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Rallos posted:I was gonna say dang that's a lot of coralline. Sure is. I'm curious what lights they're using. I've read that coralline really thrives with dimmer, bluer light.
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Dec 29, 2016 02:20
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It's .5" acrylic. The whole thing is custom, tank, stand, sump, plumbing, etc. I run 3 AI Vega Color fixtures over this tank, but they were the upgrade kit versions from AI Sols, so the LED combinations are slightly non-standard, iirc 2 blues switched out for purples per fixture. I hate scraping coralline. But I love that pleasing purple red color all over the tank.
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Dec 29, 2016 06:59
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Welp I saw some pictures of "reef jars" lately and I think it'll be my next little project. The fact that you can set one up for under $100 is pretty attractive. It would be fun to have on my desk at work too. I'm tempted to do an even more unconventional "reef jug" with a narrow neck like this:  It would be interesting to drop some corals in and let them do their thing until they're too big to get out again, kind of like a ship in a bottle scenario.
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Dec 29, 2016 17:23
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Seems like you'd have an algae covered bottle that you couldn't easily clean. Edit: poking around, it looks like a lot of those tiny tanks work due to large water changes and taking corals out occasionally to kill algae and scrub glass. I don't think it'll work with that tiny neck DeadlyMuffin fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Dec 29, 2016 |
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Dec 29, 2016 18:33
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I read about one person's jar who basically used a chopstick with a bit of velcro at the end to scrub the glass. Aside from that there are plenty of micro sized magnet scrubbers on the market for daily algae maintenance. Algae attached to rocks could potentially be an issue but there wouldn't be much in the way of nutrients in the water so hopefully the coral would out compete it. For algae I couldn't reach maybe just throw a snail and/or hermit in there to bum around. Part of the fun of the narrow-neck challenge would be finding solutions to problems like that.
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Dec 29, 2016 19:45
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Plus any rock or coral you put in would have to fit through that neck. It's your tank obviously but the idea of that narrow neck makes me really nervous.
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Dec 29, 2016 20:00
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I think it will be a fun challenge to tread new ground. Worst thing that happens is it doesn't work, I can't get the stuff back out, and I break open my $8 jug and use a cookie jar or something instead. Edit: the thing I'm most worried about actually is how the shape of the jug might refract light in weird ways and lead to bright/dim spots. Anony Mouse fucked around with this message at 20:13 on Dec 29, 2016 |
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Dec 29, 2016 20:10
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drat you. I'm planning out my own "jar reef" as we speak....
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Dec 29, 2016 21:24
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Please post lots of pictures!!! I'm very curious about the idea but paranoid about killing things...
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Dec 30, 2016 00:29
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Hi thread. My tank has been setup since August of 2014. It's a 75g, no sump, with an Eheim Classic 600. I realize it isn't the ideal setup, but I jumped back into the hobby with my knowledge from 1994. It's a FOWLR setup with a Yellow Tang, Rectangle Trigger and Melanarus Wrasse. My tank is starting to look kind of rough. Is this cyanobacteria? It doesn't look like the coralline that's growing on other rocks.  Here's more plus some nasty green stuff.  Then there's this, on my heater.  Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate came out at 0. I'm guessing the nitrate is so low because the algae and other crud is eating it. Phosphate came out at 2.0 ppm which is weird, because I use RO/DI. Trying to figure out if this is a normal level of random stuff growing or if I'm overfeeding or something.
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Dec 31, 2016 22:42
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Is that purple stuff soft and slimy? Can you easily dislodge sheets of it with a turkey baster? If so it's cyanobacteria. Light and nutrients are one contributor but it also likes to grow where there is little or no flow. If it's concentrated in a few areas, manually remove as much as you can and reposition your powerheads get better flow coverage. Consider adding a powerhead or two as well. What kind of lighting are you using? With FOWLR you don't actually need much light, just enough to see the fish and look good. Too much light will definitely contribute to algae growth. Water change schedule? Try doubling the frequency and do at least 20% each time. Aside from all that the likely culprit is overfeeding. Make sure your fish are eating everything you put in there. Even if they are maybe cut it back a bit. Finally, a sump with a refugium to grow and remove algae would do a lot to keep it out of the display tank.
