aaron1987 Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 I think you should do a large school of chromis, and let the lion munch on the occasional one and get some sweet predator/prey schooling going on. Between the Chromis killing themselves off and the occasional snack I'd be replacing them monthly . I'm going to be looking for a small, ~1-1.5" lion - so it would be awhile before it would be big enough to snack on anything meaningful (theoretically..). Plus, I hear they're a bit easier to stick train while small. Link to comment
TheNordCelt Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Between the Chromis killing themselves off and the occasional snack I'd be replacing them monthly . I'm going to be looking for a small, ~1-1.5" lion - so it would be awhile before it would be big enough to snack on anything meaningful (theoretically..). Plus, I hear they're a bit easier to stick train while small. Yes that's true. The biggest problem I've had with my chromis are all the other chromis. I always end up with just one. Link to comment
Arkayology Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Your tank was amazing. Can't wait to see what you do with the new setup! Link to comment
aaron1987 Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 Yes that's true. The biggest problem I've had with my chromis are all the other chromis. I always end up with just one. Sounds about right, that's been my experience as well! Your tank was amazing. Can't wait to see what you do with the new setup! Thanks! I'm excited to see what I can do with it as well! My vision is starting to come together for it -- now i just need to get the rockwork to cooperate as it all hinges on my ability to pull that off! Link to comment
Chris George Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Very exciting. Your tank was incredible looking. Best tall tank I've ever seen, honestly. I can't wait to see what your new plans are. Link to comment
aaron1987 Posted August 9, 2011 Author Share Posted August 9, 2011 Very exciting. Your tank was incredible looking. Best tall tank I've ever seen, honestly. I can't wait to see what your new plans are. Thanks! Seeing all the positive feedback on my previous setup means a lot - even with it being defunct. I've got a basic foundation going for my aquascape and will be supplying some pictures of options this evening for feedback. It's always interesting to see how the rocks shape themselves to an extent. I'm pretty happy with the general form that I've got, but need a bit of ginger chisel-work to slim down a couple pieces. I'm stealing a theory from a bonsai thread on RC - minimal rock contact with the sand to maintain an open feel. I do have one on-going concern -- the aquarium is going to have less rock in the setup, and I don't have a sump. Add a messy eating lionfish and I'm a bit worried that I'm setting myself up for potential headaches with nutrient export. Link to comment
aaron1987 Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 It's about time to stop this trend of being rather negligent with my updates to this thread. Ladies and gentlemen, we have cycle! The tank got wet yesterday after I finished (mostly) my LR and painted the back of the tank flat black. Now the waiting begins. I have one last piece of live rock that I'm leaning towards adding before I rubber-stamp the 'scape as Aaron Approved. What looked so excellent on my table looked a bit small for the height of the aquarium once I put it in, and especially once I added substrate for the jawfish. Then again, I was going for 'minimal'. Final decision (and pictures) pending. I guess I could always add a Green Slimer and fill the space in a week or two, given how fast it grew in the last incarnation of the tank. I'm drawing up my initial stocking list with Vivid and SeaLife, Inc. I like to take advantage of free shipping so I should have some fun pieces coming too. I'm a bit scared of dropping in higher end corals, given my meltdown, but I'll bite the bullet at least once for some favorites and items I want to encrust. Cyphastrea, war coral, and setosa are guaranteed inclusions. Link to comment
aaron1987 Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 Well a thread without pictures is goddamn boring so here's a picture of the murky, dirty, work in process. Feedback welcome! Link to comment
Lee Van Reef Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 This tank was gorgeous. Good luck with the new setup, I'm sure it will be great! Link to comment
TheNordCelt Posted September 2, 2011 Share Posted September 2, 2011 Good to see it back up man! Link to comment
