60 gallon plaything!

[Lalani]

Mmhmm, those are some very happy corals.

[Aquanist]

As usual - Thank you Lalani! One does try to take care on his Preciousss.

 

The 3-channel dosation pump I ordered is now stuck in customs. F**K! I hope the sender hasn't packed in the invoice with actual transaction sums. Now I need to provide the customs with some additional info and maybe tomorrow/next week they decide upon it's destiny. However, even with domestic VAT etc paid it's still a bargain!

 

Now with my wife processing our firstborn (ETA 21.5.10. Codename: Nano) I aim to get the tank as automated as possible. Balling, ATO, the works.. Pictures coming as customs release my stuff..

[ender wiggin]

Finally got time to read your tank thread! Great stuff! I too am doing a similar "upgrade" to a larger aquarium. Probably in 6 months or so because I'm probably going to be moving. So right now i'm just stickin to the small one but your 60g gets me excited for the big one! It looks great! the rock scape is very natural looking and i love it! Makes me wanna go diving! So many great things! Thanks for continuing to post even though you aren't sure people are reading. =) Lots of Lurkers out there! Keep up the great work!

[Aquanist]

Thanks Ender. The rockscape is somewhat an interpretation of this one reef in Jordan (red sea) where I went diving. It was really cool place. Colourfull coral overhang and huge schools of anthias...

 

Customs released my stuff on monday and now I have installed my BM-01 dosing pump for balling and my "osmolator" ATO. Today as I got back from work I took my jug and filled it with RO and went for my tank. WTF was my initial reaction as there hadn't beed any evaporation. Well of course there had, but months of manual top offs had somewhat former a habit.

[Aquanist]

Got some new livestock yesterday. A really nice bright pink coloured zoa rock (size of a petite womans fist), a red, green and blue (RGB I call it) coloured zoa rock the size of a lumberjack's fist and a Coral Beauty. I had decided that coral beauty would be my one main fish and had found one nowhere. Luckily there's this one new petshop that has a really decent SW area and a load of knowledge too. And there she was. One well fed beauty waiting for me to take her home. Too bad they didn't have any derasas left... Maybe next time.

[Aquanist]

Pictures to go along with the last post..

 

[Aquanist]

Some pictures of my cheapo technics.

 

Temp controller. Works both in F and C degrees. Upper is my current tank temp and the lower is the set heater temp.

Left: A,B,C balling liquid tubes + RO from ATO pump. Right: ATO level controller box.

Steam controller. Runs 4 pumps 1 or 2 at a time in 5-150sec sequences.

Dosation pump running currently 30ml/day/channel divided in 12. Turns on every 2 hrs. Expandaple up to 11 channels.

[Aquanist]

Pictures never hurt anyone, right?

 

[Aquanist]

Had a heater controller malfunction and ended up nearly boiling my tank! Luckily only a couple of freebie frag, briareum and some shrimps (L. amboinensis + R. durbanensis) were lost. Tank has made a near full recovery leaving me now with a few nice spots to add something new, nice and colourful.

 

FTS coming one of these days.. Meanwhile you can stare in awe my brave new signature (took nearly 3mins to make).

[guia x]

Nice tank. I see someone loves monti caps as much as I do. I can't wait to see them fully grown. The green clown goby is pretty cool too. Too bad I don't want to put them anywhere near my tank anymore. I use to love clown gobies and wanted to fill my tank with them until my citrinis clown goby started picking at my acans and bugging/nipping my sps frags. He's been tossed from my 120g to my sun coral tank. He still bugs me when I'm feeding my sun corals by stealing the food from them.

 

Anyway, sorry about your heater and good job on the sig. I need to make one too.

[Aquanist]

Thanks guia! You actually know someone without a sweetspot for some monti caps?

 

"One of these days" came early and here's the promised FTS (taken today). Not that I have sensed any excited buzz around this mighty reveal.

 

A bit over exposed but couldn't be bothered.

[Aquanist]

Quess it's time for some before/after pics.

 

Just about to start branching here

There's at least 11 new heads growing on this blasto

Yup - this digitata grows like a weed!

Everyone likes caulastrea

This beauty is a really slow one to grow, but man it is rewarding to notice even a little growth on it.

[Aquanist]

Ramble on (as The Zep said)...

