A Reef Tank in the Desert - +/- 1,400 gallon system

Osteoclast said:
Thanks for the info. That's an amazing amount of food. You probably could use the large DE filter that I run on my outdoor salt pool, filters 80k gallons! Of course zero tangs in the system so might be inadequate! Thanks again.
Click to expand...

A bigger filter or maybe a bigger tank! Ha ha. I tested all of my parameters last night and somewhat surprisingly, my Nitrates were at zero. My favorite part of the tank though, is watching the fish eat. I will have to post a picture of my new feeding system tonight. It is awesome and it is cheap!!!
 
danfeig said:
A bigger filter or maybe a bigger tank! Ha ha. I tested all of my parameters last night and somewhat surprisingly, my Nitrates were at zero. My favorite part of the tank though, is watching the fish eat. I will have to post a picture of my new feeding system tonight. It is awesome and it is cheap!!!
Click to expand...

Bigger tank....... I can see it now

6340664038_efbb9c6c06_z.jpg


Now that's a tank you can dive in :inlove:

Joe
 
Newbie Aquarist said:
I have been wondering during the length of my build on how to keep two of them in my tank. My dream is a school of them(maybe 5-6) of them. I might be going overboard but they do school in nature. Are they in the same tank and what size you have them in? How many inches are they? Tony Vargas also suggested that same routine when we spoke last month. I will have to invest in a UV.
Click to expand...

Wayne, everyone kept telling me I was nuts to have so many tangs, that they will fight and terrorize one another. I can only speak from my experience. If the Tangs are introduced together at the same time (and purchased small), in both your QT and in your display, they seem to get along pretty darn well. There have been a few times while in QT that I have separated the Tangs with some Egg Crate - normally when one of the tangs was eating as much - but 3-4 days later I would remove the Egg Crate and things would be better.

The only time I have had issues would be if I introduced fish separately. I had lost a Purple Tang and when I re-introduced a new one, it got picked on. I then placed it back in the QT and fed it several times per day for a few weeks. Now it is the aggressor. I have put a few yellow tangs into the tank that I have received as a "bonus" from orders that I place with Blue Zoo Aquatics. It would terrorize them too and I would repeat the QT feeding process and put them back in. More recently, I have been putting the fish in an acclimation box in my main display (this is after their time in my QT) for a few days, prior to releasing them into the tank. This allows all the fish to get to know one another a little first, and I haven't had the aggression.

So, it is very possible. I think I have 30 some Tangs, if not more!
 
Beer Bong?????

Beer Bong?????

Alright...so a buddy of mine posted some old pics from college on his Facebook page. I decided to show the pics to my kids. You know, how "Dad used to be cool or a little wild & nuts"...

One of the pics happened to be one of our old fraternity parties and I was enjoying or over indulging in one of our old pastimes doing Beer Bongs. For those of you not from my generation... A Beer Bong was a homemade device that consisted of a large funnel attached to a 3' - 5' (or longer) hose. Someone would stand on a chair, table, latter, 2nd story balcony, etc. and would fill the funnel with beer. The other participant would have the end of the hose in their mouth and would chug down or just plain consume this huge river of beer pouring down into their mouth.

After explaining to my kids what I happened to be doing, I went into the Fish Room to futz around and feed my fish. While thinking about the pics that I just showed them, I got to thinking... Why not use a Beer Bong to feed my fish fish?

So I took my son with me to Ace Hardware and found a funnel that would work perfectly! I attached 1/2" tubing to the funnel and connected the funnel to my stand. I then went into my sump, cut a hole into my overflow strainer and fit the end of the hose into it.

BeerBong_zps397b463f.jpg
[/IMG]

My device, as simple and crude as it is, workings amazing! Better than many of the expensive gadgets that I have purchased!

I defrost my frozen food in a little water and pour it into the funnel. The food flows down the tube, gets pulled by the return pump and then gets sprayed out of my lock line nozzles. The food goes all throughout the tank! There is not an area of the tank or a coral that does not get sprayed with defrosted mysis, brine shrimp or whatever I happen to be feeding. At night time, I have been pouring my phyto into the funnel.

