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

Michael Hoaster said:
Looks like a bottle of kryptonite! Really? No LED cereal bowl, for late night snacks? Don't get all married and reasonable on us"¦

I have a suggestion for the 2.5. Use it as a mini QT for the small fish you plan to add. Once they are ready for the big show, add them to your display and catch the cherub and put it in there for a week, so the new guys can get established, unharassed. Otherwise, you're looking at the same scenario you had with the mean clown. Order of introduction is critical to a peaceful, non-stress inducing community.

Another option, would be to add other small 'Rambo' fish, like damsels and basslets, for a mini agro fish tank.
Click to expand...

Gotta love LED's! Great for low buck projects!
I'll consider the cereal bowl concept. Haha

Don't you worry. I'm not getting married and reasonable - another live sale on the 30th.. shhhh
The wife's working the first half of the sale and I've confirmed when I can get the shipment with her work schedule. Bwahaha

I have thought about making it, the 2.5, a qt. Currently I'm just cycling the water through it to purge it of any possible chemicals left in the foam. Then it'll go through another cycle with salt. Going to add some sand from the display to the mini to get it started. Fish ready by Feb is the goal. I really want it to be a full blown mini reef. Lol


As far as fish dominance introduction, is this a scientifically proven theory? I've read the same concept many times, but does order of adding fish really make a difference with dominance?

My thoughts are that the most aggressive fish on a list, no matter the introduction order, will still be the most aggressive fish.. it may take a couple weeks longer for it to establish itself as the most dominant/aggressive fish, but it will eventually become the meanest no matter the order because that is the fishes personality. You can't just take natural instincts from something just because it was late to the party..

Here's a great analogy:
Sam.Basye (me) is a nice and peaceful person.
Let's say this jerk Michael Hoaster came to VA to be my roommate.
I have already lived in my house for a few years and do things my way.
Initially, Michael is respectful of me and how I do things in my house.
Over time Michael gets more comfortable and starts to assert his dominance little by little.
Next thing nice peaceful Sam knows, Michael has moved all the furniture, is smoking pot in the house, has resumed his jerky behavior, and is making advances on my wife!
You see, this was Michaels personality and it was only a matter of time before he reverted to his primal instincts.

Now, Sam and Michael are no longer friends because it was never going to work out based on their different dispositions...


That was a good one wasn't it [emoji14]
 
Prepare the balls!

You're analogy is incorrect. Getting the order of introduction right, is NOT about magically curing pugnacious fish of their pugnaciousness. It IS about giving smaller/more timid fish the chance to get comfortable/established and confident in their new homes BEFORE Rambo moves in. See the difference?

This is a subject near and dear to my heart. I penned an article in "Fresh Water and Marine Aquarium" magazine, years ago on the subject.

This issue is even more critical in smaller tanks, and with more obnoxious fish. Even Live Aquaria recommends a minimum 55 gallon tank for cherubs, so to say you're already pushing it is rather an understatement. With good research beforehand, you might have realized it wasn't a good fit for your 26. With the cherub, your new community may be doomed from the get go.

Plus, you just went through this same issue with your mean clown! I would think you'd like to avoid it this time. You know, LEARN from your experience?

Besides showing off our tanks, we're all here to learn from each other, right?
 
Merry Fishmas!

Blenny Claus


Building Monti-Spongodemen


The Grinch





Michael, not done with your comments yet... my thumbs got tired of typing. lol
 
saf1 said:
Even more impressive. I enjoyed the blenny. Then laughed out loud for reals on the snowmen.
Click to expand...
Haha, I'm glad.
The snowmen took forever! Word crapped out on me 3 times! Even after saving it, the snowman parts would turn pixelated and some of the background came back. Had to find a good pic on Google, copy the image into word, then remove the background for each part. This snowman didn't cooperate very well, but it was the only one I liked. Lol
Took at least an hour to do that one! Not long on the other two though.

I'll post last year's Christmas fun later today. :)
 
Long time, no post.. not much has changed in the past 3 months. Stuff has grown more and I thought I was going to have to buy a new skimmer!

Skimmer intake got real clogged and pump stopped working. Cleaned it all out and it started back up. So, I cleaned the foam pre-filter and put a foam pre-filter behind the overflow section. Working good now.

ATO pump has started making an odd grinding noise last week.. need to send it back.

Moved some frags from the rack to the wall.
Current frag rack


Torch has 2 big heads now and looks great flowing in the current.
12k


14k


Elegance approaching 8"


Really pretty 14k multi-coral close-up


Good view of the Rbta's foot stretched out - how it always is.


