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Coral Vue Hydros

RollaJase's Trip Off the Deep End - Custom Rimless 55G


RollaJase

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Can't resist screwing up your post plans :D

I got the two in that I wanted to :P. TBH I'm just bored at work and figured I'd get a few extra posts in lol.

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Aquascape Inspiration:

When it came to getting ideas for a scape for this tank I scoured the internet and the forums to find ideas. Below are some of the better examples that I found. You can see that I really like the look of the twin island and rock mound look. I wanted something that would give me lots of placement option for SPS while also keeping an open sandbed and providing a lot of open swimming space for my fish.

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I tried to draw on some of these aspects while doing the scape for this tank. I have been tweaking bits and pieces here and there, trying new ideas and I think I am just about done now. Just a couple more things I want to try, add a bit more sand and I think I'll be happy.

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I don't like Sahin's scape, too sticky. I must say I'm not a big fan of the rock on top of that first example either.

 

Perry, on RC, just hit a homerun with his new scape IMO. I love the valley in between the two piles of rocks.

 

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I don't like Sahin's scape, too sticky. I must say I'm not a big fan of the rock on top of that first example either.

 

Perry, on RC, just hit a homerun with his new scape IMO. I love the valley in between the two piles of rocks.

 

 

 

Dave Fason's old 35 gallon was another I always liked.

 

This page shows the initial scape: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/185701-daves-shallow-sps-35g/page-3

 

I must admit that the top rock in the first example doesn't pique my tastes either. IMO it makes the structure look too tall and looks out of place. But to be honest the first example above is the scape I initially fell in love with and was something I did want to re-create until I started messing around with the rock that I had on hand. I do like Perry's scape also, too crowded on the sand bed for me but a very nice rock structure.

 

I have always been a fan of Dave's work also.

 

What I have come up with so far is a fairly large rock structure on the left side with an integrated arch (perhaps 2) which creates a valley with the small rock structure I have built around the overflow. There is a smaller structure on the right hand side also. I'm still messing around with proportions and the size of each structure but I am fairly happy with the layout. I'm going to try and get some more rock this weekend as I want to mess around with some shelf structures in an attempt to give the left hand structure some more height and a more interesting shape.

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Tank Update - 17th January 2016:

I'm a week late with the updates but the tank officially went in on the 9th January 2016. Over the last week I have fiddled with bits and pieces of the tank until I got it to the stage where I am happy to show it off. Here is how the tank looks as of the 17th January 2016.
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The left hand side of the tank is dominated by a fairly large rock structure. The idea was originally to have this on the right side of the tank but the overflow took up move room than anticipated. The structure is based around the central pillar structure from my old 30G with additional dry rock to not only make the structure taller but to also make it wider. The structure has a large overhanging flat piece of rock which is supported in two places providing a 3 way arch which the fish seem to love.

 

The structure built around the overflow was to try and make the overflow look a little less 'in your face' the structure wraps around the corner of the overflow box and provides a nice home for my leather coral as well as room for more SPS. I plan on mounting montipora directly to the overflow in the hope of getting some nice scrolling growth higher in the water column.

 

The right hand side of the tank is solely dedicated to my Zoas/Pallys. The zoas are placed around a raised rock which at the moment is home to more zoas. I am hoping to eventually place a clam on this rock as I think it will look fantastic having a clam nestled among the zoas. This part of the tank is still a work in progress.

 

Overall I am really happy with how the tank is looking. The sand is fine enough to allow the pumps to make natural looking ripples and troughs in the sand and I think the rock work is substantial without looking to busy. Once the coral starts to grow in it will remove some of the 'openness' in the water column and make the tank look a bit fuller than it actually is.

Now that that's over, let me introduce you to my recent acquisitions.

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Sold as a Blue Tail Wrasse in the Australian trade, I believe it to be a Melanurus Wrasse (I have my leopord wrasse on order ;)). My girlfriend has affectionately named it Severus as a tribute to the late Alan Rickman why plays Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies.

 

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Couldn't pass up the colours on this guy, stunning piece. The random splatters of red on this piece really won me over compared the the other ones the LFS had which were similar in colour and pattern but without the red.

 

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Picked up a few tester SPS pieces to see how things go. Each were $10 a piece so figured it was worth the gamble. All seem to be doing well so far but only two days in who knows how they will progress.

 

That's it for now :). With any luck I could have my leapord wrasse in a week or two ;).

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Wow, you have been busy! The tank is looking great and I like the scapes. I loved the pics of the tank scapes you were looking at for inspiration too. I wished I could apply that sort of scape to my tank but alas, the seahorses need all the biological filtratration I can give them.

Its going to be fun to watch your tank mature.

