paneubert Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 **** Big Change/Update as of 3/28 **** This thing is going from a 10G to a 15 Long. And adding a Mantis!!!!! Updates on that starting somewhere on page 2.... Also linked right below this sentence for convenience.... Where the shift happens **** End of Big Update **** Original first post below. Sooooooooooooooooooooo.... My hospital/quarantine tank was staring at me like an eyesore.....all bare bottom with only a few rocks and no color at all. Exhibit A: It currently has a female Molly who converted to salt, survived the ich epidemic of the display tank, and then started poping our babies without a male..... Then it hit me! Macro and Molly tank! Add some sand, some rock, better lighting, and MACRO!!!!! Molly and her babies will live in there until they get big, or until someone wants to buy some mollies that have been converted to salt. Then it will probably go full macro with no fish. We shall see what happens. So here it goes. On order are.... Red Gracilaria Grape Caulerpa Codium (Short) Chaeto w/Pods Red Mangroves I think I am going to ditch the HOB filter once I get the macro in there and the water clears up. Link to comment
Builder Anthony Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Ya having a qt tank is awalys good though ive never had one.The glass is so clean in that picture i didnt think there was water in it till i started reading. Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 Molly with her babies... So the plan is to make a raised section of rock/sand that will house the mangroves. I decided to make a "V" shape and to place it pretty much in the center of the tank. I found two pieces of flat rock that fit together fairly well. Ignore the two small pieces in the front of the photo... Another view... My helper And what the tank looked like after I added sand.....sand that had been rinsed 5 or 6 times..... Looks like I will not be able to see if my rock wall "V" is holding back the sand until it clears up. Link to comment
Chyendra Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Is that a Tibetan Spaniel?? Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 Is that a Tibetan Spaniel?? Wow. That is one I have not heard yet! Maybe?!? It is a good question. All we know is that his mom is a light colored Beagle. The people we got him from were sort of shifty.....their claim was that his father is a Yorkie.....right..... He has a really fuzzy neck and fuzzy "pants". People so far have said things like Corgi, Shiba Inu, some sort of Lab, Chihuahua. But I will have to add Tibetan Spaniel to the list. We might DNA test him for Christmas or something. Link to comment
Builder Anthony Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Orange mollys orange dog ......i see orange coals coming haha. Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 Orange mollys orange dog ......i see orange coals coming haha. Hahaha. I am going to resist the urge to put any corals in there. Maybe some Xenia if I want to go wild Link to comment
Chyendra Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Yeah, I can see the beagle in his face now that you say that. Maybe, beagle/pekingese or beagle/king charles spanial. Cute dog Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 Yeah, I can see the beagle in his face now that you say that. Maybe, beagle/pekingese or beagle/king charles spanial. Cute dog Thanks! As for this tank......learned a pretty obvious lesson tonight. Sand will find a way through any cracks you may have in a rock wall Luckily I have something like 5 pounds of rubble from my last Bulk Reef Supply order. So after the water cleared a little bit I tried to shore up any cracks with rubble from behind the wall. I figure sand will eventually fill those cracks between the rubble pieces and will somewhat hold back any major flow. I figure since there will not be any fish that sift or move things, I will be able to find a balance. Maybe my macro will actually help me out by filling in the gaps or holding things together. It is off to bed for the night. I will be excited to see what the morning looks like. Hopefully clear enough for me to see any major sand leak locations. Whether I am able to stop them is what is worrying me.... Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 Some teaser shots.....so sexy! Hahahaha....not. Sand is sloping up from front to back. I do not think it is because the rock is leaking sand though. I think I overfilled the back section when it was clouded last night and it simply spilled over the front. I will see what happens after work when I scoop some of the sand away from the base of the rock structure. Looking front on... Looking top down... Looking really top down Right side view..... My other tank, just to show that I somewhat, sort of, maybe, possibly, kind of know what I am doing here.... P.S. That obvious sand leak on the left side is actually not that bad. I will shore it up a bit more with rubble, but even as of now it does not pour sand out even when I mess with it. I was surprised. Link to comment
sogreedy23 Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Meh, still don't think you know what you're doing, I mean your tank is ALRIGHT This whole idea sounds pretty cool, I've always wondered why I don't see more salt tanks take the unusual Molly twist..it's damn interesting to me though. If this tank comes out anything at all to your 40breader it'll be more beautiful art. Definitely following this bad boy! Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 Meh, still don't think you know what you're doing, I mean your tank is ALRIGHT This whole idea sounds pretty cool, I've always wondered why I don't see more salt tanks take the unusual Molly twist..it's damn interesting to me though. If this tank comes out anything at all to your 40breader it'll be more beautiful art. Definitely following this bad boy! Thanks! I am 50/50 when it comes to how I feel about mollies/platies/guppies in saltwater. One one hand I think it is a fun idea and it does provide something "different" to experience. They also breed like crazy and if it were a display tank with lots of coral, I am sure the babies would be eaten by some of the more hungry corals. But on the other hand there are some people who claim that saltwater will shorten the life span just because the fish have to work overtime to osmo-regulate the salt out of their bodies. I also do not think I would want to risk a big display tank being swarmed with dozens of Mollies if the babies make it to adulthood. That is why these guys will stay in the macro tank and nature can take its course. I am very remotely contemplating getting a mantis shrimp down the road. But I am sure a mantis would destroy my structure and kill my raised mangrove area. If it ever does happen, I am sure the mantis would take care of the Mollies for me..... Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 24, 2011 Author Share Posted March 24, 2011 Tank cleared up a bit. I decided to put the fish back in the tank since it seemed like they would do better in the slightly cloudy tank as opposed to the Brita Pitcher they had lived in overnight. Lights are temporary until I figure out what the hell happened to my FishNeedIt 24 inch, 2 tube T-5. It worked fine on my old tank......but now will not fire up From a distance... Closer..... Clooooooooooooooser.... Really close... Top Down... Sort of from the left side. Meant to show how much of a ridge I left that pokes above the raised sand level.... Ohh......and my macros shipped today So this tank will have some color soon! Link to comment
