Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread - Page 11

Mantisshrimp248 · #**251** 04/30/2006, 02:15 PM

Great informative thread. Im impressed by the time you spend to update it and answer others questions. I am sorry about your hammer coral, I hope the rest pulls through. It looks like it will. I am having problems with my frogspawn, but my hammer coral is doing fine.

How deep is your sandbed? Is it a true DSB?

melev · #**252** 04/30/2006, 02:29 PM

Thanks for dropping in.

The hammer frags look okay in my quarantine tank, but it has only been a couple of days. That tank really tends to like staying at 83F for some reason, and I"m having trouble bringing it lower. It must be the maxijet, as that is the only item in the water.

The sandbed in my tank is 3" to 4". The back is definitely 4", but the front is a little more shallow. The flow in the tank has caused this, not my own doing.

Mantisshrimp248 · #**253** 04/30/2006, 07:54 PM

Hmm i know small fans blowing across the surface of the water work wonders for cooling the tank. I have one on a timer so it turns on with the light. Mind you this is in addition to the fan that is in the light fixture as it is placed over the sump. It keeps the temperature fairly constant too. I have heard that euphylias tend to like higher temps. though.
Would 3-4" inches be considered a deep sand bed and have the benefits of one? Sorry i feel i am taking away from what this thread is about- your tank.

msuzuki126 · #**254** 04/30/2006, 08:09 PM

hey melev, do you have any recent pictures of your sun coral? I recently got one and am very interested! thankss

argo · #**255** 04/30/2006, 08:45 PM

Hey Marc, I probably missed it in the pages of this thread but did you feed that Hammer coral (I remember reading something about it in this enormous thread but can't clearly recall it)? Also, is there any flesh left on Hammer's head(s) or are they bare skeletons now? If there's a bit of a flesh left on a Hammer's individual head - could it be budding?

melev · #**256** 05/01/2006, 04:03 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Mantisshrimp248
Hmm i know small fans blowing across the surface of the water work wonders for cooling the tank. I have one on a timer so it turns on with the light. Mind you this is in addition to the fan that is in the light fixture as it is placed over the sump. It keeps the temperature fairly constant too. I have heard that euphylias tend to like higher temps. though.
Would 3-4" inches be considered a deep sand bed and have the benefits of one? Sorry i feel i am taking away from what this thread is about- your tank.

This is just a little 14g cube that I use for quarantine, and it really is just that, a box with a powerhead, some LR, a heater, a light, water. No really filtration, as the top flange is too large to hang anything on there. It was a leftover from a different project, so I just use it, but I need to come up with something better one day.

Here are the hammer frags as of yesterday afternoon.

4" would be a DSB. 3" isn't quite enough. People have various opinions on substrate. Some want a DSB, others a shallow one, and others want none at all. I prefer the look of a tank with sand over one without for aesthetic reasons.

melev · #**257** 05/01/2006, 04:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by msuzuki126
hey melev, do you have any recent pictures of your sun coral? I recently got one and am very interested! thankss

Here's one from tonight.

melev · #**258** 05/01/2006, 04:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by argo
Hey Marc, I probably missed it in the pages of this thread but did you feed that Hammer coral (I remember reading something about it in this enormous thread but can't clearly recall it)? Also, is there any flesh left on Hammer's head(s) or are they bare skeletons now? If there's a bit of a flesh left on a Hammer's individual head - could it be budding?

Yes, I've squirted PE Mysis and Cyclop Eeze at it late night when the pumps are off, and it eats. If you'll go back one page, you'll see a picture of it eating and looking happy last February.

The heads that died, the tissue fell off and landed on the substrate. The skeleton was bone white, and whatever might have been left the hermits and baby brittle starfish consumed. I tossed it out because it smelled horrible, and hope the remaining polyps will survive.

I was wondering if the tissue I see on the sand might be placed on something (crush coral perhaps) and then left in the tank, hopefully to start some new coral growth and not lose it all completely.

thewuf · #**259** 05/01/2006, 11:29 AM

Just catching back up. Sorry the dipping didn't seem to produce any results, but maybe the remainder will hang in there for you.

Mantisshrimp248 · #**260** 05/01/2006, 08:02 PM

Looking good. Just one more quick question- what type of sand did you use or recommend? Thank you and that sun coral is sweet.

msuzuki126 · #**261** 05/01/2006, 08:04 PM

thanks for that pic! it looks amazing

tcb7019 · #**262** 05/01/2006, 09:17 PM

Love your setup and the sump is very impressive

! So many ideas! I love it!

Been browsing your website for awhile and love all the info and pictures!

Thanks
Tom

melev · #**263** 05/01/2006, 10:47 PM

The sand is aragonite-based, Mantisshrimp248.

msuzuki126, you're welcome. The suncoral page on my site explains how I care for it, along with some pictures of its progress. I'll update it again in about a month or so, as it will be approaching 2 years in my care, if I recall the dates correctly.

Tom, you are quite welcome. Be sure to look around on the Hidden Treasures page, as well as using the Search engine on the front page as it may find what you are looking for in my personal logs.

melev · #**264** 05/02/2006, 04:09 AM

Tonight, when I thought I might get to bed early for once so I can get more done the next day, at 12:30am the power went out. Of course, everything in the house became silent except for all the battery backup units scattered about.

The beeping went on for a long time, and after 30 minutes of no power, I called the power company and used their automated prompts to let them know my situation. The recording stated I'd have power by 4am!

