OK, so many of you out there know by now that I sold both of my existing setups -

 

The 37 Hex Reef and the 225 Reef

 

A few of you even thought I was "getting out"

 

Well.... you were WRONG

 

 

I just "downsized" a bit, that's all...

 

SO here goes another Build Thread

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, with the demands on my time (work-related and otherwise) I was having difficulty maintaining 2 full reef setups (especially the big tank). Made the decision to start over and consolidate to 1 medium-sized system. My goal being something that would be a little easier to maintain, due to the smaller size and water volume; a little more automated so that I wouldn't have to spend as much time working on it; something that was still new to me as far as tank size or 'style'.

 

 

I ended up deciding on a very nice 93g Cube setup that was being offered for sale by Jared (peiji) a little while back... I liked the look of the 93 Cube (never had one before) ever since I saw the one raffled off at the MWRF.

 

This one was in decent shape and I felt it had potential, so I picked it up:

 

 

 

 

A 93 gallon Acrylic Cube (30" X 30" X 24" ) complete with a very nice black stand and canopy (built by Richins Carpentry) plus a 20g acrylic sump. The setup also came with some lights and a few other misc pieces of equipment.

 

The tank itself was pretty scratched up as you can see in the photo.

 

So, I figured it would need some 'expert' attention.

 

And who better than our own resident acrylic expert tcfab?

 

So, I drove the tank up to him in N. Ogden, and a week later....

 

 

 

 

 

I like the dimensions of the cube. So are you going to have it running for the RT?

Rick

 

It should be up by Reef Tour day, but after being on the Tour for 4 straight years I am going to be a Tour Guest this year...

 

Rick -

 

I really took a liking to your tank, and it definitely influenced my decision to buy one for myself.

 

 

 

 

Oh, yeah - got the tank back from tcfab and it looks like a brand new tank

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, I also installed the plumbing and a sandbed.

 

Plumbing consists of a single 1 1/2" Durso exiting through a 1 1/2" bulkhead, down 1 1/2" pipe into the sump. Return is a 900 gph pump that runs into a tee with 2 eductors.

 

 

 

Sandbed consists of 70 lbs of Utah oolitic and 30 lbs of sugar-sized Aragamax...

 

 

 

Under the stand resides the 20g sump. Skimmer will be a sweet Bubble Magus NAC7 Cone Skimmer featuring a tcfab-built extended collection cup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next up...

 

"Let there be light"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was a little concerned about 400w being a bit much over less than 100g of water (heating issues and all) so I decided to swap in a 250w DE pendant instead.

 

WIth the VHOs, I was almost ready to swap those out for some T5s, but after a long talk with Shawn over at Aquatica, I decided to stick with the VHOs - but I added 1 more.

 

 

So, the lighting for this tank will be (4) 24" 75w VHOs, running off an Icecap #430 flo ballast, and (1) 250w MH, running off an Icecap electronic MH ballast.. On the VHO bulbs, there was really only 1 choice, as far as I am concerned. I went with UVL's internal-reflected Super Actinic bulbs for all 4 spots:

 

 

 

The flourescing power of these babies is unsurpassed... really gonna make the livestock "pop". These shots are w/ VHOs only -

 

 

 

 

 

On the 250w MH DE again, really only one option for me... A Pheonix 14K bulb.

 

These shots are with both VHOs and MH -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, the tank is not this "blue" in person - I used my wife's point and shoot camera instead of my new DSLR because I was too lazy to go upstairs and set it up

 

In person, the tank looks a subtley blueish tint and appears brighter overall.

 

Should end up looking pretty decent once we get the rock and  'critters' in...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I spoke with Shawn, he told me that if I already had the VHO setup and was thinking of switching to T5 solely as an "improvment"... that I wasn't going to see all that much of an improvement - especially when I would be using this lighting for actinic supplementation vs. full-spectrum lighting. He told me he actually prefers the look of VHO actinics over the T5s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maybe we should start a "93 Cube Club" thread like the kind they have over at RC?

