Jneighbors Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 I love the build so far and can't wait to see this tank progress. I am in the process of getting a tank custom made and I was looking at the eshopps R200 and realized it had horrible reviews, what are your thoughts? Link to comment
Veng Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Is that a real brittle? That's such a cool color I've never seen before. It kind of looks like a rubber/plastic from the 80s or something. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted December 18, 2012 Author Share Posted December 18, 2012 I love the build so far and can't wait to see this tank progress. I am in the process of getting a tank custom made and I was looking at the eshopps R200 and realized it had horrible reviews, what are your thoughts? I have mixed opinions. Overall it's got a lot of room and is well made. Filter sock setup sucks so I'll be replacing that. If I didn't have pipes going down into the sock to quiet some of the splashing, the sock would float out. Also, the pipes make it hard to change the sock. Up until I got my skimmer running I was having issues with foam building up and bubbling out of the sock after 2 days. So either I have too much flow going through the system, or I just really needed to get my skimmer running. Seems better now though so I'm just going to wait and see. Definitely cannot be lazy about changing the socks. It could use another baffle between the fuge section and return to eliminate needing to use a sponge, but in this case, the sponge actually saved me. I had ordered some chaeto and it came with tons of broken pieces Is that a real brittle? That's such a cool color I've never seen before. It kind of looks like a rubber/plastic from the 80s or something. Yes, it's real. Hope it doesn't eat my fish.. I'll be feeding small pieces of silversides his way every now and again. After doing some reading, all I can find is stay away from the green ones. So should be ok. It did come out of a full blown reef tank. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted December 19, 2012 Author Share Posted December 19, 2012 Redid the rockwork on the left side of the tank.. huge improvement. I had started moving some of the corals over and got a spark up my arse and decided to pull the 2 big pieces of rock from the frag tank as I've been planning to do. Took out some of the smaller pieces that were piled up to replace them and went in up to the armpits. Of course about halfway through I'm thinking why did I touch it again, but, I'm super pleased with the outcome. I'll have to take pictures tomorrow as I already had the lights on about an hour longer than planned tonight. No sign of the algae like it was but I'm not going to tempt it. Fish were all out and about. Everyone played nice and was eating so seems like they managed to acclimate to the higher SG with ease. Just about to get into the controller and shorten the light cycle so I don't bleach the corals and can keep the algae from springing back until my skimmer can pull some more organics out. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted December 19, 2012 Author Share Posted December 19, 2012 OH.. almost forgot.. I did snag a shot of most of the new additions. Link to comment
metrokat Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Those fish are beautiful! And they look happy. I can't stand serpent stars, they make me goose bumpy. Jedimaster Ben has a red one that is like a dog, comes running whenever he feeds the tank. Does the mandarin eat frozen? Link to comment
MikeTR Posted December 19, 2012 Author Share Posted December 19, 2012 Mandarin is a pod eater. I'll be buying pods for a few months until the tank matures a bit more to sustain it's own population. Link to comment
JDigital Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Nice fish additions Mike! From those pics the algae issue looks to be better for the most part. Love those Purple Tangs, and that is a really nice specimen, but I can never justify the price tag that the LFS stores here put on them. Nice early Christmas presents for you though! Link to comment
MikeTR Posted December 19, 2012 Author Share Posted December 19, 2012 Just occurred to me that those larger rocks I put in the display from the frag tank fuge probably have tons of pods. Off to the LFS tonight to pick up some more though. Can't wait to get home and see how everything is doing. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 FTS after reworking the left hand pillar. Continuing to move more and more over from the frag tank. Link to comment
Deleted User 3 Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Those fish are beautiful! And they look happy. I can't stand serpent stars, they make me goose bumpy. Jedimaster Ben has a red one that is like a dog, comes running whenever he feeds the tank. Does the mandarin eat frozen? I love mine but he's always hidden, never comes out of the cave even at night! I don't know how he survives. They creep me out too, so i wont touch more than his arm without gloves lol. This thing makes me nervous. That's ginormous. I would have wet my pants... at least it'll do a good cleaning job! Your tank looks good FTS after reworking the left hand pillar. Continuing to move more and more over from the frag tank. I really like your scape! I cant wait until I can get a bigger tank Link to comment
metrokat Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Mandarin is a pod eater. I'll be buying pods for a few months until the tank matures a bit more to sustain it's own population. oh don't make me come over there and make your drink your skimmate. Train the guy to eat frozen. 1 Link to comment
