Foam Rockwall w/ built in refuge for a 26 gal bowfront

[Grimreaperz]

Grimreaperz, All I did was use a little hack saw and cut some narrow triangles in each place I wanted a bend, then bent the frame. The front bow is all one piece of trim with little notches cut out of one side and bent to shape.
If you do this to many times in one place it will crack at the joint.
Generally, I found that cutting twice was the most I could get away with before it would crack (that's if you unbend the piece of trim twice). I originally didn't cut the triangles big enough and had to do them all twice.

A dremel would work well also. Just cut from the inside of the frame all the way to to outside wall, but not all the way through.

I used hot glue after bending them in place to keep it all sealed, then spray painted the whole frame black.

Let me know if that clarifies or you would like more info!

Yeah totally that's what I figured just wanted to confirm! Now if only I could get the 1/4 clear mesh in Canada

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[sam.basye]

Yeah totally that's what I figured just wanted to confirm! Now if only I could get the 1/4 clear mesh in Canada

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I bought mine from fragtasticreef.com

They are located in Minnesota and I bet they might ship to Canada since it's a bordering state.

I'd contact them through their website to see if they would consider.



I tightened the slack in my screen to recently and it functions much better now. The front portion stays up when opened and it doesn't droop down and touch the water when the tank is topped off.

 

[sam.basye]

Update time

It's been a while and not too much has changed.

Here are the caulerpa progression pics. I had to prune it all back last week to a manageable level. It looks much better than the white eggcrate!

The caulerpa as a pre-filter was a good concept, except all the crap gets stuck in the caulerpa, it builds up nitrates, and it all gets released when pruning. Not to mention it hinders the surface skimming, O² exchange, and water surface movement to the 'fuge.













I can't recall the last time I did a water change.. It's been at least 3 months and everything looks good. I thought I was going to have to do one after my vacation as the slight caulerpa die off started some Dino's that lasted for about 2 weeks. Everything has returned to normal again.

Still haven't gotten around to adding the extra 60° LED's yet.

Sold the big bio filter for $50! Only paid $40 for the big lot of stuff.

Still haven't gotten around to getting the PVC for the sand filter concept.


Sold everything off the frag rack too!


FTS to follow when lights come on later today.

 

[Grimreaperz]

I bought mine from fragtasticreef.com

They are located in Minnesota and I bet they might ship to Canada since it's a bordering state.

I'd contact them through their website to see if they would consider.



I tightened the slack in my screen to recently and it functions much better now. The front portion stays up when opened and it doesn't droop down and touch the water when the tank is topped off.

Yeah I tried ordering from there I may need to just get it shipped to a po box in the states

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[sam.basye]

Yeah I tried ordering from there I may need to just get it shipped to a po box in the states

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Not sure how close you are to the border, but I've shipped something to a business that is located on the line (US side) and you can walk in from Canada and pick it up.
Not to sure how that works, but seems like a possibility.


FTS time!

 

[Grimreaperz]

Not sure how close you are to the border, but I've shipped something to a business that is located on the line (US side) and you can walk in from Canada and pick it up.
Not to sure how that works, but seems like a possibility.


FTS time!

Yeah that's exactly what I do business called Ship Happens. Just walk across and grab it. I live like 20 min away from the border.

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[sam.basye]

Long time no update, so here it is!

Tank is doing really well. The no water change dealio is working for whatever reason. I just chock it up to dumb luck. Lol

I asked the wife what keeping the landlord out of the house while we're away for more than 4 days was worth. Heheheh. <-- knowing she doesn't like him coming over to water the fish while we're away. This was my way of saying I want money to buy an ATO. Lol
She responded $100! Yes! So I found a 2 week old Auto Aqua smart ATO Micro on eBay for only $82 my laziness has been satisfied!

I love this thing; quiet and exactly what I needed. Now I can go 2 weeks without needing a tank sitter. (14 day automatic feeder).
It can pump up to 6½ feet of head. I bought an $8 plastic water jug from Walmart as the reservoir and cut a notch in the big lid for the tube and cord. Plus the reservoir has a little spigot I can use for various things.
I just need to find a little rack or stand for it as it's currently sitting on a little trashcan on blocks..

I had to cut a 2mm notch out of the plastic rim of the tank for the optical sensor cord. I Deemed this safe and that it wouldn't affect the structural soundness.









Forgot - bought a little leptoseris frag (not pictured) and a little brain coral from the LFS last week for $5 each




Something big is coming tomorrow morning!!!

(While the wife is at work )

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Wow! I never saw your 8-10 post, until now. Great pics! That monti is insane! Is that a stylophora? Your tank looks great!

Something big is coming?

