My 55 Thread (Photo Intense)

[Donstuprich]

Guess I'll jump on the bandwagon ;)

I started my tank back in mayish, was planning since December of last year. One thing I know for sure is this tank has taught me patience, determination and follow through. After learning what maintenance I needed to do on my canister filter, I created a weekly maintenance regiment. I have not missed one week. For me that is a big deal, I've never followed thru on a hobby this long and stuck with it. Maybe I don’t want to see the inve$tment go up in smoke :).

I've lost two things in my tank, besides the hermits and snails that went via my pistol(s). Both were softies and very similar. First was the xenia tree. I have read that they are hit or miss. So I concluded that I was in the miss column on that one. Recently I had a kenya tree take the same fall. It was looking great and I thought it was going to make it for the long haul. Nope... started melting over the course of a week and would not perk up. Tried different flow spots and depths... no return. I could tell how quickly it was polluting my tank as well. All of my zoos were closed up at the last day I kept it in my tank. When I removed it, within in 6 hours, my zoos started to open back up. Within a day my tank was full bore again. I have not looked into what have caused the death of my kenya as my water quality has been fine. The only thing un-educated guess I have is that my RO top off water, which is clean, causes ph/Sal spikes that could be avoidable. I really need to get a Kalk drip.

I'm happy with my tank right now as it stands... here is the whole shooting match:

55G long
Current T5 fixture 48" 4x54w bulbs 2x10k 2x420 Acentic
Sea Clown 150 skimmer, Berlin modded, Collection cup modded
3x Seio 620 power heads
Kotobuki canister running carbon and a large micron filter
Cooling done via a blower hanging on the back of the tank and my ac running 24-7.

Live Stock:

2 Clowns... male & female
2 Anems... never ID'd em
9 Varieties of zoos, probably more
Lather Mushroom
2 Skunk shrimp
Feather/tube worm attached to some green/tan Pavona sps
Pistol shrimp... popped up after I gave one to FD.
2 or 3 Nuisance crabs, hope my pistol rounds them up
2 Clams... need to id them as well. Orange size and walnut size.
30-50 deep army of snails and a few hermits.
12 or so brittle stars
A piece of tan Acropora sps
A piece of Porites sps
1 Brown/tan spiky starfish
2 Pink/red/orange speckled starfish
3 Sun coral colonies

My live rock is all rubble. I have no idea how much it weighs, but it takes up about 30% of my tank. Since its all rubble there is more surface area for bacteria growth. Also more nooks and crannies for life to hide in.

My tank is a work in progress. Would like to do a closed loop, throw in a sump, get a different skimmer, & go with more light. Go to 8 bulbs? I don’t know... so many things on my plate they look like '07 projects. I do want to get a VorTech powerhead tho.

Thank you all for the help so far. This group has been awesome. On with the pictures....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2375.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2372.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2369.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2368.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2366.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2365.jpg

[Donstuprich]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2363.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2358.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2346.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2345.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2342.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2341.jpg

[Donstuprich]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2340.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2339.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2326.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2325.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2323.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2318.jpg

[Donstuprich]

Will post water parameters after I do my water change today. Thinking about getting another canister to run some smaller micron filters. Maybe angel hair? I can just throw it away weekly when I do maintenance.

[vest0830]

very nice. i really liked your tank when i saw it. super clean!

when you wanna do the sumo, lmk. plan on about $250usd and a good yen rate and we could set you up a real nice sump.

[hot4teacher]

Don,

You are a SNAKE for holding out pics of your tank for so long! I am in love with all the livestock and the pictures are just amazing!!!

I too need to work on the pH deal and my next project is a kalk drip/auto top-off.

Well done!

You've raised the bar!

Dana

[vest0830]

One more hting, do you have any problems keeping the tank clean with the rocks against the walls?

[Donstuprich]

They rocks are touching the back, left and right walls. Both rear corners are like their own little dead spots were a million feather worms grow on the glass, and is a pod breading ground. It never really gets dingy back there because snails spawn back there. They don't last long, but keep the muck in check. I clean the front about every other day and scrape the rear glass about once a month. The snails are my main cleaning. It really is less trouble than it looks *knock on wood*.

