Mr. Microscope Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 Madness, I think I need to start another tank. How hard was it to make a sump? I was thinking about trying to build one for my next aquarium. That depends on if you have a newborn to take care of. LOL It's not too bad though. Whip something up in google sketchup, get some glass cut, silicone everything in place. Way easier than figuring out an LED build. Are you still incorporating those fiberglass rods? Oh yeah! I'm very happy with their strength. Seems a lot better than acrylic. The rock pillar is built and will be the main focus of the DT. Quote Link to comment
nolongerusing Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 cant wait to see your livestock in there!! Quote Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 FTS 2012.02.28 All the plumbing seals held during the test last week. So, over the weekend I positioned the rock pillar and added sand. Then, I filled up the tank with salt water. The dust finally cleared last night and I added some live rock this morning from my frag tank to seed the dry stuff and get everything going. I'm considering today the first official day of reef life in my new cube. I can't believe it's finally happening. I feel like celebrating! Whoopie!!! 1 Quote Link to comment
cje0114 Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 (edited) Looks good so far! My 25g cube has been running for a month now. It's a nice size tank. Your sump looks kind of small though. Can it handle the extra water ok when the return pump is off? I played around with the idea of using the same tank as a sump on mine but in the end decided to just build my stand wider to accommodate a regular sump.. http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o607/c...pg?t=1330550913 Edited February 29, 2012 by cje0114 Quote Link to comment
rO.oster Posted March 3, 2012 Share Posted March 3, 2012 VERY eloquent build. I really would like to see your LED's on, the color combination is exactly what I want to choose. I really like your pillar design, aesthetically pleasing and unique. Congrats on your new son!!!! What a joy, new tank, new son!!! I am really happy to see you progress, I will be watching in the future. Enjoy your cycle! Quote Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted March 5, 2012 Author Share Posted March 5, 2012 Looks good so far! My 25g cube has been running for a month now. It's a nice size tank. Your sump looks kind of small though. Can it handle the extra water ok when the return pump is off? I played around with the idea of using the same tank as a sump on mine but in the end decided to just build my stand wider to accommodate a regular sump.. http://i1150.photobucket.com/albums/o607/c...pg?t=1330550913 Thanks cj! Yeah, it can handle about 3 extra gallons. I agree it's tight and I wish I had a bigger sump for more volume. This is just what would fit under there. I'm thinking I'll get something the same size but taller in the future. VERY eloquent build. I really would like to see your LED's on, the color combination is exactly what I want to choose. I really like your pillar design, aesthetically pleasing and unique. Congrats on your new son!!!! What a joy, new tank, new son!!! I am really happy to see you progress, I will be watching in the future. Enjoy your cycle! Thanks reeferRudy! I'll be adding an update today that will include info on my LED's. Quote Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted March 6, 2012 Author Share Posted March 6, 2012 Update 2012.03.04 Hello All! This post is a couple days late, but here it is. I successfully transferred over all the coral and live rock from my frag tank into my cube. It's an utter mess right now with frags everywhere, but I'm starting to clean it up. Here's a FTS and side view. The tank is actually viewable from three sides, but these images give the basic idea. The contrast between the white rock and black background was messing with my camera. Also, the blue LEDs were really pushing the detector to the edge. Once the rock pillar colors up and takes on a well established bacteria colony, I'll begin to remove some of the excess live rock that was added from my frag tank. A note on the LED's: The setup is about 9 inches about the water and even with all the overhangs I have from the rock pillar I am seeing ZERO COLOR SHADOWING! Woohoo! Here are some SPS frags that I'm growing out to be placed on the top of the rock pillar. The hermit crabs are hamming it up. As for the clowns, they immediately established territory in the little cave right behind the clam. This is awesome because this location is dead center in the front of the tank (I was afraid they'd choose some stupid area in the back.). So, I see them all the time. They're actually starting to show signs that they are trying to host the clam. I'm not so sure I like that. I'll be getting a torch soon. So, hopefully they will realize that that is a bit better. Here's a close-up of the centerpiece of my SPS garden so far. It's a Palmer's Blue Millepora. Thanks poidog! I'm also really excited about this minty looking milli. Hopefully, it will be ready to add soon. That's it for now. Mr. M out! Quote Link to comment
