40 gallons to freedom -- Retired! See last post for rebirth.

[Chew_Magna]

Off work today due to a wisdom tooth that's giving me hell, so I'm finally getting around to............

 

Making the new tank thread.

 

Dun dun dun.....

 

 

 

FTS 6/26/2013

 

Current tank video

 

---All pics and videos in this thread were taken with an HCT Vivid flashed with a custom ICS rom and flashed with the HTC Amaze camera.---

 

*********************************************************************************************************************************

 

So, here I am, again, making a new tank thread. This will be the last! I promise! Until we pick up and move to Colorado in a year or so.

 

If you're interested, here are my old tank threads that lead up to this one:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/310918-10-gallon-franken-reef/ <Super noob, just getting started.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/319041-chews-30-gallon-fun-box-occy-hosting-the-sebae/ <Still a noob.

 

Disclaimer: Even in this thread, still a noob. And if you happen to notice any incohesive ramblings that's because that's just how my brain works.

 

If you didn't look through the old threads (and I don't blame you) I'll give you a little history on myself and how I ended up where I am in the hobby.

 

I got interested in the hobby after taking a job at a pet store here in town. I was big into inverts at the time, I had several tarantulas and scorpions but I was losing interest in keeping "pet rocks". A big reef tank bug started hitting people at work, a couple of the guys at work had reef tanks or FOWLER systems already and I thought it was something I would really be interested in trying. I started my marine hobby in a two gallon Fluval Spec and like everyone else I kept on moving up and up and up in tank sizes. Now I'm here with this. I wasn't new to keeping fish, many years ago I had several tanks when I was in the Navy but I never considered marine before. Honestly I had never even seen a reef tank in person before. Who would've thought that one of those people with Oscars in a 30 gallon tank would have ended up with something like this?

 

I have to say that the people on this forum have been a HUGE inspiration to me. The sheer amount of information and amazing tanks in this community have been a great help to myself and even to my customers that I try to help on a daily basis.

 

Here's a little about the tank in it's current state. I'm waiting on some tools to arrive so I can drill the stand and plumb my refugium back in. (Actually right now I'm thinking of going with a sump instead.)

 

-Hardware-

 

AGA 40 gallon breeder

LEDTRIC par38 full spectrum with no optics

OCReef par38 full spectrum with no optics

Oceanic Biocube skimmer - needs to be replaced

HOB filter - will be going out once everything is plummed

DIY pvc overflow that currently isn't installed

Aquatop heater

Sunsun 800gph powerhead - $15 Amazon special and I couldn't be happier

 

The stand is an old register counter from work. It stands 40" tall which is GREAT when you're 6'3". I never liked traditional stands. Who wants to bend down to look in a tank? Not this guy.

 

-Upgrades planned-

 

Another LEDTRIC par38.

Changing my 10 gallon refugium out for a 20 long or a 29 gallon sump.

A new skimmer.

Either DIY or buy a GFO and carbon reactor.

 

-Livestock-

 

Magenta dottyback

Triple misbar ocellaris

Snowflake ocellaris

Convict (engineer) goby

Skunk cleaner shrimp

Emerald Crab

Unidentified Bi-valve

Various snails

Various blue and red leg hermits

 

-Corals-

 

Neon green Birdsnest

Rock flower nems x3

Sebae nem

Favia

Acan

Blasto

Trumpet x3 one neon green, two teal frags

Cabbage leather

Unidentified SPS x2

Big red Lobo

Pink and green Chalice

Blue cloves

Shrooms

Colt

Anthelia

GSP

Blue pulsing Xenia

Pulsing Xenia

Various zoa and pally (Idk about names)

 

 

-Pics!-

 

 

 

 

 

[Cereal Killer]

Wow that's killer looking. Great setup.

[eitallent]

LOL @ dun, dun, dun!

 

Beautiful FTS. I like this size tank, 40B. Your brain seems happy!

[Chew_Magna]

Thanks Cereal Killer!

 

Yeah eitallent, that brain is my favorite piece in the tank. It's been through a lot with my mistakes and what-not, but it keeps trucking.

 

The video is finished uploading, don't forget to check it out.

[eitallent]

Very nice Rock anemones. That Anthelia is gorgeous too.

[Chew_Magna]

I haven't really updated anything because there really isn't much to update. I lost some hours at work so getting a new tank for a fuge/sump isn't going to happen. I have a 15 gallon tank that's currently brackish and housing my figure 8 puffer and a bumblebee goby, I'm thinking of using that as my sump and putting them in the old 30 gallon and just convert that for my brackish fish (that way I can get a few more brackish fish as well! Breeding mollies for food anyone???).