jtgordon20 Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 I had a problem once with my Fishneedit fixture not firing up 2 bulbs in mine. I called them and found the problem. What I did was open up the ballast with a screwdriver, Than I got a flathead and tightened up the screws inside on the white boxes that connect the wires, I also wiggled the wires to straighten up the point where they connect to the white boxes. Hope that helps. Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 24, 2011 Author Share Posted March 24, 2011 Thanks! I am sure something is loose in there. I already had repaired it once a while back when a wire totally broke free inside the switch. Luckily I know how to solder....maybe that came loose again. Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 24, 2011 Author Share Posted March 24, 2011 Another detail..... I fed the fish a good amount of flake food tonight to get the levels to jump a bit. I also dumped a little skimmer juice from the 40B in the tank. Also added a few ml of "Nite Out II". I will add a few ml of that every day for the next few days. So the tank should be seeding/building bacteria well. These Mollies seem to be bulletproof, so I am not concerned at all. Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 24, 2011 Author Share Posted March 24, 2011 The babies are schooling a lot more than they did in the plain old bare bottom tank... Some are hard to see. There are about 10-12 in there... Link to comment
iAquanaut Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 The rock scape looks awsome! Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 24, 2011 Author Share Posted March 24, 2011 Thanks! I am not sure how it will look when all is final. The large raised area will obviously stay to hold the sand back for the mangroves, but all the little pieces of rock on the sand will probably move around. I am just throwing them in there on the bottom to seed with bacteria for a while. I figure I will probably either put more rubble up with the mangroves, or use cheato up there. From what I read, cheato can actually be found in among mangrove roots in nature. The rock wall is pretty vertical on the right side, but there is a nice slope on the left. So I think I can get some cool macro glued and growing up the left slope. The right might me more tricky.....we will see! And to think.....I do not even have any macros in there yet Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 25, 2011 Author Share Posted March 25, 2011 Lets talk about Microbe-Lift Special-Blend for a minute......this is going to be cross posted to both my build threads due to the severity of the smell. Ohhh my freaking God! I have smelled some bad things in my time. 1. Lived in university housing for 7 years. 5 of those were in an all Male building. 2. Stuck my nose in a dead turbo shell after it had been dead for a few days in the tank. 3. I have a dog that likes to poop in his kennel and then let it marinade all day.... But I have NEVER smelled anything as bad as Special-Blend. NEVER. I had to rinse my syringe in boiling water 5 times and I can still smell it on the plastic. The only good thing is that is seems you only dose it every 2 weeks. I might not even dose ever again due to this smell. Someone along the line told me that "Special-Blend" and "Nite Out II" were essentially the same product. I will guarantee they are not..... "Nite Out II" is clear, smells like nothing, and is refrigerated. "Special-Blend" does not seem to need refrigeration, has a nasty film that grows on the inside of the bottle, and SMELLS LIKE DEATH!!!!! Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 Macros are in! The codium was not in the box That was the one I was looking forward to. But I am sure I will get store credit or something. I am not sure how I thought my order would fill the tank in like a lush forest, because it totally does not. I will have to look into what other macros will fit nicely in there. I do not want to just have a tank full of Grape Caulerpa or something. I had an amphipod attack my hand while I was trying to glue down the frags. Freaked my shiz out! Hahaha. He was trying to burrow into my hand and I could totally feel it. I flung him in the tank. Maybe he will rule over all others Anyway....here are some photos. I still need to work out how I want to do the lighting. Ohh......another thing. Yes the tank is slanted The wire rack it is sitting on is bowing.... Link to comment
kgoldy Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 How did you convert the mollies to SW? I was thinking of adding some as a food source for my reef. Link to comment
doppelganger Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 I had an amphipod attack my hand while I was trying to glue down the frags. Freaked my shiz out! Hahaha. He was trying to burrow into my hand and I could totally feel it. I flung him in the tank. Maybe he will rule over all others Lol awesome Tank's looking great! Link to comment
paneubert Posted March 26, 2011 Author Share Posted March 26, 2011 How did you convert the mollies to SW? I was thinking of adding some as a food source for my reef. Just a slow drip. I saw that you dripped your Sea hares with some tubing. So that should work for the mollies as well. I have a friend who literally tossed some in a tank and they made it. So it seems like they "can" make it even when tossed right in. Lol awesomeTank's looking great! Thanks. I need to let things settle in and then see if anything needs to be rearranged. For now I pretty much just separated the varieties of algae so I can see how they respond. I think the raised mangrove area might be getting a layer of chaeto once my little ball grows a bit. Link to comment
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