RDA's Shenanigans: A new Garage

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Hello all. 

 

A lot of my aquarium projects and ambitions have come and gone; regardless of good intention I seem to fall back on not having as much time as I thought to keep things rolling. That, and I'll be honest, my attention span is about as long as-- sorry I got bored.

 

I seem to start and stop journals like a fashion connoisseur changes clothes, so I figured I'd do myself (and all of you) a favor and post all of my aquarium shenanigans all in one place to enjoy. Call it a "gallery" of ideas, diy, and messes if you will. Anyways, I hope to keep you all updated on what I'm up to and different projects I'll be working on in the future. 

 

Sorry folks, no gift bags at the door this time (this is a "bring your own food and charm" kind of potluck).

 

As always, thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoy the mess to come, happy reefing.

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

I had this Lifegard Aquatics 17 gallon tank sitting around from a previous build I was working on.

It was suppose to have a sump and all these doodads and such. Well, smh, life got the better of me and it just went into storage for a while. Haha I was kind of bitter with my 6 gallon tank falling apart (literally) and with the whole sump fiasco with the contest tank and kind of called it quits. I happened to stop by my LFS and saw some neat pieces there that inspired me to give it all another shot. I gathered what I had laying around and fast forward to today having 17 gallons of new reef sitting in my living room.

 

This is the largest amount of water that I have ever seriously kept in my reefing career (I mostly stick to small picos). This may sound silly, but it's a nice feeling to have so much space haha even though 17 gallons isn't really that big. Name of the game with this tank is to keep things as simple as possible. The less things powering this tank the better. Here's what I managed to get away with so far:

 

Equipment:

Tank: Lifegard Aquatics 17.1 gallon

Stand: Custom (work in progress)

Canister Filter: Oase Thermo 100 (includes 100w heater) with FZone glass lily pipes

Wave Maker: Hygger Mini Wave Maker (1600gph)

Lighting: 2x Noopsyche K7 V3 75w

 

Stocking:

SPS:

Broken Arrow Tenuis

Yellow Tipped Acropora

Purple Bonsai Acropora

Green Polyp Pocillopora 

 

LPS:

Purple Tentacle Fungia Plate

Duncan

 

Soft Corals/Zoas:

GSP

Assorted Zoas

 

Inverts:

A Cerith Snail

A Hermit Crab

 

Fish: 

Springer's (Sapphire) Damsel

1" Two Spot Bristle Tooth Tang

 

 

Things have been doing well so far with this system. I am really liking this canister filter, howbeit it was expensive, getting the heater out of the display is super nice. The lily pipes will need regular maintenance and cleaning, but a monthly scrub, if that, should do for now. I still need to tune in the wave maker, but I like it over previously used pumps. I'm still trying to figure out wire management, and I still need to make a cover for the stand to hide said "wire management", but I'm not stressing over it right now. As far as livestock. Addressing the elephant in the room, the Bristle Tooth will be housed here until his forever home is set up and running, which should be by the end of this year (we are planning on moving to a new home hopefully this year and setting up a large reef tank just to take it down and move it isn't my idea of fun). Until then it's nice to have him in a smaller tank like this to keep an eye on him and work on fattening him up (he's a little thin from the store). He loves grazing and hanging out with my sapphire damsel, but still is pretty shy when I'm around the tank. Some people thing they're kind of a mute colored fish, but I really love the subtle blue/yellow markings on a reddish brown body, a good choice for what I have in mind for my larger build coming up. I have a very lonely cerith snail and hermit crab for a clean up crew; I should get more of a clean up crew, but between the tang's consistent picking, and a tight feeding schedule there really isn't much algae to worry about. Maybe later on I'll need some more helpers with keeping this tank clean. 

 

Right now it's about 10% monthly water changes. I clean the canister filter every few weeks (currently only running coarse foam filter media) which seems to do a surprisingly good job at keeping the water crystal clear. I do dose Seachem's Stability every other day (about 1ml) and that has really helped in keeping up with nutrient control (for now). I also have only been feeding sparingly, but enough where I feel my tang is satisfied, I really need to get some seaweed strips for him to munch on during the day. This tank is still very new, which is crazy to me that I have Acropora growing in it. All of the corals in this tank have been frags/pieces that I saved from my 6 gallon and/or taken from the contest tank. Not really the best thing; setting up an instant reef. And not recommended in the least, but some how I am dodging the whole thing crashing on me. I do dose Brightwell Aquatics Reef Code A and B and that has worked well to keep things in check and stable with these SPS corals I have in there (I shoot to maintain the same parameters that are claimed on the salt I use, which is Reef Crystals). The GSP, duncan, and plate coral are still bleached from the 6 gallon crashing and then being thrown around in the contest tank, but are slowly gaining color and have been on the mend in general. Other than that I don't do much. I worked out a daily feeding/dosing schedule that seems to work well and is really easy to do, which I like easy. I think overall I'm on track to have a nice little reef tank and look forward to everything filling in before I have to take it all apart later this year when we move haha.