After that, I stared at my reef and thought: Time to get the generator running. So after a little effort, it was making a racket for the neighborhood, and the main return pump provided circulation. I plugged in the VorTech as well, and a longer extension cord so I could have a lamp in the living room. I took the time to flip through Sprung's Vol III book that I purchased at Next Wave this year, and was really impressed with what I saw. That is a great book for people that are new to the hobby. It is called The Reef Aquarium Vol III, by Delbeek and Sprung. You can get it from Amazon or maybe your LFS, and after you've read it, you might consider getting Vol I & II later on.

I do think I'd like to pursue a method to send power to the tank and other handy outlets in the home in an easier fashion in the future. It would be nice to have something pre-made that would allow me to run a power cord to the generator that is connected to some type of sub panel. Maybe I could flip a lever, start the generator, and get things going without having to mess with extension cords and more. I'd like to also hook up some type of ductwork from the generator to get the exhaust out of the garage.

Maybe that is a lot of unnecessary work. After all, it is for emergencies, not weekly or monthly situations.

thewuf · #**265** 05/02/2006, 07:50 AM

Marc - If you're in a house you think you'll be in for awhile, I'd seriously look those whole house generators. They seem very expensive at first, but when you consider everything it's really not - and the peace of mind you get is worth a ton.

The one I've got kicks on automatically when the power has been off for 60 seconds and cuts off when the power has been restored for two minutes (this prevents it from coming on and off due to power spikes or brief spikes) - and it runs the whole house including air conditioning, refrigerators and stoves (and of course the tank, I mean come on).

It's clean, efficient, and adds a ton to resale value if you decide to move. It's a real must out here in hurricane country!

NexDog · #**266** 05/02/2006, 08:22 AM

How does one of those cost in your neck of the woods?

melev · #**267** 05/02/2006, 01:31 PM

Chris, I've given that some thought from time to time. Usually when we have a power outage, it is for a minute or two, or maybe 20 at the most. This was long enough for me to think I really need to do something, especially when I remember what happened last November to my fish.

Our neighborhood doesn't have natural gas, so I'd have to get a propane tank. If I could bury that, it might be okay, because I really don't want to look at it. Man, I'd have plenty for BBQ's.

RGibson · #**268** 05/02/2006, 02:16 PM

Marc the fuel this the best for generators is diesel and propane the fuel for police dept and for you.

Lunchbucket · #**269** 05/02/2006, 02:51 PM

Melev - any updates on the Prodibio? i wanted to order today but Rob's Reef is out of Marine Clean 30packs

guess i ahve to wait till they come in.

Lunchbucket

thewuf · #**270** 05/02/2006, 02:57 PM

Mine is duel fuel (propane or natural) and I run Propane on a 500 gallon buried tank. Was told it would run 24 hours a day for 10 days straight.

My portable generator was $500, this one was 2 grand installed.

21Reefman · #**271** 05/02/2006, 03:33 PM

Marc, I had a friend that had a hammer do the same thing. I thought it was called "polyp ejection". His all landed in the rock work and grew new heads/colnies there. He went from 1 colony to 8-12, he gives the stuff away now! I'm sure a rubble tray would do the same.

I have a Sun coral ( turbastea) and it was awesome until a clown fish took-up residense on it. Within 3-5 weeks of the clown rubbing on it, the polyps had begun to eject and some just errroded. The clown is GONE! I have nursed the suncoral back, and it is even showing new polyp growth, budding from the remaining polyps on the main colony.
Are you ready for the COOL part?? I started to notice small Sun coral polyps all over my LR!!! I had a Turbastrea spawn in the tank! I have counted 16-20 polyps on several diff pieces of LR and even on some LG snail shells that I added only a few months ago. A hermit crab is walking around with it on his shell!
I thought this was super cool, as I had thought that it was impossable to get them to thrive in captivity due to their feeding requirements. The tiny orange polyps get bigger and bigger by the day.

NexDog · #**272** 05/02/2006, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by thewuf
Mine is duel fuel (propane or natural) and I run Propane on a 500 gallon buried tank. Was told it would run 24 hours a day for 10 days straight.

My portable generator was $500, this one was 2 grand installed.

Wow, cheap at twice the price.

Dudester · #**273** 05/07/2006, 04:19 PM

Hey Marc, just got back to town and got caught up here as well. Sorry to hear about your hammer coral, but glad the Tyree colony is doing well! You mentioned you used your Dremel tool to frag the hammer coral. Which bit do you use with the Dremel to cut things like the skeletons of hammers and frogspawns, and what Dremel bit do you use to cut/frag other larger corals that have encrusted onto rocks, like say Acans or Favias? I would guess a cutting wheel of some sort. I also assume you use a standard bone cutter for branching corals, like acros, right?

melev · #**274** 05/07/2006, 05:06 PM

The hammer is still doing well in the quarantine tank, which I'm happy about. I never did figure out what was happening to the main colony.

I'll try to dig up some pictures of the Dremel cutting wheel. 1.5 years ago, our club had a Coral Propagation Workshop, and I spent about a month gathering up all the stuff needed so each participant would have their own fragging kit. The cutting wheels were purchased on Ebay, along with their necessary shank. I'd ordered something like 40 wheels, but more people turned up on that day. Because of this, some people had to share their wheels. I bought every cheapo rotary tool that Harbor Freight had in stock, which we got for $8.50 each.

For encrusting corals, the easiest tool might be the wet-tile saw, like something you'd think was built by Fisher-Price. They sell at Home Depot / Lowes for about $50, and seem up to the job. A. Calfo did a demonstration using his at our Next Wave conference last January.

fishball2222 · #**275** 05/07/2006, 05:23 PM

Excellent information. Thoroughly enjoyed this thread!