Our first reef, 10g Nano, (Verde-bay) in Charleston SC

[airman_verde04]

Good morning everyone! well, I just thought I would send a few updates, so my mushroom coral has finally reattached itself onto the rock it use to be on, it didn't spread the wealth, I'm not for sure if it will ever grow into a colony, as for my ATO, I've been having a very random overfill, I was worried that my float switch was getting stuck..WELL!!!!! it wasn't, it was a pesky snail, I caught one last night crawling around, and causing the float switch to turn on till he moves on.. I really think they know what they are doing, those jurks, so I'm going to figure out how to make a snail guard, and I'm going to finish my moonlights this week, I really miss being able to see my tank at night without a flashlight.. HAHA. anyways.. thats about it. till something new..

[divecj5]

Hey David. Gotta watch out about those pesky snails I have found mine on the floor before...still alive, on the outside of the tank, and just doing all other shenanigans.

 

I would try and take some mesh of some sort and just fashion a box or circle that could go around the sensor. I'm sure with your mad DIY skills you can come up with something.

[airman_verde04]

Well, first off, Its been a don't play with the Fish tank week.. I've actually, for the most part, sat back and just watched the tank, not several times daily put my hands in the water.. So I've enjoyed the living decor, Once again I've come up with a less work and more Oooo-ing and Awww-ing.. So finally, I've got new moonlights back on the tank, so it doesn't look so sad a dark at night.. which means more "oh I'm just getting something to drink" bits to the wife, and getting a drink of water then back to bed more than likely will turn into, "DAVID?? whats taking so long.. are you looking at the fish tank!! come to bed!"

 

anyways.. so on to the DIY stuff. first off, I finished the Moon lights, what I used,

-2 blue LED lights that I broke off from a LED night light bulb you can pick up in the nightlight section at wal-mart,

-clear plastic door or wall corner thing,

-a old coat hanger!

anyways, wired the lights in, wired the power supply, glued 2 peices of corner stuff, made a nice little light casing, and wala!! LET THERE BE LIGHT!!I plan on painting it black soon, Might even cut down the sides so its not sticking out farther than the T5 lights.anyways I'll get to the pictures in a bit..

 

Project #2!! RO/salt water mixing reserve tank thing-ga-ma-gigg. in short, its a rubbermaid tub that will hold 10g of water, got some plastic spout supplies at the local hardware store (conveniently located next to the LSF just 3 miles from my front door) drill a hole, glued the things in there... throwing a heater in there, and a pump to mix the water up.. and I have 4 weeks worth of ready to go mixed salt water.. I asked a few folks, sounds like I wont have any trouble with my water going bad on me for my month supply of pre-mixed salt water.. just another thing I don't have to do during the week to make my tank that much more fun to look at!! haha.. not to mention I like making all this stuff. ok ok.. on to the pictures!!

 

LEDs!!!! did I mention my favorite color is blue? yeah..

 

this is what the lights look like after I smash up the bulb is came in

Here is the corning plastic stuff. no, thats not stringy black dirt on my arm, its hair. haha

here is a shot of the lights in the casing

sweet coat hanger tank holder things. yeah, those are a folded pair of undies on my tank table. haha..

here are some pics of the lights on the tank, I think its pretty cool to be able to see all the wires and what not.

 

alright, on to the water mixing station what-cha-ma-call-it.

heres the tub.

Here are the parts.. just add tank sealant left over from ATO project!!

Here is a top view during the water test, lasted 4 days without problem..

front shot.

MMWWAAA HAHA !! it works!!!

 

anyways.. thats it, picking up some FREE!! RO water from mount P tomorrow (never thought I say it, but gotta love that stuck up rich little town..). going to go ahead a mix up a batch of water in the new mixing station get it ready for the month. and thats it! hopefully I'll be getting some new coral soon.. and I can get that Zoa moved so it can start spreading.. looks like because its branched in a hole in the rock it lives on, it doesn't really have the ability to reproduce. anyways.. heres one more picture!! I finished up all my tank stuff in the "workshop" figured I'd play with some of my other toys, trying to learn a 360 on my bike this week.. Happy Monday everyone!!

[divecj5]

Chalk up another sweet DIY project that you've done. Not exactly sure how you did it all for the LEDs but they look really cool. Nice ingenious use of a coat hanger I might add as well Although I like the look of seeing the wires running through, it would really look nice and sleek in a nice flat black to match the lighting hood.

 

Sweet deal on the tub as well....like how you added spigot on the bottom/side of it. Should make changing the 1 gallon of water a breeze for you.

 

Where are you getting the water in Mount P? I agree about the area though....nice to drive through but just not my cup of tea personality and wealth wise

 

I am free during lunch this week tomorrow and Friday. Lets get with Karen and figure up a plan to meet for lunch or something.

