RollaJase's 30G Custom Cube - Tank Torn Down

[Justind823]

Nice Mandy pickup! It looks happy and healthy cruising around in there. Tank is looking good as usual

[RollaJase]

Mine seems to be doing ok with the cyclopeeze and live pods. You are lucky yours isn't a picky eater . Awesome hunting photos!

Very lucky indeed I think. The little guy seems to have settled in really well and explores the entire tank now. As Kat suggested I am trying to get it to eat some of the NLS pellets for added nutrition which is proving difficult. I have ground up some of the pellets a little with a mortar and pestle and add it to the daily feed. I am yet to see the little guy actually consume any of the chunks but all my other fish love them so it doesn't go wasted. I'll try do get some more photos with the DSLR later this week .

 

Nice Mandy pickup! It looks happy and healthy cruising around in there. Tank is looking good as usual

Thanks Justin, the little guy seems to be doing really well so far. Tank is progressing pretty well also, need to start adding some more corals to replace the heap that died now.

 

 

In other news, I picked up my car this morning .

[jack1978]

How does she feel?

[RollaJase]

How does she feel?

Actually felt really weird after not driving her for 2 months. Clutch felt weird, brakes felt weird and steering was really heavy. I guess driving dad's car (2014 Jeep Cherokee) for the last 2 months has made me use to a really soft and squishy car. I plan to give her a good clean tonight and go for a shakedown drive to see if there is anything else weird about it. I noticed a slight vibration through the steering wheel on the way home which I am fairly sure is normal but I want to see if it gets any worse. On the body side of things the work looked immaculate, the paint looked spot on and there were no run marks that I could see. The car was wet when I picked it up so I'll have a better look when I give her a wash and a polish tonight.

[gena]

Very lucky indeed I think. The little guy seems to have settled in really well and explores the entire tank now. As Kat suggested I am trying to get it to eat some of the NLS pellets for added nutrition which is proving difficult. I have ground up some of the pellets a little with a mortar and pestle and add it to the daily feed. I am yet to see the little guy actually consume any of the chunks but all my other fish love them so it doesn't go wasted. I'll try do get some more photos with the DSLR later this week .

I've never tried NLS pellets for mine, but do feed it to the other fish. Maybe next time I feed I'll add that to the mix for him . Mine seems to be a picky one. If he doesn't eat it, the wrasse will find the pellets. He likes to pick them off the rocks.

 

Awesome that you have your car back .

[RollaJase]

I've never tried NLS pellets for mine, but do feed it to the other fish. Maybe next time I feed I'll add that to the mix for him . Mine seems to be a picky one. If he doesn't eat it, the wrasse will find the pellets. He likes to pick them off the rocks.

 

Awesome that you have your car back .

Sounds like my blenny is like your wrasse, he is pretty much a garbage disposal, not to mention he constantly grazes on pods also. My fish don't seem to pick food off the sand bed though, only from the water column, the exception being the mandy who likes to look at his food before he eats it. I don't feed NLS pellets often for that reason, they tend to sink and just stay on the sand contributing to the nutrients in the tank. My hermits will eat the occasional one but the rest just sit there, I really should replace the stromb snail that died, it used to eat anything on the sand bed. I'm so happy that the car is back, hopefully I don't have to take it back to fix anything that's not quite right.

[gena]

Sounds like my blenny is like your wrasse, he is pretty much a garbage disposal, not to mention he constantly grazes on pods also. My fish don't seem to pick food off the sand bed though, only from the water column, the exception being the mandy who likes to look at his food before he eats it. I don't feed NLS pellets often for that reason, they tend to sink and just stay on the sand contributing to the nutrients in the tank. My hermits will eat the occasional one but the rest just sit there, I really should replace the stromb snail that died, it used to eat anything on the sand bed. I'm so happy that the car is back, hopefully I don't have to take it back to fix anything that's not quite right.

Mine are the same...don't go for the food on the sand. That's why I try to make sure I drop it in over the rocks. I turn off all the flow when I feed which helps. I just fed the mandarin and added in the NLS pellets. I won't know if he ate it though because where I feed him is under the monticaps and it's dark there and I can't see what he's eating LOL. I can only see him pecking at the rocks. Hopefully he finds the pellets delicious! I also have the harlequin star that cleans up leftovers as well. You should get one of those! He will eat up food from the sand.

