29g Trogdor's Paradise

T

Trogdor

New Member
Well I have taken the first step and purchased a new tank. This one is 29g vs my old 20L. I was able to reuse quite a bit of equipment since I stayed with the same length of tank. Here's a list of the equipment that I'm running and my future plans.

29G (12W x 18H x 30L)
32lbs of rock (all of it is base rock)
50lbs of sand (30lbs Aragamax ooclite & 20lbs Aragalive special grade reef)
Magnum HOT 250 (Hang on back filter, will run carbon and phosguard)
Maxijet 600 Power Head
AquaClear 201 Power Head
AquaClear 20 (Fuge mod in the making)
Dual Satellite 65w PC hood http://www.marineandreef.com/shoppro/power_satellite.html


Future Plans:
10g refugium
Metal Hallide lights
 
T

Trogdor

New Member
Added photos.

I designed a 10g refugium that didn't go as planned. It was to sit under the stand, where most of my supplies are located now.

The siphon from the tank to the overflow couldn't handle the flow that was needed so my overflow was really underpowered for the pump. So I desperately created a closed-loop system with about 800gph. During the late evening, I noticed that all of the joints that weren't cemented together were leaking (slightly). So I grabbed the PVC cement and went to town. Well apparently I didn't have my threaded leads into the pump fully and I was getting a small leak around them after everything was cemented. Let me remind you...every other connection at this point is cemented together, except 2 joints (which doesn't help my situation any). So I manage to get everything off of the stand and I start to swing the big PVC pipes to tighten the connections to the pump.

Anyone know what happens when you have a 4 ft counter-weight acting on plastic connectors? Yeah I cracked the housing to the pump. I didn't realize it until the next day when all of the air bubbles in my tank just wouldn't go away. You can actually hear the air being sucked into the pump. I used a pipette and dropped water around the seal and I could see the water being sucked right into the pump...rather funny if you can actually see it happening.

So I ordered a new pump cover ($11 +$11 shipping....nice) and I am planning on cutting the PVC near the back of the stand and replacing the lower portions with flexible tubing. This will still give me the rigidity of PVC on the upper portion but some adjustability at the pump so I can service it on a regular schedule.


Modifications that I performed:
-Test tube drying rack (I've used it several times so far and am glad that I built it)
-Added a holder for the stock light and mounted it in the stand. This is the 30" NO light that came with the tank.
-Added the Supreme Mag-Drive 9.5 (950gph) pump with PVC (soon to be about half flexible tube)
-Added a shelf to the stand to store the test tube holder
-Added 1.5" PVC cylinders to the base rock to lift it off of the substrate

Current Equipment:
-Magnum HOT filter with Carbon and Phosguard. This is because I plan to run tap water (I have water test reports and I treat the water before adding to the tank) and need to remove the phosphates.
-150w heater
-About 25lbs of base rock
-60lbs of Aragamax (Sugar size) sand (CaribSea)
-20lbs of Aragalive Live sand (CaribSea)
-Using Instant Ocean salt
-Compact Fluorescent lighting from Current (130w total)
-Maxijet 600
-Supreme Mag-Drive 9.5

Total water flow - 1200gph
Total Lighting - 130w PC
Sand Bed depth to be about 3.5-4"
 

Attachments

R

reefman23

New Member
LOooks good. One thing though... bring the return pump for the closed loop up nearer to the tank. It will take a load off of the pump and get you more flow. Alot of people build a little platform or something for the pump to rest on right at the top of stand in the back.

Keep us updated.

Jesse
 
T

Trogdor

New Member
Update:

Added about 1/3 of my clean up crew last night. Everything is going good.

2 Cerith
2 Astraea
4 Hermits (I got 2 hitchhikers in 'empty' shells)
5 Nassarius

I would show pics but they all look the same as any other snail or crab...lol
 
T

Trogdor

New Member
Here are a few pics of the new plumbing. Forgot to add these awhile back. I know that the intake hose is a bit long but it was the first one that i cut and i didn't want to be short. I plan on shortening it when I tear down the pump in a few months for cleaning.


