willyboy's 20H (now extinct)

[willyboy]

oh, and comments are welcome

[willyboy]

bump

[pismo_reefer]

tanks lookin real good....i lik eur ora frags.

[willyboy]

tanks lookin real good....i lik eur ora frags.

 

thanks PR!

 

I got each of them for 12 dollars! great deal IMO. I hope I can grow them well. So far the only things growing well are the big green digi and the birdsnest. The birdsnest is my GCG's favorite coral to perch in.

[Gerber77]

Your tank is looking really good those shots of the frags are nice

[willyboy]

ha ha i haven't posted on this thread in like 4 months, but thanks for the compliments gerber. i'm ashamed to say that my tank has sort of fallen into a state of neglect, mainly because i'm at college now and only go home a few times each week.

 

All of my zoas have really taken off. I had got one polyp nuke green from pookstreet. Now i have about 6 polyps I'd say. My RPE's have been growing steadily as well. Among the first corals i received in the mail were some green palys from six. They look pretty good and i've since split them into about 4 colonies.

 

I broke my frogspawn in half, and put it down in the sand. It really hasn't grown much since then. My two hitchhiking torches have grown a lot too. The larger of the two is about to split. They really dominate the left side of the tank. But I don't really mind since they're beautiful.

 

Ever since i got my MH lights my mushrooms have not been growing much. They have stayed small but are still popping off babies from time to time. I actually have three different types of star polyps. One is from a piece i got from six. I thought it had totally died off due to successive attacks from algae and aiptasia. But against all odds it came back. On my pink/red birdsnest i noticed a few polyps that have now grown nicely in the high light. They are very bright. Another colony i got for 5 bucks. The guy at the store just tore it off a larger colony that looked beautiful.

 

Unfortunately due to my partial neglect of this tank, the corals that need a little more care have not fared so well. A few of my sps have fallen down to the sand, and weren't rescued in time. Also without keeping up with regular wc's, they have not grown much even tho a few have encrusted the egg crate they were sitting on. One of my montis has grown very well.

 

I will most likely continue to let everything grow how it wants to, until this summer when i'd like to add some things. A fourth fish should be a welcome addition. I've toyed with the idea many times and researched several prime suspects. We'll see how it goes.

 

P.S.-- sorry no pics, my camera has bit the dust, and i never got around to buying the Rebel XSi like i had planned.

[willyboy]

I've been away from this tank thread and nano-reef for quite some time. My photobucket account went inactive and as a result most of the pictures do not appear. I logged back into my account and everything looks fine. The pics still don't appear. Help would be greatly appreciated because we all know that that tank threads are no good without pictures.

 

Nevermind that last reply. They started working again. Enjoy the old pictures everyone.

[willyboy]

I added a coral to this tank for the first time in months. The reef club that I'm a member of had their meeting at my LFS and the club bought a few specimens and fragged them up. The beautiful ric I got was free to me! I'm doing a major cleaning of the tank and moving around some of the corals.

 

I'm probably going to trade or sell one or both of my hitchhiking torches. They were my favorite corals in this tank for a while but they are taking up space on one of the rocks so they have to go. I'm gonna be breaking them off of the rock tonight.

[willyboy]

I really hate the bulb I have right now. I have my eyes on a Phoenix 14K as soon as I have the funds. I took few pics today just for kicks and giggles. These are just some zoas and my new ricordea. I'm battling old tank syndrome and several months of neglect in the water change and general maintenance areas so try to ignore the algae.

 

 

 

 

 

[willyboy]

Like most reefers on this site I always find myself thinking that if I had the money I would get this and this and this and this and this. It's driving me crazy. I'm just dreaming, but here's my wishlist (in no particular order):

• RO/DI unit
  
• AC# fuge or a total sump (I've already looked into what I would get as far as overflow and sump design)
  
• I NEED a different bulb as I stated in my last post. Phoenix 14K 150W
  

[willyboy]

Last night while I was trying my hardest to be gentle while breaking the torches off of their rock, I broke my ugly green blue polyped monti into three pieces. I got really mad but I figure I now have 2 frags of this thing, so today I made a hang on frag rack just using egg-crate and superglue. I glued the two fragments on to some frag plugs and also moved my green digita (I swear this tank is so green I want to kill myself. Zoas, sps, torches, frogspawn, and of course algae) up there because I have nothing to properly secure it to the rock with.

 

I'm gonna try to take out some of the palys that are in places i don't want them, make some frags, and then give shipping a try. I will probably make them free plus shipping. They grow like a weed and have actually grown onto my plating monti . If anyone's interested in the green palys let me know and I will put you on a list. A little reward for viewing this thread.

[willyboy]

Anyone interested in free zoas/palys + shipping?

 

Zoas and palys in this pic are available. Lmk if you're interested.

[purplepeopleeater!]

Hey man your tanks really starting to come along. Btw i built my overflow myself cause You asked me where I got my overflow

 

But anyways good luck with the tank

[willyboy]

Thanks man

[willyboy]

Well, the biggest project in the non-eventful 40 months of this tank's life is nearly underway. I'll be making a 10G sump to house my heater and skimmer. There will be a small refugium area in it so I can have some cheato and any other macro algae I need for nutrient export. This project will be entirely DIY which scares the poo out of me. It seems simple enough. I'm very excited about this.

 

Also I got an emerald crab yesterday to help out with bubble algae and other algae. I'm looking for some nassarius snails to help out with detritus accumulation in my sand bed (they all died or were killed and eaten by hermits)

 

I should take some pictures of my new flametail blenny. He is totally at home in my tank with all sorts of holes in the LR and plenty of algae for him to pick at. He gets along fine with everyone.

