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William's 34G Solana


ximmortaldeathx

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ximmortaldeathx
wow, unique aquascape! is it ziptied in, or naturally balanced?

thank you B)

 

its actually naturally balanced although if you look at the back i tried putting some of that putty but honestly it didn't work, once i start putting stuff in i might secure the top part.

 

that big piece on top cost me A LOT of moolah, but its worth it, i wanted to do a mushroom look or big cave where i could put pieces on top.

 

my wife helped big time with the design.

 

i haven't secured it in case i change my mind.

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ximmortaldeathx

hey guys, im wondering since my tank has new live sand and dry rock, when is it safe to begin adding livestock??

 

will i get a diatom bloom in a couple of weeks?

 

thanks.

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ximmortaldeathx

Took tang to brother's house since the 10G is just not appropiate, he didnt seem stressed but still....

 

will do water reading later, Ive got a feeling this thing needs a waterchange already.

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ximmortaldeathx
You will need to wait a month or so before you can start adding livestock. Do you have a test kit?

Yes i do have a redsea test kit, i also have a salinity+ph meter on the way.

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ximmortaldeathx

UPDATE[/size

 

Did a water reading and

PH is at 8

Ammonia .5

Nitrates 40

Nitrites 0

 

Ill be doing a 5G water change today.

 

I Have in the back chamber Chaeto which has doubled in size since i added water to the tank.

 

Also added a bag of Reef Pods into the rock, I'm not sure if this will work or not.

 

Ive got on the way some 250W Lights with 2x65w actinics and 4xMoonlight LEDs so performance & temp should increase, i hope i dont have to get a chiller.

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here fishy fishy

Ive got on the way some 250W Lights with 2x65w actinics and 4xMoonlight LEDs so performance & temp should increase, i hope i dont have to get a chiller.

 

Did you decide on this instead of the 150 with actinics? What fixture is this? How wide? I asked my LFS about lighting for the-Solana-I-have-yet-to-buy, she said the 250's would be way hot...so I was thinking of steering clear of them. Did you not like your 20" Sunpod?

 

Could you let me know how you like these when you get them? And pictures are always great. :)

Thanks!!!

Kris

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ximmortaldeathx
Ive got on the way some 250W Lights with 2x65w actinics and 4xMoonlight LEDs so performance & temp should increase, i hope i dont have to get a chiller.

 

 

Did you decide on this instead of the 150 with actinics? What fixture is this? How wide? I asked my LFS about lighting for the-Solana-I-have-yet-to-buy, she said the 250's would be way hot...so I was thinking of steering clear of them. Did you not like your 20" Sunpod?

 

Could you let me know how you like these when you get them? And pictures are always great. :)

Thanks!!!

Kris

 

The 250 which come with actinics is 24" it doesnt look to bad, there is just no option for 20" in this setup, and the sunpod just doesnt suffice, why have expensive corals where you cant have the lighting to bring it out, ill post pics once i unbox them on thurs when they come in.

 

look my personal oppinion is that LFS (some not all) talk a lot of crap, in my opinion if you HAVENT tried something you shouldn't say yes or nay, well see how the temp rises.

 

On the other hand i just finished a 5G water change, also my brother gave me a koralia 4 and :o there is sand everywhere, i think its just too big and bulky for my tank, i might be better off with a second nano, it sucks cuz it was a freebie.

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ximmortaldeathx

Here are my new lights.

DSC_0263.jpg

the lights also made me notice im growing green coraline in the back which i hadn't noticed before.

DSC_0268.jpg

 

Still no diatom, ammonia is 0 nitrates are still high, im going to do 10 hr cycles for a couple of days to see if I can kick start this thing more.

 

I am very happy with the lights, they make less noise than the outer orbits from current.

 

So far i haven't seen the temp rise more than usual.

 

Cheers!

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ximmortaldeathx
What kind of LR is the stuff on the bottem? It looks alot like the "texas holey rock" that cichlid keepers use

According to my LFS its florida reef rock, it will cure for sure, i saw one in my LFS full of coraline and it looks really cool because all the little critters can hide tru the holes.

 

thanks for looking :)

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ximmortaldeathx

The thing with the sunpod is that it didn't come with actinics, i could never really bring out the colors well.

 

Also this newer unit has the ballast external and makes less noise, and is less bulky.

