zooman72 Posted March 13, 2013 Author Share Posted March 13, 2013 Looking good! Digging the look! Thanks FishBrawler - we need an emoticon of a fighting fish I think! Link to comment
FishBrawler Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 Thanks FishBrawler - we need an emoticon of a fighting fish I think! Heck ya! I love that picture with just thoughs par 30s on! Gives it that endless blue ocean effect! Link to comment
reefcowboy Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 I was also expecting to see an LED only lit tank, and was shocked with the MH... Gotta say though I love MHs and if it wasn't for the heat, would be using it as well. Your tank looks great and I believe your set up has all it needs to bring your corals to great color and growth. Maybe we will see a MH advocate come out of here in the future? I was an LED only guy as well and after trying t5s, joined the dark side....LOL Link to comment
zooman72 Posted March 14, 2013 Author Share Posted March 14, 2013 I was also expecting to see an LED only lit tank, and was shocked with the MH... Gotta say though I love MHs and if it wasn't for the heat, would be using it as well. Your tank looks great and I believe your set up has all it needs to bring your corals to great color and growth. Maybe we will see a MH advocate come out of here in the future? I was an LED only guy as well and after trying t5s, joined the dark side....LOL I have used everything from PC's to T5's, MH's to LED's - all can grow corals, and they each have their pros and cons, as well as their advocates... As well as I like the MH so far, I can certainly see myself possibly grabbing a 27" 160W Razor in the near future if I am "inspired" to do so... As for this tank's continued development - I am placing the second clown pair and a trio of springer's damsels in tonight (having a hard time finding another 1-2 small azure damsels), and the leathers and one of the brains went in earlier - pics to come (leathers are pissed, so I have to wait for them to "settle in")... Link to comment
zooman72 Posted March 14, 2013 Author Share Posted March 14, 2013 Just a quick update and some pics from my new phone (HTC Windows 8X): Tang still does not look all that great (HLLE, and some fin erosion), but is behaving and eating well, and the second pair of clowns and the Springer's damsels are looking good, as is the new brain. The leathers are just starting to "perk up", but not visible in these photos - maybe the ones to come later... Here are just a few of the other aquariums, taken without any custom settings on the phone/ camera: 15g column/ XH, lit by a single BoostLED Par30... Standard 20L, lit by 3 Rapid Par38 fixtures, up and running since 2004 - basically a carpet of pink Erythropodium encrusting gorgonian on the left, and green star polyps (Pachyclavularia sp.) on the right... Standard 29g, lit by 3 Ledtric Par38 "full-spec plus" fixtures, up and running for 3+ years, with contents perviously in a 20H - my Caribbean gorgonian tank with 5 royal grammas and a cherub angel, rock/ flower anemones, a condylactis anemone, one very large and mature banded cleaner shrimp, and one very large emerald crab. Destined for a minor "rearrangeing" (maybe tonight) to move the frags off of the substrate... Will save the progression pictures of the 3 tanks for their own thread to come soon... Link to comment
zooman72 Posted March 15, 2013 Author Share Posted March 15, 2013 Well, a couple of additional pics from earlier tonight: I just love this brain - orange and teal, but have to get a better pic during the time the halide is on... I picked up these orange rics last week from a local reefer that just got tired of them - 12 or so for $80 seemed a good deal, and the largest one is over 3"... Peek-a-boo, I see you... Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted March 15, 2013 Share Posted March 15, 2013 hay guys, you takin' pichurs? Link to comment
zooman72 Posted March 16, 2013 Author Share Posted March 16, 2013 Well, still chugging along, and although one of the clowns has decided it does not like one of the other ones (they are of course the only 2 the same size... ), everything seems to be doing well, and there are no signs of a cycle yet - I thought there might be a little one with the switch-over from the contents of the 10g. I am starting to think I need a "catchy" new title (suggestions, and how does one do that again?), as I seem to be doing most of the posting here, but it gives me a chance to keep posting pics, so here goes some more... Clowns "surfing" the MP10 wave... Shot of the left side with halide on... The orange ricordea "colony" - these look awesome... A couple of extra ricordea polyps that I placed in front of the larger rock stack destined for the anemones - I felt like it needed something... The orange and teal brain (Trachyphyllia geoffroyi) - I think I may have mentioned how much I like this coral... FTS's... I think you can see the clown chase in this last one... Full system shot... Link to comment
