Quokka Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Preface I've always been interested in aquariums and sadly enough, I became set on making one after seeing the Fluval Edge at Petsmart . After reading RC and NR for months bugging everyone with clown hosting questions I decided to go with a rimless setup instead due to its lighting constraints. Livestock B/W Ocellaris Clownfish Pistol Shrimp Blue Neon Goby Crocea Clam 3x Sexy Shrimp Blue Snowflake Polyps Green Star Polyps Galaxy Coral Mushroom Ricordia Mushroom Baby's Breath Acan ORA Bird of Paradise Birdnest ORA Purple Plasma Acro Green Stylopora Green Birdsnest Turquoise Chalice Sunset Montipora Magician Zoa Red People Eater Zoa Eagle Eye Zoas Pink/Yellow flowerpot Equipment ADA Mini-L 8.5g - from Nature Aquarium in Santa Monica (amazing planted aquarium store with some salt) Rena Filstar XP1 Canister Filter (filter floss, BRS ROX .08, Purigen) BRS Deluxe Reactor running BRS GFO Rena Inline Smart Heater 50w Koralia Nano 425gph Ecoxotic PAR38 20k AI Nano Super Blue Misc Supplies Used Fiji Pink Substrate Reefcleaners Base Rock Tank History 12/31/2010 - I finally purchased everything in a drunken shopping spree and I can't wait for next week when I get to open all the packages and start my tank cycle. I'll post pictures of everything once it's here! Current FTS 1/2/2011 -The Stand/Tank Finally prepped my stand for when the rest of the aquarium supplies to get here 1/7/2011 Test readings and deliveries - Page 1, post #4 1/16/2011 - New FTS, Rockscape completed, Zoas added 2/1/2011 - New FTS + Critter Pictures (Zoas, Galaxy, CBS, & Mushroom) 2/3/2011 - New FTS + Crocea Clam and Frogspawn 2/16/2011 - New FTS + Coral 3/3/2011 - New FTS + Firefish addition + more zoas 9/12/2011 - New FTS and some close up coral photos (Valentines Day Massacre, Sunset Monti, and Green Birdnest) Link to comment
BytheSea Posted January 2, 2011 Share Posted January 2, 2011 You made the right choice in tanks. I've always loved the rimless cube tanks. Welcome to the reefing world! Link to comment
Quokka Posted January 2, 2011 Author Share Posted January 2, 2011 You made the right choice in tanks. I've always loved the rimless cube tanks. Welcome to the reefing world! Thanks! Definitely excited for everything to finally come along. Link to comment
Quokka Posted January 7, 2011 Author Share Posted January 7, 2011 Thanks! Definitely excited for everything to finally come along. I purchased about 5g of premixed LFS water and a little less than a pound of LR a few days ago in preparation to seed my Reefcleaner dry rock which I am waiting for in the mail. I got my API test kit and here are my current readings. PH - Somewhere between 8.0 - 8.2 Ammonia - 0 ppm Nitrite - 0 ppm Nitrate - 0-2 ppm (I'm having some trouble reading this one. I almost want to say its at 0ppm but its just a touch darker than 0ppm on the scale) Link to comment
peewee1467 Posted January 7, 2011 Share Posted January 7, 2011 off to a good start. are you going to put a black or blue background on the tank? the wallpaper might be a distraction Link to comment
Quokka Posted January 8, 2011 Author Share Posted January 8, 2011 off to a good start. are you going to put a black or blue background on the tank? the wallpaper might be a distraction Yeah I wanted to paint it black but now that I have my sand and rock in it I dont see how that will be possible without pulling everything out :\ Link to comment
peewee1467 Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 Yeah I wanted to paint it black but now that I have my sand and rock in it I dont see how that will be possible without pulling everything out :\ i was reading DEMARTINI's ada 60p thread... and if i remember correctly, she magically had a black background after her rock and water was in. i think theres this acrylic film that u can easily stick on the back. Link to comment
pismo_reefer Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 I like the setup... but, the wallpaper is deafening. Link to comment
Quokka Posted January 9, 2011 Author Share Posted January 9, 2011 i was reading DEMARTINI's ada 60p thread... and if i remember correctly, she magically had a black background after her rock and water was in. i think theres this acrylic film that u can easily stick on the back. Oh cool cool I'll definitely look into that and if i cant find that I'm sure 5% automotive tint is better than clear ;P. Newest problem is my 150w Rena Smart Heater. I read it was 9 1/2" after I ordered it and hope they can swap it with a 50w (guess they discontinued 100w ones) since its shorter. Link to comment
Quokka Posted January 12, 2011 Author Share Posted January 12, 2011 Got the 150w swapped for a 50w before they shipped it thankfully + dry rock finally comes in Friday. My cycle finally started (good god I feel like a little girl having her first period or something everytime I mention this to my GF all excited and stuff) and my previously perfect water conditions now are at ~0.10ppm ammonia, 0.25ppm nitrite, and still around 1-3ppm nitrate. I think it started after I added Bio-Spira to my water. Not sure if this is the actual cause but it seems to have started my cycle. I need to get a current photo of my tank now with the sand and a pound of rock but photographing 20k + a spotlight is freaking hard :\ Link to comment
