Tank make over - Take 4 (May 2011)

[malulu]

This is a RE-POST constructed with Google cache, and since I can't FAKE other member's posts, i will have to come up with something "creative".
:

if you are interested in how to do so... read this link.
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Post by: malulu on May 31, 2011, 12:49:13 AM
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Hi,

I have been in this $ s^cking reef hobby for the 6 years now, and already did THREE major changed! and this is the Take 4 !

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  1st time was VERY BAD design - tiny overflow, small sump, small skimmer, under the stand, carrying buckets for water changed was not fun!
  
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  2nd time was GREAT! all the corals are going so good, few of the colonies are touching the water surface, need constant trimming (I called that a good headache!)
  
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  3rd time was lower the rock works, also doing great! but then the red bug came!! treating 3 times without success... then one bad heater over heated - all SPS --> RIP!! the ones (Pretty Zoas and a very nice piece of Chalice) that survived got eaten by a mini puffer!! then really disappointed - quiting did cross my mind more than few times (but thanks for my wife's discouragement - i had to stick to it! ;D) the long hour at work lead to lack of maintenance, tank looks like a junk yard under water! :-[
• Then every time i stop by Dan's (danthemanj) house, his reef tank is so gorgeous!! make me so jealous!! one time a conversation lead to the idea to redo the tank... also inspired by some of Paul B's postings - I really should be responsible all the life being under my watch! hence - decided to do this one more time!!

Having said that - this would not be a success without the great helps from Dan (danthemanj), Bob (magic), Paul (redfishbluefish), Ron (rkaiser), Peter (fisheye)... and many many more members' support!!

 

[malulu]

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Post by: malulu on May 31, 2011, 01:55:59 AM
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Note:
i have a see through setup, viewable from both side (Family room & living room), hence all pics are TWO side tank view.

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5/7 - 9:45am (BEFORE)
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5/7 - 9:45am (BEFORE)
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at around 1:30p (then we realized no one took any pics??!! works started @ 10am!)
then a voice from life saver said: "...oh, me, me, me! I can help!!..."
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..."Uncles, could you two please help to turn your face to the camera..."
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..."Uncles, please give me a big smile... Ka-chik!!"
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by 5pm, all fishes, soft corals are in a 55 gals buckets, and the tank was EMPTY!
Bob is trying to shaw-off the piece of wood that holding the MH since day 1 (LEDs don't need that!)
it was glued with a unknown fr**king glue! and it is bind as part of the pastic rim!!
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after a life long (10 mins) of hard workings!! it finally came off!!! YeeHa!!
you can tell from the big smile on Bob's face!
with his famous expression "got you - son of a *****!"
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the tank are so empty now! oh, see that return pipe (Locline?) that is where Bob got his hand cut while trying to unscrew 6 nashty rusting screws...
this is what Bob said the next day: "The cut on my hand swelled up that night, at dinner I didn't let my wife see it."
a Big Thanks again for all the Hardwork Bob did that day!!
Bob and Dan both helped to get my old 40g sump OUT of that stand which i was dreaming to do for the past 4 years!!! a big YE-HAA!!!!!!!!!
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@ 9pm, Dan finished drilling the live-rocks and insert the 3/4 pipe as legs, then use Eproxy to glue them, wait till they dried, then place in tank.
(He supposed to be home 8pm-ish!!)
another Big Thank to Dan with his help for the miracle happened that night!!
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laying down live sands
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this is the sands we used
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it is Fiji Pink!
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after 8 bags of live sands, looks like we still need more!!!
they are not cheap! you know!!
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After 12 hours of works - I don't why Dan is still acting so cool!! he skipped dinner! and it is 10pm!!
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and I am so tired!!
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Well, after Dan left around 10:30pm, i continued to work till 2am!

 

[malulu]

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Post by: malulu on May 31, 2011, 02:12:32 AM
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May 8th! The next day came!

checking up on the 55g bucket, which is hosting the corals & fishes...
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this is a brand new LED light from Redsand (Dan made a great pipe thingy to put on top..."
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the fishes and corals seems fine
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feeding them with a seaweed
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and this is the NASHTY looking Refugium!!! OMG!! what a long day ahead for me!!
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I then ran to Redsand to get more Fuji Pink sands, but he only have 2 more bags left! well, better than nothing!!
called around, and no stores near by me have them! got to order online!! This will, set me back few more days!!