 

I'm toying around with redoing my scape as well. I don't really like how everything ended up in there, it still has that "rocks on a wall" feel that I didn't like in the old tank. I'd like to open it up, get everything off the back wall and see if I can create some islands. I don't know how I'll pull it off since I have so many things attached to the rocks already. I think I'm going to work on that over the next couple days.

 

Will post pics when it's done!

[MGDMIRAGE]

Looks nice, which bulb is which? The bulb on the right looks like it has better range of color.

[Chew_Magna]

The Ledtric bulb is on the left, the OCReef on the right. I prefer the Ledtric bulb in person, but the OC bulb is easier to take pictures under. Gotta love phone cameras and leds.

I went ahead and messed around in the tank for a while. I'll get a video up later. Some reason the pics all came out crap so I'm not even going to bother uploading them.

[Chew_Magna]

So-so rescape and my amazing spectacular awesome narration.

 

 

I need to train myself to talk like the "True Facts About *****" guy.

[llama roadkill]

Off work today due to a wisdom tooth that's giving me hell, so I'm finally getting around to............

 

Making the new tank thread.

 

Dun dun dun.....

 

 

 

FTS 6/26/2013

 

Current tank video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncCNgLIdnyY'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncCNgLIdnyY

 

---All pics and videos in this thread were taken with an HCT Vivid flashed with a custom ICS rom and flashed with the HTC Amaze camera.---

 

*********************************************************************************************************************************

 

So, here I am, again, making a new tank thread. This will be the last! I promise! Until we pick up and move to Colorado in a year or so.

 

If you're interested, here are my old tank threads that lead up to this one:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/310918-10-gallon-franken-reef/'>http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/310918-10-gallon-franken-reef/

 

 

 

 

 

Does your Engineer ever topple rock work? I really want one but have read they are very destructive,

[BeardedReeferLLC]

Everything is looking sexy!

[WarrenM]

Love the thread name!! I was gonna make my user name Badfish! Nice looking setup!!

[Chew_Magna]

Ha, thanks guys. Looks like I've been slacking on this thread.

 

No, my engineer never knocks anything over. In fact I'm running <1 inch of sand and all the rocks are pretty secure on the bottom of the tank. He's a baby though, only about 3-4 inches long right now. He's a happy camper under his two "macro" rocks I have in the display (they're covered in calupra now).

 

I have done a little work on the tank recently. I had a bad GHA break out and without the funds to properly take care of it I just removed rocks that had it bad and siphoned out chunks of sand. So now my brackish tank has more LR in it since the GHA can't survive in that. I guess it works out as I moved my brackish into my old 30 that this used to be in. More room, more stuff (and more fishies).

 

So a few days back I decided to finally get around to making my sump for this. I emptied the 15 gallon, moved all it's contents to the 30 and was sitting here brainstorming on how to cheaply convert it into an actual sump. I got to looking at the 10 gallon I had and realized that the side panels of glass are the perfect size to use as baffles in the 15. Then I broke one trying to de-rim the tank.

 

Derp.

 

Now I'm back to brainstorming again.

 

Good news is I pulled the trigger on a GBTA yesterday. I know I can't really afford it but I have points saved up at work (and employee discount rawr rawr rawr). This is the first time I've seen any BTA come through the store so I had to get one.

 

Speaking of nems though. I lost my newest green rock flower. I have no idea why, it was fine, fine but not staying in one spot. Then I saw my skunk cleaner picking on it one day, then either the next day or a day after it was dead and melting. This is three rock flowers I've lost so far, two within a day or two after seeing a shrimp picking on it. The two I have left are perfectly fine. One travels a little every couple days but stays relatively in the same spot. It's possible the others just weren't in good health when I got them seeing as none of them lasted a month for me.

 

I have a theory. I was recently able to test my RO source with a TDS meter and it read at 100. There's obviously something wrong there. With numbers that high you'd think my tank should be crashing. But, I have lost several coral from unknown reasons in the past several months, plus the mysterious deaths of three rock flowers. I'm also short on snails lately, a lot of shells with no more snail to them.