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Also this newer unit has the ballast external and makes less noise, and is less bulky.

 

 

What fixture is that? I can't find the brand name in the posts above.

 

thanks,

 

Keith

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TriggerHappyDude
The thing with the sunpod is that it didn't come with actinics, i could never really bring out the colors well.

 

Also this newer unit has the ballast external and makes less noise, and is less bulky.

 

Thats a good point, something to consider, the noise factor, guess you can hide the external ballast in the tank stand?

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  • 1 month later...
ximmortaldeathx

After 2 moves in a month i am finally getting settled in my new home, my tanks have gone trough a lot, these past few weeks, i took my time but decided to do everything right this time.

 

i left my Solana empty for almost a month and kept my livestock in the smaller 10G.

 

Last week i started putting the Solana back together, the first thing i did was drill two holes on the back to run all the wiring inside , so if you look in the back you only see the cables wrapped together and going inside the stand.

 

Put about 17 Lbs of New Live sand and filled the tank with water.

 

The LR had been curing all this time on a 35G Rubbermaid container so by now i know its 70-100% cured.

 

After a week of water in the tank I've had no ammonia or nitrate spike so i doubt i'll have any kind of cycle.

 

In the smaller tank where my frags are i have WAY too many aptaisia so i will not be placing them all in the display dank until they are taken care of, i have placed 5 peppermint shrimp but they are still shy.

 

So i only put a small candy cane and a small frag of mean green zoos.

 

This is last night under the front actinics.

DSC_0436.jpg

 

these are my canes, notice how much they have split, when i first got them they were a $10 frag with only 1 or 2 heads. SOrry for the crappy pic i dont have a macro lens.

 

DSC_0426.jpg

 

My plans are to have a collection of high end Zoos and a few LPS along with a pair of breeder ONYX or Picassos.

 

let me know what you think.

CHEERS!

 

Heres another side shot which came out a little sharper.

 

DSC_0424.jpg

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ximmortaldeathx
Thats a good point, something to consider, the noise factor, guess you can hide the external ballast in the tank stand?

Yeep, thats exactly what i did now, you would never know i have an external ballast. :happy:

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  • 2 weeks later...
ximmortaldeathx
What fixture is that? I can't find the brand name in the posts above.

 

thanks,

 

Keith

 

Odyssea 24" works like a champ. 0 Complaints from it, and less noisy than current.

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Everything looks great, Imo I would move that top rock with the hole in the middle down to the bottom, I think that it would make an amazing piece to look if it was covered with coral and fish were swimming through it.

 

Thats just my opinion keep up the good work

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ximmortaldeathx

New Corals

 

went to LFS this weekend and they had good deals so i got a little of everything.

 

2 branches

DSC_0468.jpg

 

This one had 3 branches but were too apart so i split them by hand.

DSC_0478.jpg

 

Rent-a-coral aka Goniopora or flowerpot so far open happy ill enjoy her while the fun lasts :lol:

DSC_0465.jpg

 

My candy canes are getting fatter by the day

DSC_0467.jpg

 

so my tank is left with this: i cant the shots to look right, the actinics blur the cam too much and with flash it just looks bad.

 

 

DSC_0474.jpg

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ximmortaldeathx
Everything looks great, Imo I would move that top rock with the hole in the middle down to the bottom, I think that it would make an amazing piece to look if it was covered with coral and fish were swimming through it.

 

Thats just my opinion keep up the good work

 

Thanks, i did try that when i was aquascaping and it just didnt come out right, ill give that a shot whenever i aquascape again.

 

anyways thanks for the comment, i barely get comments on my page -_-

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ximmortaldeathx

Breeding pair added!

 

Went to LFS today and got this pair of gold stripe maroons.

 

The female is about 3" but the male is tiny, about 1-1.5" long , this yellow is coming in now and should hopefully come fully soon.

 

they are however paired, they never leave each other's side, and have hosted in my small hammer.

 

DSC_0503.jpg

 

DSC_0495.jpg

 

DSC_0488.jpg

 

 

My plans this year are to have a couple of breeding pairs (onyx and picassos) so i got these to get into the hang of breeding although he is too small right now im hopefull he will develop this summer.

 

hope you like my jack and sally.

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ximmortaldeathx
I got you covered on the onyx pair. The Picasso's will be hard to find. Who came up with the names? :happy:

 

Me of course B)

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