Jadette's 140g Rimless Build Thread

[jadette]

I pick up a Achilles for Clint
It's very happy with his tank and I am very jealous

It gets along with his purple tang too.

You should get one!

Where did you get it? All I'm finding in circulation right now are 5-6"+ adults. I'm looking for a 3" juvenile. They have them at liveaquaria, but I really don't want to deal with receiving a shipment with this delicate fish.

Oh you are too nice. I absolutely love the coloration of that Rose. Please oh please keep me in mind if for some freak reason it ever splits. Do you recall where you bought it? I've seen other one's for sale but they pale in comparison to yours.

I got it from Reefski on this forum. You should hit him up. He's always selling them at a very reasonable price. Apparently, his are always splitting.

Kole Eyes are great fish. IME, they're great at keeping the rocks algae free as well.
What other fish do you have in there? I see the 2 clowns, mystery wrasse, Kole Eye, yellow tang, athias......

I currently have:
1 kole tang
1 yellow tang
1 mystery wrasse
2 clowns (1 ocellaris, 1 percula)
4 baby chromis (was 5. 1 died from the power outage)
5 purple queen anthias
5 lyretail anthias
1 sunburst anthias

The sunburst anthias I've had for years. Eats like a pig and likes to school with the rest of the anthias. Stays in the bottom half of the tank, but otherwise loves to be out in the open.

I know this is a high bio load for my tank, and I feel conditioned to have to justify this somehow. All I can say is I like seeing a lot of movement in my tank and I like heavily feeding them!

The LEDs are doing just fine. I really need to do an update on them. i have been really busy with school. what i can say is that some corals colored up better and some corals actually lost some colors. there were tradeoffs, but there are no problems growing corals under LEDs that is for sure.

I really enjoy reading all the DIY LED threads, including yours. I have to admit though, I'm spending way more money on my fixture than I anticipated. I could have bought an ATI PM brand new with bulbs and have money left over to spare with the amount I spent. But that was really more my fault in being indecisive about things. I've spent over $50 just on hook-up wire. Should I go with black or white? 18 or 20 gauge? Stranded or solid? Couldn't make up my mind and didn't want to make multiple trips to radio shack or fry's so I ended up buying everything. I think I must have purchased at least 4 different types of solder as well.

 

[bullitr]

I got it from a friend
My first one was small 3" healthy but my giant powder blue did not like him
So as much as possible no more fish on my 435 anymore.

Clint was 3-4" it's very healthy
It's was supposed to be on your 90 gallon by itself
With few anthias and soft corals but Gene twist my arm:wavehand:

 

[xxtechxx]

I really enjoy reading all the DIY LED threads, including yours. I have to admit though, I'm spending way more money on my fixture than I anticipated. I could have bought an ATI PM brand new with bulbs and have money left over to spare with the amount I spent. But that was really more my fault in being indecisive about things. I've spent over $50 just on hook-up wire. Should I go with black or white? 18 or 20 gauge? Stranded or solid? Couldn't make up my mind and didn't want to make multiple trips to radio shack or fry's so I ended up buying everything. I think I must have purchased at least 4 different types of solder as well.

im glad you enjoy my LED build thread! :bounce3:
Yes you could have bought an ATI PM however the bulbs would have to be changed out yearly which really adds up to the cost. I went from metal halide which is a load on the electric bill to T5 which i run ATI blue+ and aquablue special. They were good but i had to change out my bulbs every 9-12months. That is over 100 dollars of bulbs per year.

I used 18 gauge wire on my build however i think 20 gauge is more than enough even for 1.5AMP string of LEDs.

With the choice or solid vs stranded it really depends on the following factors:
Stranded will work best if you need more flexibility
Solid is best for more rigid work and is usually less expensive.

With solder a stand roll of 60/40 .032" solder will be perfect for most applications.

Then again i see that you are really good with electronics and you already bought everything so what is done has been done. hopefully i get to see your tank in person one day. really enjoy your tank. =]

 

[Crazy_Beaver]

Amazing build!

