bluebastion's 20g SPS M-Tank (glass)

[NorCalTRD]

...might even be able to utilize a SCWD.

 

Izzue

 

I thought about that for awhile but decided I would rather go with two pumps. It is all going to be on a reefkeeper II so I am going to utilize the built in wavemaker feature on that instead. Like I said, I will have a thread up here soon with all the details and progress. I don't want to steal any of Blue's thunder.

 

Blue-

I just want to commend you again for all of the pictures and keeping up with the thread. Your new frags look awesome! I know that you said in the beginning that you were reluctant to start this because you didnt think you could keep up with it but you are doing a fantastic job!

 

Jordan

[henry22]

Has the BSJ made a burrow yet, because isnt that what jawfish do. I would really like to see them burrow, Im getting a pistol and watchmen soon so I hope I can see them build a burrow.

[bluebastion]

You guys aren't going to believe this...

 

My BSJ jumped ship last night. (This after one of the most restful nights of sleep in a long time)... Don't have much to say about that.... except I won't be getting another one anytime soon. Looks like the DIY lid didn't stop him from jumping through... Fish wise it looks like I'm back to square one, after all that researching and trying to get a BSJ in. I've had hard luck as of recent it seems.... :/ Blue, you will be missed.

[RayWhisperer]

That sux Blue! I'm sorry to hear/read that!

[glbtrottr]

That sucks about blue - mine did that also. Twerp...

 

Coming soon:

 

MONSTER NANO!

 

Yes, folks. Not sure whether to be proud or sad, but my M22 Glass tank has become

 

....Franken-nano...

 

How about a....

 

....closed loop M22?

 

With nearly 700G of flow?

 

A little lockline for your flow?

 

A valve to control a little flow?

 

fans over the water, and under the light?

 

Lots of stolen or improved upon ideas...I was so excited about the hydor flo's but it looks like I won't be using em after all...

 

Working on a top off / dosing pump...SPS, here we come!

[bluebastion]

Thanks for the condolences. My dog found him under the ottoman. At least Buddy didn't make a beef jerky outta blue.

 

Ah, and I just ordered some B-Ionic for dosing Calcium and Magnesium. We'll see how that works.

[Izzue]

Very sorry bout blue...Blue

I wish fisheess didnt jump...sad day when I find one of mine carper surfing cause my homemade top is not real great either...but I wanted a clean look with the acyrlic + still allow some cooliing and gas exchange.

 

Chin up Blue...just a lesson to chalk up.

I actually traded some frags at LFS for a Firefish one time...Wife didnt like the fish right off...but he managed to stay put for 2 months before jumping ship...but I had no cover at that time. Lesson learned

 

Izzue

[RayWhisperer]

Blue, B-Ionic is good stuff, but I thought you were looking for something "one part"....

[bluebastion]

Yeah I was, but I read so many good things about B-Ionic... which is SORT of All-In-One. Just in two parts... Also getting the Magnesium additive... but I won't dose that until I get a test kit.

 

Just got back from drill... I'm so dead.

[glbtrottr]

I was all set up to do a few things, and after visiting Rod's Reef in Dekalb, Illinois, I kinda changed my mind slightly...

 

Closed Loop M-Tank!

 

I know, it somehow defeats the purpose of some things, but I like the curved front of the glass tank, so here we are:

 

A bucket with a Maxi at the office to accomodate the UPS deliveries was just not sexy enough, so I got a 4.4.

 

 

Well, that didn't last long-I got the Nano bug.

 

A little visit to Rod's, a few accesories, some time, and:

 

Front Shots:

 

Lights on:

 

 

Close up of the front end of the business:

 

 

And the back - plumbing!

