JamesL

I am kinda of looking at one of those hand-on-the-back (HOB) refugium for my new larger tank.

I am looking at the EcoSystem Pro Series 60, but for the life of me can not find what the input to the device looks like. I really want a surface-skimming input.

Anyone know if this model has a surface skimmer on it?

Thanks.

-James

Unfortunately, splitting is not always a good thing. It usually means something is whack in your tank. In my case I didn't do any water changes throughout the holidays. I'm sure my water quality was suffering. I just did a large WC yesterday and everything was looking happier.

Jenifer, I will let you know when my next split is. I expect it will be awhile.

You sure Gabriel didn't sneak over to your tank with a razor blade to help things along?

Ok, as promised, here are some (pretty quick, and not-so-good) pictures.

In the beginning there was not much (but a crooked tripod):

Then there was more rock, plus the critters from the 24g tank:

The left island, where most new corals will go:

The right island, or "exile island", where the tank invading GSP is being contained:

And a few pictures of the naked clowns I got for the tank:

(Actually, I think it is the same fish in both pictures ).

The only thing not pictured is the LT anemone I got from britfish, that is sitting at the top of exile island.

Ok, I have pictures... but I have not loaded them up on the interwebs, so this is just a post to clear out the text portion.

I broke down my 24g Aquapod and moved everything to the new 75g. Here are the specs:

- 75g traditional tank, with glass hoods.

- 300W Metal Halide fixture (two 150W 20,000K bulbs)

- about 60 lbs "new" baserock and live rock, plus maybe 10-15 lbs from the old tank

- Two Koralia 3, and one Koralia 1 (because I had it laying around)

- Magnum HOT filter... this is going to be replaced soon by some type of real wet/dry system

- Lots-o-sand ... planning on a jawfish down the road

On the stocking side for fish:

- 1 Yellow Clown Goby

- 1 Yellow Watchman Goby

- 2 Naked Clownfish

- 4 Talbot's Damselfish

Inverts:

- 2 Peppermint Shrimp

- 1 Tongo Conch

- 1 Red-Foot Conch

- 1 Red Thorny Starfish

- Assortment of snails and hermits

Corals:

- 1 Long Tentacle Anemone (just got from britsifh)

- GSP (relegated to "exile" island... you will see it once I get pictures)

- Toadstool leathers corals (moth colony + offspring)

- Green candy cane

- Green frogspawn

- Brown frogspawn

- Galaxia

- Some zoa's

- Orange ricordias

- Blue/green ricordias

- Tongue coral

So that is the basics... will get some pictures up here soon.

I just saw all of the corals today and they look great!

Wow! Great looking tank! You are seriously making me reconsider my decision to do a more "open" look in my 75g tank I really love the "full" look of yours.

Still haven't seen the skunk cleaner shrimp. How long do they take to molt?

I tested the water and also to it to LFS to have tested. Nitrates and Nitrites were undetectable. Other parameters looked good as well. I had them test salinity, calcium, and everything else just incase I missed something.

Skunk shrimps normally are less shy than say peppermint shrimps. I hate to say it, but if you haven't seen him in a few days, he might be a goner (and the clean up crew might have "cleaned" him up). When I had a skunk cleaner shrimp, I normally say him within a day of molting (and I almost always saw the molt).

We used to have meetings at people's houses about every other month. Problem is some of the best tanks in town either got torn down or their owners quit visiting this site. I hosted one back before I had to redo my tank. I don't think anyone was bored. I would be willing to do it again, but my tank is still very young so it may be boring this time around.

Your tank was awesome when you had the meeting at your house. For the most part, people where broke apart into groups talking to each other... so I don't really think the size of a tank matters a ton (ok, I know I would not have wanted to have it at my house when I only had the 24g tank ).

Tours would be tough, especially since people on this board are scattered from as far north as Temple, and south past Buda/Kyle. My suggestion for a tank tour would be to break it apart into a specific region (say n. austin) to contain the driving for people. I have done pond tours in the past, and it gets tiring tracking through both north and south austin areas.

Just tossing in my thoughts....

Sometimes the Yellow Watchman Gobies are just elusive. I can go days without seeing mine, then one day he just pops out of the rockwork.