 

Also, it's good to be friends with the LFS, they like to give you free tiny frags of things that are just lose in the tanks and such. Yesterday I got a 6 polyp zoa frag, and a tiny head or neon green candycane that is about the size of a dime. Both are doing well.

 

Exciting things to come!

 

--Willy

[willyboy]

Well I'm well under way constructing the sump and overflow. I will be using this overflow which I am making myself. I had hoped I could use my MJ 600 as my return pump but it isn't strong enough, so I'll probably go with a Mag 3 or 5 as my return pump. At four feet of head loss a Mag 3 is ~270 gph. Mag 5s are just $10 more and at 4 feet of head loss they rate at 310 gph.

 

I'm trying to figure out the design for my sump. A 10 gallon doesn't give me much room for a return and my skimmer and a refugium area. I will make it work though.

 

I haven't seen my emerald crab since tuesday but I'm sure she's in there somewhere. I have all the parts I need for the overflow now and will probably get all the dry fitting done today or tomorrow.

 

--Willy

 

P.S. - this is what part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R were removed

 

1,000th post

[willyboy]

I still need another T joint and another 45 degree elbow piece but after that I will be ready to cement this thing together.

 

Here's the overflow

 

 

Here's the sump.

 

 

I'll be using a Mag 3 as the return pump. It will be in the center section. The flow will be split between the skimmer/heater section (left) and the refugium (right). I will use a T joint with a ball valve just bellow it to adjust the flow to each side. By partially closing the ball valve a portion of the water will be diverted to the refugium. I'll shoot for about 25% of the water going to the refugium. Looking at that picture I think I might shorten the baffle for the refugium.

 

Any comments or suggestions?

[willyboy]

The overflow has been cemented together and I'm working on siliconing the sump right now. I might test the overflow tonight. I used silicone to connect the check valve on the top U so I will have to let that cure a little bit before I can test the overflow.

[willyboy]

I tested the overflow and it works fine. The sump is curing right now. I will test it after the recommended 48 hours(2 freaking days!) it take for it to cure. I think I did a good job on the silicone. If there's any leaks I'll be pissed.

[nick1912]

I tested the overflow and it works fine. The sump is curing right now. I will test it after the recommended 48 hours(2 freaking days!) it take for it to cure. I think I did a good job on the silicone. If there's any leaks I'll be pissed.

 

Hey nice tank! So hows the sump DIY going? New Pics please and a FTS if you can, I want to see your new blenny.

[willyboy]

There were no leaks in the silicone so that was good. I'll try to get some pictures tonight. The tank looks pretty crappy. My cuc is seriously lacking. I have a turbo snail, several hermits (that don't do jack squat), and an emerald crap, who, to the best of my knowledge, is eating algae at night. I never see the emerald. I really nead some nassarius snails and astrea or cerith becuase my turbo can't do it all.

 

Once I get my return pump and other return plumbing items i'll be ready to get this thing going.

 

I haven't been running the skimmer lately partly because it produces lots of microbubbles, and partly because I took it out to fit it in my sump.

[willyboy]

First off, I apologize to nick for not taking any pictures yet. I don't actually have my own camera, and I have been pretty busy lately. Frankly the tank looks like crap right now. I have had problems with several types of algae through the years. I know what the problem is I just don't have the money, but I did recently switch to buying RO/DI water for water changes and top offs. Corals are pissed, but fish are fine. I did have a scare with some odd behavior from my male clown but he's acting normal again. Clowns are retarded.

 

Second, and this is pretty exciting, I got my return pump and other items in today, so I attempted to get my sump set up today. It was not to be today and I'm very frustrated with it (not to mention I sliced up my thumb pretty good cutting some vinyl tubing). I got a Mag3 which tops out at 350 gph, yet I can't get the overflow to keep up. I did a few modifications to the overflow and saw some increase in flow but not nearly enough. This type of overflow at 3/4" diameter should be well over 350 gph. Also for some reason the overflow slowly looses siphon if the aqualifter is not hooked up to the check valve. I'll do more trouble shooting tomorrow. If anyone knows what my problem is I'd love some help and insight.

 

I have done a lot of reading on Kalk dosing and Magnesium dosing, as my salt (Instant Ocean) flat out doesn't have what it takes for calcium hungry corals. Once I get my sump set up I will start dosing these.

[willyboy]

I know no one really cares, but this tank has been down for nearly 9 months now. I had a sump built and a PVC overflow built, but when I was unable to get the PVC overflow to work I gave up on the tank expansion and decided to take this tank down. I was also nearing a semester studying abroad and didn't want to leave the tank as my family's burden.

 

I had a lot of fun running this tank and I learned A LOT. I recently got the itch to get another tank going while writing a research paper on coral bleaching (coral bleaching causes and coral bleaching as an adaptive response) for a Marine Biology class.

 

Needless to say I

am in the planning and logistics stage of setting up a new tank. After being in the saltwater reef hobby for several years I have learned what I like and don't like and have slowly pieced together in my mind what I want in a saltwater reef aquarium. I won't call it a dream tank because honestly, isn't everyone's dream tank much bigger than any normal reefer can afford?

 

I already have a light and a sump and a return pump for a new aquarium (which should help keep my startup cost relatively low). Be on the look out for willyboy's next aquarium build. To everyone who ever helped me in any way or complemented my tank, thank you very much. You helped more than you know.

 

Willyboy

[tam]

Sweet! Can't wait to see the new digs!

[gena]

Looking forward to seeing the new tank!!!! Any idea when you might be starting it up?