[airman_verde04]

Morning everyone, well, its been awhile since I've done anything major with the tank other than my DIY projects.. So I finally got some new coral, they were on sale, anyways.. I got a small toadstool leather coral frag, and greenish brown discus Zoos. I moved the new Zoos this morning and bumped the toadstool so Its going to be a little longer till I get pictures up.. hopefully before I head off to work for the day.

 

anyhoo, I also did some new rock scaping, I moved the large LR piece on the left side of the tank to the very back, and uprighted it, so all my feather dusters have good reach now.. anyways.. It opened up a really nice large sandy area on the front left side of the tank, I'm planning on putting a GSP frag there and make it look like a nice grassy GSP front yard, I'm going to put it on a large flat shell.. anyways.. just be on the stand by for the pictures..

[IMaNoob]

Morning everyone, well, its been awhile since I've done anything major with the tank other than my DIY projects.. So I finally got some new coral, they were on sale, anyways.. I got a small toadstool leather coral frag, and greenish brown discus Zoos. I moved the new Zoos this morning and bumped the toadstool so Its going to be a little longer till I get pictures up.. hopefully before I head off to work for the day.

 

anyhoo, I also did some new rock scaping, I moved the large LR piece on the left side of the tank to the very back, and uprighted it, so all my feather dusters have good reach now.. anyways.. It opened up a really nice large sandy area on the front left side of the tank, I'm planning on putting a GSP frag there and make it look like a nice grassy GSP front yard, I'm going to put it on a large flat shell.. anyways.. just be on the stand by for the pictures..

 

What kind of power supply did you use making the moon light?

[airman_verde04]

What kind of power supply did you use making the moon light?

 

I use a 12v inverter thing, you can get them at wal-mart or radio shack, I can adjusted the power level from 12-9-7-6.. etc.. I usually run mine at about 9 or 7 depending what day it is and what mood I'm in..

[airman_verde04]

OK folks, sorry it took a while, not that everyone was rushing to look at my tank. HAHA here are some updated pictures!!! I finally figured out some of the settings on my camera, so I think that these pictures have a lot better coloring quality!! enjoy!!

 

New side view from left side of tank

New Discus Zoo frag fron the left side

New Zoos from the front

Heres the new center piece, the leather toadstool.. its not fulling adjusted, I'm sure by the end of the week, its going to relax and get a good solid coloring to him..might need more water flow also, we shall see!

here is a close up on what I'm now calling the softy rock, the left side will be where I house all our Soft coral, and the right shall be for any hard coral I get. one day... haha

and lastly the new FTS!!!

[hcsceo]

yes the coloring looks spot on. That is one clean tank

 

Steve

[divecj5]

Great job David. Looks like you have those camera settings down perfectly as well. The color looks spot on and nicely balanced.

 

I like the change in the scape. Give the tank a little more height and should add some more space for things to grown up and down on the rock. Nice choice of change.

 

Where did you get the new corals? Tideline? I actually haven't been up there in about two months surprisingly.

 

I should be able to frag you up some of the GSP this week or weekend if you're interested. I have been swamped with life, go figure, and work lately.

[airman_verde04]

Great job David. Looks like you have those camera settings down perfectly as well. The color looks spot on and nicely balanced.

 

I like the change in the scape. Give the tank a little more height and should add some more space for things to grown up and down on the rock. Nice choice of change.

 

Where did you get the new corals? Tideline? I actually haven't been up there in about two months surprisingly.

 

I should be able to frag you up some of the GSP this week or weekend if you're interested. I have been swamped with life, go figure, and work lately.

 

Hey Adam, yeah, TL, all they have are Zoas now though. Thanks for the complements, I'm really pleased with my new Rock Scape, it really makes the tank look great!! I actually just adjusted the F stop on the camera.. I'm very very happy with the coral, I just thought my camera just sucked!!

 

and no worries, I'm going to be alittle busy next week with work myself... anyhoo.

[airman_verde04]

hey everyone,

just wanted to put a little update, not a lot is new, one of my new frags has aiptasia on it, but I killed that mofo really quick with some joesjuice, I think one more is growing on the same frag, but maybe I just was seeing things.. I'll mess with it later. anyhoo, I think I might need to get a powerhead here soon. I seem to have a small amount of brown algae growing on the right side of the tank in the sand.. all my water params. are spot on, so I dont think its anything with the water quality. other than that, I'm getting some blue LEDs light bars, I'm going to try them out too see if I can get some more light. I plan on using them as actinic. they should be in later this week. I'll update then.

here is the most recent FTS

[HankB]

New Zoos from the front

 

Thanks for the update. I'm particularly interested in 10 gallon builds.

 

These look a lot like our new green palys:

 

[airman_verde04]

woah! they sure are.. after this past purchase of frags, i've come to the concusion I'll need to be much more picky on what I get to put in the tank, I want alot of color, and those brown/greenish colors are already dominate in the tank.. but I've learned. I was just excited to get something new in the tank.. oh well, I'll probably put them up for a swap at a frag swap or something, us South Carolinians may meet up.. ONE DAY! haha.. (thats going out to you Divecj, and podrod! and carolinapico, hahaha.. and Mr.fosi, ahah,, just playing guys)

[Mischeif Nite]

It's funny how fast you start running out of real-estate......and start to think wow, I really have to make what I put in here count.

