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A gravity run system by 2 cats.


Basile

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When did you start this tank?

The tank was started on may 2013 , the water was put in dec 27 2013 . I'm doing this build up thread because i'm always asked a lot of question about it in other sites . So this way people can go about in the thread and look for answers in it with pictures and all. I've copied it from my primary thread so some post are weird lol like i said in the OP its an account of the original build up. i'm almost at the end actually lol.

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Sometimes you come across these weird deals and you just go with it.


I was going for crabs and hermith because i had to get rid of my buddy. My seahare was getting too big and was eating all my macroalgaes now . He got a good portion of it before i found a good home for him; of course i just didn't dump it on the street like a homeless hobo, poor little guy. He was one of my favorites. He got a great home a huge fuge full of useless macro to eat , about 75 LB of it no kidding lol so he's good lol. plus the guy gave him some dried algaes and he eats it too. I hate to see the coffin lol....


Ok so anyway i went for hermiths to replace buddy and came across this


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Either a Comanthina schlegelii or a Antedon mediterranea ; Both particules eaters and very difficult to keep. The store owner knows my tank and practically begged me to take it.


She apparently had more arms when she came in but these species when confronted with food shortages eat their own arms. and shrink to death how poetic. So i did at the condition to get 50% off an aligator pipefish that i'd seen earlier lol . So i got what i wanted.


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This is her before she disapeared, they are night crawlers AGAIN... yes i'm good at picking those lol. Since i dose multiple supliments of planktonic sizes for my sponges, gorgonians, my NPS and clam ;she does have a chance. Time will tel.


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I also pick up another strange fella, a Dardanus megistos hermit;White-spot Hermit


Range: Indo-Pacific Ocean


Natural Environment: Shallow lagoons and bays


General Husbandry: Has a temperature range of 70 to 83°F (28.33°C) (21 - 28°C). Not suited for the reef aquarium as it will eat small invertebrates, and constantly on the search for food day and night. Will often attach stinging anemones to their shell to protect from predators


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His name is KEVLARR a good KLINGON name for my 6 foot long overflow he's perfect. And entertaining. At $9 it was a steal and only 4 were available so i picked one up for a friend of mine who has the same overflows. They had never received that kind of hermith before and didn't know too much and i knew that they would be badly treated. so i gave all the info to the manager.


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About 2"1/2 now he'll reach his 4" wide in a few years


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I've got some spare shells for him already.


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My buddy takes him in his hand to watch the hockey game , its his mascott. I'm not that personal with mine he stays in the water.


By the way my lionfish that took 9months to become visible during daytime, now eats , everyday , daytime and sometime twice a day no less....


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A worm that i'm trying to ID furry little bugger,I found it...its a Cirratulid worm. they're everywhere, in the tank, seem to be doing a good job.


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A very bright morning and i took some pictures, very natural colors;


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Did a bit of a photo shoot when i saw my feather seastar right in front of my sculpture, under the plates. Tonight i'll be doing a survey to see how she eats and behave.


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My Foxface here all puffed up , called him Mulder, Fox


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A new commer blue moon, he had ich, i left him in , he got over it! And so did i. Good nutrition + vitamins, no QT, i'm finished with that nonesense. Big "Z" on the left.


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A new commer as well


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He's very inquisitive and funny to watch. Doesn't have a name yet.


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My new cleaner wrasse, she digs my home made food very well. In the store i asked the guy to feed her with flakes in front of me before buying it. For $18 she made a good clean up of the other guys too, even the file fish gets his skin cleaned up lol.


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One of the natural sponge from the spawning of my yellow sponge ball .


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  • 2 weeks later...
I'm finally sober......




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Any way these Holidays have been hard on my tank buddies. Not sure what the hell happened. Two of my chromis died and my mate fish or file fish. The later jumped for i don't know why, usually not a jumper.



One of the chromis was totally clean no indication as of what the second had some bruising, i suspect the clowns or the nem. The clowns had spawned earlier and were very agressive.



Then i killed by accident one of my seahorses when i cleaned my fuge by redirecting the flow and causing the weeds to tangle his tail in them. He got stuck and well died, without me noticing for several day. I feal awfull. Something to think about when you go about cleaning your fuge with seahorses.


And 2 days ago one of my huge cleaner shrimp died too after 11 months. So its a hard beginning for 2015


Any way here a small clip, of my new acquisition. Its a bad focus video sorry about that but its was on the fly, she doesn't deploy usually during the day.







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jedimasterben

So we are finally up to speed and where the tank is at 'now'? Sweet :)

 

Happy new year, hopefully it goes up from the setbacks over the holidays!

