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Oh man, sea urchin hats. That’s hilarious, I just looked them up and will have to let the kids pick one out. I kinda hope they pick a gold Viking hat now… Right now it’s wearing a thermometer and a snail lol. My wife wants to do shelves and potted plants and stuff next to the tank so maybe I can figure out how to fit water storage into her plans. If I stop being lazy and figure out my wire clean up, there is also enough room in the stand for 2x of the 5g water jugs. Could maybe put a tank in there as well. At some point I would like to potentially throw a light on the sump and grow chaeto so I have to save a little space

Love the frogspawn as well! Are you good at taking pictures or is your kessil not very blue? The pics are harder to take than I thought haha

Ok, I give in to the peer pressure 😝. I just nabbed an urchin and an emerald crab. Wasn’t a tuxedo. I forgot what RCA said it’s called, but it’s a pink one and the girls picked it out. I’ll have to google what it is. The hammer that I moved from the biocube to the tank has been uber angry. I think one of the heads is a goner, I just moved it to the sand in case my issue is light. At it’s highest I am at 60% and it was at the top of the rocks. I have no clue if that’s a lot or not, but it did burn my desk so I’ll assume that’s kinda a lot. My tank came with 2 options for ATO. It has the gravity/float which I really like but it only lasts about 4 days. I think it’s 3.3 gallons? It also came with a ATO+ thing that has sensors and plugs and things I don’t care about, but now I am kinda thinking about it so I can do like 10g of water for ATO. I’m trying to keep the tank simple and low on power because when it gets cold outside and Texas breaks I want the tank to run off the Jackery. Also I have a kessil app and a mobius app. Adding a Red Sea one and having 3 apps seems excessive for a fish tank… anyways, now I have to see if I can make a custom ATO thing that is bigger to fit on the sump mounts or go with more gadgets that I don’t want.

Anyone know what this is? Saw it come up on a rock and not sure what the heck. This was the closest thing I could find and they make it sound not fun. Tempted to yank it out. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2642458

The urchin brings up a good wuestion. Right now I have a turbo snail and a couple margarita snails and astrea (or whatever the star shaped ones are called) I’ve never had an urchin and always wanted one. Think it’s too early to get one? I assume the algae will come quick so it prob won’t be long but was thinking a tuxedo one would be cool to have.

Sooo, here I go changing my game plan already. I got rid of all my sand and all but 1 rock from the old tank to reduce my chance of moving over the fish bugs. I dosed ammonia and microbacter XLM and it took 6 days to cycle. Not sure if this is cause the bottle of stuff works or cause I had one rock or a combo of both. anyways I added a couple of little snowflake clowns and a rainbow bubble tip anemone today. I also added some rubble to the sump as well for both extra rock but also a place to get pods going for a mandarin one day. Figured out the gurgling issues as well. 2 things, I played with the möbius app and set a schedule. Every time I adjusted the tank it was turning itself back the the schedule I set on the app. Also, I guess the mp40 controller does stuff to the s2 controller. They are talking wirelessly I guess. When I turn one on/off they change each other. I assume messing with the modes/speed on mp40 was also doing stuff with the return. It’s all where I want it now though so I shall leave it alone. I plan to just let the system chill for a while and keep testing water to make sure the seemingly short cycle actually did something. I also have a trip at the end of June so don’t want to add any additional bio load till I am back since I know the uglies are headed my way soon.

Just let me dream! Until like… Thursday when stuff goes in and I message Grog for rock 😂 I went to RCA today and they had aptasia and bubble algae in their live rock tank. I’m out. Now I’m contemplating dry rock in the tank and LR in the sump if that does much. With no skimmer and stuff it’s essentially an empty 20g tank that I want to grow pods for a mandarin one day.

