A
Anonymous
Guest
dragon, I believe with time the polyps should split and form new calc tubes, so the growth shouldn't be just in "length" but in count as well.
72 Oceanic Reef Ready Bow Front Evolution...
- Thread starter mikeguerrero
- Start date
mikeguerrero
Active Member
Hey Reefers,
The saga continues, I started by cleaning out my old live sand with my HOT magnum filter in my old 3.5 gallon truvu. Then I added it to my 72 bowfront and an additional 2 bags of live sand. I see that it's not enough so I go and buy two more bags. I still don't get close to 3 inches of live sand so I purchase two more bags and finally reach my desired sand bed. Thats a total of eight 20 lbs bags of live sand.
I then take the mighty AP-600 Deltec skimmer and begin the process of plumbing, bear in mind this is my first attempt and I ended up spilling some of the PVC cement on the carpet; damn I spent nearly 2 hours trying to get it out. Place plastic all around when working with this stuff it's potent.
All the plumbing went well, and I documented it's process. You will see the Mag drive 250 gph to run this Deltec and you will see that I decided to purchase the sump lid because I want to place my coralife 18 watt fixture over it for some cheato growth in the fuge.
I had to change out one of the bulbs from it's actinic to 10,000k daylight, that was easy. Well there's a lot of pictures because I was really busy this weekend but I wanted you guys, gals to have fun seeing my progress.
Mike
The saga continues, I started by cleaning out my old live sand with my HOT magnum filter in my old 3.5 gallon truvu. Then I added it to my 72 bowfront and an additional 2 bags of live sand. I see that it's not enough so I go and buy two more bags. I still don't get close to 3 inches of live sand so I purchase two more bags and finally reach my desired sand bed. Thats a total of eight 20 lbs bags of live sand.
I then take the mighty AP-600 Deltec skimmer and begin the process of plumbing, bear in mind this is my first attempt and I ended up spilling some of the PVC cement on the carpet; damn I spent nearly 2 hours trying to get it out. Place plastic all around when working with this stuff it's potent.
All the plumbing went well, and I documented it's process. You will see the Mag drive 250 gph to run this Deltec and you will see that I decided to purchase the sump lid because I want to place my coralife 18 watt fixture over it for some cheato growth in the fuge.
I had to change out one of the bulbs from it's actinic to 10,000k daylight, that was easy. Well there's a lot of pictures because I was really busy this weekend but I wanted you guys, gals to have fun seeing my progress.
Mike
mikeguerrero
Active Member
Hey guys,
I finally decided to pull out the 70 watt ICE Cap that I was awarded. My corals have been in a 20 gallon holding tank for over a week with bad lighting. I was only giving them 18 watt 50/50, 13 watt 7,500K and 10 watt O3 actinic.
My clams started losing their color on the mantel and I couldn't let that happen having the MH still in it's box, so I pulled it out and did some quick DIY work and here are the results.
I'm being delayed on my 72 bowfront because I want to save money on the live rock and then I have to cure it, so I need my corals to be happy and safe so thanks to the ICE Cap, things are looking better.
It's my first time playing with MH and I love it, now I see why Rbaby was juiced when she started her new tank and talked about the shimmy effect of MH...
Mike
I finally decided to pull out the 70 watt ICE Cap that I was awarded. My corals have been in a 20 gallon holding tank for over a week with bad lighting. I was only giving them 18 watt 50/50, 13 watt 7,500K and 10 watt O3 actinic.
My clams started losing their color on the mantel and I couldn't let that happen having the MH still in it's box, so I pulled it out and did some quick DIY work and here are the results.
I'm being delayed on my 72 bowfront because I want to save money on the live rock and then I have to cure it, so I need my corals to be happy and safe so thanks to the ICE Cap, things are looking better.
It's my first time playing with MH and I love it, now I see why Rbaby was juiced when she started her new tank and talked about the shimmy effect of MH...
Mike
holy rusted metal batman!!
So those are my lights I will be getting huh? I can expect killer results then... How do you have them hanging mike, what did you use to secure it on the ceiling? That's bitchen lighting and it also gave you some kick ass quality pictures because of it!! SWEEEEEEeeeEEEET!!!
