Mike's 140 Cubish Build

[miwoodar]

I saw that you're just about to get some. Did you have Ki special order the group or were they in the store? Did you find a male too?

Do you happen to know if a seasoned copperband will accept a blue jaw trigger addition?

[spleify]

He ordered them he does ocassional wholesale orders, I ordered them on Monday, and they came in today. All female's, thats what I requested. I am excited to see one of them morph.

I don't know about the Copperband and the Blue jaw, but I'm sure someone with more experience will chime in.

Spleify

[miwoodar]

Nice. I'm looking forward to seeing how they work out in your tank. Watching one of them morph would be a special treat!

I just received a call from my brother. His buddy is looking to get rid of a 2" orange spot rabbit. I went to the fish forum and queried experiences with these fish. Many people seem to have had good experiences. Roughly an equal number seem to have had bad experiences with zoas, softies, and lps. I'm wondering if the bad experiences folks were being more vocal? Maybe that's just hopeful thinking on my part? I don't know if I should add it. Two fish at once already pushes my limit. All three of these fish would be coming from existing systems though. Hmmm. I don't know what to do. This choice would be a lot easier if one of them were in a rack at a store - I would simply pass until a later date.

[Mikeeal]

Sweet Mike those look good.

To answer your question, I do believe it was the 25 watter, however I only used it for a brief amount of time so I couldn't tell ya how long they last. The good news is they're so cheap to replace. I most definitely agree on the timers taking up room as well, they're almost a pain unless you have unlimited outlets.

Keep it up!!!

[porthios]

sweet, sweet build mike! tagging along..

[miwoodar]

Thanks porthios. More pics to come soon! The rough aquascape is complete. Sanding on the stand facade continued last night.

[miwoodar]

I did the rough cut of the aquascape a few days ago. Here is the revised support structure being foamed and painted.





I threw some sand on the paint as it was drying...


Drilling rocks. Very challenging. Live rock is brittle. I wasn't even using a hammer drill. I was very disappointed that my favorite rock, a concrete horseshoe with a red mille on the tip, cracked right in the center. It was supposed to be an unsupported overhang. So much for that idea.




Diving in! Good thing I'm not a plumber....


That's it for now. The water is clear but I'm not happy with the arrangement yet so you're going to have a to wait until I get back in and rearrange things a little more. I sanded the stand a little more this week but work got busy so I didn't have time to finish it.

[miwoodar]

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*******WARNING TO THOSE WHO FLY WITH FISH/CORAL!*******


I'm going to condense a 15 minute story into a few short paragraphs...I'm leaving out the specifics rather than ramble on for two pages.

If you're flying Frontier, they will not let you check a cooler of fish and corals no matter how well it's packed. In my case this was extra thick styrofoam boxes firmly secured inside of a rubbermaid cooler. The fish and corals were all triple bagged. A package like this *must* fly cargo and arrangements must be set up before you arrive at the airport.

They let me check a clearly marked 'live fish' cooler when I left Denver. I called Frontier and TSA before I left for the airport to confirm that this would be OK. Apparently the Frontier employee who told me it was OK was mistaken though. As I was checking in to return home the guy issuing my ticket wouldn't let me check it no ifs, ands, or buts. He said cargo only and proceeded to give me the incorrect telephone number to contact cargo. It didn't matter anyways because the cargo department was closed for the day. Long story short my brother had to come to the airport and collect the cooler so he could ship it via FedEx. It should arrive on Tuesday of this week. Bummer - I was so excited to get this stuff in the tank. I ended up scoring some awesome pieces and two very nice fish.

The cargo-only rule is a Frontier policy and may or may not have been adopted by other airlines. Frontier has also decided to disallow dogs or cats on the plane. Hmmm...the guy who checked in behind me had a Toto-dog in his carry on bag but somehow he got a ticket. I guess I was the only person the ticket guy felt like making an example out of.

My advice to you - either use cargo, FedEx, or check your cooler without labeling it live fish.


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[miwoodar]

Still waiting for the fish and coral to ship. I guess it's going to have to be next week since tomorrow is friday. At least everything is healthy and ready to go.

The stand facade and doors have been stained. Woo-hoo! Tomorrow is laquer and hinges. Soon after...a photo that doesn't include me with my shirt off.

I have a question for any skimmer builders out there. I'm planning my next skimmer and picked up some samples from Colbond to practice making mesh mods. They didn't have the P4fb listed. After looking at all the options I ended up with 7220fb and 7020. Are these right? They are a lot thicker than I had imagined they would be.

[erics3000]

Did you resin the foam for a little protection?

[miwoodar]

No. I couldn't decide what to do about resin and not to. In the end I looked at the structure I made last year very closely and it looked A-OK...no sponge effect...the foam was still strong and intact. I figured the Fusion paint would protect it enough (I didn't use anything to protect the last one) and called that George. Have you ever had any foam structures fall apart on you?

[Ratpack]

Very nice. I like the look of cube tanks.

[erics3000]

On my over flows I used foam but also added a few pieces of live rock and dead rock. i was hoping by mixing it a little it would seed faster. I had a few pieces come off when making a tunnel on the left side. It has been in for about 4-6 months and still looks good. People dont realize it is foam.

