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Sam's 36G mixed reef - Turns Two years old!


cowabunga-reefer

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Cencalfishguy56

Got some new corals!

Pretty horrible pictures right now with the iPhone. I'll take some new ones once these coral get a little settled in.

 

Metallic Green Hammer

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Small Yellow Gorgonia and Purple Whip

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Medium size Yellow Gorgonia and Yellow Scroll

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Love it man, that yellow tang is a stunner!
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cowabunga-reefer

Have had these corals for a couple months, but never posted because I was too lazy to take good pics lol. I still need to take real pics but I was excited about something I noticed so thought I'd snap a couple phone pics. :)

 

If you look closely in between these two different zoas, there is a very baby plate coral growing.

This actually happened about 5 months ago (in the same exact spot) and it grew into a full grown plate I moved and have pictured as well.

 

little baby plate

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Plate coral that started out as a a little pin head baby like the one above, along with a favia and a candy cane that has always been struggling. Any ideas on why every other coral is doing well except this candy cane?? Only coral I ever bought at petco

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and lastly, perseid cyphastrea that has been growing like crazy and some blue sympodium in the foreground.

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cowabunga-reefer

I am starting on my sump now! Originally I had planned on a 20g but now that feels like a bit of overkill for my 36gal main tank.

The internal overflow kit I ordered is rated at 500gpg and came supplied with a 1" bulkhead. I ordered another 1" bulkhead for the return. Also the return pump is rated at 550gph so that seemed good for my setup. I am having a hard time with one decision. Should I use 3/4" flexible tubing to plumb it all together or 1"? 1" seemed quite large to me

My sump design is quite simple. 1st little chamber for the sock filer and protein skimmer, second chamber the refugium, followed by a bubble trap and then the last chamber for the return pump. This will be all glass baffles as I have read that is best because it will not flex. 1/8" thickness

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I am starting on my sump now! Originally I had planned on a 20g but now that feels like a bit of overkill for my 36gal main tank.

The internal overflow kit I ordered is rated at 500gpg and came supplied with a 1" bulkhead. I ordered another 1" bulkhead for the return. Also the return pump is rated at 550gph so that seemed good for my setup. I am having a hard time with one decision. Should I use 3/4" flexible tubing to plumb it all together or 1"? 1" seemed quite large to meMy sump design is quite simple. 1st little chamber for the sock filer and protein skimmer, second chamber the refugium, followed by a bubble trap and then the last chamber for the return pump. This will be all glass baffles as I have read that is best because it will not flex. 1/8" thickness

Hey Grim, you are following in my footsteps with your sump. I did go with a 20 L and i do not feel that is over kill for my 36g bowfront. Mine is in the basement so space was not a problem. I can't remember where you are putting your sump but i doubt that it is in the cabinet because there just isn't room for much bigger than a 15g XH in there. I had to move the back brace on the outside of the stand to fit my standard 10g sump in the cabinet.

 

As far as flex tubing i went with 1" ID but again i had 10ft of head pressure and i did not want my flow slowed down too much out of the return. I have 410-420 gph which is what i was hoping for with seahorses. I can see why you want more though.

 

My sump design is exactly as you are designing yours, (except my bubble trap is between the drain chamber and fuge). It works great.

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Here is a pic of my sump. I have a video too but i am not sure what page it is on.

I found it. Maybe this will help as you design yours.

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cowabunga-reefer

Thanks for the response!!

I built my cabinet myself so I should have the extra room. I'm sort of going back and forth on the 20gal vs 10gal lol. I'm not good with decisions. Yeah I won't have anywhere near that amount of plumbing...just a few feet.

I'm going to watch your vid when I get home from work. Thanks for the help! :)

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Thanks for the response!!

I built my cabinet myself so I should have the extra room. I'm sort of going back and forth on the 20gal vs 10gal lol. I'm not good with decisions. Yeah I won't have anywhere near that amount of plumbing...just a few feet.

I'm going to watch your vid when I get home from work. Thanks for the help! :)

When i had my sump in the 10g it was pretty tight. I had no fuge at all because my skimmer took up the whole middle chamber, (my skimmer is a SCA 302 however and its a beast)and my pump took up the whole return chamber. The drain chamber was only about 4" wide. Don't get me wrong, it worked well. (I actually left the 10g sump in the cabinet in case we ever downsize to a new house someday). With a 10g you don't have a lot of room for the display to drain when the pump is off. I had about 2 and a half inches from the high water level to the low water level which is no big deal if you have an ATO.
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cowabunga-reefer

The drainage from the display tank back into the sump with the limited 10gal is definitely a valid point I need to think about

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cowabunga-reefer

Got lots of new stuff in today!

- Internal overflow box 500GPH

- 2 1" bulkheads and some plumbing

- The 1" glass drill bit

- 550 Return pump

 

The tank is going to look pretty different when I finish so figured I would post my first full tank shot.