 

Just placed my order in. Group of local guys ordering straight from a Netherland based wholesaler. Nothing special but the prices are good. Not as good as in states I should say, but compared to our local suppliers. Anyhow, here's what I listed in. Should be arriving on wednesday.

- Pterosynchriropus splendidus

- 2x Mithrax sculptus

- Favites sp. (green)

- Parazoanthus gracilis

- Zoanthus sp. (green tip)

 

Comments are welcome - as usual.

[Aquanist]

Delays delays. Shipment mentioned above will be here on friday..

 

Thinking about building a fuge as from friday on I'll be a proud daddy of one mandarin. And naturally to help keep nitrates down. I'm thinking about making a small tank the same height as my display and placing them side by side. Am I correct to think that such system will automatically set water level itself? I don't mean to drill anything, but to plumb sorta HOB overflows. As I pump water back from refugium shouldn't it simultaneously pull in water from the display? Sorta creating an underpressure to fuge...

 

Please any advice/feedback/criticism is most welcome.

[Aquanist]

Here's a small picture which is supposed to help you all to help me.

 

[Aquanist]

My little plan for refugium placement.

 

 

And some pictures of the new s**t I got in yesterday.

 

 

...continua

[Aquanist]

Todays FTS.

[jdantunes]

 

Wow, I saw you FTS this morning and discover you thread. You really have made a great job. If I understood this was your old FW set up, right?

 

The rockscape is amazing, and you're doing a great job with coral and livestock picking and placement. I'll be following the thread from now on. Keep the updates coming, i'll be commenting often.

 

Good luck with you're new comers!

[Aquanist]

Wow thanks jdantunes! No standing ovations? No really, much appreciated.

 

Yes this used to be a FW setup for my L66 plecos along with a large school of cardinal tetras. Lots of black slate rockwork and heavily planted. Used to have 150W HQI over it.

 

As for the currend rockscape I have removed about 8kg of rock from the original setup to get a less of a crowded look. And I'm sure the fish aren't complaining. I might still end up taking a piece or 2 out. Then again I might not.

 

And here's the update you asked from. I did a small (about 200 miles) roadtrip yesterday with a fellow reefer to check out a couple of other guy's tanks. And naturally we had to make a pitstop at a store selling some SW stuff too. Selection wasn't all that with a couple of cool exceptions. A couple of nice good sized (nearly 5 inches across) Trachyphyllias just sitting there on the sand bed. I took one and my friend the other. Needless to say They'll end up fragged and swapped for each other some day.

 

Trachyphyllia geoffroy:

 

I also trded a frag of my turquoise Caulastrea into a piece of neon green Caulastrea such as this. Yup - I'm a LPS kinda guy!

[oceanbreeze]

see told you so......

everyone loves pic`s

and they love yours,

you have done a brill job there

your corals are to die for

if i was as clever as jdantunes i`d put that pic up too!

well done big pat on the back for you!!

p.s please keep pic`s coming there seems to be more than just me

reading this!!

[jdantunes]

200 miles round trip...well that's about the same amount of miles I do when I go from my house to Miami and come back. I'm in the west coast of Florida there's about 3 stores in a 25 mile radius. But the best stores are on the east coast (Miami, Fort Lauderdale) and plenty of aquaculture like the reef gardener.

 

That open brain is nice but it looks more like a Lobo than a Trachy. I might be wrong.

 

Anyways I got to run, but I just wanted to thank you about your comment in my tank thread.

 

I'll be reading your updates...

[Arkayology]

You have some AMAZING corals. I wish I could find that stuff in Ca. I especially like those orange and green blastos. I really like your setup

[Aquanist]

Oh sod it with the refugium plans. Last night I was glueing some frags and hey presto, there was inspiration. Decided to cut some food safe black plastic into size and top it with an overflow comb. Then drilled a hole for return pump (eheim compact 1002) and pushed it in the left back corner. It doesn't have to be all sealed up or anything. In went the chaeto and a quick redecoration. All went swimmingly and I actually like the outcome better than my previous scape.

Hope to have the time to take a new FTS soon.

[Aquanist]

Today's FTS + a shot of the back corner section hilding my heater, chaeto and 1000 l/h eheim pump.

 

[Aquanist]

Just added 2dl of NP reducing biopellets along my carbon and PO4 reducing media. Now it' just waiting... Results should be starting to show in 2-4 weeks...

 

And yes. I will actually be measuring my parameters instead of just looking at my duncanopsammia.