theishkid's CAD Lights 34G Mini-II

[theishkid]

No I did that... I've got a vinyl plotter.

[theishkid]

I feel like it's been a while since I had a nice long post, so here goes with some iPhone picture candy!

 

The tank has been doing pretty well the past couple of months. I'm really hoping Steve at inTank can get a basket out pretty quick as I know these sponges aren't the best thing to leave in the back chamber.

 

I'm also still waiting on a replacement light from Dave. I guess there aren't too many people that use legs on a quad so he's had a few problems and we are looking to switch to the dual gooseneck. I'm pretty excited about that as it's what I originally wanted for a cleaner look.

 

I also had a problem with my Cadlights Elite Skimmer. The bracket broke as you can see in the photo.

So they charged me $20 dollars to fix the piece and sent me this wrong piece to fix it.

They ended up sending the right bracket in the end… it just took a while.

I've discovered I have a love hate with Cad. The tank is absolutely beautiful and any problems that you have WILL be resolved eventually. But just don't be in a hurry and don't ever expect anything to be right the first time. I just can't help but wonder how much money they spend reshipping things and fixing orders. You hear about it all the time on the forums. They do seem like really nice guys but double check your work and get it right the first time.

 

 

One other piece of equipment I want to talk about is my new Tripp Lite surge protector that I posted already. If this thing isn't the best $23 bucks I've spent in this hobby I don't know what is. Water changes that go below the pump line, needing to kill the ATO… or whatever the reason to shut something off. It's been so awesome the last two weeks to have this guy here without having to unplug things and look around for the right socket. I also cut vinyl decals so I put my own labels on as you can see. I just can't speak highly enough of this thing... go buy it at amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0068LACFI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

 

As far as an update on livestock… here goes.

I bought a new Pseudochromis diadema. He was only $15 bucks but he is giving the tank a lot of personality. My yellow clown goby seems to hide all the time, but this guy just hangs out and was eating fine a day after I picked him up from the LFS.

 

Here's an updated photo of my Dragon Eye & Watermelon Zoas. The Watermelons did great, but somehow the Dragon Eyes had a couple of polyps fall off the plug and must have died. I don't think the actual zoas were harmed or diseased because I already see a couple new tiny polyps.

I did have some two polyps of Bam Bams and I don't know what happened to those. One wasn't looking so good so I dipped them. One just completely died and then the other one was looking really good but I moved it to a new spot. I guess the current must have popped it off the frag because it's gone.

 

Speaking of those frag plugs… what in the world do you people do with these things? They make the tank look hideous with everything being on plugs. Those were just getting popular when I left the hobby years ago. Back then if you bought a frag it was on a tiny piece of rock that looked nice… it actually went with the rock in your tank. Now everything is on a plug and nothing blends in. I just hate to cut the corals off but I'm gonna have to do something.

 

I don't remember if I've posted these pictures before but here's a Nephtea I bought.

 

And here's a pic of the Frogspawn that's doing really well. It was starting to split into two heads when I bought it. And now it's starting to split into three heads.

 

Then the other day I picked up this beautiful little Green Toadstool Leather frag.

 

And when I was there buying the leather they finally had some Rock Flower Anemones in and they were on sale. This isn't the greatest color… even in person. But I've been wanting one of these even before I got back into the hobby.

 

Here's an updated pick of my Green Star Polyps. They are really doing good and branching on to the rock I put them on.

 

I had also bought some of the longer xenia at a swap I went to a while back but I just didn't like it that much. I like the smaller pom pom xenia way more. So I sold this guy here.

 

And then two days later someone locally was giving away small frags of the pom pom that I do like so it worked out awesome! Here's a quick video as if no one has ever seen xenia before.

 

I also know that I've shown this plate coral before.

But last night I gave it some Reef Nutrition Oyster Feast.

and it ballooned up like crazy!

 

The whole tank really went kind of crazy. Here's a small video of it last night.

 

So that's basically it. I've got a little trip to make early December so I think I'm going to hold off on getting anything else livestock wise. I really want a clam so I think end of December/early January would be a good time to start looking into that.

With the cold here in Oklahoma I think I need to go ahead and finally purchase that second 75 watt neotherm heater. I was hoping I could get by with one and I can in the summer but I'm trying to hold the temp at 78 and it's getting down lower than that with only one.

 

I'm also thinking about getting a Dropcam for the tank for when I'm gone on my trip. Is anyone using something like this?

[theishkid]

I'm back from my trip to NYC. It was a blast but I'm glad to be back home...

For my trip I got a Dropcam Pro camera. I'm not happy with the quality so I took it back to Walmart, but here is a time-lapse of my tank while I was gone.

 

 

 

 

Also before I left I borrowed my cousins 105mm macro lens and tried taking a few shots... here's what I came up with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[husonfirst]

Nice pics. What kind of camera are you using?

[theishkid]

Nice pics. What kind of camera are you using?

Nikon D300 and I borrowed my cousins 105mm Nikkor Micro

[theishkid]

[D Z]

Cool vid!

[theishkid]

Been forever since I posted something… here's a shot I took over the weekend.

[rdck99]

Really digging the scape.

[akarch]

Thanks for the detailed thread. I've been considering a cadlights tank.

[theishkid]

It's a pretty nice setup for a small tank. Although some of my favorite things about this tank are the custom stand that my friend made. The only thing I'm not really really happy about is the skimmer. I'll try to take some updated pictures this weekend.

[SouthFlorida_Tron]

Careful with that Oyster Feast, you can blow your tank up 0-100 real quick, real quick!