scottmccray
New member
Hey Ron, nice work. I'm setting up a Red Sea Refer 525xl and am inspired by your build. Did you glue you LR and DR together when you put it around the eggcreate?
Downsizing??? Really???
- Thread starter Ron Reefman
- Start date
Ron Reefman
Active member
Nope, it's all just set in place and my plan was to redo it today... until the drive belt on our clothes dryer snapped. I hope to get to it Thursday as I'll spend Wednesday getting the new belt on and putting the darn dryer back together!
The RS Reefer 525 is a nice system. Have fun with it, and if you have any questions, ask away. BTW, inspired by my build... I'm humbled and thanks for saying so.
The RS Reefer 525 is a nice system. Have fun with it, and if you have any questions, ask away. BTW, inspired by my build... I'm humbled and thanks for saying so.
Ron Reefman
Active member
I got my clothes dryer belt installed yesterday and prepped for today's redo of my DT rockscape. From the front it looks similar to the way it looked before, as far as the rocks go. The corals have all been moved around. The good news is that all the old corals are in the tank except for a big rock of palys and 10 frags form my "˜waiting to get into the DT' frag rack also have been placed. As I stated earlier, I drilled 3/8th inch holes in a lot of the rocks so frag plugs just slip right into place. It worked very well for the coral I had that were on plugs and I have about 50 holes left to fill! Well, I can't fill all of them as some are too close together where 2 rocks are up against one and other.
So here is the day in pictures:
It took more than an hour to move all the corals to holding tanks and the LR to a Brute. But then the tank was almost empty except for the fish and cuc and the racks that much of the rock sits on.
Here is a close up of the racks with the pvc pipe legs pushed down in the sand. There is about 1.5" to 2" of space between the top of the sand and the bottom of the eggcrate.
Here the first rocks are going into the rockscape. I wanted as much "˜flat' area as I could with some taller rock wall just in the middle of the back covering most of the overflow. The Tonga branch doesn't stay at the front, I just didn't have any more room in the coral holding tank and there are a few zoas on it. So I didn't want to put it in the Brute with all the other LR.
Here is a close up of one of the flat rocks that I drilled lots of holes in for frag plugs. I was very surprised how they almost disappear once the rockscape was done. When my wife got home from work"¦ yes, she still works while I'm retired, she didn't even notice the holes until I pointed them out to her.
More rocks added in.
And more rocks. Now I'm taking some of the rocks that were in the old tank and drilling holes in them before I add them to this rockscape. It's kind of time consuming, but I don't think I would do another rockscape without drilling holes in the rocks. It makes adding corals on frag plugs so easy!
This is the new look and it isn't that much different from the old look the front view. But now there is no back side to the island that slopes down and is a crappy place to mount coral, basically out of site. As I said above, all the old corals are in except for one and 10 frags from my frag tank have also been added and there are still 50 drilled holes for frag plugs. This is just a lot better way to display the coral.
This is the tank as it looked before. I still like this look, but there just were enough places for corals as the front was pretty step and the back side was wasted space.
So here is the day in pictures:
It took more than an hour to move all the corals to holding tanks and the LR to a Brute. But then the tank was almost empty except for the fish and cuc and the racks that much of the rock sits on.
Here is a close up of the racks with the pvc pipe legs pushed down in the sand. There is about 1.5" to 2" of space between the top of the sand and the bottom of the eggcrate.
Here the first rocks are going into the rockscape. I wanted as much "˜flat' area as I could with some taller rock wall just in the middle of the back covering most of the overflow. The Tonga branch doesn't stay at the front, I just didn't have any more room in the coral holding tank and there are a few zoas on it. So I didn't want to put it in the Brute with all the other LR.
Here is a close up of one of the flat rocks that I drilled lots of holes in for frag plugs. I was very surprised how they almost disappear once the rockscape was done. When my wife got home from work"¦ yes, she still works while I'm retired, she didn't even notice the holes until I pointed them out to her.
More rocks added in.
And more rocks. Now I'm taking some of the rocks that were in the old tank and drilling holes in them before I add them to this rockscape. It's kind of time consuming, but I don't think I would do another rockscape without drilling holes in the rocks. It makes adding corals on frag plugs so easy!
This is the new look and it isn't that much different from the old look the front view. But now there is no back side to the island that slopes down and is a crappy place to mount coral, basically out of site. As I said above, all the old corals are in except for one and 10 frags from my frag tank have also been added and there are still 50 drilled holes for frag plugs. This is just a lot better way to display the coral.
This is the tank as it looked before. I still like this look, but there just were enough places for corals as the front was pretty step and the back side was wasted space.
Elricsfate
New member
Is there a particular functional reason you don't like gluing frags to rocks, or is it just aesthetics?