Next time I will use the black pond foam. The only other issue I get afraid of is poop build up behind it. I blow it ourt every once and a while but since I have rock piuled up to it I cant remove. It does give a hidding place for littler fish and it is my star fish home.

I cant wait for your update sand pics

[miwoodar]

What timing. I'm putting on the wax in a few minutes and will have the doors hung this evening.

I like the foamed PVC structure. It's wide open underneath. If I were a fish I would enjoy the ability to swim almost the entire length of the tank fully protected by the shelf above.

My box of fish and coral arrived this morning. I ended up with a 2.5" purple tang (in quarantine ATM), a 20K Lokani, a dark purple with teal acro frag, a number of awesome zoas, and an RTN'd superman monti the size of a baseball. All in all, a win. Frustrating that I couldn't bring everything back on the plane a few weeks ago though. I had a 4" tenennti (four weeks out of the ocean) and a 4" copper band butterfly that had been in my brother's tank for over a year in the disallowed cooler.

Pics to follow soon.

[IridescentLily]

Oh wow, sweet tank! Great job with the build.

[veloboy]

Mike, your build is swizzy! I'm a newbie and I've spent hundreds of hours on RC looking at build threads-yours is incredible! You and Spleify have inspired me to start my own build on a 70 tank. You wouldn't believe how often I consult your threads!

Couple questions if you get a chance: Any updates?!
Did you use 3/4 alder for the skin or is that 1/2? What kind of foam and paint did you use on the PVC support structure?

Please keep the updates comin! Thanks for sharing the pictures and experience!

Dan

[spleify]

To Reef Central

[miwoodar]

Thanks for the kind words Ratpack, IridescentLily, and veloboy.

Overdue for those photos...I haven't had a chance to take them yet. Everything is essentially done but for two small pieces of trim that connect the stand to the canopy to hide the overflow.

My corals haven't been doing so hot lately. I pulled my 10" orange montipora digitata the other night. Last night I broke off as much of the purple digitata as I could. Half of my acros have been experiencing thinning tissue and/or minor STN. A couple of acros look great and are thriving. I've been reading thread after thread of similar experiences of other folks trying to get an idea on what to do. My maladies began soon after the initial re-aquascaping. Many of the corals were out of the water for much longer than I wanted them to be. The orange digi was ~40 minutes. The other corals were 10-30. They were all periodically dipped as I worked but apparently not enough. I've upped the flow to ~8500 gallons (1 Vortech, 2 MJ mods, and the return pump on an eductor) and I'm planning on keeping my hands out of the tank as much as possible. Hopefully the ails will pass soon.

No VSV during the maladies.

The first revised swirler stein is complete. I ended up making a small acrlylic box to house it and I mounted the down tube on a bearing this time.


How do you post the banner Leif? I used to know how to do it but for some reason can't remember the call.

***edit***
veloboy - Forgot to answer your questions...

The foam is Greatstuff from Home Depot. The red can is best. The paint used - Krylon Fusion. It's specifically made for plastic and largely considered reef safe.

The stand was made from 1" select alder (3/4" actual thickness). I looked at the knotty alder as well. Make sure to specify which one you want if you are using alder - the two options are much different.

[miwoodar]

A quick trip down memory lane since moving to Denver...

December 05

[porthios]

My corals haven't been doing so hot lately. I pulled my 10" orange montipora digitata the other night. Last night I broke off as much of the purple digitata as I could. Half of my acros have been experiencing thinning tissue and/or minor STN. A couple of acros look great and are thriving.

uh oh.. that sounds familiar. was there a discernible order by species? did the cap go first?

those pics are fun. always cool to see where you've been. the pics before and after you started carbon dosing get me every time .

[miwoodar]

Ugh...it harkens me back to your thread a few weeks ago. Hopefully I'm not in for a ride like that. It seems to have happened to a lot of people who really had their junk together. Way too many examples to make me feel comfortable about the situation I'm in. The vast majority of the threads that did not find an *immediate* problem (alk, temp, mag, etc) never found a specific cause for their ails. Most of them just experienced a long slow decline across the board. I've never been in a situation like the one I'm in now, that's for sure. Ever since I began keeping SPS I've been wondering what was so difficult about them. Good lighting, good flow, good parameters, etc...cover your bases, wait for them to wake up, and they grow like weeds. I still have high hopes that everything is going to bounce back but I wince a little when I put it into words.

I think it started in the last tank after I got the flame angel. I never saw him picking on the digi but the excellent PE totally disappeared immediately after I got him. The lack of PE never really concerned me as long as it continued to grow. That specific coral was the one that was out of the water for the longest span during the re-scape and it was the first to go. The double whammy so to speak.

I've been watching the flame very closely the last few days while standing in the far corner of the room. He is picking a touch here and there when I'm not near the tank but it doesn't seem like he has the intent of taking a meal from anything. I fail to believe he is causing the problem.



Coral Status:

* Major declines: So far major declines have been limited to the digis.