I went ahead and swapped the outlet to the tank to a GFI. When checking what else was on that circuit it was just one outlet outside…. Which I have the pond pump plugged into. GFI feels legit here. Holes in ceiling are plugged and textured. I’ll sand and paint tomorrow. Tank and stand and stuff came in. I got it set up and when I turned on the RODI to start filling water went everywhere in the kitchen. The one I got has a pressure gauge, and where that was connected to the hose was cracked. Took it outside and bypassed the pressure gauge and got it rocking. Ended up getting 40gallons of water from RCA cause I didn’t wana wait, that sucker filters water slower than the grass grows. Anyways the gurgle monster is set up, I have some googling to do to make it be quiet. The tank came with a gravity fed ATO and some RedSea ATO+ that’s like ATO/Temp monitor/leak detector. I’m leaning towards the gravity one with the toilet float. I want less plugs and apps. Maybe I can trade it for a coral or something at some point. Grog, Tim… don’t hate me. I’m going dry rock. I’m sure y’all have the better advice, but I’m stubborn and want to not deal with surprises. I checked the links, and they got a little too science’y for my ADD. I ended up on euphyllia pics that said, I will try and find good sponges and creepy crawly things. I agree on the importance, I just don’t want to let go of my control yet 😂 My first actual tank pics. Wana let it run for a week or so before moving biocube water/rocks/stuff over and adding the new rock.

Thanks! When I was looking at tanks, I kept bringing up the peninsula you had and was trying to talk Sam into a bigger tank with the peninsula style. I was not successful, but went to find it I saw your awesome tank and can see all the work that went into it. Also, saw that your passing the torch! We can’t comment on the torch passing thread so I’ll hijack my own here to say thanks for all you have done over the years and hope for nothing but the best for ya 🍻 I have been going back and forth on high micron socks, or the filter roll or just LR in the sump. My main goal is to mess with the tank less(highly confident that won’t happen) but also I am bad about doing a lot of water changes and historically I have not had enough nutrients because I’m a skimpy fish stocker and feeder. The Tampa bay rock is so tempting, but the gorilla crabs and octopus and all the hitchhikers have me kinda paranoid. Was thinking maybe RCA had some live rock 😂 The RO/DI came in today from BRS. Got the wrong size valve to hook it up under the sink so had to order another. Got me thinking… can you just hook the thing up to a float valve directly in the tank so anytime the water goes down it will do the ATO work for you? I don’t plan to make my own salt water, Im going to set that sucker to auto deliver from petco or Amazon or whatever. The filter is just for ATO so would like to make it involve me the least amount possible…

Yes! Great call. I was actually checking out what I bought when I wrote this and realized I forgot a heater. We turn the house down to 68-70 at night so that’s def something I want. I think my next purchase will be the helio ptc heater which has good reviews and the clearview lids top which appears to take a bit to come in so I should order soon haha. Since the cube got the fish bugs, I hope to not buy fish until mid to late July and let rock stay fallow. I’ll also be getting corals and stuff so probably do that before getting fish to try and avoid my kids having to name more fish the same thing again.

I started to get some stuff in today. Got light and pumps. Figured I'd check out the light. I set it on the desk, and turned it on to check out the app. About 2 minutes later I realized it was burning the desk. Oops. Note to self: buy the warranties on stuff. It's me. I'll need them. Also, the area we want to put the tank is in the kitchen table area. The table wasn't going to fit well so we just ordered a new table... With the new table, the light above the table won't be centered so I pulled the light to do a can light... The can light I put in is nice, but the kitchen ones didn't really match so I pulled all those and put in a couple new ones.. I have lots of holes in the ceiling now, so called a painter to come out and fill them in this week hopefully. Also, I couldn't bring myself to put in the old toggle light switches, so I did the newer square looking dimmer ones for the new lights. That turned into replacing all my outlets and switches with ones that match. This is turning into a thing that wasn't supposed to happen just getting a tank. Don't get me started on how my paint is eggshell apparently and I accidentally got satin for the sheet rock repairs, and I like the satin better...

Alright I started ordering stuff and it has started coming in, so I figured I’d start this to not spam the equipment section with questions as I go haha. I have ordered the tank, pump, light, powerhead, sand, RODI, heater, etc. I have some rock in in my 14g cube that is 2 weeks into a fallow period (brook got the clowns) with some zoas and euphyllia I plan to move over. Since the fish died it’s now packed to the brim with dry rock to cycle cause why not. My hopes with this tank are to keep it “easy” and not stock too much while also keeping it interesting for the kiddos. Heat has also been an issue with the cube so a goal here is to not have too much hardware to the point I have to get a chiller.