 

 

 

A new Spectrapure Pro-tested RO Membrane

 

 

 

Did a little 'maintenance' on my RO system... changed out the 3 prefilters (1 micron sediment, chlorine remover and carbon block) and replaced my worn-out original membrane with the hand-built and individually tested Spectrapure membrane. Went from a reading of 30 ppm after RO (the result of the bad membrane) to reading 1 ppm out now

 

I figured 1 ppm RO water is pretty darn good... so at 9 PM tonight I started filling the tank...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ATO will feature of a 15 gallon RO water reservoir that will fit in the corner, hidden behind the stand.

 

 

FIrst I cut a hole in the top large enough to install a float valve and pump

 

 

 

 

The pump is a Quiet One 1200 running through 3/8" tubing

 

 

 

 

Here's the finished setup. I taped the cutout part back on to prevent dust and crap from getting in and contaminating the purified water

 

 

 

 

Here's what it looks like installed behind the stand. You can't see it unless you open the stand door. I still have to make a holder for the top off line coming into the sump. I figure 15 gallons of top off will probably last about a week, so I will only have to run my RO filter once a week - which should save wear and tear on the filters.

 

 

 

I also picked up a very cool looking Carameco Vida Rock "centerpiece" from Burt (bfessler)...

 

Definitely will be the rock showpiece in this tank.

 

One large piece, about 24" X 15" X 18" tall, with tons of nooks and crannies and places for fish to swim through and locations to place corals...

 

Shall we see how it looks in the tank?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About 60% full now... we are on our way!

 

 

 

 

 

Temp is up to 76F and salinity is sitting at 1.025

 

Water is still a bit cloudy but hopefully will settle out overnight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I picked up some nice Live Rock from Troy & Pam (ptrosp) as well as my first livestock

 

A Green Torch and a Gold Torch frags (3 heads on the Green; 2 on the Gold) also from Troy & Pam

 

A pair of Purple Firefish (believe it or not, from Petco)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later on, Mack (smacky) stopped by with a starter of Live Sand and some Chaeto for  the fuge

 

Everything is running smoothly so far; I am especially happy with the Bubble Magus NAC7 Cone Skimmer... already has a mountainous head that is the consistency of shaving cream, the bubbles are so fine... not much to skim out yet, other than the "milkiness" in the water from the oolitic sand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next I need to tackle setting up the electrical a little better / neater, then I can set up the ACIII Controller, and the Calcium Reactor...

 

Now...who wants to help me set those up?

 

 

 

 

They are so, so powerful - I set them to run at 30% output for each pump (the lowest setting on the controller) and I checked this morning and there has been a bit of a sandstorm again...

 

I actually may go with only 1 Tunze instead of the pair in the display. They are rated for 3,170 gph each @ 100% output - that's still 1,055 gph each @ the lowest (30%) setting - and 2 of them at 30% is over 2,100 gph, which would equal about 24X turnover. I could run just 1 with the 2 - speed variable settings at 40% and 80% and keep the average turnover from the 1 Tunze at around 15X. My return pump puts out around 600 gph (or around 7X turnover) so the total tank turnover of around 22X should be compatible for the corals and with the fine sandbed. If I placed the one unit in the center of the tank each corner would only be 15 inches from the center; the pumps flow pattern is wide enough that I shouldn't have any "dead spots" going out 15 inches from the pump, that is for sure...

 

My only issue is that, for some reason, when I hook up the controller to both pumps the pump on  'channel 2' does not respond. I know the pump itself is fine, because if I unplug the controller cable then the channel 2 pump runs. I am going to download the manual for the controller to see if I am setting something up incorrectly. I will also try switching the controller cables to see if the problem follows the cable (which would mean a bad cable or bad cable connection at the controller or the driver) or if the problem is within the 'channel 2' portion of the controller itself.

Might be a moot point if I go with only 1 pump in the display, but I would still like to figure out what the issue is.

 

BTW, I am also very impressed with how dead silent these pumps are. I can set the variable speed at the max spread (30% low to 100% full) and you don't hear any "spooling up" or revving motor noises like you do on Vortech pumps... you just see the increase in the water turbulence that tells you the pump has sped up...

