Atomikk's 65 Reef - Page 7

Atomikk · 08/26/2005, 01:17 PM

Ok, got the rocks today. They are SOOOO nice. The best base rocks you can ever find! They will seed easily, and will look nice once covered with coralline.

I also reaquascaped my tank... soo pictues are coming of the full tank!

donfishy76 · 08/26/2005, 01:51 PM

lets see the tank then

also, how is the blue sea star doing?

Atomikk · 08/26/2005, 04:28 PM

Not so good. I think I made a terrible mistake.

I will post pics tonight when I get back home from work.

Atomikk · 08/26/2005, 08:42 PM

OK, you got it...

I will give you guys some BEFORE and AFTER pics...

LOL... the first tank shot...

Although I really like the way it looks, I might just redo the left side of the tank. I also removed some rock and placed it in the sump.

.. now to closer pics...

Right side of the tank. Really nice shots of the rocks I got (they are the white ones

)

The side I am going to touch up.

My frogspawn going to sleep.

Atomikk · 08/30/2005, 04:33 PM

Well.. today I was getting my DIY auto top-off installed. So I needed a couple of parts from the lfs. I ended up venturing over to a LFS right next to the one I usually go to. I looked around and found a CBB for sale ($20). I asked the owner how long he's had him, and he said 3 weeks. I also asked him to feed him, and he did with brine shrimp. The CBB didnt have any problems devouring everything that was given to him. At 2.5", he was MINE!! Sold, in seconds. I told him to find me a big bag and to put at least a gal of tank water to relieve stress.

I got home and acclimated him first 30min for temp, and then 2 hrs salinity/ph acclimation. All done via DIY dripper. I dropped him in, and first he was shy (of course). Then within 5 minutes, he was roaming around looking for food. 3 hrs later, I fed him (and everyone else) brine shrimp, and they all loved it. Here are some pics of the new guy...

Looking for food...

Coming out to say hi....

ga_reefer_guy · 08/30/2005, 06:48 PM

Atomikk

Good looking tank. I hope setting up my 65 goes as well as yours has.

ga_reefer_guy · 08/30/2005, 06:50 PM

How long is your hang on fuge I wanted to get a 24" model but I'm not sure if it would be able to fit with the overflow and all

SaltyMember · 08/30/2005, 07:13 PM

Looks good Atomikk. I like the rockwork. I need to redo mine.

Atomikk · 08/30/2005, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ga_reefer_guy
Atomikk

Good looking tank. I hope setting up my 65 goes as well as yours has.

Hey thanks man. I did have some pitfalls. But overall its been good and pricey.

I do have the 24" HOB fuge. It fits nicely on the back. The only thing is that I had to mod the plastic frame on top of my tank to fit the bulkheads from the fuge. I get nice flow into it with my MJ400. The benefits of the HOB is that you are not blasting pods up 2' from the ground. I bet their survival rate from that is 50/50.

Atomikk · 08/30/2005, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by SaltyMember
Looks good Atomikk. I like the rockwork. I need to redo mine.

Thanks Salty. The left side is waiting for a nice piece from reeferrocks.com . Its going to be a plateau-like piece. The cave like rockwork provides fish with lots of space to look for food. Also it will create cool looking reefscape once the corals settle in.

When you do yours, please post your pics here.

mrreuben · 08/30/2005, 09:35 PM

yup yup, its coming along pretty nicely. In a few weeks once i move ill be setting up my new tank. I will make sure to start a thread like this one so all you guys can check it out.

ga_reefer_guy · 08/30/2005, 09:47 PM

I forgot to ask you Atomikk what are you growing in the fuge cheato and where did the fuge from?

Atomikk · 08/30/2005, 11:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ga_reefer_guy
I forgot to ask you Atomikk what are you growing in the fuge cheato and where did the fuge from?

I got some regular Caulerpa and Grape Caulerpa, with a small ball of Cheato. Got a cucumber in there for add filtration.

Atomikk · 08/30/2005, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by mrreuben
yup yup, its coming along pretty nicely. In a few weeks once i move ill be setting up my new tank. I will make sure to start a thread like this one so all you guys can check it out.

Sounds great. Keep me updated.

Atomikk · 09/01/2005, 08:09 PM

The totals so far.. and they say this hobby is not that expensive..

