40B Tang Hangout

[4x5]

Haha, I've done that as well. Your corals should be fine, you'd know by now if they weren't.

[GHill762]

Haha, I've done that as well. Your corals should be fine, you'd know by now if they weren't.

Lol, made me feel like a noob.. I was like WTH!!?! I've left the skimmer off before but that's not a big deal, leaving my MPs off was a first for me

[Halo_003]

Looks amazing so far GHill! Just finished catching up on it just now.

[Nano sapiens]

Congrats on the July NTOTM feature! I like the use of 'negative space' in this 'scape.

[ninjamyst]

wow, that frogspawn colony is massive! what a show piece! congrats on TOTM

[GHill762]

Thanks guys! The TOTM message from CM really caught me off guard, never saw that coming.

 

Ninja, that frog started out as a single head in my first tank 4 years ago, it did well in my old tank but it's really exploded in my 40. Unfortunately I'm going to have to deal with its size at some point and either get rid of stuff to make room for it or start cutting it up. The last time I measured it (maybe a month and a half ago) it was over 9" in diameter.. I've had to create a new foot for it with epoxy putty, as well as a new foot for my torch which has taken off lately, they both kept falling over, the frog already had a putty foot I made a while back but it wasn't big enough to hold it up anymore.

 

I'm going to try using Kalk in my top off, I'm starting at .5tsp/g, I'm hoping for a little more stability. I also just put some miracle mud in my sump, we'll see how that goes.

[GHill762]

 

 

[ninjamyst]

I have a hammer that keeps falling over too. Great idea on creating a foot for it!

[GHill762]

I have a hammer that keeps falling over too. Great idea on creating a foot for it!

yeah, I just took an epoxy stick and shaped it into a wide flat base and squeezed it around the base of the frogspawn. would probably be easier to form a foot and let it cure outside the tank, then attach it once it's cured solid. I had an issue with the heavy frogspawn falling over and bending the putty all out of shape before it was cured. I could probably get a pic of that the next time I'm doing tank maintenance.

[GHill762]

I have a hammer that keeps falling over too. Great idea on creating a foot for it!

Hopefully you can see what I did here

 

[Bldgengineer]

Congrats on TOTM! I've been lurking on this thread for while so I thought I'd finally pop in

[markalot]

Well deserved, congrats on totm, really glad to see this one get picked!

[ninjamyst]

Hopefully you can see what I did here

I will have to try that. Thanks!!!

[HuyHa114]

So what did you do to get rid of that gross gooey stuff?

[GHill762]

So what did you do to get rid of that gross gooey stuff?

Lots of water changes siphoning out as much as I could, stopped VC dosing, stopped using filter socks, beefed up cleanup crew, reduced feeding, etc.. I think it was a bacterial growth fueled by the vitamin c.

[jtwisconsin]

Congrats on TOTM - your tank looks awesome!

 

I used your tank as design inspiration on my 40B including the GH overflow and Curve 5 skimmer.

[GHill762]

Congrats on TOTM - your tank looks awesome!

 

I used your tank as design inspiration on my 40B including the GH overflow and Curve 5 skimmer.

Thank you!

do you have a tank thread?

[jtwisconsin]

Thank you!

do you have a tank thread?

No I haven't created one for any of my tanks. I meant to do so but just never got around to it.

 

I built a custom all in one tank out of a 40B to replace my original 40B/20L sump that was modeled after your tank. I have been happy with this design, but it is down in my basement and lately I just never spend any time around it. Consequently it has been seriously neglected and I plan to take it down this summer.

 

My plan is to upgrade my 6 gallon work tank to a larger AIO this summer. After four tanks I think that 20 gallons is just the right size for me, I can combine what I have from both tanks into it, and since it will be on my desk it will get plenty of attention. I planned to finally do a tank thread for this build at the end of summer.

[clink51]

congrats on TOTM! would you be able to tell me what retro kit u used for the t5's and any possible instructions?

[GHill762]

congrats on TOTM! would you be able to tell me what retro kit u used for the t5's and any possible instructions?

Thanks!

 

It's not really a retro kit, it's sunblaster t5ho grow strips, they come with clips to mount them to something, I mounted them to my reefbreeders unit. And they can be run in a chain, so one light plugs in to the timer and the second light has a short wire connecting it to the first light.

 

http://www.sunblasterlighting.com/grow-lighting/

 

I ordered them on Amazon. I've been told they're not the best fixture as far as output (ie they supposedly don't actually run rated wattage), but they're supplemental light not my primary light and they're doing just fine for me and I've had them on for about a year and a half now , if I was going to do it all over again I'd do the exact same thing (maybe 36" rather than 24). I would also likely rivet the clips in place rather than use bolts/nuts but it works.

[GHill762]

No I haven't created one for any of my tanks. I meant to do so but just never got around to it.

 

I built a custom all in one tank out of a 40B to replace my original 40B/20L sump that was modeled after your tank. I have been happy with this design, but it is down in my basement and lately I just never spend any time around it. Consequently it has been seriously neglected and I plan to take it down this summer.

 

My plan is to upgrade my 6 gallon work tank to a larger AIO this summer. After four tanks I think that 20 gallons is just the right size for me, I can combine what I have from both tanks into it, and since it will be on my desk it will get plenty of attention. I planned to finally do a tank thread for this build at the end of summer.

did you get a new puppy? I see your avatar changed.. she's cute! chocolate lab?

[jtwisconsin]

did you get a new puppy? I see your avatar changed.. she's cute! chocolate lab?

I figured I would post up a pic of one of our pets instead of car avatars.

 

That is our chocolate lab Aspen when we brought her home two years ago. She is a ball of energy and thankfully outgrowing the destruction phase. I nicknamed her "The Aspinator" as a combination of her name "Aspen" and "The Terminator" because she would destroy everything in sight.

[GHill762]

I figured I would post up a pic of one of our pets instead of car avatars.

 

That is our chocolate lab Aspen when we brought her home two years ago. She is a ball of energy and thankfully outgrowing the destruction phase. I nicknamed her "The Aspinator" as a combination of her name "Aspen" and "The Terminator" because she would destroy everything in sight.

labs are a ball of energy.. our chocolate lab will go run 5 or 6 miles with me then still have energy to play with other dogs or terrorize the house

[Orangutran]

Congrats on totm! Tank looks great!! And I'm leaning towards copying your idea with the sunblasters, to get rid of the shadowing mainly. So you are happy with the coral plus bulb?

[GHill762]

Congrats on totm! Tank looks great!! And I'm leaning towards copying your idea with the sunblasters, to get rid of the shadowing mainly. So you are happy with the coral plus bulb?

yep, I really like the color of it and I think it's more important to run a full spectrum bulb as supplement for LED vs running something like blue or violet which LED already does a great job of covering. If there was another bulb I would use it would likely be something like purple plus or Fiji purple.

 

I actually just replaced the first set at 1.5 years.. probably would have been a bigger deal if they were my primary light source but I didn't have any issues.