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Chucktown 20H


divecj5

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As of a couple of weeks ago, it had been a couple of months since I had been on here as well. Just got really busy with work and sort of lost interest with the tank with all of the issues I have with it. Thought a fresh start was the way to go and I've got that "fresh to the hobby" feeling again.

 

Where is your most recent thread now? I posted on one a couple of weeks ago but wasn't sure if it was the right one.

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I'm in Charleston also, I've got a 10 gallon just finished cycling after not having a reef for 6 years. My last tank was a 20H also and it's a great size, unfortunately I let my sister borrow my 20H stand/canopy a few years back so all I had was the 10g stand/canopy.

 

I really like the looks of the vortech, I have yet to see one in person but think it would be awesome on a 10g SPS-dominated tank. I'm going a little more low-tech on mine, softies and maybe a euphylia under 2 T5 HO's. Of course I can always add 2 more T5's and a vortech at a later date...

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Nice to meet another Charlestonian on here....pretty few and far in between. There are 4-5 of us poking around here. Congrats on getting back into the hobby after being away for a while. Do you have a thread somewhere tracking your tank? Where in Charleston are you?

 

The first time I saw a Vortech in person was when I got mine ;) Before then, I saw plenty of videos but never really saw what it could do and how it worked in person. Although it's a little spendy, when you consider the cost of say two Tunze ($60-70 each) and the cost of a wave maker that can't mimic what the Vortech does, it isn't really too bad. I am still amazed at not only how random the flow is in Reef Crest, but at how the flow reaches literally every nook and cranny and corner of the tank. I can look way back under the rock and see stuff being kicked up. Should be sweet once I get my SPS in there...really I'm having a hard time waiting :)

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airman_verde04

Hey Adam! too crazy about getting a new tank! I'm excited for you. what made you decided to get a smaller tank? anyhoo. I'll love to take you up on those GSP so anytime! I've been really not on the nano-reef for a while now also. I've been working nights for a few months now. I feel bad for my tank. I think it needs like a million water changes to get back up to par. and those water changes like back to back...to back. feel free to give me a call for any LED help you need. I need to get some umm.. the electrodes or whatever.. the things that keep the LED bulbs from blowing up, mini- surge protectors.anyways, I lost my train of thought! bye for now! Happy New Year.

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15 days in and we have DIATOMS :happydance:

 

I was starting to think this thing wasn't cycling at all. Guess it's time to finally test the water and then maybe get a clean up crew started.

 

I think eventually I am going to go with a porcelain crab in this tank and maybe be a little pickier on the snails and shrimp. In the last tank I just added them a little willy nilly.

 

Happy New Years Eve!!!! :wizard:

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airman_verde04
15 days in and we have DIATOMS :happydance:

 

I was starting to think this thing wasn't cycling at all. Guess it's time to finally test the water and then maybe get a clean up crew started.

 

I think eventually I am going to go with a porcelain crab in this tank and maybe be a little pickier on the snails and shrimp. In the last tank I just added them a little willy nilly.

 

Happy New Years Eve!!!! :wizard:

 

what do you mean you added them a little willy nilly? I'm finding a problem with my cleaner shrimp being to aggressive at feed time. not to mention she is really big. I've been thinking about seller her for something a little more nano-reef'y. and maybe no shrimp at all. and I agree on the snails and crabs, I'm learning what works and what doesn't. anyways, keep us posted!

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what do you mean you added them a little willy nilly? I'm finding a problem with my cleaner shrimp being to aggressive at feed time. not to mention she is really big. I've been thinking about seller her for something a little more nano-reef'y. and maybe no shrimp at all. and I agree on the snails and crabs, I'm learning what works and what doesn't. anyways, keep us posted!

 

What I mean by adding them willy nilly is that I would just buy snails randomly when I was at the LFS and when they were on sale. The only one that ever caused any trouble was the large turbo that was like a freaking bulldozer when it came to knocking over frags and coral. This time around I am going to make sure that I cover all of the snail action: sand bed, rocks, glass cleaners.

 

The other mistake I made was getting a large emerald crab for the 29. Luckily I caught him nibbling on my zoas and he was still curious enough to come up to the tweezers I put in there. He was a quick capture.

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airman_verde04

You need one of those cool looking crabs like Karen has, don't know what its called, the cool crab. I need one more sand bed snail I think.

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Hey Adam

 

I'm back from vacation and had a BLAST! Hope your Christmas and New Year's was fun. Looks like your tank is coming along and I can't wait to see it. Let me know if you still need a few pieces of rubble with coraline.

