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Dan and Meg's 240 Gallon Long


Dan H

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Your stand came together beautifully! It's very impressive.

Watching that aiptasia laser video got me really excited! Really getting excited to watch an animal get killed seems like a bit sadistic, but since it's death by laser, it's pretty darn cool devil.gif

Thank you! And yes, I'm getting way too excited when I find Aiptasia now.

Well, I was able to wire up the Kessils tonight, but the BML wires were too short so I won't have those running for a few more days. I really like the shimmer from the Kessils and love the ability to change the color.

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http://youtu.be/uCXuxpngWN4

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YAY! Just placed our first livestock order. Ok, we technically may have swung by River City a few days ago to get a few critters... But I tested the water and I believe we're ready for more! So, we just ordered a large shipment of lots of cool critters, and 4 tiny "test" fish.

Dwarf Red Tip Hermit Crab - 12

Scarlet Reef Hermit Crab (Caribbean) - 12
Dwarf Zebra Hermit Crab - 12
Dwarf Yellow Tip Hermit Crab - 12
Electric Blue Hermit Crab - 1
Halloween Hermit Crab - 1
Emerald Crab - 3
Zebra Turbo Snail (Asia) - 3
Fighting Conch (Tonga) - 1
Super Tongan Nassarius Snail - Large - 12
Cerith Snail (Caribbean) - 12
Mexican Turbo Snail - 3
Banded Trochus Snail - 12
Greenbanded Goby - Small - 2
Panda Goby - 2

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You ever had those panda gobies before? They're like the size of a grain of rice! They look cool as ever though. Only wanted to mention because I threw one in my nanocube 12 and poof, never saw it again... it was so tiny!

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You ever had those panda gobies before? They're like the size of a grain of rice! They look cool as ever though. Only wanted to mention because I threw one in my nanocube 12 and poof, never saw it again... it was so tiny!

No, but that sounds perfect. Without going into it too deep, there is a story why we must buy 2 panda gobies. Meg's close friend Jamie is a power lifter, and therefore a pretty large human being. He suggested we just get 1 tiny fish for the tank and proclaim it complete. So we ran with that and decided to get 2 fish in his honor. Plus he's a big teddy bear of a person, so panda just fit.

So that's why we will have "Jamie" and "Jamie's girlfriend" panda gobies.

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What are all those critters going to eat.

Each other clearly! Don't worry, we'll be feeding the tank even without much in the form of fish. We already have plenty of algae for them as well - The Florida rock came with plenty to be mowed down.

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SHH! You weren't supposed to talk about fight club. I actually got to do the moving target thing. An aiptasia detached and was floating around so I took it as skeet training and zapped him in the water column. Was pretty difficult to hit but got it good.

I've been trying to train the mantis to take mysis shrimp out of a turkey baster. Seems to be working. He will easily come out as soon as the turkey baster is in the sump, and even whacks it occasionally. I'll have to try and get some new pics of him, his colors are really starting to brighten up! Not sure he's a peacock, but he's definitely pretty that's for sure.

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Well, we got the livestock mentioned above today. Unfortunately we had 3 DOAs - both Panda Gobies and the electric blue hermit crab. I was kinda surprised that Live Aquaria used regular UPS overnight shipping, not FedEx priority overnight or whatever because it wasn't delivered to our house until close to 5PM! Ironically, I had a Amazon shipment that was shipped using FedEx priority overnight and it was dropped off at 9:30AM. Guess I know which service I'll be demanding for all future overnight deliveries.

Other than the unfortunate losses, we did end up with lots of great critters, and the Green Banded Gobies seem to be doing well. I even managed to get some video of a nassarius snail eating the electric blue hermit's corpse. Kinda awesome really.

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And some videos...

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This aquarium is going to be amazing! everything looks great! Dan, I have been in high tech freshwater systems (for 4 years) where co2 injection is a must. I do not recommend the aquatek co2 regulator. It is not very reliable. I use green leaf aquariums high end co2 regulators and they are amazing! Precise on every bubble per second. You should check out green leaf aquarium. Also, their customer service is amazing!! ( I don't work for them, I am huge fan!)http://greenleafaquariums.com

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Well considering I already own the Aquatek regulator, I'll wait for it to die before worrying about replacement. When did regulators somehow become a thing? To me it was search Amazon for CO2 regulator, spend 1 minute looking at them and their reviews, then click buy. Meh.

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They're largely not a thing on the reef side. The planted tank people think that $500-1000 for a regulator is a fair cost because in a planted tank the regulator is the lifeblood. Been like that for the 10 years or so I've been in the planted tank hobby. I get laughed at for my $100 Milwaukee regulator. But anything more than peanuts spent on lighting is blasphemy. Opposite for us reefers.

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Makes sense. I guess since I have 0 experience with fresh water, I never would have known. To me the regulator doesn't matter 1 bit, the relay is critical. The apex controls the relay so the regulator really doesn't do much.

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Bpb,

I have bought my regulators off the planted tank forums. I think over $500 is way to much. I spent $365 or so on my setup.

Dan,

I am a firm believer in dual stage regulators vs single stage. The safety factor of the dual stage is much greater. I spent probably $100 more because I wanted an all Stainless steel setup. Just personal preference.

I am also a firm believer in 3w solnoids vs 1w solnoids because of the ability to close higher pressures, they are cooler running, which drastically lowers the chance of failure.

And I would argue that the calcium reactor can be the heart and life blood of a tank. Take Ty and his SPS dominat system. He is burning 2 DKH a day. If his CaRx goes down its all bad.

I don't use green leaf aquarium regulators I buy custom built regulators off the forums. I find GLA prices to be quite high.

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If your calcium levels drop, you aren't too likely to kill anything, it just won't grow because it can't. Theoretically it could alter some of the water chemistry enough to throw things out of wack, but it's not a calamity. I had our old tank run out of CO2 and I didn't notice for what I'm guessing was a week or more. Like I said, I didn't even notice until the next time I tested the water params. No loss of coral, no nothing. But I'm sure the SPS were happy to start growing again once I refilled the bottle.

I understand your argument for the solenoid, and once the current one does eat it, I'll have to consider a beefier one. I have no doubts that at some point the relay will croak. They all do. It's a mechanical device, it will fail. The good news is that they are NC vs NO solenoids, so generally it won't stick open, and you won't drop the pH to something insane. It just won't drop it enough to do anything meaningful.

Yeah, those GLA regulators were really pricey. Hard to justify well over double what I paid just because it's shiny.

There are many things I'm willing to spend a lot more to get the best quality. The tank itself (you want to talk about people skimping on quality! We went with 1" acrylic not because we need to, but because of peace of mind), stand, lights, pumps, skimmer. But the regulator really wasn't on that list.

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Dan,

Your CaRx puts back equal parts of Alk, Ca, Mg and trace elements. Calcium and magnesium aren't super critical. If they swing it's really no a big deal. Keeping the alk stable with SPS type coral is much more critical. That's why when Ty adjusts his CaRx he is testing alk 2-3 times daily but only Ca and Mg monthly.

A major swing in alk can and will kill SPS. Some are more tolerant then others but none of them like it. They want it stable.

And I agree 100% on mechinacal items. They all fail eventually.

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