clownfish617 Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 it looks nice. good luck! Link to comment
SnakPak Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 Ok, I've made a little more progress. Ordered thus far: MJ1200 Koralia Nano VisiTherm Stealth 100w FNI MH 150W And finally on to pics. I did my fresh water test today to make sure I had no leaks. All was well! I do have a small leak around the tube from the MJ, but I'm not going to worry about that so much. It's hard enough right now to get in that chamber to put it in and take it out, so I'm not going to bother sealing it off. I also changed the design a little bit. I can't remember whose tank I saw that had the drilled holes for surface skimming, but I liked the idea and used it. I'll have to dig through and find who used it on theirs. I've looked at so many threads that I can't remember from left to right. Anyways, on to the pics! Link to comment
PSYS Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Pics look great! Looks like you're making nice progress.... can't wait to see how your project develops! Link to comment
SnakPak Posted March 2, 2009 Author Share Posted March 2, 2009 Updates: It's ALIVE! Well, ok, not quite. I've moved it to its final resting spot courtesy of the Walmart aquarium stand I bought today. I also picked up 30lbs of Aragonite sand and a couple clumps of live rock to get it started. I'll be stopping by the LFS this Wednesday when they are supposed to receive more LR and pick the rest out. For now, it's just one big dust bowl. People weren't kidding when they said it is dusty after you put sand in. Slowly and steadily it's been clearing, but I don't expect crystal clear water for a couple days at least. Here are the specs: 20g long customized to AIO MJ 1200 Koralia Nano FNI 150W MH 30lbs Aragonite sand (non-live) Walmart Aquarium stand Visi-Therm Stealth 150W Heater Best part about all of this, besides having it up and running, is that my LFS gives away free RO water and sells salt water for $.25 cents a gallon! I can't wait til this cycle is completed so that I can start adding in critters. Even my wife is excited about this tank. Who would of thought? Link to comment
Gerber77 Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Wow that is an excellent tank very nice Link to comment
SnakPak Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 Well the water finally cleared out this morning. I rigged up a micro-fiber cloth on my overflow to catch all the debris and ran it like that through the night. I awoke this morning to a crystal clear tank, with the exception of some fine dust on the inside glass and on my pumps and heater. But I can clean that later. All I can say now is that I'm super glad that I went with metal halide. It's looks amazing. Now I just need to add some more LR in and get the cycle over with. This waiting game is torture! I'll post more pics tonight or tomorrow night once I have the final scape done. Link to comment
twichstile Posted March 3, 2009 Share Posted March 3, 2009 Awesome tank brother! I have a 20L myself and have been pondering a drill/sump project but the AIO design you have shared here is amazing and got me considering it. How did you get the sump area blacked out? That is trick! Link to comment
SnakPak Posted March 3, 2009 Author Share Posted March 3, 2009 I used Krylon Fusion paint on the exterior of the tank. Worked like a charm! I'm losing a little area for the display, but it's not that bad. Only 6" is lost to overflow/fuge. Plus I can hide all my equipment back there too. So far so good! Link to comment
SnakPak Posted March 4, 2009 Author Share Posted March 4, 2009 Ok, here are some better pics now that the dust storm has cleared. I can't accurately capture the color of the tank just yet. I was playing with my settings on the DSLR and got a few decent shots. I know it's just a boring tank with sand and a couple miniature pieces of LR right now. I'm just using this to document my progress and hopefully get some feedback from all of you. Tomorrow I'll be purchasing more LR and doing some better aqua-scaping. Link to comment
Refleck Posted March 4, 2009 Share Posted March 4, 2009 Great tank and good luck. I thrive on your basic twenty gallon format Patience is the key,.you can see some of the images posted of my twenty. Make sure you take as many images you can on manual mode practice makes perfect. Link to comment
slippy steve Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 I like this. Looks awesome, especially for your first attempt. Link to comment
SnakPak Posted March 7, 2009 Author Share Posted March 7, 2009 They might not be corals, but it's all I have to look at right now. I'm getting ancy! Link to comment
*keith* Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Pretty cool. I like this idea for a tank that can be viewed from both sides. Link to comment
SnakPak Posted March 8, 2009 Author Share Posted March 8, 2009 Finally got my diatom bloom. Started out a little bit yesterday, today it was widespread. I'm also getting a lot of nitrogen bubbles coming up from the sand as well as forming on the live rock. I've added 2 blue legged hermits and 3 nassarius snails to the tank. I'll be picking up a couple astrea snails tomorrow to help with the algae bloom I'm getting on the LR. Link to comment
clownfish617 Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 wow. those halides look so nice! taggin along! Link to comment
latteslave Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 This is GREAT! Your design is excellent - can't wait to see the progress! Link to comment
SnakPak Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 Updates: Well, I added some stuff in this past week and weekend. Picked up a yellow-tail Damsel and added her to the tank. Now I'm not sure if it's really a "her", but the wife and I are calling her Boo. Today I went to the Midwest Marine Conference and picked up a baby plate coral, a frag of monti cap for free, a yellow headed jawfish and a frag of zoos. I'll have to get some pictures of the additions. I'm not particularly happy with how much algae seems to be growing at this point. I did clean it up over the weekend, but it seems like my clean up crew is too small at this point. I only have 2 astrea snails, 2 cerith, and 3 nassarius. I'll give it some time though and see how it goes. Link to comment
Gerber77 Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Have you tested your water? If you still have a diatom bloom, then that means your still in your cycle and you shouldnt be adding anything Link to comment
SnakPak Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 I tested last week and everything checked out. So I don't know, I'll test the water again. Hopefully nothing is wrong, I'd hate to have the jawfish and damsel in there if my parameters are out of whack. Link to comment
Gerber77 Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 yea that wouldnt be good because if they die that will just prolong your cycle. What kind of jawfish are you getting? Link to comment
SnakPak Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 I picked up a yellow headed jawfish. I just checked my water parameters again because I got a little worried. Everything is at 0. Though now my problem is my Jawfish isn't looking so good. He was fine earlier today, working on his burrow. Then I checked on him a few minutes ago and found him laying on his side. So I moved him from the display to the fuge area so he can be alone. I really, really hope he doesn't die on me. I'll feel horrible. Link to comment
SnakPak Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 Well, unfortunately, the Jawfish didn't make it. I checked on him last night at like 2am and he was gone. I feel horrible. I think that he was overstressed at the LFS and me bringing him home didn't help him. I should have paid more attention to how he looked when the LFS took him out of their tank. I think I was so wrapped up in conversation that I didn't notice his condition. Lesson learned, though at the price of a helpless fish and money from my wallet. I'm honestly more disappointed that I let him suffer then at the loss of money. I won't be adding in another fish for a while, that's for sure. My damsel is doing wonderfully though. Last night she pulled an amazing disappearing act on me. I had no idea where she was in the tank as I was cleaning up after the Jawfish. This morning, there she was front and center. On another note and completely off-topic, my Bearded Dragon has gone missing in my house. I've been letting her run around lately since she seems to be spring crazy. Now I can't find her. Heck of a weekend this is turning out to be. Link to comment
steve0xr Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 sorry for your loss, tomorrow morning just any spot in the house where sun shines threw, i bet youll catch her out basking. good luck Link to comment
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