 

 

 

I got a screaming deal on the Tunzes (they are used though, not new) from Kody72... the entire setup, including controller, for about 1/2 the cost of 1 new Vortech alone.

 

I would site that factor as the major reason .

 

And the flow is awesome...

 

I agree, Ryan... Vortechs are not "loud" at all; you just hear a little "whine" from the motor; especially if the rest of your setup is pretty quiet. And the Tunzes are definitely bigger inside the tank. But both are pretty cool pumps to have.

 

When I first started up my Bubble Magus it was too loud for my taste as well. Then I figured out why. I disassembled it (removed the cone body) and found that the plastic screws holding the pump to the skimmer base were really, really tight... normally, tight is a good thing; but in this case it meant if the pump vibrated at all, then all that vibration would be transferred down the base of the skimmer and onto the "feet"... sure enough, I loosened those pump mount screws just a little bit and the noise disappeared. My skimmer is now very close to dead silent .

 

The loudest thing in my setup right now is the return pump.

 

 

 

 

 

21.99 each on sale

 

I could have been dishonest and gotten them for 14.99 each because the kid who bagged them at Petco couldn't find the tank sticker and was going to write in the SKU for the regular (red?) firefish, until I showed him that the purple firefish sticker had been stuck on the wrong tank...

 

 

 

I actually ended up taking out 1 pf the pumps for now (see my next post). For now, 1 is plenty... maybe awhile down the road, when there are more corals blocking the flow and the sandbed is not as "loose", then maybe I'll go back to using the 2 pumps.

 

 

 

 

First, I removed 1 of the Tunzes and placed the remaining pump in the center of the tank. Right now there is still plenty of flow generated with just the 1 Tunze; and having it in the middle seems to have eliminated the sandbed getting rearranged and the associated cloudiness...

 

I have the Tunze 7094 Controller set to alternate flow rates between 60% (aprrox 1,900 gph) and 100% (3,175 gph), alternating about every 15 seconds. Looks just about right  for now.

 

 

Next, I went out and did a little shopping

 

Picked up another Purple Firefish and a pair of Red Firefish from Shawn over at Aquatica, and a pair of Orange Tail Blue Damsels and a Lubbock's Fairy Wrasse from John over at Reefrunners...

 

Lastly, I charged up the battery on my new DSLR camera and spent a few minutes taking pictures

 

 

Much more representative of how the tank really looks to the eye than those overly blue shots using the point-and-shoot digital. It was already dark (maybe 9 PM?) when I shot these photos; amazing how much difference the flash made...

 

 

W/ Flash

 

 

W/O Flash

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The firefish tend to stay together as pairs, but sometimes all 4 hang out in the same area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 2 Torch Corals have opened up nicely so far

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The BM Cone is still pulling out mostly silt and dust; that should change now that I have some bioload in there...

 

 

 

 

 

I messed around with the camera settings a bit, just to see the effect on the end result.

Definitely still learning this camera - I haven't even read the manual yet

 

To be fair, though, the bloody instruction manual is 157 pages long (seriously!)

 

And I still need to organize my power cords within the sump, install my ACIII Controller (probably will need some help with the programming - another lengthy instruction manual that I haven't even read yet ), mount the Tunze Controller (it's laying on the floor beside the setup right now) and then eventually add in the Ca reactor.

 

Oh, and I need to get a carbon reactor, too...

 

 

 

 

 

But we are definitely getting somewhere now

 

 

 

 

If I decide to add the 2nd pump back in later, maybe I will try to put 1 pump on each side partition of the overflow - one facing to the right and one to the left... then alternate them to simulate a gyre or tidal movements..?

 

 

 

Getting a good patina of brown and green all over anything

 

Will put up some new photos maybe this weekend...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Things are going....  pretty..... good !

 

 

The tank itself is looking better... still getting some green haze algae on the tank, but not as much as before...

 

Equipment-wise, I hooked up my Phosban reactor (although I am only running carbon in it, at least for now) but I still have not hooked up my ACIII or the Ca Reactor yet...