Ron Reefman
Active member
I don't like the permanent nature of gluing frags to rocks. Most of the rocks in my tanks are pretty big, so I can't pull a rock to work on one coral because that rock may have 3, 5 even 10 corals on it. In fact I just looked and one rock has 14 corals on it and still has 2 holes for 2 more frags! Also I do a lot of fragging myself and sometime a buyer wants the colony rather than a frag. If it's one I don't mind selling (if it's fast growing anyway, or I have other colonies, or I don't find it a particularly pretty coral, or it doesn't fluoresce at all, or any combination of reasons) I can pull it easy and replace it with a frag. I also move corals around some, so easy of movement is a nice feature. And it's easy to replace an old, less pretty coral with ones I like better or a new one I buy.
Ron Reefman
Active member
I don't use the lids. And I get extra evaporation from the 50g cube display refugium. It's the dry season in SW Florida and our house is almost always open once temps hit 72F (almost every day). I probably top off about 3/4 to 1 gallon per day.
I'll be adding some pics later today as I just redid the rockscape in the display refugium. I'm just waiting for things to clear up a bit, clean the glass and hope that Hannibal (a Hawaiian Red Reef Lobster) will move out of his old cave rock. The new rockscape has lots of good places for him to hide out and his old ceramic rock cave seemed really prone to getting covered in hairy algae?
BTW, we talked once about cars, right? Well, my 2008 Miata is in the process of getting a 'built' 2.5L Ford engine transplant. Most of my 2.0L Mazda parts fit on the outside, including the aftermarket turbo and custom exhaust. Inside it will have a forged crank, rods, custom pistons, cams, injectors and fuel pump! $$$ The builder says he'll be very disappointed if we don't get over 400hp at the rear wheels! His optimistic opinion is over 450hp. YIKES!
Ron Reefman
Active member
The reef tank and stand are a 125g CADlight Artisan and the display refugium is a home made 50g. The stand under the refugium is a kitchen under the sink cabinet that I retrofitted.
So this morning I pulled everything from the Display Refugium and added more rock. I wanted more vertical in the tank and I used rock that has huge spaces for the Hawaiian Red Reef lobster to hide out. It's been using the ceramic rock (very front right corner) that is hollow and the lobster loves it. But it also grows green hair algae like crazy! The rock is still at the front of the tank as I'm waiting for Hannibal to venture out so I can pull the rock. Here is the current rockscape.
And just as an update here is the Reef DT as of today. There are more frags now than before and at last count that's over 100 different species of coral (mostly frags, some very small).
And the two tanks as of noon today.
So this morning I pulled everything from the Display Refugium and added more rock. I wanted more vertical in the tank and I used rock that has huge spaces for the Hawaiian Red Reef lobster to hide out. It's been using the ceramic rock (very front right corner) that is hollow and the lobster loves it. But it also grows green hair algae like crazy! The rock is still at the front of the tank as I'm waiting for Hannibal to venture out so I can pull the rock. Here is the current rockscape.
And just as an update here is the Reef DT as of today. There are more frags now than before and at last count that's over 100 different species of coral (mostly frags, some very small).
And the two tanks as of noon today.
JonezNReef
Member
Both of your DTs are looking really good. Like the new aquascape
Ron Reefman
Active member
Thanks JonezNReef. I'm pretty happy with the whole set up.
I love the new refugium look. The reef tank looks OK in person, but until some of the corals grow out, it looks kind of barren in the photos. For me, one of the things I do like, is that I have corals and anemones that fluoresce and they are spread around the tank pretty well. And under real blue lighting even small frags that fluoresce tend to show up better than they do under white light. I'll give it 12 to 18 months and it should start to look as good as the old 180g tank did.
Now we'll see what corals I may get at the local auction this Sunday. But they will all be small frags too. And I'm looking forward to getting the ATO set up and then the Apex.
Sfish, I heard about a guy in the Keys with a stilt house that has a pool below and he made it into a reef so he can snorkel it!
I love the new refugium look. The reef tank looks OK in person, but until some of the corals grow out, it looks kind of barren in the photos. For me, one of the things I do like, is that I have corals and anemones that fluoresce and they are spread around the tank pretty well. And under real blue lighting even small frags that fluoresce tend to show up better than they do under white light. I'll give it 12 to 18 months and it should start to look as good as the old 180g tank did.
Now we'll see what corals I may get at the local auction this Sunday. But they will all be small frags too. And I'm looking forward to getting the ATO set up and then the Apex.
Sfish, I heard about a guy in the Keys with a stilt house that has a pool below and he made it into a reef so he can snorkel it!
Ron Reefman
Active member
I finally got around to boxing in the pipes that go to my chiller (outside) and back as well as the emergency drain line from the tray under my sump. My wife didn't mind the pipes being exposed... in fact she made a point of saying there really needs to be access to them in case of some unknown issue. I hate to admit it, but she's probably right. So I did a modular cover and shelf unit so I can better utilize the space that is otherwise wasted.