 

So you'd think that with a TDS reading that bad I'd have more problems with my tank. Idk though. I've always known that my RO source wasn't great. It's not in a clean area, it has no lid and collects contaminants constantly, and the filter/membranes haven't been changed in years and at one point it had bleach poured in it. But, if the water really was that bad then more things in my tank shouldn't be alive. My sebae should be dead, I have a bird's nest and an acro that probably shouldn't be alive, some LPS as well (although some aren't really looking that great while others are thriving). Maybe it's helping that I use distilled when I can afford to get some? Maybe that's keeping that high TDS RO from being too much of a bad thing? Possibly.

 

I've had the discussion with the ol' lady about getting my own RO system. Two things are holding me back: I can't afford one and she won't let me set one up in the apartment. So I'm thinking about something like this down the road http://www.amazon.com/RO-MIGHTY-MITE-SYSTEM-50GPD/dp/B000WE8470/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1374767386&sr=8-3&keywords=portable+rodi

 

It isn't crazy expensive and it isn't a permanent fixture either. Problem is getting the money for it.

[Florida reef]

Looking good. As for the RO setup, you can find them for only a little bit more than the cost of the unit that is in the link you provided. I would try and find a 5 stage with a DI cartridge as well.

[Chew_Magna]

Looking good. As for the RO setup, you can find them for only a little bit more than the cost of the unit that is in the link you provided. I would try and find a 5 stage with a DI cartridge as well.

It'll have to be something that isn't hooked up 24/7, only when I need to make water. That's why I was looking at the "portable" ones. If you have some info along those lines I'd be more than happy to hear.

[Florida reef]

Ah, gotcha. Maybe try to build a frame that the RO/DI attaches to and would fit in a plastic storage bin. When you want to make water, drag that bad boy out and hook it to your sink and in the meantime stow it in a closet?

[Paandemonium]

So cute

[Squared]

didn't know a 40B could be lit so nicely by just 2 PAR bulbs. no optics?

[Chew_Magna]

didn't know a 40B could be lit so nicely by just 2 PAR bulbs. no optics?

Yep, no optics. The only thing I would hesitate to put under these is a clam on the sand. I do want to eventually add another bulb but that won't be anytime soon.

[lizardfish]

I love the sublime reference !

Nice tank too

[dtitus1]

Dang that reallly looks good with only two bulbss making me think twice about getting a third how far are they over the water?

[Chew_Magna]

Weird that I'm not getting any notifications about my own thread.

 

Dang that reallly looks good with only two bulbss making me think twice about getting a third how far are they over the water?

I keep them probably 3-4" off the water.

 

Right now they're a little higher due to the fact that I have a HoB filter on the tank while I wait to get the sump installed. The HoB is a little splashy so I raised them to get them away from that. Once I'm all plumbed again I'll lower them since there will be nothing splashy anymore.

 

I didn't get the GBTA. I got to the store and it was still waiting for me in it's shipping bag (per my instructions) but the price mysteriously jumped to almost double what I was told it would be. I had budgeted that money so I could get it and I flat out can't afford it now. I was (am) so mad.

[Chew_Magna]

Price is down on the BTA's! Now I can has one.

 

This one has a tad bit of green irl. Mostly white though.

 

This one is neon green irl, camera didn't pick it up at all.

 

Clarkii already hosting in it. I had to put it in a different tank because this guy SERIOUSLY pissed it off. To the point we though it was going to kill it. Now the BTA is the size of a quarter.

 

I'm going to get the first one and see if I can get it colored up. I fed it a piece of silverside this morning and it gobbled it up. Good sign.

[Chew_Magna]

Got a couple pics for ya. They're not the best, I recently flashed a new rom on my phone and the camera is nowhere near as good as the ol' ICS Amaze camera I had flashed before (not compatible with Android 4.2.2 ).

 

Had to drop the exposure waaaay down just to get a hint of the green in there. It's a very glowy minty green irl.

 

Nuclear explosion bubble tip.

 

Got Calupra? Lol, don't worry, this is going in the fuge when it's finally re-done. I'm having to keep it pruned for now. Upon further review of this pic I've noticed that there's a ghost wearing my glasses in it.

 

This little prick won't leave the BTA alone. He went to it IMMEDIATELY after I put it in the tank, my hand literally was still on the rock and he was already picking on it. I'm going to be getting rid of him. I lost my last two rock flower nems within a couple days of him picking on them like this.

 

That ghost is back in the last pic there. Rawr.

[eitallent]

I trapped and banned my three peps into the fuge for this very same behavior with the rock nems! Luckily they did not kill it and it is looking so happy now that its guts are not being mined. Pesky little buggers!