220 Inwall - Plan

[bheron]

Hey all, another update. Between trying to hit this deadline I gave myself, and getting ready for 16 people for dinner tomorrow (2 turkeys!) I've been quite busy.


*** Finished the trim this morning! So glad I stayed up late dry fitting it all. I just applied some finishing nails throughout,along with alot of spackle, and its done! Actually, needs a coat of paint, but who cares!

*** Also, tonight I acclimated my livestock that's been sitting around in various temorary tanks and in harsh conditions since MAY!! I dropped them in and everything went great! They ate immediately.

I'll give more detail on how I did the trim tomorrow.

In the mean time, lets see how many pics I can fit in this post.

Fishes home!!!

Now, for the cool part. The access panel in the front:

SO lo-tech you cant imagine. But it does the trick for now.

I really need to do tons of touch up work - trim, access door, and the makeshift canopy I made isnt gonna cut it.

But, its up!

I'll be online tom morning of course.

Everyone, thank you, and have a great Thanksgiving holiday!

 

[Stile2]

Looking Great, Love the two sided view, really adds the to overall effect!!
Keith

 

[mcdonaldtj]

Tank looks sweet I bet you are glad to get things done there.

V/Tim

 

[melev]

:thumbsup:

Very nice, congrats on meeting your deadline.

 

[tgunn]

Good job Bryan!
Sure makes a nice centerpiece in the room!

Tyler

 

[Im Lon 2]

Looks Very nice!! I wish I had the Access door on mine.

 

[rdmpe]

Great job - man I love it. I had to get my wife over to see the pictures too, we both really like it. The side view really does add so much dimension to it. Congratulations.

 

[bheron]

Stile2 - thanks. Yea, I'm really glad I went with the corner setup. Looks better than I imagined.

mcdonaldtj - you know it. thanks!

melev - its no 14 day deadline, but it worked for me! Thanks for everything Marc.

tgunn - yep, people really were thrown back by it on thursday. thanks man.

Im Lon 2 - thanks. yea, as I was building it I was starting to regret planning for the door. but now that its finished i'm glad i put it in. over time, i'll enhance it and make it better.

rdmpe - thanks so much!!


Some updates:

- All livestock seem to be doing great.

- These lights are so powerful that, after only a few days, I'm already noticing gree algae (maybe hair) growing on some of the rocks. I'm a little concerned actually. I have a very limited cleaner crew in there (8-10 snails, 5-6 hermits). Hmmmmm.

- Also, one of the rocks I bought had some "near-dead" zoos on it. Well, my Yellow Tang has developed a taste for them and half of them are gone!! Is this normal for a YT??? :mad2:

- Still a good amount of tiny particles floating in the water column. I'm hoping these will settle down as the tank matures.

- As I build my budget back up I'm planning on buying a fish and maybe....maybe...my first coral! Somthing simple and soft. Maybe a frogspawn b/c they seem to be my favs. Or maybe some Zoos or Pulsing Zenia. Thoughts?

- I'm hoping to borrow my sister's video camera and do a whole tour of the setup very soon. Still have alot of odds and ends to clean up!


Until then...

 

[tgunn]

Hey Bryan,

My yellow tang hasn't touched my zoos so far. I did have a blue knuckle hermit eat a couple of zoo polyps. I had fragged off a few polyps and glued them to a rock; I think these polyps may have died.. So perhaps some creatures may eat dead corals on occasion?

I'd say zoos are great to start with; mine have been through a lot between having the little shell they came on dragged around the tank and dumped into the sand bed by my hermit, and being handled a bunch of times to get try to glue them down. They seem pretty much indestructible.

As for algae, perhaps it's just part of the stabilization of the tank. My tank had a pretty big algae bloom (some brownish stuff and some hair algae) a few weeks ago. It seems to be going away on it's own; not sure if the snails are keeping up or what.. Over night the algae growing on the overflow halved, so I think perhaps it's just a natural cycle going on.

Tyler

 

[melev]

You have 8 snails in a 220g tank? You better buy 212 more.

Then you can have a coral.

 

[ToeJam]

If you need a cleaner crew, check out reeftopia.com. I just ordered one of their total reef care packages and was very happy with what they sent. The package was $139 and included:

100 small blue leg hermits
100 turbo snails
48 cerith snails
12 nassarius snails
4 emerald crabs

I couldn't find anywhere that could come close on the price, and I had heard from other people who had ordered from them and were impressed with the order.

Just something to keep in mind.

Jamie

 

[bheron]

Tyler -

My yellow tang hasn't touched my zoos so far. I did have a blue knuckle hermit eat a couple of zoo polyps. I had fragged off a few polyps and glued them to a rock; I think these polyps may have died.. So perhaps some creatures may eat dead corals on occasion?

- Thanks. I hope so!

As for algae, perhaps it's just part of the stabilization of the tank. My tank had a pretty big algae bloom (some brownish stuff and some hair algae) a few weeks ago. It seems to be going away on it's own; not sure if the snails are keeping up or what.. Over night the algae growing on the overflow halved, so I think perhaps it's just a natural cycle going on.

- Ok, that would be cool. I have to do some reading up on the whole Algae bloom/cycle thing. Hopefully thats it.


Melev -

You have 8 snails in a 220g tank? You better buy 212 more.

:rollface: Youre right. I know! Here's one of those cases where I'm jumping the gun out of excitement. I really do need to make sure the fundamentals are in place before I start stocking this thing.

- Maybe one coral??


Jamie -

If you need a cleaner crew, check out reeftopia.com. I just ordered one of their total reef care packages and was very happy with what they sent. The package was $139

- Wow, that sounds like an AMAZING deal. I dont have the $$ right now, but I may have to find it if that deal is still around. Thanks!


