ThePremiumAquarium

Yah, I did think about that. I have installed a pretty decent sized gutter on that side of the shed. There is also quite a bit more room between the house and the shed than it looks like in the picture (about 15"). There unfortunately just wasn't anywhere else that I could build this thing. The lady didn't want it any further into the yard and the way the plumbing would have to work out it had to be there. In retrospect, I wish I would have simply flipped the shed the other way facing the back yard to avoid run off. But oh well. Last time it rained, it rained pretty hard and there were no problems with water even touching the house. I am sure that Winter will bring with it many suprises and challenges that I will have to deal with. Thanks for looking, Garrett

Very nice. I love them pink zoas. Just cant get enough of them! Garrett

Well my friend, I shall see you around! I know how demanding and stressful board work can be. Thanks for you hard work. Garrett

Doran, its hard to tell. It looks like a bubble tip with its tenticles elongated, but could very well be a long tenticle anemone. I would take another pic after a few days or a week and then we will just have to check it out. Garrett

So after many many long nights of wonderful dreams, I began to make my new venture a reality. In late July I started construction on my newest addition. It is an 8'x8' reef shed with a 4' deck designed to house both prop tanks(for corals, inverts, and macro algaes), and equipment and support tanks for the main 210g display. Currently there are two 100g sumps tied together (one to be filled with live rock and one to house equipment), two 75 gallon tanks (one a refugium and one a softies/LPS and medium light tank), two 40g breeders (one sps and high light prop tank and one softies and low light tank), 1 hp chiller, 2 recirc skimmers, 5 stage RO/DI unit, lots of lighting and power equip, and tons of testing, dosing, and fraging equipment My house stays lots cooler and quieter now with most of the equipment out in the shed. Especially the chiller. Everything in the display is doing wonderful and growing nicely. The temperature has been really easy to maintain and except for on really hot days, the chiller only kicks on every once in a while. My refugium is so far the most interesting addition. I grow Chaetomorpha, Razor Calurpa, Grape Calurpa, and some Halimeda in it. The Calurpas and the Chaeto have done so well, that I have been selling some of it on ebay. I started with only a few handfuls of Chaeto and soon the whole top of the 75g was filled. There are 3 6500k 28w bulbs run over the top of it with a 5 inch sand bed and about 30lbs of rubble rock and 20lbs of fiji. The prop tanks are just getting through the brown phase and I have been starting to frags some easier corals (zoas and mushrooms). It will take a few more months of acclimation to get this part really going. I have discovered a massive need for snails and hermits with the 3 prop tanks. The argonite plugs that I have curing and glass need cleaned frequently without too many snails doing the job. The two 100g sumps have been very nice and have made maintanence much easier. Water changes are done with rubbermaid trashcans and are so easy now with the two large sumps. There is much work still to be done on this project including the addition of both calcium and kalk reactors and the addtion of both brine and phyto culturing tanks, but here are a few pictures of the initial construction. I will add more within a few days of the current phase of the shed(much further along). Here is the initial stage of the foundation Here is the mostly complete foundation Here is the side before walls are completely up (thats my awesome dad Rich and roommate Spencer) And here is the front without the doors on yet More will come tomorrow. Got to jet for the night, but will try and post asap. Thanks for checking it out Garrett

Alright, Here are some updates. I actually have replaced som of the left rock structure with a couple of really nice xl pieces of rock form Ryans shop since these photos. I will post new pics soon. Hope you all like. Garrett Right side Middle right Middle left Left side Some Montis close up The new carpet anemone The now 2 month resident and 8" Naso tang "Pearl" Newer Tonga yellow leather A piece of the Ricordia and Zoa garden Green Pocillipora Super large 16" across toadstooll leather Green with purple rim Monti cap sp. Full tank shot

Thanks for all of the wonderful comments guys and gals. Doran, I built the stand and hood after buying the tank. The hood is temporary until I find a design I really like. The stand will probably be painted with a new gloss coat after the new year. On the next post I will give a bit of an update. Garrett

PM sent. Thanks, Garrett

Thank you! very nice by the way. I find the trick to keeping Goniporia alive and healthy is all in making sure they are feed. Most people don't feed their goni's, but I have read several articles on the importance of feeding them. Some i.e. red and purple varieties for some reason seem to do far better than Green and Yellow varieties without regular feedings. Just an interesting bit of info I have come across. Thanks for the pic again, Garrett

Filter feeding crabs are very small. I had some in a nice x-mas tree rock. They look cool and add another harmless critter to the invert list. Nice blue cloves by the way!! I really am likeing those. Garrett

Yah, Number 2 is a pic of some gsp. The growth can sometimes be in a tube like shape. Number 4 is a pic of some brown button polyps. These also commonly called brown zoas, or brown palys. Nice looking stuff. I want to see a pic of the goniporia when it comes out. Thanks for posting the pics and keep em comin. Garrett

Looks to me like you have a nice setup just around the corner. Keep it up and keep the pics coming. Garrett

Just to make sure I would turn your skimmer off while they are there and for a bit after they leave. We had no problem last time we did a carpet cleaning. Garrett

I will take both of the dual 250watters. Pm'd you. Garrett

Brandon, I second that. Picture of the month for sure. As far as the palytoxic encounter, I would at least give your local poison control center a call. I don't think anything worse will happen to you, but a good rinse and a call couldn't hurt. Just to be safe. Ouch and no fun! Good luck with that bud. It is only the most deadly natural toxin known to man;) But seriously no worries. I would definately get some good advise from your doctor if you cant get any info out of poison control. good luck, Garrett

Are you interested in parting out the tank. I have a couple of friends just setting their systems up and are interested in live rock and livestock. Let me know. Thanks Garrett

Check ebay. I purchased one a while back to do holes for 1" and 1.5" bulkheads and it works great. I think they were like $12-$15 shipped. Garrett

Agreed. I would say he is reef safe. Even some of the really small slightly hairy ones are acro crabs and generally considered safe. The really hairy ones with the monster claws are the ones you want to look out for. Gorilla crabs and rock crabs are no fun. Garrett

I have one that I used on my 90g. It worked great for me. Like all external overflows, you need to make sure that air bubbles don't get in the siphon tube. This will cause an overflow, but other than that they are nice. The siphon is continuous. If the power goes out, the water in the tube stays, and as soon as the power comes back on, the water will pick up a siphon again. The one I have will handle a maximum of 600gph or so. Let me know if you are interested. I would be willing to let it go for trrade or $40 if you can meet or come pick it up. It also comes with a flex hose to drain into the sump. Garrett

I would try bumbing the salinity up to 1.025 - 1.026. Other than that numbers look good. Garrett

Good lookin tank. It is definately a mixed tank. Not a bad thing. Just make sure that corals that aren't getting along stay away from each other. Have you taken any parameter readings? This would help give us a good idea of what might need to change, if anything. How long has the system been running? I really like the setup! Garrett

The green one is Hydnophora and the other one is one kind of toadstool leather. I would move the toadstool away from the Hydnophora. Good looking corals. Garrett

I don't think it would be a problem. The way most of them work, they should handle anywhere from 250gph to almost 600gph with a single "j" pipe. Garrett

Awesome awesome awesome! Congrats. Only problem is less money for reefing! Other than that freakin way awesome and congrats! Garrett

I have a friend that I am going to have pm you. He is very interested and I am 95% sure he will buy it from you. I will have him pm you as soon as I can get ahold of him. Garrett