Custom built all in one tank

[Monkfish]

The tanks looking great disaster nice job.

[disaster999]

Thanks monkfish

 

Havent updated in a while, nothing really changed, the bryposis came and went, then came again. dosing more Tech M right now, one of the clown died for some reason, not sure why. it was healthy the day before it died too. thought he committed suicide, but cant find evidence, so its either died of natural causes or murder

 

went and got a new fish today, hes hiding right now so cant get a shot of him, but hes a green clown goby. havent seen them around much, never saw him in my LFS, cute little fish. I wanted to get a rainford's goby too but it was in a huge tank, and the fish was small. the dude said it would be impossible to catch him . so going to wait for a new shipment in.

 

heres some pics. i just fed my corals so caught them eating the mysis shrimp.

the alien eye are damn slow eaters...right after i took that picture, the cleaner shrimp start stealing food from them

FTS...sorry for the dirty water, my hand was in the water stirring stuff up

[Darklyte24]

awesome pics man nice stuff!! i havent added much to mine lately busy working and crap.. i should get another fish though..

[cbau45]

I must admit, i've been looking over your thread for a while now. I'm pretty impressed. I'd like to build a setup like that. I think you did a really good job. Lots of good color with those zoos too. Keep an eye on those green star polyps they can get out of hand eventually.

[disaster999]

Thanks for the replies...

 

i finally got some good picture of my green clown goby

[pacersfan09]

Love the firefish and the clown goby! Seems like your zoa population is growing beautifully.

Also i was just wondering how many water changes u do a week?

[disaster999]

i change my water once every 1 or 2 weeks. i could probably go longer, test my water and its always clean

[TUDIZZLE]

Tank is looking great. I really like all the free space, makes the tank seem like a piece of art in the full tank shots.

 

 

Seems like you have alot of macro algea growing on some of your pieces. Are you letting it grow? I would pick it back especially the stuff on your zoa frag. It could slow their growth.

 

 

Wonderful pics by the way.

[disaster999]

im definately not letting them grow. they are the dreaded bryopsis algae and im currently dosing Mg to ward them off.

[pacersfan09]

how often do you need to do top offs?

[haburt510]

Your tank looking good so far. Why dont you get 1 green emerald crab to eat those green algae on your rocks/corals. They do a great job. I just started my Finnex 20 Gallon like 4 months ago and I had a little problem with algae but I got a full Clean up crew and algae was gone in roughly 1 week. Im also running one of those Aqua Remora Nano and notice that the skimmer was'nt skimmer that well with the maxijet 900 it came with. I upgraded to the Maxi Jet 1200 and it works super good now. The foam is super thick and gets good amounts of the waiste out.

 

Well GL and I will tag along as your tank comes along.

[disaster999]

gotta top it off every day. having it completely open top and a skimmer + right in the middle of winter really low humidity doesnt help.

 

Your tank looking good so far. Why dont you get 1 green emerald crab to eat those green algae on your rocks/corals. They do a great job. I just started my Finnex 20 Gallon like 4 months ago and I had a little problem with algae but I got a full Clean up crew and algae was gone in roughly 1 week. Im also running one of those Aqua Remora Nano and notice that the skimmer was'nt skimmer that well with the maxijet 900 it came with. I upgraded to the Maxi Jet 1200 and it works super good now. The foam is super thick and gets good amounts of the waiste out.

 

Well GL and I will tag along as your tank comes along.

 

Thanks for the tip on the skimmer. i might give that a try some day. the 900 works pretty good, but i cant keep microbubbles from going into my tank.

 

I do have an emerald crab, but he doesnt help with the algae problem. its a kit and miss for them. besides algae on the glass, my CUC does a pretty good job cleaning my tank. they just wont eat the bryopsis.

[JonathanS]

i have the locline tubs, just having some trouble with locating bulkheads, ill check with my LFS.

 

here are the locline products i have...lovely bright orange and blue

 

while searching around, i found pretty much what i need at www.drsfostersmith.com

 

 

sweet, what rpm drill u used to cut the acrylic? and was it easy

[disaster999]

i didnt use a drill or hole saw to cut the hole for the bulkhead

 

i just drilled a hole with the dremel, and slowly enlarged it with different cutter bits and sander.

 

but if i have to guess, you wouldnt want the drill to spin too fast or too slow. too fast will heat up the plastic too much, too slow and it would take too long and heat up the plastic

[disaster999]

little update, just got a 6-line wrasse and im loving this guy.

 

 

 

my 2 other recent purchases are rainford's goby and green clown goby

 

they are all very interesting fish. the rainford's goby is shy as hell. green clown goby swims everywhere and sits on any coral he desire.