 

 

 

Temp = 75.5 - 76.5  (24 hr cycle)

SG     = 1.0255

pH     = 8.0 (IO)

dKH   = 10.0 (Salifert)

nH3   = 0 (API)

nO2   = 0 (API)

nO3   = 5 ppm (API)

Ca     = 460 ppm (Salifert)

Mg     = 1400 ppm (Elos)

pO4   = 0 (API)

 

 

I have added alot of stuff since the last photos  -

 

 

 

 

See if you can pick out all the new fish, corals, and inverts!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a listing of the current livestock:

 

 

 

1- 3" Clown Tang  (The Aquarium)

1 - 2" Yellow Eye Kole Tang (Aquatica)

1 - 1.75" Flame Angel (Aquatica)

1 - 1.75" Orange Tail Blue Damsel (Reef Runners)

1 - 1.5" Diadema Dottyback (Aquatica)

1 - 2" Purple Firefish (Petco)

1 - 2" Red Firefish (Reef Runners) 

1 - 2" Lubbocks Fairy Wrasse (Aquatica)

 

 

 

2- head Gold Torch (ptronsp)

3 - head Green Torch (ptronsp)

4.5" Red Lobo (Aquatica)

6" Pagoda Cup Coral (Aquatica)

2" Red Montipora Setosa frag (jbutler / rockymountainreefs - Fragstock)

4" Purple / Green Fungia (06bug)

Some green palys on a frag plug (Jeremyhorton)

Purple / Red Zoa rock - about 25 heads (Gonzocorals - Fragstock)

 

 

 

1 - 4" GBTA (Jeremyhorton)

1 - 7" Pink & Green LTA (off KSL)

3 - 5" RBTAs that have now split into a total of 6 RBTAs  (Jeremyhorton, bfessler)

1 - 5" Orange Fire Sponge (Reef Runners)

1 - 2" Blue Maxima Clam (The Aquarium - Fragstock)

50 - sm. Red Leg Hermits (Reefers Anonymous / Art - Fragstock)

20 - sm. Cerith snails (Reefers Anonymous / Art - Fragstock)

20 - Astrea snails (Reefers Anonymous / Art - Fragstock)

1 - Tiger Conch (Oddquatica - Fragstock)

1 - Yellow Spiked Cucumber (Oddquatica - Fragstock)

 

 

I think that is everything...

 

Waiting on an order from  Reefers Anonymous for a few Fire Shrimp and an Aussie Purple Goniopora

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some pics -

 

 

 

3 new Fire Shrimp - acclimating in a sweet Elite Aquatics acclimation box

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And is a little...

 

 

 

Ummm...

 

<whisper> ...green?

 

 

 

 

I guess I'll have to wait and see what it looks like when it comes out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had a "Buy 1 get 1 50% off" fish coupon, plus they had a "Buy 2 Get 3rd Free" sale on pretty much all their coral

 

 

So, I picked up a few more things...

 

 

 

6" Cinnamon Lobo

 

 

 

 

 

2.5" Blood Red Chalice

 

 

 

 

 

And this pretty 3.5" Lavander and Blue w/ Green Eyes Chalice

 

 

 

 

 

And then, on fish....

 

A Yellow 2-spot Hogfish (couldn't get a photo cause he was hiding)

 

 

And this beauty -

 

3" Melanarus Wrasse

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Purple Goni is still not out yet

 

The Chalices and the Lobos are looking great

 

The Fire Shrimp are doing well; the Melanarus is taking a liking to Bloodworms.

 

My Clown Tang went from eating nothing but algae of the glass to eatig like a pig!

 

Oddly enough, it seems to prefer Nori and algaes over planktonic foods like mysis...

 

I always thought Clown Tangs were more omnivorous    

And, unfortunately, it has begun to recede and I do not think it is going to make it.

 

I did go out tonight and pick up 2 new corals that are pretty sweet -

 

Take my mind of the stupid Goni

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cinnamon Lobo

 

 

Neon Green Striped Mushrooms

 

 

Green Pagoda Cup

 

 

Gold Torch

 

 

Aussie Pink Hammer

 

 

Pom Pom Xenia

 

 

Blood Chalice

 

 

Green - Eyed Lavander Chalice

 

 

The RBTA I got from Burt has split into 4 RBTAs!!!