That patch of pink zoos keeps getting pushed to the front glass by my pistol. He does not like it blocking his main entrance :). I'm going to leave it there until someone wants a frag. It is a BALL of zoos. I don't think there is a rock in the middle of it. It will float. Show me how to frag and you can take half :).

Dana, thanks for the kind words. I feel envious of you with your free electricity and your ability to teach the children about it. More teachers like you might save the reefs of this world.

Kalk drip is also my main deal right now. Probably going to order the one setup from Drs. Fosters.

12G water change complete, temp spiked about .7c, kind of scared me. The piece of porites that I bought is half opened as well as the one that was in there. I hope they recover :( The zoos I just bought are starting to open up. Expect pics and params in about an hour.

[jeffb3t]

Very nice looking!! Glad to see it's working out for you. Can't wait to see pics a few months from now! Better yet, I need to see this tank in person.

[Donstuprich]

Bring it, drinking is in order. And I realy want to secure this pink zoo and give hte other half away. Pic of my new zoos as promised. I can not get enough of zoos....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2378-1.jpg

[jeffb3t]

Nice! Great colors!

[vest0830]

BTW, I highly discourage the kent marine drip. that thing is more problems than its worth. You gotta adjust it about every 3 hours when you have it dripping...at least I do.

[Dastank]

If you want to talk about zoo addiction, you've found the right person! I'm totally nuts about them and can't get enough. I've got a lot of pinks, but I would love to help you frag your "zoo ball."

I think Franks got a touch of the fever also. Lats time he and I went out zoo shopping, I wasn't getting any and he was only gettting one or two. You should have seen what the two of us brought back!

My name is Mike and I'm a zooaholic!

[Donstuprich]

They are hands down my favorite tank filler. Ever sunday I go to PPM to get my water, and come home with a new patch. My wife is tired of zoos, so I might start a 20ish just for zoos :). Concrete mold some rockwork with zoos in mind. hmmm.... ball is now rolling.

Thanks for the heads up frank. Any other kalk drips out there, besides just a container and some airline?

[vest0830]

Mike is a zoo-halic.

I really enjoy them as well, I have a nice collection.

If you just wanna get a drip going, I have a homemade system that you can use if you want. I have some kalk you can have also, if you bring a small butter dish over or something to put it in.

[Donstuprich]

Do you mind? I'll make one and return yours. I really need to avoid the ph/alk/sal swings of topping off once a day.

[vest0830]

yeah, no problem. im not using it, and I got a brand new container of kalk when I got the new tank. I will give you some if you need it.

I should be home this evening after 6:30. Call me before you come as I gotta do a few erronds tonight. 09067703258

[jeffb3t]

Don, Home made drips are the easiest thing to make. Just get an IV drip from the clinic and punch a hole in a 2 liter pet bottle near the bottom. ( I told them the IV drip was for drugs... They never would have never believed me anyway that it was for my reef tank... BTW, did the same thing with syringes for injecting aptasia) Instant kalk drip that is easy to use. I do seal the hole with PVC glue just to be safe however.

[vest0830]

I used PVC glue on mine as well. Your more than welcome to use it whenever you want. I will get with my friend that works over at kadena vet clinic to see if she cant snag a few more IV tubes for us.

But your more than welcome to mine, I have 2 of them. Come get one.

[Donstuprich]

Awesome. Can you pm me your building/apt number and phone number? I'll call before I drop by :)

[fdokinawa]

I need an IV too!! :)

[vest0830]

noted.

just a FYI, im dripping right now...ive had to adjust that thing 3 times since I started it yesterday. 2 last night, one this morning.

[jeffb3t]

Man, I never have to adjust mine. I set it once and it's done.

[Donstuprich]

Leather Mushroom has it's polyps tucked in. He's usually my sal indicator, but my sal is 1.025. He does not usually ball up until it's higher, like 1.027. I did my water change a couple of hours ago, and I'll top off with RO tomorrow. Here's my levels:

PH 8.2
ALK 4meq/l
NH3/NH4 .25ppm
PO4 0ppm
CU 0ppm
NO2 .05ppm
NO3 5ppm
Calcium 450ppm
Salinity 1.025
Temp 24.9c

My nitrates are up a little. not too hairy, but still up a little. I just sugar dosed half a table spoon. Also just changed out my carbon, so that should help.

[vest0830]

Are you running a chiller?

