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OF2F's New Tank: Round 3

36K views 189 replies 17 participants last post by  onefish2fish 
#1 ·
Well, Im at it all over again. For those of you just joining us feel free to catch up:

Round 1
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...fish2fishs-bowfront-salt-tank-progress-17236/

Round 2
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/...videos/onefish2fishs-new-one-round-2-a-20611/

and Round 3 is here! stay for the fight, im hoping for a knockout! :lol:

Well.. after a few personal ups and downs over the last year or so i decided im not fully happy without a tank. To be more specific, a saltwater tank.
The tank is something i do have, which is a 40 breeder, but over the course of however long it takes me, just about all equipment will need to be purchased ( more like re-purchased :roll: ) all the way down to the refractometer.
The plan is to set up the 40 breeder with a 40 breeder sump ( already built back home just have to go back and pick it up ) leaving me with about 80 gallons of tank volume. ( i say "about" because the sump isnt full to the rim. ) i am also hoping i can dig out one of my old skimmers to use on this tank as well as that would save me a great deal in itself. im not even sure if i still have any of them.
this isnt going to be the fastest of builds, so i hope i didnt ruin anyones lunch by not having a bunch of progress to show.
A big part of the plan i cant decide on yet is if i want to have most, if not all my flow come from the return pump and loc-line setup or invest some cash into a wireless vortech mp10. either setup would have a "clean look" IMO but those vortechs arnt cheap and i think the end result i would like 2 of them which just cracks the piggy bank even more. i guess i could always start with one.
In the next month i should be ordering a few things for this tank. I think my first 3 purchases are going to be a 700gph glassholes kit, AWI RO/DI, and 80lbs marco rock that will come dry and need time to establish itself. the dry rock process alone is going to put this tank on hold for awhile, but this will allow me to get working on the stand and save some money for this project. i warned you it would be slow. :-(
 
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#175 ·
i wasnt going to set up my new tank as i was going to be moving soon so i decided to drain the 20L ( was originally for a QT ) and drill it.



after moving things from the sump up to this, alittle cloudy in the picture. this tank is bare bottom.


i got a few more critters to add to the group ( 1 conch, 1 emerald crab, 1 red hermit crab in sump sexy shrimp left in sump too )






nothing fancy but fully operational :wink:

remember the gatorade reactor? i re-did it. this time i also drilled ( 8 ) holes in the upper top of the bottle instead of the lid, shown in picture below:


and the plumbing with both,


how that looks in action




if you noticed the skimmer is now in the middle section of the sump with the return to the left. this tank is only running 1 drain line to the far right where as the last tank ( and usually all my tanks ) got split to either side of the sump.

chalices :-D
 
#176 · (Edited)
about 20-25 days ago i found a well priced head of dendro which can be seen in the last photo, top right corner. it wasnt in horrible shape but not the best of shape either.


ive been feeding it just about every day and it seems to now be fat and happy. now i just need more heads to grow..you can see it here to the right of the maxi mini, in the back of the photo with much better polyp extention.


here a better shot of the maxi minis, there are two on the rock. i eventually think im going to cover the rock with them


more beauty with the blues on


close up of hollywood stunner chalice ( this is a cropping of last photo in post #175 ) this is not long after i got the frag only 3 eyes


a month or two later, many eyes with many forming in, seems to be by far my fastest growing chalice yet


sunkist chalice, fruit loops chalice and unknown ora chalice


and here they are with food


sunkist is one of, if not my favorites and i think is much nicer in person


miami hurricane chalice


mummy eye chalice


pinky purple chalice


pink satin chalice


feeding the acan


acan


and acan again


tubbs blues and favia


if you look towards the bottom of the picture you can see a top down shot of the hollywood stunner chalice and notice how many eyes it now has, with many new ones forming.


pink star polyps and green zoanthids




 
#177 ·
WOW man you are really collecting a number of nice pieces...many a chalice.when these all grow out its going to be crazy and it seems like you are getting rather rapid growth.wish we lived closer and i could trade you some maxi minis and such.looking great though.
 
#178 ·
there currently are 12 different chalices in this tank. im sure more will be added over time. theres one or two in my other tank at my fathers that need to be fragged and added to the collection. i dont think i want to cut these anytime soon but my first frags will prob. be a suprise for my father and then who knows after that. then in a few months when theres some real growth a trade might be possible. if we each shipped 10 or so frags the shipping would be worth it. no promises though as the LPS are my main focus in this mixed reef.
 
