Poodges' 60g - 2022 Photo Dump

[Poodges]

3 hours ago, DutchNanoReefer88 said:

That last picture (long distance FTS) is great! 👍

Thank you very much. I think systems shots where you get the perspective of where the tank is located are cool. 

[Matteo]

2 hours ago, Poodges said:

Thank you very much. I think systems shots where you get the perspective of where the tank is located are cool. 

Agreed. The 45 degree distant FTS is also a great one. 

[Poodges]

On 12/6/2019 at 10:47 PM, billygoat said:

My first guess would be to say that it's simply shedding. Has it shed since you put it into the tank? If not that's probably what it is up to. Keep an eye on it and see how the situation develops over the next couple of days. If it doesn't open up again come Monday or Tuesday, something else may be at play.

Poylps are back out today.  You were right.  Thanks for the advice.

 

-Brett

[billygoat]

4 hours ago, Poodges said:

Poylps are back out today.  You were right.  Thanks for the advice.

Of course, it's my pleasure! Gorgs of the shedding variety very often do so shortly after being moved to a new system, so I figured that's what it would be. I'm glad to hear it's back in the clear.  👌 You certainly have a very beautiful specimen there, and I think your setup will do a great job of keeping it happy. Just be prepared to frag it periodically! It will likely grow quite quickly under your strong lights, especially if you feed it once or twice a week with a fine particle food.

[Poodges]

So I made a little bit of a change.  I'd been considering moving the rock in the middle of my scape to create more swimming room and more open sand for future corals.  I posted a poll on here and most others agreed it would be a nice look so I went ahead and fragged the rock.  I was able to scatter some different corals throughout the tank, fill in a few spots and overall I think it's a nice new look.  Fresh pics:

 

FTS:

 

Quarter view left side:

 

Left side:

 

Center shot:

 

Top down center:

 

Front right:

 

Front right top down:

 

Cool zoa cluster:

 

Right side:

 

Top down FTS:

 

Long distance:

 

[mitten_reef]

Nicely done. Like the openness. 

[billygoat]

Looks absolutely gorgeous. Well done! 👏 I liked it before but I like it even more now. 😁

[Poodges]

45 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

Nicely done. Like the openness. 

Thank you!

 

43 minutes ago, billygoat said:

Looks absolutely gorgeous. Well done! 👏 I liked it before but I like it even more now. 😁

I appreciate the kind words. 

[Poodges]

So, I really wish my Kessils had a night light.  There’s too many times where I walk by my tank late at night or early morning and want to sneak a peak but can’t.  After doing a little google search, I discovered the “led halo” mod and wanted to share my experience here. Put together a little package at superbrightleds.com:

I ditched the power supply because I had one so the parts ended up being right around $20 including shipping.

 

The components:

 

Power on:

 

Next, a little double sided tape and some zip ties:

 

 

I turned the dimmer all the way down to get the look I wanted:

 

So, for $20 I got a custom night light for my Kessil 160 that fits like a glove and was very easy to install (had I not made 2 mistakes).  It’s a 30 minute install or less if you have a good plan. You definitely need a dimmer because they are way too bright at full blast and actually get hot to the touch.  There’s no heat when turned down with the dimmer and the amount of light is perfect.  
 

A word to the wise, take the time to disassemble your kessil from the gooseneck or mount when working on it.  I did not do this and cracked part of the plastic at the top where the gooseneck screws in.  Fortunately us reefers are pretty good with super glue 😁. My other tip is to be careful where the wires attach to the led ring.  They are, in my opinion, not attached very well and I actually pulled them off the contacts when installing.  Had to back track and solder those bad boys on when I was 95% done.  They’re secured much better now and won’t come off again.
 

I think it’s a really cool mod.  I’m handy but not much of a electrical/tech person so this was a little out of my comfort zone.  
 

Happy to answer questions if anyone wants to attempt it.  

 

[Matteo]

Nice! Love me some diy action! 

[billygoat]

Great job with the DIY moonlight! I am probably going to stone-cold steal this idea from you, because I use the exact same light and have been thinking the same thing recently. 😅🤔 Your tank looks amazing with the moonlight on. I'm extremely intrigued.

[Poodges]

1 hour ago, billygoat said:

Great job with the DIY moonlight! I am probably going to stone-cold steal this idea from you, because I use the exact same light and have been thinking the same thing recently. 😅🤔 Your tank looks amazing with the moonlight on. I'm extremely intrigued.

Hah.  I stole it from someone else who stole it from someone else... I just couldn’t find a good comprehensive write up so I felt compelled to detail the install.  Let me know if you have any questions.  