[Donstuprich]

nope. ac set to 24 and i have a hang on the back blower. that thing kicks ace. my highest temp is 25.5 during the day, and it hovers around 24.5 at night. the heater kicks on around 24.2, back to 25. before getting the blower I'd tap 27 with my AC on 24 all the time.

[vest0830]

My temps chill at a steady 30c. lol.

[Donstuprich]

You have a chiller?

[jeffb3t]

He's got something better...A/C with free electricity

[hot4teacher]

You guys are all HATERS of the free electricity!

I am too! That's why my tank is on base and not at home!

Dana

[vest0830]

A/C...yeah, thats my chiller. lol.

I dont have a chiller, I do have a heater though. 2; 250w halides. :lol:

[Donstuprich]

haha. I had another seio crap out on me today. It turned into a heater, temp spiked to 26.7 :)

[vest0830]

My mag pump needs a little smack smack kick start everytime I re-start it. Maybe the seio needs the same?

BTW don, you should look at the new
oceans motions revolutions system (http://www.oceansmotions.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=40&osCsid=ba82e85ecc2a6815e67272813a4308e3)

Theyve got a few videos of it. Might be a decent way to get some real nice flow through the tank...

[jeffb3t]

Gee, with all the seios crapping out on you, I don't think I will buy one. Too risky. I would like to put an OM squirt on my closed loop but that all depends on how much money I have or what I have to trade... My system is being built on a major budget of how cheap can I really get. So far, I am only into $150.

[Donstuprich]

Yeah it's the same one that crapped out before. it's eating props.

Those revos look pretty cool. I am really looking at those vortechs as well. no added temp/voltage. Inlaws will leave first of november. maybe right after that.

[jeffb3t]

Well, If you do get one make sure you let us know how it works out for you.

[vest0830]

You should get one Jeff and tell us how it works out. :lol:

at $25 a pop...and you already have that huge pump, whats $100 for some awsome random motion...not to mention in a SPS tank, and you could probably still get 2 or 3 jets off of that.

Ohh yeah, Don, you still want this dripper?

[Donstuprich]

Yeah, going to zamami tomorrow for a night. Just got our open dive cert, so we are going to go on a couple boat dives. I'll call you on sunday or sat evening.

[vest0830]

sounds good

[Donstuprich]

Back from Zamami. We did two dives and saw some amazing clown/anem groupings. SPS for miles as well.

Anyways, just got my ro and sw. Plan to do a 10% change over tmorrow as I am weary from travel. I did manage to pick up a small 5 polyp green on green zoo bunch from PPM today. First time I have ever super-glued a living thing to a rock. But it looks like it's gonna be a winner. Will post pictures later.

[jeffb3t]

So where are the pics? Did everything adhere good?

[hot4teacher]

Don loves keeping us waiting patiently for pics.

:mad2:

[jeffb3t]

I guess so...

[Donstuprich]

Internet died over the past 3 days or so :( Got it back now, but have to go to work. will upload tonight.

[jeffb3t]

I hope so...We have been patiently waiting...

[Donstuprich]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v113/djneedles/tank/IMG_2753.jpg

[jeffb3t]

Looks good. Give it a few months and that rock will be covered. Whenit does start taking off, place a few small chunks of branch rock around it so it's easier to frag when you need to.

[Donstuprich]

Actually, I'm planning to build a zoo prop tank. I want to do a 24Lx12Dx10H. 4 or 6 24" T5s, heavy on acentic, canister filter, blower, heater. Finally replace my tank flow with a vortech and use my 2 seios for flow.

The plan, so far, is to do a Inverted V across the length of the tank(imagine setting up a pup tent along the length of the tank) using that new okinawa tank concrete mix. I'd like to design it so I can slide frag plugs into holes along the sides of the "tent" and grow them out. That way they would be easy to remove later on. I dunno, just an idea.

[jeffb3t]

Sounds like a great idea but hard to build IMO. I am game to Try it if you are game...

[jeffb3t]

You bring over the concrete and sand, I will build the forms. We can make something work out.

[Donstuprich]

You game to build an acrylic tank first? I really need to sit down with visio and design the "tent". I'm also thinking about going to 36" length, but i dunno.