 

Current FTS 3-31-16

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  • 11 months later...
cowabunga-reefer

So, time to finally update! My life has been extremely busy since the last time I updated. Now that I'm stuck on the couch for a couple months from foot surgery (yes those extremely stupid decisions you make when your young do eventually catch up to you) I figured there is no better time to show my progress and probably get some good advice. One thing I wish I could change on here is my username. Thought it was clever when I joined but now it's just sort of depressing. 

In the last 9months my tank has changed a lot and my personal life even more. A bunch of trips to the beach to surf and dive...weeks in Hawaii (got to check off the list of surfing a proper Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore), Florida, back in SoCal, exploring the north east coast surf scene and even attempting to do some surfing on the Great Lakes. You actually don't even need to dive in Hawaii to see incredible fish. Looking off the side of the walk path on a bike ride we took was like looking into a beautiful aquarium.

 

The biggest event though was getting engaged to the love of my life! Took me till age 39 but it was worth the wait!

Here we are relaxing in Ala Moana. Goal is to make this a regular thing some day :)

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Onto the aquarium:

The bad :(

- lost a couple of the really colorful zoas i had. 

- lost the few gorgonias i had

- blue sympodium slowly dissapeared

- lost a couple fish and my anemone 

 

The good :)

- all i lost was the above..considering I had to move twice in 4 months it's not too bad

- my tank is now sumped 

- my sps and lps are doing great

- the completely bleached half inch mystery acro i bought is now all colored up and encrusted on a rock and fragged off again and encrusted on my back glass

- hitch-hiker disc the size of a pinhead is now over 4" in daim and somehow multiplied

- all my lps started out as a single head. The duncan is now 20+ and the hammer 10. The slow growing favia are frustrating but still doing well.

- the sps all started as biggest 1" and growing well

- even though the acros and stags are growing well the colors aren't a stunning as expected. even though im dosing that isn't changing...considering upgrading my lighting from t5ho to led

I will add more pics of the SPS. i have pink monti, birdsnest, and 4 other acros 

 

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cowabunga-reefer

oh thought id share this...never thought this was even possible but I surfed a lake...yes a lake on a high performance shortboard lol. It was 30 deg and snowing on and off, and i forgot my gloves but forced myself to stay out for about an hour and a half lol feeling your hands is over rated anyways ha

 

alot of freaking rubber!!

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should i take this one out???

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woah, there is actually waves! and surprisingly they were around chest to shoulder high at times (maybe not socal or north shore hi, but for an hour or so from Pittsburgh! I'll take it! :) )

 

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cowabunga-reefer
7 minutes ago, RIP Sebastian said:

What part of the burgh are you from?

Hey,

I lived in Shadyside for 2 years, then moved in with my girlfriend (now fiance) to the SouthSide Hot Metal Flats for a couple months...it was pretty unbearable, now we recently moved to Ben Avon and love it! Miss having all the stuff to walk around to in Shadyside, but just too expensive there 

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RIP Sebastian
7 minutes ago, The-Grim-Reefer said:

Hey,

I lived in Shadyside for 2 years, then moved in with my girlfriend (now fiance) to the SouthSide Hot Metal Flats for a couple months...it was pretty unbearable, now we recently moved to Ben Avon and love it! Miss having all the stuff to walk around to in Shadyside, but just too expensive there 

Neat! I'm from Mars. :) Are you a part of PMASI?

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cowabunga-reefer

I actually don't know much about PMASI. Are there many members? Does it meet somewhat regularly?

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11 hours ago, The-Grim-Reefer said:

I actually don't know much about PMASI. Are there many members? Does it meet somewhat regularly?

Usually the 3rd Saturday of every month, (except next month will be the 4th saturday because of Easter)at Elmers in Monroeville.  I often can't make it because Saturdays can be busy for me.  Its at 6pm, I think.

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cowabunga-reefer

Got good enough moving around on my crutches to scrape all the black paint off the back of the aquarium and paint it blue instead. Looks so much brighter and more colorful! I like it much more.

updated pic shows pulsating Xenia (white/blue mix), pink monti, favia, and a few others not shown in other pictures. Over load of blue now though in photos. I need to figure out how to resolve that. Excuse the purple sand...I got a little too excited with purple up dosing lol

 

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I like the blue backround.  I had painted all my previous tanks black to make the equipment fade away but my current tank has a mural painted on it and its a blueish yellow backround and the tank is so bright and airy.  I doubt I will ever paint a black backround again.

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cowabunga-reefer
On 3/22/2017 at 4:59 PM, Weetabix7 said:

This looks great!!!

 

Congrats on the engagement and all of the positive changes in your life. :happy:

Thank you so much ?

On 3/23/2017 at 7:13 AM, vlangel said:

I like the blue backround.  I had painted all my previous tanks black to make the equipment fade away but my current tank has a mural painted on it and its a blueish yellow backround and the tank is so bright and airy.  I doubt I will ever paint a black backround again.

Thank you, I checked out your mural and it's great! I have no idea how you painted anything in detail on the opposite side of glass like that 

On 3/22/2017 at 4:59 PM, Weetabix7 said:

This looks great!!!

 

Congrats on the engagement and all of the positive changes in your life. :happy:

 

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