aaron1987 Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 This tank was gorgeous. Good luck with the new setup, I'm sure it will be great! Thanks! I certainly hope so! Good to see it back up man! It's funny, I've been pointedly ignoring it for months because I couldn't stand the look of everything dying and covered in algae and now I'm excitedly staring at it like a little kid even though I know there's nothing living in it, yet. I'm trying to decide what to do with the remaining few pieces of livestock that are currently in my 10g quarantine tank. I've got several heads of Duncan, a Crocea Clam, ~10 heads of PPE, assorted mushrooms. I'm absolutely loath to risk introducing anything living from the previous tank in the off chance that whatever triggered my crash is still around. I've been anal about bleaching out absolutely everything. Unfortunately, I can't do that to livestock. I'd feel terrible selling something that I'm not willing to risk putting in my own aquarium. At the same time, flushing it all seems like a god awful waste. What do you think NR? Do I risk it, or dispose of them? Link to comment
aaron1987 Posted September 7, 2011 Author Share Posted September 7, 2011 No thoughts on bringing over livestock, eh? Ammonia is on its way down - I expect to have something exciting to report in a week or two when I can start adding goodies and blowing money with my well-timed bonus from work... Link to comment
TheNordCelt Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 I don't know man its a tough call. What about giving everything a good dip before hand? Link to comment
Kazooie Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 I don't know man its a tough call. What about giving everything a good dip before hand? +1 Link to comment
aaron1987 Posted September 8, 2011 Author Share Posted September 8, 2011 I don't know man its a tough call. What about giving everything a good dip before hand? At a minimum they would go through a dip... I guess the other consideration is that there's nuisance algae of just about every variety on the rocks/frag plugs/skeletons in various quantities. I can scrub away forever and probably not get it all. Knowing what a PITA bubble algae/GHA can be, I'm almost leaning towards disposing of them on those grounds alone. Whatever I do, I need to decide fairly soon as I want my light over the tank. I'll post up a new FTS tonight now that my aquascape is finalized and the water has cleared. Link to comment
TheNordCelt Posted September 8, 2011 Share Posted September 8, 2011 At a minimum they would go through a dip... I guess the other consideration is that there's nuisance algae of just about every variety on the rocks/frag plugs/skeletons in various quantities. I can scrub away forever and probably not get it all. Knowing what a PITA bubble algae/GHA can be, I'm almost leaning towards disposing of them on those grounds alone. Whatever I do, I need to decide fairly soon as I want my light over the tank. I'll post up a new FTS tonight now that my aquascape is finalized and the water has cleared. Have you heard about peroxide? There's a thread on here somewhere about it. I had a pesky GHA spot that would not die. Hit it with some peroxide in a syringe and it died in a few days. I think most people are dosing it, but direct application worked pretty well for me. Link to comment
aaron1987 Posted September 8, 2011 Author Share Posted September 8, 2011 Have you heard about peroxide? There's a thread on here somewhere about it. I had a pesky GHA spot that would not die. Hit it with some peroxide in a syringe and it died in a few days. I think most people are dosing it, but direct application worked pretty well for me. Just straight hydrogen peroxide? I if that's true, I could certainly apply it with a q-tip. Link to comment
aaron1987 Posted September 9, 2011 Author Share Posted September 9, 2011 As promised, some eye candy (sort of..) Oldie but goodie - careful of what you touch! The scar is still with me over a year and a half later and occasionally inflames. Aquascaping in progress.. And the finished product! So it looks like my cycle is almost over, whaddya guys think? Probably just about perfect to add something expensive and fragile... Link to comment
TheNordCelt Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 What the hell is that scar! Yeah just straight peroxide, squirted it on. Link to comment
aaron1987 Posted September 9, 2011 Author Share Posted September 9, 2011 Thankfully its just a small half inch discolored patch now. Not sure what I brushed doing tank maintenance but it messed my world up! Almost took myself to the ER. Hot water/vinegar/meat tenderizer all had no effect. Link to comment
aaron1987 Posted September 20, 2011 Author Share Posted September 20, 2011 Small update: Nitrite through the roof, ammonia gone or almost there. Getting close! In other news, I'm contemplating upgrading my MP20 to an MP40... Not sure whether It's really necessary, but I've always been a fan of toys. That said, it might alleviate some of my concerns with the MP20 - hitting a pane of glass 18" from the impeller considerably reduces force of the flow. Link to comment
