Comas Frag Tank

[Lytehouse]

Yesterday we moved the club frag tank to it's new home. Much thanks to Glenn (gsw76) and George (lightsluvr) for taking time from their lives, families and schedules to help me and the club get this accomplished.

For those who have not had a chance to see the tank, I will include pics here of the tank/sump and some of its inhabitants as well as a short description of the equipment. So, here we go:

Entire set up:

The tank is a 4ft X 2ft X 10in glass box on a steel stand. It is supported by a glass sump that holds live rock, a lifereef skimmer and a mag pump return. A ball of chaeto is also held there:

The light holds a single metal halide bulb and is supported by 2 pc bulbs.

 

[Lytehouse]

tank shots

tank shots

left side:

middle:

right side:

 

[Lightsluvr]

Kudos!

Kudos!

Thanks to Glenn for running the program in 2009. As many of you know, Glenn started dipping and quaranting all donations before returning them to the membership. We appreciate his efforts setting up the club's tank system.

Thanks to Lynn for taking over management of the frag program for next year. Lynn's proven success with frag grow-out will be a great asset for COMAS.

COMAS members are invited to bring a "Santa Frag" to the December 12 meeting to bolster the donor base! We will start 2010 with an updated inventory and a clean slate for waiting lists.

LL

 

[Lytehouse]

Single inhabitant shots

Single inhabitant shots

Shots of single frags. All shots taken with Canon Rebel and standard 18-55mm lens on tripod. Software used to rotate shots, cut them and adujst light-- but no color changes made. I won't go into lengthy discussions here about types of corals. I hope to do that later. I'm just looking to introduce the tank. However, ask any questions.

Remember, all the corals in the tank available for you are on the comas web sight. If you don't know about the frag program, please contact me by email or pm.

This isn't the largest of these Yuma's. The largest is literally the size of my palm !!!

 

[Lytehouse]

More tank inhabitants

More tank inhabitants

Hoping to be a big toady some day

___________________________

Big time pulsating.....

 

[Lytehouse]

Final pics of inhabitants...

Final pics of inhabitants...

Can't believe we got the whole colony moved in one piece !!!

 

[Lightsluvr]

Hard to believe those coral were stuffed in bags a good part of yesterday!

Good job, Lynn.

LL

 

[Lightsluvr]

Our new "frag-master"

Our new "frag-master"

For those of you who don't know our new chairman of the frag donor program, here is the system that Lynn cared for in the past... (these were his frag tanks!)

Lytehouse knows his way around coral!

LL

 

[Reef Happy]

I saw Lynn's set up before and have to say it was very impressive.

 

[cjilge]

Lynn,

The last club frag I have is a favia, I hope to cut it this week for the Dec meeting.

Thanks
Chris

 

[cjilge]

Favia cut and ready for the Dec meeting. not sure if we will be there but I will get them to you.

Chris

 

[Lytehouse]

In the tank

In the tank

Since the move, the tank has settled in. Parameters have begun to stabilize and most everybody seems happy. No losses in the move.

Came home last night and this guy was about twice the size... I quess hungry. Picture taken with standard 55mm lens and no flash:

The tank is full. If you are interested in recieving items from the comas frag tank, and are a comas member, please get in contact with me and check out the donor pages on my comas. Thanks :fish1:

 

[gws76]

Nice pic Lynn. Those rusty red mushrooms are really nice.

 

[Lytehouse]

Thanks Glenn,

You left me a stable system. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that.

I already have some growth on most everything.... Now to give it all away and bring in something new....

 

[Lytehouse]

OOOOOh HAPPY DAY

OOOOOh HAPPY DAY

A busy day of water changes and sump maintenance today on the frag tank. The tank transferred well from the previous holder (gws76) who left me with a great set up. However, no matter how careful there are things to correct. Probably some die off in the live rock transfer left a small amonia spike, so I did a large water change today.

Don't corals love a water change;

Mushrooms pucker to collect nutrients,
SPS send out polops, LPS open mouths wide, zoanthids lay wide open. Everybody does what they can to take advantage of the new nutrients in the tank.

 

[Lytehouse]

In the sump

In the sump

Made a couple changes in the sump:

Replaced glass heater with a larger Titanium heater and put it on a controller that will show me temp I've set and actual tank temp at a glance:

The heater sits in a small compartment with the return pump and I felt safer with the titanium heater than the glass.

I changed skimmers when we moved the tank. The Lifereef I'm using was blowing skimmate too wet and could not be adjusted with the current pump from the placement in the sump. Possible solutions: change to smaller pump or raise the skimmer higher in the sump. Didn't have another pump handy, so raised the skimmer couple inches in the sump. Dailing it in now with the gate valve. Working much more efficiently.

The return comes down the left side of the sump and into a piece of spa flex to quiet the flow as it enters the sump water. Shortened the spa flex so it would accept a filter sock. Adjusted the overflow from skimmer cup to flow back thru the filter sock.

All this opened up room for the chaeto ball, which was really squeezed, to grow. Also added a filter to return pump to keep chaeto out of return pump and hopefully out of tank.

All that is left is to let things settle down and watch football. Probably tomorrow, get a good set of water paramaters and see what needs to be adjusted after the water change.

I'll try to throw up couple more pictures if tank settles down.

It's your tank comments are welcome....:fish1:

 

[pwhitby]

Lynn, Ill bring a bunch of frags to the next meeting I am at.

P.

 

[Lytehouse]

Lynn, Ill bring a bunch of frags to the next meeting I am at.

P.

That would be great Paul, Thanks.

If you need me to pick them up..... and see the tank....

 

[Lytehouse]

The morning after....

The morning after....

Water change yesterday,

Today tank has settled, lights kicked on, water tests completed, few adjustments made, and a few pics taken. A few more things from the tank:

See something you like-- visit the comas website and sign up or contact me about options.

 

[Lytehouse]

More from the tank.....

More from the tank.....

All of these are available for immediate adoption: