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Kat's METROpolitan: Retired May 2018


metrokat

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Pfft. I texted Melev, I mean he does this for a living right. he said

When you reverse the baffles you get scum on your baffles and you suck crap under it. If you had sand, sand would obstruct that area too, making it less wide to allow water to flow through. The water after the final baffle should be 1 lower. 1 drop is nothing you wont have bubbles at all.

 

So there.

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Why didn't the damsel go in the new tank? You were thinking of adding fish anyway. Unless you wanted to drop them in via a pecking order to reduce territory dispute.

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jedimasterben

Pfft. I texted Melev, I mean he does this for a living right. he said

When you reverse the baffles you get scum on your baffles and you suck crap under it. If you had sand, sand would obstruct that area too, making it less wide to allow water to flow through. The water after the final baffle should be 1 lower. 1 drop is nothing you wont have bubbles at all.

So there.

It's a fairy tale to believe that reversing the baffles will cause them to be scum free. Shit grows on every surface in a reef system, and it gets real nasty when there is light anywhere near. They're also real close together.

 

For the sand issue, are you planning on having sand under your skimmer? :huh:

 

What is one lower, one inch? You're going to have more than coming from such a small section of a 20 long IMHO, but once it cures after a few days we will get the actual drop :)

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Why didn't the damsel go in the new tank? You were thinking of adding fish anyway. Unless you wanted to drop them in via a pecking order to reduce territory dispute.

He wasn't doing so well. I didn't want to put him in a tank which may not be completely ready and cause him more stress

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Springer's damsels are my favorite damsel. So nice, don't mess with anybody and best of all, they're beautiful. I got M 4 sergeant majors out of Fiji and they're constantly in each other ass, lol. I think I need 4 more to settle their asses down.

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Springer's damsels are my favorite damsel. So nice, don't mess with anybody and best of all, they're beautiful. I got M 4 sergeant majors out of Fiji and they're constantly in each other ass, lol. I think I need 4 more to settle their asses down.

Or send them up here and my bruisers will set them straight.
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It's a fairy tale to believe that reversing the baffles will cause them to be scum free. Shit grows on every surface in a reef system, and it gets real nasty when there is light anywhere near. They're also real close together.

 

For the sand issue, are you planning on having sand under your skimmer? :huh:

 

What is one lower, one inch? You're going to have more than coming from such a small section of a 20 long IMHO, but once it cures after a few days we will get the actual drop :)

 

 

 

I did that way in the past and it turn out terrible. The surface of the return chamber was getting all kind of nasty slime and crap build up at the surface due to no water movement. Twice my float switch got stuck by all the slimy build up and it look really nasty quick. The other way will act as a surface skimmer when water flow down to that chamber. Metrokat got that baffles right.

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Sump is online. omgomgomg

These baffles are great - my first DIY sumpity sump, I'm so cool :P

I got my home made lid on also.

Moved the 3 rock nems to the DT and 2 of them walked.

 

I have sand on both levels now, however what I want is to black-out the lip on the top level so that the sand is there but not a visible straight line from the front of the tank. To do this I could probably have a long piece of black acrylic cut and just slide it into place and it will be held in place by the sand.

32405618406_dda9ffe564_h.jpg


Anybody have other suggestions for hiding that vertical line?

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I think black sand on the top level and white sand on the bottom level would look neat!

Maybe a strip of black abs plastic. Would be thinner and may be easier for the sand to hold in place without worrying about the acrylic warping ???

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What about cutting a piece of really thin clear or black acrylic so that the top is wavy or uneven, so that the sand line is not a straight line?

 

If the tank was a little deeper (front to back), I think a piece of Marco Rock cut so that it fit up against the wall would look awesome with some outcroppings on the lower level.

 

 

Kat, have you ever compared the Gulf Live rock to Marco? Does it look similar? I'm starting to plan for a new tank and was thinking about using Marco Rock and seeding it with live rock from one of the suppliers in FL, but would prefer some consistency in the appearance.

Have you ever purchased their live sand? What mostly passes for live sand now just has bacteria, which only needs a couple weeks in the tank to accomplish. I'd prefer to start this one with a lot of biodiversity and ditritivores in the sand bed.

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Thanks Indy - how are you?

I'm good. I got back from doing my dissertation work in Peru in December and now I am back in the US for awhile, though I will be back in Peru again this coming summer for 7 weeks or so. Only 1 year left until I am done with grad school, which means I am closer to getting a new tank set up!

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The light just got hung from the ceiling! omgomgomg

32442697346_7811777483_h.jpg

 

We ran into some installation issues, I'm not even sure how he managed to do it but it's done. Now it is time to move the corals but I don't think the tank is ready so that is causing me a little anxiety. Okay a lot of anxiety. The skimmer isn't pulling dark crud yet which means my water is not dirty enough. I think I will move some crabs and shrimps and fish over today though.

 

What about cutting a piece of really thin clear or black acrylic so that the top is wavy or uneven, so that the sand line is not a straight line?