I also reworked the live rocks placement a little bit (Note, this new setup only used about 1/3 of my old rocks, the rest of them went to the sump!)

It took me a long while to clean up the Refugium by scraped the algae off, and suck them all out, leave the sands untouch when possible.

that was a very long day!! I worked till 4am!!

The water was very cloudy, and no pics worth taken at that time.

 

[malulu]

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Post by: malulu on May 31, 2011, 03:05:58 AM
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This is what it looks like the next morning - May 9th (the 3rd day)

the new refugim look
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the RED MANGROVES plant from Tom (tlpmyd)
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close up
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I found out that Pet Shanty (about 5 miles away from me) have the Fiji Pink sands delivering to their store the very next day (May 10th - day 5 on my project), so i got 2 more bags (total of 12 bags so far).

on May 11th - Day 6 at night, i found out two of my fishes dead!! a flounder and a cleaner wrasse. :'(
I have to took a risk to moved the corals and fishes back in the display tank...
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the morning of may 12th - Day 7

you may noticed one of the LED on the right side is missing!!
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why??!! when my plan was altered, i sort of screw up (mis-calculated something)... while messing with the display tank, i forgot a hose was still attached to the drain line!!
and at the end, the water was flow through the top (Luckily - no fishes nor corals was in it at that time), BUT a brand new LED was UNDER the water!!

the circuit breaker tripped! I then remove the LED, and rinse it with Fresh water!! open it up, take out all parts, use a hair dry blower to dried it up, wait 2 days, then plug it in to see if i got lucky or not!?

well, the LED worked!!! OMG!!
however, the Fans are dead!!
i will need to find someway to fix them later! I asked Feng (Redsand) on how to get the replacement parts? he said: "the vendor told him, the Fan never have problem!! no replacement parts available in store!!" he is follow up to the vendor for this issue and will get back to me later.

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While I was in Redsand, i asked Feng is there anything to eat the Aiptasia? (I saw 2 poking out in my live rocks), he then told me to get this weird looking guy, they will eat them!! after I put them in the tank, I don't see it go after the Aiptasia, but after a week, no Aiptasia!! yeah!! Feng said: "the fish may pick on the corals or zoas, so when noticed such behavior, then catch it out and put in sump... it normally float on the top at night, so it would be quite easy to catch!" and so far i don't have any zoas yet, so, let's see.
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I also got this little guy from Redsand!! watch till the end! it is cool!
https://picasaweb.google.com/the.malulu/MakeOverTake4May2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCI7ki6PYqam0Ew#5612731267137847362

After two weeks (May 21th), the clam looks good. (note: there are some brown algae on the sands, must be the cycling issue at that time), since last Thursday, about day 20, the sands looks good now, no more brown stuff, could be the clean up crews group buy also helped.
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at one time, my wife said to be: "...honey, i see you are working very hard on this till very late at night to get it done, why don't you take it easy and slow...?"
well, my wish is grant!!
i then start back to my normal work routine, and left everything in the living room as it!! for 3 weeks!!!! :
ha ha ! ;D
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what a mess!! for 3 long weeks!!
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well, until this past weekend, I finally spent 3 days to clear everything up, re-organized all the wiring, clean all the buckets, return all the borrowed stuffs/container to their righteous owners!
here is what it looks like on Monday morning... ;D
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this is what it looks like right now!
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and the other view!!
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[malulu]

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Post by: malulu on May 31, 2011, 03:18:26 AM
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To recap, from the started to now!

2004
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2005
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2006
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May - 2011
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May - 2011
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NOW - June 2011
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NOW - June 2011
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[malulu]

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Post by: malulu on May 31, 2011, 03:26:00 AM
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in the end, I lost 2 fishes and have one small regret!
- a flounder
- a cleaner wrasse

- i should have did this much sooner!!!!!!!
;D

 

[malulu]

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Post by: REEFLECTIONS on May 31, 2011, 07:16:31 AM
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wow.. the tank look great... and the more tanks i see with "less" rock in them, the more i want to try to emulate that type of look. really nice.