FishBrawler Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 Looks great! I know you wanted just leathery on the other side. Did you think of adding some purple and green leatheries? Link to comment
zooman72 Posted March 16, 2013 Author Share Posted March 16, 2013 Thanks, but I may not have much room - the right side is mostly reserved for BT anemones...as soon as I think the tank is ready... Link to comment
TristanC Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 This tank is awesome, im pretty excited to see 4 clowns hosting a nem island... Going to be killer. Link to comment
zooman72 Posted March 16, 2013 Author Share Posted March 16, 2013 This tank is awesome, im pretty excited to see 4 clowns hosting a nem island... Going to be killer. Thanks Tristan, but I may have to rescue one of the 4 clowns, as my "pairs" have decided to get "funky" and swap partners - the largest is now paired with the red ocellaris, tolerating the smallest one, and driving the former partner of the largest one into the rocks... Needless to say, I am not happy about this, but it was always a risk, especially without anemones in there yet to offer them a distraction... Link to comment
TristanC Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 Thanks Tristan, but I may have to rescue one of the 4 clowns, as my "pairs" have decided to get "funky" and swap partners - the largest is now paired with the red ocellaris, tolerating the smallest one, and driving the former partner of the largest one into the rocks... Needless to say, I am not happy about this, but it was always a risk, especially without anemones in there yet to offer them a distraction... How soon until the nems make it into the tank? Im assuming you are letting it mature a bit before adding them. Link to comment
FishBrawler Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 Well, I have never bothered to do a build thread, even though I have several tanks, but this is probably due to the fact that I don't have a decent camera, which is essential (along with the skills to use it!) to any good build thread. Anyways, I have wanted to do a 40B tank for a while now, and one of the aquarists at a nearby public aquarium had offered my some cloned GBTA's if I ever set one up. Then, Petco's "dollar per gallon" sale came by, and coupled with inspiration from Lawnman's shallow 30g cube, I decided to start one. I had planned on lighting this with a Maxspect 27" Razor, but got a screaming deal on the MH light and 4 bulbs, so went with it, but reserve the right to upgrade to the Maxspect in the future... The equipment list is as follows: Aqueon standard 40B, back painted black custom pine stand in sealed black stain from Joe's Woodworks in Buffalo, NY 20L sump w/ two single baffles - 9" wide filter sock/ skimmer section, 13" chaeto/ rock section lit by Par30 LED bulb, 8" return section - sump holds approximately 15 gallons of water when running SCA-301 skimmer - upgrading shortly to Sea Side Aquatics ES-5 (essentially a copy of a Bubble Magus Curve 5, but with better Sicce pump) CPR 4" filter sock holder Penn Plax Cascade 300W heater w/ Finnex Deluxe Digital Heater Controller Rio Hyper Flow 6H return pump Eshopps Nano Overflow w/ mini-Hofer "gurgle buster" (3/4" instead of 1" bulkhead drain) Vortech MP10 es PFO mini metal halide pendant w/ Phoenix 14K bulb for max daylight 2 BoostLED Par30's (2RB: 1CB: 1CW: 1NW) for early morning/ late afternoon lighting Coralife 1W royal blue moonlight attached to MH pendant "custom" light tree made from 1/2" conduit, painted black and clamped to stand custom-cut glass tops on both sump and display The fish and corals to include:4-6 ocellaris clowns 2 each of GBTA's and RBTA's - currently housed elsewhere, waiting for me to finish small yellow tang 3-4 azure damsels bottom-dwelling goby - species to be determined Kenya tree corals - already have, moving over from soon-to-be broken down 10g orange ricordea polyps - already have "colony" of 10 or so, housed in a local reefers tank 2-3 branching hammer coral colonies - moving over from my 20L red mushrooms - also moving over from the 20L large leather coral - soon to be purchased from LFS 1-2 large brain corals ("wellsophyllia") - soon to be purchased from LFS may add a Pacific photosynthetic gorgonian if I come across a nice one... Still need to have a couple of things come in - filter sock holder, Finnex controller, and glass tops. Substrate will be an inch or so of CaribSea "special grade seafloor", and I currently have live rock in buckets of circulating saltwater for the last couple of months. The plan is to move the Kenya trees, hammers, mushrooms, and ricordeas over in the next day or two, to the left side of the tank, and build the "anemone island" on the right third, adding the anemones once everything settles. May also decide to do some form of carbon filtration, but space is tight in the sump... Here is a shot (older) of the 10g whose contents will be moved over... More to come shortly of course... Also, will do a thread of the other existing tanks as well once I get a better camera as they are all lit by LEDs... Ok, you have me curious! How does your overflow drain pipe work? Is it quiet? I'm trying to decide between that and a durso. Have you don't both? If so, which is better? Link to comment
