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Jimroth's Big Ol' Tank
- Thread starter jimroth
- Start date
I needed a new bracket or holder for my float switches in the sump, and couldn't find a damn thing for sale (I broke my homemade one). I finally found a guy who 3-D prints a bunch of aquarium accessories, including float switch racks. Very neat. www.printedreefingsolutions.com
Cycling seems to be complete--nitrite is at zero and nitrate is low. Plus, there's hair algae. Yay. The water is still a bit cloudy. I can throw a U/V sterilizer on there, but for now I'm just going to keep an eye on it. I got the 3-D printed float switch holder, and it broke right away. Guy is sending me a new part. ATO is working, even with the broken piece. Gradually bringing all the parts back online. Brave clownfish astronaut Mark Watney is surviving and thriving, the only fish in a huge tank. He had to be rescued from the overflow one time. I think the next fish is going to be a magnificent foxface. They are so tough that I don't care where I buy it, and a local store has one hanging out.
One thing I'm dealing with is the wet summer. My whole setup in the garage has been very damp, mostly around the skimmer where all that damp air comes out. It doesn't help that there's no cover on the sump to hold in evaporation. I've been opening the garage doors when I can. I will probably need to relocate the skimmer waste collector away from the bench.
The aquascaping is no longer beautiful, it's covered with green and brown stuff. At one point, the whole setup was covered with a whitish biofilm--you could barely see in. That seems to have receded. On the plus side, the black starboard bottom is already getting covered up and looks more natural.
Onward into the fog!
One thing I'm dealing with is the wet summer. My whole setup in the garage has been very damp, mostly around the skimmer where all that damp air comes out. It doesn't help that there's no cover on the sump to hold in evaporation. I've been opening the garage doors when I can. I will probably need to relocate the skimmer waste collector away from the bench.
The aquascaping is no longer beautiful, it's covered with green and brown stuff. At one point, the whole setup was covered with a whitish biofilm--you could barely see in. That seems to have receded. On the plus side, the black starboard bottom is already getting covered up and looks more natural.
Onward into the fog!
Water was still cloudier than I like it, so I temporarily hooked up a Coralife U/V sterilizer I've had in the box for like 15 years! The electrical connections had shrunk off the bulb inside, but I soon had it back in working order. The water is getting clearer quickly.
Added my second fish, a Magnificent Foxface. I wanted a mag fox for the new tank, and they are very hardy, so in he goes. I like to support my local LFS, but this was a fairly poor specimen, skinny and small. I bargained down the price pretty harshly, it never would have sold for $150 and would have died in the store. The great thing about a tough fish like the foxface is that he settled right in, happy to find the algae growing all over the rockwork and eating pellets like PacMan. I hope he fattens up quickly.
Added my second fish, a Magnificent Foxface. I wanted a mag fox for the new tank, and they are very hardy, so in he goes. I like to support my local LFS, but this was a fairly poor specimen, skinny and small. I bargained down the price pretty harshly, it never would have sold for $150 and would have died in the store. The great thing about a tough fish like the foxface is that he settled right in, happy to find the algae growing all over the rockwork and eating pellets like PacMan. I hope he fattens up quickly.
Two weeks or so till MACNA! I'm only a little behind schedule.
I added a half-dozen trochus snails, as a kind of tryout cleanup crew, and they are doing well. The foxface is actually clearing algae off of some of the rockwork.
One thing that I'm happy about is that the starboard is already covered with algae and stuff and no longer looks like black plastic.
Stuff that needs doing:
1) Silicone the drain plumbing in the sump (it falls off if I hit it)
2) Work out some sort of cover for the sump, to fight the dampness in the back end caused by evaporation. It's a really old aquarium and I don't think I can get a stock cover.
3) Hook up reactors: Calcium, Kalk, Carbon and biopellets
4) Start work on refugium
5) Replace the plastic "sweater box" that holds all my reactors.
I added a half-dozen trochus snails, as a kind of tryout cleanup crew, and they are doing well. The foxface is actually clearing algae off of some of the rockwork.
One thing that I'm happy about is that the starboard is already covered with algae and stuff and no longer looks like black plastic.