 

   

 

[debbeach13]

Looking good so far. Are the other tanks empty now? Are you going to use one as a QT tank? Good luck with the new set up.

[aclman88]

Oooh this is a brilliant idea!  I may steal this and create a shenanigans journal as well.  I have started a few tank journals, but I tend to wax and wane on how well I keep them updated.  I have also changed tanks multiple times in the last few years, so this is a nice way of giving a place to post when you can, rather than a sporadically updated journal. 

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

17 hours ago, debbeach13 said:

Looking good so far. Are the other tanks empty now? Are you going to use one as a QT tank? Good luck with the new set up.

Thank you! 

Yep, this tank is currently the only one that is wet and running (6 gallon is long gone, and my contest tank, well, let's not talk about that right now lol). I guess technically this is my quarantine tank for a future build, but I haven't really thought about setting up another system, no.  

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

16 hours ago, aclman88 said:

Oooh this is a brilliant idea!  I may steal this and create a shenanigans journal as well.  I have started a few tank journals, but I tend to wax and wane on how well I keep them updated.  I have also changed tanks multiple times in the last few years, so this is a nice way of giving a place to post when you can, rather than a sporadically updated journal. 

I can't take all the credit for this idea, many others have consolidated they're journals into one thread; I thought given my inconsistent posting was a good idea too haha!

 

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Was out and about picking up some things for the doggo at my local big box pet store and spied a pile of clearance items. Dug around and found a Marineland rimless 45 gallon for a reasonable $50.  Made an oopsie and brought it home with me 😅

 

Won't be setting this one up until the new house comes, but maybe I'll work on a stand for it in the meantime. Also the misses told me I'm not allowed to go to the store alone anymore (bummer!)

 

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Things seem to be rolling right along with the 17 gallon. I have had my broken arrow acro STN a bit which I am debating weather or not to leave it or frag it out. My purple bonsai acro had a bare patch on it that recovered and it has really taken off (some branches have grown about 1/4" in the past week which is pretty wild to see!) I am hopeful that it will in turn recover. I think I need to adjust my general dosing regiment so maybe that can help as well.

 

 

I did cash in a small credit that I had at my LFS for a "who knows what kind it is" millepora. My LFS really suffers in SPS selection (they mostly have zoas and some LPS) so I grab what I can. I'll be excited to see how this colors up.

 

My Tri Color has been getting some interesting colors on it. The general tissue has gotten a little more intense (apparently it's supposed to get yellow tips?), but the polyps have gotten an incredibly vivid blue which the photo really doesn't do justice.

 

 

My poor duncan has been through the ringer. This past week it has actually extended its polyps and is looking a bit more fluffy. It still looks terrible, but I'm expecting it to make a full recovery. I've been trying out PNS Pro Bio which I have really been liking. Seems that my corals have perked up more, and I have seen more colors come out in the week that I have been using it. Time will tell if the trend continues.

 

For now it's just snagging corals that I fancy and prepping livestock for the larger build to come.

 

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Ran into the bacteria bloom thing again with this tank, it took a few months to clear up in my 6 gallon so we’ll see how long it will take in this one. Got a few more zoas and a WWC grafted monti along with an ASD Rainbow Millepora; fun stuff. I did pick up a few interesting critters, one being (I think?) aptasia, but it only comes out at night? Either way, I need to go hunting one of these nights to get rid of it. And a fun little micro bristle sea star. Building up the fauna in a tank is always fun to see either way for me. 

Happy reefing everyone 🤙

 

[Christopher Marks]

Such a unique aquascape! The bacteria bloom routine is frustrating with a new tank, but you know there's light at the end, it will pass.

 

What is your maintenance routine like these days?

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

4 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

Such a unique aquascape! The bacteria bloom routine is frustrating with a new tank, but you know there's light at the end, it will pass.

 

What is your maintenance routine like these days?

I was trying something a little different with the scape, haha I think it turned out okay in the end?

 

Maintenance is pretty simple. The idea was to do a small water change each month, but I haven't done one yet as everything seems do be doing great (besides the bacteria bloom, but that's a different problem). I think I will continue to see how long I can keep it running without water changes🤫 I dose Brightwell Aquatics Reef Code A and B twice a week, and then their Magnesion and Strontion once a week. I also have been dosing about 2ml of PNS Pro Bio and Yello Sno (products that I have come to love and are made by Hydrospace) in tandem as a coral food every other day and a tiny pinch of flake food ever other day for the fish. So far so good!

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Late nights when I can’t sleep always seem to produce hooligan “arts and crafts” in pico reefing 🙃

 

Not a finished product by any means, but was trying to troubleshoot my messed up laser cutter. I’m not entirely satisfied about the sump? and lighting needs some work, but not bad for a few hours of messing around lol.

 

 

 

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Made a revised sump. Nothing too fancy, although I wish I made it a little thinner front to back wise; I like it still. 
 

[The Rainy Day Aquarium]

Aaaaaand finished product 😊

 

[Christopher Marks]

Looks great @Chowder's Reef! I like your depth gauge etched on the side, that’s handy.