Diary of a Newbie's 46g Tank. What to do Next?

[robilium]

Perfect - Home depot said they carry 4 different types of AcryLite in their Millwork department. Bingo!

i was worried they only carried Plexiglass.

Yousuredo. I was thinking of a few different way to use PVC. One idea I had was to use male/female dapters together to form adjustable legs. Just unscrew each male piece and woola different heights. I wonder if you can glue PVC to Acrylic? I could cut a sheet and glue 1/2" or 3/4" "legs" legs on.

 

[Spuds725]

Supposedly you silicone won't bond to acrylic--but maybe thats just for watertight seals-- 1 way to find out.

I didn't know they sold Acrylite at home depot-- it may be what I purchased and I just thought it was plexiglass.

I wouldn't spend alot on a stand--which ever route you go.

Spuds

 

[xtrstangx]

You can "glue" PVC to Acrylic with the use of Weld-on 3 (or 4) and Weld-on 16. First do a small drip of 3 (or 4) around it to fill in. Then go around with 16 and make a nice layer. It should hold unless there is a lot of pressure (on the outside of the pipe, like something is pushing it down).

Silicon won't hold the acrylic very well, I would look at something else for bonding acrylic. Weld-On leave nice seams and is the "the best" for aquarium use.

 

[robilium]

Hey guys - I ended up getting some of the 1/8th in. acrylic melevsreef suggested. I then heated it up with a propane torch and when hot i wrapped it around a 2x4" that gave me a nice 1.5" foot and a 3.5" leg/rise. This worked perfect! The PM Bullet 1 now has 1" of water in the riser and is progressively making more and more foam. Hopefully by tommorow it will be making skimmate.

The only 2 bummers.

I am currently getting alot of microbubbles spilling out of the skimmer. I assume this will quiet down once more and more of those bubbles rise in the chamber.

The stand is only of passable quality The endges are not 90deg perfect etc. But guess what! It works and it is under water and no one can see it anyhow. Here here for DIY.

I will post pics in a bit!

Oh some other news. Saw a small urchin with black spines, the body is the size of an eraser head.

 

[robilium]

For all those subscribing to the thread be back sooN!

On a business trip in Seattle.
Will update pics on my new lights and new rocks when I get back!

 

[robilium]

New Lights

New Lights

The bad luck troll struck again!

I can never seem to buy somthing that doesnt have at least one thing broken Thi time it was just a bulb and I half expected it.

Here is my mini-review of the JEBO / ODDYSEA 192w 36" PC fixture.

Packageing was decent - nothing all that special.

The stands came in one box. They were easy to install and flip the lights up. However they end up making the light fixture aroun 40" long and therefore the legs did not fit on the rim of my 46gal BF. So i just set the light on top no big deal.

The moon lights came in seperate packages which was kinda odd. However they just twist locked into place in the fixture and even had their own light switch to power them.

I come with the following sockets and 96w "Blue" lights and 12k Daylight bulbs. There is a simple reflector as well.

All powered up. There are two switches, one for the lights and one for the LEDs. Only 1 power cord tho!

Feel free to ask any queston about these lights and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.

 

[robilium]

Guess the weather ha sbeen bad - No rock for part II!
It should be coming as soon as the back log is cleared up. I will try to kep posting pics to keep people interested .

TBS Diving update

 

[Drewpy]

Feel fortunate your odyssea/jebo came in that good of condition... Aquatraders?

 

[kau_cinta_ku]

about your lights i have the same setup you have on my 46 bow and i don't see why your stands won't work they should slide to what ever length you want. in all in all they are good lights though but the fans were crap so plan to change them shortly

 

[robilium]

Ahhh I didnt realize they would slide in - I dint put much effort into moving them. The annoying thing i noticed is that you cant put the lighter on a timer. Only 1 plug - that means you cant use the moon lights.

As for this protein skimmer - I am getting rather frustrated. Micro bubbles in thank, skimmate but it doesnt rise high enough to enter waste cup, etc.

I will post pics later.

 

[kau_cinta_ku]

yeah that is one thing i also hated with that light you had to manually turn on the moonlights unlike my coralife fixture on my 20 gal it has 3 plugs for day night and moon but for the price of that fixtre i can't complain

 

[Spuds725]

I have the same light but 48"-- yup, the only one plug is a pain and the fact the cord comes out the end is pretty idiotic, one of my fans is kind of loud, especially at start up.

I might take the fixture apart and re-wire it for 3 seperate plugs (in the back)-- shouldn't be too hard as all the switches are near each other. Need to find some time to do this.

I went ahead and put it all on one timer and just leave the moon lights off.

