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schg's Innovative Marine Fusion 10 gallon (retired)


schgr.cube

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reefernanoman

The tank will be here tomorrow, the AI prime will probably be here on Tuesday. Although I'm still waiting on those two things, I do have some progress. I was able to start the stand!

 

It is made of bamboo plywood that was leftover from an exhibit at the museum I occasionally work at. It's really nice wood, and although I was originally planning on skinning it with a white laminate, I think I may just polyurethane it and call it a day. I bought the wrong hinges, so the door is just kind of sitting there, but here it is:

 

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It's not perfect, but it's pretty damn good for what I am capable of. I do have to adjust the shelf a tiny bit, as when I was trying to screw it back in after sanding the inside, I misaligned it. No biggie. Hopefully I'll have everything together in the next few days.

How much $ did you spend making the stand of you don't mind sharing? thanks!

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How much $ did you spend making the stand of you don't mind sharing? thanks!

 

$0 :happy: I had a bunch of free bamboo plywood from the museum I work at. lol

 

But it's really just good quality 3/4" plywood, I can give you the measurements for the cuts if you want to make your own.

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reefernanoman

 

$0 :happy: I had a bunch of free bamboo plywood from the museum I work at. lol

 

But it's really just good quality 3/4" plywood, I can give you the measurements for the cuts if you want to make your own.

That's a great price! I have no tools and little skills (I was an auto tech a few years ago) to make it happen honestly, but shoot me a PM or put the dimensions here. I see that you already got the tank and light humming along! Nice and congrats.

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I'm a bamboo fan myself; I'm loving that stand! Great job. How do you like that light? My lfs has one and they're always trying to push it off on me. It's rather expensive for my current budget though.

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On 8/19/2015 at 12:26 PM, reefernanoman said:

That's a great price! I have no tools and little skills (I was an auto tech a few years ago) to make it happen honestly, but shoot me a PM or put the dimensions here. I see that you already got the tank and light humming along! Nice and congrats.

 

Haha yes, free is always a great price. I honestly don't have a ton of experience with carpentry either, but this was pretty easy to make. I will try to get the info and some basic instructions over to you when I can.

 

On 8/19/2015 at 1:43 PM, dpoltsdsu said:

That stand is top notch. This setup is going to look very sleek

 

Thanks! I hope to make it even better soon.

 

On 8/19/2015 at 1:55 PM, temet vince said:

I'm a bamboo fan myself; I'm loving that stand! Great job. How do you like that light? My lfs has one and they're always trying to push it off on me. It's rather expensive for my current budget though.

 

Thanks, I appreciate it. I honestly love it so far. I obviously don't have any coral yet, but the color is fantastic, and the customization is amazing. I need to figure out how to take decent pictures of it though, as my phone is my best camera at the moment and it really doesn't like the LEDs.

 

 

So the extra bamboo was for the AI Prime light hanging kit I ordered to replace the mounting arm, as I really didn't like how far behind the tank the arm stuck. It forced me into putting this tank into a corner, as I couldn't it close enough to the wall to work for my needs. So I built a bamboo mount to come out of the wall and attach the light hanging kit onto, instead of drilling into the ceiling, but I really am not happy with how it turned out. I am probably going to try again since the kit doesn't come until Monday.

 

I got a better shot of the media basket that is coming in (shipped today!) as well as the one that was made for the pico I started (it's for sale, if anyone wants a pretty much plug and play pico!):

 

IM10-0013.thumb.jpg.4d16636a1afa9ae1b1f87dd179cba089.jpg

 

I also got a little bit older APC that I believe need battery replacement, but if I can salvage it for cheap enough I will have a free battery backup for at least the return pump:

 

IM10-0014.thumb.jpg.8d26836265d85566b963b30020af857d.jpg

 

Might be a bust, but it was free so I might as well try!

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Got my media basket, super happy with the quality. I still need to pick up some stuff to put in it.

 

IM10-0015.thumb.jpg.28c6f7b4740d9b12983f3616914ff429.jpg

 

In other news, my cycle is nearly complete. Ammonia and nitrite are at 0, nitrate is at 5ppm. I am going to try to order a clean up crew from Reef Cleaners, but I have currently run out of aquarium funds. I need to sell my old tank to afford anything new for this one :(

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Finally (sort of) getting a hang of this whole LED iPhone photography thing. I still haven't messed with my tripod mount for my phone, but at least the color is moderately more accurate.

 

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Definitely going through that ugly tank phase, with plenty of algae, cyano, and diatoms starting to show up. Couple that with the fact that nitrates are almost zero, and I think it's time to get a clean up crew in here.

