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disaster's custom 20gal


disaster999

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another update, no pictures this time. sorry

 

well ever since i added my flasher wrasse and firefish to the tank. my randall's shrimp goby disappeared. the first day since introducing new fish, he wouldnt come out when its feeding time. he would hide in his hiding spot and i had to look really hard to see him sticking out from under this rock thats way deep into my rock work. the second day he didnt come out, and i havent seen him since. im pretty sure he havent gone marble surfing as i have a lid right now. i looked everywhere near the tank and no sign of dried fish.

 

hope he just freaked out of the new residents and will eventually come out.

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  • 2 weeks later...

no one ins interested...oh well

 

another update, i finally decided to switch out the old crappy bulbs that came with the fishneedit light to some quality ATI and K-Z bulbs

 

before

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wtf is aqua gem???

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after

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K-Z fiji purple

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ATI blue plus

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ATI Aquablue Spezial with a Z

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ATI Actinic

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Before FTS

_DSC9994.jpg

 

After FTS

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Before

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After

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its more blue/purple than before. both picture are taken with the same white balance

 

besides the lights, i also did some upgrades to my air skimmer. elongated the skimmer body, added a tube to go over the limewood. this draws in water which is separate from the water exiting the skimmer.

 

DSC_0066.jpg

DSC_0066-1.jpg

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besides lighting and skimmer upgrades, i also went and bout some new corals today. all of them are zoas, bought it off a local reefer who grows and frags zoas. theres 4 different kinds of zoas, but i guess theres too many orders and zoas to keep track off, he gave me 2 of the same zoas. contacted him so we'll be doing some exchanging soon

 

a few pictures just to show the zoas

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while inspecting the zoas, found this little guy. anyone know if its safe?

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

small update...corals are all doing well. zoas are busy popping out new polyps. the GSP is expanding too. the clams are as happy as...well..a clam. still trying to get the algea under control. the snails have been doing a great job eating them. but not nearly fast enough. bought some blue legged hermits to help out and clean up some scraps my cleaner shrimp or fish cant get to.

 

also bought another clown hoping it would pair up with the existing one and i'll get a kick watching them interact. i made sure to find the smallest one i can so my old clown would be the dominant one, shorter fighting and would get along faster. so far it worked out pretty good. they probably spend 10 mins fighting before the winner was decided and my old clown pretty much left the little guy alone. it was a pretty fierce battle, i could even hear the clown fish snapping its jaw.

 

while shopping for the hermits and clown, i wanted to get an anemone so my clownfish would host it, found this small bubble tip anemone for under $1.20!! it was floating around in my tank for a while...but then i just kinda placed it against a rock, it stuck and started walking around. kinda found itself under a rock out of the light...thought they like/need strong lights :shurgs:

 

ok enough talk...more pictures

new clown

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old clown

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hermits hard at work

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bubble tip anemone

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filament flasher wrasse

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after a few trial and error, i think i found the solution to stop fish from jumping and not sacrifice light output. i tried to find netting material and try to make those mesh mod, but that failed pretty bad. so i ended up with an acrylic sheet over my tank. but i was having major water condensate problem which to me was preventing light from penetrating fully into my tank and it was bowing pretty bad i tried eggcrate but, to me, i can clearly see the intensity was reduced and the colors from my 4bulb t5ho wasnt blended as well. so i took that off, drilled a bunch of holes in the acrylic hoping that would solve my problem, but it didnt

 

finally, i just cut out the center of the egg crate leaving around 2inch wide strip on all the sides. thinking if the fish tried to leap from the edge, the egg crate would stop them, and if they jump from the middle, they would just land back in the water. also, the open space in the egg crate lets in all the light making the center really intense. my clams are enjoying the extra light they have and so far no fish jumped *fingers crossed*

 

DSC_0194.jpg

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haha, so far im just letting everything grow and holding back on buying corals (but we all know how hard that is) i MIGHT venture into SPS and buy a small frag and stick it on top of my rock work just to see if i can keep it alive. im sure i have enough lighting for it. i really want my Zoas to cover up this rock so i have a zoa garden.

