29g sps startup

[SSragtop]

I've been slowly buying equipment over the last couple of months. Finally got water in the tank tonight. 40 lbs of uncured marshall island rock from P.A. should be here tomorrow.

I've been out of the hobby for about 3 years since I moved and am excited to be getting started again. I still have to build a canopy, but I'll have plenty of time for that while the rock is curing.

I'll be running a 250w Reeflux 10k metal halide on an Icecap ballast along with 2 24w vho actinics. I have a 20g diy sump with an ASM G1 skimmer with the gate valve and mesh mods. I have an Eheim 1250 return pump and an Ocean Runner 3500 running through a Squid for closed loop. I also have a Ranco dual stage controller running my heater and a pair of Panaflow fans that will be mounted in the canopy. I'm using the American DJ power center for convenience.

I think I should be able to support sps on this system. If anyone has any advice, I'm all ears. For fish, I'm thinking a pair of Rod-onyx perculas and later on a flasher wrasse and maybe a pygme angel.

It's been a lot of money to spend on such a small system, but I've always been the kind who would buy cheap and then have to upgrade 2 or 3 times before I was satisfied. So this time I decided to do it right from the start.

I'll be looking for some chaeto in a couple of weeks so if anybody has some, keep me in mind. Also will be looking for sps frags I'll try to put up some pics when I get the canopy built, but that probably won't be until next week.

I guess that's about it for now. I look forward to meeting some of you all at one of the next NARC meetings.

Clay

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Your plan sounds fine to me. I'd consider adding an auto top-off since a small tank with intense lighting and two fans will evaporate a lot.

Tomoko

 

[6Speed]

Hey Clay, I have plenty of cheato. My g/f lives up in Gadsden so next time she's down here I'll give her a bag full and she can meet up with you, or I bet the Living Reef would let her drop it off there for you to pick up.

Did you, or do you by chance, own a navy blue SS camaro? I used to know a guy that went to Steele and raced a navy blue SS. I think he lived near Gadsden or Boaz, I'm not sure exactly.

I've got a '97 Z28.

 

[SSragtop]

That was my Camaro. It's been gone a while, I really should find a new name to use. I've got a 92 Formula right now that is awaiting an LS1 transplant. If I ever can find the time. That would be cool about the chaeto. My wife works at Timberlake in RBC, so that could be a convenient place to drop it off. By the way, is this the same 6speed from Springville? I'm sorry but your name escapes me right now...old age creeping in

Tomoko, thanks for the reminder. The topoff is high on my list.

Clay

 

[6Speed]

Yes, that would be me. My name is Zack. I've still got the 97 Z, but it is a little different now...has a nice size cam, worked heads, longtubes, dual exhaust, and a few other goodies. Oddly enough I haven't run it since I did all the mods. For daily driving I have a civic.

That LS1 swap will be really sweet. I would like to see that. What color is the car? I always wanted a 3rd gen TA, black...basically knight rider.

 

[SSragtop]

Zack, yeah I remembered it after I had posted. The Formula is red with black interior. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it is one of an estimated 12-25 Formulas produced in 92 with the 350 and t-tops. There were no TAs or Z28s. Unfortunately Pontiac didn't keep records on these rare cars. These cars haven't caught on with the collector market, so I don't think the motor swap will hurt the value. Short term, it should actually help quite a bit. I hope to get it done over the summer. You should ride up to Steele and we can make a few runs.

 

[SSragtop]

UPS just delivered my rock. After spending a little time picking some of the dead/dying material off of it, I got it in the tank. The rock looks very good, but I have a couple of minor complaints. First, and probably most serious, is that I asked for and paid for overnight delivery but they shipped it regular ground service. It still made it here in two days and doesn't smell bad at all. I also had to take a day off of work to be here which will hurt when payday rolls around Second is that I asked for the rock to be sized appropriately for a 29g tank. Two of the pieces are too large. One was app. 11X14 which leaves less than an inch from my front glass. I guess I'll get the hammer and chisel out next week when I'm on vacation, so that really isn't too much of a problem. I've ordered many, many items from Premium Aquatics over the years and this is the first hiccup of any kind that I've ever had, so I'm not too disapointed. I'll post some pics next week after I build a canopy and get the rock aquascaped. This is gonna be a really nice little tank.

Clay