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Cultivated Reef

Shortie's 40 Breeder


Shortie

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I moved a few things around to fit in the new button polyps and zoa frags:

 

New FTS:

 

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Random kitten shot:

 

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And the zoa garden:

 

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We counted 13 different zoas! Of course, I'm kinda cheap so I don't have any of the high brow zoas. I've got a deal with a guy for another one but I won't be able to make the trade till next week.

 

I'm having problems keeping my calcium level up with weekly water changes and kalkwasser dripping. I don't have the room for a calcium reactor. If I can get my drumset sold I'm probably going to get a liter meter to dose 2 part and an aquacontroller while I'm at it. I'm going on vacation for over a week at the end of the month so I'd like to get that stuff going so that all my tank sitter needs to do is feed the fish and admire the beauty!

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I picked up some 2 part tonight and will be dosing sans automation. Not that big a deal really. Before I go on vacation though I'm going to have to finish putting together my auto top off. I have the float switches and such, but my tiny brain got distracted and I never finished putting it together.

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The FTS looks amazing and so does the zoa garden. BTW I finally got the hospital WiFi to work, I'm just up for the 1am feeding :happy:

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Yeah hopefully I'll have it leveled in the next couple weeks and then start cycling it. So I'd say in the next couple months I should have it all transfered :D

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I was looking into dosing kalk in addition to using a two part. After reading up on it, it sounds like I'll just make an adjustment to the ratio of the two part to take into account the kalk.

When looking at kalk reactors, it seems that when you initially start dosing through the reactor, you would have a higher concentration which would diminish with use. Why not just set up a stirring container and dose directly from that?

Maybe I'm on crack, but that way it seems you would get a predicable effluent.

:huh:

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  • 4 weeks later...

I just got back from Big Bend. Coming home sucked. Oh well, at least I have my tank!

 

Before I left I installed a rk2 and put together a ghetto kalk dosing setup.

 

First thing first- a few pics of Big Bend:

 

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This is my dosing pump.

 

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I acquired an industrial peristaltic pump (Thanks Dad!) and mounted it on a shock absorbing base with some scrap acrylic to the top of a salt bucket. The hose runs up to my overflow box. I put it on a 15min increment timer set to run 3 times a day. It runs a bit loud, but since it's only on during the day when I'm not home and it was all free, I really don't mind so much!

 

Between the kalk being added regularly and dosing with 2 part, I could see a huge difference in the tank over the week I was gone. I had let my calcium dip way too low and was getting really frustrated trying to bring it back up. Its looking great again!

 

:happydance:

 

Now I need to build a cover for the ugly ass pump and bucket!

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  • 3 weeks later...

I sold my clam since my clown was hosting in it and had it ticked off pretty much all the time. I also removed a large rock of button polyps that was just too damn big. My kalk dosing has really helped keep my calcium stable and the coraline and really colored back up.

 

Zoa garden growing nicely:

 

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New stuff:

 

Longfin Sleeper Goby

 

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The Goby was apparently disgusted with the layout I had chosen for the tank and started digging within a minute of being put in the tank.

 

Purple zoas

 

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Scooter Blenny

 

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The photos are my wife's work.

She uses a Canon XTI body with Canon EFS 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 and 50 f/1.8 lenses.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I can't leave well enough alone.

I removed some LR from the display and took a hammer and chisel to one of the larger pieces. I also removed the MJ1200's and hydor flos and replaced them with a Koralia 1 and 2. I like the flow so much more. The frogspawn seems to inflate more now as well.

 

New FTS:

 

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Happy rock nem:

 

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I love the Zoas:

 

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I took all of the LR rubble out of the sump along with a few pieces of larger stuff and added it to my 10g frag tank. Now instead of chopping up and gluing frags, I'll just let them grow out onto nearby rubble. Free range softies.

 

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Thanks fellas!

 

A couple more pics from the 10g:

 

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I'm doing very little with the frag tank at the moment. It has no filtration other than the LR. I've got 2 MJ 400's for flow and 2x55w pc for lighting. I just do my weekly water changes and call it good.

I would probably get better growth if I ramped up the lighting a little and skimmed, but call me lazy.

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I did a couple things this morning (one of which proves I'm and idiot).

 

I had a cpr backpack skimmer laying around so I put it on my 10g. I fired it up and it immediately started spewing forth skimate. The most rank skimate I've had the displeasure of smelling in a while! Maybe everything will be happier with cleaner water.

 

I also changed my return nozzles on my 40. I didn't like the way the old ones spread the flow so I picked up some new ones over the weekend. I hit the feed button on my controller (this is where I was retarded) to shut the pumps off. Instead of unplugging the return pump I figured I'd just hit the feed button again to give myself enough time to get the job done. (anyone see where this is going?) Unfortunately I have the attention span of a flea and forgot to hit the button. I'm in the kitchen working on the hoses and BOOSH!!! The timer runs out, the pumps start up, and I have myself a fountain spewing forth from my sump. Luckily I wasn't far away and was able to hit the feed button to shut it down. I'm glad I have lots of towels and drip loops on all my power cords. I did get the new nozzles on and love the flow.

:rolleyes:

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Hey Shortie,

 

I posted some replies on my thread. Just thought I would let you know. It has been crazy at work the last week.

JMAKIN1981

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  • 3 months later...

Great tank Shortie! :happy: Def. an inspiration and it makes me want to upgrade to a 40G Breeder. <_<

 

Are you still planning on adding more chromis? I think that would look awesome.

 

Any updates???

-texx

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