FTS
 
Just beautiful Sam!

The upside of the long wait for an update is we get to see more growth. Woo! Great pics and the tank looks great too. It's amazing what you've fit in a 26. Your fake wall is key!
 
Another thing I think is cool is all the long-tentacled corals you have going. No doubt they look amazing in the current.

How 'bout a quick vid!
 
Thanks, Michael!

Was just about to post this..

Here's the most recent pic I took with the wife's new phone. Took this 2 days ago. It's a bit off color wise, but not too bad. The previous post fts was about a week or two old.



I moved the lobo up to the top, added more zoa's above the rbta, straightened the frag rack up, and moved a thing or two.

It's interesting the torch flows to the right. The current flows across the rbta to the left, hits the left wall and mostly turns down to flow across the sandbed to the right, then back up the back right corner and into the mp10. The skimmer output helps a little with surface agitation.

As to the quick vid.. no such luck. You'll have to wait another week for that as I'm out of town. I'll see what I can do with the wife's dslr or action cam when I get back!


The Pygmy angel is still doing great! Actively swims around and doesn't nip at any coral! Guess I lucked out. :)
It swims around and nips at the glass or rocks or frag plugs similar to the blend. It kinda pesters the minnow, but no aggression or tattered fins.
 
Nice. I like how you featured your LED fixture too… Any new, odd-ball LED inventions?

Good to hear your cherub is flourishing. I'm still on the fence with that one for my tank, so I'm interested to see how yours does.

How do you keep the xenia and zoas in check? They get out of control for a lot of people. I considered zoas, but I know I'm just too lazy to keep them from spreading all over.
 
Michael Hoaster said:
Nice. I like how you featured your LED fixture too"¦ Any new, odd-ball LED inventions?
Click to expand...

Ask, ye shall receive. Lol

Not fish related. Well, I have a southern tide fish [emoji226] and an legendary corals octopus sticker 🐙 on my car if that counts..? Lol

Decided to relocate my turn signals and replace them with 6" light bars to light up the shoulders primarily for spotting deer, etc.

Drilled and mounted 6 x 3w amber LED's for the turn signals!









Back to the tank.

The xenia lives on the back wall kinda under an overhang so it doesn't spread very fast. It's really easy to cut it off the wall when it gets too big. The big 8" group of it on the bottom right all lives on the conch shell that houses a BIG spaghetti worm. It's been getting bigger, but doesn't spread from the current location. I razored some off the glass last week and just let it fall into the rest on it.

The Zoa's are mostly contained in the bridge rock in front. Funny how the rbta doesn't affect them, yet the torch does. Half are usually closed up from the torches sting. The generic green zoa's spread quick, but like the xenia, are mostly well contained.
The nice Zoa's I moved above the rbta have exploded in growth compared to the ones still on the frag rack.

Still fighting the caulerpa in the center section though..
 
Now that's commitment. Drilling holes in your car shows how seriously nuts you are! Looks good. You could start a business. Call it LEDs-On-Anything-R-Us!

Back to your tank.

I guess the key to keeping the fast growers under control is locating them so that they are easy to prune. When I was looking at zoa's and green star polyps, I was also looking at butterfly fish to control them. But with the condylactis, butterflies are a no go.

I see you have an urchin in there now. Is it helping with the caulerpa?
 
Lol I like it.

The fast growers definitely need to be contained to one rock, like my old GSP rock I sold a while back.
They would probably look good on your dsb planter rock border.
Find you some of those cool Carribean zoa's Ron posts about in the Florida Keys snorkeling thread! Next time I'm in the keys, I'm GOING to find some and I'll ship you a few. Lol
Now I just need to plan a trip there!!
I think the butterfly, barring the condy, would go through the Zoa's within a week or two. Similar to the Atlantic Blue tang you had, but way faster.

The urchin is one of 2 rock boring urchins I collected 2 years ago on my spring break keys trip in '15. Don't know what they eat, but it certainly isn't a veggie diet. Lol They like meaty foods. Must be doing something right. Haha
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

adova
300g DIY Acrylic Tank Recommendations
Replies
5
Views
139
griss
griss
M
Do I need to take the glass apart on 300 Gallon glass tank
Replies
3
Views
199
griss
griss
jbraslins
Automated RODI/Salt mixing station with 2 50 gal reservoirs in uninsulated garage?
Replies
7
Views
179
griss
griss
JCOLE
DIY Rocks for new aquascape
4 5 6
Replies
105
Views
5K
JCOLE
JCOLE
C
Double top Filter
Replies
2
Views
259
griss
griss
Back
Top