150 + 80 sump build

[scott26]

I just would like the lite beacause it is cheaper and they is my main goal a budgeted aquaium contrller

[tralynne]

Per everyones request. The most current pictures of the tank. Still a bunch of algae that the cleaning crew needs to get working on. The tough part is to gauge if i have enough cleaning crew. I hate to buy too much then when all the algae is gone snails/crabs start to die. Yet if i don't have enough they eat slower than the algae grows.

Tank parameters if anyone cares:
Temp: 80.1
NO2: 0.1
NO3: 12.5
NH3: undetectable
pH 8.24
KH: 4.0 (low b/c of the "purple up" i have been adding to jump start Coraline. don't waste your money on it.)
Cu: 0.0
PO4: undetectable
Mg: 1050 (low b/c of purple up)
Ca: 520 (high b/c of purple up)
Salt: 1.024

I have finished the bottle of purple up over the course of the last 3 weeks...have not seen and significant change in the Coraline algae growth. I don't recommend anyone wasting the $20/bottle on it. Just my opinion.




















My Daughters 14g Biocube.





I know the electrical compartment looks like crap...but i don't want to zip tie everything yet when i don't have it all completed. Once i am sure that i have everything i will be bundling the wires and zip tie them to the walls so it looks all nice and neat.

I am gonna get another white sand sifting star this weekend if my LFS has one. I also plan to order 2 Dragon Gobies and 4 Rainfordi Gobies. they will also eat the sand bed and clean that up nice...when done with that they will graze on the rocks and keep the algea trimmed. And they will also eat the frozen foods.

[tralynne]

I ordered 2 Dragon Gobies and 4 rainford Gobies today. A week till the LFS gets them in and then another week in quarantine. So 2 weeks before i they will be in the main tank.

I put a treatment of chemi-clean in tonight to help beat down the cyano that is growing. i might also add some algefix just to cut back the algae to a point where my cleaning crew can keep up. Like i said before i don't like to get more cleaning crew just for them to die off when there is not enough algae. So hopefully i can slowly cut back the growth of the micro-algae and cyano enough to a point where the existing cleaning crew can take care of it.

[tralynne]

So after 4 weeks of the live rock being in the tank i finally got a "glimpse" of the pistol or mantis shrimp hitchhiker. I know where the little bugger lives now too. I wish i could get a good visual on him to see if he is a mantis or pistol that way i can catch the mantis and keep the pistol. driving me nuts that i can never get a good look at him. i think i might have more than one too.

On a sad note...2 of my 4 serpent stars have already died. Kinda strange actaully...they started to just melt away...legs fell off and their middle section started disintegrating. strange...have always had serpent stars and have had very good luck with them but these 2 did not last long.

[tralynne]

Did a 30 gallon water change today to flush the Chemi-clean out of the tank and get the O2 levels back up from that stuff. It took care of the slime pretty good.

Started to dose Algefix as well to help kick back the micro-algae a little too. hopefully in a week or so i should be getting the first set of inhabitants. 2 Dragon Gobies and 4 Rainford Gobies.

[tralynne]

Good News!!! my water proofing of the lower part of the tank stand was a good idea!. Bad news...not all the water leaked into the lower part. Apparently at a time i do not know...the filter sock "adjusted" itself. It was leaning up against the side of the sump. So the water was flowing down the side of the sump. The sump touches the edge of the stand and the waterfall, or at least 75%, was flowing right out onto my carpet. Guess what? my electrical compartment is dry as a bone though! I will take wet carpet over a water induced fire to my electrical stuff any day.

I also was able to get some bad hitchhikers off of my rock the other day. 4 gorilla crabs and a pistol shrimp.

[reefermad619]

Tank looks great. What exactly did you use to skin it. In your post it said you were going to use thin oak veneer, but from the angles in the pictures, it looks like the skin is pretty thick. Did you go with the thin veneer, or end up using 1" oak boards instead?

[tralynne]

The skin is 1/4 oak veneer. it looks thick b/c of how close the picture is taken. It was pretty simple...i placed the entire sheet over the sides. Used a finish nail gun to fix it to the wood skeleton. Took a router and cut the edges and routered out the holes for where, someday, doors will go.

I bought a sheet of it from homedepot. easy product to use and it looks pretty good. once it was on the skelton i added all the molding then stained it. This was my first ever wood project so it is not perfect. I would for sure stain the pieces before i put them on the tank next time. Cut them to fit...stain...then nail to the skelton.

[tralynne]

Woke up this morning to find out that, i think, the pistol shrimp is bigger than i thought. even though i got a small one out i can still hear the clicking in the tank. i have yet to put eyes on him and see just how big he is. But this morning there was a rather large hole dug in the sand bed in the front of the tank. i can only imagine it was him trying to burrow. this thing has become like a unicorn, Sasquatch and loch ness monster all in one. I guess it is time to get a goby that he can pair up with eh?

[tralynne]

Just waiting on fish from the LFS. Picking up 4 rainford Gobies on Thursday.

Pulled another large gorilla cab out of the tank last night and sacrificed him to the reef gods in hopes of a prosperous reef tank for me.

[tralynne]

New Rainford Gobies. Got 3 of the 4. One did not make it through quarantine at the LFS. I Will be picking up a Coral Beauty this weekend as well. Then next week i should be getting a matched pair of Black Clown fish.

[tralynne]

6 line wrasse and coral beauty added today. when they are not so skiddish i will take some pics and upload them.