UPDATE:

- Well, I've been spening the last few days trying to get my Tunze Streams lined up. I've left them off for ahwile but turned them on the other day and my sand blew all over the place. Its really a tricky thing to tweak and get right. If I come home today and my latest configuration doesnt leave me with any sand dunes, then Im done with it and will move on. Otherwise, more tweaking.

- Also will begin planning the whole electrical panel setup using the DJ-100 gadgets. Right now I'm switching things around on my open outlets which is working ok for now.

- Hooked up my "Lebos" moonlight system and it still looks great on a 30" high tank! I really like the thing and may add more lights down the road. I'll take pics one night soon.

Thats all for now!

 

[melev]

:rollface: Youre right. I know! Here's one of those cases where I'm jumping the gun out of excitement. I really do need to make sure the fundamentals are in place before I start stocking this thing.

- Maybe one coral??

Let's think of it this way: You have a king who needs a throne. You put the throne on the perfect spot, and tell the king to enjoy it. You walk away. Later, the Huns rush in and kill the king. Why? Because you never built a castle to house that throne.

If you put that one coral in your tank, algae (the Huns) may smother it, because it has no protection (the castle aka snails).

So how can you have both? Well, put the new coral (the throne) in a safe "no-Huns" spot, and be prepared to move it when its safety comes into question. Pulling Huns off a throne is no fun at all.

- Well, I've been spening the last few days trying to get my Tunze Streams lined up. I've left them off for ahwile but turned them on the other day and my sand blew all over the place. Its really a tricky thing to tweak and get right. If I come home today and my latest configuration doesnt leave me with any sand dunes, then Im done with it and will move on. Otherwise, more tweaking.

Part of the problem may be that the Tunzes hang down at an angle, instead of flowing horizontally or even slightly upward. I used a small piece of acrylic to wedge between the Tunze Stream and the Magnet Bracket. This lifted the Stream upward enough to leave my sand alone. I'll have to dig up the picture somewhere because visuals always help.

 

[tgunn]

Tyler -

- Thanks. I hope so!

- Ok, that would be cool. I have to do some reading up on the whole Algae bloom/cycle thing. Hopefully thats it.

My hair algae has been residing nicely. It seems I'm moving into the cyano phase. I'm starting to get some blooms on the sand and some on the back glass. Guess it's all part of the process..

Patience is indeed a virtue! Although a VERY painful one...

:rollface: Youre right. I know! Here's one of those cases where I'm jumping the gun out of excitement. I really do need to make sure the fundamentals are in place before I start stocking this thing.
- Maybe one coral??

I'd definitely get the cleanup crew going to clean out that algae. This is also a good time to let some of the small life forms that are in your rocks proliferate....

I only have 30 cerinths right now, a tiger tail cuke and a couple hermits. My cleanup crew is still lacking... I'll probably get some more hermits and snails this month...

- Well, I've been spening the last few days trying to get my Tunze Streams lined up. I've left them off for ahwile but turned them on the other day and my sand blew all over the place. Its really a tricky thing to tweak and get right. If I come home today and my latest configuration doesnt leave me with any sand dunes, then Im done with it and will move on. Otherwise, more tweaking.

Tell me about it.... getting the flow just right has been an ongoing process.

I found that pointing my bottom closed loop outlets up slightly has really reduced the sandstorms I was getting. I still get some little sand-tornadoes that form under my right C/L outlet. It also provides a very strong mixing of the tang water from top to bottom keeping detritus in suspension quite well...

Not sure if the streams can be angled in this manner or not, but it might be worth a shot..

Later,
Tyler

 

[tgunn]

Let's think of it this way: You have a king who needs a throne. You put the throne on the perfect spot, and tell the king to enjoy it. You walk away. Later, the Huns rush in and kill the king. Why? Because you never built a castle to house that throne.

If you put that one coral in your tank, algae (the Huns) may smother it, because it has no protection (the castle aka snails).

So how can you have both? Well, put the new coral (the throne) in a safe "no-Huns" spot, and be prepared to move it when its safety comes into question. Pulling Huns off a throne is no fun at all.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

That has to be the most unique description of letting the tank mature that I've ever seen!!!

Tyler

 

[simonmr]

agreed marc and hiis imagination

 

[melev]

Sometimes painting a picture really gets the point across better.

 

[Airman]

Finally say three times, "water and fish and rocks, water and fish and rocks, water and fish and rocks!" :dance::dance::dance: :dance: Looking great! I like the front access panel. You can glue some black felt behind the hinge seam to eliminate the crack of light.

 

[bheron]

Marc - loud and clear my friend! I get it. Thanks for the smack in the face

- also, about the tunzes, mine actually are pointing correctly. I spent alot of time following the directions and getting them mounted correctly. thanks.

Tyler - yea, thanks. I think I got the Tunzes right tonight! We'll see tomorrow morning but, after 2 hrs tonight, it didnt kick anything around. thanks.

Airman - thanks! You know, that idea about the felt sounds like the best one yet. I've been staring at that gap trying to think of something good to put behind it. Yep, I'm gonna look into using some black/dark type of felt.


Thanks All! I will save up my money and get a nice cleaner crew. That one mentioned at reeftopia (LINK ) sounds pretty good. $139 and i'm done. free shipping too.

Update:

- Well, tonight after messing with the Tunzes, I was about to run the algae magnet along the glass b/c it looked like alot of particles were stuck to it after the last sandstorm. WELL...luckily I looked a little closer b/c the glass is actually COVERED in hundreds of tiny pods!!! I remeber this stage in my previous reef tank. Cool.

- I wonder, are these "Copepods"? I know i already have some really large amphipods in my tank. Ithink these might be copes. Need to pay a visit to Dr. Ron's forum.

 

[melev]

You can check my ID page as well, on Page 2 in the Pod section.