Scott's 50-Gallon In-Wall Build

[scbauer]

A few pics of the new bubble tip anemone...
Actinic Only:


Actinic and Camera Flash:


And just as I'm about to take a nice pic of my new ricordia, the skunk cleaner shrimp decided to check out what was going on:
[img]http://lh5.ggpht.com/_sjqPx4XLQaQ/SsrzjIZuNgI/AAAAAAAA***/KJOsjqUqExo/s800/DSC00196.JPG[/img]

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

-Scott

[scbauer]

The pictures of the anemone above were taken the day after it was introduced into the tank. I had let the nem settle overnight by turning off my closed loop pump. I just had my sump return going, a VERY gentle 200 gph (if that). If you look in this picture (R.I.P. Ernie), you can see a big hole in the rock (circled in red)...


This is where I set the anemone when I first put it in the tank. Lucky for me, he seems to like it there and over the first few days, he backed up into the hole and his foot has grabbed on pretty strong. Now with the closed loop pump back on (an additional 1,400 GPH), he just flows back and forth all day long, and occasionally there seems to be a good blast that blows his oral disc up from the rock, and I can see his foot attached very well to the rock. He doesn't move.

Last night, I cut a small piece of scallop and soaked it in selcon for an hour. I gently placed it right in the middle of the nem, and it instantly closed around the scallop piece and about 20 minutes later, it was gone.

Looks like he's healthy... hope he stays that way.

Now if I could only get my clowns to host the nem I would be VERY happy. I think I might actually try the picture method (as crazy as it sounds).

-Scott

[scrapz]

looking good! you put more work in then i have on my 180g, lol.

[scbauer]

Yea, well just because I put in the work doesn't mean a good outcome.

Actually, for me, building the tank is just as much fun as stocking it and maintaining it.

-Scott

[scrapz]

let me show u my outcome.. lol



I'm just bought a bunch of equipment so I'm reworking the whole garage. If only I wasn't renting I could actually put up walls..

[scbauer]

I remember when I was renting, all I wanted to do was buy a house so I could build a tank into the wall.

By the way scrapz, I really like that Ranco temp controller... interested in selling it.

-Scott

[scbauer]

Pictures (and maybe a movie) to come tonight, but when I woke up this morning, you'll never guess what I found... Okay, maybe you will guess, but that doesn't matter because I'm going to tell you... One of the clowns has hosted the anemone! He looked so cute just swimming around in it. I yelled upstairs to my wife and she came running. It's funny how excited we get over funny stuff like this.

-Scott

[scrapz]

Originally Posted by scbauer

Pictures (and maybe a movie) to come tonight, but when I woke up this morning, you'll never guess what I found... Okay, maybe you will guess, but that doesn't matter because I'm going to tell you... One of the clowns has hosted the anemone! He looked so cute just swimming around in it. I yelled upstairs to my wife and she came running. It's funny how excited we get over funny stuff like this.

-Scott

congrats, its a amazing site to see. It took my clown over a year just to host, now they are inseparable. Even after moving the anemone to a different tank for months, once he was put back in my main tank, instant connection!

[scbauer]

Originally Posted by scrapz

congrats, its a amazing site to see. It took my clown over a year just to host, now they are inseparable. Even after moving the anemone to a different tank for months, once he was put back in my main tank, instant connection!

My last pair of clowns I had for 2 years before I got them an anemone, and it literally took about 30 seconds for them to jump in once I had introduced the anemone.

I know other people have a hard time, so I was worried when these new guys ignored the anemone for the first few days. Now that one has gone in, I'm guessing it is only a matter of days (if that) before the second clown joins #1. In fact, this morning when I was shooting a little video, the clown who has already hosted the anemone actually swam out to meet the other clown and I swear if he could talk he would have said "Hey dude, come check out my new house... it's AWESOME! You should come live with me in this sweet anemone."

-Scott

[scbauer]

Okay, update time. The second clown now swims right next to the nem all day. His tail touches the nems tentacles (I think that's what they're called), but he doesn't go in. It's almost like he is guarding the nem and the other clown.

Next update, our local reef club had a meeting/auction today and I picked up 6 frags. There were 3 different monti's, a ricordia, a birdsnest, and an awesome purple tort. Can't wait for them to start growing.

-Scott

[scbauer]

double post

[scbauer]

quick update... I need to take some pictures of the frags I got because they are doing great.

I was amazed to see that the pink/orange birdsnest that I got actually glows a bright green when the MH turns off and just the actinic T5's are on.