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Jan 1, 2017 03:12
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Water changes will only help if your fresh water isn't lovely. Make sure your ro is 0tds first 
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Jan 2, 2017 14:14
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I bought a used (barely, he said) gyre xf150 from a member of my local reefing club. Didn't work when I got it home. Upon disassembly I found a pair of cracks in the magnetic shaft. I submitted a ticket to Maxspect but since it's second hand I doubt they're going to fix it. Buying a new shaft will make it cost almost as much as a new pump. I'd ask for my money back but somehow I sense this is going to be a problem. Yikes. That's the last piece of used gear I ever buy for this hobby.
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Jan 2, 2017 17:02
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Eh, don't be discouraged from buying used gear just because of that. If anything, you should be discouraged from buying any used Maxspect gear, which I put in the same category as used EcoTech gear - a complete loving gamble and usually utter trash. The only used gear I buy and don't expect to repair or replace parts is Tunze and Eheim. Also, local reef club members lie to make money; news at 11.
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Jan 2, 2017 17:47
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I try not to make assumptions about people like that but I heavily suspect you are correct about his motivations. This is my first experience with a maxspect product. If I replace the shaft, do you think the pump will work? I'd rather not spend even more money on something that is hopeless. \/\/\/ Couldn't agree more. Lesson learned. Bruce Boxlicker fucked around with this message at 00:29 on Jan 3, 2017 |
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Jan 2, 2017 18:06
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The real lesson is to never buy anything second-hand that you can't test then and there before forking over any money.
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Jan 2, 2017 18:25
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Yeah I typically only bought used equipment off of tank breakdowns I'd recently seen the equipment work in. Got 2 vortechs, 2 AI Sols, and my first calcium reactor that way.
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Jan 3, 2017 17:36
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Maxspect wouldn't touch it since it was second hand. Luckily the club member that sold it to me followed through and ordered me a replacement shaft. Ah well, could have gone a lot worse!
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Jan 4, 2017 03:33
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Alright, we're getting dangerously close to setting up our 45g tank. It'll be the first one I've set up with a sump. The tank I bought came with a sump that was made for the cabinet, but it has a closed-off bulkhead poking out of it. Is it safe to just patch with silicone and a piece of glass? It also has dividers in it already. I need to change the dividers in order for the sump to work for my tank. Can I cut them out and re-silicone new ones in? Or is it even worth my time to try to unfuck this sump? It's probably reasonably cheap to just get a new one custom made. It only needs to be 20" x 12". For the sump, I'm planning on just setting up two chambers. One with the drain inlets dropping into a filter sock with the protein skimmer in it, and then the pump chamber. That should work, right? If I keep the protein skimmer's water level constant, it shouldn't be a problem to have the drain inlet in the same chamber, right? When I actually set the tank up, we'll be consolidating rock and livestock from two previous tanks, but with new sand. What's the protocol? We were going to use as much water as possible from the old tanks, and between the water and the rock we figured we shouldn't have any crazy spikes and wouldn't need to do a full cycle. Not that we could anyways, since we have to move one of the tanks to set up the new one. Will it be okay to treat it like a move? Use as much of the old water as possible and do a long acclimation for the livestock. Any issues with that?
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Jan 10, 2017 04:45
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It's all dependent on the time your live rock is out the water. If it's going in a holding tub and not being moved dry it's just going to be like a decent water change if you keep the old water. A cycle will happen due to die off from the rock drying out so avoid that. Also it's probably worth adding a cup of old sand to seed the new stuff. The wouldn't expect any issues.
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Jan 16, 2017 17:53
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Cool, thanks. I should be able to keep everything wet in buckets. Our rock is all pretty small so it should be safe. I'll bring some old sand in to seed the new stuff. Just silicone'd up the baffles and patch in the sump, and got the Eshopps Eclipse overflow in the mail yesterday! I'm picking up the plumbing supplies today, and drilling the tank tonight or tomorrow. Any tips for drilling? It's a bowfront so I don't think I'll be able to lay it flat. I was going to do it standing up.
