Aaarrrggg Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 I was just reefing along, minding my own nano-business when Chad & Belinda put their gorgeous 144g Oceanic Half Circle tank up for sale. Well, what could a gal possibly do but buy it and start her dream tank?! Here is "The Beast" (excuse the missing doors and canopy, they'll be on there soon) My previous tanks have been a standard 55g and a 20g Elos Mini... so this bad boy is a BIG step up for me! My goal To have a set up like morbert (on ReefCentral) with a family of clowns living together in a large colony of BTA: http://reefcentral.o...d.php?t=1259398 Rules For this to happen I have set myself some rules: Must raise the clowns myself Must have large number of BTAs before attempting to introduce more than 2 clowns Must aquascape in a way that the dominant pair can claim a semi-secluded spot for themselves Must be able to feed heavily to lessen clown in-fighting (and promote BTA propagation) My original plan was to get a pair of Onyx Percs to be the parents, (because I loooove Onyx! ) ... but I kept coming across threads from people complaining that their Onyxs had lost their black coloration in BTA hosts. I know I could choose another anemone, (esp as BTAs aren't natural hosts for percs,) but I love RBTAs as much as Onyxs! Then I found out about Sanjay's Photon Clownfish. These guys are hybrids from a Onyx Perc female x B&W Occy male (story here: http://blog.aquanerd...ton-clowns.html) They look like Onyx... but I'm thinking the B&W genes *might* let them hold their black coloration better in BTA hosts (I had a completely B&W occy in a RBTA in my first tank.) It's a long-shot... but for my dream of a shoal of black-white-orange clowns in a sea of Flame BTAs... I'm willing to give it a try! Now, black photons are pretty hard to come by, plus I didn't really like the notion of breeding siblings; so I decided to have a go at pairing up a perc and occy myself. I have a 20g Elos Mini running already, so I thought I'd get things rolling on that front. I bought the female Onyx from Alpha Corals. She's a C-Quest lineage one from SA and she's beeeeautiful! After all the years of drooling over Onyx clowns online, I'd never actually seen one in person until I cracked the box open. Wow. They don't disappoint! She's actually gone even more black since I received her on Sept 13th -her dorsal fin is now completely black, so she's "officially" an Onyx. The male was the smallest of 4 ORA Domino Occys at AquaTek. They had B&Ws too, but I'd been admiring their Dominoes for sometime and thought it would be neat to try something a little different from Sanjay. I added the male to my tank a couple of days before the female arrived. This seemed to work out well because since then they've rarely left each others side. Occasionally the female will turn and snap at the male, but he'll just scamper away before being allowed to return to her side. I *think* I've seen him do some submissive wiggles, but he's generally so wigglesome, it's hard to tell. I've noticed a few nips taken out of this fins, but he's always allowed to eat and he seems completely besotted with her. Chances are he was a juvi when I got him, so I'm still bracing myself for things to get worse... but so far so good. Here's a quick mockup of what their offspring "could" look like: TBH they probably won't look like this, (Sanjay has just bred an Onyx x Midnight and the young all have their white bars) but it's fun to imagine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted October 28, 2011 Author Share Posted October 28, 2011 Right, so... back to the new tank... As many of you saw in my previous thread, I'd been toying with the idea of upgrading. I was going to hold off, but then I saw Chad & Belinda's 144g sale and I just had to see it for myself. My husband and I have always liked the look of half circle tanks, but I'd seen a lot of people online saying the glass distortion was a deal breaker. I fully expected to stare into Chad & Belinda's tank and go "nah, not for me..." but what I found was the most beautiful tank I've ever seen! The glass distortion is strange.. but it's a good kind of strange! It sort of magnifies whatever you're looking at, which is great for me because my eyesight isn't the best. A deal was struck that night and my new tank adventure started! AquaTek did a great job at hauling the monster over to my house. We have a lot of half-circle detailing in the architecture, so it fits right in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 Wow! You sure found a perfect spot for that tank! Your idea sounds really neat. Good luck with everything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 Can't wait to see this come together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted October 29, 2011 Author Share Posted October 29, 2011 Now comes the bit I equally love and hate... the aquascaping. (Actually...as time wears on, I'm perhaps hating it a little more!) I'd done a lot of research online on aquascapes and I had a vague idea of the kind of thing I wanted. I love the "bonsai" minimalist aquascaping look... but also need as much rock as possible for all those BTAs. BTAs love to attach under shelves and in holes, so I ordered 100lbs of Key Largo Rock and 30lbs of Shelf Rock from Marco Rocks: (That's large bubble wrap btw! Sorry I realized too late that I should have stuck something in there for scale. You can see some books at the top right of the 