Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread - Page 24

melev · 06/14/2006, 12:20 PM

Try feeding them, or flip a rock over. They tend to be easy to access there.

I might put these little guys in the seahorse tank or the quarantine tank where the clowns are, because they'll get lost in my reef and my refugium isn't really viewable.

Oh well, they are getting acclimated to the reef anyway.

BrianPlankis · 06/14/2006, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
I might put these little guys in the seahorse tank or the quarantine tank where the clowns are, because they'll get lost in my reef and my refugium isn't really viewable.

Oh well, they are getting acclimated to the reef anyway.

Marc,

The Columbellids will stay small (believe it or not those guys I sent you are 1/3 to 1/2 the size of adults!), but the Turbo sp. snail, given enough algae, will grow to the size of a quarter.

B.

melev · 06/14/2006, 12:47 PM

Do you want me to post pictures in my thread, your thread, or just send them to you privately?

Cprowler · 06/14/2006, 01:09 PM

Can I vote for both threads?

melev · 06/14/2006, 01:12 PM

I was asked in another thread to post the tool I use for fragging, so here's my post again.

Here's my fragging kit. I keep it in a simple container from the Dollar Store.

Harbor Freight Rotary Tool kit.

Here it is, all laid out.

Everything is used and abused, so just ignore rust stains and/or damage in these closeups.

I use Cyano Acrylate, from Ca-Plus.com It is super glue gel, but in a larger tube (20g instead of .5g tubes). I also use some accelerator from them, to speed up set time. We buy 50 of each from that site for around $220 a couple of times a year in group buys.

When gluing an acro frag or a zoanthid polyp, dry off a spot on your live rock rubble (or boulder), then apply the accelerator either with an applicator, or with the spray nozzle that comes with it. Either seems to work. Then blot off the coral's base, and apply some glue. Press it into place, and within 5 seconds, it is secure. I dip it in bowl of tank water to remove any toxins before it goes in my tank.

Alternately, you might want to use two-part epoxy putty, like the one pictured by Two Little Fishies. You mix it in your hand until it is uniform in color, press it to the LR and form it around the base of your frag. This stuff will make your skimmer overflow, so turn it off for a while, or just use a little bit each day instead of one monster session of epoxying.

Here are the tools I use to cut corals, or to pry them off the LR. These work with all kinds of corals, including mushrooms. They came from Premium Aquatics.

The dental tools came from my dentist. I just asked for some old stuff they no longer use but still have in a drawer. I prefer stuff like the middle one you see.

The cutting wheel I use on the Dremel. I got this one from Ebay, as we did a group buy and ordered 40 wheels and the shank that holds it. They are pretty cheap. The one drawback is that they don't cut deeply because once you've hit the central shaft, you no longer can penetrate the coral.

I recently stumbled across a Tile Cutting saw blade for the RotoZip, and it would work much better depth-wise, because the blade was 2.5 or 3" in diameter. But with a larger blade, you end up having to work out in the open. You lose the precision of being able to cut in a nitch area.

Anthony Calfo demonstrated using a $50 fisher-price tile cutting wet saw at our Next Wave conference. He sliced right through favias and acans and it didn't take long at all.

Pictures also are razor blades, toothpicks and rubberbands. These come in handy for trimming stuff and securing fraglets.

Lastly, my Dremel tool was $8, and essentially worthless. Go buy the real one. If you have the money, get the cordless one for $79 because it is nice to not have to worry about cords.

BrianPlankis · 06/14/2006, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
Do you want me to post pictures in my thread, your thread, or just send them to you privately?

If you are referring to me, you can put them in your thread and then I'll save them myself. Everyone seems to like pictures here

Brian

rdmpe · 06/14/2006, 01:43 PM

Does that superglue gel stay useable for very long? I can't seem to find a superglue gel that I can use more than twice - then it's all cured in the tube

I think hobby shops sell a lot of different types of superglue in larger quantities as well.

quiksilver · 06/14/2006, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
That isn't my fault. If you'll look closely, you'll see some Mean Green zoo remnants stuck in his teeth. If you zoom in, you'll even see some zoo-stains around his mouth.