 

PS - the crab he is referring to is the porcelain crab - filter feeder and it seems you've already identified it for your tank.

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Hey Adam

 

I'm back from vacation and had a BLAST! Hope your Christmas and New Year's was fun. Looks like your tank is coming along and I can't wait to see it. Let me know if you still need a few pieces of rubble with coraline.

 

PS - the crab he is referring to is the porcelain crab - filter feeder and it seems you've already identified it for your tank.

 

Hey Karen. Thanks for stopping by the thread. Glad to hear that you had a great vacation. Hope all went well with the tank while you were gone. We had a really nice Christmas and New Year's around here as well. I am still interested in snagging a couple pieces of your rock rubble so just let me know when you are free. Also, I might still have you hold on to some of my SPS pieces for 2-3 weeks while I move the fish over to this tank and take down the 29. Still trying to figure out the timing of everything. I am going to let the 20H cycle for probably another couple of days before testing the water and grabbing some snails. Can't wait to have everything moved over already :) Even my wife is asking when it will be moved and the old tank taken down.

 

I took some pictures of the brown diatom goodness and will post those on Monday. I am definitely getting the full monti cycle now :)

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Question for any AC owners. I am looking to get either an AC 70 or 110. It says on their site that it is 6" deep. How much room is needed behind the tank? I'm thinking that 6" includes the part that hangs over the lip of the tank so there would need to be around 4 inches of clearance behind.

 

Can anyone confirm this?

 

Thanks in advance. The tank is really coming along....3 weeks old today!!!

 

Should have some snails in there by the end of the week and I will start monitoring Ca, Alk, pH more diligently then.

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Here are the pictures of the brown diatom goodness. On Saturday it was even worse and by Sunday it was pretty much cleared up. I am going to pick up some snails this afternoon.

 

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Hey Karen. Thanks for stopping by the thread. Glad to hear that you had a great vacation. Hope all went well with the tank while you were gone. We had a really nice Christmas and New Year's around here as well. I am still interested in snagging a couple pieces of your rock rubble so just let me know when you are free. Also, I might still have you hold on to some of my SPS pieces for 2-3 weeks while I move the fish over to this tank and take down the 29. Still trying to figure out the timing of everything. I am going to let the 20H cycle for probably another couple of days before testing the water and grabbing some snails. Can't wait to have everything moved over already :) Even my wife is asking when it will be moved and the old tank taken down.

 

I took some pictures of the brown diatom goodness and will post those on Monday. I am definitely getting the full monti cycle now :)

 

I'm working from home all this week and next so just let me know what day you want to come by. The tank did fine while I was gone, I haven't really been focused on it much for the past couple of months. I always seem to have trouble in this hobby when I get the tank just the way I want it. I love researching products, corals, inverts, etc and making selections for the tank. The problem is that once the tank is full and thriving then I have trouble just sitting back and enjoying it. I guess that's why I got Abby! She's a handful right now and in to EVERYTHING!!!!!! Come on by soon and snag some goodies for your tank and meet Abby...

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I'm working from home all this week and next so just let me know what day you want to come by. The tank did fine while I was gone, I haven't really been focused on it much for the past couple of months. I always seem to have trouble in this hobby when I get the tank just the way I want it. I love researching products, corals, inverts, etc and making selections for the tank. The problem is that once the tank is full and thriving then I have trouble just sitting back and enjoying it. I guess that's why I got Abby! She's a handful right now and in to EVERYTHING!!!!!! Come on by soon and snag some goodies for your tank and meet Abby...

 

Sounds great Karen. Glad to hear that everything went great while you were away on vacation. It sounds like all of the automation really kept everything running smoothly. I'm sure there has been loads of growth since the last time that I saw your tank.

 

I am free for pretty much all of Friday so maybe we can plan something then. I will shoot you a PM later today to work out the plan.

 

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I ended up getting the AC 70 last night after I found out that I would have enough clearance for it behind the tank. It set up in minutes and is running like a champ. It definitely moves a good bit of water...actually more than I was thinking so I think it will be perfect for some chaeto. I just need to get some sort of clip on light or one of those submersible pond lights and I will be set for a nice fuge. I am just running some filter floss in there now to help clear up some of the scum on top of the water.