If the tank was a little deeper (front to back), I think a piece of Marco Rock cut so that it fit up against the wall would look awesome with some outcroppings on the lower level.

Kat, have you ever compared the Gulf Live rock to Marco? Does it look similar? I'm starting to plan for a new tank and was thinking about using Marco Rock and seeding it with live rock from one of the suppliers in FL, but would prefer some consistency in the appearance.
Have you ever purchased their live sand? What mostly passes for live sand now just has bacteria, which only needs a couple weeks in the tank to accomplish. I'd prefer to start this one with a lot of biodiversity and ditritivores in the sand bed.

Hi there, So the idea is not to see the sand line at all. No straight sand line, no wavy. Nada.

I have dongs and such that will work for the outcroppings, but I don't want to illuminate the fact that it is a wall - or maybe I should. I'm not sure. There is no comparison to gulf live rock and marco. Marco is dry rock, gulf live is uncured with hitchhikers. You can specify to Dan that you want nano sized or flat pieces or boulders and he does his best to accommodate requests. The rocks themselves aren't made with any molds so they are all unique pieces. You can get HH that are unwanted - i see 2 aiptasia right now and given my recent bout with aiptasia I may pull those rocks or something. remains to be seen.

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The more I see this tank, the more I think you should try to make an actual rock wall for the lower back bit. Keep it as thin as possible, perhaps even sawing up rocks with a tile saw to get them thinner. They sell rock wall inserts for this as well. You might contact these guys and work a custom one. I think if you tried to do it with real rock the holes would make it look odd. I dunno, something to think about. https://www.universalrocks.com/aquarium-reptile-pet/backgrounds

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You know what would be really neat! To do the whole upper level with stag horn/branching acro corals and on the bottom open up just the center maybe add rose tip on one side and more tabling sps and motipora on the other side. I really like that idea I think my next tank is going to be a drop tank like yours.

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So the idea is not to see the sand line at all. No straight sand line, no wavy. Nada.

I have dongs and such that will work for the outcroppings, but I don't want to illuminate the fact that it is a wall - or maybe I should. I'm not sure.

:huh: So, let me understand this portion - are you concerned about the actual ledge/edge of the upper shelf? or the actual wall on the bottom section? Or maybe both where the transition happens, I guess?

 

you could do:

1) use dongs and outcrop attached to the bottom wall as you mentioned - so that these block the visible shelf line

2) then fill in the 'gaps' with multiple small(ish) rocks along the edge of the upper shelf so no sand line will be visible where there's no dongs and outcrop

Doing this two-prong approach should help you eliminate the upper shelf 'line', while giving somewhat random appearance to the ledge?

Of course, this mainly will work on the straight-on FTS... :blink:

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The more I see this tank, the more I think you should try to make an actual rock wall for the lower back bit. Keep it as thin as possible, perhaps even sawing up rocks with a tile saw to get them thinner. They sell rock wall inserts for this as well. You might contact these guys and work a custom one. I think if you tried to do it with real rock the holes would make it look odd. I dunno, something to think about. https://www.universalrocks.com/aquarium-reptile-pet/backgrounds

Very 1980. No.

The RSM has a black back wall, the CAD did not. I'm back to having the black and also determined to have an abyss.

You know what would be really neat! To do the whole upper level with stag horn/branching acro corals and on the bottom open up just the center maybe add rose tip on one side and more tabling sps and motipora on the other side. I really like that idea I think my next tank is going to be a drop tank like yours.

Do a sketch Groot, even if it is a squiggle on paper like I did, let's see what you're envisioning, I like the idea a lot already.

:huh: So, let me understand this portion - are you concerned about the actual ledge/edge of the upper shelf? or the actual wall on the bottom section? Or maybe both where the transition happens, I guess?

 

you could do:

1) use dongs and outcrop attached to the bottom wall as you mentioned - so that these block the visible shelf line

2) then fill in the 'gaps' with multiple small(ish) rocks along the edge of the upper shelf so no sand line will be visible where there's no dongs and outcrop

Doing this two-prong approach should help you eliminate the upper shelf 'line', while giving somewhat random appearance to the ledge?

Of course, this mainly will work on the straight-on FTS... :blink:

Conundrums and possibilities. We knew this tank was going to be a challenge. I'm up for it, but I like to think things through, or at least have a semblance of a plan before I start. I gots nuttin' this time :D - this might be as off-the-cuff as I can manage. ha.

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A Dog's Purpose. It was really nicely made. I hate movies where the pet suffers inhumane treatment so this wasn't one of those. I saw a FB video someone posted months ago - I just couldn't sleep for a few days it was so horrible, some guy beat his dog on camera, I don't know if the poor dog lived or died but death would have been a better option compared that suffering I saw for just the briefest of moments. That bastard - I hope he dies a horrible death for what he put that poor defenseless animal through.

 

Check TMZ for a video about the dogs doing stunts in this movie.....not good. :(

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