[disaster999]

update

 

FTS

 

DIY frag rack. fragged my xenia...growing outta control.

[disaster999]

borrowed a macro lens from my friend to try out. planning on getting the same lens if i like it enough. snapped some pictures with it. tell me what you think

 

clown

firefish

dragon eyes

pink tip hammer

GSP in actinic

[ajroy03]

Anything new? or did you completely switch to the new acrylic?

[disaster999]

i actually sold this setup to my friend. i moved to a new place and couldnt take all the tanks with me.

[npkelly]

you sold that tank.....wow....i'm sorry

[jjjo]

just as a quick update:

 

i am now the owner of this tank. very happy to have come across it, as my stay at college (and the fact that my 55 gallon reef was at home 4 hours away), led to my 55 to crash .

 

so i decided, it was not only time to downgrade, but also time to fulfill my wanting to own a rimless aquarium.

 

after i picked the tank up i inspected it, and noticed almost all of the back baffles were cracked (it was very very thin material (Acrylic i believe). i took the opportunity to remove the whole AIO back compartments.

 

after that i painted the back glass.

 

the next step was to get the tank ready to be setup. i took it to a good friend of mine, and had 3 holes drilled. (2 3/4in drains (2 incase one gets blocked)) i also had a 1/2in hole drilled in the center for the return. I USED THE SAME ORANGE NOZZLE AND EVERYTHING!

 

i also ended up going with a nova extreme x2 light. its the new one, with the SLRs. pretty decent light. i plan on dumping the stock bulbs over christmas time. i also got a current-usa POWERbrite LED actinic strip. makes the corals pop really well.

 

(my room is a MESS... and that pink hat... dont even ask)

 

 

 

since the stuff going into this tank, is coming directly out of my 55, i am not too worried about a cycle. i directly added the rocks, and a day after, the corals went in. nothing dead 2 weeks later, knock on wood.

 

(the few corals that i saved... the rest i traded)

 

this pic was taken before plumbing and drilling... but there is now a 5.5 gallon tank (not the 10 gallon pictured) to be used as a sump behind the new tank. the skimmer, heater, and live rocks are in there.

 

here is kind of what it looks like

 

basically, i threw this aquascape together in 5 minutes. when i go home for christmas break, i will be removing some of the rock to the left side, and opening up some sand space. the arch however, will still be incorporated.

(crappy cell phone pic, sorry)

 

 

i will update again, after i get some corals, and redo the rockwork.

 

last note: the total tank volume is actually 18.1 gallons

[disaster999]

Hey jjjo, the tank is looking good. i see you managed to scrape off all the silicone. that must of been a pain.

 

i remember purposely cracking one of the baffles because i THINK i was trying to make some media rack for it, but it failed.

 

im glad you kept the awesome orange and blue nozzle tho keep me posted on the tank

[jjjo]

thanks disaster999!

 

the silicone was very easy to scrape off.

 

i used rubbing alcohol and about 15 brand new straight edged razor blades. only took about 15 minutes. the hardest part was scraping away the filmy residue left by the silicone after it is scraped off.

 

anyway, the ugly branch rock directly behind the hammer coral will be thrown away. the rock the hammer is sitting on will replace it, thus opening up sand space for acan lords. the rockwork will eventually be "rare" zoanthid/paly dominated.

 

lastly, i did not put any foam under the tank. im not sure if acrylic cracks like glass does... but so far so good. and the tank is quite level. so, i hope for the best.

 

oh and lastly, the glass looks to have been beveled down on the edges. gives is a nice finished look (not that sharp ugly look of a normal picture frame pane of glass).

 

 

 

 

if i was to change one thing about the tank however, it would be replace the bottom pane with actual glass. the bottom looks to be either acrylic or plexi. i am praying to god the silicone holds for a looooong time without any leaks.

 

-dan

[disaster999]

That was my cheap fix when i was reworking the back baffles. my hand slipped while holding the tank and i dropped it from about 2-3 inches onto carpeted floor. cracked the bottom glass. i couldnt wait a week to have the glass shop cut me another piece so i went to acrylic.

 

the tank was like that for about another 6 months. never had a problem with it. no leaks. it was surprisingly solid also. with eric and i moving the tank when i left the country, with some water and sand left in it. the bottom help up perfectly.

 

i do agree tho, if i had a choice, i would of replaced it with glass

[jjjo]

yes the bottom is on there VERY strong. i hope i will never have to get it replaced with glass (would be a pita).

 

also, i like that acrylic is a bit stronger cracking wise than glass. so, im hoping for the best.

 

now, im not sure about this, but perhaps it wont be a problem, since its a bottom pane. if a side pane was acrylic, i would be going to the glass shop immediately.