LowezAkar24
New member
Brother, you do some amazing work!
Gixxer Family Reef-180 Upgrade
- Thread starter Mrs. Gixxerman
- Start date
Mrs. Gixxerman
New member
Thanks! I'm so proud of my husband with everything he has done so far. He's been unbelivably patient with me being so picky about some things. He definately gets the best spouse of the year award in my book. Granted he's my ONLY spouse, so it's a given he would win it.
Mrs. Gixxerman
New member
Very nice layout and good work on working together.
Cant wait to see it full and teaming with a guppie...
Is that a little GHA??
Scrub it off before it spreads too much.
Even if you have to get a bristle pot scrubber.
LOL my poor fish. They are probably wondering what the hell happened to all the rock in the 75. Once we move them over, they will definately look like guppies in the 180. We still have about 50 lbs of live rock with corals attached to them in the 75. And the small cave that the maroon's use for their nest. Tim's going to frag the corals off the rocks so we can rehome them in the 180. Then we have to figure out where to put the rock. Some will be too big for the sump.
Yep...GHA. Well...more like bleached GHA now. It grew on the rock as we were seeding it. Tim had the T-5's going 24 hours in the beginning. BAD idea. LOL There's a turbo snail (raised from a baby in our 75) that is making quick work of it though. It used to be much worse. He's been plugging along on that center sculpture now for days. It will give them something to munch on for now.
Tim's impatient to move the fish over. I'm being overly cautious to make sure we don't see a mini cycle. Or something fails on the new tank.
Hawg Pharm
Member
Nice build. Looks like you're about a month or two ahead of me. I really like what you did with your rocks. I'm a little worried about that part. I have zero artistic ability. Knowing that going in, my goal is stability above all else.
I'll definitely be following along.
I'll definitely be following along.
Mrs. Gixxerman
New member
Thank you! It's small potatos and relatively unimaginative compared to some of these other amazing builds...but WE love it. And that's all that matters right? :bounce1:
Don't worry about the aquascaping. Eventually it will just feel right. And at the end of the day the only one you need to impress with the rock work is yourself. Afterall you guys will be looking at it more then we will. LOL Keep it open and easy to keep clean. Keep it off the glass (unless you like the rock wall look) and leave plenty of room to attach coral plugs and small rocks to. I spent months browsing aquascape threads to get a feel for what I wanted. The sculptures I built were based in part off of pictures I saw. But when it came down to actually arranging the rocks, it was mostly just trial and error. What did or didn't work...what was stable and looked awful, vs what looked great and wouldn't stay put without serious modifications. Maybe you could get your wife involved in the layout of the rockwork. I got 'the look' from my husband often in the beginning. Now he's more obsessed then I am, and handles all of the tank maintenance and equipment, feeding etc. LOL I created a monster!
daplatapus
New member
I've been lurking this thread since the beginning. Any updates 
Mrs. Gixxerman
New member
I've been lurking this thread since the beginning. Any updates
First of all...thanks for following! Updates you ask? We have updates! No pictures yet...need to work on that.
We are currently vacationing in the Outer Banks of North Carolina for our annual family beach trip. Our goal was to have the tank up and running and everything transferred before we left. Good news!! We got everything moved.
We let the tank run for about a week with just the live rock to make sure there were no ammonia spikes and that everything was stabilized. The Apex helped a lot to monitor everything. The turbo's took care of all of the GHA and the rocks are nice and clean again. We moved all the fish and corals over to the new tank the beginning of last week and they are doing fantastic! It's funny though watching them. They seemed to have not adjusted to the fact that they have considerably MORE space then before. They all seem to congregate in the right side cave structure and won't go much further then the center rock piece. All except the chromis. He's LOVING the space and swims all over. None of them acted stressed in the move and after about half an hour or so of hiding they were out and swimming around (albeit in only HALF the tank) and bugging us to feed them. The corals have all managed ok and have adjusted to the new lights beautifully, and we wound up actually finding some sort of hitchhiker bug that was bothering some of my zoo's. We have the Kessil 360 toned down a bit to help with the acclimation process. They seem to really be loving the water quality and the new light.
We had a few oops with the Apex, and got the heater plugged in and coded to the wrong outlet. It ran nonstop for the better part of the day. The temp got up to 82 and I happened to glance over at the tank and everything had shut off as a fail safe with the temperature. We realized what happened switched the plug out for the heater and everything clicked back into place with no problems.
I have to say it is AWESOME being able to check the tank from 5 hours away on the Apex app for my phone to make sure that everything is on and running as it should. I am LOVING the Apex. Meanwhile we have someone at the new house "house sitting of sorts" making sure that nothing goes crazy wrong.
