Kogut Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 Still amazes me how much you've done w/ the tank. That frogspawn needs to stop growing and start calcifying so I can get my piece of it finally!!! Link to comment
Meercat_Maric Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 Nice tank Tigah! Been watching your thread for a while now in aww. One question: how many individual peices of LR made up your aquascape? It all looks like a few chunks now... Also, did you use any binding agent or was that all gravity? Thanks! Link to comment
Tigahboy Posted January 22, 2005 Author Share Posted January 22, 2005 Well apparently some ppl feel that I just place an importance on buying the most expensive frags out there and I just devote my time here talking about driving around and spending oodles of time to find these frags. But a great reef doesn't require expensive corals and all that jazz; the corals itself are a preference of the owner. But a thriving reef does require the appropriate equipment. So, let me provide you w/ an updated list of mine: 1. Aqua Medic Ocean Lights - 250w MH pendant w/ 20K DE hqi Aqualine bulbs. Lighting is one of the most important components of a thriving reef system. don't skimp on this. My new lights for upgraded system will be the Aqua Medic Ocean Light T - 2x250w DE hqi MH w/ 2x39w T5 actinic blues. 2. Refugium/Sump - 20g AGA w/ LS, 15lb of LR, jungle of Chaetomorpha for nutrient export, and the rest of my equipment below... 3. Aqua C Remora Protein Skimmer - a great skimmer - soon to be upgrade to EuroReef ES5-3 when I upgrade my tank. 4. Calcium Reactor - I currently dose for calcium, but once I get my calcium reactor, I won't need to. I ordered the CR-1 at myreefcreations.com and will place an order for the CO2 regulator/selenoid and CO2 tank (just shopping around for decent prices). Once I get my CR-1 set-up, I'll have much more stable calcium and alkalinity levels than I do currently w/ dosing. 5. Aquaclear HOB - to run Chemipure (activated carbon), Poly Filter pads, and Rowaphos when necessary. 6. Float switch w/ snail guard connected to auto top-off system. I highly recommend an auto top-off system in order to maintain salinity and not run the risk of constant fluctuations via manual top-offs w/ freshwater. 7. RO/DI filter connected to cold water source under kitchen sink to have a more regular supply of freshwater (RO/DI) for top-offs and for mixing synthetic saltwater. 8. 60+ lb of live rock total for biological filtration and of course, aesthetics. Don't half-ass the equipment, folks. Great corals are only a function of great equipment, care, and patience. =) Link to comment
Tigahboy Posted January 22, 2005 Author Share Posted January 22, 2005 Meercat - Actually, as time progressed I found it easier to work w/ smaller more uniquely shaped LR pieces. So gradually I purchased smaller pieces here and there. Usually there would be about 7-10 pieces of LR for just 10-15lb total. I do not epoxy any of the LR pieces together. Link to comment
Sassa Wrasse Posted January 22, 2005 Share Posted January 22, 2005 Lol it seems liek you are saying its not all about spending a ton of cash on frags and rare corals, but its also about spending tons of money on equipment and stuff It all good though dude, I know what you mean lol Link to comment
Tigahboy Posted January 23, 2005 Author Share Posted January 23, 2005 Pretty much all my SPS are at the very top of my rockwork to get the most out of the MH lights. The pics go from left to right. Link to comment
Sushi Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 is that a pink plating cap in the 2nd pic? i can't really tell... whatever it is, i want a frag! u know i love those caps! Link to comment
Tigahboy Posted January 23, 2005 Author Share Posted January 23, 2005 It's been a little over a month and the 2 polyp frag of acan hillae now have 2 baby heads budding from the sides. You can see one of the new baby heads in this pic. The other one is on the other side of the frag... Link to comment
Tigahboy Posted January 23, 2005 Author Share Posted January 23, 2005 Uchiha - looks pink in that pic - but I bought em as "purple w/ blue polyp montis." tho the blue polyps are very subtle baby blue and the purple is more of a pastel purple. Link to comment
Sushi Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 ah i see... me likey anyways! as for that hillae, u lucky bastard... just doubled up! (in 1 month TOO!) i wish i still had mine Link to comment
Tigahboy Posted January 23, 2005 Author Share Posted January 23, 2005 My last 5 polyp frag of the "Tigahboy's green & baby blue acanthastrea." haha. The mother colony has about 20 heads still, but I want to let her grow before another round of fragging. This is the last of the recent fragging fest. Not sure what to do w/ it...let it grow, sell it, trade it. we'll see. Link to comment
Sushi Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 god dangit, the OC hillae & the "Tigah's G&BB acan" look so similar. it's hillae, gota be at least the same species! can't imagine it being anything else... Link to comment
Tigahboy Posted January 23, 2005 Author Share Posted January 23, 2005 Haha. I think I like "Tigahboy's G&B acan"...but yeah, it's still somewhat of a mystery whether it is echinata or hillae or just unkown acan...so I'll just called it my G&B for now. =P Actually here's one TINY TINY 1/5 of a head frag of the G&B. I accidentally sliced off a speck of the mother colony while I was fragging and it survived...I wanna see how this guy turns out in a few months. =) Link to comment
