Cloakerpoked's NEW 60 gallon thread

[cloakerpoked]

The beginning of Phase II: Add another 70 gallons of total water volume to the system. (It'll actually be 50 after I get done filling these bad boys up. Got my bulkheads today from glass holes, so I drilled my 2 20 gallon tanks and my 30 gallon tank to accomodate a 1.5" bulkhead in each tank. This will allow for a lot of flow without worrying too much about syphons and such. Might be too big actually, but I can always slow 'em down a bit with a ballvalve if so inclined.

These are my rocks from my old 120 and every subsequent tank. There's also live rock in the sump. This is probably close to 100# worth in 3 rocks. They fill a large tubberware container that is a 30 gallon 30x16x16 or so. They'll probably (hopefully) be put in the sump with other rocks moving, or be used as display pieces in the anemone tank (one of the 20's)

 

[mikesin]

Your reef is Looking great! Nate, Did you "seed" your dry rock? Are you concerned about not having the multitude of marine organisms that LR has if you didn't seed? The reason I ask is we did something similar (with our LR) about 1.5 years ago. I'm sure some organisms got transfered by/with our corals etc. but it seemed to take a long time to get our water parameters stable. I'd do it again because of all nuisance organisms that gets eliminated.

Mike

 

[cloakerpoked]

I have my old rock in the sump, so I presume that is enough to "seed" it, not to mention everything coming in on the multitude of corals I added to the tank. As stated, in auxillary tanks, it will eventually have probably about 100-150 lbs of established live rock. I also plan to get chaeto and possibly sand from other club members in a month or two to boost the diversity of the tank. As far as parameters are concerned though, I haven't had any problems thus far. (I have seen an aptasia already, so gotta break out the lemon juice here soon)

 

[cloakerpoked]

More pics soon, but this is what we're up to these days:

 

[acer]

Wow what a change !!!! My tank is also much improved- finally got my act together and have been doing water changes weekly for a month now- about 7.5 gallons per week. Hopefully after replacing some Acans/ Micromussa/etc. at the frag swap this weekend that the flame angel destroyed before I got him out. I will be able to post some pics that rival yours.

 

[AHDOnline]

I just noticed what you are keeping your rock in. Is that the black tub from home depot with a yellow lid?

If so proceed with caution, I kept saltwater mix in mine and it ended up leeching and killing and entire tank a few years ago. I called the manufacturer and they said "yeah its possible" and not suppose to be used for water storage. Just FYI.

The tanks looks great

 

[cloakerpoked]

Yes, and I'm currently using it as my sump. It is a heavy duty plastic container I bought from Lowes. I'll have to look into swapping it out I guess. I used mine for about 5 months with no problems on my temporary set up and it's been about 4 on the display. How long did it take for you to begin to experience problems?

 

[AHDOnline]

Mine was pretty fast, about 2 months. I used straight RO water in it first, which is a good cause for leeching things from plastics.

My tank went from Ok to everything turning white (fish) and dead in a week after using it all for my water mixing storage.

 

[acer]

Hmmm... wonder if my Plastic tub I use for making water is NOT a good idea.

 

[cloakerpoked]

 

[acer]

Oh great- so you go and post more great pics-I really NEED to get a decent camera.

 

[AHDOnline]

Looks great! And on my plastic tub it formed a film on the inside that we noticed after it was drained. Not all tubs are created equal though

Acer this is the camera i use:
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-PowerShot-Digital-Optical-Stabilized/dp/B002LITT42

You can get it for a lot less than that if you look around, better than spending a fortune on a nikon (but if you can do it!) We also purchased a very durable underwater case

 

[acer]

I have a 4-5 year old Panasonic Lumix point and shoot with a good zoom. but no steady shot or other fun stuff and no camera box or water proof case. Also I have "no patients". Also ,again, regarding storage or making water tubs- I guess i will go back to using the empty salt buckets.

 

[cloakerpoked]

Mine is a 12.1MP Kodak powershot. It was on clearance at Target for like $120, over half off the original price. My wife and I are happy with it so far. Trick is figuring out the exposure, white balance, etc. these are the first pictures where i feel everything worked the way I wanted it to, and even in some of them there is blur. Of course the blur is my fault, not the camera's

 

[cloakerpoked]

Here are a bunch of updated pics.

 

[cloakerpoked]

 

[cloakerpoked]

 

[cloakerpoked]

This:

Used to be This:

About 15 months of growth all told in those pics.

 

[vr697getta]

looking good Nate

 

[acer]

Awesome - I especially like the light baby blue Acro.Is that "LOKI" or something like that.