam pointing at Display Tank Stocking list 3x Green Chromis 2x Ocellaris Clownfish 1x Juvenile Yellow Tang 1x Six-line Wrasse 1x Skunk Cleaner Shrimp Corals A mixture of SPS/LPS and softies… I’d say my tank is LPS dominated at the moment, although I plan on adding a lot more SPS in the coming months. Equipment Layout Remote Sump!! I became quite excited during the planning stages of my last move when I realized that it was going to be easy to plumb the drain and return lines through the floor which allows me to have my sump and frag tank in the basement… keeping the ongoing clutter and ‘science experiments’ out of view while giving me lots of room for maintenance and equipment. I still wanted to keep the distance between my return pump and the tank as short as possible, so I found some heavy duty steel shelves @ CT that will easily handle the weight, and set them up. Maintenance in the sump/frag tank requires a small step ladder right now but I plan on building a small step/platform that will span the length of the shelving units to allow working comfortably. My return pump feeds both the frag and display tank, both return via gravity. I’m running carbon and Rowaphos (will be switching to HCGFO when the jar is empty) in a BRS media reactor fed from a MJ1200. For Water movement I’m currently relying on a single Vortech MP10ES in Reef Crest mode around 70%,, with a DIY 12v backup battery, but I am seriously considering switching over to 2x Jebao RW4’s. Water Parameters I will be the first to admit, this hasn’t been my strong suite in the past. Over the history of the tank there have been many missed water changes, and only since the move have I started testing and dosing for Ca, Alk, Mag. That being said, the tank has been doing quite well in spite of some neglect. latest testing: Salinity 1.026 Temp 78.5 PH 8.25 Alk 7 Ca 440 Mag 1360 I am having a hell of a time trying to keep my Alk up… but only recently (this weekend) installed and setup my DIY dosing pump. it’s the same 12v peristaltic pump Torx used for his DIY, I have it powered by 6.5v which seems to be the sweet spot for mine, not too fast, but enough voltage to keep things flowing consistently. testing this setup i found that it does about 50ml in 2 minutes(at 6.5v), which equals out to about 0.4167ml/second. right now i’m running it for 12 seconds at a time (5ml in 12seconds) 10 times a day (50ml per 24 hour period). I recently setup a saltwater mixing station and ran a RODI line across the basement to it, as well as to my ATO container… I have no idea why I didn’t do this sooner, no more carrying buckets during waterchanges… which means I’m more likely to do them! .....So! Any questions, comments, suggestions, please feel free to post them, I'm always open to new ideas and trying to learn more! Thanks Everyone, Quartapound Pictures Nov 20, 2011 Tank first setup Dec 23, 2011 Sept 25, 2012 After first move Aug 22, 2013 Nov 19, 2013 Feb 4, 2014 May 6, 2014 July 15, 2014 Dec 14, 2014 Oct 12, 2015-- (approx 1.5 months after tank move #2) November 14, 2015 Old Sump (under tank design) New ‘Remote’ Sump (basement “Fishroom”) Frag Tank 3 Quote Link to comment
quartapound Posted October 12, 2015 Author Share Posted October 12, 2015 Playing around with my new Extension tubes (using Canon T2i with 50mm 1.8) 2 Quote Link to comment
vlangel Posted October 13, 2015 Share Posted October 13, 2015 Very nice. I am glad that you had documentation, (pics) of the progression. I love the birdsnest. 1 Quote Link to comment
quartapound Posted October 15, 2015 Author Share Posted October 15, 2015 Did some more macro stuff tonight, including some video... here's my favourite pic so far... of my Birdsnest Coral. I love how big the polyps look... loving this extension tube... ZERO post editing other than adding the watermark! might post the video later!enjoy 2 Quote Link to comment
quartapound Posted October 17, 2015 Author Share Posted October 17, 2015 Here's a live feed of the IP camera pointed at my reef tank guys. I'll try and keep this up 24/7 Enjoy!! LINK Quote Link to comment
vlangel Posted October 17, 2015 Share Posted October 17, 2015 Hey that live feed is cool. I would love to have that for my seahorse tank, especially when I go away and leave a tank sitter in charge to feed them once a day. 1 Quote Link to comment
quartapound Posted October 18, 2015 Author Share Posted October 18, 2015 Thanks! Definitely gives me peace of mind having the ability to check the tank literally whenever I feel the need to! It's always fun showing people how i can feed and watch the tank remotely as well. for those who are curious, equipment used for this setup: SMC 1011W IP Camera ($25 surplus store) ---this is all that's really needed to watch your own tank (just forward the port in your router) To facilitate sharing stream with general public: Ustream account --free Wirecast -- used to convert RTSP feed from IP camera into RTMP feed that Ustream will accept (you need a computer running 24/7to do this) Anyone looking to emulate this setup don't hesitate to ask questions! 1 Quote Link to comment
quartapound Posted October 18, 2015 Author Share Posted October 18, 2015 just figured out how to stream live to youtube as well 1 Quote Link to comment
quartapound Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share Posted October 28, 2015 couple new macro videos of the tank! edit... links broken 1 Quote Link to comment
quartapound Posted November 15, 2015 Author Share Posted November 15, 2015 some of my new additions today green slimer acropora red montipora digitata Blue Acropora Green Acropora Purple Valida Acropora (not pictured) Orange Setosa Montipora sorry for the blueeee's 1 Quote Link to comment
quartapound Posted November 29, 2015 Author Share Posted November 29, 2015 latest FTS. using RAW mode (finally) to adjust whitebalance in post... should have done this a long time ago! 1 Quote Link to comment
quartapound Posted December 5, 2015 Author Share Posted December 5, 2015 Pokerstar Montipora. 55-250 with all 3 extension tubes lol another shot with my 55-250 and 21mm extension tube of a Millepora 2 Quote Link to comment
quartapound Posted January 19, 2016 Author Share Posted January 19, 2016 played around with my camera and macro tubes again tonight... Quote Link to comment
Newstead Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 Oh my ... I have no idea what the photographic settings mean, but these pics are stunning! Quote Link to comment
quartapound Posted February 7, 2016 Author Share Posted February 7, 2016 Haven't been updating as often as I should, but here's the FTS for this month... I need some more glue, frags are accumulating at the bottom of the tank lol.. Some good growth though, noticeable! Working on colouring up a few that have lost their lustre since adding them to the tank, I won't lie, this past month I spent less time than I should have working on the tank... still happy though 1 Quote Link to comment
Sk8n Reefer Posted February 7, 2016 Share Posted February 7, 2016 Nice looking tank and photography ?. Everything is looking happy! Quote Link to comment
quartapound Posted May 3, 2017 Author Share Posted May 3, 2017 been a long time since an update Here's a LIVE video link of my tank. I've been broadcasting almost every day. https://www.youtube.com/user/quartapound/live Tank lights on between 10am-10pm EST latest FTS Quote Link to comment
quartapound Posted May 20, 2017 Author Share Posted May 20, 2017 Finally skinned my tank stand after almost 6 years bare! #betterlatethannever ...also decided to do the wall behind the TV with the same barnwood to pull everything together 1 Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.