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Post by: mnat on May 31, 2011, 09:41:15 AM
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Very impressive and great to see a bunch of people from the club coming together to help one another.



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Post by: ReeferNets on: May 31, 2011, 09:45:29 AM
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Dave,

That is a solid work crew. I love the tank and im loving how every one is joining the less is more campaign. I starting to notice stuff i never saw before when i did huge rock structures. Your tank looks great in each of its 4 phases.

I have areas of my reef that get no light, some light, high light.

Also better flow and much more space for more WATER. Sometimes i think we add too much rock and that means less water. So your total amount of water is less then you think.



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Post by: Malulu on: May 31, 2011, 09:54:40 AM
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Barry,

adding more rocks should be fine, as long as they are in the sump and not in the display tank.


the pics was taken from my crappy iphone-3GS camera, the real thing is much nicer!

my next goals is to get rids of those bulky TUNZEs!! and get 2 x MP40s power heads!
is that group buy coming yet!!?



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Post by: monroereef on: May 31, 2011, 10:11:52 AM
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Looking good David.



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Post by: TanksNStuff on: May 31, 2011, 10:50:55 AM
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Wow, what a transformation... looks great David! It's really cool that you have pics of each stage of that tanks life too.

It was also great to hear about the help that Bob and Dan provided. Sounds like you three had a rough first day... but I'm sure they loved doing it.

So... When do we get to see pics of the "dozen" or so new corals?


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Post by: Malulu on: May 31, 2011, 11:58:59 AM
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when i get a chance i guess...


would want to wait till the water is clear, and when I don't mind to get my arm wet!!


don't have a good camera... need to take pics with my underwater camera's super macro mode.
(where is Peter when i really need him?? : )



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Post by: Tazmaniancowboy on: May 31, 2011, 02:30:27 PM
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Quote from: mnat on May 31, 2011, 09:41:15 AM
Very impressive and great to see a bunch of people from the club coming together to help one another.

+1



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Post by: magic on: May 31, 2011, 03:10:26 PM
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The new liverock looks great, I love the cleaner less crowded look. Very impressive and great to see a bunch of people from the club coming together to help one another.
Mike

It was a labor of love! Tank looks great. Dave, I'll have to stop by to see the finsihed project!

Bob

p.s. The sand that we removed had to be the dirtest I've ever seen. That includes working in LFS.



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Post by: malulu on: May 31, 2011, 03:27:53 PM
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Quote from: magic on May 31, 2011, 03:10:26 PM
p.s. The sand that we removed had to be the dirtest I've ever seen. That includes working in LFS.

Bob, come on!! it can't be that bad! at least we did not past out from the smell of it!



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Post by: blange3 on: May 31, 2011, 04:55:44 PM
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Nice job David and crew! Sorry I didn't latch on to this story back in February.

Good luck!

 

[malulu]

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Post by: Hawkeye on May 31, 2011, 10:43:08 PM
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Quote from: malulu on May 31, 2011, 03:05:58 AM
Feng said: "the fish may pick on the corals or zoas, so when noticed such behavior, then catch it out and put in sump... it normally float on the top at night, so it would be quite easy to catch!" and so far i don't have any zoas yet, so, let's see.

I also got this little guy from Redsand!! watch till the end! it is cool!
https://picasaweb.google.com/the.malulu/MakeOverTake4May2011?authkey=Gv1sRgCI7ki6PYqam0Ew#5612731267137847362

Filefish looks really cool - just keep an eye on it.

In the video i saw the garden eel and the flounder. Do you still have both in the tank?



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Post by: malulu on May 31, 2011, 11:00:05 PM
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i have two flounders, one was always in the sump, and one death during the made-over transition, and i moved the sump one to the display, it is doing great.

the garden eel, i put them in last week, and never see it coming out since.


the firefish, did not caught it doing anything bad yet.