 

 

Setosa

 

 

Green LTA

 

 

Some other Pagoda Coral

 

 

 

How about a couple of sweet sponges?

 

 

This awesome Orange Fire Sponge

 

 

And this sick Blue Sponge Colony

 

 

 

 

 

And one of the Fire Shrimp thinks he is a Cleaner

 

 

 

 

 

 

Things are going pretty good with the Cube  

 

I took a whole bunch of pictues today... but first, let's talk about the setup...

 

Been up and running for about 3 months now, I think. (Seems like more than that, but it isn;t...)

 

Checked the water parameters, and here is what I got:

 

Temp =   76F

    SG =   1.0255

    pH =    8.2

  dKH =    11.0

  NH3 =    0

  nO2 =    0

  nO3 =    0

    Ca =    460 ppm

    Mg =   1450 ppm

   pO4 =   0

 

 

 

A few new fish.  Lotsa new corals .

 

Bad stuff first... lost my Clown Tang . Fish seemed happy and healthy and was eating like a pig, swimming all over the place... then I woke up one morning and it wad dead, dead, dead  

 

Good news is that that is pretty much all the bad news... everything else is looking...

 

Well, see for yourself

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a bunch more photos... I went a little "camera crazy"

 

 

 

 

Left upper corner we have an Orange Fire Sponge, Gold Maxima Clam, Red Spider Sponge, 2 of the 5 total RBTAs in the tank

 

 

 

 

 

The Spider Sponge is Reddish with the white stuff being a symbiotic filter feeder that lives within the sponge  totally cool when the little white ployps come out to feed

 

 

 

 

The Orange Fire Sponge I have had almost the whole 3 months the tank has been up... it appears to be doing real well (that is why I went and got the other sponges)

 

 

 

 

 

Viewed from the side it has a bunch of neat little ridges to give it a 3 dimensional shape

 

 

 

 

The Gold Maxima looks a little more yellowish tan than in this picture... it was browning out in the tank of the guy I got it from; I am hoping it will color up better in my tank

 

 

 

 

These RBTAs used to be 1 - but split into 2; tend to stay a little smaller (3" or so) then my other ones

 

 

 

 

Right upper corner has a couple of SPS (Orange Digi far right, and some kind of brown with pink and red spots SPS on the left), several assorted Chalices / LPS below them, a Superman Monti to the left of 'Chaliceland',  a nice sized Neon Green Hammer, a small Green Torch,and an ultra-cool  True Blue Sponge colony on the far right

 

Oh, and 1 of the 3 Fire Shrimp says Hello, too

 

 

 

 

Neon Hammer

 

 

 

 

Superman Monti

 

 

 

 

Assorted Chalices

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Blood Chalice was the first one in the tank

 

 

 

 

The Blue Sponge appears to be doing just fine

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Zoa colony just behind the sponge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bottom left has a HUGE green LTA (expands to around 7 -8" in diameter), a Green Cup Coral, a Pink / Green Hammer colony, a Gold Torch, a red Lobophyllia, some Neon Green Striped mushrooms, a tan Finger Leather, and a couple of Gorgonians

 

 

 

Gold Torch has 2 full heads plus 2 baby heads now

 

 

 

 

Red Lobo

 

 

 

Pink & Green Hammer

 

 

 

Bottom middle features an Aussie Blue Lobo, an Aussie Pink Wall Hammer, a 2" Blue Maxima Clam, and a Blue-Tipped Aussie Elegance Coral frag

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bottom right is home to 3 RBTAs (a triple split from 1 single anenome), a pretty Purple Kenya Tree colony, a neat Christmas Trachyphillia, a Neon Green Welsophyllia, some Pom Pom Xenia, some Green Palys, and some Halimedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also have 2 cukes, a Yellow Striped and this cool feather-tailed Pink Striped Cuke:

 

 

 

 

The rest of the CUC consists of 50 Astrea & Cerith snails, 100 baby Blue-legged hermits,3 brilliant red Malaysian Fire Shrimp and this Tiger Conch:

 

 

 

3 Halimedia Algae colonies, 2 clumps of Cheato (in the sump)...

 

And a "Partridge in a Pear Treeeeeeeeeeeeee"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Things have overall been pretty good. I did have a struggle with a damn bacterial infection that killed off a few of my LPS

 

Of course, I only lost the more expensive ones  - I lost my Aussie Blue Lobo, but my regular old Red Lobo was unnaffected... I lost my Aussie Pink Hammer, but my plain old Green / Pink Tip Hammer and my Neon Green Tip Hammer both were unnaffected... I lost my Gold Torch, but the plain old Green Torch is fine...