rO.oster Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 looking great! Is this with only blues on??? I think your camera needs some tuning, as the coloration didnt come out as I expected. But I am sure its just due to the camera / contrast. adjust yoru white balance!! Your prize milli is sweeet! I'll keep watching, glad to hear about the sans color shadowing. Quote Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted March 6, 2012 Author Share Posted March 6, 2012 looking great! Is this with only blues on??? I think your camera needs some tuning, as the coloration didnt come out as I expected. But I am sure its just due to the camera / contrast. adjust yoru white balance!! Your prize milli is sweeet! I'll keep watching, glad to hear about the sans color shadowing. Thanks rR! No, it's got both blues and whites on, but my camera is just an iPhone 3GS. So, not much I can adjust. Have to do it in photoshop. The coloration is much better/whiter in person. I'll see if I can't get a better camera for future FTS's. Quote Link to comment
Paigee Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Looks good! That blue mille is beautiful Quote Link to comment
dr3ww3rd Posted March 7, 2012 Share Posted March 7, 2012 Do you get any noise at all from the overflow? Also what kind of LED's are you using and how many? Looks amazing!! Quote Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 Looks good! That blue mille is beautiful Thanks Paigee. The pic doesn't do it justice. Do you get any noise at all from the overflow? Also what kind of LED's are you using and how many? Looks amazing!! Nope. No noise from the overflow. I'm thinking that I actually might not have enough flow to the filtration with the MJ900. 'Might have to upgrade my return pump. The MJ900 is producing some noise, but the noisiest thing is the MP10. It's aligned properly, but is a bit too loud IMO. I am, however, seeing some amazing polyp extension on my SPS. So, that's a plus. I'd really like to put it on one of the pulse modes, but I'm afraid that would be too annoying (vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom). I've been getting lots of questions about my LED's lately. Here's the setup to scale. Soldered in place. Reflection off the water of my old frag tub. While both channels are on (Blues and Whites), all LEDs are being driven at the same amperage. So, in theory I could run it without dimming. Nice! Thanks Criley! Quote Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted March 7, 2012 Author Share Posted March 7, 2012 BTW..It's official. My clowns ARE hosting my Derasa clam. D'oh! The clam seems to be getting used to it though. I just hope it doesn't close up on one of them. Video to come. Quote Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted March 8, 2012 Author Share Posted March 8, 2012 Facepalm... Here's a video of my clowns hosting the clam. They really seem to go at it more when the lights start dimming down (second part of the video). Quote Link to comment
Jacob042426 Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 Clam+ clowns= funny. Quote Link to comment
NanoTopia Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 That's one well planned out reef. You have a vision! Wish I had done a little more planning. Well done! Quote Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted March 8, 2012 Author Share Posted March 8, 2012 That's one well planned out reef. You have a vision! Wish I had done a little more planning. Well done! Thanks NanoTopia! I already have a vision in mind for my next tank (years away LOL!). I want to attempt a drop-off with a mangrove garden. Quote Link to comment
rO.oster Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 haha!! thats awesome (not so much for your clam) my clowns hosted a big feather duster I had, finally i had to fight them off of it 2 nights in a row with a big long kabob stick. maybe move the clam temporarily? silly clowns Quote Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted March 8, 2012 Author Share Posted March 8, 2012 (edited) Yeah..it's looking like I should move it. Do you think they'll leave it alone if I do or will they find it again? Are they just hosting it because it's conveniently located in front of their home? Edited March 8, 2012 by Mr. Microscope Quote Link to comment
rO.oster Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 I can only speak from my experience, but when I placed my clowns in the tank, they first hosted a dark nook in a rock similar to yours. there, they would stay side by side bobbing up and down together, sleeping while swimming at night. then I bought that feather duster, and placed him in the gravel at the base of that nook, so they eventually migrated down to it. it was crazy to watch them look like they wanted to swim INSIDE of the dusters brown tube. i tried to fight em away, but i think the duster finally had enough and shed the crown, so they finally moved up the frogspawn. it took a while though. are they new together? or just new to this tank. When will the torch be coming in? Quote Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted March 8, 2012 Author Share Posted March 8, 2012 I can only speak from my experience, but when I placed my clowns in the tank, they first hosted a dark nook in a rock similar to yours. there, they would stay side by side bobbing up and down together, sleeping while swimming at night. then I bought that feather duster, and placed him in the gravel at the base of that nook, so they eventually migrated down to it. it was crazy to watch them look like they wanted to swim INSIDE of the dusters brown tube. i tried to fight em away, but i think the duster finally had enough and shed the crown, so they finally moved up the frogspawn. it took a while though. are they new together? or just new to this tank. When will the torch be coming in? Thanks for the input. They are just new to this tank. I'm going to a swap this weekend. So, hopefully Sunday. Quote Link to comment
kidninja Posted March 8, 2012 Share Posted March 8, 2012 well what do we have here.... Quote Link to comment
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