65 Gallon Project

[BigJPDC]

I can't believe photobucket is free.

Here is a better shot of the hermit periscope. The fan is retracted, but you can see the red inside. It's acting drunk now from all the flashes so I am going to leave him alone.



jp

[ek9vboi]

lol, some of my hermits have feather dusters on them as well. I really like your closed loop idea. The mix of black and white sand just hides the outlet, which looks really good not to mention the black pvc.

[BigJPDC]

thank you Eric - I didn't know the jets would dig so much under the rock, so maybe they should be a little taller or not so directly facing the rock pile, but so far having water flow on the sand seems to be working out.

[BigJPDC]

my apologies to nrb, I usually keep mine, LH's and his thread open at the same time, and I posted all of this thinking it was into my own tank thread. geez what a moroon.

[newreefbishop]

Not a problem my friend, my thread is your thread......only a mod can delete it, but no harm done at all.....I actually like em

[newreefbishop]

Looks like it took you awhile though so with that being said your gonna have to get back to work I have dont this a few times myself.

[BigJPDC]

thanks man, I asked the mods to clean out those posts.
I still can't believe a hermit has a feather duster living on it, and it's red. It looks like he's trying to send a message home about all the bubbles in the tank. lol

jp

[newreefbishop]

I noticed.....bet you have a bunch of feather dusters all over those rocks.

[BigJPDC]

Yeah, I posted the hermit pics in another thread. =)

I haven't seen any other hitchhiker life in the tank, so this featherduster must have come from the LFS. I am surprised given how the rock looked when I first took it out of the box, but the upside is that I didn't have much of a cycle as a result.

[newreefbishop]

Dont worry, I can almost say with some degree of certainty, that withing a few months the rock will be covered with life. The Coraline will grow out tremendously, and once you start buying corals, etc depending on what they are mounted on you will start seeing more life. I have a huge quantity of fan worms, various sizes and colors, that just "popped up" in the last month or so.

[BigJPDC]

I don't know if I'll make it past the exit for the LFS today, but I really gotta get this plumbing situation worked out - can you post a pic of your overflow and return plumbing? I think we have the same return pump, eheim 1260?

[newreefbishop]

I actually have a quiteone pump....great pump, low wattge high velocity. As far as the plumping remember its going to change, I will take pics when I get home, its rather simple, I use hoses, one directly to the return and once from overflow.

[theoceandoor]

looks good, add the halides for sure and you will get fast growth of the coraline alage

[newreefbishop]

Thanks ocean.....its a work in progress, a little bit of an obsession, its getting to be where I want but not quite there yet. I say another year or so, and I can sit back and start planning my 125 gallon system.

[newreefbishop]

Ok so updates updates update, this Sunday I went fishing at one of my local secret locations, I dare not name it for fear of a bunch of people showing up and fishing it dry. I didnt intend on doing anything but just catch and release, but a school of atlantic blues swam by me, and I tossed I caught a small juvi, which I tossed large bucket, and after looking at it decided to keep it.

Needless to say, I took it home and acclimated it, and into a holding system. So far so good. Its eating and getting along well with the other inhabitants, I must say though that a larger tank is in the works for sure now. Hopefuly this time next year Ill be moving up to a 125 gallon system. That will probably be my last fish for a looooooong time. He is beautiful....

Apart from that everything is coming along and growing extremely well. I cant wait to see what happens in a few weeks with the halides....

[BigJPDC]

wow - a wild fish at home? How cool is that? You'll have to put up a pic.

jp

[ek9vboi]

Go big or go home. Might as well set up and 210.

[Liquid Hobby]

Very cool! It was catch and release, you caught it and released it into your tank! Won't a blue get really big, at least for an aquarium? That 210 may be the way to go!

[Divetime]

newreefbishop - How cool Definitly post a few pics on the new wild addition.

When I set up my tank years ago it was cheaper for me to catch fish out of the Gulf. My first attempt at a saltwater aquarium had a few triggers, black snappers, puffers, groupers, Mullet, etc. All locally caught. For food they received live shrimp from the bait & tackle shop. The tank eventually was broken down but fun while it lasted

[newreefbishop]

Well while he is a Juvi I will keep him.... According to the wife I can go as big as we can afford.....a 210 as much as I would love it....would be way too much....So he may probably be up for sale in the next 6 months....

From what I was reading though a 110 - 125 would be a suitable home.....

[newreefbishop]

OK so some not so good news....I come home today, eager to see how the tang is doing and my yellow tang is flat out attacking him to the point where I can see where scales are removed....I was very disappointed, in a rush I took him out of the tank and put him in a bag, got on the phone and took him to a friends house. He has a 350 gallon system mostly coral. He will stay there for the next year baring any disasters, he will be back once I rebuild my system next year. Im extremely disappointed after looking at pics today of what he will become.

On another note I snuck and found out the wife has ordered my lights , Im going to see if she will give it to me before Christmas day.....

[BigJPDC]

Look at you sneaking your Christmas presents. What does the holding system look like? I would imagine you would QT for a while if it was wild, plus to recover from any injury and stress in the catch and transport.

Fishing in December, and putting livestock you catch into your own tank - I gotta move to Florida!

jp

[newreefbishop]

Well right now he has a 25 gallon QT system, he is holding it there for two weeks and treating with copper etc. from that point its going into hys 350 display. I live about 20 minutes from most of my fishing spots and if I took out the boat it would be about 45 minutes. But the way I catch fish for the tank, is using bait hooks, cast nest or squirt guns. The hooks are unbarbed and rather tiny. It does the least amount of damage when you hook em. I dont like using the net because you get too many at once the squirt gun works great when you scuba, or snorkel, even in December. This is actually my second wild inhabitant. The first got a little militant with my rockwork, and started pushing them all over....this one well he was down right beautiful. In time I will have him back and with some luck he will be in show colors and show size when I do get him back.

[BigJPDC]

Very cool nrb, taking the hobby to a new level.

jp

[newreefbishop]

So here are some pics, unless something changes these will probably be the last till I either get more coral, or my lights are put in....

As always I will start with a full tank shot....I LOVE ACTINICS

Closeup of Cleaner Shrimp

Ricordia, Devil Fingers, Polyps, Hammer

Zoos, Hammer

Close ups