Quokka Posted January 16, 2011 Author Share Posted January 16, 2011 New FTS! Here it is again from a higher angle to show depth A decent amount of work has happened since my last update! My inline heater came in along with my Reefcleaners dry rock (which is pretty amazing might I add!). My girlfriend and I wanted a bonsai scape from the start and we worked on the rock for about an hour to make this formation. Its held together by the hollow pen tubes and a mixture of reef clay epoxy and superglue gel. My parameters have balanced out with the aid of Bio-Spira and I didn't really have too much of a typical cycle. I plan to add things one at a time spaced out quite a bit to make sure my bioload doesnt overwhelm the tank. Currently, I have a margarita snail and an electric blue hermit crab for critters and a couple Zoa polyps (neon green tentacles, lavender inner circle). Can't wait for my rocks to look more natural in the coming months. Link to comment
Quokka Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 FTS 2-1-2011 So since the last FTS I have added Ocellaris Clownfish Coral Banded Shrimp 1000x more snails that anticipated (reefcleaners haha) Feather Duster Colony Another Zoa Colony (Green/red) Mushroom Coral Galaxy Coral As you can see, coverage is pretty bad with 1 PAR38 bulb with 60 degree optics. Definitely planning to either get another PAR38 or PAR30 bulb in the future before I put more stuff on my SPS shelfs on the left side of the aquarium. Link to comment
Rehype Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Wow slayer that is an awesome scape...Great job so far. Link to comment
Quokka Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 Wow slayer that is an awesome scape...Great job so far. thanks man! my girlfriend helped a lot with the rock formations . and pardon my terrible white balance. its pretty difficult to perfect with the spotlighting and 20k light spectrum haha Link to comment
MedicBMC Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Heyy fellow IE reefer! That scape is awesome! I'll be following this forsure. Are you going to the coral farmers market in March? Link to comment
Quokka Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 Heyy fellow IE reefer! That scape is awesome! I'll be following this forsure. Are you going to the coral farmers market in March? Ohh I didnt even know about it! I'll probably be there now that you told me, thanks! Link to comment
Spencerx Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Haven't heard of using hollow pen tubes before, but it makes sense. Did you drill the rocks first? Looks awesome. Link to comment
Quokka Posted February 2, 2011 Author Share Posted February 2, 2011 Haven't heard of using hollow pen tubes before, but it makes sense. Did you drill the rocks first? Looks awesome. Yeah, I just drilled the rocks and jammed them in for support. Thanks a lot! I really appreciate the compliments! Link to comment
Quokka Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 New FTS 2-3-2011 Purchased a Crocea Clam and Frogspawn! Please excuse the bubbles, I just did a water change and filterfloss change so it hasnt cleared up yet Link to comment
teamschreiba Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Looks great!! Any plans for SPS or other livestock? Link to comment
andru24 Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Your par38 has some weird color separation... At least in the pics. Otherwise looking awesome. Link to comment
MedicBMC Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Yeah you've gotta go....coral farmers market has all the major vendors and some REALLY nice coral. Nice new additions....where'd you get them? Link to comment
Quokka Posted February 4, 2011 Author Share Posted February 4, 2011 Looks great!! Any plans for SPS or other livestock? I'm planning on using the left side shelves for SPS (specifically a Strawberry Shortcake Acro frag + something else pretty unique for acros on the others ) and as for more livestock, I definitely will add nother fish in the future. Not sure what yet, but possibly a black/white ocellaris (my clowns wont fight right? since mine is an ocellaris already) and a some sort of crab (pom pom probably). Your par38 has some weird color separation... At least in the pics. Otherwise looking awesome. Yeah I can't stand it, its really not as bad as the photos portray it but caused by the spotlighting effect and having a lot of surface agitation. It's pretty frustrating being able to shoot weddings, models, cars, etc but still not getting my whitebalance/exposures correct with the 20k light spectrum ha. I really need suggestions on what route I should go with my future lighting as its only putting out good coverage on 1/2 of my tank ha. Thinking the Nanocustoms 12.3 or possibly saving up for the AI Sol Nano (cue glorious music haha) Yeah you've gotta go....coral farmers market has all the major vendors and some REALLY nice coral. Nice new additions....where'd you get them? My two go-to stores are Jan's Tropical Fish in Montclaire and Jimmy's Fish Collection in Yorba Linda(I think? its just off of the Yorba Linda exit by the 57). The clam and frogspawn were from Fish Collection though. Yeah I'll definitely be going, hopefully I'll get some rare frags for my left side . Here's a closer picture of the two Link to comment
Quokka Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 New FTS Livestock Added Sexy Shrimp x2 Acropora Coral x2 Chalice Frag Link to comment
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