As soon as I feed, I pour a cup of water from my sump through the funnel to help keep it clean.

I will post a small video of my fish eating soon!
 
danfeig said:
Wayne, everyone kept telling me I was nuts to have so many tangs, that they will fight and terrorize one another. I can only speak from my experience. If the Tangs are introduced together at the same time (and purchased small), in both your QT and in your display, they seem to get along pretty darn well. There have been a few times while in QT that I have separated the Tangs with some Egg Crate - normally when one of the tangs was eating as much - but 3-4 days later I would remove the Egg Crate and things would be better.

The only time I have had issues would be if I introduced fish separately. I had lost a Purple Tang and when I re-introduced a new one, it got picked on. I then placed it back in the QT and fed it several times per day for a few weeks. Now it is the aggressor. I have put a few yellow tangs into the tank that I have received as a "bonus" from orders that I place with Blue Zoo Aquatics. It would terrorize them too and I would repeat the QT feeding process and put them back in. More recently, I have been putting the fish in an acclimation box in my main display (this is after their time in my QT) for a few days, prior to releasing them into the tank. This allows all the fish to get to know one another a little first, and I haven't had the aggression.

So, it is very possible. I think I have 30 some Tangs, if not more!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info Dan. I will probably have a third of the tangs in my tank. As for your feeding tube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIPr23xyoZg
.
 
danfeig said:
So I took my son with me to Ace Hardware and found a funnel that would work perfectly! I attached 1/2" tubing to the funnel and connected the funnel to my stand. I then went into my sump, cut a hole into my overflow strainer and fit the end of the hose into it.
Click to expand...


Great idea Dan!! I also find this hilarious!
Back in the day I used to work at Ace Hardware in high school, always found college kids tinkering around in the plumbing section with just the right supplies for beer bongs! haha
 
Great Story and great idea on the feeding system. Now you just have to automate it from the Freezer to your beer bong. :-)

I was over at Elliots house last week and he has an amazing 900 gallon DT and a very cool automated feeding system. He has his tank set up so he can leave a month at a time and his tank will be on auto pilot.

His build thread is here. Towards the bottom of the first page, you can see his automatic feeder.
Since he travels quite a bit, he came up with this feeding system since he doesn't trust anyone to do it properly when he is gone.
 
Pushwood said:
Great idea Dan!! I also find this hilarious!
Back in the day I used to work at Ace Hardware in high school, always found college kids tinkering around in the plumbing section with just the right supplies for beer bongs! haha
Click to expand...

I have to tell you, Joe, it is working great! I will try to shoot a little video tomorrow of the Fish Bong in action. Viewing from the tank side is spectacular as the food goes everywhere.

I don't know if Beer Bongs are still popular in college today. I certainly entertained a few too many hangovers from them in my day...
 
dotcommer said:
Great Story and great idea on the feeding system. Now you just have to automate it from the Freezer to your beer bong. :-)

I was over at Elliots house last week and he has an amazing 900 gallon DT and a very cool automated feeding system. He has his tank set up so he can leave a month at a time and his tank will be on auto pilot.

His build thread is here. Towards the bottom of the first page, you can see his automatic feeder.
Since he travels quite a bit, he came up with this feeding system since he doesn't trust anyone to do it properly when he is gone.
Click to expand...

Thanks dotcommer!

I have been following Elliot's build thread for a long time now. His auto fish feeder is really cool. I love how he has a blow dryer in his refrigerator.

With feeding/dosing various Reef Nutrition products and my auto feeder, I could probably go away for 10 days without too many issues on my main display. I need someone to feed my Seahorses, QT's, change my filter socks and put Nori into my tanks. So, we always have a house sitter to mind the tank and the dogs.

Lately, I have been going through a lot of live Brine Shrimp and live Mysis Shrimp. The Seahorses love the live food and I am having an easier time getting my QT fish to eat with them. I am only giving them to my QT once a day. I am feeding frozen mysis/brine soaked in garlic or selcon the other 3 times per day.
 
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