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Jan 17, 2017 17:00
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DrakeriderCa posted:Cool, thanks. I should be able to keep everything wet in buckets. Our rock is all pretty small so it should be safe. I'll bring some old sand in to seed the new stuff. You'll want to keep the blade and surface wet, so if you're doing it vertically you'll either need a friend to keep applying water, or take tons of breaks to spray the area down. When you're drilling, don't use a lot of pressure. Let the blade do all the work.
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Jan 17, 2017 17:37
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DrakeriderCa posted:Cool, thanks. I should be able to keep everything wet in buckets. Our rock is all pretty small so it should be safe. I'll bring some old sand in to seed the new stuff. If you can get a small submersible pump and use a line converter down to 1/4" and then hook that right above where you're drilling so it runs slowly over the blade and glass, you're golden. Just go slow.
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Jan 17, 2017 18:17
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How many cuts are a diamond hole saw good for? I received the kit and rigged up a test cut on a spare piece of glass. The hole saw provided by Eshopps was really uneven on the edge, and the glass broke on my first attempt. I've slowed down a lot and tried to use no pressure on the drill at all, but on my second attempt I've been drilling for at least 15 minutes now and it hasn't cut through a 3/8" piece of glass. Is this thing seriously only good for one cut?
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Jan 19, 2017 05:55
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The one I got from glassholes has done two tanks for me and one for a buddy. It's slow going, but not 15 minutes slow.
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Jan 19, 2017 21:41
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I think I was just running the speed too low. I watched a few videos, sped it up but kept the pressure off and got through shortly after. I'll give it another try today, but it seems to be working pretty well.
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Jan 20, 2017 01:32
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So, I take full blame for this, but my "one" glass anenome that I let get really big has come back to haunt me. For a couple months there really was just the one big one but the past few weeks I've notice more and more. Also, I facing a constant fight with the ones that stay small (disc the size of a pin head). Seeing no viable option I spent last night buying a 35 gallon trash can, a new powerhead and some bleach and pulled all of my live rock. The three fish seem okay, all things considered. There's nothing left in the tank other than the substrate, heater and a powerheads. I added a couple pieces of PVC pipe to give the fish some cover. Anyways, am I going to have to pull the substrate too if I want to avoid a new batch of aptasia as soon as I put my live rock back in? I don't plan on putting the live rock back in for a week or two. Honestly it was probably for the good of the tank since I had some bad algae growing as well. Also, I found some bristle worms while I was moving the live rock that will haunt my dreams. Speaking of which, do you all wear gloves when you handle live rock? I look forward to the bristle worms I sent down my garbage disposal via turkey baster returning to kill me as CHUD.
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Feb 13, 2017 04:51
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I don't wear gloves when I handle live rock but I don't have any zoas/palys in my tank to worry about.
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Feb 13, 2017 14:28
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I picked up a 10 pack of these cheap mesh gloves, with latex covering the palms and fingers. Last time I did aquascaping without gloves, my finger tips got completely shredded.
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Feb 13, 2017 15:12
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What about pulling the substrate? How risky would it be to not replace it in terms of aiptasia respawn?
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Feb 14, 2017 18:37
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Bulky Bartokomous posted:What about pulling the substrate? How risky would it be to not replace it in terms of aiptasia respawn? From what I can tell, they (99%) don't come back from nothing. If you kill all the nems that already exist, they're just gone. The caveat is that once I had to open a return pump to kill a monster aiptasia. VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Feb 14, 2017 |
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Feb 14, 2017 18:57
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A couple peppermint shrimp would probably decimate whatever population you have. They can be a bit pesky about eating coral too though. If you have any more aiptasia pop up after your culling, perhaps consider being diligent with some aiptasia-x and add a shrimp or two to get the ones you're likely not seeing on the back/undersides of rocks. I had a handful pop up within the first six months or so but by staying on top of them I've been clear for over a year now.