1st pic to get an idea of size.) I like to start aquascaping by experimenting with shapes and layouts in Play-Doh, (any excuse to play with Play-Doh!) Then I started messing around with the rocks themselves. (Tip, buy latex coated garden gloves so you don't tear your hands to pieces!) These shapes were pretty good, but it became clear that to get them big enough to fill such a massive tank (L 57.5 x W 29 x H 29) I was going to have to get more adventurous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted October 29, 2011 Author Share Posted October 29, 2011 I'd read about using rods, or "pegging" for aquascapes, but never actually braved it before. I ordered a 10lb bucket of E-Marco-400 aquascaping mortar and picked up some yellow fiberglass "driveway markers" from Lowes (as recommended by numerous aquascaping guides.) My (wonderful!) husband then got to work drilling holes in some of the larger rocks: As scary as this was, it actually went better than expected! Some little bits broke off here and there, but none of the rocks actually shattered and tbh it just made them look more interesting! (Drilling Tip: Apparently the trick is to let gravity do the work for you. Hold the drill steady and just let it go down through the rock at it's own pace.) Once I had some drilled pieces to work with I built them up into 2 towers, using the mortar to stick them together: Here they are being tested in the tank (we added 1/2 of the live sand and some water to help cushion them.) Once I had my main 2 structures, it was time to build them out and make them look less like "rock kebabs!" Although we had ordered 30lbs of shelf rock from MarcoRocks, only 2 out of the 4 shelves we received were much use (the other 2 were much denser than the rest of the rock, so they looked a bit rubbish and were far too heavy to use at the top of towers.) We also decided wanted a lot more shelves... so here comes my brave Husband to the rescue again...! Once they'd been cut, I washed them to remove the excess dust and then started "worrying" at them with a screwdriver. This basically involved repeatedly stabbing them; chipping bits off and digging out holes. Some sections of the rock are weaker than others, so you just attack the parts that feel like they'll give. The result was a more natural looking shelf. Here's the before and after... I took a few more days to play with various layouts and this one came out the winner... Things will change a little bit as we stick the rocks together and move them over to the tank, but I'm going to aim for this general layout, (plus a few more shelves!) The mortar needs to be left overnight to cure so we've been doing a little bit every day for the past week. The large rock towers actually turned out to be the easiest bits! It's the small rocks that are the real nightmare. We've had to get creative to get these mini structures to stay together long enough for the mortar to set... The finish line is in sight, but it will still probably be a few more days. Urgh... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted October 29, 2011 Author Share Posted October 29, 2011 Thanks Kim and Robb! I cannot wait until I can get some water in there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innate1 Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Too cool! I love where you put the tank. It was made for your house. Great build thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted October 30, 2011 Author Share Posted October 30, 2011 Thanks! Yeah I couldn't believe how well it fit in. The space between the windows is spot on the width of the tank. I had considered changing the wood veneer on the stand/canopy to silver and/or black (because I'm a sucker for black & silver!) but it actually matches the blinds perfectly, so it's staying put. Once the room is a bit tidier I'll take a wider shot. It looks like a LFS has exploded in there at the moment so it's not very flattering! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Looking really good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad and Belinda Posted October 30, 2011 Share Posted October 30, 2011 Looks awesome Fran... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 very nice, I miss my 144 halfy...perfect spot for that tank! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 You let him drill/cut rock in the living room?! Got a sister?! The play doh idea is awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 Looks awesome Fran... Thanks! I'll take good care of her! very nice, I miss my 144 halfy...perfect spot for that tank! Awww sorry you don't have yours anymore. In between seeing this tank at Chad & Belinda's and actually buying it I dug up all the 144g threads I could. I saw a post by you lamenting the loss of your half circle and it definitely helped me make up my mind. You let him drill/cut rock in the living room?! Got a sister?! Haha! Actually it's more around the other way... that's in HIS room with all his comics and action figures! I wanted to have a carpet underneath the tarp so if (when!) the rocks fell over they wouldn't smash. Plus that room is one of the few places downstairs that's out of bounds to the dogs; so they couldn't add their special brand of ammonia to the project. Unfortunately now the room is exceedingly dusty... oops! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted October 31, 2011 Share Posted October 31, 2011 How much were the mounting Rods? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted November 1, 2011 Author Share Posted November 1, 2011 How much were the mounting Rods? I can't recall exactly, but not much... 2 or 3 bucks. They're called "Driveway Markers" and were in Lowes by all the house number stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juiceman Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Did he make a base with acrylic or anything, or is the base a rock? I couldn't tell. I've been brainstorming something similar for my new 200g. How much were the mounting Rods? I can't recall exactly, but not much... 2 or 3 bucks. They're called "Driveway Markers" and were in Lowes by all the house number stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted November 1, 2011 Author Share Posted November 1, 2011 I was planning to use a kitchen cutting board from Target as a base piece, but the shelves ended up balancing each other out and the towers were stable enough to stand by themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Cob Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 here's my build thread...might give you some ideas along the way...or not. http://www.maast.org/showthread.php?53634-My-tank...-144-gallon-half-circle... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austx Posted November 2, 2011 Share Posted November 2, 2011 Looks like alot of fun and a great setup. Couldn't agree more on how well that tank fits between the windows, I got to see the tank at Chad and Belinda's just before they took it down and seems like you would have ample space for what you have planned. Keep the pictures coming and good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted November 6, 2011 Author Share Posted November 6, 2011 here's my build thread...might give you some ideas along the way...or not. http://www.maast.org...lon-half-circle... Awesome! I read through the whole thing. Really cool faux rock background! Once I start getting coralline on my overflows I know I'm going to wish I did the same, oh well, It's too late now though, because after a few more days of dust and swearing... the aquascape is finally complete!! Front Left Right Sideways It's hard to make out all the arches and shelves in still pictures, so here's a flying tour...! Boy I'm glad that is over with! The aquascaping mortar can be such a pain in the butt to work with, but it dries so fast and hard that there really isn't anything better (trust me, we looked!) The biggest problem with any aquascaping putty/mortar is that the rocks are so, well... rocky, that it would much rather stick to you or whatever implement you're using to apply it. As my husband put it; it's like trying to stick biscuits (US translation: cookies) together with porridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted November 6, 2011 Author Share Posted November 6, 2011 While all that was happening a few goodies arrived: 2 x Vortech mp40 pumps I really like the mp10 I have on my nano, so I figured this tank deserved 2 mp40s. 2 x EHEIM Jager Aquarium Thermostat Heater 200W I read that having 2 heaters that can heat half the tank volume each is better (safer!) than having one that can do everything. So I bought 2 of these guys. I figured I can pop one in each overflow. Reef Octopus XP-2000SSS Skimmer I had dabbled with the idea of an algae scrubber instead of a skimmer. I even seriously considered buying a Santa Monica 100, but in the end it was the lights that put me off. As soon as they make a scrubber with LED lights, I'm there, but in the meantime, this behemoth will have to suffice! Here it is in the sump: ...and last... but definitely not least... 2 x Radion LED lights! I've been lusting after these beauties since I first heard about them. They're lights with white, blue, royal blue, green and red LEDs, which means you can make every color under the sun! I was disappointed to discover that their software isn't fully functional yet, but hopefully soon I'll be able to enjoy all the features (lunar cycle, full LED control, storm mode which interacts with mp40 pumps!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaarrrggg Posted November 6, 2011 Author Share Posted November 6, 2011 Let there be water! .......... ........ ...... ...wow it sure takes a long time to make +144g of RO... Well, In the meantime, lets get those lights on there! As the lights are going to be hidden away in the canopy, we had the luxury of not needing them to be pretty. We pillaged Home Depots plumbing dept and fabricated this light rig... The lights are screwed into the pipes and then the whole thing is attached to the inside-top of the canopy with zip-ties. In the center we built a couple of legs that rest on the middle plastic strut of the tank (it probably doesn't need them, but we figured the extra support couldn't hurt.) Here's a shot looking up at the canopy in place: Top of tank: Lights! Nearly there... We just this minute added enough to finally get it pouring into the sump, but still not quite enough to reach the return chamber. It should be done tomorrow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aqua Girl Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 This looks so awesome. I can't wait to see how it progresses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted November 6, 2011 Share Posted November 6, 2011 Incredible job! It looks SO good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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