 

Test run:

 

Refugium Detail, with sponge tray and intake:

 

Full Function Test:

 

Lights: Coralife Aqualight Advanced, 150W MH, 20K light bulb to start

Plumbing:

 

* Closed Loop, 3 bulkheads, driven by a SCWD (yeah, yeah - upgrade intended on the SCWD soon to a less failure prone mod

* 3/4" plumbing all around with the exception of the intake and return on the pump

* 3/4" Locline with flared outputs

* Mag 7 Pump, controlled by valve

* Ball Valve on intake

* Home Depot 60W Agrigro light, clip on

* Coralife Digital Temp, at least till controller gets in

* Stealth 50W heater

* Stock Skimmer (planned for Remora)

* Azoo cooling fans, dual (should have gotten the quad, maybe)

 

What do y'all think?

[RayWhisperer]

Nice job! I like it!

[NorCalTRD]

Glbtrottr,

AWESOME looking tank! You should start a thread and keep us updated on progress and details! I too am doing the same sort of thing. I will be starting my thread in the next couple weeks once I have the details worked out for mine. Still in the planning stages on mine.

 

Blue,

Any thoughts on other fish as of yet? Sorry about your BSJ... That's aweful.

 

Jordan

[glbtrottr]

Thanks, Jordan!

 

I don't want to put up a different thread - Blue did a cool job with his. I wouldn't have done mine the way I did if I hadn't seen this thread and others.

 

I am thinking of an OM squirt or drilling out the SCWD...there are some cool mods for it.

 

I also have a couple of Iceprobes I may use for it - would fit nicely there...

 

I'm thinking the remora may not cut it, and not sure the stock skimmer is all that either...perhaps a needlewheel of sorts? CSS65? Would love to try one if it would fit in the sump.

 

I am finding some awesome pieces of live rock to place in there...fairly excited my barbershop goby in the nano paired up with my baby pistol candycane shrimp...

 

Only real big thing left is figuring out a good dosing pump/Auto Topoff scheme...

[bluebastion]

Nice looking tank there. You'll have to explain the mods for a simple brain like me.

 

As for my tank.... unfortunately 3 of my 12 SPS frags have become skeletons..... but it seems to be because they weren't mounted, and may be prematurely sent. (freshly cut)...

 

The rest are doing really well with great polyp extensions. Also the bonsai is purpling up from the brown it was before.... It's a beauty with green polyps. Anyways... that's what has been going on.

 

So far, no plans on the blue spotted jawfish replacement. We'll see if I get another.

[NorCalTRD]

Hey Blue,

Just wondering if you are happy with the regular remora? Do you think it is enough? Since I am trying to make sure I take the time and money to do my cube the right way I am trying to get as much input as possible. Have you had any temperature issues at all with the MH lights? I have been trying to decide if I should do an Iceprobe or two before I fill the tank just in case of temperature fluctuations.

 

Thanks for the fantastic work on this thread!

 

Jordan

[bluebastion]

Hey Blue,

Just wondering if you are happy with the regular remora? Do you think it is enough? Since I am trying to make sure I take the time and money to do my cube the right way I am trying to get as much input as possible. Have you had any temperature issues at all with the MH lights? I have been trying to decide if I should do an Iceprobe or two before I fill the tank just in case of temperature fluctuations.

 

Thanks for the fantastic work on this thread!

 

Jordan

 

Yes, I am very pleased with my regular remora... I would say it's definitely enough. Before I ran it, I sat at around 15 for Nitrates. After the Remora broke in my tank is now reading at 5 or less. Can't beat that. As for temperature, my tank is at 79 at night and 80 in the day... My photo period with the MH is 6 hours a day with the bulb at 6" above the water line. I have a small fan aimed between the pendant and water surface and it operates during the photo period only. Both return pumps and Remora (Maxijet) is on 24/7. Mind you, I currently live in the armpit of the south... and even during the recent heat wave my tank hasn't been hotter than 81 degrees (I set my home AC @ 75). HTH with your planning.

