qwuintus Posted February 1, 2011 Author Share Posted February 1, 2011 Yeah! I will have more design options for my 190 Discus tank using this method which will allow me to clip 3 par38s at different angles and not in a boring straight line. Jesus christ... April 03 join date... What a lurker I've been haha Link to comment
qwuintus Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 A couple updates and questions. Check out these corals waking up! This guy is pretty big. Need help IDing this yellow coral. I will keep this one Another shot of the yellow ricordea I will keep as well Not sure with this thing is- dangerous? Couple work lights for my stand, conduit bender, and base plate for my discus stand. I also put together a very solid mounting solution to get over the lip on the Solana stand. If anyone lives in/around Cerritos, CA you should check out Prescott hardware. They are a small family owned place that is extremely helpful and organized. All the pvc parts and hardware are stacked and lined up! I'm not sure how prices are but it is good to support local stores that still have personalities and are actually there to lend you a hand. Link to comment
qwuintus Posted February 3, 2011 Author Share Posted February 3, 2011 Anyone care to help ID some of the corals or lmk what that black stuff is in the DSB? Link to comment
feixjai Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 The yellow corals are yellow polyps, Parazoanthus gracilis. As for the black stuff, it may be algae. Im not too sure. Your tank is coming along nicely. Cant wait to see it fully stocked! Link to comment
qwuintus Posted February 5, 2011 Author Share Posted February 5, 2011 Few updates: My good buddy Mike came over and helped me frag everything. Unfortunately I totally forgot about the yellow star polyp so they are MIA Gone but not forgotten... I hope it turns up. We were able to create about 60 green ricordea frags. Some are still on the big rock and some we doubled up as they were small. We also left the eagle eyes on large rock but probably can split them up more. I'll leave it alone for now. While we were doing out thing I had to quickly run to get egg crate but spotted some unused wet/dry caps that fit perfectly! Saved time there I will probably give some away and sell some. I just want them to recover as they are stressed out from the long day. About 50lbs of LR for sale... $2/lb small green yuma ricordea still on a lot of them. I was going to setup my ecoray but I got a good deal on new LED lights so I'll be using Aqua Illumination with their controller on my tank. Will pick up next week! Can't wait. It might be overkill since I'm not going with any hard corals but the growth/deal is too good to pass. I will get a clam though Here's my temp light setup that came in. Current tank pic. I managed to create the 2 level look and am happy with it. The space in the back right corner will be the clams home. Picture doesn't capture the depth though I tried. I was going with Pulsating Xenia as the main center piece- kind of like a large bonsai hanging off a cliff but the color is just too dull for me. I don't want a boring pastel color palette so I think I might switch to red/fire colors. I also took out the cardinal and the clown. The other fish is still in the tank as I like it, but I may change my mind later depending on how well the colors worth together but it's always hiding anyway. Original: Ideation: Here's some inspiration if I decide to focus the first read on the red anemone. Productive but long day... Tired. Long day tomorrow too... ahhhhh I hope to get some feed back now that I'm in the planning stages for coral. Thanks for looking. Link to comment
qwuintus Posted February 9, 2011 Author Share Posted February 9, 2011 Extremely late update: I met some local and somewhat local So Cal reefers who gave me a lot of advice. I am going to need to be even more patient after seeing their awesome setups. After looking around more I will definitely have to rethink the corals I want to stock but I have time as I want to be absolutely sure my tank is ready. I think I will try to simplify things for now and go with cheato. I will however use the Sapphire skimmer that I found and got a great deal on from a member of this forum. Anywho, I know I will be able to grow whatever I decide to toss in my tank when I am ready with this bad boy. Tomorrow I will look into ideas how to mount this thing. I am happy that is weights so little. Good night Link to comment
qwuintus Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Very nice! Did that package get to you? Got it last week! Thanks man Link to comment
Alkomist Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 wow....are you selling all that in th bio cube? sorry if it was mention earlier in the thread...its late and i dont really want to read all that much Link to comment
qwuintus Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Yeah, I'll be selling them but I haven't listed anything yet. I am thinking of keeping some as the more I look at them the cooler I actually think they are. I should take a picture of the biocube tomorrow as they look a lot better than that last picture now. Link to comment
dhraakoxr Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Updates Loving the open look! Can't wait to see it established and stocked! Link to comment
qwuintus Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Thanks guys Traffic has me waiting for my baby during V Day so I'm online with you guys haha. <3 Bmw's I have an E36 M3. What's that in your avatar? Link to comment
qwuintus Posted February 19, 2011 Author Share Posted February 19, 2011 Got some new critters for the tank. Acclimatized to the tank by introducing small amounts of water every 15 min for about 45 minutes. I'm testing out 2 skimmers I have- a sapphire nc28 and the stock Solana skimmer. Testing a Sapphire nc28 w/ rio600 vs stock skimmer. Here's what I have after 2 days. Stock- as you can see... Nada for 2 days lol Sapphire- Day 1 looked promising, but Day 2 was full of water- Hmmm wth?? Just for fun I also picked up some land corals aka cacti and succulents. And a new tank for my betta fishes. Link to comment
