|
|
|
|
#102
10/11/2007, 10:43 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
I was going to go with the wlan card, but instead, I just dropped some cat5 line behind the tank when I was running all my other lines back there. Should work out nicely. I'm hoping to play around with it on Sun.
Too bad the software isn't compatible with mac os. Would have been nice.
__________________
Thanks, Chris |
|
#104
10/15/2007, 01:34 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Another photo update...
First and foremost, I wanted to show off the great custom millwork that woodwrangler built. The entire top swings up for full access. He did an awesome job matching the finish and getting the dimensions spot on!   Next, my blue spotted jawfish is alive and well! A little garlic xtreme added to mysis shrimp got him to come out for food. He's now eating like a pig and has buillt a burrow up front, where I built up the sand bed to 4" or so with a mix of sand sizes and rubble. He has started to hover above the burrow, and will twirl around 360 degrees looking for trouble. Surprisingly he is getting along great with a blue and pink spotted watchman goby and tiger prawn who share a burrow on the other side of the same large base rock. I've even seen the jawfish enter the goby/prawn burrow at night when the prawn is roaming around searching for food... very strange. Jasper (as my daughter has named him) does not, however, like the rabbitfish or yellow tang -- and he lets them know it when they approach the burrow. He shows them his huge mouth and has also spit at them, including on one occasion what looked like some eggs. If you can't tell, this is by far my favorite fish in the tank, and I may add another jawfish soon. If so it will be a different type, probably a pearly yellow, and I'll try to get it to make a burrow on the other side of the tank by creating another sand/rubble mound with a vertically positioned short piece of PVC pipe.    A pair of small ocellaris clowns were added over the weekend, mainly because my daughter "needed" to have Nemo and Marlin. I like clowns well enough but they are a bit annoying with the constant wiggling. It will be interesting to see if these tank raised fish decide to host in an LPS coral. I don't plan on having an anemone because of the jawfish and future plans for one or two mandarin dragonets. I was getting a few patches of cyanobacteria but this seems to have abated without medication once I did a superficial sand bed vacuum and, more importantly, increased water flow along the bottom of the tank. I repositioned a few of the closed loop jets and installed the first of two Vortech pumps. I am waiting to add the second until the wireless wave controllers arrive. It was a nightmare installing the first one because it is under and behind the external overflow and my access to the area was very restricted. Ultimately I got it done and the flow is very impressive, with no noise or heat added to the tank. Great product! The second will go on the opposite side of the tank, positioned a bit higher, with an alternating flow pattern. A stubborn problem is microbubbles, which I believe is mainly from a sump that is not particularly well designed. I am planning a new sump with a larger refugium and many additional baffles. In the meantime I'm experiment with the existing plumbing to minimize the bubbles. And FUA, yes my credit card bill was very ugly that month! |
|
#106
10/15/2007, 08:02 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
I wonder if the microbubbles will subside with time, once the pvc pipes get a little bit of slime on them. I've noticed that after time, the microbubbles will be reduced.
__________________
Thanks, Chris |
|
#111
11/14/2007, 10:47 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
looking good, beautiful woodwork, would also like to see how you gain access from the front of the tank
__________________
"Try not to become a man of success but rather a man of value" Albert Einstein |
|
#112
11/14/2007, 01:34 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
I love that blue-spot jawfish. I had one in my last tank. Luckily, he burrowed in the front of the tank as well...I lost him to my carpet anemone!
I've been looking for one for my current tank, but can't find them in any LFS. Supposedely, they're hard to find now adays? Did you buy yours online? |
|
#113
11/16/2007, 10:11 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
wow turned out really nice!
__________________
29 Gallon with 25 gallon sump [url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/] [img]http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/2;10726;103/st/20071022/n/start+date/k/0965/blk-age.png[/img] [/url] |
|
#114
12/17/2007, 03:59 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Long overdue update...