After a few years out of the hobby and a number of life changes that have now stabilized, it’s time for a tank again. I decided to keep it small, basic and inexpensive so I got a 14g biocube. Well, small, basic, and inexpensive was a short term goal apparently. So here we are. Aquarium RedSea Reefer 300xl G2+ - 65 gallons - 36"L x 22.6"W x 22"H with 1/2" glass Sump 15 gallons - 18.7"L x 18.5"W x 13.5"H Filtration Filter socks with the slight desire for a ReefMat 500 Return Pump EcoTech Marine Vectra S2 Powerhead EcoTech Marine MP40mQD Lighting Kessil AP9X ATO There is a gravity one in the pictures for the tank. I’ll try that for now. RODI BRS 5 Stage 75GPD Rock Marco Rock Im not positive on what all I want to stock with yet. The whole idea(my wife’s idea) was Clowns and Anemones for the kids, but Anemones have never struck me as easy or hands off. I my mind the stock is: Fish I want to buy pre-qt only. If you have vendor suggestions hit me! Black Ice Clowns(required by Sam) Yellow tang would be cool Mandarin would be cool Coral Small number of sps(pink lemonade, garf bonsai, and that red dragon Tim always had) Euphylia garden Zoas Acans Clam - if easy Inverts Starfish - if easy Cleaner shrimp Whatever CUC

I recently ordered a new tank, and with it I ordered the ecotech wavemakers and figured I’d get the vectra s2 pump since it has the same controller/modes the mp40s have and I assume I can make it run at different speeds and make waves and whatever. looking at the Red Sea tanks, they have a valve on the overflow drain that I guess is made for noise/flow. My question is, can you do a variable speed return pump with a sump/overflow or is that gona mess with everything in the sump? I have not messed with a tank in a bit but I’m vaguely remembering that’s not a good idea now after buying it. Wondering if I should have maybe spent $100 on a sicce return pump vs 350 on one I can control since changing the speeds isn’t a thing it seems like.

Oooh good to hear, thanks. I duno why I never thought of this since the door to my garage also has this already… I’m totally going to Home Depot today.

Alright after reading about the lights all day it didn’t seem too bad. The pics of people’s tanks with fans on the surface worried me. I bit the bullet and did the kessil. Gona try with mp40s to keep the pumps out of the water and want to try to go without a skimmer and hopefully that will keep some heat out. The tank is going by the back door and the kids were apparently born in a barn so want to make sure I don’t take the tank to 100 degrees in the summer if the door is open all day lol

Heh, I made it as far as some torches and some zoas that are baking in a 14g biocube and realize I need something way different before I jump all the way in. Here we go again, just like I remember 🫠

Hey y’all, wondering if anyone has messed with the ap9x that kessil has and knows if it’s much of a heat generator? I was testing the waters in getting back into tanks and got a biocube a few months ago. It’s a heat magnet to the fullest and won’t work out lol. Looking to do a Red Sea reefer 300 and hoping to hit it with lights and equipment where I don’t have to buy a chiller if possible. Not seeing to much online and figured asking people in Texas was a good start. I have seen multiple pics where people have fans on the water with them and not sure if that’s why 😝

Awesome build 🍻 Diggin all the goodies that came along with the rock.

Shot ya a pm but interested in more info and pics if you have it still.

Shrimp molts are generally how my Easter egg hunts go as well. I get it.

Hey y’all. Starting a small tank back up after a few years. I bought a 40lb box of dry rock online and only used about half. Happy to throw the rest out front if anyone wants to swing by and nab it. This is what I got: https://www.chewy.com/caribsea-moani-dry-live-rock-aquarium/dp/322458 If no takers, I’ll prob see if RCA wants it this weekend when I go scope out how they are looking these days or chunk it. I am in Lago Vista, just a heads up. Hope ~kinda Austin people are still welcome here 😝 ps: soda can is for size ref. It’s not included.

Boooo sorry to hear it!

these guys are all gone btw. Thanks again for coming by @Eel Keeper it was awesome meeting ya!

Just shot ya a text @Eel Keeper . I think the lights may have been out this week while I was gone, maybe why they split and look brown. Either way they still are green under the light. @Reefpuck how about a really blue iPhone pic of the other 2 I couldn’t get out?