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Innovative Marine Aquariums

Moai of the Sea!


Sk8n Reefer

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Tiki time! Ok, time to finally start a thread for my 50gal. The tank was actually wet on Oct. 4th. I ran it without any rock or animals for about 3 weeks. Since I am transferring some rock and corals over from the Nuvo it's been a slow process but now it's moving along. Here's my equipment list

 

SCAquariums 50 gal. cube starfire glass tank - 24x24x20

SCAquariums stand- customized to fit in with the Tiki room

SCAquarium 301 skimmer ( upgrade- Nyos 120 skimmer)

Eshoppes RS-75 sump

Eshoppes 10gal. ATO container

Tunze Osmolator 3155 ATO

Bubble Magus doser- transfer once the corals from the Nuvo are moved over

Nanobox Hybrid light- Quad/Quad T5 bulbs- ATI- 2blue plus,1coral plus,1purple plus

Sicce 3.0 return pump- adjusted to lowest setting

Phosban reactor 150

Maxspect Gyre 150

Cobalt Aquatics 300watt heater

 

Here's a pic of the tank as of today with one of our favorite Moai's

 

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I wanted to take an overall appearance to how the tank looks - not just the inside but how the whole package presents itself. Luckily, that is easy in a Tiki room- just dress things up with Tiki's. I also wanted a clean look to the wires and cable management so we built a box next to the tank to hide them and keep things organized

 

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Dress it up with Tiki's - Lisa carved out those Tiki's in the frame with clay and made a mold and poured them in acrylic

 

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Blends in well

 

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I've added rock but scaping is not complete- I am planning on pulling some back out and forming some outcroppings and columns. I'll be using EMarco to bond the rock together

 

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We also needed to dress the stand up so Lisa built a new door for the stand. This is a tiki I carved out of clay and we made a mold of it- Lisa pours them in various colors of acrylic.

 

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A few others we've made, Lisa paints a background dresses up the frame Tiki style- this one looks like bronze

 

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Sump is packed full with skimmer and reactor. Doser will sit on the shelf once I transfer it over

 

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A tiki hides the 10gal. ATO container

 

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I have a few corals - my purple rimmed cap and red encrusting Monti and shroom transferred from the Nuvo that broke off the mother colony and recently added a spongode. I plan on transferring additional corals this week? I also have 3 pocillopora frags from the Nuvo but they won't stay- I'll trade those in for acro frags ?

 

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Spongode

 

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Clean up crew is in- a mixture of trochus and Astrea snails and 6 scarlet hermits

 

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The plan is to have a sps tank with some more difficult smooth skin acro's. Wish me luck- this is gonna be a fun ride!

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The light arrived? Awesome!!!!! Post up a review when you have a chance :)

Nope! Tracking number says Thursday - I'll try to get it mounted ASAP and post up some pics for sure

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Setting up for some aquascaping with EMarco- not sure how this will go but I am gonna give it a shot. Should be fun anyways ?

 

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The plan is to pull out some pieces and attach them and then let them set up underwater in the container - complete with heater and air stone. Let them set for a few hours then I should be able to transfer into the 50. Should keep all my bacteria in the rock healthy. Since the main bottom pieces of rock are still in the Nuvo these will be some top pieces. Pretty much just playing around with the EMarco right now- we'll see what happens!

 

Time for a water change to get this container filled up?

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Setting up for some aquascaping with EMarco- not sure how this will go but I am gonna give it a shot. Should be fun anyways

 

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The plan is to pull out some pieces and attach them and then let them set up underwater in the container - complete with heater and air stone. Let them set for a few hours then I should be able to transfer into the 50. Should keep all my bacteria in the rock healthy. Since the main bottom pieces of rock are still in the Nuvo these will be some top pieces. Pretty much just playing around with the EMarco right now- we'll see what happens!