Tucker eats all kinds of stuff I wish he wouldn't. He's like a kid in a candy store with no self control.

*cough* overfeeding *cough*

excuse me

melev · 06/14/2006, 02:13 PM

Git outa my thread, kid.

melev · 06/14/2006, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by rdmpe
Does that superglue gel stay useable for very long? I can't seem to find a superglue gel that I can use more than twice - then it's all cured in the tube

I think hobby shops sell a lot of different types of superglue in larger quantities as well.

What I do is use what I can as long as I can. Once it is clogged up, I stab a hole in the side of the tube with a thumb tack, and press it out that way. It will clog over with dried glue, which can be peeled off and the same hole will produce more when the tube is depressed. If that doesn't work, poke a new hole again. I usually can use the entire tube.

With the group buy, we each can get a 2oz bottle of accelerator and a 20g tube of cyano acrylate for $5.

Dudester · 06/14/2006, 02:54 PM

Marc, thanks for posting your fragging tool photos and information in my thread. I was going to suggest that you post it here as well, but I see that's not necessary now

. What did you use to "frag" the claw off of that crab? I'd assume the rotary tool?

melev · 06/14/2006, 03:23 PM

That happened during the painting session in my home.

I'm going to Super Glue Gel it back on.

melev · 06/14/2006, 04:12 PM

Brian sent me some of his home-grown snails and starfish. Next week, I'll send him some stuff in return.

It was shipped priority, which from Houston basically means overnight. The contents was dry.

Four bags were in the thermos.

Arrival: 11:55 a.m.
Temperature: 77Âº F
pH: 7.41

Acclimating

Brian had specific acclimation requirements, so I complied. A little.

The tubing is so long because I'm always cutting it up, and then I end up with all these smaller unusable pieces. I knew a siphon would work no matter how long, so I opted to keep this piece intact.

melev · 06/14/2006, 04:13 PM

The cup was placed in the refugium, so it could match temperature, while I got the drip system ready.

The tubing is snaking into the overflow.

By siphoning from this area, the tubing stays in place.

The ball valve allows me to set the drip rate. I had it dripping at one drip per second, if not more.

It didn't take long for the cup to fill up and overflow into the refugium. I would have prefered to catch that before it happened, to avoid introducing water from another system. I did dump out the cup and let it refill with reef water. At that point, the original water was diluted at least 8x its volume.

Next, I decide to put them in the seahorse tank instead where I could observe them and they could help clean house a bit. That tank needed it. So the acclimation procedure had to happen again, as I keep salinity at 1.021 in that tank (my reef is 1.026), and the temperature is 3 degrees cooler. I poured some water out of the cup, and every 5 minutes added 30ml of water from the seahorse tank.

Here they are, just after they were dropped into the tank.

Within minutes, everyone scattered. The starfish were the fastest.

melev · 06/14/2006, 04:14 PM

Here's a snail, and I swear he's saying "Hey, what'r you lookin' at?!"

Here are a couple of snails getting a meal. Ignore the huge aiptasia. I do.

As far as how this shipment went, I believe there were 0 deaths.

And while I was in the tank, how about some copepods?

And the H. kuda.

jnarowe · 06/14/2006, 04:22 PM

Great shots Marc. I did a similar drip method but I put the cup of incoming water and animals inside a larger cup with reef water in it, and then set the whole thing in the sump. That way when it overflows, and it always does, that water stays within the second cup. Then I dump it and add new water...kind of like a double boiler I guess. I had no deaths either and that was surprising considering the bags had leaked inside the thermos. Those stars are sweet!