Stuff that needs doing:
1) Silicone the drain plumbing in the sump (it falls off if I hit it)
2) Work out some sort of cover for the sump, to fight the dampness in the back end caused by evaporation. It's a really old aquarium and I don't think I can get a stock cover.
3) Hook up reactors: Calcium, Kalk, Carbon and biopellets
4) Start work on refugium
5) Replace the plastic "sweater box" that holds all my reactors.
Added more snails (astrreas) and some hermits, 15 or so. Water is still more cloudy than I would like. The snails and foxface are getting rid of a lot of the original algae--the bottom is black starboard, I hope I get some coralline at some point. Probably need to start adding calcium via reactor or chemicals.
Depends on how I do at the blackjack tables, LOL!
I always buy something besides raffle tickets. Not sure about taking frags on a long flight. There's always a new toy to add to the Neptune Apex. It's the Lego set of reefkeeping! I do need some filter sock holding devices.
Have credit cards, will travel.
Thanks Nikki! Mark Watney is fine, he's trying to grow potatoes~
The algae is quite revolting at this point, but I've done this enough times to know that it's just a stage we're going through. Ch-ch-ch-changes... In fact, where the snails and foxface have cleared, the rockwork is back to snow white! The foxface is already getting kind of plump, meaning I can no longer see his bones, good thing, too.
Took my birthday money and bought quite a lot of fish, now in "quarantine". A trio of captive raised azure damsels, very pretty and docile, a trio of captive raised Lemon damsels (Molluccensis) which maybe I shouldn't have got, have to keep an eye on the, a trio of small yellow tangs, and small hepatus tang, a half dozen chromis for that schooling look, a bicolor blenny for the shrimp tank and some more snails and hermits.
DangerDave
NJRC Member
That’s a lot of birthday cash!!!
All the fish are doing well, except one $6 chromis went missing! The yellow tangs are getting fat from eating algae.
I bought a couple of good gizmos from Bulk Reef Supply to hold filter socks. The CPR Sock-it has two hose connections feeding into a filter sock. I am going to feed the output from my carbon and GFO rectors into them to catch the fines. My friend says these should never end up in the display, bad for fish. I bought a generic 7" sock holder too, for my drain line. I've never been much for filter socks, too much work. But at very least I can use a sock when I'm stirring things up during maintenance.
I bought a couple of good gizmos from Bulk Reef Supply to hold filter socks. The CPR Sock-it has two hose connections feeding into a filter sock. I am going to feed the output from my carbon and GFO rectors into them to catch the fines. My friend says these should never end up in the display, bad for fish. I bought a generic 7" sock holder too, for my drain line. I've never been much for filter socks, too much work. But at very least I can use a sock when I'm stirring things up during maintenance.
Gave in to the temptation of a flash sale and bought a pack of five ORA frags for about $200 shipped. A couple of them were on my mandatory list for corals. I hope the tank is ready for them, I don't have any calcium supplementaion going on. Not much using calcium, either, however. I can always add some 2-part if the levels drop. It was a fixed assortment:
1) Red Planet, 2) Purple Plasma, 3) Joe The Coral, 4) Hawkins Echinata, 4) Laura's Purple Polyp. You get decent value for money from ORA--all the frags were 2" plus except the red planet, which was stubby and wide, and the Hawkins, which is a Slow Grower. All were encrusted on the plug, too.
I upset the apple cart in my biocube by adding a bicolor blenny as a third fish. It seems to have freaked out one of the shrimp gobies (Gutattus) which jumped into the filter section and ulimately died. Why do I mess with stuff that ain't broken??
Still need to set up a calcium reactorand come up with some kind of cover for the sump, and screen lid for the display.
1) Red Planet, 2) Purple Plasma, 3) Joe The Coral, 4) Hawkins Echinata, 4) Laura's Purple Polyp. You get decent value for money from ORA--all the frags were 2" plus except the red planet, which was stubby and wide, and the Hawkins, which is a Slow Grower. All were encrusted on the plug, too.
I upset the apple cart in my biocube by adding a bicolor blenny as a third fish. It seems to have freaked out one of the shrimp gobies (Gutattus) which jumped into the filter section and ulimately died. Why do I mess with stuff that ain't broken??
Still need to set up a calcium reactorand come up with some kind of cover for the sump, and screen lid for the display.