eksblenny Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 UPDATE FOR JUNE 4/2012 http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii165/e...ce/IMG_6033.jpg Link to comment
Squared Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 OMG so CLEAN and NEW and SHINY and I LIKE!!!! Link to comment
d'Espresso Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 yeah.. it's bout time u got it going again.. looks clean! Link to comment
Rehype Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Looks awesome blenny. Im really glad you decided to add sand this time round. Be sure to keep an eye on your params as your tank will still likely have some spikes during your cycle because of that marco rock.. Link to comment
Deleted User 4 Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Nice, Nice rockscape and tank/stand. Very awesome, can't wait. The tank looks really thin glass. Cool . Link to comment
eksblenny Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 I broke down my old tank with the intention to upgrade to a larger 50g but in the end I decided to stick with this tank. That is ok because it gave me a chance to make the tank better than before. All my corals are being held by a friend of mine and fortunately they are doing very well. Empty tank: Turned the stand around 180 degrees and slapped a door on with some modifications: You can also see above I am using dry rock again... this time Marco Key Largo rock. I am re-using all my old equipment except I upgraded to a 6-bulb 24" ATI Sunpower. Before I added water, I pre-drilled holes in the rock for future frag plug placement, just in case. Here is a photo of one such rock. Note that I removed the frag plugs for now. Here are some photos I took in the evening with just ATI Blue Plus/Fiji Purple bulbs. My other bulbs have not arrived yet but when they do I will take better daytime photos. This is just prior to filling the tank with water. I started the cycling process a while ago. Seeded with a piece of live rock and some live sand. Notice I have sand now. I left the starboard underneath because (1) it was very hard to remove (2) it protects the glass from any rockwork falling and (3) there were a ton of stars and worms living along the edge.The clownfish was added just a few days ago. I am worried it is a bit premature but if he shows any signs of stress I will remove him. Link to comment
Fail_sh3d Posted July 12, 2011 Share Posted July 12, 2011 Nice and clean. Can I ask where you got the squared tubing for your light rails? Link to comment
eksblenny Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 Well it's been 1.5 months and within the past few weeks I have started stocking some of my older items. Yes I am impatient and I should be doing this a bit later and I hope I don't regret it. Most of the corals here have been in the tank now for about a week. So far they are doing well. The readings are zero across the board, however, I am getting a decent amount of diatoms. Waiting for that phase to pass. Currently running all of my filtration and water changing 4 gallons every week. Link to comment
zoso7588 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Really love the clean look of your tank and the great rock work. I'm in the process of getting back into the hobby with a similar tank (24x18x20) and I'm wondering how you're liking the flow with the two vortechs. Right now I'm using one MP10 on the side of the tank and a return nozzle (relatively low flow ~200 gph) in the opposite corner. Do you find the 2 pumps allow you to have higher flow throughout the tank without having to blast just one side of the tank? What speed and pattern do you have them set to? Are you trying to optimize it for SPS at the top and lower flow near the sand bed? Link to comment
eksblenny Posted August 17, 2011 Author Share Posted August 17, 2011 Well right now I am running them both at absolute minimum lol. I think the most ideal setting is both at 50% in reef crest mode. It gets all corners of the tanks but does not disturb the sandbed (I use Caribsea Reef Select). However, I have many LPS and softies on the bottom and they do not like the higher flow as much. So I've been experimenting with lowering the flow. At bare minimum it still seems adequate. Looks beautiful blenny! I appreciate Rehype, and congrats on your TOTM win! Can I ask where you got the squared tubing for your light rails? I actually bought it from someone on Craigslist... it came with the tank/stand. Link to comment
Fail_sh3d Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 I actually bought it from someone on Craigslist... it came with the tank/stand. Thank you. I for one am in for this build. Looking very good. Link to comment
kriskristofferzen Posted August 18, 2011 Share Posted August 18, 2011 wow, very nice! i like your stand, nice job. i was looking at this tank for an upgrade a few months down the line....is that a gl@ssholes overflow box? if so, do you have pics of a sump, i briefly read your comments and was looking at them purty pictures. this is going to be a nice lookin tank. Link to comment
cruzH20polo Posted August 19, 2011 Share Posted August 19, 2011 wow your tank is amazing!!! that scape looks epic great job Link to comment
eksblenny Posted September 3, 2011 Author Share Posted September 3, 2011 New updates! My tank is now over 2 months in, yeah still early. The diatoms are almost all gone. I'm getting lots of little coraline spots all over the rock which is a good sign. I added a few more items from my previous tank build. I also purchased a new scoly... my green one was huge (12") and although I could fit it, I wanted to start with a smaller one and let it grow to that size. I also added a few more zoas. The SPS seem like they are doing OK but I have not seen too much change from them... I guess they are still settling in. I put the elegance on an elevated rock structure because it was attacking my snails. So far zero losses for coral and I am very happy about that. Link to comment
Rehype Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 Incredible pics blenny.... Link to comment
d'Espresso Posted September 4, 2011 Share Posted September 4, 2011 Incredible pics blenny.... *1 Link to comment
eksblenny Posted September 4, 2011 Author Share Posted September 4, 2011 Thanks guys I appreciate it. I think it helps that I was able to figure out how to get a decent white balance despite my very purple light setup. Link to comment
eksblenny Posted September 5, 2011 Author Share Posted September 5, 2011 I decided to plumb a very small frag tank to the main tank. Link to comment
Twilton Posted September 5, 2011 Share Posted September 5, 2011 Real nice tanks mate. Proper sleek and clean looking Link to comment
eksblenny Posted September 18, 2011 Author Share Posted September 18, 2011 New pic, unfortunately it came out a bit darker =( The corals are generally doing well except color-wise. The larger LPS on the sandbed bleached from the T5s and they are very very slowly regaining their color. Most of the SPS I got were brown or pale when I received them and they have not started coloring up yet. Hopefully I can start seeing some improvement soon! I've had this clam for 3 years now. I've had this (bleached) elegance for close to 2 years now. It's a frag from a 22yr old mother colony. Link to comment
eksblenny Posted September 22, 2011 Author Share Posted September 22, 2011 I found a thread where someone kept a photo log of some chalices, in which he shot photos of the same coral every month documenting its growth. I would really like to try to do the same with my corals. With that said, here is my first set of coral frag shots. They have been in my tank for about a month with minimal signs of growth. Link to comment
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