K9s 20g Reef - Warning: Image Intense!

[K9]

UPDATE: October 4, 2005

UPDATE: October 4, 2005

Tonight I did some more work on the refugium as well as the stand. I bought 20lbs of Samoa Pink sand for the display, but only put about 15lbs of it in there to create a 1" deep bed for looks. The other 5lbs went into the fuge, where the sand bed is now about 4" deep. Even after a thorough rinsing, the sand still made my water really cloudy, but it's almost back to normal now. I was sick of my tank looking pink, so I swapped my URI 50/50 VHO bulb with a 10000k Coralife bulb and I'm VERY happy with the result. The tank looks brighter and the pink tint is gone!

I also bought a 4" PVC joint to help keep sand away from the intake of the MJ1200 in the fuge (picture below). I also added a sprayer bar to the refugium, which I really love (picture below). It helps keep the water aerated, and helps to provide some flow in the fuge. I have a couple corals in there now, just for the heck of it before I add them to the main display and add some chaetomorpha to the fuge.

I also put some more corner molding on the stand. I'll get around to painting it someday :lol:. I know you all are getting sick of seeing the same corals over and over, but I'm fragging my Cat's Paw and will be selling and/or trading the frags to get some new corals. Pictures of anything new will be posted the day I get them for the tank. Well, enjoy the pictures, and as always, questions and comments are welcome .

 

[n1ack]

what substrate are you using? how do you keep it so clean?

 

[K9]

what substrate are you using? how do you keep it so clean?

It's Samoa Pink sand. The reason it's so clean in the latest pictures is because I just bought it two days ago . The sand in the fuge is partly Samoa Pink, but mostly CaribSea Aragonite.

 

[JC VT]

K9, that looks amazing! How do you like your overflows? Are they fairly quiet? I am setting up my 29 this week and I am wanting to do the exact same type of overflow.

 

[K9]

K9, that looks amazing! How do you like your overflows? Are they fairly quiet? I am setting up my 29 this week and I am wanting to do the exact same type of overflow.

Hey, thanks so much for the compliment . The overflows are pretty quiet. Not totally silent, but they make very little noise. The sprayer bar in the fuge makes more noise than the two overflows, but it's inside the stand, so you can't really hear it. Overall, the tank is pretty quiet.

 

[MCWarhammer]

K9, any reason you chose to not get the reflector? I think I'm going to order the VHO's tonight that you picked up with the 50/50 and actinic URI's. I was just curious why you chose not to get a reflector.

When you painted the back of your tank, did you use any special type of paint?

 

[K9]

K9, any reason you chose to not get the reflector? I think I'm going to order the VHO's tonight that you picked up with the 50/50 and actinic URI's. I was just curious why you chose not to get a reflector.

When you painted the back of your tank, did you use any special type of paint?

No reason in particular. I just would rather have saved the $20 or whatever the reflector costs. I'm going to paint the inside of the canopy high-gloss white enamel and a clear-coat when I get around to painting the rest of the stand.

When I painted the back of the tank, I used Krylon high-gloss black enamel. Just make sure you clean the glass really well and wipe it down with some rubbing alcohol as well. This gets any fingerprints/grease off the glass.

 

[pimp2daizzo]

you can mkae them your self not hard i did it for my pc on my 5 and my new mh on my 28

 

[pimp2daizzo]

Now you need to make a skimmer...and you can call it your diy tank

 

[MCWarhammer]

you can mkae them your self not hard i did it for my pc on my 5 and my new mh on my 28

how did you make yours?

 

[Malla]

Nice job so far, your tank keeps getting better and better. Maybe I should build a stand too. I really need a sump, my tank looks too cluttered.

So, the coralife 10,000k bulb is working better? My URI 10,000k looks so pink, so I ordered a 70watt MH retro, and will just use the VHO actinics. I hope it will be enough white light for the 150watts of actinics.

 

[K9]

Nice job so far, your tank keeps getting better and better. Maybe I should build a stand too. I really need a sump, my tank looks too cluttered.

So, the coralife 10,000k bulb is working better? My URI 10,000k looks so pink, so I ordered a 70watt MH retro, and will just use the VHO actinics. I hope it will be enough white light for the 150watts of actinics.

Thanks alot! Yeah, I like the Coralife bulb MUCH better. I kept the URI 50/50 of course as a backup or in case I order a second set of the VHOs I'll only need to order another actinic bulb.

 

[K9]

UPDATE: October 8, 2005

UPDATE: October 8, 2005

Hello everyone. In the past few days, I've added some new things to the tank. I now have a 2" long Maroon Clownfish, some new pink/purple Ricordea, and a new 5-6" wide Galaxy coral. I've also bought a few more lbs of live rock and re-organized my aquascaping.

Earlier this week, I fragged out my huge Cat's Paw SPS. Unfortunately, some of the frags didn't make it since they were already too far gone to save. For those who don't know the details, I bought this coral from the LFS for half-price since it was already about 1/3 bleached and/or dead. Fortunately, 4 good frags did make it and are going to be allright. Well, below are the latest pictures. I hope you all enjoy. Have a great weekend everyone!

A high-res version of the picture below is available here.

 

[WendyMc]

Beautiful tank, you have a great, level head about your reef (something I've always tried to get, never really successfully =) When you fragged the cat's paw, did you use a dremel, or snippers?

 

[Phyxius]

K9,
I PM`d you about a question on your lights..Trying not to side track your thread here.

 

[nonamesright]

nice updates. keep up the good work.

 

[K9]

WendyMc,

I fragged the Cat's Paw using a Black & Decker rotary tool (most people just say a Dremel). I used this instead of snips because the branches were quite thick, and a rotary tool just made a nicer cut. Thanks so much for the kind words as well. I try to be level-headed with my tank, but some might call it something else: obsessive :lol:.

K9,
I PM`d you about a question on your lights..Trying not to side track your thread here.

Hey, PM'ed you back. No worries though. If you're asking about my equipment or anything having to do with the tank, please feel free to post it here. If you read back through the thread, other people have asked me about my stand and canopy, the lights, drilling the glass, and other related things. As long as the question is about reefkeeping, you won't be sidetracking the thread .

nonamesright,

Thanks for the kudos! :thumbsup:

 

[K9]

Sorry, double post.

 

[KING OF THE REEF]

um k9, any chance we could work out adeal for so me zoos (i love the ones you have in that first pic) pm me if interested

 

[MCWarhammer]

this may sound dumb... but could you provide a little more detail on how you drilled your holes? I picked up a dremel and a diamond bit for it as well this mroning and plan doing it tonight.

Is the tape there just for your guidance? or does it serve a purpose? Did you put any on the other side to assist in preventing cracking?

Also, where you cut it looks green.. Is the picture just showing an odd reflection from the other piece of glass? or is that something of significance?

thanks