#180 ·
i love chalices and acans. this is what will prob. be focused on the most for this tank. it is a mixed reef but i am focusing on LPS. i also eventually would like to have a rock covered in ricordea and a rock covered in maxi minis. after i win the mega millions maybe a nice scolymia as i love those as well.

to replace my 40 breeder i wanted a cube but was given a standard 75 gallon tank but its at my dads. in the short future i hope to pick it up to use as my new display. i dont know how im going to get it here yet short of renting a uhaul but i have atleast a good month or two before i have to consider that. i enjoy working from the 20L now and im seeing good results so im not going to set this tank up until i move in the next few months anyways. now with plans of a bigger tank the past week or two ive been struggling to settle on a stocking list. as of now im planning on having the 75 bare bottom like this tank is now. im also contemplating the idea of making my refugium an invert only section with a mix of different inverts maybe with the exception of a yashia goby as the display will be bare bottom. i currently have my sexy shrimp herd, an emerald crab, various snails, and possibly a randalli pistol shrimp down there now. i guess time will tell.
 
#181 ·
starting today ive been trying something new with the tank. i have each powerhead set to come on for 5 minutes and alternate back and forth from wavemaker mode on one of my reef keeper lites. there is a mp10 on the right side and i believe a hydor 1050 on the other. so far i like it but we shall see how the corals respond. i still may need to play around with the time intervals but since running it from this morning things appear to be doing great.

the hydor really seems to push some water and since its slightly angled upwards it ripples the surface causing a shimmer to the LEDs. the return pumps sump water right above this powerhead so every 5 minutes its like a rush of a wave ( no wave physically visable, maybe if i shorten duration or stronger pumps ) its seems like this will be perfect. to further things after the hydor shuts off the mp10 kicks on and alternates its flow automatically so for its 5 minutes it changes its flow rate until switching back to the hydor side. while the hydor is off the surface is still enough to peak into the top of the tank really showing off the corals colors. this only happens every 5 minutes while the hydor side is off but something that wasnt happening before when i had both pumps on always unless i unplugged it to surface view. another vortech is on the long list of things to buy but this setup seems to be working perfect so far.
 
#182 ·
that is one thing i have yet to play with is wave making and pump timing intervals.do you think its going to help out on some of the coral growth and such as the avans?do they elicit more frequent feeding responses?and i really dig 20 longs as well.i am contemplating building a 3 high shelf for 20 longs and blasting mad frags in the system.pistol goby pairs all the way as there are some pretty cheap thrills in a small tank that you can actualy see them do there thing.....oh and inverts all the way man.
 
#183 ·
picked up some rastas


ordered a few things, a couple things im still waiting on.


new salt ill be switching to as im sick of the major bucket sludge reef cyrstals leaves behind, the boxes in the back are 3part kits ( alk,cal and mag) with empty jugs to make them up, the 2 white boxes are auto dosers ( one for alk, one cal while ill dose mag by hand for now ) the tetra 60 air pump im thinking of running an air tube to each container of alk and cal ( maybe on a timer ) to help keep my mixtures alittle better mixed then just leaving them sitting for the auto dosers. i havnt tested any of this but a picture below of construction;


one of the 2 dosing pumps


mounted, atleast for now


auto fish feeder


some tonga branch i got with plans to use in the 75.


barnacle cluster for 75 as well.


theres a few other odds and ends in there, frag plugs and squares, carbon, gfo, and such. waiting on another bucket of salt and a pack of diamond dremel bits
and now i think i might be saving for an apex. lol
 
#184 ·
after some time without posting i dont have much of an update. my 20L is still running and i dont know if i will be doing the 75 anymore. i will be busy with the next few months and i think keeping what i have will work better for me, for now. eventually there will be some sort of retaliation for the 40 breeder but that day will come. i am currently fishless wish only inverts and corals, i am considering fish and its an ongoing personal struggle. :wink:
my camera uploader has been broken since last updating. i took a few cell phone pictures of some corals. the FTS is a few weeks older then todays posting date, i have since given the frogspawn, hammer, and a few others to my tank back home.









 
#185 ·
Glad to see you're still going. I've really enjoyed reading all 3 of your build threads and was really hoping that the long break since your last post didn't mean that you had run into some more bad luck. It's great that you still have the 20g going to help hold you over during your busy times.

Anyways, after years of snooping through different forums I finally set up my first SW tank this weekend. I decided that I want to use LEDs for my lights, but there are some many options out there so I'm having trouble deciding on which LEDs. Now that it's been a couple of months are you still happy with your TacTronics and your coral color/growth? I saw them on ebay recently and remembered that they are what you are running. I'm curious to know if you would make that purchase again or if you would go with something different.
 