 

Time for a water change to get this container filled up

 

NICE!!! I found with the emarco, it sets really quick so only mix a little at a time. And slowly add the acrylic liquid. I made that mistake too :)

And that's way less of a mess than I was expecting :lol:

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NICE!!! I found with the emarco, it sets really quick so only mix a little at a time. And slowly add the acrylic liquid. I made that mistake too :)And that's way less of a mess than I was expecting :lol:

I am mixing a pre mini batch to see the handling characteristics- I got about an hr to get my water in the storage container up to temp

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Wow, it's here...your new tank! I absolutely love what you and your wife have done decor wise with the tikis, especially the door. That is so unique.

It's going to be great. Good luck with those acros!

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Wow, it's here...your new tank! I absolutely love what you and your wife have done decor wise with the tikis, especially the door. That is so unique.

It's going to be great. Good luck with those acros!

Thanks Dawn, that's awesome of you to say- had to let Lisa know ? it's a fun room for sure! We've gathered quite a collection over the years. This tank's gonna be a challenge - I already lost a frag from dipping. ?
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Thanks Dawn, that's awesome of you to say- had to let Lisa know ? it's a fun room for sure! We've gathered quite a collection over the years. This tank's gonna be a challenge - I already lost a frag from dipping. ?

I think I read that in your other thread. Was it a smooth skin acro that you dipped with revive? I wished i could help with dipping but i only used iodides tinture which probably isn't effective against AEFW? Hang in there, I am sure you will get it.
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I think I read that in your other thread. Was it a smooth skin acro that you dipped with revive? I wished i could help with dipping but i only used iodides tinture which probably isn't effective against AEFW? Hang in there, I am sure you will get it.

Yup- smooth skin with revive. I am changing over to Bayer- from reading up on dips Bayer seems to be the dip of choice- especially with Acros?

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NICE!!! I found with the emarco, it sets really quick so only mix a little at a time. And slowly add the acrylic liquid. I made that mistake too :)And that's way less of a mess than I was expecting :lol:

Well my test run didn't work at all. I mixed it to wet- it took a 1/2hr. to initially set then I placed it in water and it fell apart. It's not an ideal set up - not using dry rock. I'll need to cover the rock with wet newspaper cause it will probably need to sit out of the tank for a couple hrs. We'll see how it goes today- round 2

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Love the build. Quick opinion I'd like to offer which you can certainly disregard. Keep the Monti spongodes off the rock for the time being unless you want a mammoth colony that takes over an entire section of your tank. I love the coral, it is a centerpiece of my tank, but I have to frag it constantly and really wish I'd added it later. However, you don't get the cool 3D branching without the piece getting to sufficient size so your mileage may vary. It will happily grow on the sandbed under that light (which I'm highly jealous of).

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Love the build. Quick opinion I'd like to offer which you can certainly disregard. Keep the Monti spongodes off the rock for the time being unless you want a mammoth colony that takes over an entire section of your tank. I love the coral, it is a centerpiece of my tank, but I have to frag it constantly and really wish I'd added it later. However, you don't get the cool 3D branching without the piece getting to sufficient size so your mileage may vary. It will happily grow on the sandbed under that light (which I'm highly jealous of).

 

Thanks! Yes, I agree- I'll probably place it on a smaller rock that I can move around. I am still trying to figure out my scape so last night I tore it all down and pulled out some rock and broke it into smaller pieces- quite a mess today. I have the spongode on a small rock for now. I have a few Monti caps and encrusting Monti's that I plan on placing in the middle bottom and let them grow around each other- that's the plan atleast

 

It's a mess this morning ?. Hopefully I can make this EMarco stuff work. Thanks for checking things out!

 

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Well my test run didn't work at all. I mixed it to wet- it took a 1/2hr. to initially set then I placed it in water and it fell apart. It's not an ideal set up - not using dry rock. I'll need to cover the rock with wet newspaper cause it will probably need to sit out of the tank for a couple hrs. We'll see how it goes today- round 2

 

Oh man :( that stinks, Scott!!!!

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Oh man :( that stinks, Scott!!!!

Ya, if it doesn't workout today I'll go back to just placing rock as usual- hopefully I can make it work! Another full day of working on the tanks ?

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