* Minor declines: Half of my acros. Weak PE and a few tips here and there in my Chips, Green Slimer, Sky Blue mille, Pink Mille, cali tort. My 20K Lokani frag would go into this group too but I haven't seen any STN yet - it just doesn't look quite right.

* No growth with decent/weak color: The monti caps have stopped growing. Purple efflo falls into this group as well.

* No growth with good color: My pink hyacinthus isn't growing but it's showing good colors and no signs of stress. If I weren't having these other wierd problems I would be breaking off tips with the expectation of waking it back up.

* Good growth and color: Cream/green/blue efflo is growing like a bean sprout. Magenta/blue mille has just started growing again too (just woke back up over the weekend). The hydnophora looks good as well. The LPS all look good. The poccis, blue slimer, sarcophyton, and a handful of frags I've yet to place also appear to be doing great.


So far my response has been:

* Changes: to increase the flow, keep my hands out of the tank, and up the GAC from ~1 cup to ~2. Do more water changes. Stop VSV until things have improved back to where everything is clearly healthy. Upping my MH duration back up to where it was prior to the move (I cut it back to two hours/day for the first week and have been adding roughly and hour per week ever since the move).

* Non Changes: Skimming somewhat wet. Continue tumbling 3 tablespoons of GFO. Ca reactor and kalk. Maintain all testable NSW parameters. Temp 79 to 82 per day. Continue heavy feeding.

Any ideas? Someone brought up the idea of adding ammonia and nitrites testing to my regimen.

[melev]

Why would you need any GFO when you've been dosing VSV? What are your nitrate and PO4 levels?

Have you checked for stray electricity?

Have you reseeded your sandbed with a cup of sand from another tank lately?

Have you had someone else run the gamut of tests with their kits with a sample of your water? What is the current Mg level? Have you recalibrated your refractometer?

Have you tested your RO water for ammonia, nitrate, TDS, Copper?

Hove you tested your newly mixed saltwater to make sure everything is right?

[miwoodar]

Thanks for the concern and questions Marc. Answers below:


Why would you need any GFO when you've been dosing VSV? What are your nitrate and PO4 levels?
I'm running GFO simply because that's what I've always done since prior to running VSV. I have considered taking it offline though. Nitrates are well below 1 ppm. Phosphates are not showing up on a Salifert kit. I wish I had a method to see how low they really are. Maybe they are too low? I'm feeding a crapload of food though so I wouldn't expect that to be the case. I might have access to a photometer - going to check.

Have you checked for stray electricity?
Same equipment as on my last tank but for swapping for a different external return pump and the addition of a Vortech so I haven't tried going down this road yet.

Have you reseeded your sandbed with a cup of sand from another tank lately?
I did it from my last tank before the move. I can see an appreciable amount of life in the sand. Lots of pods, worms, etc. It's definitely not 'mature' yet though. Good idea to get some sand from someone else. I know just who I can call for this request.

Have you had someone else run the gamut of tests with their kits with a sample of your water? What is the current Mg level? Have you recalibrated your refractometer?
Same test kits that I had been using for months on my last tank and I've checked the Ca, alk, and mag kits against someone elses in the past. Refractometer was checked for calibration immediately before the move using a 35ppt solution - did not have to change the set screw.

* Ca 410 ppm
* alk 8 dKH
* Mag 1300 ppm
* pH 7.8 to 8.2 (my last tank ran about 0.1 to 0.2 lower)
* Salinity 1.025
* Nitrate ND
* Phosphates ND (see discussion above)

Have you tested your RO water for ammonia, nitrate, TDS, Copper?

I just regenerated the DI a few months ago. Same water source. Summary of RO/DI:
* ammonia - not yet
* nitrate - not yet
* copper - not yet
* TDS - zero

Hove you tested your newly mixed saltwater to make sure everything is right?
Tested for salt, Ca, alk, pH, and temp prior to setting up the new tank.

[miwoodar]

Closing out a potential lead...

I recalled a thread a while back about sugar interfering with alk test kit readings. I posted a question about it in the chemistry forum. Randy doesn't think this would be an issue. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1482103

[porthios]

Ugh...it harkens me back to your thread a few weeks ago. Hopefully I'm not in for a ride like that.
well if it gives you any hope mine seems to be on an upswing. a cap, some digi's and an acro frag are starting to come around and i'd thought they were goners for sure..

The hydnophora looks good as well. The LPS all look good. The poccis, blue slimer, sarcophyton, and a handful of frags I've yet to place also appear to be doing great.
we set up and maintain our tanks pretty differently so i hesitate to draw any analogies but currently, i'm working on the presence of a toxin theory vs. the absence of a 'nutrient'. i disconnected two systems from each other and physically isolated most of my colonies from my sebae (h. crispa). i then did 25% wc's every other day for a week in the colony tank. i got a pleasant response pretty quickly. i realize this doesn't conclusively identify my problem. still working on it..

i only mention this because you have some rather potent offenders (hydnophora and sarco caught my eye). you and i both run carbon fairly aggressively i know but perhaps it isn't enough? in any case, i'm keen to hear how your stepped up wc's work out..

rootin for ya. please let me know if i can do anything to help out..