metrokat Posted September 7, 2015 Share Posted September 7, 2015 aww. I understand. That rabbitfish tho.... Link to comment
lkoechle Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 aww. I understand. That rabbitfish tho.... And wasn't she an adorable little squish? Its like looking back at baby pictures. "Did you really look like that? I don't remember that..." Link to comment
lkoechle Posted September 8, 2015 Author Share Posted September 8, 2015 So after trying to decide what tank I would like next, I've come to a conclusion that everyone should link a series of photos of their set up to their first post. I have never used that code before, but I am going to try it after posting this. Especially for threads like mine that are started when the tank hasn't even been built, I think it would be easier for people to see and get ideas from or show our ideas to others (I was showing my mother in law ziareefer's tank and I had to search and search through his thread for what I was looking for which gave me the idea for this specific post. EVERYONE SHOULD DO IT!) So here we go Whole display look: Totally open: All three panels are removable, ATO, DOS, and battery back ups are housed in the bookcase. Removed panels. They are held up by heavy duty photo "cleats" we got from Lowes. Excuse the dirty dining room, we are reorganizing the basement. Close up of sump: Yes, skimmer needs to be cleaned... Sump overhead with camera and power strip: Power bar is for equipment not plugged into the EB8 and is plugged into the GFCI outlet. Camera has night vision and is there so if we are out of town and there is an issue, the sitter can show us what is happening. "Upstairs" camera and vortech and apex controls: Upstairs camera is positioned to view the area where the auto feeder drops so we can check on fish and a do a "count" while we're away. Electrical mounting board: This where all Apex modules and the ATO controller are housed. It keeps the plugs and equipment safe and our warranty intact (your warranty is void if there is any sign of water damage when you send it in to Neptune) Inside the bookcase: On the top shelf is the UPS for the wireless adapter for the Apex and EB8 as well as the battery back up for the vortech pumps. The second shelf houses the TOM aqualifter pump for the ATO and the DOS as well as various aquarium supplies. The third shelf houses two 5 gallon ATO reservoirs (you can see the tubing running from the front, up the back and between the shelf to the pump) and BRS slim 1 gallon jugs for Seachem's Part 1 and 2 for the DOS. The tubing for all of these the run out a back hole in the bookcase, behind the stand and to the sump. The bookcases are IKEA Billy bookcases and with the doors, they work phenomenally for housing excess equipment. Our main goals for this tank was: Maximum automation to reduce workload on us and sitters since we travel Maximum security against losing stock due to power failures (our area has a lot for some reason) Look like a piece of furniture instead a gathering of equipment AND NOW THAT'S DONE: A photo dump and new FTS Katropora has been looking pale. The growth is great as you can see, same with polyp extension and polyp coloring, but lacking when viewed from the front of the tank but it's still fairly green from the top down view. I'm thinking a potassium deficiency since some of my other blue corals are not as blue as they used to be. I bought some Aquavitro Vibrance, but I don't have a test kit yet so it hasn't been used. I've got the Red Sea Coral Color test kit in my amazon cart though... Just gotta pull the trigger. Why oh why do those stupid test kits have to be so expensive??? Link to comment
metrokat Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Or it could be nitrates, Markalot swears the Kat loves nitrates. Your setup is incredible. I love it. Link to comment
lkoechle Posted September 8, 2015 Author Share Posted September 8, 2015 Or it could be nitrates, Markalot swears the Kat loves nitrates. Your setup is incredible. I love it. Thanks. It's our pride and joy. Next to our child(ren) of course... I'll have to test for nitrates. I'd be really surprised if not enough were the issue... Link to comment
RollaJase Posted September 9, 2015 Share Posted September 9, 2015 Sweet life support system. My new reef has been designed very similarly but with less automation (Apex gear is a crap load expensive in Aus). Link to comment
Sk8n Reefer Posted September 10, 2015 Share Posted September 10, 2015 Great pics of the set up- love the sump and the hard tube plumbing ? looking good! Link to comment