 

Ain't that always the way with a reef tank? 

 

Fishwise, I have not seen my Leopard Wrasse or my Potters Wrasse in a few weeks - so I fear the worst has come to pass... on the other hand, my Purple Firefish is doing just fine in the overflow for the past 3 months

 

I also bought a Sea Hare that I saw every day for the first 2 weeks... but now it is AWOL. It got rid of about 60% of my hair algae before it vanished.

 

With that big, cavernous Vida Rock centerpiece sometimes things get "lost" in there for awhile, so i haven't given up on the Sea Hare just yet.

 

I have also added some stuff since the last update - several SPS pieces, a couple of softies, and 2 more fish.

 

The only other issue i have had was I was getting a fair amount of slime algae / cyano on the sandbed, in the 2 front corner areas... kind of odd, because I originally had trouble with the sand shifting alot in those 2 places, due to the large amount of flow from the Tunzes.

 

I noticed that lately the sand was not shifting very much at all. Then I realized that I was getting less flow than before, because of algae and crud buildup on the outer intake areas of the Tunzes, and also the return pump in the sump, its intake was partially clogged with debris.

 

So, I cleaned everything up, and now I am back to getting some serious flow in there!

 

Hopefully, that will be enough to banish the cyano again. I also changed out my carbon and added in about 1/2 teaspoon of ferric oxide PO4 remover into the carbon to help suck up any excess phosphates.

 

And since he tank has now been up and running for just about 4 months, probably a good time for my first partial water change... so I'll start setting up for that this week.

 

Took another bunch of photos...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have stuffed in enough stony corals to where I am starting to get a little drain on the calcium supply; but I still use alot more Alk than Ca.

 

I have an entire reactor setup (reactor, feed pump, CO2 tank, solenoid, regulator, etc) and my ACIII controller (+ DC8 and probes) still all sitting on a chair in the front room  

 

I am tempted to sell the whole reactor system (it's good for up to a 180g setup) and just stick with manual dosing... but maybe I'll set it up myself.

 

Right now, testing for Alk / Ca every 3 days and dosing for Alk every other day (and Ca about once every week or 10 days) seems to be keeping everything stable:

 

 

Temp    =   75.8 - 76.6 (24 hr swing)

SG        =   1.0255

pH        =   8.0 - 8.1

dKH      =   10.0 - 10.5

nH3      =   0 / undetectable

nO2      =   0 / undetectable

nO3      =   0 / undetectable

pO4      =   0 / undetectable

Ca        =   420 - 460 ppm

Mg       =    1350 - 1400 ppm

 

 

 

1- 3" Melanarus Wrasse

1- 2" Lubbock's Fairy Wrasse

1- 2" Yellow Coris Wrasse

1- 2" Cuban 2-Spot Wrasse

1- 2" Orange Tail Blue Damsel

1- 3" Flame Angel

2- Banggai Cardinals (2" and 3"- hoping they will pair up)

1- 2" Purple Firefish (in the overflow)

 

 

 

I'll post some pics tonight when I get home from work...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flame Angel and Female Banggai from Chris (Kludgeguru)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Cuban 2-spot and Lubbock's Fairy Wrasses

 

 

 

Land of the Anenomes - a total of (8) in the tank - (5) RBTAs, (2) GBTAs, (1) LTA 

 

 

 Interesting Green Montipora

 

 

 This Pink Bidsnest is about the size of a canteloupe

 

 

 Blue tipped Acro foreground - can you see the Acro Crab in there?

