stallen Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Just set this up 4 days ago! I was hoping for LR with more branches, but it's growing on me. I'm hoping this cave makes a nice home for a yellow watchman goby! Here are a couple side shots. Pardon the dusty water. I've been messing with the rock. I thought I had too much LR when I first started, but I've been whittling it down to what it is now. Does anybody think it's still too much? Hope to have room for a clown and a goby. Here is an over-head view. So far all I've done is replace the stock pump with a mini-jet 606, replaced the bio-balls with rubble, filter floss over chamber 2, and 50W stealth in chamber 1. Link to comment
shrinky Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 As long as it's fairly sturdy, I think it looks great. Link to comment
stallen Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 As long as it's fairly sturdy, I think it looks great. Just as you said. It's FAIRLY sturdy. I think I'm satisfied with the way it looks now so I might bond some of the pieces together. Maybe just the top three peices or maybe all of them. I dunno Link to comment
aquakevem Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 you sure did get some bulky rocks looks ok, i think it will look better if you try bracking the rocks to make smaller pieces Link to comment
stallen Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 you sure did get some bulky rocks looks ok, i think it will look better if you try bracking the rocks to make smaller pieces Thought about that. Still might break it up some more. Frankly I'm afraid I'll break it up into a mess that I won't know what to do with. The cost of this bucket of rocks was rediculous! Link to comment
aquakevem Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 where did you get it? Link to comment
stallen Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 where did you get it? LFS - SailFin Pet Shop Champaign, IL Don't know what kind it is. Can you tell? Link to comment
stallen Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 i think its fiji The LFS said they use to carry stuff with branches, but people wanted more surface area to attach coral and such. They had literally thousands of pounds on hand. It all looks bulky like this. Some of it is just enourmous! Link to comment
stallen Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 what are your plans Well as far as mods. I'm considering a fuge in chamber 2. I'll probably loose the stock filter in chamber 1 for a bag of chemi-pure and phosguard. I'll start with a True Perc. Clown. Then later add a yellow watchman goby. Then I'll add a CUC when needed. Probably 2 drawf blue legs, 2 dwarf red leg, 1 scarlet, 4 nassarius, and a turbo. Something like that. Eventually some shrooms and maybe some frogspawn. I think when I add some shrooms, frogspawn and such. That will hopefully soften the look of the "bulky" rock. Link to comment
aquakevem Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 cool, what made you get a all-in one tank Link to comment
stallen Posted October 24, 2006 Author Share Posted October 24, 2006 I had a few fresh water tanks as a kid. Always wanted saltwater. This looked like a good tank to start with. Wanted something bigger, but this took some arm twisting with my wife. She'll get use to the idea (hopefully) and maybe I'll get another tank sometime down the road. I'd love to put a pistol shrimp in there with the goby. Think that would be pushing the bio-load too much? Link to comment
skey44 Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 yeah break it up.. try to get more of a 3d look with some depth.... not just a stack on the back wall the fish will have plenty of room and the more little crevices to hide in the more out in the open theyll stay... rock breaks pretty easy and with some practice you can tell where it will break (at the weaker less structurally strong points) i recently broke some rocks and the new surfaces are so white. but theyll be purple soon enough and itll be worth it a few months down the line. Link to comment
SaltyVT Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 looking good, keep us updated!!!!!! Link to comment
Prowland Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Check and see if your lfs sells rubble... might help out with the look of the tank. I have 3 larger chunks and about 13-14lbs of rubble in my 10gal Link to comment
ODOG Posted October 24, 2006 Share Posted October 24, 2006 Stallen, the tank looks nice. The branchy rock you want is Tonga Branch Rock. It's great for decoration, I have some myself, but the bulk of your rock should be something more porous like what you have. The tonga branch is very dense and doesn't allow as many organisms to colonize within it. GREAT START!!! Link to comment