 

I hear ya about the prices. when i was in the states everything was really expensive and its not easy obtaining some of the stuff i have now without paying more than $100 for it. it pretty much have to do with the location. its a longer plane ride from indonesia to the states compared to hong kong. and our fish is caught with inhumane methods which is not welcome in the states. you can always go with farm raised fish and aquaculture corals, but the provider still have to factor in the operation and equipment startup cost into their pricing.

 

if it makes you feel any better, i small frag of xenia is around 40 bucks because its so rare here. which is almost funny because i had them in the states and regretted buying it because it was growing like weeds, and couldnt sell it because it was so common. now i have to pay 40 bucks for a small frag =P

 

but give it a few years when it starts to grow like weeds and everyone is throwing them away. im sure the prices is going to drop.

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  • 4 weeks later...

been almost a month since my last update, thought ill update you all with some pictures. nothing really changed. i had a few marble surfers, my wrasse just jumped for no reason. then my small clown jumped also. my tank breed clown is just happy as always. my hermits are sleeping during the day and all come out looking for food at night. never actually seen hermits do that.

 

things are growing in my tank...the zoas are slowly spreadying. my gsp really wants to spread but since its in the sand it cant really. the clams are happy as a clam. my sun coral popped 2 babies and attached itself to a rock.

 

nice pest anemone growing happily -_-, i got to get rid of it

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acan growing nicely. placed it ontop of a rock so it could spread

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sun coral and babies...kinda blurry tho

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sleeping hermits

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twin air skimmer both modified...need the wood air stone thing replaced

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FTS

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in the near future (a week or 2) ill be placing an order for a slightly larger tank, 24x14x14 to replace this one i made. got a quote for 40 bucks to custom make my tank with 2 holes drilled.

 

the reason im replacing this tank is due to shipping from the states to hong kong. fedex wasnt exactly gentle with my tank even though i have fragile stickers plastered ALL OVER THE DAMN BOX. after a while its showing signs of wear and small leaks. plus it scratches easily so gonna retire it and convert it to a frag tank later on.

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Just placed an order for a new tank. 24x14x14. 1/4" thick glass with black silicone. the back will have 3 holes drilled. 1 3/4" for drain, and 2 1 1/4" holes for return. edges will be polished and beveled. trying to go for the elos look which hopefully turns out how i want it to be. all that for only 38.50. going to have it in a week.

 

tank is roughly 20 gals, but the water line will be 2 inches from the top. im tired of fish trying to escape my prison so hopefully it will make it harder for them to. i will still have an eggcrate perimeter just to make it that much more harder. im sure the extra swimming room will be appreciated tho. no more center overflow, but a corner overflow and 2 returns.

 

ill post pictures once i get the tank. stay tuned

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i was hoping this tank would last, but i figured there was a few problems in my design. first the water level in the tank is set too high and fish jumps out too easily. second i really dont feel theres enough space for my fish to swim around in. then theres a leak issue with it that never showed until recently, so i have to fix that up before i use it again.

 

i like this little tank i made. but i think it was better suited to be a frag tank, like i have before in the states, than a full on reef tank. ill set this back up once i sort all the problems...maybe ill integrate this into the system later on. who knows

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  • 2 weeks later...
disaster999

got a little free time, so i whipped up some 3D drawings

 

tank is going to have 1in over hang on each side which shouldnt be a huge problem.

tank.jpg

 

peek at the sump

tankopen.jpg

 

whats that? a skimmer.....?

 

yeah, just toying around the idea of making my own skimmer. if anyone is wonder, that is a maxijet utility pump i used to model after, and if the color scheme looks familiar, i copied bubble magus

skimmer.jpg

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Wow, I agree, very nice silicone job.

 

Work like that is why ADA and Elos get the big bucks for their tanks!

 

Looks great!

 

Chris

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disaster999

thanks, i cant wait to set it up. gotta buy plumbing parts and acrylic for the overflow. this tank should be sweet!

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