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Wow, you have been busy! The tank is looking great and I like the scapes. I loved the pics of the tank scapes you were looking at for inspiration too. I wished I could apply that sort of scape to my tank but alas, the seahorses need all the biological filtratration I can give them.

Its going to be fun to watch your tank mature.

Thanks for the kind words :). I have a nice collection of beautiful tank pics that I have built up over the years. Sometimes it's fun to flip through them just for the sake of it but it really came in handy when looking for inspiration for this tank. I didn't realise that seahorses required so much filtration, I knew they were sensitive to changes in water and water flow but would have assumed a good sump would be more than enough.

 

We have liftoff! B) Looking good man. :)

Cheers Shaun :). I'm super pumped to start sinking some hard earned dollars into this tank. Not going to go overboard until I get hte new light sorted out though.

 

Looks great and great new additions love the scape

Thanks man. It's always exciting adding new things to the tank. Now thanks to the upgrade I can start to add some more interesting livestock that just aren't suited for the smaller tanks.

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OH MAN! Looking so damn good! What a killer start dude! Congrats!

Cheers Justin, thanks for the kind words :D. It's a modest start from a stocking perspective as I offloaded so many softies from the old tank but I am really looking forward to cramming this thing full of corals and fish :).

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Also should add that by following Ben's advice with the plumbing within the overflow that I have nearly tripled the water flow through the sump now that the display is draining correctly. I did manage to overflow my sump while draining the water from the overflow box, looks like all that water proofing is paying off lol. There is still more headroom for extra flow through the siphon drain if I wanted there to be but I thing things are at a good place right now. The DC 3000 is running on the 5th or 6th speed setting and the 3/4" drain is being restricted about 40-50% with the ball valve (wish I got a gate valve now but cheap Jason got in the way). I just need to paint the top of the new backup durso black and I can call it a day with the plumbing.

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looking great! the scape is very open and multi-dimensional.

Thanks ninja, that was pretty much the look I was going for. I still think the right side needs some more rock but I'm not sure how to add it without making it look cluttered. Was thinking a magnetic rock look frag rack would go well on the overflow.

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Thanks ninja, that was pretty much the look I was going for. I still think the right side needs some more rock but I'm not sure how to add it without making it look cluttered. Was thinking a magnetic rock look frag rack would go well on the overflow.

I think it's perfect as is :wub:. I don't think the right side needs anything more..well except for the clam.

 

I like the plan for a clam in the middle of the zoa garden :).

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I think it's perfect as is :wub:. I don't think the right side needs anything more..well except for the clam.

 

I like the plan for a clam in the middle of the zoa garden :).

Thanks Gena :). I really think the clam will look great among the zoas, a nice blue one will stand out really well as I have no blue zoas. When the tank is more mature I'll definitely look an sourcing one.

 

Missed the latest. Looks good, I like the scape.

 

Are you going to add more light? Say, like, T5's? :D

Thank you Mark, glad it gets your approval ;). Light will definitely be upgraded, the AI Sol is only temporary while I finish up the new one. I pondered the idea of a controllable T5 fixture, a hybrid T5/LED fixture or a full blown LED build and actually settled with LED. Ben helped me cook up a more than capable fixture using Dave's V3 LED arrays and now that I have the heatsink assembled I pretty much just need to make a fan/controller housing and wire the sucker up.

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So tested my levels last night for the first time, doser has not been running since the tank move. Alk at 8.9dkh, Cal at 395ppm and Mag at 1160ppm. Mag definitely needs to come up so I am going to clean my 3 dosing vessels, make up a new mix of the solutions and get the doser bled and calibrated tonight. I'm going to start dosing at 50% what my previous Mag dose was and go from there. As the Mag starts to rise the Alk will probably come down a bit so I will have to dose to match that fall also. I would like to have Cal around the 450ppm mark but 395ppm isn't too bad for now.

 

SPS frags are looking good though, they get good PE at night, not so much during the day besides the yellow tipped piece. I have mounted the yellow tip piece and the green acro, the birdsnest is chilling on a rock ledge and I am yet to mount the monti cap as my frag glue went rock solid <_< . I'm sure they will all pep up a bit when the new light is installed, need to finish it first. I am also getting a diatom bloom on the surface of the sand and the glass which was to be expected starting with a lot of dry rock and fresh sand. I'm sure the SPS aren't appreciating the extra nutrients but at least the sand has stopped blowing around so much now that the bacteria is starting to build up lol.

 

I also really want to get both my reactors online this week. I have plumbed them both, finished that last night. It's just a matter of filling them and tuning the flow. I'm going to start with 50% of the recommended GFO for my water volume and go from there.

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