zooman72 Posted March 16, 2013 Author Share Posted March 16, 2013 How soon until the nems make it into the tank? Im assuming you are letting it mature a bit before adding them. Yeah, I am trying not to rush it. The rocks on the right sat in buckets of circulating water for 2 months or so, and I had the tank for almost 2 months as well, so I am running out of patience! However, I do have a "dusting" of brown diatoms that popped up this morning on the substrate (mini-cycle?), so it appears that I may have to give it a bit more time... Link to comment
zooman72 Posted March 16, 2013 Author Share Posted March 16, 2013 Ok, you have me curious! How does your overflow drain pipe work? Is it quiet? I'm trying to decide between that and a durso. Have you don't both? If so, which is better? I am using the Eshopps Nano Overflow Box as I had one left over - Eshopps sent me one as a replacement when one of the ones I purchased came with a defect, but I was able to fix the one defective one and they told me to keep this one anyways, so here it is... They are great if you don't want to drill your tank - I originally picked them up for my other tanks (3 pictured earlier in thread) when I added sumps, as they were already set up, and I did not want to break them down to drill an overflow. These are quite small, and relatively quiet (if you use the Hofer "gurglebuster" like I have, or don't "push" them like I am! ), and can handle a bit more water flow then they state per manufacturer's specs (200gph I believe) - maybe up to 300gph... Link to comment
FishBrawler Posted March 16, 2013 Share Posted March 16, 2013 I am using the Eshopps Nano Overflow Box as I had one left over - Eshopps sent me one as a replacement when one of the ones I purchased came with a defect, but I was able to fix the one defective one and they told me to keep this one anyways, so here it is... They are great if you don't want to drill your tank - I originally picked them up for my other tanks (3 pictured earlier in thread) when I added sumps, as they were already set up, and I did not want to break them down to drill an overflow. These are quite small, and relatively quiet (if you use the Hofer "gurglebuster" like I have, or don't "push" them like I am! ), and can handle a bit more water flow then they state per manufacturer's specs (200gph I believe) - maybe up to 300gph... Thanks but I accually ment the pvc thing you were holding! Link to comment
zooman72 Posted March 16, 2013 Author Share Posted March 16, 2013 Thanks but I accually ment the pvc thing you were holding! That is the "gurglebuster" (Google "Hofer gurglebuster" for detailed instructions, or go here: http://home.everestkc.net/jrobertson57268/HGB/HGB_construction.html), but I had to scale it down to fit in the overflow, which is too small for the "standard" size... I don't know if it is better than a Durso, as I only had one option if using the Eshopps box, and the website for it explains its function probably better than I could, but basically it inhibits turbulence and air siphoning in the drain, which is the cause of the noise associated with drains. Link to comment
zooman72 Posted March 18, 2013 Author Share Posted March 18, 2013 Qucik update because I can't sleep: Skimmer is starting to pull some "gunk" now, which is cool (good thing I did the vinegar soak on it).... Too bad the microbubbles are taking so long to go away... I am amazed that evaporation has been so minor - this is after a few days of action, and I topped off just after this pic, and it was so easy - gotta love those glass tops.... More updates soon, as the diatoms that appeared on the sandbed a day ago are already starting to die off, so maybe my little cycle will be very short, which means that the anemones will be here soon... Link to comment
Zia Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 getting late, so i just skimmed through real quick. Frikken looks amazing. Love what your doing with the aquascaping. I'll have to drop in tomorrow and really see what your doing here in detail. I'm really curious about that durso, i need to modify mine in my frag tank. Link to comment
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