The purple monti that I got about 5 months ago was doing great, then I turned the MH off most of the summer and changed the T5's to 2 actinic and 2 daylights. The monti just about died. I thought it was completely dead, but since I've turned the MH back on (thanks to the air conditioner), the purple monti is coming back to life. Last week there I saw about 3 polyps extending. Now there are about 10. I think it will make a full recovery.

The red/orange monti that I got last weekend seems to be doing really well. Great polyp extension and the orange color is really nice. Unfortunately, I put them in a spot where they're really hard to see when viewing the tank, so I might have to move them, or just wait until they grow big enough that they are more visible.

The bright green/yellow monti cap is my second favorite coral right now, it looks amazing under the MH, and it is unreal with just the actinic on. I can't even explain it... hopefully it will grow to be a huge cap right in the middle of my tank.

The ricordia is still my favorite. The blue/green/purple/red/orange/pink colors continue to amaze me. How did I not know how cool riccordia are until last month?

Finally, the green BTA is doing great (I think). It has fully deflated 2 or 3 times now, and every time I get worried thinking it is going to die, but by the next day, it is back to full size. I actually think it's getting bigger. The first time it deflated, as it started to open back up, I could have swore it had 2 mouths, so I assumed it was going to split. Well, it hasn't yet, but I have a funny feeling it might just do that. I'll keep you updated.

I started work on my fuge last night. It's on the opposite side of my "fish room" ("fish cubby" is probably a more appropriate term), so this means some plumbing is required. I bought a 10 gallon tank from Petsmart, drilled 2 holes and installed the bulkheads. The lower bulkhead will be the primary drain and the second bulkhead will simply be a backup. I would really hate for one drain to get clogged and the pump just keeps pumping water out of the sump into the fuge, only to be overflowing onto the floor of the fish room.

I drew my thoughts onto the side of the tank...


One other AWESOME update... I bought an AquaController 3 to upgrade my AC Jr. The two primary differences are the ability to monitor ORP and the Ethernet port. I'm now happy to say that I can check the status of any of my timers (lights on, chiller off, etc...) from my iPhone. The new iPhone app for the AquaController is AWESOME! It even has some nice charts so I can watch my temp, pH, and ORP. I'm thinking my chiller is working, what do you think?


-Scott

[scbauer]

Okay, did a lot of work this weekend. Fuge is almost completely plumbed, so it should be running by next week (anybody want to send me a zip-loc bag full of chaeto or caulerpa - or both).

AC3 is officially running the show now. I adjusted the program... everything went down by 2 degrees, so the tank will be run a little cooler now (I'll probably program it to run warmer in the summer to save on the power bill). For those interested, here is the program:

Timers:

LT1$-F07 // 250W DE HQI Metal Halide
LT2$-F08 // 96W T5 Actinic (4 x 24W)
MON$-F11 // 7W Incandescent moon light
PM1#-F01 // Mag 7 Sump Return thru Chiller
PM2#-F04 // Iwaki MD-40 Closed Loop
PM3#-F05 // Mag 2 to UV/Carbon/Fuge
HET%-F06 // 300W Titanium Heater
CHL%-F03 // Current Prime 1/3 HP Chiller
NET&-F10 // 802.11n Wireless Bridge
ALM&-F09 // Timer for Alarm

Program:

If Time > 00:00       Then PM1 ON // Sump return always on
If Time > 13:00       Then LT1 ON // Halide on from 1 to 7pm
If Time > 19:00       Then LT1 OFF 
If Time > 09:00       Then LT2 ON // T5 Actinic on from 9 to 11
If Time > 23:00       Then LT2 OFF 
If Time > 04:05       Then NET OFF // Reboot the network bridge once per day
If Time > 04:15       Then NET ON 
If Moon 000/000      Then MON ON // moonlight on per moon calendar
If Temp  > 80.0      Then CHL ON // chiller on when temp over 80.0
If Temp  < 79.0      Then CHL OFF // chiller off when temp down to 79.0
If Temp  < 77.5      Then HET ON // heater on when temp below 77.5
If Temp  > 78.5      Then HET OFF // heater off when temp over 78.5
If Temp  > 80.5      Then PM2 OFF // turn off closed loop pump if temp over 80.5
If Temp  < 80.0      Then PM2 ON 
If Temp  > 81.0      Then PM3 OFF // turn Mag 2 and UV off if temp over 81.0
If Temp  < 80.5      Then PM3 ON 
If Temp  > 82.5      Then LT1 OFF // turn Metal Halide off if temp over 82.5
If Temp  > 83.0      Then LT2 OFF // turn T5's off if temp over 83.0
Max Change 010 M      Then CHL ON // max change on chiller is 10 minutes
Max Change 010 M      Then PM2 OFF // max change on Iwaki is 10 minutes
Max Change 005 M      Then PM3 OFF // max change on Mag 2 is 5 minutes
Max Change 020 M      Then LT1 OFF // max change on Metal Halide is 20 minutes
Max Change 010 M      Then LT2 OFF // max change on T5's is 10 minutes
If FeedA 000         Then PM2 OFF // feed turns off closed loop pump
If Time > 00:00       Then ALM OFF // alarm off by default
If ORP   < 250         Then ALM ON // alarm on if ORP less than 250
If ORP   > 400         Then ALM ON // alarm on if ORP more than 400
If pH    > 08.60       Then ALM ON // alarm on if pH more than 8.60
If pH    < 08.00       Then ALM ON // alarm on if pH less than 8.00
If Temp  > 83.0      Then ALM ON // alarm on if temp more than 83.0
If Temp  < 77.5      Then ALM ON // alarm on if temp less than 77.5