So those are my lights I will be getting huh? I can expect killer results then... How do you have them hanging mike, what did you use to secure it on the ceiling? That's bitchen lighting and it also gave you some kick ass quality pictures because of it!! SWEEEEEEeeeEEEET!!!
mikeguerrero
Active Member
You guys and gals are the reason, I continue to post and share my experiences with...
More to come...
Mike
More to come...
Mike
mikeguerrero
Active Member
I decided to go with premium live rock from my LFS. The chance of ordering live rock online and then not knowing what your getting, got to me.
I got about 40 lbs of live live rock and will take it slowly. I made a mistake when I rushed to buy so much when I started the cubes. I ran out of real estate before I ever hit the market for corals.
Getting to see what you want is fun, because you only pick the best pieces. I tried to get a macro of the rocks so you can see how much coraline is already on the rocks.
Here is an idea of how it's comming along.
Mike
I got about 40 lbs of live live rock and will take it slowly. I made a mistake when I rushed to buy so much when I started the cubes. I ran out of real estate before I ever hit the market for corals.
Getting to see what you want is fun, because you only pick the best pieces. I tried to get a macro of the rocks so you can see how much coraline is already on the rocks.
Here is an idea of how it's comming along.
Mike
mikeguerrero
Active Member
I also decided to go with a different theme in reefing. I don't see too many reef tanks with a lot of sand bed to play with. Usually you see a reef tank just packed with live rock everywhere, that's okay but it's too common.
So off I go with an attempt on something new; wish me luck. Here are some top down pictures for you to see how it's coming along. I've always liked when I'd walk past an LFS and see a tank just full of live sand and many corals placed side by side.
This theme will have a little of both but give the reefer a chance to play with the abundance of sand real estate.
I started on the left side of the tank and worked my way over to the right where I don't have as much rock. I took a picture with a measuring tape to give you a point of reference; I have about 8 inches of play on the sandbed from back of tank to front.
Mike
So off I go with an attempt on something new; wish me luck. Here are some top down pictures for you to see how it's coming along. I've always liked when I'd walk past an LFS and see a tank just full of live sand and many corals placed side by side.
This theme will have a little of both but give the reefer a chance to play with the abundance of sand real estate.
I started on the left side of the tank and worked my way over to the right where I don't have as much rock. I took a picture with a measuring tape to give you a point of reference; I have about 8 inches of play on the sandbed from back of tank to front.
Mike
I like that idea of more sand less rock
I am at a 50/50 on mine
because it is so small so I have like an inch of sand to the front
man your tank is gonna be awsome I cant wait to see how you finish :dan:
I was reading back on another form where you had said about a 60 that you wish well you did it :!:
I am at a 50/50 on mine
because it is so small so I have like an inch of sand to the front
man your tank is gonna be awsome I cant wait to see how you finish :dan:
I was reading back on another form where you had said about a 60 that you wish well you did it :!:
Sugar Magnolia
New Member
Wow!!! You've made incredible progress since I last checked this thread. Everything looks great Mike!
I tried to do a similar thing in my 55g where I'd leave an area in the center of the tank clear and have the rock slope up on either side. I found it was just too narrow of a tank to do it effectively. When I upgraded to the 75 I was much more successful, but I still have a bit less open sandbed than I had hoped for. Overall I'm happy with it though. I did figure out that trying to keep corals on the sandbed and having jawfish is problematic. I lost my purple fungia specificically because the jawfish covered it with sand during a weekend when I was out of town. Grrr.
Things seem to be progressing well with the tank. I think it's gonna look really great.
I'm with you in that I like to pick out rock at the LFS, but after seeing some of the life on TBS rock that a few people near me have ordered, I've decided that I will try to place an order with them when I end up setting up another large system to help with a bit more variety. I'll probably try to do about half TBS rock, and half rock that I hand pick from the LFS.
B
Things seem to be progressing well with the tank. I think it's gonna look really great.