First I used a few dabs of silicone to hold down a PVC kickplate that is the front of the box for the pipes.
Then I made a 3 sided box to set on top of the kickplate to hide the upright pipes going to the chiller.
Then a simple 4 sided box to be a shelf unit.
And then added shelf tabs and a shelf. I set the shelf where I wanted it, but it's removable and I can always
drill new holes in the sides of the box and move the tabs to set the shelf at a different height if I need to later.
I think with the cabinets for the DT and display refugium being high gloss white and the white FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic) sheets on the wall being white, the white shelf unit fits right in. And directly across the room from the tanks is the bar top peninsula and the kitchen with all high gloss white cabinets as well. The best part was when it was done my wife was happy with the way it looks... as long as I don't clutter it up with too much aquarium 'stuff'!
First I used a few dabs of silicone to hold down a PVC kickplate that is the front of the box for the pipes.
Then I made a 3 sided box to set on top of the kickplate to hide the upright pipes going to the chiller.
Then a simple 4 sided box to be a shelf unit.
And then added shelf tabs and a shelf. I set the shelf where I wanted it, but it's removable and I can always
drill new holes in the sides of the box and move the tabs to set the shelf at a different height if I need to later.
I think with the cabinets for the DT and display refugium being high gloss white and the white FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic) sheets on the wall being white, the white shelf unit fits right in. And directly across the room from the tanks is the bar top peninsula and the kitchen with all high gloss white cabinets as well. The best part was when it was done my wife was happy with the way it looks... as long as I don't clutter it up with too much aquarium 'stuff'!
Ron Reefman
Active member
Thanks!
So here is a shot that gives the full idea of what the entire wall looks like.
And here is a brand new FTS taken this afternoon.
So here is a shot that gives the full idea of what the entire wall looks like.
And here is a brand new FTS taken this afternoon.
Ron Reefman
Active member
The new tank is doing well and the display refugium is under siege from hair algae! I just added an Atlantic Tang from KP Aquatics along with several good size cerith snails. I'll start removing some by hand today. I also added an Atlantic Blue Tang to my shallow reef. It's a juvenile and therefore is quite bright yellow with very blue eyes and a bit of blue edging.
SW Florida had a cold front (relatively cold for Florida) go through on Tuesday, so Wednesday a friend and I went collecting on a Sanibel Beach. It was chilly at 9am when we left home, and even cooler at the beach. But the sun came out and by 11am we had taken off our flannel shirts as it was quite nice out. I did forget to wear a hat and now I'm paying for it with a bright red head.
There were tons of Pen shells on the beach and lots of conch egg cases. There was a variety of sponges as well, which is were I tend to find most of the things I collect (inside sponges). We found a more than enough porcelain crabs and a few small pistol shrimp and serpent stars in the sponges we tore up.
I also noticed some chitons, limpets and slipper shells attached to the pen shells and I brought a few of each home. The chitons were small, but they attached to the glass in the tank very quickly and began moving around. I also collected a warty anemone and a hitchhiker anemone which are not photosynthetic but can be kept in an aquarium if you feed them. I found a black rubber/plastic piece off a boat that had a dozen small clams and they also quickly attached to rocks in my tank.
There were some nice purple gorgonians that were very 'branchy' almost to the point of looking a bit like sea fans. I found one with a purple snail (related to the Flamingo Tongue) and my friend found one with a nice little colony of feather dusters attached. We didn't know that's what they were until he got it back in his tank where the feather dusters then opened up. I passed up a couple of gorgonians that had very similar looking clumps of 'stuff' attached but because I didn't know what it was, I didn't want to risk putting it in my tank. Sometimes risky behaviors pay off.
I found a nice clump of red macro algae just in the water's edge which I have picked up before and it has done well in my display refugium, so I figure I'll try some in my shallow reef local tank too. I collected a good size (about the size of a quarter) decorator crab that has hollowed out a tunicate and wears it like a coat over it's carapace. I doubt the tunicate will survive in my tank, but maybe the crab will help keep it alive?
We found a couple of small octopus, one in a pen shell and the other in a sponge I picked up to tear apart. They are so cool to find and I almost feel bad that they have such a short life span. We also found big blue crab and a gulf toad fish that were still alive on the beach and we put them all back in the water and they all swam away.
All in all a pretty nice day. Just enough beach time and collecting to hold me over until our first Keys snorkeling trip in May. Well... not really. I can't wait for the water to warm up so we can snorkel. I have several new places in the Keys I want to explore.
SW Florida had a cold front (relatively cold for Florida) go through on Tuesday, so Wednesday a friend and I went collecting on a Sanibel Beach. It was chilly at 9am when we left home, and even cooler at the beach. But the sun came out and by 11am we had taken off our flannel shirts as it was quite nice out. I did forget to wear a hat and now I'm paying for it with a bright red head.