 

[LesPaulPlayer]

A great build thread. Your tank looks amazing.

 

[jadette]

Thanks for the compliments guys.

xxtechxx - i simply refuse to work with solid wire. The stuff is so stiff, it's difficult to work with. I bought a roll b/c the instructions on the icecap 660 ballast specifically called out solid wire. Even though I knew stranded would work just as well for the application, I'm just a sucker for following instructions. It looks like you're getting crazy growth on your LEDs. I'm seeing mixed results. Some things are encrusting quickly. Others look like they have not grown at all. Too early to tell really. I've only had the LEDs up for little more than a month.

Lawrence - Read on to see what a bad influence your livestock choices have had on me!

So....

I've been having a very WHITE Christmas lately.

Earlier in the week, I came home to see my favorite SPS start to STN on me - the ORA Hawkins. I've been trimming away the dead spots until I had nothing left but a mini colony. Last Thursday, I came home to see this:

A beautiful white color, no?

The very next day, I get rear ended by a white Jetta while driving my hubby's white Mazda.

This morning, I spilled coffee all over my white sweater.

So enough of the white! I decided to splurge and get something black instead.

Bad pic, I know, but the lil' sucker swims like a speed demon. Can't get an in-focus shot of him.

With my luck, he'll be covered in white spots tomorrow.

 

[bullitr]

Where did you get the Achilles from?
Jealous

 

[nicodim55]

Hey Shirley thx for the seasons greetings its healing well Love that achillis too

 

[jadette]

Where did you get the Achilles from?
Jealous

Got it at PTF during their Sunday sale. Would you believe I paid less than a bill for it?
Total impulse buy. I went to PTF to pick up more frozen mysis for my anthias and there he was - just the perfect size I was looking for. Was still a juvenile (no orange dot yet), which was also what I was looking for. But b/c it was an unplanned purchase, I did not have my QT tank set up. I allowed myself to be a noob for a day and plopped him straight into my DT. My yellow tang immediately started bullying him - but he did not cause any physical damage. Just enough hazing to let the Achilles know that he was the boss of the tank (My mystery wrasse would beg to differ). So I turned off the lights and hoped for the best. When I came home from work today, the Achilles was swimming about the tank as if he had lived there all his life.

He's only eating nori right now though. I read that this is common for achilles that are new additions in a tank, and I will have to train him onto pellets. He's at least eating though, so that's a good sign. I even added another vortech in the tank to keep him happy. 4 vortechs now. 2 on each side.

Hey Shirley thx for the seasons greetings its healing well Love that achillis too

Hey nico! thought you were eye-ing the war coral, but I guess you picked up the season's greetings instead. Hope to bring more frags to the meets in the future. Last time wasn't really the greatest time for me to bring frags, since most of my corals are still trying to settle into my new tank and lights.

Just wanted to spotlight my main reason for upgrading to a bigger tank - My school of purple queen anthias!

Here they are - looking all alien-y with my blue LEDs shining down on them:

A shot from below:

Purple Queen Anthias (tukas) are notorious for not doing well in the home aquaria. Problem is getting them to eat - and also eat enough. I feed my tank 3 times a day. On the weekends, I shoot for 4. I was concerned at first, b/c they were a bit on the skinny side when I picked them up. I should have waited for fatter specimens, but I had been searching for awhile and could not find anything better.
First week I had them - Only 3 of the 5 would eat - and would only touch nutramar ova.
Second week - All five of them were eating - but only the ova and the smaller pieces of mysis.
By the third week, they're just chowing down EVERYTHING. The largest two would even eat NLS pellets. They're aggressive eaters too. I'm sure they would eat out of my hand if I tried.
It's been about 6 weeks now and they're going strong. Hoping to have long term success with them.

 

[bullitr]

Jealous .....but I caught my large blue tang Last night.
Hopefully i can replace with achilles or chevron when I set up my qt that I pick up from your neighbor Ryan.

Also what you Par reading on the sand bed?

