My tank project

it's been a long hard road...

it's been a long hard road...

So after tearing the tank completely down for the 2nd time in 8 months, everything is back up and running!

First: The old sump leaked, so I had to tear down the whole tank to get the sump out... this sucked, so I did some modifying to the stand so the sump could be removed from the front. Also, some steel reinforcement was added to make up for the lack of braces in the front and back.

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Here's the sump in action! Nice lil DSB and a fuge finally! I mis-measured, so maintenance on the skimmer will be a pain, but I'm happy overall, a huge upgraded over the crap sump that came with the tank. Had to make new doors for the stand to cover the new huge opening, they'll be added sometime this week.

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Also, I finally broke down and ordered a dosing system, which came in on Friday. After a ton of research, I decided to go with the new Bubble Magus dosing system. It was super easy to set up and from everything I have read think that I'll be completely satisfied with it.

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Now just some crappy tank shots... I soooo needed to make the photography meeting more than being in a silly wedding!


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Rico and the brain!

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Lynn: These are for you! Update on some donor corals!

This pink mili has made it through the stress of being torn down a couple of times, and has finally EXPLODED in growth. Just in the last few weeks it has really taken off!

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You can't tell in this pic, but when I got a small piece of ugly brown montipora from the club, I never expected what it is now... it too, just in the last few weeks, has colored up from dirty poopy brown, to a BEAUTIFUL green polip w/ a deep purple rim. I swear someone come in and swapped coral! It's really growing too, can't wait to pay it back!

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k.... that should cover it for now! Thanks for looking!

-brandon
 
Thanks for the updates,

very nice growth and color.

How long have you been using the doser?

I have noticed 3 things really changed the growth in the Comas tank:

-- adding more rock to the sump for more support to the tank;
-- changing bulbs more often and better bulb selection;
-- daily dosing of alk, calc, mag using the same doser you have
 
Lynn,
I've only had the dosing system for a couple of days, last night was the first night it was fully hooked up and functioning.

I've always been somewhat anal about water changes and keeping up with all my regular dosing (but I'm lazy and have to force myself to do it... hence the dosing system) So it wasn't the dosing system, but it all started around the time I got the 2 Koralia Evo's in and have them on a wavemaker. I honestly think I might have been dangerously low on flow (only had 2 Kor 3's) so now I'm sittin at like 70-75X turnover from power heads. That is the only thing drastic (good) that has changed, so it's gotta be it.

...forgot to mention the Elephant Ear from the frag tank did bleach out during the 2nd great Tank Move of 2010. It's already starting to get some pink back and will hopefully be back to it's former self soon.

-brandon.
 
It's been a long time, tank thread...

So 6 months ago I had a 3 level lumbar fusion (back surgery) and so needless to say tank maintenance has been tough. My wife had to do water changes because up until a couple of weeks ago I was restricted to lifting 10lbs or less... So in 6 months my tank got a total of 2 water changes. Well, the decline of my tank made me realize that I needed to find a back friendly way to water change... Now with the flip of a switch on a power strip next to my tank, I have saltwater on tap! No more lugging buckets!


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And a couple of tank pics for an update...

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My new hardware...

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Looks like L4-5, S1 to this untrained eye. Hope you're doing well.

That water change system looks strangely familiar...and very functional.

LL
 
Thanks guys!

Yeah George, seeing your easy water change on the tank tour was the inspiration!

Oh and pretty close you forgot L3/4. ;)
 
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