dsoz Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Chapter 1- the new tank, and a couple of holes So I went and got a new tank, so I thought that I would share with all of you. It will probably be a slow build. Everything is safe and content in the 45g until this one comes together. It is a 75g AGA that I got at a local pet store here in Oregon City. They were running a special for only $99.99. I was waiting for the petco $1/gal sale, but it only includes up to 55g. :( Since I waited so long, I almost missed out on this tank. It was the last one that they had at that price, and it actually had a tag on it that said that the price was $229. I talked with the manager, and he gave it to me for the $99.99 price. He likes me because I bring him in corals for trade, and he makes money on them. Anyway, I drilled the tank tonight (thanks to J&Jr for the hole saws) Then I built a little glass box for an overflow and attached it with silicone to the corner. The box is about 6 inches on a side, and it fits nicely. It is made with glass from an old, cracked, 55g that RonJr was giving away (the rest will become baffles for my 45g sump). The glass on the old 55g is crazy thick. I think it is even 1/16 inch thicker than the glass on my new 75g! So here is the box that is siliconed inside. It is about 6 inches on a side, and it is set to have the water level just at or slightly higher than the area that the trim hides. If it makes the water level too high, I have a dremmel that I can cut some notches in it to make the water level come down some. The drain bulkhead is for 1.5 inch PVC, and I have two bulkheads that are the same size ouside diameter, but one is 3/4 inch, and the other is 1 inch inside diameter. I will use the 3/4 inch bulkhead for the return for now. If I ever upgrade my pump and need more flow I can use the 1 inch. I still need to build a stand, and wet test my new holes with the bulkheads in place. Once that is done I can start moving everything over from my 45g to the new home in the 75g. Cheers for now! dsoz 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdv Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Looks great, I'm sure glad I let you know ASAP, i'd have felt bad if you didn't get a tank. What plans do you got so far, just to transfer everything over from your 45? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defigart Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 So how does the drilling work? I see the jig. Do you drill the jig, and then use that to place the hole where you want it on the tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 I "tested" drilling a hole in the cracked 55g that I got from RonJr. I did not like the way that the saw would "walk" when it was first starting. So I used the hole in the glass from the broken tank to help guide the new hole. There is some plumbers putty in between the two pieces of glass, which also helped keep the water in place. Once the holes were started, I took off the guide and just kept drilling right on through. Not quite like slicing butter, but close. It was LOUD, I had to use ear protection. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 Looks great, I'm sure glad I let you know ASAP, i'd have felt bad if you didn't get a tank. Thanks for the inside scoop on the sale. I would not have blamed you if I did not get a tank. Besides, there is always a deal on used tanks that come up here or on craigslist. But this is a NEW tank, and I get to do fun stuff like drill holes, and make my own stand. What plans do you got so far' date=' just to transfer everything over from your 45?[/quote'] For now, yes. I do have three pieces of "dead" rock to add that I got from wanareef that are sitting in a tub of water right now, along with a bunch of "dead" LR rubble. I plan on using my 45g as the sump (after putting in some baffles and such). I also want to get some cheep lights and put them over part of the sump to make a 'fuge. Then I can get the piece of chaeto out of my display (just shoved in a corner, wedged in between two rocks for now). Other than that I am just moving everything over. Cheers! dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdv Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Thanks for the inside scoop on the sale. I would not have blamed you if I did not get a tank. Besides, there is always a deal on used tanks that come up here or on craigslist. But this is a NEW tank, and I get to do fun stuff like drill holes, and make my own stand. For now, yes. I do have three pieces of "dead" rock to add that I got from wanareef that are sitting in a tub of water right now, along with a bunch of "dead" LR rubble. I plan on using my 45g as the sump (after putting in some baffles and such). I also want to get some cheep lights and put them over part of the sump to make a 'fuge. Then I can get the piece of chaeto out of my display (just shoved in a corner, wedged in between two rocks for now). Other than that I am just moving everything over. Cheers! dsoz Sounds cool; I'll have to keep up on the progress on this, might get a few idea's for the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defigart Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Thats a problem I always have. I build something, and then I see a great idea, I wished I had known about before. But then I get to build again, so I guess it works out for the good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted November 11, 2007 Author Share Posted November 11, 2007 It has been about 3 months since I updated this post. Mainly because the tank is in such bad shape. I had to emergency move everything over from my 45g because it started leaking (again), so I set up the 75g on my work-bench. It is WAY too tall (I need a stool just to reach in, and I cannot touch the bottom easily). I did buy a stand when the local pet store had them on sale for only $150 (regular $250), but I have not had the time to move everything (again) so I can set the tank on the stand. So everything is just sitting there in the tank on the workbench. To add to it, I have been fighting monti-eating-nudibranchs. I think I won the war. I have not seen any for about a month and a half. I am planning on treating at least one more time just to make sure. I even brought a microscope home from work so I can inspect my montis for eggs and adults. I have also had a severe bloom of Bryopsis. It was bad before, but I tried a box of Instant Ocean salt, and once I switched the Bryopsis just took off. Along with diatoms, and cyano. I cannot prove for sure that it is the IO salt, but it is strange that it blooms just as I switch salts. Once this box is gone, I am switching back to Oceanpure. I did get a new member of the fish-family. I got a fox-faced rabbit fish from the new store in Oregon City (The Aquarium). His (her?) name is Hasenpfeffer (German dish made with rabbit). He is in QT right now (in for one week, and one week to go), but is eating the bryopsis that was on the rock that I put in there. I have high hopes that this fish will be able to knock back my bryopsis problem. We will see. Other news, my galaxy coral has been caught in the act of dropping buds. One has landed on a rock in a low flow area of the tank right under the mother colony. mother baby both mom and baby together (baby is small dark blob almost center of the picture Most other things are going well in the tank. All three Frogspawns are growing like gangbusters, I think almost all heads are in the process of dividing and growing. There are even some buds growing from the underside where the flesh meets the skeleton. Very cool. It has grown even more since this pic was taken. dsoz dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronjunior Posted November 12, 2007 Share Posted November 12, 2007 Watch your corals, Drs. Foster site made me think twice when and still wanting a rabbitfish. "it does nip and possibly eat some soft and hard coral polyps". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted November 12, 2007 Author Share Posted November 12, 2007 "it does nip and possibly eat some soft and hard coral polyps". Thanks for the warning Ron. I am going to cross my fingers and hope for the best. If it eats all the Bryopsis, he can have a few of the softies for desert. If it becomes a huge problem, I still have to break my tank down to move it to the stand that I got for it. It should be easy to put him in the sump or the fuge at that time. I have put a rock with a piece of Kenya tree into the QT tank. The rabbitfish has attacked the Bryopsis on it with enthusiasm, but has not touched the Kenya tree (a good sign). The next rock that I put into the QT tank will have some zoas on it so I can see how he does with them. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180Brandy Posted November 13, 2007 Share Posted November 13, 2007 Do you still have your clown fish and the pink coral? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted November 13, 2007 Author Share Posted November 13, 2007 I still have two clowns. "Wave", the origional large one, went carpet surfing. "Bubble", the origional small one, is still swimming strong. He/she was joined by "Surf", the first of Barleycudas to leave the rearing tanks. Hector the gobi is still there, as is Jaba the lawnmower. The pink cats-paw is doing fine. Even though I dipped it in potassium permanganate when I had the monti-eating-nudibranch problem. Things were looking grim for a few days after the dip, but it has rebounded and is as strong as ever. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SugarBear Posted November 17, 2007 Share Posted November 17, 2007 Great to see an update Dennis. I've been meaning to ask you how it was going. I'm still available to help you move something heavy should you need some muscle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted August 3, 2008 Author Share Posted August 3, 2008 Wow, has it really been so long since I updated this thread? I have been fighting hair algae, and have not wanted to take too many pictures of my tank lately. When I think I have it under control, then something happens and it comes back with a vengeance. I had Joel at Waves test my phosphates, and they were not good, so I started doing things to lower them. I added both a fox-faced rabbit fish, and a yellow tang. Then there was a bacterial bloom caused by my turning the pumps off and forgetting to turn them back on before going to bed. That killed off both the fox-face and the yellow tang, as well as a cleaner shrimp and a long spine urchin. Now I have a powder brown tang, and it is munching the hair algae down to the rock, but it will still be a while before it is all gone. I need to look into getting a phosphate reactor. Anyway, today was the corals farmer market, and I got some great deals. I got more corals for less money this year than I did last year. Anyway, here they are Cyphastrea Japonica from AWExotics Small neon toadstool from AWExotics Frogspawn from Totally Exotic Corals One of the two Aussie Acans from TEC Second Aussie Acan from TEC Superman mushroom TEC gave for the TFT tank! Thanks Jodi! Another neon green toadstool, this one from TEC Green Acropora from TEC Birdsnest from TEC (they gave it to me because it broke off the plug, and they didn't want to take it home) The next three I didn't get at CFM, but I got them this last week so I am going to post pics here pink hammer from Upscales $10 frag sale purple and green galaxea from the Upscales $10 frag sale Frogspawn from WAVES! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benny503 Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Sorry to hear about your fox-faces, yellow tang, cleaner shrimp and long spine urchin. (sad) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted February 10, 2009 Author Share Posted February 10, 2009 It has been a long time since I have done an update. This tank is doing fine, growing out, but not a whole lot that is new. This week the light had a minor setback and I need to replace two of the endcaps. Of course this happened on a Sunday evening when I could not get out to a store to replace them, and Waves is closed on Mondays. This left the tank without it's main source of light for three days. I put a 2x96w PC fixture over the tank just to give it some light. I also moves some of my more favorite corals over to my "new" tank. I'll start another thread about it soon. It is a 40b (used from CRPC) with an 8x39w TEK light (Used from CoralReefAquarist... R-3... Spectra... someone from Boston... that makes me the 5th owner of this light. I wonder if it is cursed). My plans for this "new" tank are to start cutting and propagating RBTAs. I got a really nice large one from CRPC when I picked up the tank. The other major change is that I put in an order from Drs. Foster & Smith. I hated to do it because I like to support my local stores. But I could not find the blue cespitularia (blue xenia) anywhere around here. So I ordered some, along with some other pieces so that the shipping didn't feel like such a rip-off... Enough talk. On to the pics. Blue cespitularia (three pieces) ORA green birdsnest Hodag's montipora confusa and "giant" green polyp duncan (all of 1/2 inch diameter) I also got this rock and monster RBTA from Jason at CRPC. and here is my euphyllia forest. Several pics side front dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Dang, Dennis... that euphyllia forest is beautiful -- it's like a landscape painting. Great work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted February 10, 2009 Author Share Posted February 10, 2009 like I said, I love frogspawn. Now that the clowns are wallowing in them, I like it even more. What I think that I like the best about it, is that it has many of the characteristics of anemones, but they don't decide to go for walks around the tank. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salty419 Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 wow great looking forest that is bad *** Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted February 10, 2009 Author Share Posted February 10, 2009 Those pictures were taken 24 hours after they were moved from my 75g tank into the 40b tank. They are a little mad and deflated to say the least. But there seems to be a little more light intensity with the shorter depth. The forest is only a temporary one. I plan on clearcutting it... JK. It will all get moved back into the 75g once I get new endcaps for the light. I am hoping to have the 40b very close to a monoculture for the anemones... I would like to get to the place where the tank is wall to wall RBTAs. (I am not really into the carpet anemones, but wall to wall carpet anemones sounds better ). I may keep some of the blue xenia in the RBTA tank just to have some insurance. If the 75g crashes then I would at least have something to fall back to. Maybe I can have red BTA, white xenia, and blue xenia. Then I would have a partriotic tank... dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishiefish Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 wow looks great I look forward to buying a frag of that blue xenia when you frag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miniwhinny Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 WOW, I've never seen a forest like that before...makes me wish I was a clown Love your RBTA too seeing the red amongst all the green is cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undrtkr_00 Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 Sounds like you should have purchased more blue xenia... everyone is wanting a frag! Tanks looks great, Dennis. Glad to hear you're one step closer to getting your 'nem prop project up and running. That is one nice, big RBTA you got there. Should be a good starter. Hey - you should throw up some pics of the DIY rock that is ready to go, too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael7979 Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Upscales has a chunk too. Or did on Monday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180Brandy Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Before you transfer over to the 75 how about a full shot of the forest... Your forest looks awesome!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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