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Post by: Nickjr000 on May 31, 2011, 11:16:28 PM
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David the tank looks good , I like the new fish



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Post by: malulu on June 01, 2011, 10:09:23 AM
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Feng still have few left...
you could try! i don't see no more Aiptasia!



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Post by: malulu on June 02, 2011, 12:11:51 AM
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I just saw the Garden Eel tonight! i tried to took picture, but it was too dark, can't get a clear pic off it.



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Post by: magic on June 02, 2011, 10:59:33 AM
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Quote from: malulu on May 31, 2011, 11:00:05 PM
i have two flounders, one was always in the sump, and one death during the made-over transition, and i moved the sump one to the display, it is doing great.

the garden eel, i put them in last week, and never see it coming out since.

the firefish, did not caught it doing anything bad yet.

Dave

I don't know if you posted the "firefish by accident or not, but what you have is a filefish not a firefish There is a BIG Difference! Feng was right it isn't reef safe and will nip at LPS and SPS corals what he didn't tell you is they have a taste for small inverts so keep your eyes open for missing snails and crabs.

Bob



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Post by: magic on June 02, 2011, 11:38:14 AM
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Bob,

thank you again for the correction, yes, i mean filefish (NOT firefish goby).

yes, will keep an eye on it. so far i don't see it picking on anything beside feeding time.
thx



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Post by: malulu on June 02, 2011, 02:01:15 PM
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Quote from: Hawkeye on June 02, 2011, 10:58:53 AM
ok so do share -

flounders, what do they eat? do you keep one to help keep the sand bed stirred? How big does it grow? Curious...did you get one from feng?

if it gets too big can i come over and we steam/fry it?

i feed it twice a week with super market shrimp - chopped to small size, then put it on a stick to feed. it is nice looking creature, you can see it changed color based on the environment, very cool. how big? i would not know, will see if it really grow big, right now, it is about 2x5 inch in size.

and yes, i got it from RedSand, not sure if Feng still have some left or not, i know he kept one in his display tank.

and No, if he get big, i will drive all the way to the beach and release it!! no ones going to eat him/her!!

 

[malulu]

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Post by: magic on June 02, 2011, 05:36:32 PM
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Dave

If it gets to big I'll show you how to fillet it. Makes a nice sandwich!

Bob



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Post by: magic on June 02, 2011, 05:39:09 PM
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Dave

I'll show you how to fillet it before Hawkeye cooks it.

Bob



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Post by: Hawkeye on June 02, 2011, 09:22:29 PM
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you hand feed the flounder?! the other fish don't go nuts when you feed it? lol.

I know about the camouflage - that's what makes the fish so interesting. Do you have any cleaner shrimp/blood shrimp - was thinking a flounder would try and eat them.

Anyways - next meeting at your house I heard there might be fish and chips!



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Post by: malulu on June 02, 2011, 10:33:01 PM
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Quote from: Hawkeye on June 02, 2011, 09:22:29 PM
Anyways - next meeting at your house I heard there might be fish and chips!

Haha! no way the sushi would be from my tank.

no shrimp yet, I will get some (the TWO blood shrimps i got from the group buy did not make it!)

right now it is too small to capible to eat any regular size shrimp.



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Post by: malulu on June 02, 2011, 10:39:41 PM
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please help to mark me down on one of the central meeting.

if the police did not see this tiny post, i will/can skip the hosting...



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Post by: howze01 on June 02, 2011, 11:17:18 PM
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Nice!! You would be even closer than the last one to me!!! I could bring you the Tubbs too



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Post by: Hawkeye on June 03, 2011, 06:56:27 PM
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Quote from: malulu on June 02, 2011, 10:33:01 PM
no shrimp yet, I will get some (the TWO blood shrimps i got from the group buy did not make it!)

ouch. Is that because of the tank change you think? or just bad luck with the buy?



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Post by: malulu on June 03, 2011, 07:04:11 PM
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i guess it is the combinations.

i have to rush to put the fish and corals back to the display tank due to the holding space was not good (already causing 2 MIA) , at that time, the new sands may not fully cycle yet.

 

[malulu]

Finally...!

this took me TWO hours to do!!!
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