timothymarsh Posted August 21, 2012 Author Share Posted August 21, 2012 I kind of like the natural light that the tank gets in the morning, I feel it adds some natural radiation that the LEDs don't provide. Algae shouldn't be a problem because I don't feed much and I have plenty of crabs, snails, and emeralds. The lights look really good, they just scare me hanging by a single hook in the roof. I got the fuge filled today so I'll post some pictures later of that. I wonder how many other UCF reefers are out there? Maybe 10 of us in the whole school, idk. Thanks for the support guys. Link to comment
timothymarsh Posted August 21, 2012 Author Share Posted August 21, 2012 Pictures right away! Feel free to comment and totally belittle the tank. It amuses me. Link to comment
lagunastudio Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 I like your aqua scape a lot. The largest rock with the hole in it is really cool. Link to comment
albertthiel Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 Finally got the HOB fuge up and running! With some college brainpower and the help of Home Depot 1/2" tubing I was able to mod it into a pretty good little filter. All that's left is to fill it with cheato, live rock rubble, and eventually some xenia. The army of a clean up crew that I have has totally cleaned up the tank, which I am really happy about. The LFS gave me too many emerald crabs to take home so I'm in the process of catching them until I only have one or two small ones left. Pictures should do a good job illustrating the setup but feel free to ask if you need help understanding the design. Where did you get that hang-on fuge contraption. is it really a fuge or something you modded to make it into one ? Link to comment
timothymarsh Posted August 25, 2012 Author Share Posted August 25, 2012 @ lagunastudio- thanks for the support. I love that rock in the middle, its so cool to sit and watch the clownfish swim back and forth through it. I also get a cool beam of light that comes shining through it in the mornings. @albertthiel- the HOB fuge contraption is made by finnex. They originally sell it with an air tube driven system, but I went with the option that has a small powerhead. I had to modify it for the tank because I wanted the powerhead in the fuge and not in the tank. Overall its working great and the light that comes with it is really growing the cheato quickly. I'll post some pictures today or tomorrow of a clear FTS, as well as cheato growth pictures. Thanks for looking. Link to comment
dormreefer Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 @dormreefer I'd be up for a reef club! I'm totally new on campus so it'd have no idea how to do that. It'd be nice to have some people who aren't driven nuts with reef talk ha. I wonder how many other UCF reefers are out there? Maybe 10 of us in the whole school, idk. Well we'd need 12 people to start a club, so 9 more? In a school of 50,000 im sure there's a fair few with reefs if not we could always go Reef and Aquatic club or something. Tank is looking great btw! How do you like the Toms skimmer? I ran one of those on one of my tanks a while back and it did a great job! Link to comment
albertthiel Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 @ lagunastudio- thanks for the support. I love that rock in the middle, its so cool to sit and watch the clownfish swim back and forth through it. I also get a cool beam of light that comes shining through it in the mornings. @albertthiel- the HOB fuge contraption is made by finnex. They originally sell it with an air tube driven system, but I went with the option that has a small powerhead. I had to modify it for the tank because I wanted the powerhead in the fuge and not in the tank. Overall its working great and the light that comes with it is really growing the cheato quickly. I'll post some pictures today or tomorrow of a clear FTS, as well as cheato growth pictures. Thanks for looking. Thanks for the info, I know the Finnex but yours looked so much bigger in the pictures and that is why I did not put 2 and 2 together and asked the question. It looks like a real good one and it is my intention to purchase one from them in the near future, and equip it like you did with the power head and maybe the light as well. Looks real good! Link to comment
timothymarsh Posted August 25, 2012 Author Share Posted August 25, 2012 @ dormreefer- We need to just look around on this site and maybe post in some of the UCF facebook groups to see if we can find more reefers. I would really like to get some type of club started. As to the skimmer, I think it can be temperamental at times but overall it performs like a champ. @ albertthiel- Yeah for it's size it definitely has enough room to hold a lot of cheato or live rock. If you do purchase this product I would highly recommend getting the light (it fits perfectly over the fuge) and the powerhead. It is just the right size and it gives good steady flow throughout the box. Link to comment
albertthiel Posted August 25, 2012 Share Posted August 25, 2012 @ albertthiel- Yeah for it's size it definitely has enough room to hold a lot of cheato or live rock. If you do purchase this product I would highly recommend getting the light (it fits perfectly over the fuge) and the powerhead. It is just the right size and it gives good steady flow throughout the box. Thanks for the addl info and yes when I get it, I will get the light as well. Link to comment
timothymarsh Posted August 28, 2012 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 Yeah! 7,000 views wooooohoooo hooooooooo. Lol in other news I really need to do a water change but walmart is out of distilled water because apparently everyone in Orlando thought that tropical storm Isaac was going to completely knock out all human infrastructure in Florida. So hopefully tonight I'll be able to find a couple gallons of water to mix with. "No really sir I swear I need those last two gallons of water for my fish tank. Your family will be fine without it." whatever. Link to comment