Spiffyguy · 06/14/2006, 04:40 PM

Hey marc I am going to try a shot at a phyto batch. I am starting from DTs though since I have some. What would you recomend putting in? I was thinking 2 ml.

melev · 06/14/2006, 04:47 PM

To start a bottle, use as much as you want. I purchased the smallest bottle for $8 and used all of it to start a new bottle. Once it is mature, I split that bottle into two more bottles and once those were harvested, I had some home grown phyto to use. It takes about two weeks, so if you need some in the meantime, maybe you should buy a larger bottle and use half to start the culture and the rest to feed your tank in the meantime.

Spiffyguy · 06/14/2006, 05:09 PM

I don't use much on my 2 little tanks, 24 and 10 gallons. But beats buying the expensive stuff. I can get by until the batch is mature.

Biggie · 06/14/2006, 05:14 PM

Melev, Your my hero when it comes to reefing. I swear every topic I look at on RC your there. Your into it all. Lol. You da Man! Sidewinders build yours awesome! Hope Im on your plane someday. Keep it going your teaching me tons!

melev · 06/14/2006, 05:16 PM

Hi Biggie. They don't call this hobby an obsession, do they?

Biggie · 06/14/2006, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
Hi Biggie. They don't call this hobby an obsession, do they?

Lol, Yea its more of an obsessive compulsive disorder Im afraid. Could be worse I suppose but if I totaled up the cash I think it might be cheaper to do crack sometimes. Sweet tank love the pics. Just dropped in for some ideas hope you dont mind. Im also stealing Sidewinders stand so your in good company. Cant say enough about that stand. Just finished my version of his strucure and I'm putting in my order for steel Monday. Cant wait to get into the Big tank club.

melev · 06/14/2006, 07:40 PM

You didn't have enough images from me today, right? How about 7 more.

This is a coral that recently broke off when I was cutting away some RTN. I like how the zoos pop through the grid.

Better picture of this Acro.

Mean Greens & Red Ring zoanthids. They look much better away from the teeth of a certain fish.

Neon Birdsnest

Bright green Hammer

Purple Pillow. It isn't too colorful at the moment, but hopefully that will change.

Two acros. One is a Pink A. millepora, and the other I don't remember but I do know it is a tabling acro. After the picture, I moved them apart.

Matter of fact, tonight I'll mount a bunch of frags including the zoos in the tray.

Travis · 06/14/2006, 09:52 PM

Dang Marc, I really like those mean green and red ring zoos. Very nice!

I don't keep zoos in my tank but if I ever came across some of those I don't think I could resist.

melev · 06/14/2006, 10:08 PM

I'm going to go ahead and start gluing them to rocks so they can grow out.

06/14/2006, 01:12 PM	#580
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	My fragging kit I was asked in another thread to post the tool I use for fragging, so here's my post again. Here's my fragging kit. I keep it in a simple container from the Dollar Store. Harbor Freight Rotary Tool kit. Here it is, all laid out. Everything is used and abused, so just ignore rust stains and/or damage in these closeups. I use Cyano Acrylate, from Ca-Plus.com It is super glue gel, but in a larger tube (20g instead of .5g tubes). I also use some accelerator from them, to speed up set time. We buy 50 of each from that site for around $220 a couple of times a year in group buys. When gluing an acro frag or a zoanthid polyp, dry off a spot on your live rock rubble (or boulder), then apply the accelerator either with an applicator, or with the spray nozzle that comes with it. Either seems to work. Then blot off the coral's base, and apply some glue. Press it into place, and within 5 seconds, it is secure. I dip it in bowl of tank water to remove any toxins before it goes in my tank. Alternately, you might want to use two-part epoxy putty, like the one pictured by Two Little Fishies. You mix it in your hand until it is uniform in color, press it to the LR and form it around the base of your frag. This stuff will make your skimmer overflow, so turn it off for a while, or just use a little bit each day instead of one monster session of epoxying. Here are the tools I use to cut corals, or to pry them off the LR. These work with all kinds of corals, including mushrooms. They came from Premium Aquatics. The dental tools came from my dentist. I just asked for some old stuff they no longer use but still have in a drawer. I prefer stuff like the middle one you see. The cutting wheel I use on the Dremel. I got this one from Ebay, as we did a group buy and ordered 40 wheels and the shank that holds it. They are pretty cheap. The one drawback is that they don't cut deeply because once you've hit the central shaft, you no longer can penetrate the coral. I recently stumbled across a Tile Cutting saw blade for the RotoZip, and it would work much better depth-wise, because the blade was 2.5 or 3" in diameter. But with a larger blade, you end up having to work out in the open. You lose the precision of being able to cut in a nitch area. Anthony Calfo demonstrated using a $50 fisher-price tile cutting wet saw at our Next Wave conference. He sliced right through favias and acans and it didn't take long at all. Pictures also are razor blades, toothpicks and rubberbands. These come in handy for trimming stuff and securing fraglets. Lastly, my Dremel tool was $8, and essentially worthless. Go buy the real one. If you have the money, get the cordless one for $79 because it is nice to not have to worry about cords.

