Zo0k365 Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Hey I remember being excited about this tank when you first posted it! I'm happy to see it back up, it looks great. Link to comment
eksblenny Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 Thanks guys. A friend of mine came over and identified the green hair algae as bryopsis. No wonder my cleanup crew isn't doing a great job taking care of it. I had already started dosing Tech M and I guess I will continue doing so. I can take some close up pics of the rock, but there is lots of it everywhere. At least it is a big improvement from before I moved. Link to comment
mynd Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Absolutely a beautiful tank.. excellent job.. really.. Quick question. What made you decide on the 120 SWC over the 160? How quiet is the 120? Do you think it does a good enough job for the 24 x 18 x 18, from the pictures that tank does not look 24" wide, is it actually 18l x 18w x 24h? I am about to get my swc, but I would like to hear what you have to say about it and if you had to do it all over again would you go with the 160 instead? Thanks and good luck.. Outstanding! Link to comment
dhraakoxr Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Nope, the rock does not touch the back or sides of the tank. Every rock is connected to each other with acrylic rods. Before I put the rock in the tank I drilled a hole straight through each rock and basically inserted a skeleton of rods. If you see in the top down photo, you can see how the end of the arch is connected to the rock below with a black acrylic rod as well. FYI guys I will be moving to another place at the beginning of next month. Wish me luck with the move! In this photo you can see the rod skeleton. Wicked rock work man and awesome tank! Link to comment
eksblenny Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 What made you decide on the 120 SWC over the 160? How quiet is the 120? Do you think it does a good enough job for the 24 x 18 x 18, from the pictures that tank does not look 24" wide, is it actually 18l x 18w x 24h? If you had to do it all over again would you go with the 160 instead? I chose the SWC120 because of a. price and b. sump size. My 10-gallon sump just barely fits the SWC120 with my other components. Height wise as well, the SWC160 would have been harder to reach in and remove the skimmer cup. It does an excellent job for my tank. I can really pull out some dark and stinky skimmate. I don't think it is pushed to its limits, if I want a very black coffee colored skimmate it will take 2 weeks to completely fill up the cup. If I had the choice, I would definitely stick with the SWC120 for this size tank. I also want to mention that it is 10 billion trillion times better than my Tunze 9002 and the Elos NS100 skimmers. These are the only other two skimmers I have tried. The tank is actually 24" long, 18" wide and 18" high. Link to comment
eksblenny Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 This is my sump setup at the moment. Don't mind the mess of wires. Link to comment
mynd Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Excellent explanation.. Thanks so much. I am still wondering for my own usage if going with the 160 is the better option.. I do have the room for it. Not a problem and in the future if I decide to go with something larger I already have a decent skimmer, total water volume for my tank is going to be about 60 gallons. What is the depth of your water around the skimmer? 8 inches? I appreciate your response and thank you for your time. I know this is getting specific but if you had to put a decibel level on that skimmer when it is running what would you compare it to? Thanks again Link to comment
eksblenny Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 What is the depth of your water around the skimmer? If you had to put a decibel level on that skimmer when it is running what would you compare it to? No problem! My water depth stays at 7.5 inches. The skimmer is quiet. Standing in front of my tank, I am not able to distinguish it from the hum of my return pump, which is an Eheim 1260. However it contributes enough noise that I notice a difference when I turn the skimmer off. Note that ALL of the noise is from the vibration of the pump. After it is broken in, the bubbles make no noise and no microbubbles escape to the tank. However, it did take a while for this to happen (break in), I would say about 3-4 weeks. Link to comment