[TPS-Dive]

Have you ever tried SketchUp? It's a 3D "CAD" program. I haven't worked with visio but do a lot of AutoCAD. SketchUP is compatable with AutoCAD and keeps it 3D properties when dumped into AutoCAD, which is really cool. SketchUP is fun to use and can be downloaded free at www.sketchup.com. We have the full version at work so I'm not sure what the free version is capable of. SketchUp also has really good free online tutorials to teach you how to use the program.

[jasalmanza]

I would suggest a PVC type frame. something hollow and rigid. that "pup-tent" is going to get heavy, fast...

[Donstuprich]

PVC frame sound sgenius. I think my biggest/only hurdle will be the "tent". Would it be wise to make the frame using pvc, and then fill the pvc with crete as well?

[jasalmanza]

completely negates the use of PVC. Yes you could use for a frame, but you would actually then be adding weight to the structure, rather than deleting. hope this helps...

[Donstuprich]

I follow. So would you make the pvc frame fill with water then? I've also thought about doing a standard "Egg-crate" prop tank. Might be easier.

[Dastank]

I'm not sure I'm picturing your idea, but why not make it out of acrylic. Make your inverted V and use a hole saw to make holes to hold the concrete plugs.

Drew up my idea for you, even included a plug! I saw a really cool post on how to make those plugs in any diameter and length.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e304/pine99/FragTank.jpg

Love Goggle Sketchup!!!

[vest0830]

bahhh!

looks nice though :)

[frantzml1982]

nice setup

[Donstuprich]

That's a great idea. I do believe I will go with that. Thanks Das! I'm going to buy that vortech this week and then get my acrylic. How thick of acrylic should I go, and is there a place to order it online?

[Dastank]

I've been looking into it for my future sump. You can buy a 3' X 5' sheet of 5mil, or 6mil for about 12,000 yen. I think it will be thick enough for your setup. I know Frank and Bret just made a sump out of the same stuff and had great results.

Mike

[vest0830]

The sump we made for Brett, his acrylic was 5mm thick and turned out really really nice. If you wanna get a smaller sheet, they sell smaller sheets for I believe 4000y of the same thickness. We picked it up at naval kadena...its in the back corner of the place by the hardware section.

I think I have plenty of weld-on to do mikes sump and if you wanna make something smaller, we should have enough for that as well.

Mike and I should be at the shop this weekend or next doing some hackin and screwin things up...bring it by and I can run it through the table saw if you want.

[Donstuprich]

I'll grab a sheet this week. I think this thing is a go.

[Dastank]

As far as the plugs for the Frag tank, I would start with them ASAP. It's going to take a month before there tank ready.

Here's a cool way to do them. Take a bucket of fine sand, make sure it's moist. Push a piece of dowel or model of your frag plug into the sand, fill the hole with the plug mixture. The tough part is designing you model to push down into the sand. In the example I saw they were using a piece of small broom handle with a piece of larger dowel nailed on the top, made a nice T impression in the sand. They looked nice when they were done.

[jeffb3t]

Acrylic is the way to go for weight issues. It's also pretty easy to work with. You could go thinner than 5 mil if supported but 5 mil will give you the support you need with less material.

[jasalmanza]

great idea!!!

[vest0830]

This is what you are wanting to build, right?
maybe not as big...

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=965465

[Donstuprich]

I'd like something that big, but my wife wouldn't :). exactly like that, so I can frag and stock main/give away

[vest0830]

Maybe im totally confused or something, but I thought thats what you were talkin about makin? im real lost...

[Donstuprich]

I'd like to have what you posted, but that is to big. I am doing something like that, only not as big. You are correct. And I've had a bit of wine. and monkey man does not have 5mm plexi down in american village, will try others.

[jeffb3t]

Navel Kadena is a better place to go or on 75 there is a place called muranaka. It has EVERYTHING! You can literally get lost in that place. Navel Kadena is easy to find stuff though if you don't speak Japanese.

[Donstuprich]

I thought they closed the monkeyman down in navel kadena?

[Dastank]

They did, but they opened up a new DIY store in it's place. It's got more stuff and selection. Good shop!

[jeffb3t]

Yeah, But you gotta watch the prices. Some stuff is cheaper at Makeman while the same thing is more expensive there. I just keep tabs on the stuff I buy regularly so I know which shop to go to.

[Dastank]

It's convenient and gas it still expensive. I don't mind paying a little more for some things!