Tigahboy Posted January 23, 2005 Author Share Posted January 23, 2005 I got my auto top-off set-up yesterday and so far so good! It feels good not having to pour RO/DI freshwater into my sump 3 times a day to keep the salinity stable. =) Here's how I set it up. Float switch w/ snail guard from californiareefs.com. Close up of float switch on the "ON" position...when water level rises, the white cylindar goes up to the top and then shuts off the power. The float switch is connected to a maxijet 1200 which moves water (when turned on) from the water reservoir to my main tank. I couldn't easily mount it directly to my sump tank and I know I'm going to have to move it when I upgrade, so I decided to mount it to one of these fish isolation containers. I just drilled the bottom for holes as shown here. Then I hung the fish isolation container so it was inside my sump tank, and then mounted the float switch directly to the container rather than the sump itself. Here's 2 pictures. So as mentioned above, when the water level drops due to evaporation, the float switch lowers and then turns on the power for the maxijet 1200 located in the water reservoir, shown here: Then the maxijet 1200 pumps water thru clear flexible tubing up to the main display. You want to have it so the tubing is not actually touching the water or submersed b/c it will then backsiphon when the power to the maxijet shuts off. Also, I couldn't place the tubing directly into my sump tank b/c the sump tank is lower (or at same level) of the water reservoir and if the maxijet were to shut off, it would continue to siphon into my sump tank. so it has to be going upwards and not touching/submersed in the water at all. And that's it! Now you never have to top-off manually. Just gotta make sure the water reservoir is replenished w/ RO/DI freshwater so it never runs dry...and I plan to automate the process of refilling the water reservoir as well and will show how tomorrow. I also recommend a bigger water reservoir (the one shown only holds 2 g)...I already switched the reservoir and mounted another float switch connected to the RO/DI filter. But I definitely recommend that ppl get one of these (either from californiareefs.com or saltydawg) since your salinity will stay very stable and this will greatly benefit your corals. Link to comment
kappa Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 I read of horror stories from RC with TOTM crashing due to float switches. float switches are scary. That is my opinion on float switches. It's a double edged sword, what ever that means. Link to comment
Tigahboy Posted January 23, 2005 Author Share Posted January 23, 2005 Yeah. I've heard similar stories...oh well. I like to live life on the edge. =) Link to comment
The Speez Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 The tunze osmolator is a little more $$ than other float switches but it works completely different and to me it is a much safer bet...Instead of a moving part that gets stuck it has a laser that creates a plane across the water surface. The major part of top off systems that fail are when the switch gets stuck in the on position. Check it out @ marine depot. I bought one last month and it seems to be working perfect. GO EAGLES! Link to comment
Sushi Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 don't live life on the edge!! you don't want your tank to crash...at least w/float switches u can "clean" them as u would any other piece of equipment... so i guess ur OK, that'd be ur only insurance! Link to comment
rmulet Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 Tigahboy, Thanks so much for sharing all that info! I always look forward to reading the posts you put up, especially the pictures! It is usually one of the first places I look when I log on. I hope to one day have a 20 long that I can set up. Space limits me so much. But for now I look to your post for new pix! I just wanted to say you inspire me thats all! Thanks, rmulet Link to comment
Thunil Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 tigah do you get your topoff water to drip into your tank or just free flow? Link to comment
Kogut Posted January 23, 2005 Share Posted January 23, 2005 Hey, Tigah, how's the monti doing? The blue/green guy is doing great when he's not getting knocked over by hermits and snails. Remember my weird white/violet one that was by the stag? I think it's dead... No idea why... It seemed to have a brown sheet peeling off of it the other day, and now I don't see any polyps on it anywhere... I haven't pulled it out because I don't wanna accidentally kill it if it's fine, but I'm wondering what your thoughts are... And Eagles suck, Speez. Go Patriots, though. Link to comment
Shorty5198 Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 Tigah, as always, awsome tank. Your sps collection is killer. same with your acans. Keep up the good work. Link to comment
Pinchy Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 haha tigah, a fellow seachem chemical user! i love their whole product line- use reef builder(reef carbonate), complete, plus, and iodide with stellar results- too bad my tank will never look as good as yours! Link to comment
BKtomodachi Posted January 24, 2005 Share Posted January 24, 2005 Hey Tigah, do you think a 150W DE system would be enough to light a 20long similar to yours? I want a few monti caps and maybe a pink birdsnest along with other misc. SPS... I know its fine for LPS and everything else..... What is your opinion? Thanks. Link to comment
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