 

[sam.basye]

Wow! I never saw your 8-10 post, until now. Great pics! That monti is insane! Is that a stylophora? Your tank looks great!

Something big is coming?

Thanks!

You referencing the big branchy green digitata? I actually broke a 3" limb yesterday fragging various things.
My only monti (spongodes) is rather sad looking up in the top left. Recovering though.

Added it to the frag rack of stuff I sold locally, pending healing and pickup $30



Here's one of my green toadstools that's getting bigger!




I'll take a pic of the Stylo for you tomorrow. It's been growing pretty good in the new spot. I believe it to be a rainbow variant.


Check these out! Scored these in the Cherry Corals SOS sale on R2R 12 hours of unproductive madness. Lol everything was $20 each with flat $40 overnight shipping.

3x small blue tip elegance coral



Golden Indo torch



Green rimmed lobo



Plan is to sell 2 of the Elegance's to pay for most of the crap my wife doesn't know about.. lol

Not sure of torch placement, but sand bed for everything else. Hopefully I get the stuff I bought and it all arrives in good shape.

Pretty excited!!! :0

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Yes, the digitata. Looks great!

 

[darmar7812]

Thanks!

You referencing the big branchy green digitata? I actually broke a 3" limb yesterday fragging various things.
My only monti (spongodes) is rather sad looking up in the top left. Recovering though.

Added it to the frag rack of stuff I sold locally, pending healing and pickup $30



Here's one of my green toadstools that's getting bigger!




I'll take a pic of the Stylo for you tomorrow. It's been growing pretty good in the new spot. I believe it to be a rainbow variant.


Check these out! Scored these in the Cherry Corals SOS sale on clay-boa 12 hours of unproductive madness. Lol everything was $20 each with flat $40 overnight shipping.

3x small blue tip elegance coral



Golden Indo torch



Green rimmed lobo



Plan is to sell 2 of the Elegance's to pay for most of the crap my wife doesn't know about.. lol

Not sure of torch placement, but sand bed for everything else. Hopefully I get the stuff I bought and it all arrives in good shape.

Pretty excited!!! :0

I'd love to see a pic you took of the torch when it arrives, I was thinking of getting one of the same from them please if you have the time

 

[sam.basye]

I'd love to see a pic you took of the torch when it arrives, I was thinking of getting one of the same from them please if you have the time

Will do!

It should look the same since it is all WYSIWYG, but will take pics of packaging as well.

 

[sam.basye]

It's HERE!

Unboxed, acclimated, dipped, and got them in the tank in only 30 min.

Packaging was nice. Cardboard box with Styrofoam cooler.





Gel pack in bag taped to lid - busted inside the bag. Filler paper on top.



Everything taped up in thermal padding.



One big fish bag with a zip tie holding each individual coral bag. Bags were nice and thick.
Frag plugs were all pushed through little sauce cups with holes - great idea.



Individual coral bags

Elegance 1



Elegance 2



Elegance 3



Torch



Lobo

 

[sam.basye]

Corals in acclimation cups

Elegance 1



Elegance 2



Elegance 3



Torch



Lobo




Frag rack in tank - lights aren't on yet, will take more pics this afternoon




Overall, I'm impressed with the quality of the packing. Especially since they had to individually package over 1000 corals from the sale. They all look good and the water was cool and smell free.


And I got a free sample of reef roids!

 

[sam.basye]

They're huge!

The elegance corals are way bigger than I thought they would be.

May need to break out the soap dish frag rack. Lol


Actinic before lights on



Full spectrum max intensity





The leptoseris frag I got the other day. Had to move to lower light.



Stylo



Birdsnest



Crabs getting bigger




Oh, I decided not to tell my wife. Lol
I figured I'd see how long it took for her to notice. That way I can say it's been there since Friday and she has less leeway. Lol
I mean, it's in the bedroom..
Hopefully it doesn't backfire!

 

[sam.basye]

Today's pictures of the new stuff

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Gorgeous new corals! Where are you going to put them all?

Good call, not telling the wife. If she doesn't notice, it's a victimless crime…

 

[sam.basye]

Gonna sell 2 of the elegance corals locally, and keep the rest I think. Going to move stuff today. Elegance will go bottom right where the toadstool is.


Passed my Flight instructor check ride yesterday!!!

 

[sam.basye]

Gorgeous new corals! Where are you going to put them all?

Good call, not telling the wife. If she doesn't notice, it's a victimless crime"¦

Used PayPal, no paper trail for my wife to sniff out in the bank account. Lol
I'm an expert


Coral pics!

One of the Elegance's is more of a turquoise color with pinkier tentacles.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Nice!

How about a FTS when you get everything placed?