When we get back I'll make sure to take a lot of pictures of everyone happily moved in and post them. Until then cheers from the beach! The sand and surf is calling us...so talk to everyone soon!
wowkingjames
New member
Love your rock set up, amazing wood work!!!
Mrs. Gixxerman
New member
LOL...we've been seriously neglecting our tank build thread, haven't we? *sigh* I know...I know...we're fired. Haha...we're still here, but life has found a way to take the fun out of the 'documenting'.
Well, a small update on what's kept us busy. My son started football in August, and we were busy with getting everything moved to the new house. Once we got everything moved, we then started working on getting our old house ready to sell. Then school started (my little man is now in 4th grade) and somewhere in all of that we've been maintaining the tank.
But enough about the unimportant stuff. How is the tank? It's doing FABULOUS. We absolutely LOVE it. We now have the two Kessil 150's on either side of the center 360 until we have the funds to upgrade. Still only sporting the single MP40 but after a cyano outbreak we pulled out the old trusty Koralia powerhead to stick on other end of the tank to help with water movement. The cyano quickly disappeared, and now we are starting to see a healthy spread of Coraline algae growing on the rocks, overflows and back tank wall. The corals are all responding VERY VERY well to the switch to the LED's from the metal halides on the 75. We are seeing growth on all of the corals. We've added a few small frags here and there, but the BIGGEST addition (and I DO mean 'biggest') addition to the tank is a Sailfin Tang that was given to us by a gentleman that Tim knows from work. The tang was a rehomed fish from a retirement home, and grew too big for the new home. He was looking to give him away to someone who had the space for him to roam. And he has found his way to our tank. He's HUGE...but a complete and total sweetheart. Haven't named him yet, but we're working on it. Unfortunately he became a victim of bullying by our female clown...who up until then had never bothered any of the other fish before. She was relentless on terrorizing the poor thing until he was trapped in one side of the tank. She was immediately placed into timeout in the sump, where she is currently residing. We can't catch the male clownfish, so he's riding solo in the display tank for now. The tank is maturing very well...with no serious algae breakouts of fluctuations in perams. We've been working to keep the PH up as it tends to dip a little lower then we'd like, but everything else is running like clockwork. Tim has some pictures he will be uploading soon.
Next step is to get the quarantine running so we can bring in some fish from the petstore to start stocking it up. We are still working on the finalized list, although there are a few fish that we are certain to have.
All in all, from build to move to maintaining everything has gone very smoothly. There is still some trim that Tim needs to finish and add to the stand and an upgrade to some of the equipment. Tim wants to add some things, but for now, I'm more concerned with getting the basics taken care of. The 'extras' can wait.
Keep an eye out for pictures to follow here in the next hour or so. They aren't great pictures and of course the Kessil's tend to throw everything into a 'blue' haze. I need to get him to take some pictures of the sump area and the control box side where the equipment is plugged up.
Anywho...enough 'talk'. Let me let him upload the pics, and I'll post them here shortly. :bounce3:
Well, a small update on what's kept us busy. My son started football in August, and we were busy with getting everything moved to the new house. Once we got everything moved, we then started working on getting our old house ready to sell. Then school started (my little man is now in 4th grade) and somewhere in all of that we've been maintaining the tank.
But enough about the unimportant stuff. How is the tank? It's doing FABULOUS. We absolutely LOVE it. We now have the two Kessil 150's on either side of the center 360 until we have the funds to upgrade. Still only sporting the single MP40 but after a cyano outbreak we pulled out the old trusty Koralia powerhead to stick on other end of the tank to help with water movement. The cyano quickly disappeared, and now we are starting to see a healthy spread of Coraline algae growing on the rocks, overflows and back tank wall. The corals are all responding VERY VERY well to the switch to the LED's from the metal halides on the 75. We are seeing growth on all of the corals. We've added a few small frags here and there, but the BIGGEST addition (and I DO mean 'biggest') addition to the tank is a Sailfin Tang that was given to us by a gentleman that Tim knows from work. The tang was a rehomed fish from a retirement home, and grew too big for the new home. He was looking to give him away to someone who had the space for him to roam. And he has found his way to our tank. He's HUGE...but a complete and total sweetheart. Haven't named him yet, but we're working on it. Unfortunately he became a victim of bullying by our female clown...who up until then had never bothered any of the other fish before. She was relentless on terrorizing the poor thing until he was trapped in one side of the tank. She was immediately placed into timeout in the sump, where she is currently residing. We can't catch the male clownfish, so he's riding solo in the display tank for now. The tank is maturing very well...with no serious algae breakouts of fluctuations in perams. We've been working to keep the PH up as it tends to dip a little lower then we'd like, but everything else is running like clockwork. Tim has some pictures he will be uploading soon.