06/14/2006, 02:54 PM	#586
Dudester Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 2,218	Marc, thanks for posting your fragging tool photos and information in my thread. I was going to suggest that you post it here as well, but I see that's not necessary now . What did you use to "frag" the claw off of that crab? I'd assume the rotary tool? __________________ The Dude abides Current Tank Info: building a new home tank l 450g office tank with Deltec everything

06/14/2006, 04:22 PM	#591
jnarowe Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Poulsbo, WA Posts: 14,710	Great shots Marc. I did a similar drip method but I put the cup of incoming water and animals inside a larger cup with reef water in it, and then set the whole thing in the sump. That way when it overflows, and it always does, that water stays within the second cup. Then I dump it and add new water...kind of like a double boiler I guess. I had no deaths either and that was surprising considering the bags had leaked inside the thermos. Those stars are sweet! __________________ Jonathan--Recovering Tankaholic. Current Tank Info: 70g fresh planted

06/14/2006, 04:40 PM	#592
Spiffyguy Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: St Charles, Mo Posts: 1,633	Hey marc I am going to try a shot at a phyto batch. I am starting from DTs though since I have some. What would you recomend putting in? I was thinking 2 ml. __________________ Spiffyguy Ain't life spiffy!! Click the little red house to see my fish tank. "The cheese stands alone." Current Tank Info: 55 with in tank sump and TBS rock, Aquactinics TX5, Remora HOB oh my. 10 gallon AGA with custom overflow and Aquaclear HOB, Black sand rubble zone.

06/14/2006, 05:09 PM	#594
Spiffyguy Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: St Charles, Mo Posts: 1,633	I don't use much on my 2 little tanks, 24 and 10 gallons. But beats buying the expensive stuff. I can get by until the batch is mature. __________________ Spiffyguy Ain't life spiffy!! Click the little red house to see my fish tank. "The cheese stands alone." Current Tank Info: 55 with in tank sump and TBS rock, Aquactinics TX5, Remora HOB oh my. 10 gallon AGA with custom overflow and Aquaclear HOB, Black sand rubble zone.

06/14/2006, 12:20 PM	#576
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Try feeding them, or flip a rock over. They tend to be easy to access there. I might put these little guys in the seahorse tank or the quarantine tank where the clowns are, because they'll get lost in my reef and my refugium isn't really viewable. Oh well, they are getting acclimated to the reef anyway.

06/14/2006, 12:47 PM	#578
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Do you want me to post pictures in my thread, your thread, or just send them to you privately?

06/14/2006, 01:09 PM	#579
Cprowler Premium Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,758	Can I vote for both threads?

06/14/2006, 01:43 PM	#582
rdmpe Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Central Florida Posts: 3,737	Does that superglue gel stay useable for very long? I can't seem to find a superglue gel that I can use more than twice - then it's all cured in the tube I think hobby shops sell a lot of different types of superglue in larger quantities as well.

06/14/2006, 02:13 PM	#584
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Git outa my thread, kid.