Lets see... and this is in canadian funds...

65gal Tank w/ overflow : 220
Stand : 100
Canopy : 0
XM Bulbs : 240
Red Sea Berlin Skimmer : 240
RO/DI 24gpd : 220 (bad deal)
Overflow plumbing : 70
Other plumbing : 100
HOB 10g Refugium: 160
30g Sump (Tank) : 50
2 mag 7 pumps : 260
LR 33lbs : 300
DR 50lbs : 180
Bat Reflector w/ 2VHO and 2MH sockets: 100
PFO dual ballast : 120
Test Kits (Ca, other I already had): 20
Additives (Garlic, Iodide, Strontium, Kalk) : 65
Miracle Mud : 60
MaxiJet 2x400, 600: 70
Corals, Fish, Inverts : somewhere in the 300 range
(I might have missed something)
Yeah DUH! Red Sea Salt 2x: 50
CaribSea Aragonite 60lb : 65
TOTAL SO FAR : $2980 Canadian or $2515 US

Atomikk · 09/02/2005, 09:32 PM

OK, so my light system finally arrived. I caught the UPS guy and made sure that he delivered it! Freaking had to pay $100 CAN for brokerage fees. Never again will use UPS!

Anyhow.. the light installation was easy and it ran without a hitch. I let only 1 250w MH light on and the difference was amazing!! I couldnt believe how much clear white light there was! Within 1 hr eveything that I had (coral wise) perked up towards the light. Its unreal. I didnt even need the second light.

But, I still wanted to see how it looks with two 250s. It was freaking bright to the point of "who needs this much light". I had the bulbs roughly 8-10" from the water surface. I figure that I might just run 1 light for now until i get into heavy SPS.

I will definitely post some pics tomorrow when the lights in the tank come on.

Another thing I did today. My CBB was found to have some small outbreak of ich. He is eating fine now (i tricked him into eating mysis shrimp from a crevace in the rock), but still scratches from time to time. I found this product by www.nosickfish.com called 'ICK' and was coral and invert safe. The bottle was less than 40ml and ran for 65$ CAN (and that was the cheapest I found it to be, its 45$ US on their website). I had testimonials from fellow reefers (in Toronto), and store owners rave about this product. Apparently 1 drop treats 25g of water. So I bought it and put it in my tank. I am praying for good results. I will keep you all updated on how he is doing and the effects (long term and short term) of this medication.

Atomikk · 09/03/2005, 11:09 AM

OK The PICS are here...

My GSP in MH

My CBB looking at my GSP

Ohh my 'little' horseshoe crab.. moving that sandbed around...

The PFO ballast. The thing is HUGE!

My temporary assignment of the reflector. I will soon build a new canopy.

Another shot of the reflector.

Tank at 3.5 months ( i think)...

Side shot... the lights make it look BIG.

Group shot.. i guess they were all dying for attantion...

Atomikk · 09/03/2005, 11:10 AM

And oh yeah, that tank is lit with 1 MH, not 2. I am debating whether I should even use it.

Scuba Oz · 09/03/2005, 12:24 PM

looking good. Glad you decided to go with the reefer rocks, in no time they will be covered in coraline for you.

Atomikk · 09/03/2005, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Scuba Oz
looking good. Glad you decided to go with the reefer rocks, in no time they will be covered in coraline for you.

They are amazing eh? I cant believe how porous they are. There are so many crevaces that my CBB doesnt know where too look for food first.

J Engelken · 09/03/2005, 01:27 PM

I only run 1 250 mh on mine with 2 36w pc and it seems to do fine

Nuhtty · 09/03/2005, 07:40 PM

A MH generally has a 2 foot coverage area.

You may have some darker spots at the sides but 2 may be too much

looking good

come a long way from earlier on (when i was giving you so much crap)

good luck with the CBB...they are tough

Atomikk · 09/04/2005, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Nuhtty
A MH generally has a 2 foot coverage area.

You may have some darker spots at the sides but 2 may be too much

looking good

come a long way from earlier on (when i was giving you so much crap)

good luck with the CBB...they are tough

Well thats a nice change

. I will only run 1 for now unless I get into heavy sps (which is likely). For the LPS and soft corals, I will leave only 1 MH. As for the temp increase in the tank, I have witnessed maybe a 1 degree rise... thats it. So the height of the lights is good.