 

[lowbudget]

Nice pick up. I was going to go cause James mentioned they had a sale it could had been mine. good luck with it. Keep us updated I might be dareing and put one in my tank with a sohal. Hehehe...

 

[saltyg135er]

Great build and congrats on the new black beauty. I wish I would have thought about putting some shelving in my stand too. Did Steve have anything else nice at his store?

 

[jadette]

Jealous .....but I caught my large blue tang Last night.
Hopefully i can replace with achilles or chevron when I set up my qt that I pick up from your neighbor Ryan.

Also what you Par reading on the sand bed?

I am loving my Achilles. You should get one! From what I've been reading, I was expecting a difficult time with this fish, but he's doing so well in my tank right now. The first few days, he was only eating nori, but then I got him onto NLS pellets, and yesterday, he was chowing down formula 2 flakes like a champ! I dare say he has already gained weight in the 6 days that he's been in my tank. He's such a graceful swimmer. Just love love love him!

As far as par readings go, I'm getting a par of 210 on the brightest parts of the sandbed, and about 90 in the dark parts (the edges where my lights do not extend). Just below the water surface, I'm getting about 800. This is with just 2 of my LED bars on. I have yet to hook up my other two. Something I have to do before the year end. Sigh.

Nice pick up. I was going to go cause James mentioned they had a sale it could had been mine. good luck with it. Keep us updated I might be dareing and put one in my tank with a sohal. Hehehe...

Do eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!
I still need to swing by and pick up some zoas from your place.

Great build and congrats on the new black beauty. I wish I would have thought about putting some shelving in my stand too. Did Steve have anything else nice at his store?

Thanks!

The shelving is nice, but at the cost of sump space. My shelves are getting awfully clustered now and I'm thinking I'll just have to pick up a small white cabinet from Ikea to put all my extra supplements not tied to the dosers.

Steve had tons of cute and healthy juvenile chevron tangs. He only had one achilles that I saw (and I was there right when he opened). Lots of FAT FAT Bartletts, but Steve has a knack of picking up only males when he buys anthias. I just saw some guy pick up three males. I hope he has a big tank.

.....

Battling a cyano outbreak now in my tank. I recently switched salts. Using Tropic marin Bio Actif, which I read has the tendency to cause cyano outbreaks. Going to stick to it for awhile and give it 6 months to see how it goes. Outside of being unsightly, the cyano doesn't see to really bother anything else in the tank. Corals still look happy (outside of my dead Hawkins, but I blame the Obama Administration on that one).

To do list:
1. Finish the last 2 bars of LEDs
2. Hook up my swabbie and skimmate locker
3. Figure what to put in my autofeeder and set that up
4. Finish aquascaping my non-SPS mound
5. Get a trio of ventralis anthias

 

[bullitr]

I would later on if I can find a larger size to stand up to my powder blue.

 

[solitude127]

Get a trio of ventralis anthias

These are awesome fish. I hope they do well for you once you get them.

 

[Enjoy]

Everything is looking great. I want some pics of the trio once you get um

 

[lowbudget]

come by after this weekend. garage is messy. it give me couple more days to paint my corals hahahaha

 

[socalmonty]

Hi Shirley! I hope to meet you sometime. This thread cracks me up. You really have a way with words.

I'm just wondering how things are going with the TM Bio Actif. I have been slowly switching from TM Pro to Bio Actif and I had just mixed up my first full 100% Bio Actif batch of water for a water change and tested CA, MG and ALK. The CA and MG are both in the right range but the ALK is off the charts I get no color change at all with my Salifert test kit so its higher than 15.7! My tank ALK is 8.6. I even started doubting the test kit so bought another one. Same result. Are you getting high ALK readings with the Bio Actif? I don't dare do a water change with it.

 

[All Delight]

Those anthias are really pretty. As is your new addition, Achillies.

 

[bullitr]

Shirley
I see that your LEDs doesn't have fan just a aluminium tubing will that affect the longevity of LEDs bulbs ?