Banjo's Biocube 29

[irogers]

love that midas. what lfs do you go to? Im in naples for a couple weeks and would like to check out a quality shop.

[Banjo]

Thank you!

 

Yeah, I spend so much time striving for a clean tank. Hopefully it shows.

 

The NEP is a great fixture. The only complaint I have about it is that UVL STILL hasn't released their new 18" bulbs yet. The color combination will be awesome once they are. Otherwise a quality fixture. My evaporation is awful due to me living in Florida and running open top. It would go down drastically if I put a piece of glass or acrylic as a lid, but then I'm worried about heat.

 

irogers, the LFS that I go to owns three shops in Fort Myers / Cape Coral. It's a decent store chain, the best around this area, but I've seen better. I've never been to any in Naples, so you may want to take a look around there first. By the way, gorgeous city if you've never been!

 

Their website is: http://www.areefcenter.com/

[irogers]

thanks for the tip, i'll check it out. I went to fish central in naples last time i was down here but some of the livestock didn't look to healthy.

[evokid511]

thanks for the helpful hints about going rimless, got bored last night and decided to tackle it!only got the rim off and a little silicone gone but it already looks 1000x better! cant wait to get the rest of the silicone off its a pita so far though

[drummersreef]

The NEP is a great fixture. The only complaint I have about it is that UVL STILL hasn't released their new 18" bulbs yet. The color combination will be awesome once they are. Otherwise a quality fixture. My evaporation is awful due to me living in Florida and running open top. It would go down drastically if I put a piece of glass or acrylic as a lid, but then I'm worried about heat.

 

I might get one but I would probably have to get an RO unit as well to replace all the evaporated water every day. Is that what you do? I really don't know how the evaporation would be cut down either unless you did make a plexiglass lid which I would have no idea how to do. I would go open top if I had an RO unit but I'm buying water from the LFS.

[evokid511]

if you put anything over an open top it is also going to cut down the actual amount of light that is going into the tank, thats soemthing you got to think about, the evaporation with my open top 150w MH is about 3/4 gallons a day so i manually top it off in the morning when i wake up and just before i go to bed at night and never have a prob and the salinity doesnt change much to be drastic

[Banjo]

thanks for the tip, i'll check it out. I went to fish central in naples last time i was down here but some of the livestock didn't look to healthy.

 

Yeah, you'll run into the same problem with the places I just listed. Unfortunately there is only one other place that I know in Fort Myers and their selection/quality isn't even half of the one I've listed.

 

 

thanks for the helpful hints about going rimless, got bored last night and decided to tackle it!only got the rim off and a little silicone gone but it already looks 1000x better! cant wait to get the rest of the silicone off its a pita so far though

 

Awesome! Yeah, it's definitely worth doing. It makes the tank look soooooo much better. Night and day difference. It took me like an hour or two to get off all the silicone. Definite PITA.

 

 

I might get one but I would probably have to get an RO unit as well to replace all the evaporated water every day. Is that what you do? I really don't know how the evaporation would be cut down either unless you did make a plexiglass lid which I would have no idea how to do. I would go open top if I had an RO unit but I'm buying water from the LFS.

 

Yeah, I bought an RO/DI unit. I go through a ton of water for a 29g, so buying from the LFS wouldn't be very economical to say the least. Tbh, if I could do it all again, I'd probably have went with a 150w Sunpod and ran a Radium 20K. This is mainly due to the lack of bulbs for a 20" fixture and UVL pushing them back month after month. My evaporation probably wouldn't be much worse with the MH fixture.

 

 

if you put anything over an open top it is also going to cut down the actual amount of light that is going into the tank, thats soemthing you got to think about, the evaporation with my open top 150w MH is about 3/4 gallons a day so i manually top it off in the morning when i wake up and just before i go to bed at night and never have a prob and the salinity doesnt change much to be drastic

 

Yep, same thing I do.

[irogers]

your bubble coral has inspired me to find one for myself

[Banjo]

your bubble coral has inspired me to find one for myself

 

I love them I'm surprised they aren't more popular than they are.

[jarred1]

your tank looks great!!!

[Banjo]

your tank looks great!!!

 

Thank you!!!

[Banjo]

Hmm... so...