Keep us updated as to your progress-- I hadn't checked this thread in a bit....had a pretty busy couple of weeks.

I'm converting my substrate to an aragonite sand bed later today-- wish me luck...

Spuds

 

[robilium]

Hey Spuds - thanks for checking in!

How did the sand bed conversion go? What was it previously?

I am still waiting on my second half for TBS..... bummer - I could really use my cleaning crew. My tank has really come alive! My Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates are all ZERO. I have about 8 or 10 crabs. So far I have caught two gorillas, and I am pretty sure I have one more. I found a mottled shell with black tipped claws :smokin:. I also still hear the clicking noise - but no sign of mantis or pistol. I believe my current population to be 1 Gorilla, 1 large red crab with small claws that eats algae, 2 small red crabs similar that also have small claws and eat algae, and a small black crab.

So I had a little problem though with the crabs and presumed shrimp I have been losing life on the rocks. munch munch munch. So while I wait and wait and wait for the rocks I picked up 5lbs of Kaelini rock from the LFS. The more rock and bacteria the better. I also got 1 porcelin crab and 1 emerald crab. The emerald crab is pretty big compared to the other crabs and I hope he beats em up! :strooper: .

While at the LFS I also picked up a beautiful Yellow Tail Blue Damsel. I thought for awhile before adding Fise Tee (his name). The reasons I decided to get him before my second shipment are as follows: I have 70g of total water volume, 40lbs rock, all zero stats, and a need to introduce some more life to the tank - lest my rocks be totally eaten. I will either qurantine him when my second shipment comes in - or he will take a trip to the Marriot (a friend tank) for a week.

Oh! One final note - I can not catch a break. I bought the 36" light from fishman911 on eBay and as mentioned before the daylight bulb was busted. However, GREAT CUSTOMER Service, fishman sent out a new bulb for FREE. But guess what even though it was well packed that one broke too! Why oh why cant i just get a shipment for this aquarium that isnt busted?

On to the pics!


Wooo purple rock! And a Gorilla-Matis trap!

This is a Xenia frag a friend gave me for free - Thanks! The frag will join Fise Tee at the Marriot hotel for a week when my second shipment comes.

A shell with Green Polyps - same friend same evacuation plan.

Bristle Star? I have tons! Or did.... havent seen em for awhile - crab dinner? Along with the Aiptasia.... thats missing. The small rock to the left isnt a rock but a mollusk. He looks pretty happy.

After putting on the partial Oddysea light 96w blue + 20NO (waiting on broken 96w daylight) I have noticed somehwat hairy green/brown algae growing on back of tank.

 

[Spuds725]

My sand conversion went ok-- the only hiccup was when I pulled my bi-color angel out-- he had a spike or something on a fin get caught in the net and it took me about a minute to get him free-- I didn't use the net when I put him back in the tank-- I hearded him into a plastic pitcher as well as everyone else except for my regal-- he hid in his rock on the trip to the tote and back.

I did a water change with this conversion-- I just moved my tank return to my overflow and left my sump running, I siphoned most of my water to 2 large totes-- had all my fish in one of them with the HOB filter, and 2 powerheads and alot of my rock, rest of my rock in another. I vaccuumed out my substrate at the end to collect some worms to help seed my new sand bed-- scooped out most of the substrate and then used a wet vac on the mud and remainder left in the corners-- put in the sand (80 pounds) added a couple new pieces of lace rock on the sand where my return water from my sump would hit it (instead of stirring up the sand)-- move my sump return to the tank again-- started my return pump (its a pretty low flow system) and moved new water to sump, then used water I collected, and finally water out of my fish tote-- when almost full, I moved the fish and rock back over and then topped off-- it was surprisingly not very cloudy (I was expecting a good sand storm)-- I didn't rinse my sand either and put it all in dry.

I was running this stuff called Sea-flor puka which is a real chunky/crushed coral mixture with shells-- I've had it for years and it was a real nitrate machine-- I ran it pretty deep too and just got tired of fighting the nitrates I was generating

Lemme upload some pics to a gallery here-- so you can see a before and after.

I'm still a bit light in the rock department--- need a few bigger pieces-- about 1/2 my rock is/was lace/base rock.

//edit//
You can click my little camera at the top of my post to see some pics of my set up, before and after. Sorry about the quality of the pics-- I don't like to use the flash on the fish so I take vid clips with my camera and then pause and do screen captures off the vid.

Spuds

 

[robilium]

Hey Spuds - I followed the link in your sig! I love your Bi_Color angel!!

That aragonite looks great - how long has your tank been up and running? Will you be doing corals? For Fish Only?