d'Espresso Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 dude you look like your going in a good direction. wow i love those yuma u got. are u gonna frag some for me? lol I like how you custom your light stand! everything is looking great! Link to comment
ajmckay Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 Nice tank Q! I really like the scape. Wow, you've been a lurker for quite a while I see... I was originally planning on using conduit, but while I was pricing out conduit benders, I discovered I could just build one out of copper, which suits my room well and I enjoy the looks of. The bent conduit looks really nice and "flowing", but without the bender you're stuck with the ugly grey 90 degree bends, which can be pretty expensive too! That AI unit is pretty light considering the heat sink and such... I also decided to use a full-length bar so that later on I can clamp on some PAR38's to enjoy the dramatic spotlight look. Also, how are you using such text on your images? I suppose you're using a tablet of some sort? I've been looking into them somewhat... What model do you have? Looks like you just need to adjust your skimmer. Try moving the o-ring down, raising the cup out of the water a little bit. You can also try messing with the air intake. It may take some time to get adjusted right, maybe there's a thread on here with some better tips as I've never had that skimmer (though I did run a seaclone, so if anyone knows about adjusting a skimmer, I do...). Finally, the dark areas are anoxic regions in your sand bed. It's important that you don't disturb them or you could release hydrogen-sulfide gas. It basically means that the nutrients/organics being created in your tank are being deposited into the sand. Eventually these areas are "stirred up" by the fauna in your sand bed, the little worms, mollusks, crustaceans, etc... If you're interested, I would suggest reading Bitts' sand bed primer. Lots of info though so grab a drink and spend an hour or so reading it. Link to comment
qwuintus Posted February 19, 2011 Author Share Posted February 19, 2011 Hey thanks for the thorough reply. Yeah, I've been a member for a while as I've always had a love for the hobby. I just now have time and resources to take on what I want to do. I bought the conduit bender at a small local stock for around $25. I figure in this hobby you have to pay- sometimes. The price isn't that bad and I can use it later. However you can probably buy and return one at home depot or larger chain stores if you choose. Conduit piping was only $2 each. I used 2 since I wasn't happy with the first one. Copper looks good too, but if you need some custom bends you may be out of luck. I'm using Photoshop CS4 + Wacom Intuos 3 Medium Tablet. I will tinker with the skimmer but right now the o-ring is about 3/4" from the bottom giving almost maximum height. The air valve is maxed out as well. I will play with the settings and see what happens. Crossing fingers :/ I'll take a look at that article. Thanks again for looking. Link to comment
qwuintus Posted February 19, 2011 Author Share Posted February 19, 2011 2 Assorted Hermits* 4 Nerite Snails (Small - Medium) 6 Zig Zag Periwinkles 1 1 Penny Macro Algae 3 5 Red Mangroves 1 Codium (Tall) 1 Scroll Algae 1 Barnacle Clusters (Small) 4 Blue Leg Hermit Crab* (Nice Sizes) 15 Nassarius Vibex 30 Dwarf Cerith 10 Florida Cerith Shipping was a eh... but yesterday I paid 2.99 for 2 Nassrarius at the LFS and I did save $10 instead of selecting a pre-made clean up crew. I'm excited to introduce these critters Link to comment
qwuintus Posted February 20, 2011 Author Share Posted February 20, 2011 Got a bit of some algae bloom. I hope my CUC resolves this. I also velco'd my AI controller and Digi Temp to the stand today. Link to comment
bioload Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Got a bit of some algae bloom. I hope my CUC resolves this. I also velco'd my AI controller and Digi Temp to the stand today. Looking good. I used velcro to attach my RKL to my stand.....works great. Link to comment
qwuintus Posted February 21, 2011 Author Share Posted February 21, 2011 Pictures from last night: Link to comment
qwuintus Posted February 26, 2011 Author Share Posted February 26, 2011 No real updates on the tank. I ordered a ton of snails and some algae but no show today. It's raining heavy in LA. If you are reading this, I could use your help with a vote for a blog contest I entered. Please check out the link and give me a vote at the bottom of the page. Thanks! http://endrasbmw.com/ultimateblogger/fluiddesign Link to comment
qwuintus Posted March 1, 2011 Author Share Posted March 1, 2011 I'm found this holder at OSH and will be attaching the suction cups to it. I will be using this to house the 15 mangroves I have in the display. I received this algae and it started to turn completely white! Does anyone know what gives? I went back to reefcleaners where I got these additions and apparently the stronger the lighting the faster it grows but less red is displayed. I was also supposed to get scroll algae instead of this but I like it Gracilaria waves within the water, and should be kept in an area with good circulation for best results. This particular macro does not have strong lighting needs. However, the stronger the lighting the lighter the red, and the less lighting the deeper the red. Gracilaria will grow faster in stronger lighting. The risk of respiration and ph disturbance is very low with this species. However, you should always diligently monitor your tank. This particular algae looks great when attached to the side of liverock. If used as a food for tangs and other herbivorous fish, it should be placed in a refugium. Cuttings should then be made and given to the fish as a treat. Snail working on some algae. Everyday they take a little more off. I love staring at all the little critters in the tank! Couple of pictures of the new scape since adding in a few more things. I am eyeing a black clarkii clown, goby, scallop, and oyster at the LFS. I will need to read up on their care before I buy. Hopefully I will have some more additions this week Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.