[Poodges]

January Update: The tank survived without a problem after leaving town for a week but one of my mp10 wetsides crumbled into pieces when doing a cleaning.  I'm running with just one mp10 for a while until I decide whether or not to order another wetside.  Corals seems to be okay for now.  My pearly jawfish (added late December) has settled in well and dug a nice secure border in the front left side of my tank.  I'm glad she's chosen a visible spot versus one in the shadows.  I've also added a couple Ricordea Florida polyps which have been on my wish list for a long time.  I have a couple Sunny D frags if anyone in NE Florida wants them?  Probably a head or two of the neon frogspawn as well.  Just looking to clear up some space.  Let me know if anyone is interested.  Fresh pics from today:

 

FTS:

 

Top Down:

 

Ricordea:

 

Jawfish burrow:

 

Rastas growing steady:

 

Zoas starting to converge:

 

These zoas/palys? grow like a weed and are starting to cover the back wall:

 

Top-center:

 

View from the couch:

 

 

[Matteo]

loving it! 

[billygoat]

Awesome update! I love the new additions. The Ricordea look stunning (as does everything else), and I'm glad to see you got a jawfish too! I'm sure she's going to be happy in this tank.

[Poodges]

22 hours ago, billygoat said:

Awesome update! I love the new additions. The Ricordea look stunning (as does everything else), and I'm glad to see you got a jawfish too! I'm sure she's going to be happy in this tank.

Thank you.  Had to take a few pages out of your book! 

[Sabdali]

Just read through the thread. That first year growth was amazing! Also, that aquascape is really really nice! 

 

Also you started your thread exactly one year before mine which is pretty neat 😊

[Matteo]

Your sand bed could use some lobos 😎👉

[Poodges]

23 hours ago, Sabdali said:

Just read through the thread. That first year growth was amazing! Also, that aquascape is really really nice! 

 

Also you started your thread exactly one year before mine which is pretty neat 😊

Thank you for the kind words.  I’ve been following along with your thread as well. I appreciate the check in.  

[Poodges]

23 hours ago, Matteo said:

Your sand bed could use some lobos 😎👉

Why don’t you let me test drive one of yours? 😉

[billygoat]

On 1/17/2020 at 4:13 PM, Poodges said:

Thank you.  Had to take a few pages out of your book! 

It's a real honor to know that my humble tank has served as an inspiration for at least a few things in such a beautiful system as yours. 😊

 

How's the jawfish been doing for you? Did it take her long to settle down and pick a location to burrow? And has she moved around much so far?

[Poodges]

21 hours ago, billygoat said:

How's the jawfish been doing for you? Did it take her long to settle down and pick a location to burrow? And has she moved around much so far?

Jawfish is doing great. The first 3-5 days, she moved around a good bit, including just digging a little depression in one of the corners.  Then she started burrowing where my old goby used to live.  Finally, saw her pop out of the hole where she has resided ever since.  I had plenty of empty shells and rubble in there for reinforcement.  Looks like a quality permanent home to me.  Eating great and exhibiting normal jawfish behavior.  The kids named her “Pearl”.

[Looselyhuman]

Great thread and nice tank.  🙂

 

I just read the thing about the crumbled MP10 wet side.  Was that the guard or the propeller assembly?

 

I'll probably get some flak for this, but I took the guards off all my MP10s.  I think that might actually the safest option for roaming nems, etc - it's being sucked onto the grill and sliced up that does the real damage.  I had a BTA let loose and swirl around the tank a few times, no damage from the blades.

 

The only problem I had was the occasional snail getting a pounding, which was somewhat noisy.  But that didn't seem to damage the blades.  Fish-wise, my juvenile Banggai's (my pair bred and I managed to raise 2 successfully) worried me a couple of times - they occasionally try to host things that look like longspine urchins - but nothing ever happened.

 

And not having to clean the guards was awesome.

 

Thought I'd throw it out there.

 

BTW I admire your bravery with that puffer!

[jboy]

nice

[Poodges]

My goodness... this tank fell so far.  No posts in 21 months because I battled issue after issue, lost fish, corals and most of all lost my passion for this tank. I was religious with water changes, cleaning, running a protein skimmer etc... and had a horrific dinoflagellates outbreak.  I battled it for weeks...if not months.  What worked for me was sucking the dinos out through a filter sock into a bucket and then putting the dino-free water back in the tank.  Putting new water in simply made the problem worse as it created an even cleaner environment for them to spread.  I also added a cheap UV sterilizer from Petco to help.  When the smoke cleared, 50% or more of my livestock/corals were toast.  I just kind of walked away from the tank and let it recover.  Today, I bought new corals for the tank for the first time since the outbreak and I'm starting to enjoy it again.  Glad to be back.