How think was your SeaFloor? My sand was from TBS and about 2" thick.

 

[Spuds725]

Thanks-- the tanks been up almost 4 years (was our first)-- fish only for now. We will more then likely go up to a 125 or 150 next year Fish only and I was thinking of converting the bowfront to a reef tank-- the angel is not reef safe I understand-- haven't decided yet what to do-- getting the nitrates down to (almost) nothing is my first priority.

I ran the substrate about 2 1/2 to 3" thick-- was originally an UGF-- it quickly got clogged and I just left the UGF in and stopped pulling water through it. My sand bed is about the same thickness (thicker and thinner in spots as the clowns are digging a big pit in the middle of the tank)

 

[robilium]

Sorry i have been away so long!

Sorry i have been away so long!

Hi all - sorry I have been away so long! Unfortunately the weather in Florida has not been cooperating and i have yet to receive my second shipment form TBS :mixed: :mad2: ! I understand why - but it dosnt make me happy. unfortunately in the mean time I think the hungry critters in my tank have almost harvested everything on my rocks but the coraline and some corals. Does that defeat the purpose of TBS? I will soon be posting three updates, one from my critter hunting expedition, one about my light troubles, and one being recent tank shots.

Check em out!

 

[robilium]

Hunting the wascally cwitters

Hunting the wascally cwitters

So after reading everyone's advice I decided to goin on a critter hunting expedition in my tank. My two goals were to capture crabs and mantis shrimps. I first started with the Xterminator commercial mantis trap. I baited it with shrimp and left it over night. I must admit i was slightly annoyed the trap did not want to stay submerged. I had to place a rock on top of it to weight it down. the next morning i had trapped 1 very small gorilla crab - YA! :rollface: After humanely disposing o him i rest the trap two more evenings - nothing.

Step 2: The homemade bottle trap. I cut open the bottle inverted the top and stuck it in. Baited with shrimp and my trusty rock weight and dumped her in. I laid it against a rock so the crabs could get a nice running start and dive on down into the bottle. The next morning low and behold another gorilla crab! Well now I am thinking i have this down pat. Rebait, reset, repeat. Suffice to say I think the crabs are watching their tank mates take a plunge and learning.

No mantis yet - not even a sighting. :rolleye1:

Step 3 :strooper: Storm tropper time.

Got my gloves, a pan, a turkey baster, carbonated water and guts . I took out two rocks I suspected were homes to the mantis and blasted holes with carbonated water. Out come the crabs and a bristleworm?

So one crab is definitely a Gorilla, any ideas on the other two?

Was the bristle worm good or bad? Either way he isnt in the tank anymore.

Still no mantis tho. However, i did see a tiny tiny PISTOL SHRIMP crawl out. He must have been only 1cm. Is he the source of all the clicks? Come to think of it I havent heard clicks lately - do you think he has died with out his symbiotic relationship?

 

[robilium]

Light bulbs!

Light bulbs!

If you have been following this thread you are aware of the dificulties I have had with lights so far. This continued with the Jebo where both the initial daylight bulb was cracked replacement bulb was cracked in shipping. (Thank you Fishman for sending the second bulb free! It was packed very well - I have no idea why it cracked.) Rather than continue having Fishman place claims and keep shipping when I really dont think it was his fault I decided to just buy some locally.

The Jebo uses Straight pin PC bulbs which no one seems to carry! Even HelloLights.com doesnt seem to carry them.

So on ebay I found altechnik. He sells all sorts of PC bulbs for both square-pin and straight pin. I expect them to arrive on Monday and will let you know how they turn out.

He also offered a discount to reefcentral users who buy direct.

Assuming you like the bulbs, which we are confident you will, and you would still like to give us a positive plug please do!

Have folks from reefcentral submit orders directly to us and if they mention "Reefcentral member referred by blapp", we will offer them a 10% discount off the cost of the bulbs (pre-S/H costs):

65w @ $9 per piece plus shipping
96w @ $14 per piece plus shipping
Aqualight Technik [altechnik@yahoo.com]

I will let everyone know what I think on Monday!

 

[robilium]

On to the pictures!!!

I apoligize for the over blue - as I wrote above I am still waiting for my daylight PC bulbs. I am currently running 96w blues and a 30w NO daylight.

This is a Royal Blue Urchin. I love this guy - he mostly hangs out on the walls. I find it hilarious how he holds onto rocks with his spines as if he is hiding. How can he hide he a BRIGHT friggen blue!

Polyps, Tunicates, and such.

Isnt my rock starting to look pretty barren?! Hurry up TBS and send me the rest so i can start feeding the tanks more! My boys are starving!