I think the trick with the CBB is to get it to eat the food oyu put inside the rocks. When I bought him, he was eating well in the store. The problem with that is, when he enters my tank (with rocks in it), he forgets to eat out of the water column and starts to swim around the rocks. His natural instincts are to hunt for food within rocks' crevices. So now, I have to get him to eat mysis or brine shrimp from the crevices. Its working so far.

The ick medication seems to be working or at least it seems to be containing the ich on the CBB. There are no new spots. He is hungry, and not lethargic. He is a very active fellow.

Atomikk · 09/06/2005, 08:50 PM

Here are the updates. The CBB is very, VERY picky at what he wants to eat. He is still active and 'hungry'. The ick is almost all gone (I think). There is still a small patch on the rear fin that cant seem to go away. Its been 5 days, I think, since I started with the medication. I will monitor that patch closely. He doesnt have any dots anywhere except there, so we will see.

As for his eating, man its hard. I even tried tricking him by placing food in the rocks. He does bite into some mysis here and there but that is it. So today I bought some mussels, shrimp, scallops, and salmon fillet. I put in a single mussel and he didnt even sniff it. SO I made him a home-made recipe that I found on the net.

You blend : 5-10 scallops, 50g of Salmon fillet, 4 Shrimp, 3 Mussels (Oysters, Clams), 1 Nori, 10-20 drops of Concitrated Garlic Extract and Salt Water (from tank).

You get an icecube tray, and pour the mush into it. Freeze it and feed accordingly. I test ran the mush recipe into the Cichlid tank, and it was gone in less than 8 sec.

We will see how the CBB will like this ultimate fish recipe. Even I thought about eating the mush (just dump in on the pan, and eat it) .

Also tomorrow I will venture into making the 2 Part calcium doser. I will keep you posted with pics...

Atomikk · 09/07/2005, 04:09 PM

OK I am officially FRUSTRATED with CBB's eating BS. Right now I have tried everything but shoving food down his mouth. I have tried Mysis (eats one or two at a time), brine shrimp, UltraRecipe (Scallop, Mussle, Shrimp, Salmon, Nori and Garlic), live Mussle, live clam, Omega One flake food....... still NOTHING. He is still hungry looking around the rocks for food (feather dusters, worms). He is still active. He even looks at my hand with food and swims away (he actually comes 1/2" from my hand, and swims away).

I am down to my last hope .. PE Mysis. Apparently people said that it is the ultimate CBB 'prepared' food. If that doesnt work, I am going for live baby shrimp... or I donno what. I am really reaching for help and hope.

He is ick free, but still has a small white patch (fungus?) on his tail fin. I dont think it has a major effect on his eating pattern, but who knows...

08/30/2005, 06:48 PM	#156
ga_reefer_guy Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Bainbridge, Ga Posts: 158	Atomikk Good looking tank. I hope setting up my 65 goes as well as yours has. __________________ Gerard "It takes time to succeed because success is merely the natural reward of taking the time to do anything well" Current Tank Info: 55 gal freswater, Starting first reef slooooooooowly

08/30/2005, 06:50 PM	#157
ga_reefer_guy Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Bainbridge, Ga Posts: 158	How long is your hang on fuge I wanted to get a 24" model but I'm not sure if it would be able to fit with the overflow and all __________________ Gerard "It takes time to succeed because success is merely the natural reward of taking the time to do anything well" Current Tank Info: 55 gal freswater, Starting first reef slooooooooowly

08/30/2005, 09:35 PM	#161
mrreuben Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Reading Pa Posts: 295	yup yup, its coming along pretty nicely. In a few weeks once i move ill be setting up my new tank. I will make sure to start a thread like this one so all you guys can check it out. __________________ if you got questions bout pipes. im your man Current Tank Info: 70 gal oceanic rr, outer orbit 36" 150w mh 2x 96w pc attinics, 20 gal long tank turned into my sump, mag 9.5 sump return pump, little giant 3mdqx-sc used for my closed loop.