ciaobella Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Just saw this thread! Amazing! The second scape looks much much better!!! SW florida huh? That makes us neighbors I need to come raid that frag tank of yours! Just need to get past that vicious gaurd dog! Link to comment
MikeTR Posted December 21, 2012 Author Share Posted December 21, 2012 oh don't make me come over there and make your drink your skimmate. Train the guy to eat frozen. Ah, well that's the beauty of having a huge tank.. I don't have to train him, buuuuuut I'm going to give it a shot. (don't beat me!) I did see pods by the hundreds on the glass tonight so that rock I pulled from the sump must've been loaded with them. Makes me feel better that I dont have to spend money on getting a population started. Just saw this thread! Amazing! The second scape looks much much better!!!SW florida huh? That makes us neighbors I need to come raid that frag tank of yours! Just need to get past that vicious gaurd dog! Thanks! I'm extremely pleased with how it turned out. So much so that I may not ever touch the rockwork again. Lots of swimming room and shelves for coral. The canyon will fill out nicely with coral. Guard dog is easily swayed with treats. Was able to identify the sand sifting goby, I believe it's a longfin sleeper goby. He's very eager to eat flake and frozen mysis so don't have to worry about him starving. He's about 6" long and as fat as my thumb. I think i'll name him Pudge.. Link to comment
metrokat Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Ah, well that's the beauty of having a huge tank.. I don't have to train him, buuuuuut I'm going to give it a shot. (don't beat me!) I did see pods by the hundreds on the glass tonight so that rock I pulled from the sump must've been loaded with them. Makes me feel better that I dont have to spend money on getting a population started. Make a mandarin diner. A skinny bottle he can get into but the tangs can't. Throw in live BBS and nutramar ova and see if he takes to it. You can do the rock pile trick. Put some rubble together in a pile and tie it with some tulle or netting, put that in the sump. Few days later transfer to display. It works like that rock you mentioned. but you get to tie a cute bow on the netting. You can do the loofah trick. Get a new bath loofah and throw it in the sump, transfer to DT a couple of days later. You'll have to use a hot pink loofah though, color is important. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted December 26, 2012 Author Share Posted December 26, 2012 So I've been having issues with my quietone 4000HH for quite a long time and finally decided to cough up the dough to replace it. I had used this as the main pump on the frag tank and over the course of a year came home several times to find the pump not running and the sump water a toasty bath water warm. I retired it to just a water change pump after I was forced to do an emergency swap on my lunch hour when the power blipped and it would not restart even after banging and flickin the power off and on several times. Picked up a new mag 18 for $164 from the LFS. Great deal I think but a lot to spend just to pump water in and out of the tank. I think I spent about 10 minutes too long in the LFS though as I picked up a ruby headed fairy wrasse and a multicolor lubbocks. Both look extremely healthy and are quarantined in the frag tank. Eating about an hour after acclimation. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 Well.. rough start to the new year. Red bugs.. mother effer. Just when I thought I beat em in the frag system I see them exploding on an acro frag. Fortunately I dont have many acros they can feed on. 2 stylo frags have rtn'd. Caps are bleaching. Everything else is doing ok tho. Reaching 300 par on the sandbed and as much as 900 on the upper most rocks. I'm gonna throw some eggcrate up on the top and see if that helps any. Link to comment
metrokat Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 The wrasses should gobble them up in no time though, right? Happy New Year Mike. Link to comment
MikeTR Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 I sure hope so. I think i'm going to do the bayer dip, even if it kills the corals. I'm tired of them. Link to comment
Jacob042426 Posted January 1, 2013 Share Posted January 1, 2013 that purple tang is so pretty! Link to comment
MikeTR Posted January 1, 2013 Author Share Posted January 1, 2013 Thanks! I think so too The only one that I'm a little dissapointed with is the bellus angel. Colors on him are darker but I think they are improving. Been feeding a better selection of food than what they were getting. Here's a family photo: Link to comment
MikeTR Posted January 5, 2013 Author Share Posted January 5, 2013 Went pod collecting in my frag tank tonight. Rubberbanded a thick paper towel to a siphon tube and probably collected a good couple hundred pods easy. I'll probably do this once a week for a while until I get a good couple thousand pods thrown in. Doesn't take very long to do, the tank is loaded with them. Ended up taking all the chaeto out, it was just withering away. Not sure there is enough nutrients for it to grow yet. Don't have hardly any algae growing on the glass. I think I've only had to scrape once in 2 weeks. I do however see a lot of coralline cropping up all over. 1 Link to comment
MikeTR Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 Twospot candy hogfish is being a bastard to the new wrasses and attacking them. I was fortunate to corner him as I was turning the lights out and netted him quite easily. He's been banished to the frag tank and will be sold on the black market. I already have a coris wrasse, albeit not as nice a fish, it's pretty similar in characteristics. Link to comment
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