#186 ·
thanks for riding along with us, i hope sometime in the future to have an upgrade, perhaps not for sometime though. atleast i will be able to aquire and grow select corals for when that time comes.

honestly i am not overly pleased with these LEDs. on my other tank i was running them along with 2 T5 bulbs which seemed to do me well. currently over the 20 ive been using only the LEDs. growth happens but doesnt seem the best. coral colors appear good with the blue LEDs and i must say im happy with my electric bill, not to mention the initial cost of these lights. if i had the money and the chance to re-purchase a set of LEDs, i think i would jump on the AI sol bandwagon. these seem contain a higher quality LED. if i wasnt going LED, i would be happy with T5s, however bulb replacement is what kills the wallet here, but the combo of colors you can achieve doesnt seem to be matched by other lights IMO. i also believe T5s produce a UV light, something corals may respond to differently then other light sources.
 
#187 ·
thats why i rock the kessels...they have the UVB that most other LEDs lack.in my opinion nothing has yet to beat a good halide and reflector but things are much more adjustable/customizable with the LED and they are advancing fast.your frags look so good.do you have a good local fish store or do you order most of your corals?
 
#188 ·
i agree, the punch of a metal halide is great but you will pay for it not only in your electric bill but with the added heat.
thank you, ive slowly been collecting my corals from all over the place. alot came from my other tank ( round 2 ) which most of its corals are nice sized colonies. sometimes i snip an extra frag or two of certain pieces to then bring home and trade other reefers. currently i can say i do not have a local fish store. they are all "not so great" within an hour of me and i will not support them. the only fish store ive found decent is about a hour and half drive from me one way, so i only take the trip every so often. i once lived in NJ, kaxt may know of Aqautic Obsessions which is small store but worth visiting IMO. i have placed online orders as well, which i can say i am a big fan of pacificeastaquaculture. i attend frag swaps as often as possible and so on... the way i see it, i will have my tank for years so i dont need to run out and buy a coral just to have a coral. im on the hunt for certain pieces, besides ive been parting with corals as it is to thin the herd. ive got some things growing on the bare bottom, which should look really interesting if i let the entire bottom, back and side walls get covered with coral..:hmm:
i have also been considering adding my 2 T5s back to come on a few hours mid-day
 
#189 ·
heat is no issue with an open top and living in a mostly cold climate but i can understand it may deture others.just saying i like and use both depending on applications.i would definatly add on the T-5s for supplemental lights.hmmm i do like name brand corals but my favorite pieces are ones with strange growth or odd behavior wich seem to be in no short supply.also in the tanks i have that do have coral growing on the walls i must say at first it is nice but in the grand scheme of things it is best if you keep them in check as at some point there with be war.i suppose if you premeditated the coral types this might never be a problem such as zoanthid on zoanthid or monti cap on monti cap but you know what i mean.oh and are you a fan of bare bottom tanks on al your systems now?
 
#190 ·
with me it isnt so much name brand corals as it is certain colorations and/or types. usually, it so happens that the crazier colored coral are the ones "name branded" to increase their price. eventually i would like to have a large "garden" of ricordia and to continue collect different chalice pieces. maybe some acans and more maxi minis. i have not decided if i want to sell/trade my 2 current maxi minis or continue collecting more to fill up the rock theyre on. i cannot wait until my dendro gets huge. it has 1 large and 4 or 5 smaller heads now while i started with just 1. i eventually think i want atleast 1 fish too, but theres no deadline to when that will happen, even more so since i cannot decide on what fish(s)

ofcourse eventually there will be a coral war, this will happen regardless of the corals medium its growing on. as you've stated, when they touch it will begin. i can asure you i will have to lighten my load once things grow more since the sweepers of the LPS. in post #184, 8th picture down, gets the longest sweeper tenticles already and its still a small piece.
i think it would be pretty unique to have a tank with bottom, back and side walls covered in coral growth. you'd never be able to empty the tank and move it very far though.
i like the look of sand and sand shifting gobies/pistol shrimp pairs but the ease of cleanliness of bare bottom tanks cannot be matched. i can also direct flow in any direction without any sandstorms. i do currently have a DSB in my refugium though, so the benefits of sand it still incorporated into this system. either sand or no sand works for me, and for the record im anti crushed coral. the ONLY time you will see me use crushed coral is if its a shot glass full of it ( and/or crushed shells ) to place outside the home of a pistol shrimp as they will use it for decorations and building materials.
 
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