The suggestion of food is a great one... that always entices fishes out of hiding

Does it have a purple or redish base? Does it retract at night? If so it could be a type of Star Polyps.

Can't tell much more without better pictures

I am selling my 24g Aquapod setup as I ust upgraded and moved all of the livestock to a 75g tank.

Everything was bought back in early 2006. The tank is in good condition. The hood is in OK condition, it works perfectly, but the hinges have broke and the plastic covering over the lights is cracking.

Here is what is included:

- 24g AquaPod tank with false back wall, one hole drilled for a second return

- Hood with (1) 32W SunPaq Dual Actinic 420/460nm Compact Fluorescent, (1) 32W SunPaq Dual Daylight 6700ºK/10000ºK Compact Fluorescent, (2) blue moon lights. The CF bulbs were just replaced in mid-November.

- Stand, one side opens to reveal storage space

- Sapphire AP24 skimmer, designed specifically to fit in the back sump of the AquaPod

- 2 MaxiJet 900 pumps

- 1 Hydor rotating deflector, locline output in tank (plus extra sections)

- 100W heater

- Digital Thermometer

The skimmer alone costs about $125 new.

I am asking $250 for everything listed above. The tank had water in it since 2006, I just emptied it this evening to clean up everything.

I live in Buda, and work in the Oak Hill area.

Here is a picture of the tank in it's prime:

Almost brand new, used only for a week until the metal halide fixture came for my new 75 gallon tank. It is a 40 Watts.

Dr Foster is selling them for $62.99 + shipping.

I am asking $50. I live in Buda, and work in Oak Hill area.

Those are great pictures all around, but I really love the six-line pictures... I never could get mine to stay still long enough to get decent shots

Hey seahorsejl. It's been awhile since I've seen you online. Congrats on the 75! Hope apps sales are good. Are you a millionaire now? Can't wait to see pics of the naked clowns.

Thanks... I have been busy with iPhone apps and a new baby (OK, the second has consumed most of my time since she was born at the end of September). So what do I do when I don't have enough free time? Start a new tank I hope to be like you and eventually put a streaming webcam on a portion of the tank.

Mine hasn't needed anything special. It's like crabgrass.

It's pretty, but I wish I had never added it.

Keeping it away from rock will help slow it down but it will still spread around.

Ya know, that is what I heard from a lot of people ... but when I added Xenia to my tank, it never took off. In fact, it never did much for months on end till one day it just melted. I had other softies and hard corals in there and all were doing great. It just varies from tank to tank.

But I had my own weed: purple star polyps. I bought a rock that had a tiny patch on it... it almost covered everything in my old 24 gallon tank! It started growing along the back, grew over zoa's, you name it. In my new 75 gallon tank I made "exile island" where the star polyps can live, but is surrounded by sand to prevent it taking over everything again.

Without much fan-fare, I have shut down my 24 gallon Aquapod. But the good news is all the contents are now in a 75 gallon tank!

I will update with some pictures in the near future.

One thing I will say is I finally got a pair of naked clownfish for the new tank

I would go with the 75 or 90 if you can. A 55 is so hard to aquascape since it is so narrow. I always tell people that ask me about getting into the hobby to get the biggest tank they can. The bigger the tank the more stable it will be.

+1 on this. I skipped over a 55 and got a 75 because of the added depth of the tank. I am happy I did.

I have one in my 24 gallon Aquapod and it works great. It took a little fiddling to get the exact skim-mate right, but after that it is pretty much no hassle. Just dump and clean the collection cup as needed.

-James

Hope everyone had a great holidays and lots of reef-stuff under the tree.

I haven't posted much lately as my 24 gallon has been on auto-pilot, but... I myself got a new 75 gallon tank which is filled up and starting to cycle. Will have to post details later.

-James

Great looking tank! And I really like the crescent shape to the rock layout. I tried doing that once in my 24 gal tank, but there was just not the room to make it stable. Maybe in the next tank...

Bumping for a great price on the tank and stand.

Passing on it for now, as it is larger than what I am looking for.

PM Sent

Color me jealous! I so wanted a pair of naked clownfish a while back, and could never find them in town. I ended up settling for a pair of cinnamon clowns.

Great looking fish, congrats!