ckimble

cool stand...

The jawfish is probably one of the coolest fish in the tank. It is hilarious watching him build his den out of snails and hermits and watching him get frustrated when all his work crawls away. I wish that was my monti.. that is supposedly a superman danae in the 4th pic. However the Superman Monti you showed has probably tripled in size from when you were last here.

This blog is completely overdue for an update. The last shots were when Andrew stopped by for the TOTM pictures. The tank has been doing great. I've been fighting a little hair algae but it's manageable so far. Trying to keep up with water changes on a 280g tank can be a pain... Anyway, here are some recent shots of the tank.

that sucks man.. good luck with the sale

Aaron, If I understand correctly you are selling the mother, correct? I'll take it if it isn't spoken for already.

I have a bunch of stuff laying around from my upgrade that I need to get rid of. If you would like any of these items PM me or reply to this thread. * 3 x 250W CoralVue ReefLux 10000K SE bulbs they were used for about 1 month. $40 a piece * 2 ReefOptix DE pendants $80 each * 2 SPS 14K DE bulbs 3 months old $30 each * 2 IceCap 250W MH electronic ballasts $80 each * 1 IceCap 440 VHO/T5 ballast with wiring harness $100 Thanks for looking, Craig

I probably have enough scrap laying around to knock this out as long as it can be made out of 3/8" material.

cool... glad everything fit in there. Nice job on the probe and ATO mounts

I don't want to sound like a vulture.. but I may be interested in some of your SPS colonies as well.

Last night I moved everything over. I spent about 6 hours getting everything transfered to the new tank. I pulled out all of the corals and placed them in holding bins with heaters. The next 3 hours I spent swearing at the tank trying to get the aquascaping just right. I still am not 100% happy, but it is good enough for now while I let everything settle in. The rest of the time was spent figuring out where to put the corals so things look balanced and somewhat natural. This will be an ongoing process, as I never really stopped tweaking it in the old 90g. I am mad at myself for not getting a picture of the 90 before I tore it down. Before: After: Right: Middle: Left: Let me know what you think, I am open to ideas... If anyone is interested I have a huge rock (~8-10 inches) covered in GSP for sale. Plus, lots of frags I need to mount

bad a** skimmer!

sweet tank! Welcome

Most everything is complete... I have been working at tying up all the loose ends and am very close to making the big move. The last addition was to upgrade my feed pump. I went from a weak mag7 to an overpowered mag18 I picked up at River City. It cost me a bit more than online, but they have always taken care of me when I needed it. Nice to know that if the thing fails I can just go in there and get an easy replacement. Try that with an online sale... here are the pics Here is the plumbing setup, I tied into the chiller line to do quick water changes. I have tested it and it works awesome. 'fuge shot

Thanks Craig....I'm wondering if it will be big enough for a 4"-5" tang. Well, we'll give it a try. I've notice that you live in Cedar Park, what part of it? We live in Leander. I have plenty of acrylic lying around so if you need a bigger trap, I am sure we could work something out.

I wish my tang thought so... Every other fish has been in there to check it out except the one I want to catch

It is roughly 4x4x8... If that works you are more than welcome to use it when I am done. -Craig

I decided to transfer a couple of fish to the new tank since 1)They are crowded in their current home and 2)they keep knocking corals over because of number 1. My Regal tang just fragged my idaho grape cap again so he is the first to go. I built this fish trap out of some scrap acrylic I had laying around so the hunt is on... When I am done with the tranferring the fish, and if there is interest, I am willing to donate it to ARC as a community resource for anyone else that may have a need for a fish trap. shhhh don't spook the fish

Got the canopy mostly wired and mounted, that sucker was heavy to put in place too. Right now I only have one 175W MH lamp over the tank with the actinics which is a temporary solution. I still need to order one more ballast and the bulbs to go live. I figure I can get the algae bloom out of the way with that crappy bulb before I start moving my LR and livestock over. This weekend I built the doors for the canopy, and am in the final stages of staining and sealing those. I figure mid-week I should be able to install them. That will be nice as the actinics are casting a very eerie blue glow out our front window. Plus my wife is not overly impressed with the towels as temporary doors. The other really cool thing is my shiny new Tunze Wavebox I picked up from Bruce at Aquatek. I always said they are one of the ugliest thing to put in a tank but you just can't beat the wave motion from these things. I lucked out and was able to put it in the back corner of the tank so it it kinda blends in with the background for now. The wavebox coupled with the OM closed loop creates amazing flow in the tank. My canary-in-the-coal-mine Green Chromis is loving life swimming in the flow. Tank shot And a little video of the wavebox in action

The way it is mounted there isn't a easy way to raise the bulbs. If this becomes an issue, I can always spread some eggcrate or something across the top with some screen and slowly remove layers. Thanks for the comments...

It took me longer than I expected to build this canopy, but am really happy with the results. With a 30" deep tank I needed something that was very open for maintenance access . I think I nailed it. I spent yesterday mounting the Luminarc reflectors. It was a tight fit, but should give me a nice spread of light across the tank. Yesterday I picked up the T5 endcaps to mount the actinics. I am hoping by the end of the weekend to have this thing wired and ready...

Sorry to hear of your troubles Karen. I doubt you'll have too much trouble selling this setup. Good luck, Craig

I have been playing guitar on and off for the last 18 years. More off than on for the last 8 years though. I think my last gig was over 5 years ago. I've thought about getting back into it, but between the other bazillion guitarists in this town and the fact I am really rusty at it. It is better if I just leave it to the professionals. I always wished I learned the banjo... I love bluegrass as well

I'm available to help again if you still need the help.

Since I helped bring in the 200 I feel I have a vested interest in seeing this thing up and running... I'm in