08/30/2005, 09:47 PM	#162
ga_reefer_guy Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Bainbridge, Ga Posts: 158	I forgot to ask you Atomikk what are you growing in the fuge cheato and where did the fuge from? __________________ Gerard "It takes time to succeed because success is merely the natural reward of taking the time to do anything well" Current Tank Info: 55 gal freswater, Starting first reef slooooooooowly

09/03/2005, 12:24 PM	#169
Scuba Oz Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 3,133	looking good. Glad you decided to go with the reefer rocks, in no time they will be covered in coraline for you. __________________ Never be too shy to ask for help Current Tank Info: 12g nano, 37g,175g,25g,54g

08/26/2005, 01:17 PM	#151
Atomikk SPS OG Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Toronto Posts: 1,282	Ok, got the rocks today. They are SOOOO nice. The best base rocks you can ever find! They will seed easily, and will look nice once covered with coralline. I also reaquascaped my tank... soo pictues are coming of the full tank!

08/26/2005, 01:51 PM	#152
donfishy76 Moved On Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 667	lets see the tank then also, how is the blue sea star doing?

08/26/2005, 04:28 PM	#153
Atomikk SPS OG Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Toronto Posts: 1,282	Not so good. I think I made a terrible mistake. I will post pics tonight when I get back home from work.

08/26/2005, 08:42 PM	#154
Atomikk SPS OG Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Toronto Posts: 1,282	OK, you got it... I will give you guys some BEFORE and AFTER pics... LOL... the first tank shot... Although I really like the way it looks, I might just redo the left side of the tank. I also removed some rock and placed it in the sump. .. now to closer pics... Right side of the tank. Really nice shots of the rocks I got (they are the white ones ) The side I am going to touch up. My frogspawn going to sleep.

08/30/2005, 04:33 PM	#155
Atomikk SPS OG Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Toronto Posts: 1,282	Well.. today I was getting my DIY auto top-off installed. So I needed a couple of parts from the lfs. I ended up venturing over to a LFS right next to the one I usually go to. I looked around and found a CBB for sale ($20). I asked the owner how long he's had him, and he said 3 weeks. I also asked him to feed him, and he did with brine shrimp. The CBB didnt have any problems devouring everything that was given to him. At 2.5", he was MINE!! Sold, in seconds. I told him to find me a big bag and to put at least a gal of tank water to relieve stress. I got home and acclimated him first 30min for temp, and then 2 hrs salinity/ph acclimation. All done via DIY dripper. I dropped him in, and first he was shy (of course). Then within 5 minutes, he was roaming around looking for food. 3 hrs later, I fed him (and everyone else) brine shrimp, and they all loved it. Here are some pics of the new guy... Looking for food... Coming out to say hi....

08/30/2005, 07:13 PM	#158
SaltyMember Premium Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: NJ Posts: 1,355	Looks good Atomikk. I like the rockwork. I need to redo mine.

09/01/2005, 08:09 PM	#165
Atomikk SPS OG Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Toronto Posts: 1,282	The totals so far.. and they say this hobby is not that expensive.. Lets see... and this is in canadian funds... 65gal Tank w/ overflow : 220 Stand : 100 Canopy : 0 XM Bulbs : 240 Red Sea Berlin Skimmer : 240 RO/DI 24gpd : 220 (bad deal) Overflow plumbing : 70 Other plumbing : 100 HOB 10g Refugium: 160 30g Sump (Tank) : 50 2 mag 7 pumps : 260 LR 33lbs : 300 DR 50lbs : 180 Bat Reflector w/ 2VHO and 2MH sockets: 100 PFO dual ballast : 120 Test Kits (Ca, other I already had): 20 Additives (Garlic, Iodide, Strontium, Kalk) : 65 Miracle Mud : 60 MaxiJet 2x400, 600: 70 Corals, Fish, Inverts : somewhere in the 300 range (I might have missed something) Yeah DUH! Red Sea Salt 2x: 50 CaribSea Aragonite 60lb : 65 TOTAL SO FAR : $2980 Canadian or $2515 US