d9hp Posted September 20, 2011 Share Posted September 20, 2011 Small update: Nitrite through the roof, ammonia gone or almost there. Getting close! In other news, I'm contemplating upgrading my MP20 to an MP40... Not sure whether It's really necessary, but I've always been a fan of toys. That said, it might alleviate some of my concerns with the MP20 - hitting a pane of glass 18" from the impeller considerably reduces force of the flow. This was such an incredible tank...I am really looking forward to seeing this one progress. Great work with the scape thus far. Link to comment
aaron1987 Posted September 20, 2011 Author Share Posted September 20, 2011 This was such an incredible tank...I am really looking forward to seeing this one progress. Great work with the scape thus far. Thanks for the kind words! I'm hoping to exceed what I did before, while keeping this incarnation of the aquarium unique in its own right. I learned quite a bit about coral spacing based on my complete lack thereof once stuff starting growing last time. I'll be considerably pickier about what SPS goes in and where I place it this time. I really think i took the aquascape in the right direction to do something pretty cool this time. My biggest concern is my placement of the rockwork relative to the MP20 and ensuring I have adequate flow throughout without creating spots I can't put corals (you'll notice it's currently firing right between both pillars -- I want to keep that open, but not necessarily baren). My hairbrained idea of the moment is to potentially move it to the right side against the back... if I upgrade to an MP40, I figure I can get enough water moving to provide healthy flow to the entire tank while not having to worry about the flow directly from the pump hammering coral... unless I get so desperate for space that I'm placing coral behind the rocks Link to comment
chrishayes Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Damn man, just got done catching up on your thread. BOOOOO I hate crashes. Im really impressed by the way you handled it and the excitement you have for 2.0 is commendable! As you know im in the same boat with flow as you with a similar dimension. I just dont have a flipin clue how you could get away with having the pump on the back wall...the rock will block its path causing sharp flow bouncing constantly. Not exactly the rondom flow ya want. However, with a column especially, the back wall is the obvious choice cause having a giant dry side hanging in plain view sucks. Link to comment
aaron1987 Posted September 21, 2011 Author Share Posted September 21, 2011 Damn man, just got done catching up on your thread. BOOOOO I hate crashes. Im really impressed by the way you handled it and the excitement you have for 2.0 is commendable! As you know im in the same boat with flow as you with a similar dimension. I just dont have a flipin clue how you could get away with having the pump on the back wall...the rock will block its path causing sharp flow bouncing constantly. Not exactly the rondom flow ya want. However, with a column especially, the back wall is the obvious choice cause having a giant dry side hanging in plain view sucks. Crashes are the devil. It's especially frustrating to not know what went wrong, too. The best lead I had was Fenner but I was giving the tank an awful lot of TLC for a long while with limited/no result. So it goes, but I'm back! The flow is a particularly troublesome issue in columns. What I've got now is the vortech firing 'cleanly' between the two columns. The flow doesn't spread out far enough to hit the rock that quickly. However, I'm moving the whole ensemble forward a bit and it's gonna shoot that setup all to hell and I expect to need to do something else. I'm going to center the entire construction a bit more to limit deadspots in the tank and allow a more 'gyre-like' flow. It's a balance, though, because I like all the pretty white sand so I'm loath to bring it too far forward. As always, the form/function tradeoff. Honestly, the vortech isn't the greatest solution for my particular application and aquascape but I'm working with what I've got. I mentioned this in an earlier post, but I think my best bet is to suck up having the dry-side assembly on one of the sides of the tank, either similar to what I had before.... which I wasn't really loving. Or upgrade it to an MP40 so I can get the WHOLE tank moving. The 20 just really isn't up to the job of moving 30" vertically with my rock island. Honestly, the perfect spot is my top left against the back - but I have a certain HOB skimmer nested there, and I don't fancy dremeling more of my aquarium's plastic lip off to move it to the other side. Decisions.... Link to comment
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