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Cultivated Reef

Friar's 20 Galllon -- Still Alive!


friar1

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So, I realized why the water level keeps dropping in the last chamber of the pre-filter... DUH!, Evaporation hehe.

 

Wow, did not expect that much evap that fast. Maybe its more than I should take on. Maybe I should just break down the tank and stick with the 4 Gallon, Maybe I am not supposed to keep a reef tank at all.........

 

 

 

 

 

Nah! B)

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Congrats on the house :)

 

Your tank is looking great. I like your rock work. Evap is a PAIN. I was adding about 3/4 gallon a day to keep my 40B going. Just made myself a ghetto self top off and boy does it make life easier.

 

:)

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Thanks DannaM

 

Yeah, my problem is, I am REALLY scared of flooding from an ATO. Don,t really have room for the reservoir either. I will have to think about this...

 

My SG was waaaay up! hehe forgot to test often. Guess I got too cavalier with the 4 gallon. But the zoas and rics are still alaive, so no harm no foul

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Yep. definitely Evap that was causing the water level in the pre-filter to drop. Nice thing is, it makes it a great place to top off, because I am not pouring fresh water right on top of corals, and temp difference won't matter too much, since I will be pouring into an area that just houses a heater and the filter intake.

So it worked out in the end. I will have make a lid to help reduce evap, but next check maybe



Thanks DannaM

 

Yeah, my problem is, I am REALLY scared of flooding from an ATO. Don,t really have room for the reservoir either. I will have to think about this...

 

My SG was waaaay up! hehe forgot to test often. Guess I got too cavalier with the 4 gallon. But the zoas and rics are still alaive, so no harm no foul

 

I just thought of something..... I could make a box in the room right behind this one (It is a utility room!) Run a hose right to the tank through the wall!... Hmmmm. ..... Still scared about flooding though....

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  • 1 month later...

So, after almost two months, and many adjustments to the lighting, nope, not satisfied! :) I will have to play with the lights some more. What I have now, the corals seem to like, but does not lend itself to picture taking so much. Any way here is an FTS:

small1.jpg

 

Yes I have Fish!

Got a Clown and a high fin Gobie. And, I found a really great Store in So Cal. Vivid Aquarium in Canoga Park, by far the best, cleanest Reef store I have ever been to. I will go back. Prices are reasonable, and nice selection of coral and fish. Also, their Display tank is the Bomb! The pics on their website do not do it justice.

Got a Frog spawn from Unique Coral too. Tried to figure out their feeding response and looks like they are very much like Rics in how they eat. The Frogspawn does not have sweepers that I can see. At night it looks pretty much the same. I thought Frogspawn were supposed to have long sweepers?

 

So, I got the mini Fuge going in the back of the tank. Added some Chaeto and a shaving Brush. It appears to be growing well. We will see. Got all the livestock and rock from the 4 Gallon moved in. I threw away a piece of live rock that was infested with bad algae. But everything else is in the 20 gallon now.

 

Will be changing/refreshing the chemical filter media about once a month. Looks like it is keeping things good for now.

 

I have to say this again. I LOVE emerald Crabs. I got a pair from Vivid and they went to town cleaning my live rock.

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Yeah, vivid is great. The store is really nice and clean. And their large display tank takes your breath away.

Just when I was talking about my emeralds, one died last night. I caught the Brittle Star ripping its legs off! Must have gotten sick. It would not have tolerated the brittle star doing that otherwise!

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Thanks grrl, Yep, the Neon Green variety. That colony has grown a lot since I got it and had it in my 4 Gallon. This is what it looked like with two heads, the one on the bottom towards the left in the 4 Gallon:

 

FTS1.jpg

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This tank looks great! It makes me want to change the scape in my 20h. Have you thought about making a small lid for the prefilter area to keep the evaporation rate down?

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Here are some pics of the "pre-filter" The fuzzy thing on the edge of the middle chamber is a piece of plastic aquarium plant I glued to the edge to keep the chaeto from spilling over into the next chamber. Tested the water last night: 0 Nitrates, 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites. Good so far.

 

pres2.jpg

 

pres1.jpg

 

You can see the chaeto in the bottom:

pres3.jpg

 

 

Here is the end chamber that has the heater and filter intake

pres4.jpg

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I forgot to mention, in the first picture, you can see how the middle refugium chamber is lit. there is a power compact fixture hanging on the edge of the tank and lights up that chamber in a reverse photo period. The other two chambers qnd the rest of the tank in the back there are blacked out with black paint and the whole pre- filter section is made with black acrylic

 

pres2.jpg

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Did water change, fed fish frozen mysis. Watched the Frogspawn eat this time. If I gently squirt some over the frogspawn without the pumps on it closes its tentacles around the food. Not like a duncan.lower maybe. Getting the light more to my liking now. Maybe I can get better pics.. We will see.

Everyone have a great holiday, working or not!

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