I'm with you in that I like to pick out rock at the LFS, but after seeing some of the life on TBS rock that a few people near me have ordered, I've decided that I will try to place an order with them when I end up setting up another large system to help with a bit more variety. I'll probably try to do about half TBS rock, and half rock that I hand pick from the LFS.
B
mikeguerrero
Active Member
Brian,
I took a look at your thread on the 75 gallon, your landscaping looks incredible, I love the way you separated it and filled it in...
I'm going to try something similar, I'll see if it works....
Mike
I took a look at your thread on the 75 gallon, your landscaping looks incredible, I love the way you separated it and filled it in...
I'm going to try something similar, I'll see if it works....
Mike
mikeguerrero
Active Member
Brian,
Thanks for the link. I love your lights, I remember using just VHO on my 80 gallon tall reef tank 15 years ago. I never owned a metal halide so the 70 watt MH prize was my first, and I'm in love with the setup...
Do you have a picture on the engine behind this bad boy? The filter that is? I'm curious to know if you've added anything new to it or has it ran the same since you started it???
Mike
Thanks for the link. I love your lights, I remember using just VHO on my 80 gallon tall reef tank 15 years ago. I never owned a metal halide so the 70 watt MH prize was my first, and I'm in love with the setup...
Do you have a picture on the engine behind this bad boy? The filter that is? I'm curious to know if you've added anything new to it or has it ran the same since you started it???
Mike
mikeguerrero
Active Member
I'm finally done with my live rock aquascaping. I got the last 20 lbs of live rock from a different LFS, wanted to mix it up just a little. Then I added my 25 lbs of live rock from my holding tank.
I'm running rubble rock in my holding tank just in case I get a spike of ammonia, removing all my big pieces. They should be okay.
Then I connected the Reef Keeper and organized the cabinet to have a clean appearance, I like my reefs to look awesome on the inside and outside.
Now all I need is Catalina salt water, wow I'm going to be tired lugging up the 5 gallon containers up my stairs,, ugghhhh.
In the mean time here is the pics, enjoy...
Mike
I'm running rubble rock in my holding tank just in case I get a spike of ammonia, removing all my big pieces. They should be okay.
Then I connected the Reef Keeper and organized the cabinet to have a clean appearance, I like my reefs to look awesome on the inside and outside.
Now all I need is Catalina salt water, wow I'm going to be tired lugging up the 5 gallon containers up my stairs,, ugghhhh.
In the mean time here is the pics, enjoy...
Mike
I haven't changed anything.mikeguerrero said:
It's a fairly standard wet/dry sump. The first chamber is where the return water from the two tanks goes in through a 100 micron bag. I've got an aqua c urchin pro in this chamber as well. The water pours over the baffle onto the trickle plate, where I put some phos-ban and carbon in media bags. The water trickles down through the bioballs, and fills up the third chamber where the mag 18 return pump is.
This is under the 75g.
Under the 40g, I have a 7g trash can that is top off water with a small pump that's hooked up to a float valve in the return pump chamber in the sump. When the water level drops the pump kicks on and pumps water over into the sump through regular airline tubing.
I want to add a small refugium under the 40g, but it's gonna have to be a custom job. I've got a friend here that does great acrylic work, so hopefully in the next couple months I'll have the money to get him to build one for me. Basically I'll put a powerhead in the same chamber as the return pump and pump the water across into the refugium, (which will be on a shelf so that it's higher than the sump), it will go through whatever baffles I put in there and have an overflow box that will allow it to drain back to the return chamber of the sump. Other than the custom size, it should be extremely simple.
B
B
mikeguerrero
Active Member
Incysor,
If I want to add an ATO, how big of a bucket should I purchase? How much evaporation do you suppose I will get per day? I'm not using a glass top, as I was told evaporation is really good in tanks.
I was thinking of just adding water myself each day, but if that is hard to do I rather invest into a ATO.
Mike
If I want to add an ATO, how big of a bucket should I purchase? How much evaporation do you suppose I will get per day? I'm not using a glass top, as I was told evaporation is really good in tanks.
I was thinking of just adding water myself each day, but if that is hard to do I rather invest into a ATO.
Mike