Next step is to get the quarantine running so we can bring in some fish from the petstore to start stocking it up. We are still working on the finalized list, although there are a few fish that we are certain to have.
All in all, from build to move to maintaining everything has gone very smoothly. There is still some trim that Tim needs to finish and add to the stand and an upgrade to some of the equipment. Tim wants to add some things, but for now, I'm more concerned with getting the basics taken care of. The 'extras' can wait.
Keep an eye out for pictures to follow here in the next hour or so. They aren't great pictures and of course the Kessil's tend to throw everything into a 'blue' haze. I need to get him to take some pictures of the sump area and the control box side where the equipment is plugged up.
Anywho...enough 'talk'. Let me let him upload the pics, and I'll post them here shortly. :bounce3:
Tim gixxerman
New member
Full tank shot. You'll have to forgive the quality of these pictures. We did them in kind of a hurry this evening, and the tank is a little dirty.
Our newest addition. He's such a camera hog, but a great fish for the tank. He loves to show off.
Will take some better pictures tomorrow in the daylight when the Kessil's are at their peak intensity.
Our newest addition. He's such a camera hog, but a great fish for the tank. He loves to show off.
Will take some better pictures tomorrow in the daylight when the Kessil's are at their peak intensity.
Very nice. Glad things are progressing.
I was getting worried for a bit.
Yeah kids.. They are nice. That is why here at home I have a 11, 18, 19 and 19. HAHAHA...
I will have to make/design a trip and come out and visit. Maybe bring some zoa's while I am at it...
OK.. I will wait on those pictures in the AM.
Keep it up.
-Larry
I was getting worried for a bit.
Yeah kids.. They are nice. That is why here at home I have a 11, 18, 19 and 19. HAHAHA...
I will have to make/design a trip and come out and visit. Maybe bring some zoa's while I am at it...
OK.. I will wait on those pictures in the AM.
Keep it up.
-Larry
Tim gixxerman
New member
ORA pink birds nest, green birds nest, and a lot of stuff too!
pogota cup coral
war coral
pogota cup coral
war coral
Mrs. Gixxerman
New member
Happy New Year! I'm having a bit of a sleepless fit at the moment. I've been sick since Christmas so I've slept more than not, and I think it's finally caught up with me. Our 180 is now 7 months old, and is doing fantastic. Everything is very stable, and growing beautifully. We have some new additions to the tank and one sad loss to report. So let's start with the additions.
A friend of ours is in the process of moving and needed to tear down his tank for a while. So we acquired quite a few corals, a watchman goby/pistol shrimp, blue hippo, and two gold striped maroons. The two gold striped maroons are currently housed in our sump as we have our two mated maroons in the DT. We purchased a rose bubble tip nem which our two maroons left alone for all of a whopping 30 seconds. A few female anthias to add to our males harem and of course hubby has been bringing home a few frags here and there and adding them to the collection.
The loss I'm sorry to say was the poor hippo. We believe he fell victim to our nem. He loved to hide in the rock work right behind the nem. The nem decided to move one night, and was suddenly HUGE the next day and the hippo was absent. It's only a guess...lol.
On top of that, I bought my husband a new Cannon Rebel T3i DSLR camera for Christmas. We've been playing with the lenses, and so far have caught some really nice pictures. Honestly, we are still trying to read the manual, so it's a few shots here and there. Will try and post more pics soon, but for now here's a few to glance through. Next attempt will try to do a full tank shot without a glare off the glass.
A friend of ours is in the process of moving and needed to tear down his tank for a while. So we acquired quite a few corals, a watchman goby/pistol shrimp, blue hippo, and two gold striped maroons. The two gold striped maroons are currently housed in our sump as we have our two mated maroons in the DT. We purchased a rose bubble tip nem which our two maroons left alone for all of a whopping 30 seconds. A few female anthias to add to our males harem and of course hubby has been bringing home a few frags here and there and adding them to the collection.
The loss I'm sorry to say was the poor hippo. We believe he fell victim to our nem. He loved to hide in the rock work right behind the nem. The nem decided to move one night, and was suddenly HUGE the next day and the hippo was absent. It's only a guess...lol.
On top of that, I bought my husband a new Cannon Rebel T3i DSLR camera for Christmas. We've been playing with the lenses, and so far have caught some really nice pictures. Honestly, we are still trying to read the manual, so it's a few shots here and there. Will try and post more pics soon, but for now here's a few to glance through. Next attempt will try to do a full tank shot without a glare off the glass.
Mrs. Gixxerman
New member
Oh, and the cute kid and cute dog photo to go with it. LOL
My son sporting his new nerf gun
Our baby girl...Foxy.
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