[EnjoiFish]

Awesome tank! It's so clean and open. It even looks bigger than a 10g. And so many shelves and ledges! Wish I had done that...moving stuff around it my tank is like playing Jenga.

[divecj5]

Looking good David. Maybe you could add one of the small Tunze minis in one of the back corners and hide it behind the rock. That would probably help keep things stirred up a bit more and get rid of the algae on the sand, which really doesn't look that bad.

 

I know, I know, we do need to meet up sometime. Seems like every week has been flying by though and the Fall doesn't look like it's going to be any slower.

[airman_verde04]

Looking good David. Maybe you could add one of the small Tunze minis in one of the back corners and hide it behind the rock. That would probably help keep things stirred up a bit more and get rid of the algae on the sand, which really doesn't look that bad.

 

I know, I know, we do need to meet up sometime. Seems like every week has been flying by though and the Fall doesn't look like it's going to be any slower.

 

haha, well, I'm thinking of having a end of the summer BBQ, so when the wife and I plan it, we'll send a solid invite a few weeks out so you guys can come over and have a good time!

[airman_verde04]

Good Morning everyone! well, Just wanted to update everyone, I've been reading up on the large tanks on reef central, and have decided to get a 500g tank and leave all these sucky, too small for anything cool tanks long behind me.. so this is my last post..

 

ok, just kidding, but really, I have been looking at the tanks of the month on RC, and it sparked my interest in lighting cycles.. so I can to the conclusion I need more lights over my tank to play with.. well, I'm not really made out of money, I'm little more on the don't get paid all that much side.. SOoo!! I started trying to look into ways to make some lights on my own.. well, then I got lazy, so I tried to find a more easy, pre-made way, well anyhoo, I thought about buying one of those 1w 4xLED light bars, but thats 50 bucks I don't feel like spending.. SO I went to my trusty LED online store, and found a 9in waterproof LED light bar with 24 LEDs built in for about 8 bucks each! So since I wanted to re-create a actinic lighting cycle first, I ordered 3 of those In blue. they ended up around the lighting spectrum of 465mn, so I looked up those fancy LED light bar you can buy at the fish shop for $50, and they are about the same coloring.. its a darker blue than a typical actinic, but it does the job by giving the tank a complete lighting cycling I think.. well, I have to run, I may edit this later. here some pictures. My camera doesn't like the blue coloring at all.

 

 

 

 

 

[clownfish1124]

those are awesome! what ballast are you using???

[airman_verde04]

those are awesome! what ballast are you using???

 

umm.. well, I didn't really use a ballast, I ordered these light bars from http://www.superbrightleds.com I just used a 12v ac/dc adapter, and let there be light..

[HankB]

... after this past purchase of frags, i've come to the concusion I'll need to be much more picky on what I get to put in the tank, I want alot of color, and those brown/greenish colors are already dominate in the tank..

 

Take a look at the Acan thread in corals. Here are some that we have:

 

Here are some Aussie Acan Lords that we got late June. The smaller polyps you can kind of see to the left are now much larger and there are at least 5 more polyps starting under them. There is a lot of color and these are probably a garden variety since there are lots like them in the Acan thread. They don't need a lot of flow or light and seem to be pretty robust.

 

-hank

[airman_verde04]

Take a look at the Acan thread in corals. Here are some that we have:

 

Here are some Aussie Acan Lords that we got late June. The smaller polyps you can kind of see to the left are now much larger and there are at least 5 more polyps starting under them. There is a lot of color and these are probably a garden variety since there are lots like them in the Acan thread. They don't need a lot of flow or light and seem to be pretty robust.

 

-hank

 

those are gourgous! yeah, I think another problem, is my rock is very dominating in this tank, thats ok though, I already know how I'm going to plan out the scaping in my future larger tank, but wont be buying it until we move from Charleston.. oh well. till then I guess I will have only a few corals in my tank.

[divecj5]

Hey David. Sorry I didn't get your message til today. Phone crapped out on me yesterday and didn't get my messages. Aquarium Specialty is just a warehouse in Columbia and the corals that are available are from the owners house. I had to set up a time and day ahead of time so that we could go to his basement so I could pick out some corals.

 

Sorry for not getting back to you.

[airman_verde04]

Hey David. Sorry I didn't get your message til today. Phone crapped out on me yesterday and didn't get my messages. Aquarium Specialty is just a warehouse in Columbia and the corals that are available are from the owners house. I had to set up a time and day ahead of time so that we could go to his basement so I could pick out some corals.

 

Sorry for not getting back to you.

 

no worries man, I called them , but no answer, its ok.. we found some other things to do. anyhoo.. Melisa and I just got a grill, so were going to have a BBQ soon.. so be on the look out!!