 

I guess it's about time for this tank's first water change. I am still nervous to start adding things to the tank...I just need to bite the bullet and add some life to this thing :)

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Got a couple of snails for the tank yesterday....4 Caribbean ceriths and 1 banded trochus

 

I'm not a huge fan of the Trochus as they tend to die when they flip over....but they were limited in selection at the LFS and had a nice sale going. I hope to add some more Ceriths as well as some Nassarius and Nerite as well. Just going for a good mix.

 

I started testing the water yesterday and NH3, NO2, and NO3 are all 0. Here are the rest of the numbers:

 

Alk - off the charts high (15+)

Ca - 420

pH - 8.0 (going to bring this up with buffer)

 

I might move my clowns over to the new tank this weekend although I'm just really apprehensive about catching and stressing them. With my rockwork and coral in the tank, it's kind of a one shot deal. I either catch them both on the first try or I miss and they hide in the rock the rest of the day. I would just wait to move the fish until I take down the tank and move the coral over but I don't think it's the best idea to move everything over and risk shocking the system.

 

Any thoughts on the best way to move things over? I want to get Alk and Ca stable before moving the SPS over. I am really itching to see my corals in the new tank though.

 

I took a video of the wave I can create with the MP20....I measured and it was 2 1/2 inch wave. I was just about splashing water out before I turned it down :)

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To remove your clowns. Are your clowns hosting anything? When I had to remove my clowns, I just lifted up their anemone close to the top of the tank, the clowns followed and I was able to net them easily. Good Luck, your BC29 thread really helped me out when I set up mine.

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To remove your clowns. Are your clowns hosting anything? When I had to remove my clowns, I just lifted up their anemone close to the top of the tank, the clowns followed and I was able to net them easily. Good Luck, your BC29 thread really helped me out when I set up mine.

 

Thanks for the kind words on my BC29...glad it was a help to you.

 

Unfortunately my clowns are not hosting anything...other than my Tunze powerhead :) I think my best bet, and what I did when I moved, was to drop the net in the water before feeding time. Let them get acquainted with it and then try and catch them during feeding when they are at the top of the water.

 

I am definitely dreading moving the purple firefish. The last time I moved he/she went under the sand. I thought it was a goner until I filled it back up and then found it swimming around.

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Bit the bullet and ended up moving my Tort, Blue Stag, Green Cap (which I fragged smaller), and Green Pocillopora over to the new tank :) They look incredibly happy in the new tank. I just have them chilling in the sand bed for the time being to let them get acclimated to the new flow and params.

 

Video coming tomorrow.....

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Kinda feel like I'm talking to myself on this thread but I'll go ahead and post a video anyway -_-

 

Although some will say that I jumped the gun on moving my SPS over to the new tank with it only being up for about a month, it had more to do with their slow decline in the BC. When I took the Tort out, I could see where there was very little flow getting to the base and it was starting to show some STN from the base up. This is because the Neomeris has gotten to a point where you can't see the base of all but two corals....basically no way for flow to get in and around the coral.

 

Needless to say that all of the corals are polyped out like crazy and obviously love the random Vortech flow. In the video, the corals from left to right are -

 

-Frags of the Green w/Blue polyp Monti Cap

-LE Birdsnest (from Karen)

-ORA Oregon Tort (color has really faded but polyps are a bright neon green)

-Blue Slimer

-Green Poccilopora

 

I am going to get some still shots this afternoon and post those up tomorrow. All I have to move over now from the BC are the clowns, firefish, orange cap frags, Bali Green Slimer, Orange Digitata.

 

Enjoy the video....sorry it came out so blue....P&S can only do so much I guess :)

 

th_20H_January.jpg

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Cool B)

 

Thanks :)

 

I am going to take loads of stills this afternoon since the quality and color temp of the video is pretty lame.

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Now that the frags from the BC have been moved over to the 20H, I thought I would post up some pictures for future reference and growth.

 

Some of the colors, especially on the Tort, have faded over the last couple of months. Hopefully, now that they are no longer battling the Neomeris for light and flow, they will recover. I plan to leave them all where they are for the next couple of days and then move them onto the rock work. I am going to try my best to keep the sandbed free and clear of frags in this tank. We'll see how long that lasts though :)

 

Green Cap/ LE Birdsnest / ORA Tort / Blue Slimer

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Green Pocillopora

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Birdsnest

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ORA Tort and Blue Slimer -- Need some TLC

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Green w/Blue Polp Cap

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Just need to move the clowns and firefish over as well as the Orange Monti caps, Orange Digi, and Bali Green Slimer.

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