1stimereefer's 1st tank- RETIRED

[FlowerMama]

Wow, your tank is looking great!! You're already lightyears ahead of me. I hate that I had to kind of put everything on hold but once I get back in town from my vacation I'll start buying a few frags again to help fill this thing up. Has Shawn had anything good lately? I haven't had a chance to go in there in almost a month now. It would be nice if she would get some ricordias in there and a few SPS, all I've seen is a couple small pocillipora (sp?) frags.

Unfortunately, with her poor lighting I can't tell one zoa from the next at her place. They all look like whammin' watermelons or radioactives. I've not seen, never come to think of it, any rics. She does still have regular balstos in both colors and larger head blastos and green candy canes. no on the sps. I don't see why she can't have a little stock of some basic things, esp since nanos are just so popular. I'm only going in there like once every 2 wks because I'm getting the little RO/DI I need from my friends. I'm watching their tank this week- had to feed their eel and 4 other fish. If you haven't been in there for a month then you'll certainly see changes. I do know that Saltcritters though will be having another sale July 12 or 13th. $5/$10 rics, I got all those 4 sps, dendro- everything from $6-10 and then s/h but it still evened out to like $12 or $14 per frag.

[FlowerMama]

This is not fish related but here's my boy Hagen, 4 yrs old which greets me happily and loves me. Here he is begging me to play with him. He puts the ball on my lap and sits patiently and waits. If I don't do anything he'll roll it further down my lap. Sometimes he'll just take his ball, put it at the top of the basement stairs and nudge it off w/ his nose and it'll bounce down and he'll retrieve it and bring it up and do it all over again.

 

 

He just got his hair cut today, happy and then laid on the cool tile- he often blinks when I take pictures but he's got that one eye open and one closed thing going on.

 

 

[FlowerMama]

Those holes I drilled in the bottom of chamber one were just not meeting my approval- they were erratic holes, not evenly spaced, so I made an alternative. I bought a $1 basket from the Dollar Tree and went to Lowes and bought a diamond cutting wheel attachment. I made a new and improved bottom for chamber one.

 

Now all I have to do is cut out the bottom of chamber one, leaving a 1/4- 1/2" edge around (whatever I can manage) and that way I can just lay the piece down like a shelf on brackets. I won't glue it because for water changes I can remove it and siphon any debris there.

 

So tomorrow I'll remove the pump and heater from the right side. Siphon out water from the left side and hopefully I'll be able to get in there w/ the Dremel better. That should significantly change the flow. Should be less plastic debris as well because the Dremel will provide me with a cleaner cut all around. Then siphon all and add new saltwater back in.

 

 

 

 

[gena]

Look at you! Nice DIY!!!!! Hagen is adorable When I saw the first picture I thought, cocker spaniel. Then I knew for sure when I saw the next photo.

[FlowerMama]

Look at you! Nice DIY!!!!! Hagen is adorable When I saw the first picture I thought, cocker spaniel. Then I knew for sure when I saw the next photo.

He's a ham, adorable, don't know how I would've done it w/o his companionship. He just smells so good after his grooming today, I've been lovin' on him a lot this evening.

 

As far as DIY- sure am trying- I hope I get the angle to cut it though- give that picture of the grate another 1/4" all around and that's how big of a space I have to work in.

 

And darn it, got superglue on the outside of the tank after my hand was in the tank securing the flowerpot, I had water on the outside so I so I WIPED IT down, then discovered I just wiped superglue down with it. Now in the DIY section i'm asking how to remove the glue.

 

I did though buy a 10 gallon w/ hood at Petsmart today for $20. I'm thinking it will either be a quarantine tank or a refugium for the 20L.

[gena]

Dogs are the best! I need to take both of mine into the groomers. They aren't scheduled until next week but I'm going to try to get them in tomorrow or sometime this week. Just discovered they have fleas This hot humid weather has really brought the fleas out. Went to the vet this morning for flea medicine. That's the ONLY downside to having a dog, the fleas.

 

I hope you figure out how to remove the superglue. Oh....I like the sounds of a fuge for your 20L.