 

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Also decided to return the mounting arm, and picked up a hanging kit for it. I really didn't like being forced into putting my tank in the corner, as the mounting arm would mean the tank had to be a minimum of four inches from the wall. I still have some work to do in my temporary office, but it is starting to come along. I want to find a way to manage the cable for the Prime.

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Nice media rack, who made it?

 

Tank looks great btw, can't wait to see the lighting tree (or bamboo?) ;)

 

Thanks! The media rack was made by someone who used to be a member here, they have a business in Puerto Rico called iLuminAqua. I have been trying to convince them to move up to the US for quite a while now, but I haven't been successful.

 

And as for the lighting tree, I gave up on it. I couldn't quite get it right, so now I am just hanging it form the ceiling. I honestly just wanted the tank to be running, and got tired of trying to build things for it lol.

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I "NEED" a few sheets of that plywood. Know where to order 4' x 8' sheets? :ninja:

 

I am honestly not sure where the museum purchased them from, but I will find out for you. There are a few distributors online selling, but this is pretty expensive stuff lol.

 

 

 

I need help figuring out a stocking list for this guy. I am definitely settled on fish, I am going to do a small clown and a shrimp / goby pair. What I really want help with is finding some interesting inverts. On my ADA I had looked into getting a Crinoid Squat Lobster, but never made that happen. I think I'm going to do a smaller package from Reef Cleaners for two reasons; A. Because you usually get way more than you asked for anyway, but B. I want to maybe save room for some more unique things. I don't want you to just look in and see 100 of the same snails. Any ideas?

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I picked up some more rock that was absolutely covered in coralline, but I'm still not 100% satisfied with the aquascape. It leaves a lot more room for growth and stepped lighting, but it doesn't grab me all that much visually. Edit: Sort of better, here is the new picture.

 

IM10-0018.thumb.jpg.f5da0306eba7a6a49bfc721703be3f57.jpg


I did get a few blue leg hermits, and found a tiny orange mushroom stuck in the rock though! Also, my clean up crew from Reef Cleaners comes in tomorrow!

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Looking good bro. I had the same problem with my aquascape and redid mine, I always felt something was missing from mine. One trick, once you get the rock setup nicely step back and imagine what types of corals are going to be in the tank. Once I do that I'll remove those sections of live rock. Keeping the idea that less is more for my scape. Otherwise I'll loose a lot of negative space throughout the layout and room for the corals to grow.

Even so, I think your scape is off to a great start.

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First coral

 

On 9/1/2015 at 6:04 PM, neuwave said:

Looking good bro. I had the same problem with my aquascape and redid mine, I always felt something was missing from mine. One trick, once you get the rock setup nicely step back and imagine what types of corals are going to be in the tank. Once I do that I'll remove those sections of live rock. Keeping the idea that less is more for my scape. Otherwise I'll loose a lot of negative space throughout the layout and room for the corals to grow.
Even so, I think your scape is off to a great start.

 

Yeah, I have tried doing that, but I can't seem to find a compromise between something that has a good structure, and also seems like it would be good for coral growth. I will probably wait and see how things start to change as I get more coral. But thanks, I appreciate it!

 

IM10-0019.thumb.jpg.aa8a4cac28569cab1d6f2487bfafcffc.jpg

 

Got a few starter corals (GSP and a teal Favia) for pretty cheap, wanted to see how they did in the tank. I did a water change a little bit after, and all of a sudden I have a crap ton of slime algae and what appear to be hydroids. I am going to do another small water change tomorrow to see if I can get this under control. I decided to post a picture of how the tank looks now, rather than trying to make it all pretty. This is supposed to be a journal of how the tank progresses, after all.

 

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Also, the mushroom that was attached to a shell stuck in my live rock is now home to one of my blue leg hermits. I'm not sure if I should glue the shell down somewhere and put a replacement in front of it for him, or just let him do his thing. -_-

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On 9/8/2015 at 4:08 PM, Rehype said:

Hey sc really glad to see your back! Love everything about this build so far...keep it going

 

Thanks hype! It's good to see a lot of familiar faces still, pretty crazy after all these years of being gone!

 

I can't leave the scape alone with this, I feel like everything seemed really lacking in terms of possible coral placement / growth. I changed it around one more time, and the only thing that feels off about it this time is the little space on the middle left side. But I think I can just leave it be, and let coral work its magic.

 

IM10-0020.thumb.jpg.11573e91f42acb41f580fa6d8e2ec526.jpg

 

I also realized I'm not very happy with my GSP. I like the color, but I noticed they don't have the white spots in the middle, which for some reason really bothers me. I may try to find a place to trade them in and buy something else. I'm too fickle for this hobby. :(

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not too much going on right now, the tank is still chugging along. I glued the GSP down, and will just pull it up if I get tired of it. It's isolated in the middle of the sandbed, so it can't go too crazy. I almost picked up a fish today, I really liked his coloraton. I wanted to test the water again today, make sure everything is still cool first.