09/02/2005, 09:32 PM	#166
Atomikk SPS OG Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Toronto Posts: 1,282	OK, so my light system finally arrived. I caught the UPS guy and made sure that he delivered it! Freaking had to pay $100 CAN for brokerage fees. Never again will use UPS! Anyhow.. the light installation was easy and it ran without a hitch. I let only 1 250w MH light on and the difference was amazing!! I couldnt believe how much clear white light there was! Within 1 hr eveything that I had (coral wise) perked up towards the light. Its unreal. I didnt even need the second light. But, I still wanted to see how it looks with two 250s. It was freaking bright to the point of "who needs this much light". I had the bulbs roughly 8-10" from the water surface. I figure that I might just run 1 light for now until i get into heavy SPS. I will definitely post some pics tomorrow when the lights in the tank come on. Another thing I did today. My CBB was found to have some small outbreak of ich. He is eating fine now (i tricked him into eating mysis shrimp from a crevace in the rock), but still scratches from time to time. I found this product by www.nosickfish.com called 'ICK' and was coral and invert safe. The bottle was less than 40ml and ran for 65$ CAN (and that was the cheapest I found it to be, its 45$ US on their website). I had testimonials from fellow reefers (in Toronto), and store owners rave about this product. Apparently 1 drop treats 25g of water. So I bought it and put it in my tank. I am praying for good results. I will keep you all updated on how he is doing and the effects (long term and short term) of this medication.

09/03/2005, 11:09 AM	#167
Atomikk SPS OG Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Toronto Posts: 1,282	OK The PICS are here... My GSP in MH My CBB looking at my GSP Ohh my 'little' horseshoe crab.. moving that sandbed around... The PFO ballast. The thing is HUGE! My temporary assignment of the reflector. I will soon build a new canopy. Another shot of the reflector. Tank at 3.5 months ( i think)... Side shot... the lights make it look BIG. Group shot.. i guess they were all dying for attantion...

09/03/2005, 11:10 AM	#168
Atomikk SPS OG Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Toronto Posts: 1,282	And oh yeah, that tank is lit with 1 MH, not 2. I am debating whether I should even use it.

09/03/2005, 01:27 PM	#171
J Engelken Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Indianapolis Posts: 12	mh I only run 1 250 mh on mine with 2 36w pc and it seems to do fine

09/03/2005, 07:40 PM	#172
Nuhtty Moved On Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 7,022	A MH generally has a 2 foot coverage area. You may have some darker spots at the sides but 2 may be too much looking good come a long way from earlier on (when i was giving you so much crap) good luck with the CBB...they are tough

09/06/2005, 08:50 PM	#174
Atomikk SPS OG Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Toronto Posts: 1,282	Here are the updates. The CBB is very, VERY picky at what he wants to eat. He is still active and 'hungry'. The ick is almost all gone (I think). There is still a small patch on the rear fin that cant seem to go away. Its been 5 days, I think, since I started with the medication. I will monitor that patch closely. He doesnt have any dots anywhere except there, so we will see. As for his eating, man its hard. I even tried tricking him by placing food in the rocks. He does bite into some mysis here and there but that is it. So today I bought some mussels, shrimp, scallops, and salmon fillet. I put in a single mussel and he didnt even sniff it. SO I made him a home-made recipe that I found on the net. You blend : 5-10 scallops, 50g of Salmon fillet, 4 Shrimp, 3 Mussels (Oysters, Clams), 1 Nori, 10-20 drops of Concitrated Garlic Extract and Salt Water (from tank). You get an icecube tray, and pour the mush into it. Freeze it and feed accordingly. I test ran the mush recipe into the Cichlid tank, and it was gone in less than 8 sec. We will see how the CBB will like this ultimate fish recipe. Even I thought about eating the mush (just dump in on the pan, and eat it) . Also tomorrow I will venture into making the 2 Part calcium doser. I will keep you posted with pics...

09/07/2005, 04:09 PM	#175
Atomikk SPS OG Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Toronto Posts: 1,282	OK I am officially FRUSTRATED with CBB's eating BS. Right now I have tried everything but shoving food down his mouth. I have tried Mysis (eats one or two at a time), brine shrimp, UltraRecipe (Scallop, Mussle, Shrimp, Salmon, Nori and Garlic), live Mussle, live clam, Omega One flake food....... still NOTHING. He is still hungry looking around the rocks for food (feather dusters, worms). He is still active. He even looks at my hand with food and swims away (he actually comes 1/2" from my hand, and swims away). I am down to my last hope .. PE Mysis. Apparently people said that it is the ultimate CBB 'prepared' food. If that doesnt work, I am going for live baby shrimp... or I donno what. I am really reaching for help and hope. He is ick free, but still has a small white patch (fungus?) on his tail fin. I dont think it has a major effect on his eating pattern, but who knows...