[FlowerMama]

Took a picture earlier this morning just when I turned on the stock light and under my 1 acan I found 5 babies! I never noticed any before because during the day the one acan head swells and covers the whole thing, just about touching the ground so they were under the canopy of it. The only difference I've had is 5/25 I got Seachum Fuel and I put a couple eye drops of it in with every water change. From 4/9 to 5/25 there wasn't any growth that I could see. I think the Fuel works, you just don't want a lot.

 

 

 

 

[FlowerMama]

Dogs are the best! I need to take both of mine into the groomers. They aren't scheduled until next week but I'm going to try to get them in tomorrow or sometime this week. Just discovered they have fleas This hot humid weather has really brought the fleas out. Went to the vet this morning for flea medicine. That's the ONLY downside to having a dog, the fleas.

 

I hope you figure out how to remove the superglue. Oh....I like the sounds of a fuge for your 20L.

 

So, Hagen was examining the hooded light that came w/ the 10 g that I WILL be making into a refugium for the 20. It doesn't have anything separating the light from the water but I do have a sheet of acrylic that I can use and cover the tank on the ledge that holds the light fixture.

 

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Since I know absolutely nothing about a refugium: I found the following screw-ins. Would any one of these work for growing macro and has anyone used them?

• Aqueon Mini Compact 50/50 Fluorescent Lamp 10 W bulbs ?
• Zoo Med Reef Sun 50/50 Compact Fluorescent Bulb 10 W- combination of 6,500K trichromatic daylight phosphor and actinic 420 but a lot of reviewers said it burnt out within the month. hmm.

[gena]

Excellent growth on the acan!!!

 

I love your little inspector.

 

I was told that for macro you don't need actinic. They'd grow faster with double daylight. You may choose to put some soft corals in your fuge too though so you'll want the actinic for those. I think either of those bulbs would be fine.

[FlowerMama]

Excellent growth on the acan!!!

 

I love your little inspector.

 

I was told that for macro you don't need actinic. They'd grow faster with double daylight. You may choose to put some soft corals in your fuge too though so you'll want the actinic for those. I think either of those bulbs would be fine.

Excellent. When that time comes I'll buy the bulbs then. I don't know anything about drilling and I know it said the 10 is tempered, I don't know about the 20, I just shoved it away in the closet. Have to do research then on how to make it w/o drilling and connecting the two somehow. probably the 20 will be on the walnut chest I have and the 10 will be on the floor which is 19 inches lower than the top of the chest. At least I have time to research it.

[gena]

Excellent. When that time comes I'll buy the bulbs then. I don't know anything about drilling and I know it said the 10 is tempered, I don't know about the 20, I just shoved it away in the closet. Have to do research then on how to make it w/o drilling and connecting the two somehow. probably the 20 will be on the walnut chest I have and the 10 will be on the floor which is 19 inches lower than the top of the chest. At least I have time to research it.

You just need an overflow if you aren't drilling. Piece of cake

[FlowerMama]

You just need an overflow if you aren't drilling. Piece of cake

I'm sure it is, I just don't know what that is yet except I have read something about baffles, I have leftover acrylic but if that doesn't work I'm sure I can get some glass- would leftover picture frame glass work?

 

Have you seen that tank in one of these threads that has these sexy, sleek, looks like glass output/input? tubes coming up and over the side of the tank? I've never seen it before.

[gena]

Not sure....I'm clueless on that sort of thing. I'd have to research that myself.

 

I think you probably saw rehype's caribbean bommie thread. He had the glass tubes on his tank. Looks very sleek!

[FlowerMama]

Not sure....I'm clueless on that sort of thing. I'd have to research that myself.

 

I think you probably saw rehype's caribbean bommie thread. He had the glass tubes on his tank. Looks very sleek!

YEP- that's the one- that is something else, something to behold, something to desire....

[BattleAthletics]

No measure the baffles of how high you need them and I'd say get glass cut for the baffles. Sometimes the acrylic bowes after a while. What exactly are you doing?