albertthiel Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Yeah! 7,000 views wooooohoooo hooooooooo. Lol in other news I really need to do a water change but walmart is out of distilled water because apparently everyone in Orlando thought that tropical storm Isaac was going to completely knock out all human infrastructure in Florida. So hopefully tonight I'll be able to find a couple gallons of water to mix with. "No really sir I swear I need those last two gallons of water for my fish tank. Your family will be fine without it." whatever. Way to go. The fish come first Link to comment
timothymarsh Posted September 2, 2012 Author Share Posted September 2, 2012 Tank is looking great, I really like the benefits that I'm getting out of the fuge. Corals seem to be happier and my SPS has more polyp extension. I picked up a bag of Reef Crystals and a paly frag yesterday at the LFS. They had a Labor day sale going on so I took advantage of that. Here's some quick pics. Full system New Paly frag mounted on main rock Pipe organ coral with an annoying hermit crab Random bad picture FTS Stupid blenny Link to comment
Marzy Posted September 3, 2012 Share Posted September 3, 2012 Love the tank man. Im in college also and started my tank, only been up for about 2 months. Renting a house down at school so I'm gonna have to transfer it back to my other house, which is gonna be a pain. Luckily I only have a 6 gallon nano. Great to see other college people with tanks though. Link to comment
timothymarsh Posted September 3, 2012 Author Share Posted September 3, 2012 Good luck moving the tank, I always hate it when I have to do it. A 6 gallon nano is pretty manageable but things can still happen. Either way, hope all goes well and you get it settled in safely. I'm actually surprised by the number of young/college reefers that are on this site. Pretty exciting for the future of the hobby! Link to comment
got2envy Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Just ordered a fuge! thanks for the idea Link to comment
imadams Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 How high above the tank are your lights? Link to comment
timothymarsh Posted September 4, 2012 Author Share Posted September 4, 2012 Just ordered a fuge! thanks for the idea No problem. For any tank smaller than 20 gallons they really are a good idea. If anything its a cheap little DIY project to mess around with for a while. @ imadams- The lights are 12 inches off of the waterline. I would have preferred them to be about two inches closer, but my hanging method prevented that. Link to comment
albertthiel Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Just ordered a fuge! thanks for the idea Did you order the Finnex one ? I think that I am going to order that one with the pump and the light. If I remember correctly the total for everything is around $50 Link to comment
got2envy Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Yep that is the one Albert it was $55 shipped. Link to comment
albertthiel Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 Yep that is the one Albert it was $55 shipped. Great, that is actually IMO a real good price especially since it includes shipping. The Maria Fire and Ice Zoas are doing great btw ... Thanks again Link to comment
got2envy Posted September 5, 2012 Share Posted September 5, 2012 Nice Albert! Sorry for the hijack timothy Link to comment
timothymarsh Posted September 8, 2012 Author Share Posted September 8, 2012 So I was bored today during a little study break so I decided to shake things up on the tank a little bit. I pulled off the AC50 because I felt it wasn't doing that much for me right now. At the moment I'm not surface skimming, and I'm seriously considering making a powerhead water bottle skimmer. The fuge was moved to the AC50 location which really opened up the tank and should allow the cheato to get more sunlight. Coral is growing very well, I've rationed myself to one visit to the LFS per month so I can let things grow out and choose quality pieces. Pictures as usual. Top down FTS Closer FTS Orange Acan Radioactive dragon eyes starting to take off Random angle New fuge home Side shot (left) As a note, the other day when I did a water change I pulled out some cheato growth. It had doubled in size over about a week and a half. Very happy with the finnex fuge, highly recommended! Link to comment
got2envy Posted September 9, 2012 Share Posted September 9, 2012 Everything is looking great! Gotta find some time to set up my fuge. Link to comment
timothymarsh Posted September 16, 2012 Author Share Posted September 16, 2012 So here's a quick update: I lost the cleaner shrimp a few days ago to some unknown problem. He was doing fine and then one morning BOOM! he's dead. Not sure what to think of it. Today I got rid of my echinata's as they looked unhealthy and I'm trying to go for a different look with the coral that they just didn't provide. While at the LFS I picked up two zoa frags and glued them down a few hours ago. I'll snap some pics when everything is settled in. Link to comment
albertthiel Posted September 16, 2012 Share Posted September 16, 2012 So I was bored today during a little study break so I decided to shake things up on the tank a little bit. I pulled off the AC50 because I felt it wasn't doing that much for me right now. At the moment I'm not surface skimming, and I'm seriously considering making a powerhead water bottle skimmer. The fuge was moved to the AC50 location which really opened up the tank and should allow the cheato to get more sunlight. Coral is growing very well, I've rationed myself to one visit to the LFS per month so I can let things grow out and choose quality pieces. Pictures as usual. Looking great ! Happy reef keeping Link to comment
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