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So we are finally up to speed and where the tank is at 'now'? Sweet :)

 

Happy new year, hopefully it goes up from the setbacks over the holidays!

 

 

Not quite yet i still have a few months behing to post but we're or i should say its almost there , lol.

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By far best thread on this site IMO.

Thanks guys i'll be posting the latest this weekend i guess, a bit busy with the Holidays, still winning my way out of it LOL

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And thanks for the kind words too.

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Current FTS of all the tanks??

Ok as i said i'm still winning out and this should of been with the other post, whats going on whats happening. I stopped drinking but the special effects are still going on......

 

yes

Yes your right as well. I'm not drunk, its just that everybody else is sober!

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Feeding time at my place, sorry for the glass i didn't clean that day....


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A new comer just hanging in there


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When i say everyboby's out i mean everybody , the cleaner wrasse is the one who seem to be designated to break up the big frozen piece in morcels for the other who're patiently waiting side by side. No arguments or bikering


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Yes he's big and he lets himself be clean by the wrasse, and she pounds him , bang i can see the whole body ripple, lol and he just stays put waiting for the job to be done. Buying that cleaner wrasse last week was one of my best buy i think.


She cleaned up the Hyppo tang of his spots( maybe i'm exagerating lol) but the ich is gone, my convic tang is no longer brushing up againts the sand, she must of clip what ever was bothering him. My Foxface has calmed down , i'm sure he was bothered by something; parasites or otherwise. The wrasse even cleans the filefish, well now he's so fat he's a filecabinet fish, and she eats flakes and the home made food as well. So i'm happy.





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The DC pumps i chose a year ago had a bad wrap all over and for cause mine stopped working one after another and had to be replaced, so as all other customer of Coralvue i asked for a replacement of my deffective pumps, and got it no problem.


From that


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To that, much better.


ReefOctopusRODC5500ControllableWaterPump


I installed it no problem and for the long run to the refugium the full power was a great upgrade since the 3500 was barely enough ; but with the 5500 it makes a better circulation.


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For the main tank however i started at level 2 which incidently was about the same flow as the 3500 as before. So i went to level 3, with a cool breeze in the tank, 4, with a nice wind, lol , and at leve5 well the whirlwind in there was just too much, even the snail had the white flag....


So brought it down to 3 which seemed ok at the time , however i notice that the drain section was spitting an awfull lot and the creep was all over the floor, so i whent back to level 2. i may put a plate of plexiglass over that area later on to be able to push it to 3.






Unexpected show today







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Found new life;


A turnicate under the skirt of my fox coral



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This guy is dancing in the corner,lol


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My little angler is puffing up with all thoses pods;


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My dragon face pipefish is stalking this bush lol.


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The feather star is doing so so.


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Well for those who have red my thread they'll think i'm obsessing over this, but with reason after you've seen the pictures.


He came to me in a little bag measuring 14 inch long


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And this was is first step in the front lawn


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Now this morning he got out for the first time in 2 months


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Taking some rays early this morning


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The NPS zone basking in the sun quite the spectacle, the flame scallop wasn't impressed.


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It was moving so i thought it was his head, turns out the pellet was a dead give away the ass was near.


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I've seen other cukes and i must say this one has a better texture and color than most.


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Little pods are racing along his spine


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And little white file worms are climbing from behind.


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Here we see his pellet from his pit


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As we all know it started from Sh..


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As he stretched his legs , i beg the question why


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At 25 " the competition make me feel inadequate.


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i'm not a poet i'm just desperate.


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When is he going to split


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Before i have a fit!






Before the lights came on the sun came up and i shot these;


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A crinoid, featherseastar


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A polyp incrusting a sponge, living in a symbiotic relationship. The polyp can catch bigger particule that helps feeds the sponge as well. The polyp is actually one single animal digging canals into the sponge between each polyps , as it grows it will eventually destroy the sponge.


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Some loose all beauty when exposed to the real light of the sun;


Like these, which we are use to see under artificial light and that we pay so much for......


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While other keep their full beauty no matter what, and you wonder why since they're destin for darkness.




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A bit of build up today.


I wanted to dose my mixture of ;


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That i mix every week in a bottle but have to keep refrigerated all week and dose 3 times a day at 20ml each time with a turkey baster. So the refrigeration would of met to buy a whole fridg for a smal bottle and a whole new doser to put inside the fridge, 2 additional plug sockets and a lot of room space wasted not to mention the electricty bill for a full flecge frig.


So i did it my own style, i present the James Bond version, if you like the Dom Pérignon doser;


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If your going to do it do it in style i had an old wine cooler, never used,lol 2014 was a good year!


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Compact! energy efficient and stylish! Hey the stuff in it is a good brew and is about the right price for a Dom Pérignon...... spare no expense.....