[RollaJase]

Mine are the same...don't go for the food on the sand. That's why I try to make sure I drop it in over the rocks. I turn off all the flow when I feed which helps. I just fed the mandarin and added in the NLS pellets. I won't know if he ate it though because where I feed him is under the monticaps and it's dark there and I can't see what he's eating LOL. I can only see him pecking at the rocks. Hopefully he finds the pellets delicious! I also have the harlequin star that cleans up leftovers as well. You should get one of those! He will eat up food from the sand.

Hope he takes to the pellets then Gena . I was thinking of getting a sand sifting star as I get a lot of detritus on my sand. I haven't had the best long term results with sea stars (my little red Fromia melted a few weeks ago, was about 10 months in the tank) so don't know if it is the best option. My stromb was great and very active but I want something a little bit different I think. I might try to track down a harlequin star, they look pretty cool .

[RollaJase]

Lets play a game, it's called 'What's still wrong with Jason's car' (besides the steering wheel being on the wrong side).

1. - Front bumper is offset about 10-15mm towards the drivers side (left side of the car if your looking straight on). This has caused a gap under the passenger side headlight and the hood doesn't line up quite like it should.

2. - The drivers side quarter panel either sticks out too far or the door sits in too close to the body. There is an obvious level difference when the door is shut. This must have been something that they had noticed as the drivers door has a big chip out of it on the edge and they have used a flat white touch-up paint to fix the chip (looks like liquid paper).

3. - The drivers side touch sensors for unlocking and locking the car doesn't work.

4. - The scratch resistant film under the drivers side door handle was removed for painting and not replaced, this was a factory option that I paid extra for.

5. - It was pitch black outside and the auto headlight sensor refused to turn on the headlights.

 

Besides that, the paint is great, they matched it perfectly besides a few minor scratches that I buffed out. Drives great as well. Back to the shop it goes after I give them a spray on the phone tomorrow.

[RollaJase]

I'll be dropping the car off tomorrow morning (Wednesday) for them to fix their mess. I told them that I need it by the weekend (better yet Friday morning) so we will see how we go.

[hey]

good luck lol, glad you aren't settling for a halfass job done though afterall its you who has to drive the thing they just assume you won't say anything about it?

[gena]

I'll be dropping the car off tomorrow morning (Wednesday) for them to fix their mess. I told them that I need it by the weekend (better yet Friday morning) so we will see how we go.

Well, that's a bummer. Did they think you wouldn't notice ? That's just crazy...sorry.

[RollaJase]

good luck lol, glad you aren't settling for a halfass job done though afterall its you who has to drive the thing they just assume you won't say anything about it?

Exactly. I told them straight up that if I wasn't happy with it I wouldn't be collecting it. I couldn't see much of the car besides the paint when I collected as the car had been left in the rain all weekend and was still pretty wet. I spoke to the manager today and he admitted that he didn't actually go over the car before calling me, he just took the body shops word for it. He wants me to personally show him the issues so he can make sure they are fixed.

 

Well, that's a bummer. Did they think you wouldn't notice ? That's just crazy...sorry.

What may be good enough for them Gena is definitely not good enough for me haha. I went over the entire car and even buffed out some small scratches on the newly painted panels (and the old panels). I'll go over it again tonight and see if I can see anything else that isn't quite right.

[RollaJase]

Well I picked my car up Friday morning (for the second time now) and they had gouged and scratched up the passenger side headlight something horrible while realigning the bumper. I made them buff it out on the spot and was hardly happy with them. Oh well, I have the car now and I will never be taking it back to that repairer again.

[metrokat]

Sounds like inexperienced guys in the repair shop.

 

Just read your post on JediBear's thread. What's going on with the tank?

[RollaJase]

Sounds like inexperienced guys in the repair shop.

 

Just read your post on JediBear's thread. What's going on with the tank?

Yeah I would be saying he same thing. The paint shop did amazing work, the body shop not so much.

