fredknack

Progress Maybe Hi All I have a little positive progress to report. Since I added my water change system and phosphate reactor my anemone has gone back to white with purple tips as it was when I bought it long ago. Soon after I bought it it turned brown and grew huge. I was not sure if the brown color was normal or not. Now I know. I also added a couple frags of Montipora and a couple small stony frags. The stony frags did not make it :( The Montipora are doing great and growing well which I am very happy about. I hear that any idiot can grow these things so at least I pass that test (nutty) So I have been adding like a gallon of Magnesium slowly to get the levels up so that hopefully I can get my calcium and alk steady. I sure hope that once I get the mag levels up I will not always need to add so much. In addition I am changing 30 gallons a week from my 200 gallon system in a battle to get my parameters to a point where I will have the guts to try SPS again (and zoos for that matter!). I see so many tanks that seem to grow coral like weeds and all I can grow is fish. Oh well I guess the reason I stayed away from this hobby was complexity and cost and boy was that true. I am hooked though and I am going to beat this thing.

If you can buy a small chunk whenever you see a complex hunk at the store. That way you can spread the financial pain over a longer period and also just get the perfect specimens. My tank took forever to evolve but It is worth getting the live rock looking the way you like just in case your corals take to long to get established...as in my case.

That tank has a lot of potential. What Smann had to say was really solid. I would try to create caves an a canyon through the center. Even in a small space it can be done. You will love seeing your fish swim through the canyons. When I had a 29 gallon tank often the new fish would quickly show white spots. I learned that if you add some Marine-Max to the tank it helps. It worked well for me. http://tinyurl.com/cgpq3v With fish showing signs of trouble I added almost half of the bottle, 8oz, to a 29 gallon tank and never had a problem after that. That volume is far more than the label suggests but it helps knock out the problem. The labels recommendation is more of a maintenance dose. I now have a much larger tank and this product probably would be to spendy to make a difference. That is why a quarantine tank is helpful so that you can use products like this without going broke. They claim that it is reef safe and copper, chemical, and drug-free. I got this tip from Woody at Seahorse and I am convinced he knows what he is talking about. Here is a video of my 29 gallon BioCube. Another thing that really helped that tank was the use of very complex live rock that I think came from figi. Rather than being a solid rock shape it is shaped like coral and offers natural mini caves for critters.

Your tank looks great! I am looking forward to seeing the other parts of the system.

Yes I do like the Octopus skimmer. It is the first skimmer I have ever owned so I don't have much to compare it to. It seems to be taking a lot of junk out of my tank. One flaw is that if the power goes off the pump will run, and possibly get harmed, because it does not automatically draw air through the air line. I need to blow through the air line do get it going and then it is fine. It has not been a problem for more than a year but if I was out of town and the power went out for even a minute it might be a problem.

Nice Acan Photo Nice Acan and great photo! I am a big fan of Seahorse. Isaac and Woody sold me all my live rock and a ton of gear. Their advice is very solid and it helped to dig me very deep into this addiction. I would also like to vote for a full tank shot(whistle)

Thanks undrtkr. I do need to do a test on the output of the filter. I am trying to get rid of all the unknowns I can with this tank.

Oh hell. I am busted (nono) My 'RO' system is actually a 3 stage filter with DI resin, carbon, and a sediment filter. It sounds like if I was to add the RO element to the filter it would take longer. Maybe I should (scratch)

I really like the system. I don't have to lift buckets any more so my water changes should be more regular. The RO System can fill the tank in about 40 minutes. I try to keep it off line for a day so I can mix the salt for a while. I am not sure how important it is to age the new salt water for a day but I figure it can't hurt.

Added Phosban Reactor and an External 30 Gallon Tank I added a new Quiet One 4000 pump to my sump and an external 30 gallon tank. I added a system of PVC and ball valves so that the flow can be directed to the new 30 gallon aquarium, phosban reactor, charcoal and refugium. This external 30 gallon tank serves a couple purposes. First of all it adds water volume to the system which I think is always a good thing. With ball valves it can be isolated from the main system. The water is then pumped to a drain. 1/4" tuping is run from my RO water filter so this tank can be refilled. Once the new water is mixed with salt and other additives it is allowed to age for a day. The ball valves are then opened and this new water slowly mixes with the rest of the system. Quiet One 400 aquarium pump in the center chamber of the 3 chamber sump. I designed this system of PVC for flexibility and future expansion options. I added an extra ball valve so that I can route water to a charcoal filter if I want. I also added another ball valve that can either go back to the tank or to a future chiller. Once the PVC comes through the wall it goes up the side of my new shelving system and into the external 30 gallon tank. The shelving system holds this tank, a kalk drip reservoir and an auto top off reservoir. In the future I will add another refugium to the shelving system and a quarantine tank. External 30 gallon tank adds water volume and allows for easy water changes.

Congrats on the 180! Post pictures once it has landed.