I started another thread here, but feel free to critique my program right here on my build thread.

I also took a few pictures... hope you enjoy.

Looking down the valley:


Baffles siliconed into place in the fuge. Water enters on the left, forced to go down, then goes up over the second baffle into the return section. Only about 200 GPH going through this, should be nice and slow for stuff to settle and for macro algae to suck out all the nutrients:


Way too much work for a simple drain, but redundancy is necessary and space is at a minimum:


The new AC3 installed (sorry for the poor quality, these pictures were taken with my phone):


My high-tech probe holder:


My salinity hanging out at around 50 mS:


Clown hosting the GBTA (under the 10,000K halide the green isn't really visible, but when just the actinics are on, wow... for this reason alone, I may upgrade my bulb to a 12,000K or 14,000K):


Another picture, this one taken at night using a flashlight:


More flashlight photography. The polyps actually receeded quite a bit once I started shining the light onto the coral:


Last one for now. The night flashlight doesn't really do this ricordea (sp?) justice, but I still like the picture:


-Scott

[scbauer]

P.S. - Welcome back to the WIAGAS club, Scott.

[psteeleb]

haha - just checking in and you gave me a giggle with the WIAGAS
I'm having reef withdrawels and want to get another one going soon.

[scbauer]

Originally Posted by psteeleb

haha - just checking in and you gave me a giggle with the WIAGAS
I'm having reef withdrawels and want to get another one going soon.

Glad I could make you laugh. . What happened to your tank?

[scbauer]

Finished the fuge today. Leak tested and passed. Filled with water, then salt. It's now running On a closed loop separate from the tank for tonight. There is a big ball of chaeto in the fuge and it has all sorts of pods and clams living in it. Tomorrow I connecct it to the main system if there are no problems tonight.

-Scott

[psteeleb]

Originally Posted by scbauer

Glad I could make you laugh. . What happened to your tank?

a seam split between the front and left panes and the double eurobracing apparently failed. of course it happened when I was out of town and at 1:00 in the morning. My wife just happened to be up and called me, I called a good freind and he came to help my wife and son pull the corals and drain water. the electrical tripped, but they drain the tank past the leak, we shut down the major pumps etc and ran just the closed loop for the night. the next day 3 other local reef freinds came buy and removed the rest of the live rock, fish, corals, etc. I got home the next weekend and cleaned up a few more things and set up a 100g tub with my skimmer for some of the live rock

the tank still has about a foot of water in it and there is still some live stuff growing in it along with the sand bed. my livestock is at 4 other locations. not everything made it but with the help of others I was very fortunate not to lose the whole thing. I'm looking to set up a 4' tank for the interum and may go bback into the 300plus size tank later on but want to get my job situation more stable where I will be home more.

[scbauer]

Oh wow, that's awful. I have nightmares about that happening... don't know what I would do if it happened while I was out of town as I'm pretty sure my wife would call me and say something like "your fish tank exploded, water is everywhere, I told you not to build that fish tank, I'm going to bed"

-Scott

[flying_dutchman]

Tagging along, do you have a far away shot?

[chrismunn]

[scbauer]

RIP GBTA. Not sure what happened, but woke up Monday morning to see the GBTA had died. I took a look at my AC3 log and found the ORP had dropped VERY low around 1:00 am and then recovered around 5:00 am. I'm not sure if the anemone died because the ORP dropped, or if the ORP dropped because the anemone died. Thoughts? I'm posting another thread over on the Anemone/Clown forum.





-Scott

[flying_dutchman]

Sorry to hear about your GBTA

[chrismunn]

:thumbsdown:

[mdt178]

Hey whassup Scott!