 

I have been struggling with this tank probably since about April-ish. Levels swinging due to inconsistent water changes and the water change just not being able to keep up anymore. I have been dosing the big 3 for about 4 months now and have managed to stabalise everything pretty well, still some tweaking things though. As a result most of my SPS and LPS died. You couldn't really tell during the TOTM feature as most of the pictures were from February when the tank looked its best. Even though my levels are pretty stable now (need to raise Mag up a little still) I am having trouble with burning tips on SPS (I expect from low Mag, known symptom) and I'm losing heads off my branching torch weekly. A bump in the road I guess and I know patience is the key but it seems everything new coming into my tank has died over the last 4 months or so so I have stopped adding anything and probably wont until I get back from my holiday at the start of February.

 

On the upside, the new Mandy is doing great . Cruising around the tank, playing on the zoas and eating like crazy. I am yet to get it to eat the NLS pellets but it does peck at them from time to time.

[metrokat]

Getting alk and calcium dialed is one of the hardest things to do without dosers. Then if you do employ dosers, the requirements of the tank will change with growth, new additions, coral death. But once it is dialed in, the results are obvious. Hang in there.

[RollaJase]

Getting alk and calcium dialed is one of the hardest things to do without dosers. Then if you do employ dosers, the requirements of the tank will change with growth, new additions, coral death. But once it is dialed in, the results are obvious. Hang in there.

I started off dosing manually and then about a month in I caved and purchased a triple head doser, they are an absolute lifesaver. Changing requirements is another reason why I don't want to add anything new before my trip. I'm not going to have anyone testing the tank while I'm away (no one capable anyway). So if I can get the levels as stable as possible before the end of December (I'm so close right now) even if the levels fluctuate slightly while I'm gone, unless there is huge growth or die off any change should be gradual and will hopefully not cause too much damage. This hobby is all about patience but this ordeal is definitely getting me towards the end of my tether. To be honest I probably brought this all upon myself. I was lazy with testing and could probably have caught this long before this sort of damage happened.

[latteslave]

I'm doing the same - less water changes with dosing but I added the Red Sea coral colors to get the trace elements. It's tough getting the balance on the Alk and ca. Hopefully you can get it all dialed in.

[RollaJase]

I'm doing the same - less water changes with dosing but I added the Red Sea coral colors to get the trace elements. It's tough getting the balance on the Alk and ca. Hopefully you can get it all dialed in.

Thanks mate. It took quite a while to get the Alk and Cal dialed in. Both are pretty close to where I want them now, I'm just bringing up the Mag now and adjusting the Alk and Cal as I go now. I had a scare last week when the Mag dropped and the Cal and Alk spiked, turned out to be a kink in the Mag line and the next day the levels were back where they should be.

[Drift Monkey]

Oi, this thing has really progressed since I last saw it. Good work mate!

[RollaJase]

Oi, this thing has really progressed since I last saw it. Good work mate!

Thanks Drift . Yeah a lot has happened since the start of the year. Some for the better and some for the worse but I think everything is finally getting back on track.

[markalot]

I have been ignoring the car talk. So where's an updated tank pic?

[Drift Monkey]

Sorry to hear about the old car mate...love the GT86! Since we only get the FRS or BRZ here, I'd have a BRZ myself...but I'd probably go GT86 if they were available. Maybe once I see some decently priced used ones around here I'll consider getting one.

 

I used to drive an AE86 coupe once upon a time, hence the user name...

[RollaJase]

I have been ignoring the car talk. So where's an updated tank pic?

Not much has been happening lately to be honest Mark, just trying to save up and for my trip in a few weeks. Got a bit of a small update below though.

 

Sorry to hear about the old car mate...love the GT86! Since we only get the FRS or BRZ here, I'd have a BRZ myself...but I'd probably go GT86 if they were available. Maybe once I see some decently priced used ones around here I'll consider getting one.

 

I used to drive an AE86 coupe once upon a time, hence the user name...

Thanks buddy, I was devastated when I crashed the car and it still pains me knowing there are still bits and pieces not quite right with it. I'm taking her in for a service on Friday and to get the front right shock looked at. I went for a 'spirited' drive the other night and found that when the front left shock was under a lot of load the front right shock/spring would make a scraping noise. I think the repairers didn't replace one of the spring seats and when the spring decompresses it shifts slightly causing noise. I hope it's just that anyway. I do like the BRZ, from a 'classier' perspective, it has an air of elegance about it compared to the aggressive look of the GT86/FR-S. Realistically our GT86 is basically the same as your FR-S with the exception of some trim pieces, the badge and some colour options. You could always just re-badge one .

