+KimP Posted March 5, 2014 Share Posted March 5, 2014 I just caught up on your thread. Things are sure coming along nicely! I hope everything transitions well to the leds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 5, 2014 Author Share Posted March 5, 2014 I just caught up on your thread. Things are sure coming along nicely! I hope everything transitions well to the leds. Thanks Kim. I'm just trying to catch up to your tank. I loved your lights. Hopefully this week I will find the time to mount the lights in the canopy and then clean the wires up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 10, 2014 Author Share Posted March 10, 2014 Week 35 Update: I couldn't be any happier with the new lights. All of the inhabitants are doing well. Since my last update, I ended up taking about 8 frags to Niko's Reef and traded them for a Bubble Coral. I've always wanted one! The first couple of days with it were rough, but it has since started extending more. This weekend I had some time and got to work on the mixing station. I got all of the barrels cleaned and dry fitted with PVC. I ran into a problem with the leak test though. The previous owner drilled the barrels in the curved section and the bulkheads don't fit very well. I'm going to have to silicone them to stop the slow drip. It wasn't too bad but I prefer a dry garage FTS with the new lights. They are currently running at 60% of capacity for 10 hours a day. New Bubble Coral! He's a pinkish color. Frogspawn. It has really started to open up this week. I'm happy because it has a big space to fill! Branching Hammer. Growing nicely. Hollywood Stunner Chalice Purple Meridana - This little frag is doing great! Thanks to Chris at Niko's for selling it to me. The polyps are out in full force and I can't wait for it to start growing upwards. Some sort of Acropora. It looks awesome and I'm really surprised at the color since it was pink when I got it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 wow, that bubble looks great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmvanness Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 I absolutely love the scape! What a beautiful tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 11, 2014 Author Share Posted March 11, 2014 I absolutely love the scape! What a beautiful tank. Well thank you very much! Only one person has seen this tank in person since I got it in order. I need to mount the lights and clean everything up. Maybe one day I'll host a club meeting. I've never actually been to a meeting before and I'd hate to have the first one be at my house. LOL! Right now, I'm looking forward to watching everything grow out. I added three new corals this week and now I'm planning my final stocking list. **Fingers Crossed** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 I finally got the lights mounted Objectives Securely mount the lights Ability to easily move them out of the way when I work in the tank Ability to adjust the positioning Barriers The lights had to be fully enclosed in the canopy. I gave myself the challenge of staying under $20. So here's what I did. After toying around with a bunch of ideas, I decided to use a rail system to mount the lights. I went to Home Depot, in the shelving section, and bought Rubbermaid upright tracks. The kind that are mounted to the walls for wire shelving. I purchased two short rails to mount perpendicular to the front pane of glass and two long rails to run parallel. I then mounted eggcrate to said rails using zip ties I got at the dollar store. The fixtures slide back and forth on the rails and I have the ability to move the fixture left and right to customize the lighting requirements of the corals. Total cost $17.73 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 During the March club meeting, I overheard some people talking about tricks to get their clownfish to host an anemone. One of the tricks was to attach a picture of a clownfish hosting and the ones you have in the tank will mimic it. Let the mind games begin! I don't know if it will give me better results, but I put together a small collage of four pictures. 4x the hosting power! Here it is mounted to the tank. I put it as close to the anemone as possible, which also happens to be the corner of the tank the clowns sleep in at night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 I like to do that with pictures of me so that my fish always think I'm about to feed them. Suckers! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 I like the rail mounting system you came up with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted March 21, 2014 Author Share Posted March 21, 2014 I like to do that with pictures of me so that my fish always think I'm about to feed them. Suckers! Some people might say that and I would totally think they were kidding, but I believe you! I'm watching you, stay away from my clam Mr. Butterfly Fish! The tank has come a long way since the Cyanostorms. I'm ready to knock some projects out and then watch it all grow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 I remember teasing you about the Cyano storms and then they started raining in my new tank. Karma! It's looking good bud! Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 (edited) Week 38 Update: Clownfish Hosting Experiment It's been 11 days since I started my experiment. On day one, the fish looked at me quizzically. On day five, I realized the fish were ignoring the pictures. On day 7, I yelled at the Clownfish "Why aren't you hosting yet?!", to which the fish replied "What's hosting?" On day 9, I began drinking. On day 11, I've contemplated climing in the tank and hosting the anemone myself. After further review, the idea was discarded. Current Status All of the livestock is doing great under the new lighting conditions. I'll have to take some pictures and post them up! Almost all of the corals I had to sell are sold. All I have left is a head of branching hammer, a blue striped mushroom and 20 heads of Fire and Ice. The Bubble Coral I got went for a bit of a ride. I had to change the flow because the bubbles kept popping. About 10% of it got damaged. I think I got it now though. The SW mixing station is complete and free of leaks! The barrels I got were drilled incorrectly and it was a PITA to get it together. I had to glue everything together and silicone all of the joints, but it looks to be good now. All I need to complete it is a pump. Future Plans So what's next? I need an ATO. Once I get one I'm going to start dosing Kalk. Until then I need to determine my Ca and Alk usage by testing on a weekly basis. I purchased a Hanna Alk Checker from Amazon for $38 and plan to put it to use immediately! I also got a refractometer for $20 since my salinity appears to be all over the place. I'll let you guys know what happens. I think I'm decided on my last two fish. I would like to buy two Leopard Wrasses. They get to a good size, they're reefsafe, colorful and active swimmers. Edited April 1, 2014 by Sascha D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 how does your salinity go all over the place? isn't the only way it varies is either by salt creep or water changes? or are you talking about the variance between top offs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 how does your salinity go all over the place? isn't the only way it varies is either by salt creep or water changes? or are you talking about the variance between top offs? Yes and Yes. The only way your salinity will vary is through water loss, salt creep and adding water to the aquarium that has more/less specific gravity than the water that is in there. I designed the tank to not have any salt creep. It's working so far! <Fingers Crossed> So no problems there. I don't have an ATO, so the tank gets topped off as I notice the water level change. Normally I put in 1-2 gallons at a time. The salinity goes up as the water evaporates and then drops suddenly when I top off. I need to fix that. This tank has been up 38 weeks and I've only done 4 water changes for a grand total of 40 gallons. Yes, I know the exact number because I used two 5g buckets each time. Haha! Unfortunately, when I did those water changes I didn't really measure the salinity of the water going in. It's likely that it was higher than 1.025. My last water change was about 2-3 months ago. I've never actually owned a refractometer until now. All of these years I've been using a hydrometer. The problem? It reads differently every time I use it and I'm tired of trying to get the bubbles off of the plastic arm. Now that I plan to use a mixing station I really need to know the salt level. It would be super easy to not put enough salt into the barrel and basically dump 20 gallons of fresh water into the tank without knowing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 how does your salinity go all over the place? isn't the only way it varies is either by salt creep or water changes? or are you talking about the variance between top offs? Yes and Yes. The only way your salinity will vary is through water loss, salt creep and adding water to the aquarium that has more/less specific gravity than the water that is in there. I designed the tank to not have any salt creep. It's working so far! <Fingers Crossed> So no problems there. I don't have an ATO, so the tank gets topped off as I notice the water level change. Normally I put in 1-2 gallons at a time. The salinity goes up as the water evaporates and then drops suddenly when I top off. I need to fix that. This tank has been up 38 weeks and I've only done 4 water changes for a grand total of 40 gallons. Yes, I know the exact number because I used two 5g buckets each time. Haha! Unfortunately, when I did those water changes I didn't really measure the salinity of the water going in. It's likely that it was higher than 1.025. My last water change was about 2-3 months ago. I've never actually owned a refractometer until now. All of these years I've been using a hydrometer. The problem? It reads differently every time I use it and I'm tired of trying to get the bubbles off of the plastic arm. Now that I plan to use a mixing station I really need to know the salt level. It would be super easy to not put enough salt into the barrel and basically dump 20 gallons of fresh water into the tank without knowing. may i also suggest adding salt by weight instead of volume. i think this gets more precise results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 2, 2014 Author Share Posted April 2, 2014 Thank you for the tip, but do you mean that you don't like my bag pouring method? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 Thank you for the tip, but do you mean that you don't like my bag pouring method? hahaha, it depends on how accurately you can poor a bag, i suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 7, 2014 Author Share Posted April 7, 2014 My wife has kept me pretty busy with a major yard rennovation, so I haven't done anything to the tank recently. I imagine that it will take me more than three weeks to complete (if at all). I did manage to check my salinity last night using my new refractometer and I got 1.030. I took a sample of water to Niko's Reef and they got the same reading. Everyone keeps their tank at a different level. I try to keep mine pretty close to natural seawater, which means my salt is too high. Lowering the salinity is pretty easy, but I'd still like to do it slowly so that I don't shock any of my critters. Everything is doing so well that I don't really want to mess with it too much. For anyone interested, here is an article on Reef Aquarium Water Parameters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 17, 2014 Author Share Posted April 17, 2014 It's been a bad month so far. We had a family emergency and I spent the last four days in Odessa Texas. It was 36 degrees with 50 mph winds and a dust storm every day. When I got home my tank was cloudy and there was some algae growth. The automatic feeder jammed up and probably dumped four days of food into the tank. I did some tests and everything looked good. I took out 10g just to be safe. It was only my 5th WC since July last year. One of these days I need to break out the Hanna Alk Checker that I bought. I got a call from Niko's Reef saying that got in two Leopard Wrasses. I couldn't resist. I hope they make it past QT. They didn't look too hot by the time I got them home. Both were laying on their sides. After going into the tank, they went to the bottom and just sat there for at least an hour before disappearing into the sand. Sam hooked me up with an awesome Purple Stylophora yesterday and is just fantastic. I can't wait to watch it grow! Yesterday was busy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lenver Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 That's exactly what leopard wrasses do, I had mine for 7 months, after a week they should be fine, don't be surprised if you don't see them for a while Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 17, 2014 Author Share Posted April 17, 2014 That's exactly what leopard wrasses do, I had mine for 7 months, after a week they should be fine, don't be surprised if you don't see them for a while Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk Thanks for sharing your experience. I did expect them to bury for a few days. The part that had me worried was that they were laying on their sides. Wrasses need a high level of dissolved oxygen in the water so it could be that they started running low in the bag. It gives me hope that they revived enough to bury. Did yours ever jump out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lenver Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 No, never jumped out, I even have some red fire fish and they've never done it either, it helps that I have a lot of rock where they will go and hide and it's a deep tank, since we have the same dimensions I wouldn't worry Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wardlaw Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 It's been a bad month so far. We had a family emergency and I spent the last four days in Odessa Texas. It was 36 degrees with 50 mph winds and a dust storm every day. When I got home my tank was cloudy and there was some algae growth. The automatic feeder jammed up and probably dumped four days of food into the tank. I did some tests and everything looked good. I took out 10g just to be safe. It was only my 5th WC since July last year. One of these days I need to break out the Hanna Alk Checker that I bought. I got a call from Niko's Reef saying that got in two Leopard Wrasses. I couldn't resist. I hope they make it past QT. They didn't look too hot by the time I got them home. Both were laying on their sides. After going into the tank, they went to the bottom and just sat there for at least an hour before disappearing into the sand. Sam hooked me up with an awesome Purple Stylophora yesterday and is just fantastic. I can't wait to watch it grow! Yesterday was busy. I'm from Ole Desser myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sascha D. Posted April 17, 2014 Author Share Posted April 17, 2014 I'm from Ole Desser myself. The weather and terrain of West Texas looks just like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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