lkoechle Posted September 13, 2015 Author Share Posted September 13, 2015 Well, coral beauty died It never really ate with gusto no matter what I put in (angel cubes, mysis, brine shrimp, roe, seaweed) It liked roe, but never was really eating. I was hoping it was picking enough at the rocks, but I guess not. A couple days ago it started hiding for no reason (although my husband thinks he startled it one morning by shining a light in the tank at like 4 am, I forget what he was checking on, I think it was frags he had done the day before). But, I've been worried about it's lack of gusto eating. I know no fish was picking on it, since even my mandy is able to eat with the group when I throw roe in and they're all a pretty docile crew. Only the wrasses get into it every now and then with food involved. Life happens I guess. We're waiting a month or two before getting another or possibly a golden assesor basselet to make sure nothing is wrong with anyone else. I'm 99% sure it starved to death but you know... better safe than sorry. It will also let some of our SPS frags grow out more so maybe we can do a straight coral for fish trade. But yeah, sad day. On the upside I purchased a Mosasaur tooth in a matrix so its more like mosasaur tooth plus jaw fragments as well as a trilobite fossil. Denver has the largest fossil show in the US and it opened today. I'll post pictures later. It's really cool and still has some of the beaded seration on the tooth that is normally lost during fossilization. Mosasaur is my all time favorite marine reptile. When I was in elementary school I even made up a song about it titled "Mosey the Mosasaur" and have also sewn a couple stuffed Mosasaurs. So I'm pretty stoked to have this fossil. It's not the best, it's not the most expensive (unlike the $1k nearly complete lower jaw *drool* or the $40k nearly complete juvenile skeleton that was there last year *more drool*) but it's mine! Oh, and my anemone eats WHOLE silversides now. Not gonna lie, its kind of terrifying because it can do it in about a half hour. It used to take an hour for a half of a silverside... But it's all bubbly tipped and happy now. Link to comment
lkoechle Posted September 14, 2015 Author Share Posted September 14, 2015 So... yeah... Made an impulse buy yesterday... Said I wasn't going to... But... well, it happened. Kind of like kids... They're like "Bad decision? Oh, Hai!" <--Not really, but neither of mine were technically planned and alcohol was involved and I'm the responsible one in my marriage...so yeah, moving on...-- But I stand buy my purchase! And what was my mysterious have-to-have-possibly-goaded-on-by-two-ignorant-shoppers-also-eyeballing-this-fish-and-asking-newb-questions-but-still-going-to-buy *takes a breath* fish? A MALE TARGET MANDARIN! Seriously, can you blame me? I hardly ever find these guys and when I do, they are in the LFS display tank and they're all like "nope, that one's ours." PLUS, just while entertaining the idea <-first mistake- I asked the LFS guy to feed him <-second mistake- The guy fed him mysis <-third mistake, but not really my fault- And HE ATE! <-sold- And then some chicks who were complaining about how they couldn't keep mushrooms alive... seriously... start eyeballing him. "Oh, what a pretty fish." "What is it?" "Well, we can buy it now and research it later..." Me: Me $26 and five minutes later: So you see, my hands were tied. He has a much better chance with me who can keep mushrooms alive and has a tank full of pods. OH OH OH, and the best part???? He started eating hunting as soon as I finished acclimating. AND BETTER PART? He ate sweetfish roe, flying fish roe, and mysis that night and this morning End of story. NOW PHOTOS! Acclimating Exploring Luna-P In Love Also did fragging. I think I need a frag rack... I feel like I've exploded in corals Fragged some zoa colonies and glued them to "zoa island" My blue hornets still haven't opened up yet and same with a couple others, but most everyone seems to like the new digs. The accidental rainbow poccilopora frag seems to be doing well. Hubby bumped it while putting zoa island back in the tank. What's surprising, is my colony I've always thought was rather small, you can't even tell this frag is missing. And Woodhouse was very social. And that's it. Link to comment
metrokat Posted September 14, 2015 Share Posted September 14, 2015 Oh GAWD how dang cute are these 2 Keep the lid on!!! they can and will jump if they do their rises. Link to comment
lkoechle Posted September 14, 2015 Author Share Posted September 14, 2015 Oh GAWD how dang cute are these 2 Keep the lid on!!! they can and will jump if they do their rises. They are. And they follow each other around all over, it's too cute. The tank is covered with a screen made from BRS mesh and window frames. So they are covered, literally. We made it a while ago after my solar wrasse taught me plexi glass will eventually bow and then make escape holes. Link to comment
RollaJase Posted September 15, 2015 Share Posted September 15, 2015 Such a cute couple . Link to comment