06/14/2006, 03:23 PM	#587
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	That happened during the painting session in my home. I'm going to Super Glue Gel it back on.

06/14/2006, 04:12 PM	#588
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Brian sent me some of his home-grown snails and starfish. Next week, I'll send him some stuff in return. It was shipped priority, which from Houston basically means overnight. The contents was dry. Four bags were in the thermos. Arrival: 11:55 a.m. Temperature: 77Âº F pH: 7.41 Acclimating Brian had specific acclimation requirements, so I complied. A little. The tubing is so long because I'm always cutting it up, and then I end up with all these smaller unusable pieces. I knew a siphon would work no matter how long, so I opted to keep this piece intact.

06/14/2006, 04:13 PM	#589
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	The cup was placed in the refugium, so it could match temperature, while I got the drip system ready. The tubing is snaking into the overflow. By siphoning from this area, the tubing stays in place. The ball valve allows me to set the drip rate. I had it dripping at one drip per second, if not more. It didn't take long for the cup to fill up and overflow into the refugium. I would have prefered to catch that before it happened, to avoid introducing water from another system. I did dump out the cup and let it refill with reef water. At that point, the original water was diluted at least 8x its volume. Next, I decide to put them in the seahorse tank instead where I could observe them and they could help clean house a bit. That tank needed it. So the acclimation procedure had to happen again, as I keep salinity at 1.021 in that tank (my reef is 1.026), and the temperature is 3 degrees cooler. I poured some water out of the cup, and every 5 minutes added 30ml of water from the seahorse tank. Here they are, just after they were dropped into the tank. Within minutes, everyone scattered. The starfish were the fastest.

06/14/2006, 04:14 PM	#590
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Here's a snail, and I swear he's saying "Hey, what'r you lookin' at?!" Here are a couple of snails getting a meal. Ignore the huge aiptasia. I do. As far as how this shipment went, I believe there were 0 deaths. And while I was in the tank, how about some copepods? And the H. kuda.

06/14/2006, 04:47 PM	#593
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	To start a bottle, use as much as you want. I purchased the smallest bottle for $8 and used all of it to start a new bottle. Once it is mature, I split that bottle into two more bottles and once those were harvested, I had some home grown phyto to use. It takes about two weeks, so if you need some in the meantime, maybe you should buy a larger bottle and use half to start the culture and the rest to feed your tank in the meantime.

06/14/2006, 05:14 PM	#595
Biggie Moved On Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 785	Melev, Your my hero when it comes to reefing. I swear every topic I look at on RC your there. Your into it all. Lol. You da Man! Sidewinders build yours awesome! Hope Im on your plane someday. Keep it going your teaching me tons!

06/14/2006, 05:16 PM	#596
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Hi Biggie. They don't call this hobby an obsession, do they?

06/14/2006, 07:40 PM	#598
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Pictures from the Prop section You didn't have enough images from me today, right? How about 7 more. This is a coral that recently broke off when I was cutting away some RTN. I like how the zoos pop through the grid. Better picture of this Acro. Mean Greens & Red Ring zoanthids. They look much better away from the teeth of a certain fish. Neon Birdsnest Bright green Hammer Purple Pillow. It isn't too colorful at the moment, but hopefully that will change. Two acros. One is a Pink A. millepora, and the other I don't remember but I do know it is a tabling acro. After the picture, I moved them apart. Matter of fact, tonight I'll mount a bunch of frags including the zoos in the tray.

06/14/2006, 09:52 PM	#599
Travis 10 and over club Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Sioux Falls, SD Posts: 5,525	Dang Marc, I really like those mean green and red ring zoos. Very nice! I don't keep zoos in my tank but if I ever came across some of those I don't think I could resist. __________________ TOTM August 08 An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Current Tank Info: 280 sps w/ 75 LPS, 75 refugium, 120 sump

06/14/2006, 10:08 PM	#600
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	I'm going to go ahead and start gluing them to rocks so they can grow out.