[Angel<3Nanos]

1+ on glass baffles! You can actually just go to a glass shop and they will cut them for you and sometimes they even silicone them for you. And if you just want a fuge then a simple 2 chamber sump will work. But if you are going with a skimmer, then a 3 chamber with a bubble trap will work.

[FlowerMama]

I have a 10 gallon and I have a Aquaticlife Mini Skimmer that's 10.6" h then 3x3. I'd like to have some macros to help cut nutrients and there are many that are so beautiful. Keep some hitchikers in there that I don't need in my main display. I plan on getting live uncured rock and know I'll have a hard cycle that I'm going to try make soft by doing water changes.

 

I won't be drilling. I don't know what fish I'll have yet so I won't know if they need pods or not but they grew in my Evo 8 regardless, have an ample supply every 3 weeks or so. The internal skimmer says min clearance above the water line is 3.75 inches. It's for my 20L I'll be starting in January. I have a heater that I guess could go in there too, right? What is the difference between a fuge and sump?

[FlowerMama]

Bought a new mushroom. Glued it down in the spot I had the yellow ric, removed the ric from the disc and moved him forward. That dang mushroom w/in 5 mins was already loose!!!. Put glue again, put him back, hard to do because they're so light & your hope is that when you flip it over it doesn't go in the wrong spot or get stuck to your hand. I know the parents were the striped blue/green/purple but at least right now I'm loving the color combo here. It better stay.

 

 

AND IT'S UP AND TRYING TO MOVE AROUND. Grr.

 

 

Top view. I'm just loving the color combo here. There's so cute when they're little, like puppies.

 

 

 

[BattleAthletics]

Mushrooms are slimey they Need to go in a container with rubble that way they can hook up themselves

[FlowerMama]

 

Mushrooms are slimey they Need to go in a container with rubble that way they can hook up themselves

I should've tried that. Totally forgot about that, thanks Right now he chose this spot on his own, further back down into a crack. If he remains there then I believe it'll be ok. If it floats out I'll get the rubble and shotglass going.

 

[FlowerMama]

New pics of FTS, top view SPS, right side view and I believe the blip just above the green on the Duncan is a baby? I'm not sure what baby dunce looks like. It's ugly and dark and pouring today and I'd rather watch my fishtank than tv.

 

 

 

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[BattleAthletics]

That par 38 is sweet is it dimmable? It is a baby my 2 polyp Duncan frag grew two heads in a month it's crazy how fast they grow if you feed them mysis.

 

You probably have my favorite evolve 8 tank on here.

[FlowerMama]

That par 38 is sweet is it dimmable? It is a baby my 2 polyp Duncan frag grew two heads in a month it's crazy how fast they grow if you feed them mysis.

 

You probably have my favorite evolve 8 tank on here.

Not dimmable but if I'm home I'll have the stock light on til 3pm and then 3-11 is the Par38 PLUS.

 

Wow, thank you for the compliment. I've tried to balance what I have in there. Once I made my modification to the bottom of the 1st chamber it helped a great deal already- my nitrates went from 7-8 to 5 and hopefully if I can just keep it stable at 5 I'll be happy- at this point at 4 mos I haven't been able to get lower than that with feeding acans, dendro, rock flowr, etc.

 

This is for a different mushroom, my blue one which was hiding in the back on the sand- automatic shotglass holder incorporated!!! That could be a new selling point!!! In the tank I had too much flow so it would flip the mushroom on it's back in the shotglass and to the side of the rubble. Hopefully it'll attach very soon. I don't want there to be a drastic temp difference.

 

[BattleAthletics]

Hey there take a shot!

 

Put a cover on that shot glass and rubberband it. It should be fine inside the water.

 

Thats what I used, I cut it up and tied it down. gives it ample room for flow to enter and reduce detrius in the container.

[FlowerMama]

Hey there take a shot!

 

Put a cover on that shot glass and rubberband it. It should be fine inside the water.

 

Thats what I used, I cut it up and tied it down. gives it ample room for flow to enter and reduce detrius in the container.

 

That is a really good idea. You need to start a helpful hints thread.