 

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He seemed to be eating well, so if he is still there tomorrow, I'll probably grab him.

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Looking good.

 

 

Looking nice up in here man !!! Coming along pretty good !!! How you liking the prime ?!

 

Thanks! I picked up the clownfish two days ago, he is doing great so far! I really love his pattern. I am going to wait to take a picture of him, because I ordered a new camera today! It should be here tomorrow, so expect better photos from now on.

 

And I really like the Prime! I love the flexibility and the coloration of it, it's just really difficult to show the color accurately using my phone. The only thing I would probably change it out for would be a Nano Box Tide, but I can't afford that right now (wish I had won that contest!).

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Thanks! I picked up the clownfish two days ago, he is doing great so far! I really love his pattern. I am going to wait to take a picture of him, because I ordered a new camera today! It should be here tomorrow, so expect better photos from now on.

 

And I really like the Prime! I love the flexibility and the coloration of it, it's just really difficult to show the color accurately using my phone. The only thing I would probably change it out for would be a Nano Box Tide, but I can't afford that right now (wish I had won that contest!).

Great! Oh new camera? What brand and model? That's why I got my DSLR too.
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On 9/23/2015 at 6:41 PM, reefernanoman said:

Great! Oh new camera? What brand and model? That's why I got my DSLR too.

 

I got the Samsung NX3000. I was going to go with the Sony A6000, but I opted to get something a little cheaper so I could afford a nice macro lens down the line. Plus my wife wasn't too happy with the price difference. I really like it so far! I wanted something compact, but with the ability to still be more advanced when I need it to be.

 

I still need to get the hang of the whole taking pictures of LEDs thing, it's really hard!

 

Meet Embry:

IM10-0022.thumb.jpg.83ce10018b301b41e904e7b05153e597.jpg

 

First somewhat decent FTS:

IM10-0023.thumb.jpg.cbfe2cadeb2057970eb37db7dc4c5d70.jpg

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Probably being annoying by posting when there aren't many changes happening, but I feel like this looks better than my last FTS. The Cyano seems to be going away, which is really nice.

 

IM10-0024.thumb.jpg.f2ddc192d916086e95decb14620b9d3c.jpg

 

I picked up a two headed Duncan, and adopted a nearly dead orange plate coral, just to see if it might come back. It has a tiny bit of flesh left and the mouth looks like it's still alive, but the skeleton is nearly 95% of the whole coral. If it dies, no biggie, I didn't pay for it. Also have a friend with a reef that is going to frag about 5-7 different zoas for me in the near future, so that should be fun!

 

My wife really wants some Xenia (the smallish whiter kind, not the super long tan kind), and I'm unsure of what to do. Part of me really likes it in tanks, and I have never really gone through the normal aquarium experience of starting with cheaper coral and pulling it out when I eventually move on to better things, but I don't want it to really over run my tank. :unsure: What to do?

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Probably being annoying by posting when there aren't many changes happening, but I feel like this looks better than my last FTS. The Cyano seems to be going away, which is really nice.

 

21836557632_d79295f0a7_o.jpg

 

I picked up a two headed Duncan, and adopted a nearly dead orange plate coral, just to see if it might come back. It has a tiny bit of flesh left and the mouth looks like it's still alive, but the skeleton is nearly 95% of the whole coral. If it dies, no biggie, I didn't pay for it. Also have a friend with a reef that is going to frag about 5-7 different zoas for me in the near future, so that should be fun!

 

My wife really wants some Xenia (the smallish whiter kind, not the super long tan kind), and I'm unsure of what to do. Part of me really likes it in tanks, and I have never really gone through the normal aquarium experience of starting with cheaper coral and pulling it out when I eventually move on to better things, but I don't want it to really over run my tank. :unsure: What to do?

 

 

 

I like it... looks like you corrected some of the excess blue

 

Congrats on the new pieces...Dont count the plate out just yet. Ive seen coral make a full recovery even though everyone had already counted them out. Just give it tlc and make sure it doesnt get too much light. Im actually in the process of nursing back some acans and duncans that were worse for wear.. had i remembered to take some "before" pics you wouldnt believe they were the same coral.They look great now. I currently have two acan frags left that are still in poor shape but im just going to give them a few more months.

 

I say get the xenia and put them on their own separate island surrounded by fine grain sand (they can spread onto rubble) Put the island right in the front so your wife see them easily. Ive done this on two separate occasions and they never spread to any other parts of my tank.

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  • schgr.cube changed the title to schg's Innovative Marine Fusion 10 gallon (retired)

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