 

 

 

Alien Eye Chalice with Green and Yellow Eyes

 

 

 

Purple Tipped Acro and Ninja Turtle Montipora frags

 

 

 

 

 Blue and Green Acro and Spiderman Montipora; Pink Eyed Chalice top right

 

 

 

 Like I said, the Neon Green Hammer is doing well

 

 

 

 Christmas Trachyphyllia

 

 

 

 Neon Green Welso

 

 

 

 Purple w/ Yellow Polyps Acro Frag, Torch Coral, Orange Digi in backround

 

 

 Pink Tipped LTA on right; large Green BTA on left 

 

 

 

 Blue Tipped Acro and Blue Digitata Frags

 

 

 

Halimeda Algae started as a small strand and has grown five-fold so far 

 

  

 

Did my first water change over the weekend... changed out 15 gal, or about 15% I figure...

 

Seems to made everything perk up just a bit.

 

Also, replaced my original meshwheel impeller on my BM NAC7 Cone Skimmer with a Pinwheel impeller... getting even more bubbles (if you can believe that) with less turbulence inside the cone body... sweet!

 

 

As far as the Ca Reactor goes, IF I was going to sell I would be selling the entire soup-to-nuts setup; this includes a K2R Reactor w/ Ehiem pump, a Reef Fanatic Gauge / Solenoid setup, a 10 lb CO2 tank, and a full container of media... all in excellent condition, and I paid around $400 for the whole setup, used... I would want to get at least close to what I paid for it...

 

BUT... I may still hook 'er up

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

08/21/11 - Current Conditions

 

Temp = 75.2 - 76.0 (24 hr cycle)

SG     = 1.0255

pH     = 8.0 - 8.1 (24 hr cycle)

dKH   = 10.0

nH3   = 0 / undetectable

nO2   = 0 / undetectable

nO3   = 0 / undetectable

pO4   = 0 / undetectable

Ca      = 460 ppm

Mg      = 1600 ppm (up from 1400 ppm)

 

 Pam

My biggest problem is usually that the dwarf Angels can be very territorial towards each other. Since I wanted to put a Flame Angel in there as well, I had to introduce them to the tank at the same time; if I had added one before the other, the first fish would have probably bullied he second fish to death...

 

Now, IF you really want to change over your sandbed you still can... the key is to very carefully scoop out maybe 1/3 of the bed and replace that area with the finer sand, then wait a week and do another 1/3, etc... run a filter sock to pull out any gunk that gets stirred up in the process. Since your setup is fairly new, it's not like there is 5 years worth of crud in the sandbed right now anyway.

 

The other "trick" I learned for this sand (Utah Sand) is to screen it before you use it... a piece of plain old window screening works well. This way you seperate out the larger sand pieces and those ugly dark rock pieces that are sometimes mixed in the Utah sand.

 

 

Pam - yeah, I have to say that overall I am very happy with this setup so far, and am really liking the whole 'Cube' thing... adds a nice dimension of depth without the tank being too large to manage (comparing it to my last tank, the 225g)... sometimes a little tough to get into the far back corners - I really wanted to put those 2 Aqueon powerheads even lower in the back corners, but I couldn't reach down any lower into the tank from the front side... I would have had to remove the whole canopy and go around to each side of the tank with the stepladder...and I didn't want the hassle of all that work just to place a powerhead.

 

But other than that one thing, I am really quite pleased with it; even being an acrylic tank. I have just been careful with the Magfloat and using 'acrylic safe' scrapers and such. I have added 1 or 2 small scratches, but nothing huge or really noticeable.

 

There were quite a few scratches in it when I bought the tank, but Tyler (tcfab) did a really outstanding job buffing the whole tank out before I set it up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty much the same opinions about the Flame Angel as for the Coral Beauty, except that in my experience the Flame is a little more delicate and doesn't seem to live quite as long.

 

My last prior Coral Beauty lived for almost 7 years; the longest I have kept a Flame was maybe 4 years...

 

 

Trevor -

 

So far so good on the Foxface. But same thing as the Dwarf Angels as far as corals go; I have heard stories of them bothering corals but have had 2 or 3 Foxfaces over the years - and never had a problem with coral nipping.

 

Maybe I just have good luck?