mynd Posted March 10, 2011 Share Posted March 10, 2011 No problem! My water depth stays at 7.5 inches. The skimmer is quiet. Standing in front of my tank, I am not able to distinguish it from the hum of my return pump, which is an Eheim 1260. However it contributes enough noise that I notice a difference when I turn the skimmer off. Note that ALL of the noise is from the vibration of the pump. After it is broken in, the bubbles make no noise and no microbubbles escape to the tank. However, it did take a while for this to happen (break in), I would say about 3-4 weeks. Thanks kindly for the information you provided. I will keep all this in mind, thanks! I am actually going with this pump for my closed loop http://www.ocreef.com/reeflo_snapper_hybrid_pump_3600_gph and my return pump which will split and feed my chiller as well http://www.seaquestmarine.com/Velocity_Tit..._p/sea_vtt4.htm I am using these pumps because of their high output and small footprint. Not worried about heat from velocity. I think the tank should just about be a washing machine when it is done. I will be using the conversion kit potentially to drop it down to 2400GPH and not 3600. We shall see. My holes are 2" intake and 2 1" closed loop returns, so it should be fine and flow well, not streaming do to reducers or anything.. The Best part is I have no head pressure.. In any case.. good luck and keep posting those images, we like to see that.. Link to comment
eksblenny Posted March 12, 2011 Author Share Posted March 12, 2011 New FTS for today. Not much changed, introduced a second juvenile clownfish from a local breeder, hoping that they will become a pair. In this last picture you can see the bryopsis on the bottom left: Link to comment
eksblenny Posted March 13, 2011 Author Share Posted March 13, 2011 Thanks Rehype, I appreciate it, especially from an accomplished photographer like yourself! Link to comment
Deano Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 Wow! Love your Carpets and that Donut Coral is awesome. Good luck with the algae. Always a PITA. Link to comment
eksblenny Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 Thanks Deano. The scoly seems pretty common but I like how huge it gets (the base is very very small). Yeah it always seems like once a certain type of algae goes away, another one starts up. I guess my tank still hasn't reached the established stage yet. Link to comment
fishez4alivin Posted March 14, 2011 Share Posted March 14, 2011 Great clean tank man...is this a frag of the Tyree 25 y/o Elegance from LGF in Oakland? That thing grows super fast if you feed it. Link to comment
eksblenny Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 Yes it is! I actually tried to buy his mother colony when he was selling his fish store but it was not for sale =( Link to comment
fishez4alivin Posted March 15, 2011 Share Posted March 15, 2011 Cool, yeah, he took that to keep in his home reef tank... Link to comment
eksblenny Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 Just wondering, I have been able to maintain the bryopsis at a level where I cannot readily pull much out by hand anymore. There is still plenty growing in crevices and such. It looks like the mag dosing might be working because the bryopsis is not as green as it used to be. I water change 10% once a week (siphoning out all the debris on the bottom) and run skimmer, carbon, and phosban. I am very diligent right now about feeding my fish sparingly. My question is do I need to keep pruning manually or can I just maintain my cleaning schedule? Link to comment
Rehype Posted March 16, 2011 Share Posted March 16, 2011 I would suggest to keep removing as much as you can by hand until it stops growing completely. Thats what i did while i was dosing vodka Link to comment
eksblenny Posted March 16, 2011 Author Share Posted March 16, 2011 Darn I was hoping for an excuse to stop. It is very tedious work. Link to comment
eksblenny Posted March 24, 2011 Author Share Posted March 24, 2011 I have bad luck with my fish, I had introduced a second tiny little clownfish and he jumped out =( I guess the screen is going back on the tank. Link to comment
SneekaPeek Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 what kind of lighting are you running because everything looks very purple and layed back! I like it a lot! Link to comment
Zo0k365 Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 How is the bryopsis going? I had that at one point. Honestly I've had like every coral parasite and reef pest.... Link to comment
eksblenny Posted March 25, 2011 Author Share Posted March 25, 2011 What kind of lighting are you running? I'm running 50/50 of Figi Purple and ATI Blue Plus. The pink and blue bulbs create an interesting purple color. I like it alot but some people note that it is too purple. How is the bryopsis going? I think I'm at a standstill. The bryopsis is at a level that it doesn't bother me (or no longer bothers me lol) and yet it just won't go away any more than where it is at no matter how much I prune by hand. Unfortunately I have plenty of pests as well, the most I've ever had, even though I started out with dry rock. This includes majano (although it looks pretty), bryopsis, and bubble algae (HATE this). At least I have no cyano, probably the only pest I hate more than any of the ones I have. Link to comment
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