[bluebastion]

I unsecured the 3 SPS frags that did not survive... I didn't think it would hurt the tank so I left their skeletons in the sand for the hermits to play with. I hypothesize that the 3 that died, perished because they were prematurely sent to me... as they were not mounted like most of the others that did live. Also, since I had the "extra" room to play with, I did a minor rearranging. I think the tank looks more aesthetically pleasing with the somewhat changed coral placement. All the "surviving" (more like thriving) frags have colored up a great deal... I now can see why SPS are so fun. They may not sway like hammers or frogspawn.... and they may not pulse like xenia... but they more than make up for it in beauty and color. My only regret is that one of the 3 that died was an aquamarine color... and probably my favorite out of the 12 frags I recieved.

 

Future Plans

 

Well my birthday (birfday, if you prefer) is coming up! The big 2-7. The reality of 30 on the way is sinking in...

 

Anyways, so now I get to plan on my gifts, or gift to be more specific. As stated earlier, I plan on getting a Reef Keeper II.... however I'm not sure if that's the best one out of all the controllers out there (such as the Neptune Controller)... This upgrade would also mean that I would need to get more pumps... I've already come face to face with the reality that for great random flow, I'm going to have to comprimise the stock look. Because the Reef Keeper (or similar controllers) has the wave making function (able to control many pumps... on and off... simulating random ocean current).... I'm thinking of adding two more pumps which would actually be in the display. Don't get me wrong, I dread the fact that it will ruin the stock look... but I think the beauty and health of my SPS's outweighs the negative. That said, I'm needing some advice on the pump to get. I'm thinking of two Seio 620s... one on each side of my LR "mound"... mounted against the back, both aimed at the front of the tank. The only thing I don't like about Seios is their length... pretty huge I think. Are there any more suggested pumps out there to use in substitution? They must be efficient, small, AND most important of all... Dependable. In the past, for my 2.5, I had purchased the Hydor Pico... it was great while it lasted for the month it worked. Dependability is the focus... As a side note, I am not worried about heat issues at all, since my tank sits at ~80 with MH and 3 pumps on currently.

 

Any thoughts on this? I would love to hear you veterans chime in.

 

I also plan on getting another aquamarine colored frag as well as a yellow colored variety of SPS... maybe birds nest?

[NorCalTRD]

Not a veteran by any means, but, I have done my homework on pumps because I have been going crazy with mine. The only pumps that I would personally run in tank are the new nano sized tunze. Tunze obviously has a fantastic reputation... but there is a price to pay $$$. May I ask why you dont just want to get more powerful return pumps instead? I will be running two Rio 8HF's in my back compartments much like you have yours and will be controlling them with the wavemaker feature of a RK2. Like I said, It will give me 1100gph with just those two plus the maxijet on the remora. So a total turnover will be around 1295gph. Should be sufficient... Haha. But... as I was saying, I'd look into the new nano tunze streams. Should be good.

 

Jordan

 

Ps- Do you have an updated FTS after the moving of the corals?

[bluebastion]

What I'm going for is flow in 4 dimensions... not just randomness via the wave maker. I looked into the nanostreams... to big for my taste... the ball itself is about 3" in diameter... uses alot of realestate. I may go this route though... http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merchant2/m...ode=Tunze_pumps

 

The Reef Keeper controls 4 or so pumps... I just want to make it worth my money and time.

[NorCalTRD]

I have actually heard a lot of great things about those lil tunze pumps. Not a lot of flow but enough to get a lil bit of random flow. Good call on trying to get the most out of the RK2. I have actually been rethinking my design now that I suggested those nano tunze streams to you. Seeing that I am having a custom overflow made, I am thinking of going with two smaller return pumps, such as MJ 900's for the low wattage and then going with two of the smallest tunze streams in the upper corners of the tank. Will give me the flow im looking for in the tank, will still have the random current, and will have lower wattage overall, meaning less heat to worry about. What do you all think?

[bluebastion]

I actually ordered 3... May use one to direct flow behind the LR. 3 May sound like alot... but with all of them connected to a RK 2... they will all not be on at the same time.

[NorCalTRD]

I actually ordered 3... May use one to direct flow behind the LR. 3 May sound like alot... but with all of them connected to a RK 2... they will all not be on at the same time.