Have dealth with some of the usual problems, i.e. ich (thanks Dori!) and carpet surfing even through eggrate. I've dealth with the ich in the display tank using garlic, ginger, flagyl and nitrofurazone, and Kordon Ich-Attack. And a quartet of cleaner shrimp too. No it is not "cured" but I haven't lost any fish from it, and I'm no longer losing sleep. All the fish are eating well and their immune system seems to be keeping it under control. Worst I saw a fish look was Dori in the QT/hospital tank, at least in this instance the capture and therapy was far worse than the disease. I was about to euthanize her but decided to put her back in the display tank, where she has done well and has doubled in size in the past month. Many SPS, LPS, and a few soft corals are all doing well. Most of the SPS was purchased from Diver's Den, a few developed RTN/STN because they didn't add a heat pack and the water arrived in the mid-60's. They are a first rate company and gave me credit toward future purchases without any hassle. Rest of the livestock (including all fish) has come from three LFS -- About the Reef, Aquarium Arts, and Aquatouch. There are two elegance corals both of which seem to be doing okay. The purple tip one with long tentacles is an Aussie, the pink tip one with short tentacles is not. I embedded the conical skeleton base in the sand at the front left corner, where it is getting low light and light flow, just enough to make the tentacles sway. The Aussie gets a bit more flow and somewhat more light, I may end up moving it up onto a live rock pedestal after a few weeks. Most recent fish addition is a juvenile fuzzy dwarf lionfish. He's eating ghost shrimp but still not taking frozen krill or mysis. The neon goby and one small pajama cardinal are at risk for getting inhaled but so far so good. Not sure how many reef tanks feature a lionfish but he's very cool and has been an ideal tank mate so far. Also recently got a fantastic deal on a beautiful mated pair of Hawaiian flame wrasses from About the Reef, and the fattest/happiest mandarin ever. He eats constantly. A fishless refugium should maintain the pod population to keep him going. If there remains a good supply of pods after a few months, I'll add a peacock leopard wrasse and maybe a spotted mandarin also. As part of the cleanup crew I got a pair of sea cucumbers from Live Aquaria. One tiger tail and one pink/green. Both were supposed to be "sand sifters" but the pink/green is more like a sea apple. He climbed right up the rock to a high flow spot and hasn't moved since. He seems very happy. When he's hungry his tentacles come out and it is neat to watch him pull stuff out of the water column and direct it to his mouth. The tiger tail didn't work out as well, the pink and blue spot watchman goby was pestering him. He expelled his guts and I immediately removed it and started running carbon. Fortunately there was no collateral damage, except for the goby which hasn't been seen since that night. The pistol shrimp is still in the burrow, but I suspect the goby is history. Currently looking for a cute algae-eating blennie, and another shrimp goby that will pair up with the tiger prawn. There are currently three tridacna clams in the tank. One is a gold teardrop maxima and two are purple/green/blue crocea. They are doing great placed high up on the rock. Alas their amazing colors are best seen from above... Now for some pictures...          
|
|
#115
12/17/2007, 06:16 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
wow, you got some great looking colonies, will be awesome once they grow out a bit, haven't tried divers den yet but may try it now that I've seen yours, nice to know they have good customer service too
__________________
"Try not to become a man of success but rather a man of value" Albert Einstein |
|
#117
12/18/2007, 07:07 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
nice tank
|
|
#118
12/20/2007, 09:52 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Do you have any issues with your sand bed? I noticed that you used a larger grain of sand. I love the way it looks but would be afraid of it becoming a detritus trap. How deep is the sand?
I love you tank, absolutely beautiful.
__________________
Mark |
|
#119
12/20/2007, 12:41 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
skamin,
Those are Propeller Breeze fan units made by GHL/Profilux. Very quiet and they move a lot of air. One runs full time, the other comes on if the temp excedes 26C. I run the skimmer 18 hours a day, with the off time during the last six hours of light. Doing this, the chiller never turns on. mcrist, Sandbed ranges from 2-3" thick (a bit more or less in a few areas). It is mixed grade which is what the jawfish prefers. Yes it traps detritus as any substrate will. The blue spot jawfish, fighting conchs, and a tiger pistol shrimp stir it up a bit. Every few days I use a rake and stir up the top layer in the front of the tank, the microalgae/bacteria entering the water column seem to be enjoyed by the filter feeders like the cactus chili coral, coco worm, and feather dusters... I was off this week and got some nice new livestock at LFS (including a Potter's leopard wrasse and uncommon segmented blenny Salarias segmentatus, plus several corals). I'll try to get new pictures this weekend. And for a little comic relief, check out 'Jasper' the blue spot jawfish starring in his first web video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQqO4fycVuY |
|
#123
01/06/2008, 03:47 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Beautiful tank ekovalsky, I'm very impressed.
Somewhat off-topic... What type of fish is this? Thanks! Edit: Oops, just found the references above. Last edited by theclearblue; 01/06/2008 at 03:55 PM. |
|
#124
01/06/2008, 05:29 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
bluespot jawfish
|
|
|
Linear Mode