lkoechle Posted March 10, 2016 Author Share Posted March 10, 2016 It has been a long time. There has been a new arrival! This is Evelyn (Eve) Sue with my husband and her big brother and she is part of the reason I have been so absent She was born at the end of January Sadly, we are moving this summer to Florida from Colorado. I'm really excited. I grew up in Florida, I really miss my family and the ocean (obviously, homesickness is why I got into this hobby). BUT that means this beautiful tank can't go with me. So, I'm selling it on my local board and if anyone here is from colorado, PM me if you're interested. We had planned on this tank being around for years and had discussed getting a rimless starfire made or upgrading to a 150. A lot of time and thought has been put into this (at least from newb-ish perspective I don't consider myself a true newb but I'm far from being an expert in my limited experience). And I consider it a great success. It has taught me a lot. This is the third saltwater tank I've had and it was my most well thought out one and built on what I had learned with my nano and my pico. It was the first time I had kept SPS and the first time I kept an anemone (which split). Overall, I consider it to be a very successful tank and so it's very heartbreaking to see it go. Anyways, these are some photos I took for its sales ad. Kat, any input on the Katropora? The polyps are blue still extend magnificently, as you can see there's been a ton of growth, but I can't seem to make its color become anymore vivid, its not bleached, just very light. Untitled-2 by lkoechle, on Flickr DSC_0503 by lkoechle, on Flickr DSC_0525 by lkoechle, on Flickr I will probably cry when I sell this fish. She is by far my favorite fish I have ever owned. DSC_0522 by lkoechle, on Flickr DSC_0511 by lkoechle, on Flickr DSC_0506 by lkoechle, on Flickr DSC_0505 by lkoechle, on Flickr Link to comment
Orangutran Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 congrats on the new arrival! Link to comment
4x5 Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Congrats on the new addition, so sweet. Link to comment
lkoechle Posted March 15, 2016 Author Share Posted March 15, 2016 congrats on the new arrival! Congrats on the new addition, so sweet. Thanks guys! So, I thought Luna-P (my mandarin) was dead. She has been missing for well over a month. And if she wasn't missing because she was dead, I was fairly certain she'd be dead because she was missing. I don't think I have a lot of pods in my tank so she gets fed sweetfish roe. But since she's missing, I'm not feeding, etc you get the picture. So, sad me. Well, I decided to do something different yesterday with frozen feeding, I soaked their fish mash in SELCO Boost because I had found an unopened bottle and also found an unopened package of PE mysis. So, I mixed all that together and as soon as it hits the water, out pops Luna-P from a hole in the LR. I immediately turned on Luna-P's feed mode (I just have pumps dialed back for feeding big fish so Luna-P has her own "pumpless" setting), and was going to go find some fish eggs until I saw her eating the mysis. She ate at least 5 small PE mysis. Today, she ate 7 and when I thought she was done, I turned the pumps back on. EXCEPT appareantly she wanted the shrimp that was too big for her that a nass had snagged. I missed videoing the tug of war (I was on the phone with my husband relaying the current Luna-P update, you can see she is terribly skinny) between her and the nass, but I did get her picking at the shrimp. Hopefully, with her new found food, I can get weight back on her. She has a nice little pot belly now but so skinny Link to comment
markalot Posted March 15, 2016 Share Posted March 15, 2016 For the Katropora, try and get nitrates to at least 5. Best color for me was at 15 to 20 but other corals tend to brown at that level. Congrats on the little one, good luck with the move! Link to comment
DrCooper Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Just found this thread. Amazing build. Love the camera idea with night vision. Congrats on your new born! Following for sure Link to comment
lkoechle Posted April 5, 2016 Author Share Posted April 5, 2016 Just found this thread. Amazing build. Love the camera idea with night vision. Congrats on your new born! Following for sure You won't be following for long. It's being sold. Most of my equipment is already sold and so is my rabbitfish and some corals. I still have everything, but it will probably be the end in 3 weeks or so. We're moving to Florida. Link to comment
DrCooper Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Ahhh! Sorry to hear it is coming to an end! Florida is great, moved to Miami myself 4 years ago. Good luck with the move Link to comment
lkoechle Posted May 17, 2016 Author Share Posted May 17, 2016 And the tank is all sold and parted out But we'll be back! Link to comment
lkoechle Posted May 18, 2016 Author Share Posted May 18, 2016 AND WE'RE BACK! Sort of. lol We just ordered a IM Lagoon 25 with our LFS store credit. It won't be setup for 9 months or so. lol We failed so hard at getting out. Link to comment
Benny314 Posted May 18, 2016 Share Posted May 18, 2016 Well you managed at least 24 hours.............. Link to comment
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