Here at inovotech we aim to inovate!!!:blob:


By the way, i can chill the vodka pretty quick ....

This is a perfect set up for a drunk and his tank lol , no honey i wasn't drinking i was dosing lol


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Almost a year already!!



Yes a year ago i had the big


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Kick OFF thats right; and its wasn't always fun and games;


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Although i had planed most of my build, their was lots of;


pulling;


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Dropping


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Breaking and running


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Screaming;


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Pulling and screaming


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even slapping around


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But with lots of experimentation and daring


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i got there eventualy.


It took some capital


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This hobby is already full of danger as it is


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I'd like to thank every body here who took the time to help me and share


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Knowledge or frienship


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Or just a good laugh


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and without futher do( i'm waiting on the maid to finish cleaning)


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Here come my update video for the year 2014


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Ah Made it!!


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Thanks for the kind words lol ;


I have to dose iron every day , because of the size of my refugium , but also because of the volume of macroalgaes i have.


i found out that are iron test and testing methods are not reliable and not necessary, for 2 reason.



1- The test on the market today aren't sensitive enough to detect what we have or dose in are tank today.


2- What ever we dose is absored within 35 minutes of dosing so it becomes useless to test after that.


Iron is used by algaes principally in the photosynthesis for breathing purposes. When you only have a bit of algaes the oxygen in the water is enough. However when you have the amount i have iron becomes necessary if you want your macros, to survive.


I have to dose every day, by hand. because i would have to put too much in my mix, i do put the Kent one ; because it has some Manganeese in it and its needed for the algaes as well. But the bulk of the iron comes from manual dosing. Which in my case is 20ml every day. Its a catalyst for nitrates and phosphates as well otherwise they're unusable by the algaes.




Many ask me why did i do or where did i get the idea for a stalactite in the fist place. The more cynical just say stalactite don't exist in the water.


i got the inspiration from these;


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I think mine is pretty acurate.....



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And i got the NPS zone from these;


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So i think i've combine the two stalactite and NPS pretty good, from nature's point of view.


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Weel this week i made a tour de force . I had a chili coral for a few months and at the beginning he was fine and was opening ok. An NPS coral that opens up after the low light deminishes and expands his beautifull white polyps .


It had been almost 2 weeks without any extension of the polyps and i was getting worried. So i talked to my LFS who sold it to me, and he said chili corals are mostly hanging upside down in caves and prefer it that way. So with a pound of putty which i so hate to use i did my thing helped with Cg ecotech coral glue, i use both and set it up.



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side down


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The problem , when they don't open is that they don't feed and regress and can waste away and die.


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Before, setting hi up i checked him and he was being eaten by bristle worms , he had scars and open gashes, between fingers.


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So being suspended made a whole difference within an hour he opend up , as the swell they become filled with water and get heavier too so it hard to stabilize them that way. But it worked.


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At 200 magnefication


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Got a microscope and well made a video, actually a few lol .


you can check my new thread " My microscope" i'll be posting my picture ther and videos there .


At 60 magnefication;


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This is right out of ALIENS its a calcified nudibranch on a euphilia
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We lost contact .....it was eating my euphilias.
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WE ARE HERE FINALY UP TO DATE 2015
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Capri Italy
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New Zealand

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Australian Chopper

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Waitamo Caves

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Yes i'm one of the goones in there we're going too deep for pictures now 2 km in fact. Were the glow worm lives.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I hope your not removing all the worms in your tank because they do and excellent job at cleaning the excess foods before it becomes a nitrate problem, and they do not cause any problems to any corals thats a myth by amateurs who don't like worms and see them taking food particules and debris stuck in corals. I remove occasionally the super huge ones, like i say if i can see them a food long lol time to go .

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Hadn't caught up with you for awhile. Sorry about the set back at the start of the year, especially your seahorse, but glad it's back on track. You have a lot of cool creatures.

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Did a treatment, flat worm treatment with flat morm exit changed 30 gallons of water , worms seems to be all dead will se effect on the rest of the tank. the dosing was restricted to the refugium because with my gate valves i can isolate both my refugiums and the main tank. So while i treated the refugium i could still pump and filter the main reef. When i restarted the refugium i just stopped the pumps to the main reef to give the carbon time to filter out the toxin for an hour before i resume the connection of both system.


I had previously taken my seahorses, my lionfish and my big inverts out of there, and put them in the huge overflow at the back of the main reef. Plenty of room and separators to isolate the lionfish. Now i'm just waiting to see the result and if other casulties will emerge. I had tried all possible natural ways, but they overtook the tank.


Sorry for the long wait not myself these days.

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