Micah Posted April 8, 2020 Author Share Posted April 8, 2020 4 hours ago, obrien.david.j said: I believe in heavy feeding. Yeah, me too actually, but the amount of feeding I'd have to do in order to make the skimmer work properly also basically ruined my water params. Skimmers don't remove everything you add. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted May 10, 2020 Author Share Posted May 10, 2020 Alright..... Some progress yesterday. Got her plumbed and water tested. Just flowing into the overflow box at the moment. After an initial Murphy moment, it's all running fairly smooth. Letting it run for a day or so until I'm satisfied that it's not leaking. I also need to support the plumbing here and there.Next..... Salt.I also already have clowns and a lawnmower in quarantine at the moment, being treated as per humblefish's recommendations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted May 10, 2020 Author Share Posted May 10, 2020 Oh! Also, we got the rock work glued together and ready. We'll likely do another smaller structure on the right side, but so far, this is a great start. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaylorW Posted May 11, 2020 Share Posted May 11, 2020 Wow beautiful tank! I can't wait to see pictures of it with critters in itSent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted May 12, 2020 Author Share Posted May 12, 2020 Thar be water in thine tank!!! Added some ammonia, bunch of bacterial starters... We're cycling! Gotta say, this is my first big boy water mixing station and I don't know how I did it before this..... That was a buttload of water. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted May 24, 2020 Author Share Posted May 24, 2020 So, HUGE thanks to everybody so far. You've all been quite a help. @Gil&Fin for the 20gal quarantine tanks, @Jack-the-reefer for the 20gal coral/invert quarantine tank, @pdxmonkeyboy for the great deal on his water mixing station, and of course... HUGE shout out to @CuttleFishandCoral for all of the help he's given me both in buying my tank, getting everything I need for it and helping me plan this build. He's been instrumental in the re-learning process and I now feel almost as if I never left. This community seems even better than when I left! Thanks PNWMAS! In a year or so, I'll have to host a meeting - assuming meeting people is a thing again. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted May 24, 2020 Author Share Posted May 24, 2020 3d printed a screen for my overflow. Works great!Pic of the 20 gal AIO under the stand for corals/inverts to chill for a bit.Added a tap to get tank water into the coral/invert tank. Will create one to have it exit as well.Got my Aquatic Life T5 Hybrid fixture (in white) set up with some bulbs thanks to@CuttleFishandCoral . Gonna do some mods to this fixture before I throw it up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted May 24, 2020 Author Share Posted May 24, 2020 I also realized I never posted pics of what I've done to my quarantine setup to make it easier...I have bulkheads and valves now. They drain straight into my houses drain. I can empty a QT in 2 min, scrub it down with vinegar, rinse it, put a fan over it, and have it refilled with water in 8 hours. So far it's been easy to QT these fish. Medication and all. Let's pray I'm not missing a step. For coral QT, it'll just be a 20gal separate system with water from my display. Nothing special but I will need some sort of nano light. Wishing I had kept our old AI Sol. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 It's been too long since an update, so away we go! Since the last pics, I've finished my cycle, gotten the first fish (2x True Percs and a Lawnmower blenny) into the tank and now have some new fishies gettin' clean. I also hung the Aquatic Life T5 fixture - which involved me acting out Cathrine Zeta Jones' laser scene from entrapment - but with out the lasers.... and without Cathrine Zeta Jones.... and in my attic... and the lasers were actually insulation and roofing nails. The fish are seeming happy, though the clowns are stereo-typically awkward in one corner of the tank most of the time. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 I also added a coral/invert qt system underneath the main display. It's a separate system that I plumbed a feed from the main tank to get water from. When I do a water change, I just stick in an MJ1200 that's pre-plumbed to a waste drain and let'er rip, over fill my DT's sump, then refill the coral QT with DT water. It's almost too easy. Huge thanks to @Jack-the-reefer for the 20cube. I picked up a RedSea LED 50 from @CuttleFishandCoral to put over this. Should be plenty of light with a similar spectrum/spread to the Kessils I'm planning to run over the DT. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obrien.david.j Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 12 minutes ago, Micah said: I also added a coral/invert qt system underneath the main display. It's a separate system that I plumbed a feed from the main tank to get water from. When I do a water change, I just stick in an MJ1200 that's pre-plumbed to a waste drain and let'er rip, over fill my DT's sump, then refill the coral QT with DT water. It's almost too easy. So how long are you going to QT corals, and what's your criteria for a coral to Graduate? (can't see any uglies, after X weeks - good to go?) And is it an All-or-Nothing approach? QT-Clock resets whenever Anything is added? Trying to get my head around doing this better. Overall, I like your thought process for water movement simplification. On the fish QT tanks, and now the coral QT tank. For myself, I realize - if it isn't easy, I'm not likely to do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 Here are the new fish in QT. A yellow tang, sailfin tang, and a royal gramma. I think the next batch will be some wrasses.. we'll see. The clowns/lawnmower are doing great in the DT so far. Also, one silver lining of doing the full blown quarantine thing is that it gives you time to do stuff... So I started designing stuff! I designed/made my own apex breakout box and an algae scrubber! So far, both are working great! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 Here's the algae scrubber. I'm about 60-80 bucks into it, but it seems solid. Still waiting for algae to grow, but I'm pretty low nutrient at the moment, we'll see if anything comes from it soonish. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 The Kessils arrived! Got them mounted in the hybrid fixtire. Ignore the messy wires for now, but [language filter] these things look nice. Also added another rock structure on the right side of the tank. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 6 minutes ago, obrien.david.j said: So how long are you going to QT corals, and what's your criteria for a coral to Graduate? (can't see any uglies, after X weeks - good to go?) And is it an All-or-Nothing approach? QT-Clock resets whenever Anything is added? Trying to get my head around doing this better. My plan is a full 76 days for corals/inverts. I'm doing the full humblefish method, not taking any chances as long as I can. I fully accept that at some point, I will entirely bone myself and put my wet contaminated hands into my DT's water... But, the likelihood of spreading something more severe than ich is low. Luckily, corals don't get a clock reset like fish do when you add a new one to QT, since you can rinse off/dip-off free-swimmers. Quote Overall, I like your thought process for water movement simplification. On the fish QT tanks, and now the coral QT tank. For myself, I realize - if it isn't easy, I'm not likely to do it. That's exactly the mindset behind everything I'm doing.... If I have easy options, I'll use them. If it's a pain in the butt, I likely will put it off. Which is why having 45 gallons of pre-mixed water heated and ready to go at all times is incredibly awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 Oh! And I got my Apex mounted... Again, ignore the horrible wire mess... I don't want to spend the time tidying it up until everything is working exactly as planned. I have a call today with Neptune Systems to diagnose my LINK A/B ports on my energy bar. They arrived DOA, so, hoping for a quick RMA. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danik Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 Coming along very nicely! Very clean 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 Looking good Micah! Seems like that rock already has some nice coraline growth on it. All the plumbing work looks really nicely thought out and executed (I will call you next time I do a build 😀). BTW - it sounds like you 3D printed that algae scrubber - did you just design it around a light you wanted to use or did you have some other template to follow? I'm just now experimenting with one that Daniel built for his tank to see if it will make a difference in my phos. levels but it's not a long term solution due to its dimensions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 2 minutes ago, albertareef said: Looking good Micah! Seems like that rock already has some nice coraline growth on it. All the plumbing work looks really nicely thought out and executed (I will call you next time I do a build 😀). BTW - it sounds like you 3D printed that algae scrubber - did you just design it around a light you wanted to use or did you have some other template to follow? I'm just now experimenting with one that Daniel built for his tank to see if it will make a difference in my phos. levels but it's not a long term solution due to its dimensions. The rock is actually that life-rock from caribsea. Not real coraline - just kinda.... painted. Glamour-rock. Soon enough, it'll have the real stuff As for the algae scrubber, yeah, I picked an adequately sized light that was relatively cheap but not horribly crappy, then I designed around it. I definitely learned a bit from this and if I had a better table saw, I'd probably have made this with acrylic. Mainly because printed parts aren't always super water tight. That said, with some tweaking, I was able to make it pretty watertight. I still sealed the corners/edges with CA glue and silicone over that. The clear panels are glass that I had cut at a local shop for my design. They were more expensive than I expected, like 12ish bucks per piece. I wouldn't be super against sharing the design. Once I see this one actually grow algae, I'll likely make a decision to make a few more for folks or just publish the files for people to tweak on their own. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gumby Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 Welcome back! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 22 minutes ago, Micah said: The rock is actually that life-rock from caribsea. Not real coraline - just kinda.... painted. Glamour-rock. Haha - this is pretty funny. I was wondering how you got your rock to look so well established... guess I better check the pics more closely next time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 1 minute ago, albertareef said: Haha - this is pretty funny. I was wondering how you got your rock to look so well established... guess I better check the pics more closely next time! Hehe. Definitely not my intention to fool people. But it sure does look nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higher Thinking Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 Great progress, man! Good to see you around again. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micah Posted June 19, 2020 Author Share Posted June 19, 2020 Great progress, man! Good to see you around again. Sent from my SM-G975U using TapatalkGlad to be back! We should hang sometime! You know when that's a thing again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higher Thinking Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 Glad to be back! We should hang sometime! You know when that's a thing again. Oh yeah, don't even get me started on that.I've been training and sparring MMA and Jits since the start of May so I'm always hanging. But [emoji2958][emoji2958], don't tell anyone. [emoji33][emoji79] If you're ever up towards Scappoose, hit me up and I'll show you the setup. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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