 
T

Trogdor

New Member
No because I have yet to see any data that shows that a plenum adds much to a tank. I did add PVC to pull the live rock off of the top of the sand bed. This allows water to flow under the rocks and keeps dead spots from forming in the sand bed.
 
T

Trogdor

New Member
I have since added a cleanup crew and one pulsing xenia

Cleanup Crew:
6 Astraea
6 Cerith
4 Hermit Crabs
10 Nassarius
1 Xenia frag

Everything is going pretty good. I have a bit of cyano and a small algae bloom that I'm trying to control. I can't seem to get the nitrates down (15ppm) but I have my suspicions on what is causing it. Xenia is doing great so far. I have it placed in an area that gets turbulent flow. I can't really see the pulsing unless I turn off my pumps but it looks lonely in my tank. :D I will post some pics tonight when I get home and can get the camera out.
 
T

Trogdor

New Member
Quick update:

Added 4 more astraea's and 2 clowns this past weekend. I really need to get some pics uploaded soon. I can't seem to remember to upload the pics when I'm at home. My nitrates finally dropped off to 0 about a week ago and my cyano is nearly gone now. I just have the typical algae issue that the snails are now working on getting under control.
 
T

Trogdor

New Member
I have finally added some new livestock to my tank.

Monday 4/2/2007, I added a skunk cleaner shrimp and a glass/ghost shrimp (my LFS had is labeled as a Saron but I'm 99% sure that it's not)

Today 4/14/2007, we had our annual frag swap and I picked up several frags. Frogspawn, two frags of button polyps (green and a few orange), orange/greenish blue ric, green star polyps, red mushroom, hawaiian featherduster and what looks like a finger leather (not sure, i was told that it was a leather). I will be posting pictures of everything once everything starts to open up.
 
T

Trogdor

New Member
I lost my first mate a couple of weeks ago. It was the Strawberry Pseudochromis. He was a really cool fish but I think one of the clowns was bullying him. The night before I found him, I noticed that he wasn't eating. He still looked plump (my wife had been feeding him the previous day or two since she likes to feed them and it's a way for her to enjoy the tank too) that night so i figured that maybe he just didn't feel like eating and would give him a couple of days before i started getting worried. The next day I found him at the bottom of the tank. I thought that I would leave him in there for the clean-up crew to have a feast. Boy did they. I couldn't get him out of there because they pulled his body under the rocks and had a good ol' time. By the evening he was pretty much gone and only a few parts left suspended on the bottom and was finished up by the next day. Amazing how the clean-up crew will go to town on anything in the tank. :shock:
 
T

Trogdor

New Member
Just another update and I really need some photos up

The Xenia is growing like a freakin weed. I now have 3 stalks; 2 of them are decent size and the third is gigantic. It comprises about 1/4 of the rocks on the left side now. My green star polyps are doing good and encrusting nearby rocks and spreading nicely. I will have a nice mat of them near top center when they grow some more. The ric hasn't really done much, it's still about the same size and I've been feeding it quite often. It just doesn't seem to want to grow much. The red mushroom has grown about 25% since i got it. The finger leather is about double the size along with the frogspawn. Button polyps are decent but little growth. My featherduster might be dead as well. He shed his crown the other day but I couldn't tell if he died or not, clean up crew was already on scene when i found the crown. Overall the tank is doing wonderful and hopefully will be a prize for many years to come.

Oh and BTW...I have like a million of these little circular worms that are attaching to my glass. I wipe them off with the magfloat and they just come right back... *shrugs*
 
T

Trogdor

New Member
A few updated photos. I didn't do a fantastic job on the photos...they were done in a hurry.

My daughter in one of her favorite places...next to the tank harassing her tank buddies.



 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top