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Feb 14, 2017 22:04
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Bruce Boxlicker posted:A couple peppermint shrimp would probably decimate whatever population you have. They can be a bit pesky about eating coral too though. If you have any more aiptasia pop up after your culling, perhaps consider being diligent with some aiptasia-x and add a shrimp or two to get the ones you're likely not seeing on the back/undersides of rocks. I had a handful pop up within the first six months or so but by staying on top of them I've been clear for over a year now. Yeah, the problem with most natural solutions is my triggerfish. I just drained out my garbage can full of bleach water and live rock. Holy poo poo, what horrible smells I discovered. Like low tide on a hot day at garbage beach. Next time, I'll change the water sooner lol. The rock looks very clean. I had one rock that was covered with beautiful purple coraline, it looks so sad now  :
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Feb 15, 2017 03:00
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Bulky Bartokomous posted:Yeah, the problem with most natural solutions is my triggerfish. I just drained out my garbage can full of bleach water and live rock. Holy poo poo, what horrible smells I discovered. Like low tide on a hot day at garbage beach. Next time, I'll change the water sooner lol. The rock looks very clean. I had one rock that was covered with beautiful purple coraline, it looks so sad now My humu humu trigger is small (~2") and he's decimated the invert population way more than a porcupine puffer three times his size. He has slowly flipped all of the snails and eaten them so I need to buy more every so often. 
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Feb 16, 2017 14:51
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So I have a pretty much new 30 gallon seamless acrylic tank that I bought a little while back to upgrade from an old 20 gallon that I had with the intention of trying to do a minimal planted freshwater tank. I bought new substrate, some rocks and upgraded my lighting and then started cycling water. It sat for a while while I tried to find a place anywhere in FL that sold halfway decent freshwater plants. This went for months and months and the tank has just been sitting there plant and fishless. What FL does have is an abundance of amazing saltwater stores, so I've been contemplating ditching the freshwater plan and going saltwater. I'd really love to use this tank for it, I understand I'll need to scrap my substrate, rocks and lighting, if I want to do a reef, but I'm trying to figure out my options on if I can really re-use the tank. I stopped in at one of the stores here and the guy I talked to there was mostly steering me away from it because he highly recommended something set up for a sump as he said the hang on ones aren't great (I had a hang on for a while for my freshwater and generally agree) and they don't look very good. I ran a canister filter on my freshwater, but he said those really don't work very well for saltwater as they tend to get a lot of build up. Are there any other options for add on filtration to an existing tank that isn't set up for a sump or should I consider selling this tank and moving on. I really do like the tank and it's essentially brand new, outside of the fact that there is substrate and rock in it.
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Feb 28, 2017 23:04
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On a smaller tank like that, with sufficient live rock, you could get away without any extra filtration at all. You just need a decent circulation pump, and to be diligent with water changes. I would suggest your first gear purchased should be an RODI water filter, and an auto top off controller. Anyone here order much coral online? On a whim I picked some stuff up from planetzoa.com, and I'm pretty impressed. Stuff arrived overnight, packaging was awesome, and everything looks healthy and was opening up within an hour of answering the door. Was about $150 shipped for 7 frags, which is less than what I'm used to paying at swaps. Pretty happy customer here. A few of the frags shortly after adding them to the tank:   
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Feb 28, 2017 23:40
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That's a good looking shroom.
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Mar 2, 2017 03:16
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VAGENDA OF MANOCIDE posted:That's a good looking shroom. I'm really hoping it splits soon!
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Mar 2, 2017 15:12
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Enos Cabell posted:I'm really hoping it splits soon! Why wait? Give it a week to get used to the new environment and cut it into quarters with a razor. Rhodactis are tougher than you might think. I've turned my nice gold/green/red one into five seperate shrooms that are all about the size of the original inside of three months.
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Mar 3, 2017 18:05
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Bruce Boxlicker posted:Why wait? Give it a week to get used to the new environment and cut it into quarters with a razor. Rhodactis are tougher than you might think. I've turned my nice gold/green/red one into five seperate shrooms that are all about the size of the original inside of three months. While not rhodactis, we've literally blendered actinodiscus mushrooms before for some insanely fast spread/growth.  Not that I'd risk THAT on a single polyp of this one, mind.
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Mar 3, 2017 20:22
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