theJenchild Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Hey guys, So I started up this tank in June of last year, and have been taking it really slowly. The tank now belongs to my room mate, but its still kinda my project. Hard to give it up really. So any ways, here's what I have: -16g pacific coast cube. I pulled the AIO part out of the back of it and trashed that, then I removed the lid that housed pc bulbs and replaced it with a 150w sunpod with a 20k bulb. -7 gallon sump with LRR and a gravity fed ATO -soap dish fuge with chaeto -about 2 inches of sand in the display and about 15 lbs LR -2 koralia nanos coral: -various zoas -superman mushrooms -blue shrooms -green tonga shrooms -unknown sps frag -striped palys -ricordea floridas -ricordea yuma (neon orange and splitting like crazy!) fish: -orchid dottyback -brown blenny Everything seems happy and healthy. I'm not sure where I'm heading with this tank, although I am quickly running out of real estate. I would like to add a plate coral and several other zoas. Sorry these photos suck, just a point and shoot camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJenchild Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 Here's another couple photos. I tried to alter how blue they were, but it just didn't work! Alas, I just need a new camera! The last photo is the tank when I first set it up. Obviously things have evolved since then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Very nice looking. I wonder what kind of SPS that is. I like the full tank shot. Just need more corals now right?(plotting) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJenchild Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 I'm trying to slow down on how many corals I buy! My logic is that everything is going to grow in and fill all the empty space. I'm trying to place stuff in the tank with that in mind. I wish I could get a good shot of my neon orange yuma. In the picture of the dottyback you can kinda see it on the left. That little bugger has shot off 3 new babies in the past couple of weeks. I'm waiting for them to grow a little before I decide if I'm sending them to new homes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 I had the same idea.....take it slow, let things grow....take things slow, let things grow. Then I went and spent a bunch of money at the LFS. Now, I am trying to get back to letting things grow, but....I am addicted. I should go to CA meetings or something, you know Coral Addicts anomymous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrgreenthumb Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Very nice looking. I wonder what kind of SPS that is. I like the full tank shot. Just need more corals now right?(plotting) monti digi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCR Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 The addiction can cause loss of control, muscle spasms, nausea, sweats, memory loss, empty accounts,divorce and sudden death. Tank looks really good:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJenchild Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 I wonder what kind of SPS that is. I like the full tank shot. alive. That's what I care most about right now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 The addiction can cause loss of control, muscle spasms, nausea, sweats, memory loss, empty accounts,divorce and sudden death. Tank looks really good:) aint that the truth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJenchild Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 The addiction can cause loss of control, muscle spasms, nausea, sweats, memory loss, empty accounts,divorce and sudden death. Tank looks really good:) Isn't that the truth? And thank you. This tank is a product of blindly following the direction of people who know a lot more than I do, and reading everything that I can get my hands on. Of course, being mostly broke didn't hurt either. See....you can't add stuff too fast when you don't have any money to buy anything except RO water and a refractometer. hehe That being said, I'm so happy that I bought that refractometer. I had a minor tank problem last night that could have been bad without it. The float on my ATO got stuck on the clamp that's on my return pump and allowed 2 gallons of fresh water to flood my sump, dropping the salinity to about 1.022 for about 30 minutes. I fixed the snag, bailed about 1.5 gallons out of the sump and added some salt, checked the salinity once every 10 minutes and managed to get it back to 1.025 in a very short amount of time. Every thing looks fine now, but that could have been really bad without that invaluable tool to save my toosh. Thanks for talking me into it Jason! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 How much do refractometer's run? What all do they test for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePremiumAquarium Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Jen the unkown sps you have is an elkhorn montipora. Looks very similar to digitata with a slightly different growth pattern at the top. Who knows? It may actually be a different morph of digitata, it was just sold to me as Elkhorn monti. Garrett Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrgreenthumb Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 and you got a water change out of the whole deal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJenchild Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 Jen the unkown sps you have is an elkhorn montipora. Looks very similar to digitata with a slightly different growth pattern at the top. Who