coachfraley Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Let me know if you ever frag that green acan! That thing is sick!!!! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted June 27, 2009 Author Share Posted June 27, 2009 Foofooree- Thank you. TJ_Burton- Thank you. You are welcome to poach. The secret is acyrlic rods. Thats what's holding everything in place. That plus drilling homes for frag plugs in all the top facing rock. Coach- Deal. Will do. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted June 27, 2009 Share Posted June 27, 2009 I'm thinking of doing the Acrylic Rod thing for my 'scape too. You have any tips or tricks to share? Can you post a FTS so I can get a better idea of how you did your 'scape? Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted June 27, 2009 Author Share Posted June 27, 2009 Hello love, Sure. Take a look at the first page. The scape hasn't changed all that much from the last shots. Really what you need is a good masonry bit, dremmel, and patience. You have to go slow with it or you will break the rocks. I used 1/2" acrylic rods that I cut to size with the handy dremmel then use the DeWalt to core a hole. Following that in goes the rods with some aquamend putty at the bottom of the holes to hold things in place and Bob's your uncle! You could actually skip the putty if you like. Can't say this enough so... Go slow but firm and keep the rock slightly wet. If you have a drill press it works better. The rocks that are stuck together are the plateau on the left side where the smaller sps are, the rock holding the bridge in the center and some of the base rock on the right. I would also strongly suggest you drill holes for your frag plugs into the rocks. And for corals that don't have plugs. I use a 1/2" (I think 3/8" would be better) and go about 3/4"-1" down. For frags that don't have plugs I snip the rod part off a plug then glue it to the bottom of the frag that doesn't have a plug and drop it in the hole. With the holes and plugs things stay in place even with rude and pushy snails and high flow from the Vortechs. Plus you can move them about if you like to better position them. Oh and while I am at it... <Shakes fist at Kraylen> CURSE YOU KRAYLEN! YOU MADE ME BUY A MYSTERY WRASSE! NOW I AM ALL WRASSE ALL THE TIME! So far so good as he is small and the rhomboid male is huge but I am keeping an eye on him. He was such a pretty fish and him along with a BSJF was less than the price being offered in the Mr. Coral special without shipping so I broke down and picked them up... They are both munching pellets like they are going out of style which is a good sign I suppose... Link to comment
davidr2340 Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 Hey Weets... I have some left over acrylic rod. Tank is looking amazing bro!!! Link to comment
Kraylen Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh snap.. You just added lucifer to your tank!!! I DEMAND PICTURESSSSSS Hell yeah man Im excitied for ya! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted June 28, 2009 Author Share Posted June 28, 2009 Thank you David. Give it about 2 years then it should mature nicely. Right now its still in its infancy. Kraylen, *THAT* is what I am afraid of! But so far he is the most interesting fish in there! Photos to follow soon. Link to comment
Kraylen Posted June 28, 2009 Share Posted June 28, 2009 You know, the mystery wrasse is the reason there is only 1 wrasse in that tank now. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 So we lost the last 13 days. That kinda sucks. But a quick repost of the last 13 days... 1. Diatome and Cyano outbreak courtesy of me overfeeding the tank and not being up on my water changes 2. Pump went out due to heat issues (it has a built in thermal shutoff) so I moved the chiller from under the stand to to beside the tank. So far problem solved. 3. Lost female Rhomboid due to my own stupid mistake of not checking the screen was fully over the tank. Offered the fish jerky to my mother in law. She declined. I pointed out it was far healthier than the stuff from China she stuffs in her gob! She still declined. She's Chinese by the way. 4. Fighting the good fight with my Vortech's and sand getting moved around. 5. Thought I had lost my McCosker's due to wrasse on wrasse aggression by the mystery. Turns out he jumped into the overflow and was stuck in there for about a week 6. The Anemone has gotten huge (part of my over feeding problem) thanks to the 1/2" of silverside she gets every other day. 7. Clowns laid eggs but they got sucked up when I did a water change yesterday and was cleaning the small patch of cyano I had. Pictures: The rose anemone with and without her crab. Amazing what some good feeding will do! This is how big she has gotten since getting a every other day 1/2" piece of silver side. Gotta stop that real soon or else I am going to have either one huge nem or two smaller ones... Well two smaller wouldn't be too bad as I can sell one... As requested here is the Mystery. I am mezmerized by how he effortlessly shoots through the water like a torpedo. I am not so keen on his attitude towards the McCosker's and am worried that if I add a Solar Wrasse I am going to shortly loose a solar wrasse. Any opinions would be welcome. My poor McCosker who I thought was a gonner but found in my overflow who is now "working things out" with Boo. I don't give good odds on this though. My new male clown. I grabbed him because of the pattern on him. And the blue chromis. Lastly my Wes frags, suncorals, and part of what I am calling LPS&Softy row. Notice the white spot on the red monti? Yeah. That was courtesy of me knocking the coral over by accident. I now have a nice frag of it. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Nice recovery update! @ Tubbs Blue rock. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 Cheers love. Let me know when you are ready for a frag. Thats the colony I was referring to by the way. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted July 23, 2009 Author Share Posted July 23, 2009 These photos were taken *RIGHT* after a 20% water change and major scraping of the glass so stuff is a bit messy and cloudy. Seems thats the only time I take pictures for some reason... Sigh. Cyano problem is gone (touch wood) thank goodness but am still getting a bit of diatoms so I need to further cut down on the amount of food I am dropping in and maybe the number of times per day. But its hard. The little darlings all see me walk in the room and immediately line up by rows on the right side of the tank waiting for the food orgy to commence which makes it hard to say no you see... This stinking Anemone is getting HUGE! I hope it splits soon so I can sell one half and go back to having a normal sized one! Say hello to my two new friends. Both impulse buys but both fish I wanted. A Potter's Angel and a Lubbocks Wrasse. I am *WAY* to wrasse heavy! Fortunately they are both eating like pigs and the mystery and the Lubbocks worked out their problems (touch wood). I think I will put in a Blue Spotted Jawfish because I am in love with the damn things and have managed to put a 1/4" screen on so no more jumping through the 1/2" holes I had before. But that is way down the road. And its going to mean allot more water changes and strict monitoring if I do it since this is only a 56 with 10 gallon sump... And lastly the obligatory FTS. Link to comment
Kraylen Posted July 23, 2009 Share Posted July 23, 2009 Sorry to hear about the wrassassination. I am 100% wrasseless in my tank now. I am running an open top finally. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted July 24, 2009 Author Share Posted July 24, 2009 Sorry to hear about the wrassassination. I am 100% wrasseless in my tank now. I am running an open top finally. Oh no mate! No wrassasinations here so far...! So far its been nothing but wrasse on wrasse love! Of course that could change now that the mystery has bulked up on *ALL* of the pod's in the rockwork and must be feeling kind of frisky... Pity to hear about that on your end... As I am sure you know after all once you go Wrasse you can never go back... Just practice safe wrasseing with a screen over your rim. Link to comment
PurpleUP Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 And lastly the obligatory FTS. Nice top shelf for optimal coral placement. Almost like a natural frag tank, but better looking of course. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted July 24, 2009 Author Share Posted July 24, 2009 Nice top shelf for optimal coral placement. Almost like a natural frag tank, but better looking of course. Cheers mate. It was acrylic rod that did the trick. Link to comment
PurpleUP Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Cheers mate. It was acrylic rod that did the trick. Acrylic rod, huh? Can't even see it. I'll need to look back in your thread and see how it was done. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted July 27, 2009 Author Share Posted July 27, 2009 Acrylic rod, huh? Can't even see it. I'll need to look back in your thread and see how it was done. No worries. Save you the read... Its simple. Masonry bit, salt water safe epoxy, acrylic rods of appropriate size. Drill the holes insert the epoxy, insert the rods. Bob's your uncle. I <3 SCE. NOT! Mylar balloon's get stuck in wires up from my street 1,000 homes without power for 8 hours. Me on generator. I appreciate that SCE keeps my power running 360ish days out of the year, that they only took 8 hours instead of 48 this time to get the power back on, and that it was a case of drunk and stupid (the idiots actually floated the balloons into the wires on purpose it seems. This per the local PD I spoke to who was directing traffic around the fire that was started) but I am tired of having a quarterly power outage because I am on a stub line that has "been scheduled for upgrade" going on two years now. It also serves as a warning to myself and all of you living in a natural disaster zone... Update your Disaster Recovery plans and supplies please. Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted July 27, 2009 Share Posted July 27, 2009 Hey UH tank looks great, I love the scape and will be using acrylic rods for my 60 very soon. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 6, 2009 Author Share Posted August 6, 2009 Some FTS for you. I want to pull that bridge rock between the two islands and go back to isolated islands again so thats why I am selling those corals. And the 'nem has colored back up to where she should be. Word of warning to those of you who buy those nice light pink anemone's for $$$... They are bleached because they have been stressed and are not healthy. They do not stay that color and you need to be experienced with anemone's to nurse them back from the edge as well as realize there is a good chance they won't make it. Lastly some growth shot's of Organism and Wes's DBTC frags: Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 6, 2009 Author Share Posted August 6, 2009 Cheers mate. They were MUCH smaller when they came in about 6 months ago. Organism's is going back into the program tomorrow to StanD. It grow's like a weed! Link to comment
Phixion Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 I need to come see the tank now. Works out, because your 20g is ready to be delivered back to you. Link to comment
Kylebeano Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Sweet setup! When you get rid of that middle rock its going to look spectacular. Keep up the good work, and I would like to know what kind of food you used to help nurse your nem back? Mine is a little light and im thinking its not digesting the DeMysis and Mysis shrimp im feeding it. Thanks UH. Link to comment
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