There were tons of Pen shells on the beach and lots of conch egg cases. There was a variety of sponges as well, which is were I tend to find most of the things I collect (inside sponges). We found a more than enough porcelain crabs and a few small pistol shrimp and serpent stars in the sponges we tore up.
I also noticed some chitons, limpets and slipper shells attached to the pen shells and I brought a few of each home. The chitons were small, but they attached to the glass in the tank very quickly and began moving around. I also collected a warty anemone and a hitchhiker anemone which are not photosynthetic but can be kept in an aquarium if you feed them. I found a black rubber/plastic piece off a boat that had a dozen small clams and they also quickly attached to rocks in my tank.
There were some nice purple gorgonians that were very 'branchy' almost to the point of looking a bit like sea fans. I found one with a purple snail (related to the Flamingo Tongue) and my friend found one with a nice little colony of feather dusters attached. We didn't know that's what they were until he got it back in his tank where the feather dusters then opened up. I passed up a couple of gorgonians that had very similar looking clumps of 'stuff' attached but because I didn't know what it was, I didn't want to risk putting it in my tank. Sometimes risky behaviors pay off.
I found a nice clump of red macro algae just in the water's edge which I have picked up before and it has done well in my display refugium, so I figure I'll try some in my shallow reef local tank too. I collected a good size (about the size of a quarter) decorator crab that has hollowed out a tunicate and wears it like a coat over it's carapace. I doubt the tunicate will survive in my tank, but maybe the crab will help keep it alive?
We found a couple of small octopus, one in a pen shell and the other in a sponge I picked up to tear apart. They are so cool to find and I almost feel bad that they have such a short life span. We also found big blue crab and a gulf toad fish that were still alive on the beach and we put them all back in the water and they all swam away.
All in all a pretty nice day. Just enough beach time and collecting to hold me over until our first Keys snorkeling trip in May. Well... not really. I can't wait for the water to warm up so we can snorkel. I have several new places in the Keys I want to explore.
JonezNReef
Member
Nice Ron! Sounds like you found quite a few little treasures out there. Happen to take any pictures? I will have to adventure my way out to the beach one day when it warms up just a tad bit and see if I can find anything.
Ron Reefman
Active member
I love the little treasures we find on the beach. And because my 65g shallow reef has been in the process of change to a 'local' tank with only things from the Florida Keys (mostly from snorkel trips) and the Gulf of Mexico (mostly from beach walks/collecting) I have less concern for the impact some of the critters may have. Some of the things I collect I would never consider putting in the 125g DT reef that is mostly sps with a few lps and zoas.
As for waiting until it warms up... we find that the premium days for beach walk collecting happen the day after a cold front goes through which isn't very often here in SW Florida. Cold fronts bring stronger west winds which end up washing a lot more stuff up on the beach. The beaches rarely have much to offer in the way of live things actually on the beach except after a strong cold front. I've gone out to Sanibel beaches after milder cold fronts go through and there is next to nothing that is alive. Even to the point of there being nothing there but sand and a few empty shells.
So we dress warm in layers that we can peel off if it gets warmer as the day wears on. Like yesterday, it was in the upper 40's F at 9am. I wore blue jeans, a long sleeve thermal undershirt, a flannel shirt and a real jacket. Occasionally I even wear my wet suit pants under my jeans and my good high top wet suit boots! Warm feet is a wonderful thing! But on those really cold days we find huge amounts of stuff. Occasionally even some crab traps with floors made of concrete get washed up on the beach. It also helps if low tide is just after sunrise and there is stuff all over the beach. At high tide you only have a smaller supply of beach space and therefore less stuff to look at. And going early helps as well. Less chance that other beach walkers have collected stuff; lot of vacationers walk the beach and pick up the better looking gorgonians to dry out and keep as souvenirs. Also the sun has had less chance to dry things out. The crabs seem to do OK in damp sponges, but shrimp die off as sponges start to dry out and sea stars die VERY quickly as sponges dry out.
One of the things I really enjoy is that there are very few if any 'locals' on the beach. It's mostly vacationers and a few snowbirds. And it's fairly common that some will wander over as I'm tearing apart a sponge and ask me what heck I'm doing. Most are collecting shells in bags or buckets, but I stick out because I'm more over dressed (vacationers are in shorts and T-shirts) and I have a big 7g bucket with a battery powered air pump. They almost always are interested to hear about the critters I collect as they had no idea that anything alive or worthwhile was even on the beach. So I get to have some fun playing teacher and tell or show them about coral, sponges, shrimp, carbs and such. I even had a 10 year old boy with his mom who later found a Calico crab and saved to give to me! And I enjoy asking where they are from. Yesterday as an example, I met people from West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Texas, Ohio and Toronto... but not one person from anywhere in Florida!
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