Neal's Barebottom SPS & ZOA System...

[Pallobi]

Went on a little reefing hobby excursion today, met some cool peeps...

Went on a little reefing hobby excursion today, met some cool peeps...

So I went out for a few hours today and met up with some fellow hobbyist and thought i would share my experience...

first i had some candy apple reds to sell to "mylifesmyown" also known as Ryan who works at Fintastic, and as some know, I purchased "awcamp's" 65 gallon tall dimension reef ready tank to setup as my new "fuge"...

however, before that I took an hour or so to stop by another hobbyist house who was kind enough to show me his awesome system, and share with me some acrylic making tips and a bit of materials to try a couple things on my own... I am talking about "madtanks"... really nice guy from what i saw, and he was incredibly generous with his day off and his knowledge of acrylic construction... its always cool to shoot the breeze with someone like this... he walked me through some basic steps of acrylic use and again, was nice enough to throw me some scrape materials and a bit of weld on so i could give it the old college try lol... I think I am gonna start with trying out the materials by making a look down box, and see how difficult it really is for myself... this dude made his own tank, sump and fuge/frag tank himself, and let me tell you, its construction was top notch... and he was kind enough to sell me a couple nice ORA frags... i got me a pink milli, which i have been yearning for, and a nice little 3 tipped Chips, which i have also been interested in getting... Great guy, and a good way to burn some of the day off, afternoon time... Thanks again bud! very cool of you...

From there I went over to Manchester Community College to meet up with "Awcamp"... which I also have to say, nice guy, and very generous... he could have EASILY gotten $100+ for this sweet, in great condition 65g RR, but clearly he was not in it for the money like some... Thanks to him i got a great deal on a much more useful tank for my system rather than the 40g breeder i have been using... it will get a good use and be utilized in a way to boost my system a bit more... and i am very grateful for this... seems to be a real nice guy, and standup as well, as the tank was in great shape and them some, jus as he mentioned...

Then "mylifesmyown" (Ryan) stopped by and picked up a nice Candy Apple Red frag i had for him, and met me there as well... Ive run into this dude a couple times, and so far, cool guy... thanks for the purchase bro, greatly appreciated...

Not too much of a system post per'say, but I thought i would share my thoughts and experience with these cats... good peeps it seems to me...

THANKS AGAIN GUYS!!!! :bounce3:

 

[mylifeismyown66]

Thanks for the frag dude, it actually never closed up in the cup and are still opened and looking great in my tank! Theyre sick!

 

[Pallobi]

Stocklist additions...

Stocklist additions...

As i jus mentioned, picked up a nice 1", 3 point pink millipora... as well as a nice 1", 3 point ORA chips... and i will post pics of the new "fuge" to be soon as well

 

[Pallobi]

Thanks for the frag dude, it actually never closed up in the cup and are still opened and looking great in my tank! Theyre sick!

no prob dawgie! thanks for the positive feed back... hopefully the smaller, 4th polyp takes off too and in a couple months you have at least 10 to 15 or so... That would rock! lol

:beer:

 

[Pallobi]

jus a couple pics of the new "fuge"...

a bit dirty, but in great shape none the less...

very happy indeed

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and you can see here, the 65 is 8" taller than the 40, which is sweet imo...

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[Pallobi]

Display Tank upgrade as well...

Display Tank upgrade as well...

so this saturday i will be picking up a new to me, used tank to make for a larger display... a 120g standard w/o overflow or any drilled holes

i wasnt gonna do this, but as i am getting it for free, aside from some volunteer time, the price is right, and it will give me 33% more footprint real estate, and i will drill my own holes for a custom center overflow that will only be from the mid-tank level and up... meaning that i will not lose space on the bottom of the tank due to the overflow as well, like i do now in my 75... so really ill be gaining about 40% more area... which is gonna be awesome, especially with the display and grow out approach i am taking...

since i like shallow tanks and i have two awesome mp40 wavemakers, i will affix the custom overflow a few inches lower than any standard overflow... I will do this so that i may really crank up the wavemaker feature without worrying about having water coming up to high... i want the water depth to be the same as my 75, particularly so i do not lose any par or light penetration to the bottom depths, which is where i place a good amount of my sps (thanks to my 8 bulb t5's which allow me to do this)... anyhow, the water level will be about 3 to 4"s lower than the trim... which unfortunately is the "oak" look, but again, with the price, i cant complain... i can always jus paint over the trim, and besides, the tank is in great shape... basically like new

jus thought i would share... cant wait to have this and my new "fuge" setup... overall it will add about 40 to 50 gallons to my total water volume... and that is cool

i hope to have the 65g turned into my new fuge by the end of this week, but the 120 will be a few weeks probably at least before its online... but i am looking forward to it... and of course, there will be pics lol...

 

[shayna123]

Hey Neal. Congrats on your new stuff. Cant wait until your next frag session. I love pink millis too. Frags I got last week are all doing well. I still cant stop raving about your system - it is gorgeous! Good with you luck upgrade.

 

[Pallobi]

thank you shayna, you are jus too sweet

 

[jmccoya]

Do you run a seperate frag tank? Or are all of the frags you have posted on your sale/trade thread here up on those frag racks?
Can't say it enough....love your setup!

 

[Pallobi]

I don't have a frag tank unfortunately... I have those two racks for sps in the display... I keep frags of zoas and palys in the fuge after I cut them when someone wants them... or if I cut them anyways... I have a 2 bulb t5 over my fuge and it does the trick... for a short while with no worries...

 

[Pallobi]

a couple actually decent shots of my purple tang... the first you can actuall get a somewhat bulrried, but good close up of how he has healed up... there were craters in his head about 5 weeks ago, and a deep white line goin down his laterals... so he has done well

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<a href="http://s906.photobucket.com/albums/ac268/Pallobi11/?action=view&current=IMAG0365.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i906.photobucket.com/albums/ac268/Pallobi11/IMAG0365.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[Pallobi]

so i guess i am doin something right, as the following pic shows you what i started with, and the next shows you what i got outta it a month later... these 5 brown frags you see, are actually pokerstar monti's... as these i jus added from a frag i got, i got two jus like them about 4 weeks back, and they lost their color completely and regenerated to make the two peices you see in the second pic... so thats pretty cool

<a href="http://s906.photobucket.com/albums/ac268/Pallobi11/?action=view&current=IMAG0351.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i906.photobucket.com/albums/ac268/Pallobi11/IMAG0351.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

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so with any luck, ill have 5 more frags of the ones right above in about 3 to 5 weeks... i gotta say, they look pretty nice, and the pics do them no justice... they are an amazing blueish purple, with bright green polyps in the center, and orange and red ones lining the outer edges

 

[Pallobi]

and i got my rasta's yesterday there is about 13 or 14 of them... they are the ones in the center...

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[Pallobi]

went and sold my large maxima today, and as i met the purchaser at aquatic wildlife in manchester, i figured i would check out what they had... normally their fish are pretty pricey, but this little guy and the other 7 or 8 they had were at some good prices... i picked the one that looked the absolute best after thoroughly examining them each for about nearly an hour lol... but i am happy, wild caught, but looking great, and i got thousands of pods in my system of all sizes... he will not be qt'd, but will be given 3 freshwater dips over the course of the next 2 hours of acclimation
he sure is pretty lol

<a href="http://s906.photobucket.com/albums/ac268/Pallobi11/?action=view&current=IMAG0368.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i906.photobucket.com/albums/ac268/Pallobi11/IMAG0368.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

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im not sure where he will go long term, but i think for now he will be good in the fuge... or i may put him in the breeder box i have and hang him in the display for a couple days so the purple tang and 6 line can get used to them before i put him in there, but so far, im thinkin fuge... and maybe move him to the display when i change over to the 120 i am getting once its online...

 

[ClemQuat]

Congrats!! We were there on Wednesday! Probably saw the exact one you bought. We're still holding out for an ORA psychedelic which the manager said they'd get in in a few months.

 

[Pallobi]

nice! i got ahold of ORA not too long ago, they said about june

 

[Pallobi]

succesfully fragged my rasta zoas without any damage or any cutting of any polyp... i was sweatin' it bad! lol

 

[ziyaadb]

awesome build man, tagging along

 

[Reefir]

ya definatly a labor of love u got going there ... I see u have the addiction ..r u going to be alright or do u think you will end up in rehab one of these day , does the betty ford have a reef rehab ..lol..good job my friend . keep up the nice work and awsome threads , how long have u been in the hobby ?

 

[Pallobi]

REHAB IS FOR QUITERS! AND THIS SELF FED ADDICTION IS NONE FOR QUITERS!!! ...

jus sayin guys thanks for the kind words