MagElvs Posted October 25, 2006 Share Posted October 25, 2006 Seems like you're off to a good start, but I would take that big slab of rock on the top and break it into 2 or 3 smaller pieces and place it on the side to form more of a "C" shape. Link to comment
stallen Posted October 25, 2006 Author Share Posted October 25, 2006 Busted up the rock a little yesterday. That was very frustrating! It was a mess for awhile. I think the problem is that I want to keep all rock about an inch and a half away from the sides so I can easily clean the glass. Since I want to do it that way. I can't count on the sides for stability. I wasn't happy with where it was going. So I decided to turn several chunks into rubble and add to the back. Chamber 1 and 2 are now over half full. I did end up with something I'm happy with. Doesn't look as much like stacked bricks. It's got a little more character. The cave on the bottom still goes all the way through. It also has another cave. I took a little road trip yesterday and stublled upon some tanga branch. I spotted a nice piece. It sorta felt like putting a cherry on top! I also ditched the stock filter. I'm using chemi-pure and filter floss. Also, I cut the spill-over between chamber 1 and 2 for better flow. Between getting rid of the stock filter and a little cutting it dropped my water level in the main tank about 1/4 ". I now have better surface movement and I'm surface skimming again. Link to comment
stallen Posted November 20, 2006 Author Share Posted November 20, 2006 Any updates??? Yep. I just finished my fuge light. I've had it up for a few days. Also, I ordered a 18W 10000K bulb and a 36 Watt ballast from nanotuners. I plan to overdrive the 18W bulb with the 36 Watt ballast. Chris said it would work, but it will decrease the lifespan of the bulb. He thinks I will need to replace it ever 4 - 6 months. I'd be happy if it lasts 4 months. If it turns out that the bulb needs replacing every 2 months or so I'll replace the ballast with an 18 Watt ballast. So the plan for lighting is to keep the stock 10000k bulb in the back. The stock actinic bulb in the middle and the new bulb up front (just above the corals). I plan on inserting another fan (if I can find room) and replacing the factory fans. I'll put in a few more vents and open up the factory vents a little. Hopefully I'll have some pics up in a week or so. EDIT: Oh, almost forgot about livestock: Ocellaris Clown Yellow Watchman Goby 2 Red Leg Hermits 2 Blue Leg Hermits 1 Scarlet Hermit 2 Nassarius Snails 1 Fighting Conch I had a lot of algea before the CUC. They kicked serious butt over about a week! All I have left is a little green and red hair algea. Since the other algea is gone they are starting to slowly munch on the hair algea a little. Also, I'm hoping the fuge will help. Still need a few snails for the glass and back wall. Maybe a one or two Nerites and one or two Ceriths. Suggestions? I've heard that a lot of people have trouble with turbos not lasting in tanks with the temps >78 degrees. Link to comment
stallen Posted November 21, 2006 Author Share Posted November 21, 2006 Ha, Ha You got me back, SaltyVT!! Here is my Clown. This picture was taken several days after I purchased him. He wasn't eating at first, hence the concave belly in this photo. He's eating good now. A little piggy!! Here is the fuge light. I first saw this idea from chill105. Then I saw Stoney Waters fuge light mod and was blown away. If you have seen his 12G nano you're missing out! http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=59497 Anyway, I used Stoney's plan, but used some of my own ideas as well. Here it is before the paint job and the fan. The reflector material was compliments of Stoney Water's. Thanks!!! Here it is at work! I'm using a GE 13W 6500k bulb from Wal-mart. I went this route because the bulbs are cheap and easy to find. Since the ballast is built into the bulb, you get a new ballast everytime you change the bulb! I'm just getting over an ugly stage. Diatom bloom is just about cleared up. I'll get some pics of my YWG and a full tank shot soon. Link to comment
stallen Posted November 26, 2006 Author Share Posted November 26, 2006 I just finished the hood. I managed to get three bulbs in there!!! The top and bottom bulb are 18W 10000K bulbs. The one in the middle is an 18W actinic bulb. I'm overdriving the top bulb with a 36W ballast. I also modified the ventilation. I replaced to stock 50mm fans with 60mm x 25mm Silenx fans. I've got more air flow and much much less noise! I can't hear the tank at all from about 8 feet away. When I'm up close, I think I'm just hearing to hum of the pump (which I couldn't hear before over the stock fans). I opened up the factory vents and made a new vent on top (similar to how Robster did his.) Thanks for posting some pics of your mod Robster... that was helpful! Link to comment
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