 

I think that will give you some great current in every direction! Should be cool.

 

You definitely got the whells in my head turning... or I just did it to myself. Haha. I am pretty sure now that I will go with two MJ900's in the back compartments with a return toward the bottom of each side and then two tunze nanostream 6025's in the upper corners of the tank. The MJ's will be on all the time just for return flow and the Nanostreams will be on the wavemaker. Can't wait to get this project underway!

 

Any suggestions on who to get to make my custom overflow?

 

Thanks,

Jordan

[Charlie97L]

blue, great thread... i love this tank, and am definitely considering one in the future.

 

i'm really sorry you lost the BSJ, he was gorgeous... i notice you seem to be adding fish aggressive -> less aggressive... that may have something to do with your jawfish jumping... i know they jump anyway, but it may have been extra stressed from the angel and wrasse? they can be very aggressive and nippy.

 

also, i've had much experience with lids (firefish and wrasses, i love em.) and i've found that, other than glass, pretty much anything that will effectively block them from jumping will also cut your light. i use egg crate. the good news is that for most jumpers, once they settle down after a few months, unless you're doing major work in the tank, they'll be ok. my ruby wrasse was jumping so hard initially i had to weight the egg crate down, as he was successfully dislodging it, bangin his head against it.

 

keep us updated!

[Izzue]

I'm thinking of two Seio 620s... one on each side of my LR "mound"... mounted against the back, both aimed at the front of the tank. The only thing I don't like about Seios is their length... pretty huge I think. Are there any more suggested pumps out there to use in substitution? They must be efficient, small, AND most important of all... Dependable.

 

Heya Blue where in the South do you live...Im in Jackson Miss. dam hot and humid...lol.

I had One Seio 620 in my 18 gal for bout a month...WAY to big...the flow is nice but you cant use a Seio on a regular wavecontroller...I think Seio just came out with a controller for their pumps but I have not seen it for sale anywhere yet...The way Seios use electricity - turning them off and on constantly will cause the motor to reverse sometimes and reverse flow...doh

I sure love my SCWD...very simple...no extra pumps and I have my returns in the tank on right and left side with Y connections...one is set to flow on top of water during switch and the other is extened with locline to shot current towards the middle front of tank. Only died spot I have is in the middle back, but I really dont get much build up of junk back their...mainly cause my overflow is maxed so theirs a lot of flow in the tank peroid. I have tossed around the idea of a sand bar in the back but I dont want to add any more pumps (heat-room etc)...When I do water change I just blow water around the back to mix up anything that has settled. The Tunze sound great...but then again your talking about more juice more heat and less room.

0.02

Izzue

[bluebastion]

Did some serious researching on reef controllers, and I'm 99.9% sold on the Reef Keeper 2... everything I need a controller to do, and a price I can easily digest. The other controller I was remotely thinking about was the Aquatronica... has ethernet capability to control and monitor remotely via the internet, and also does graphs!.... but I just can't stomach the $700 price. So the Reef Keeper 2 it is.

 

Addressing the mini tunze pumps I will be using, I should not have a problem with heat issues. Each one is only 5 watts. Used in conjuction with the Reef Keeper 2, only two pumps, if that, should be on at the same time... as all three pumps will be on different cycles. Very rarely would all three be on at the same time... and when they are it will be for short durations of time (also only amounting to 15 watts)..... The MaxiJet on my Remora is 20 watts and brought my tank temp up to 80 degrees... up only 1 degree. As long as the Tunze mini pumps are efficient, which I'm assuming they are, I should have no need to worry about tank warming.

 

As for the BSJ replacement. I am in the works again of acquiring another. I have plans to modify my tank lid again.. same idea, but more netting. I plan on zig zagging the netting.... and have a max of 3 net layers. That's the plan anyway... we'll see how that pans out.

 

Iz-

I'm in Columbia, SC. It's a freak'n hell hole. As a side note, I miss FL.