I noticed that you have a inflatable toy laying on the ground in front of your tank. Be careful. If you slip and fall on that ball you could be swimming with the fishes The tank looks awesome!

Featured aquarium in the Loc-Line catalog Hi All I am very proud to announce that my tank is the featured aquarium in the Loc-Line catalog. It is not quite TOTM but I will take what I can get. PDF link to the catalog: http://www.loc-line.com/catalog/images/locline08.pdf I am currently the web programmer for the Loc-Line site. I built this Flash based image browser to show off the various applications of Loc-Line. http://www.loc-line.com/application/index.html Loc-Line is made by Lockwood in Lake Oswego.

Nice Video and tank Trever. It reminded me that I really want some Anthias.

Sounds and looks like your system has a lot of potential. How do you have your 40 gallon refugium plumed in?

Exactly! The wood had to properly cycle in my garage.

Looking good. Looks like you have more than cabinets for organization. The whole setup seems pretty tight.

Thanks CA2OR. It's all starting to FINALLY come together. They say patience is important for reef keeping but I may have too much of it because everything takes me forever. This week I hope to finish the wood work around the tank. I got the boards to do the job Christmas 2007...Ouch!

That will be cool being able to setup a new larger system. LOTS of work. Good luck! Post pictures as you go.

Hi All I am a corporate video editor with some time on my hands. I also have a 140 gallon tank that really needs some coral. I have more time than money so I was wondering if anyone wanted to trade some frags for a video of their tank for post on YouTube. I would also give you a DVD. My video of my old 29 gallon biocube is the high ranked video and google listing when you search for oceanic biocube. Here is the offer: 1) You give your tank a good cleaning 2) I come by and shoot video footage of the tank and gear 3) I could possibly interview you if you are into that. If I do shoot Interviews I would cut them to make you look your best. 4) You show me the three frags you will give me (no pulsing xenia or palys - I have plenty of those). 5) I go home and capture the footage and edit together the video and post it to YouTube once you say go Conditions 1) Due to the low cost the video will be pretty much as is. This means that you will not be able to say things like more of that fish, less of that fish, I don't like this or that cut. I will probably allow a couple things but it will be at my discretion. If you hook me up I will probably hook you up. I am good at what I do and you will like the result. 2) The frags need to be pest free to the best of your knowledge. 3) If I end up creating a longer video/documentary, about reef keeping in Portland you will give me the rights to use your interview and tank footage. I don't have any plans to do this but If I get enough takers I might. 4) You need to be near Portland. I am willing to travel about 20 miles. If you don't have any frags you can also pay me $60 bucks and I will go buy frags myself. My videos are much better than the average home YouTube tank video because I actually edit them. Most YouTube tank videos are just footage of the camera panning around the tank with no editing. I will edit the highlights into a 3 minute video that will make your tank look better than you expect. I hope I get some takers because then I can check out some cool tanks and people. If I get at least 5 takers I will create a PNWMAS video for the site. Aquarium stores are welcome to take me up on this offer but there is a 6 frag minimum due to them being in business. If you are just a home reefer who sells frags all I would ask is 3 frags. I am really interested in zoas, small acro or monti frags, and ricordias. I am trying to setup a mixed reef so I am really open to a wide variety of frags. My tank is 24 inches deep and 72 inches wide and I have 2 400 watt 20000k bulbs. My tank thread is here: http://www.pnwmas.org/forums/showthread.php?p=79375#post79375 My tank has really been looking up in the last few weeks. My Zoas are finally growing well and the whole tank is looking good. I am planning on adding a calcium reactor as soon as the cash falls out of the sky. My YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/user/fredknack My Corporate Demo Reel: http://www.fredknack.com So that is it. This is a hell of a deal. I am just doing it to keep busy, meet people, visit tanks and fill my reef. If you have a nice tank, store, or almost any other tank related gig you should take me up on this offer. Or if you have some other business that needs a video maybe we can work something out but it would be more spendy. It does not hurt to ask because if it means I get my calcium reactor sooner then maybe your business gets a video.

I hope you still have it. PM Sent.

I think you can safely justify the larger tank. How much light do you have on that little thing?

Survivalist Holiday Card http://www.wonderknack.com/beprepared/ You might notice the small goldfish bowl in the picture. It is not quite a reef but under the circumstances it seemed prudent.

Thanks Madreefer. I really tried to get it right because I did not want to do it twice. I took a year of wandering web forums and Home Depot to pull it off. I think I pretty much pulled it off. I can't think of many things I would do different. Now if only it could grow zoos as well as a BioCube... Michael I only have a 6 line wrasse and it seems to leave the feather dusters alone. I don't mind though. One funny thing. I have an abalone that has a small feather duster growing on it. It makes the abalone look very punk rock. My wife wants me to take it off but I don't want to deny the abalone its one piece of flare

That is one sexy probe holder