 

I also owned a 1983 AE86 Levin Hatch for a few years, it was a project car more or less. I purchased it running and driving as a completely stripped shell with all of the trim pieces, body panels etc. packaged in boxes with it. It was an ADM delivered model so only had the single cam 4AC motor but I loved it all the same. I got it to the stage where all the rust had been removed and I needed to weld in some new metal but time and cash became an issue and I had to offload it. I'd love to import a mint Trueno from Japan one day but at this point in my life I need to be spending 15-20k on a home deposit, not a second car.

 

=======================

 

A very busy weekend for me this week. Spent 4 hours or so in the Vineyard Saturday morning before heading off to a family wedding in the afternoon. This wedding pulled out all the stops. Two huge Italian families coming together, 300 guests total. The groom arrived at the church in a bright orange Lamborghini Mercielago, the father of the groom and the best man arrived in a Ferrari F430 convertible, the other two groomsman arrived in a Porsche GT3RS while the guy who owned all three of those cars followed them in in his brand new Porsche 911 Carerra S, it was quite a sight. The bridal party weren't going to be shown up though arriving in a trio of off-white 1950 Jaguar MK5 Sedans. Due to all this excitement I was left with doing my tank maintenance on Sunday.

 

A few small updates anyway. I have been spending a lot of time lately tying up loose ends left over from the sump install. A bit of wiring, extra storage, new tank lid etc. Just trying to sort everything out before I leave on holiday.

My attempt at a new tank screen:

Much better than what I had but I'm not happy with the frame. I'm going to source a frame that doesn't require 45 degree cuts on the joins. The current frame is quite fragile and warps easily. I believe having a square corner will help limit the warping.

 

Well today, while I was waiting for my water to mix for my fortnightly water change I decided to make a trip to my favorite LFS. This is the place I went to religiously when I was new to the hobby. A great bunch of guys, excellent live stock and equipment all at very reasonable prices. It has been close to 12 months since my last visit, it's just too hard for me to make the 45min trip each way when I have so much other stuff to do on my weekends. I had the day free and with the beautiful weather we had I jumped in the car and went for a drive.

 

For you acro fans here is the state of their current holding tank:

The picture doesn't really do the pieces justice but that big blue acro colony you see on the upper left? Yeah that was the size of a basket ball...and only $70...$70AUD!. That's about $61USD. As you can see written on the glass, all the acros range from $19 to $70 per colony. All those smallish ones in the middle of the pictures are about $30 a colony. This LFS will empty this tank of stock pretty much on a weekly basis. They constantly have new Acros coming in direct from Cairns Marine and the GBR and unless your there for late night delivery on Thursdays you are left with what you see in this pic. They get some seriously nice pieces in which are sold before they can un-bag them.

 

Enough with the acros though, I did pick up a few bits and pieces for myself while I was there. Besides the usual dry goods and frozen foods I came home with these pieces.

I struggled to get the orange to pop on this short tentacles button coral. I wanted to get a choice fungia to round out a trio but after I saw the colours on this and the price I had to grab it, can you believe it only cost me $15?

 

These other two pieces are small frags from a local reefing legend, Rod the Reefer. For those of you on Reef Central you may remember that he experimented with a gyre flow tank back in 2009, a tank that won him many TOTM honours.

I'm not sure what the blue piece is (has stunning dark red polyps) but I was told that the green piece is a form of plating monti. I have left these pieces low in the tank for now and will bring them up to the top of the pillar over the next few weeks original one died a few months ago after getting wedged between two rocks. It did such a good job I figured I owed it to the tank to get another one.

 

In other tank news, I have done some minor rescaping. Mainly with moving the location of my chalices as they were getting too much flow and light causing some minor recession, low mag hasn't helped much either.

So, where the chalices were I now have my big leather coral:

And the chalices have been moved here:

I have also moved my yuma and her babies somewhere they can all be seen:

 

I am considering adding another powerhead to the tank to push some from behind the pillar to help with settling detritus around the chalices and to increase surface agitation around the top of the pillar. I am considering using the Tunze 6015 I have laying around, or picking up a MP10WeS and buying the wireless module for my current unit.