knows? It may actually be a different morph of digitata, it was just sold to me as Elkhorn monti. Garrett Awesome info to have! Thanks Garrett. I'm really excited that it seems happy. We'll see how things go.... But I have faith. Everything that I got from you is really healthy. LOL about the water change mrgreenthumb. Way to look at the silver lining! I'm just happy that I was here to fix it before anything suffered. My yumas were pissed off for a while, but seem to have gotten over it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJenchild Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 How much do refractometer's run? What all do they test for? My refractometer cost me $100 from CRPC in Salem. There are cheaper ones, but when it comes to testing equipment, my logic was that I'd rather spend more to get the better one that is known to be accurate than get stuck with one that sucks and end up killing stuff in my tank because of it. Refractometers test salinity extremely accurately and quickly. Because I run a nano my biggest challenge is keeping salinity stable, and the refractometer has been invaluable in accomplishing that. I highly recommend it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Much better than my hydrometer huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJenchild Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 Much better than my hydrometer huh? Better in the way that professional baseball players are better at the game than T-ballers. Yeah. I never got the same reading twice in a row on my hydrometer, even when taken one right after the other. I had to guess, and when it comes to something as important as salinity....that just wasn't a risk that I was willing to take. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 yeah I hear that. guess I am going to save up for a refractometer. i don't want no T-ballers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJenchild Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 yeah I hear that. guess I am going to save up for a refractometer. i don't want no T-ballers. LOL. That sounded a little dirty I really feel that the refractometer was worth the money. That and the ATO are the two pieces of equipment that I'm not sure I could do without in this hobby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCR Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Isn't that the truth? And thank you. This tank is a product of blindly following the direction of people who know a lot more than I do, and reading everything that I can get my hands on. Of course, being mostly broke didn't hurt either. See....you can't add stuff too fast when you don't have any money to buy anything except RO water and a refractometer. hehe That being said, I'm so happy that I bought that refractometer. I had a minor tank problem last night that could have been bad without it. The float on my ATO got stuck on the clamp that's on my return pump and allowed 2 gallons of fresh water to flood my sump, dropping the salinity to about 1.022 for about 30 minutes. I fixed the snag, bailed about 1.5 gallons out of the sump and added some salt, checked the salinity once every 10 minutes and managed to get it back to 1.025 in a very short amount of time. Every thing looks fine now, but that could have been really bad without that invaluable tool to save my toosh. Thanks for talking me into it Jason! Ya got lucky. I'm glad it was a "short" amount of time it was low. If it had been longer,, you want to take it slow. I have seen an entire system at a LFS burn when the top off was left on over night bringing the system down around 1.7 the bigger problem was dumping salt in to raise it in an hour or less to 2.4 it hits the fan much faster than it get's cleaned up. even in disasters stop and think, for a moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theJenchild Posted January 18, 2009 Author Share Posted January 18, 2009 Ya got lucky. I'm glad it was a "short" amount of time it was low. If it had been longer' date=', you want to take it slow. I have seen an entire system at a LFS burn when the top off was left on over night bringing the system down around 1.7 the bigger problem was dumping salt in to raise it in an hour or less to 2.4 it hits the fan much faster than it get's cleaned up. even in disasters stop and think, for a moment.[/quote'] That's why I was checking it so often. I added a little salt and waited. Checked it with the refractometer. Added a little more. Waited. Checked it. Took about an hour to get it back to normal. But I still figure that's a short amount of time to raise it by .003. I was ready with more fresh water if needed had I over compensated. But you're totally right, I didn't stop to think what a shift like that could do to my corals. Thankfully everything was ok. I'll remember that in case there is a next time. *knock on wood* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishmanmike01 Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 The addiction can cause loss of control, muscle spasms, nausea, sweats, memory loss, empty accounts,divorce and sudden death. Tank looks really good:) Dont forget stinky fingers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CA2OR Posted January 18, 2009 Share Posted January 18, 2009 Dont forget stinky fingers! I was going to say that.(laugh) How funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefer Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 great pics. looks good i can never get my bio aquascaping just right!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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