 

Chalk Basslet

 

vs

 

Blue Assessor ($$$ might be a factor prohibiting this one)

 

vs

 

Cherub or Flame Angel

 

vs

 

Flame Hawkfish

 

If you can't tell, I want a blue or red fish. Opinions gogo.

[Banjo]

Just ordered a lot of stuff from Dr. F&S, including an AquaticLife 115 Protein Skimmer. After it arrives, I'm dismantling the fuge as I can no longer stand having chaeto sucked into the pump, floating in the display, etc.

 

I also just got a Derasa Clam that I will soon take pictures of as well.

[streetsong]

I would go for the flame hawkfish- I'm a fan! They are just fun to watch.

[Banjo]

I ordered new bulbs for the NEP 20". They finally arrived!!!

 

4x UVL 454s

2x UVL Indigo Suns

1x UVL Actinic White

 

Gonna play around with the color combos to see what I like best. I also already removed the Fuge and Chaeto and installed the AquaticLife 115 in chamber 1. Unfortunately, my girlfriend stole my camera for two weeks while on vacation with her parents, so no new pictures until she comes back.

 

Too bad because everything looks better than ever today.

[evokid511]

I ordered new bulbs for the NEP 20". They finally arrived!!!

 

4x UVL 454s

2x UVL Indigo Suns

1x UVL Actinic White

 

Gonna play around with the color combos to see what I like best. I also already removed the Fuge and Chaeto and installed the AquaticLife 115 in chamber 1. Unfortunately, my girlfriend stole my camera for two weeks while on vacation with her parents, so no new pictures until she comes back.

 

Too bad because everything looks better than ever today.

 

 

why did you remove the fuge and chaeto if you installed the skimmer in chamber 1? curious cuz i have a aquatic life 115 coming soon but i was gonna run both?

[Banjo]

I removed the chaeto because I could no longer stand random small pieces getting sucked into my pump in chamber 3 or being pushed out into the display. Got really irritating unplugging my pump every other day. It was the main reason I bought the skimmer.

 

Plus, how much does the small amount of chaeto actually help in chamber 2? I'd imagine it doesn't make that much of a difference.

 

And as far as the skimmer placement in chamber 1, I'd much rather have it in chamber 2, but the fluctuating water level would probably make it pointless.

[ajmckay]

What are you talking about bad pictures? Those pictures rock! The tank itself rocks too! I really like the simplistic rock scape as well as your choice of fish. All of your corals seem to be doing well also.

 

Great tank! Good luck with it.

[Banjo]

What are you talking about bad pictures? Those pictures rock! The tank itself rocks too! I really like the simplistic rock scape as well as your choice of fish. All of your corals seem to be doing well also.

 

Great tank! Good luck with it.

 

Haha, thank you

[InLimbo87]

So, what's the verdict on the UVL bulbs? I had been eyeing that T5 fixture as well, but the lack of bulb selection was my reason for going Sunpod.

[Banjo]

Errrr, when I meant they finally arrived, I meant they arrived at Nanotuners. Hopefully they get to me within the next week. I worded my first statement confusingly.

[Banjo]

Borrowed a camera from a buddy and took a bunch of pictures of everything. Lots to update in the below posts.

 

Over the past couple weeks, I have received:

 

Corals:

 

Red/Green Trachyphyllia Geoffroyi

ORA Green Birdsnest

True Tyree War Coral Frag

 

Inverts:

 

Green/Purple Maxi Mini Anemone

Derasa Clam

Orange Teardrop Maxima Clam

 

FTS June 27th, 2010:

 

 

 

 

 

Picture of my gorgeous Trachy that I received from Fraggle Reef

 

 

 

 

ORA Green Birdnest

 

 

 

Here's another picture of my ridiculously growing Duncans

 

 

 

 

Purple/Green Maxi Mini Anemone

 

 

 

 

My Derasa and Orange Teardrop Maxima

 

[Banjo]

Also, some bad news. I had to end up getting rid of my Midas Blenny as he developed a taste for....... clam mantle. At least he went into my brother's aquarium for now.

 

Sigh.

[ambowlin]

GREAT tank!

Your clams look very nice!--and that bubble coral--wow!

GREAT job!

[Clavius85]

Awesome tank! That bubble coral is crazy. And I've never seen duncans of that color before. Nice work.