Normandy's 34G RSM

[smarsh]

Looks like it would work, but keep in mind, The RSM back wall is smoked glass. If you look close enough its see through. Putting a light back there will cause illumination of rear chamber and it may be unsightly to see all the filter components. Another RSMer was trying this. I forget who. I wonder how they made out? Great Idea though.

[Normandy]

Picture Time:

 

Greg the True Perc

 

 

Torch...about to make a second head:

 

 

Lobophyllia (I need to get one of it open):

 

 

StevieT mod:

 

Pink & Blue Spotted Shrimp Goby decided to eat a Bristleworm...Looks so freaking painful:

He actually just hung out with all of it in mouth for about 1/2 hour...

 

 

You can see the stickers in his lips, a painful moustache:

 

 

GSP:

 

 

Rock from LFS w 3 blue striped Mush, 3 Rics, green button polyps, and leather coral for $26:

 

 

Xenia:

 

 

This is off subject, but this idiot misjudged the clearance of the trunk of my tree over the street. We thought a bomb went off...the house shook, but it was just this moron. Stripped off almost the entire top of his truck...the roof was stuck in my tree. His furniture was destroyed:

[SeeDemTails]

Ouch, painful looking moustache indeed!

 

What a dum azz!

[Normandy]

Ouch, painful looking moustache indeed!

 

What a dum azz!

 

Uh, the Goby or the moron driving the truck? I'm thinking both.

[StevieT]

haha, what a clown!

 

Nice pic with the new mods! It is pretty cool to see those pictures on my end.

[Normandy]

haha, what a clown!

 

Nice pic with the new mods! It is pretty cool to see those pictures on my end.

 

I'm sure it is, you're helping out a ton of people. You should be proud..It's a great product.

[StevieT]

word of warning on the xenia and gsp. It grows like crazy and can take over your rock work and removing it is near impossible. I would recommend putting it on the sand so that it can't get to the rocks, but it's up to you what you want for the tank.

[iglowce]

nice tank

[AcroporaLokani]

Nice pics of the goby eating the worm, it must have been painful for him to "pass" that worm.

 

Did that truck driver have to pay you anything for destroying your tree?

[Normandy]

word of warning on the xenia and gsp. It grows like crazy and can take over your rock work and removing it is near impossible. I would recommend putting it on the sand so that it can't get to the rocks, but it's up to you what you want for the tank.

 

yeah, I've moved the GSP to the back. I like the look of when it goes to work on the back wall. The two pieces you mentioned were in a temp spot when theis was taken. I'm still thinking about the Xenia.

 

Thanks for the advice as always.

 

nice tank

 

 

Thank you for the compliment and stopping by, more to come in the near future.

 

Nice pics of the goby eating the worm, it must have been painful for him to "pass" that worm.

 

Did that truck driver have to pay you anything for destroying your tree?

 

I wouldn't want to eat or pass it.

 

The tree is enormous. It just peeled some bark off, but he's not the 1st one...tree's not hurt.

[hollow]

word of warning on the xenia and gsp. It grows like crazy and can take over your rock work and removing it is near impossible. I would recommend putting it on the sand so that it can't get to the rocks, but it's up to you what you want for the tank.

 

I find removing my xenia pretty managable. I just cut mine with scissors. I guess it would be painful if it got in a bunch of crevices or something but mine just sits on a flat rock.

 

As for the GSP it doesn't sting at all right? Just grows like crazy? I'd really like to get some for my sandbed.

[Normandy]

I find removing my xenia pretty managable. I just cut mine with scissors. I guess it would be painful if it got in a bunch of crevices or something but mine just sits on a flat rock.

 

As for the GSP it doesn't sting at all right? Just grows like crazy? I'd really like to get some for my sandbed.

 

Yeah, no stinging. Just invasive due the "rubbery" purple mat. I hear it spreads like crazy. We'll see.

[StevieT]

I find removing my xenia pretty managable. I just cut mine with scissors. I guess it would be painful if it got in a bunch of crevices or something but mine just sits on a flat rock.

 

As for the GSP it doesn't sting at all right? Just grows like crazy? I'd really like to get some for my sandbed.

 

 

No, GSP is one of the most aggressive coral. I had my leather fall on it over one weekend. I came in Monday and the leather was just gone! It just went nuts on it for two days and killed it. I don't know about SPS but GSP is really bad for softies IME.

[SeeDemTails]

GSP is an extremely aggressive coral. It will kill just about anything but hairy mushrooms and anemones.

 

One sps exception to GSP's is pocillopora......Thats just because it is one BA coral. I even whoops on aiptasia.

[Normandy]

StevieT and SDT...first let me say thank you for helping me out...

 

Everything I've read says that GSP doesn't have stinging capability, but the aggressiveness is the way the mat takes over other species.

 

Is this not the case? Do I need to worry about stinging too?

 

Thank you,

[hollow]

StevieT and SDT...first let me say thank you for helping me out...

 

Everything I've read says that GSP doesn't have stinging capability, but the aggressiveness is the way the mat takes over other species.

 

Is this not the case? Do I need to worry about stinging too?

 

Thank you,

 

I've read the same things apparently so if GSP stings i'm guessing it doesn't have sweeper tentacles it just stings what happens to touch it?

[Normandy]

Well, modding some more. Not that things aren't going very well, but can't it always be a little better?

 

First of all, my system has been running a bit hot on occasion and I just had 2 $750+ electricity bills (neither has had anything to do with the tank). I'm not happy with my temps getting above 83 degrees, which it has peaked just above that a few times. I've considered a chiller, but I figured I'd mess around on my own for a bit before dropping $300-$400. I took StevieT's knowledge and went to Radio Shack to buy a new transformer for the aux. cooling fax that goes in the back. It is originally 7.5 volts and I believe he went to 9V...I decided to take it a step further and went to 12V. I also put it on a timer now...It starts about the same time as the lights and turns off about 2 hours after they go out. The first day it was on, I maxed out @ 81.2. A full 2 degrees cooler than when the fan was running with the original transformer. Going this much faster does cause a slight Whirr sound, but it's hardly noticable and you'd never hear it if anything else is going on in the room.

 

This mod is simple. Just go to Radio Shack and take the transformer w/ cord (no need to take th fan. They will help you sort it out. Here are the packages w/ parts #'s. Total cost abut $30 including tax.

 

Transformer (12v)

 

Adapter for plug to fan cord:

 

Also, I've decided to build a 10 gal fuge to go under the cabinet. I can't find an overflow box that will fit between the 3 inch space I left behind the tank, so I'm buildng one. My acrylic skills are not near that of StevieT's In Tank Mega-conglomorate, but it will work. Here are some pics of the outer box. Still waiting for epoxy to dry. Not beautiful, but it will do the job:

 

 

I'll keep thigs updated of the Fuge and overflow.

 

Thanks for checking in.

[smarsh]

Nice work Normandy! Cant wait to see the fuge!

[Normandy]

Nice work Normandy! Cant wait to see the fuge!

 

Thanks for the compliment, but if you put my acrylic work next to StevieT's, it looks like I joined mine together with feces.

 

 

 

Can anyone help ID this? It looked kinda soft, buy scary. Really blended in w/ the rock so it was hard to see.

 

I poked at it w/ the end of a stick and it took some force, but I pried it off. It felt like I was ripping part of the rock off. It had some fuzzy patches and then my goby ate it immediately after it hit the bottom. No More pics

 

[smarsh]

How about an updated FTS?

[Normandy]

How about an updated FTS?

 

I'll probably be able to throw one up this weekend...I got 9 new pieces of coral yesterday, not yet placed in the spots thy will be around the tank. Once I get that done, I'll post.

 

Thanks for checking in.

[Normandy]

My wife keeps begging me to get a Yellow Warty Anglerfish...even wants to name it "Archie".

 

Oh well, an excuse for a larger tank.

[HankB]

Looks like it would work, but keep in mind, The RSM back wall is smoked glass. If you look close enough its see through. Putting a light back there will cause illumination of rear chamber and it may be unsightly to see all the filter components. Another RSMer was trying this. I forget who. I wonder how they made out? Great Idea though.

 

That could be me. I stuck the light (10 watt halogen) between the stock skimmer and last partition - using the space alloted to the chiller connection. (We don't have a chiller.) The light makes the rear chamber very visible, particularly after dark.

 

I found plastic file folders and cut one to fit. It blocks the light pretty well. The same day I put that in, our yellow Fiji went into a snit and hasn't come out of it yet. I wondered about the plastic (vinyl) but everything else in the tank looks happy. I might pull it out before I do a water change later today and see if it makes a difference.

 

The 10 watt bulb seems to have a negligible impact on tank temperature. So far I have not been able to find anyone who has had chaeto do well under LED lighting. Lots talk about trying it...

 

So, where's the FTS with all of those new corals?

 

-hank

[StevieT]

StevieT and SDT...first let me say thank you for helping me out...

 

Everything I've read says that GSP doesn't have stinging capability, but the aggressiveness is the way the mat takes over other species.

 

Is this not the case? Do I need to worry about stinging too?

 

Thank you,

 

 

well since my leather fell on my GSP, it couldn't be the mat. It was the GSP itself that absoultly destroyed it.

 

Cool, you upped the voltage on that extra fan, I saw a little difference in temps, to me the fan didn't push any air, it was basically pointless without the mod.

 

I have no idea what that pic is of, it lookes sort of like a ricordea, but it isn't. Hard to tell, kind of blurry

[Normandy]

well since my leather fell on my GSP, it couldn't be the mat. It was the GSP itself that absoultly destroyed it.

 

Cool, you upped the voltage on that extra fan, I saw a little difference in temps, to me the fan didn't push any air, it was basically pointless without the mod.

 

I have no idea what that pic is of, it lookes sort of like a ricordea, but it isn't. Hard to tell, kind of blurry

 

Yeah, I've seen a pretty noticable drop (1-2 degrees) after the fan mod.

 

It's actually not as fuzzy as it looks...the specimen itself was fairly fuzzy and so it made it look that way. Someone helped me out and IDed it as a Chiton...I had looked in the ID thread sticky, but the chiton didn't look anything like I had. After I googled it, I found that there are thousands of various species and saw some very similar. I'm sorry I pried it off, but it made a tasty treat for my Goby.