New hobby I've found, time for a huge thread.

[BrianKC]

From what I've noticed in my curing tub, I will be topping off about .3 -.5 gallon every day in rodi. I figure if I pour half of that number in the morning, and the other half at night, I can avoid swings in salinity/temp. I should also add, every Saturday is maintenence day for all my critters, I spend about 1.5 hours doing water changes, and cleaning glass, so this is just an added 20 mins for a weekly vacuum and 10%WC

Any thoughts on that?

Ad far as an ato, I already have too much equipment in the DT for my liking. My FW aquascapes are almost naked in terms of equipment, so even the use of powerheads and heaters in this tank kinda bug me. I did however manage to hide the maxijet1200 behind one of the rock piles, and that helps curb my ocd.

I can't remember; did you heat the water when you were in the cure tub? Warm water will evap faster than cool water. Water with surface turbulence will also evap faster (and you want surface turbulence in your DT). All that to say your evap might be a bit faster than anticipated.

But, I think your general plan sounds fine. My ATO allows about a 1 gallon swing and It seems to run about every 18-20 hours (I know this because it'll run one night at 10pm, next day around 6pm, then i am not in the room for several days to hear it run). SO, I think topping morning and evening would be fine.

Also, your Saturday plan sounds great (though you might have to clean glass more frequently). I just finished my every other Saturday maintenance. Normally that's just a 20% water change and a skimmer cleaning, but this week I did a deep clean of my sump. Took everything out, scrubbed it all down, and wet/dry vacuumed every last bit of detritus from the sump. Discovered I had a baby pistol shrimp in the sump the size of a sunflower seed (he was in the shop vac as I was emptying). His clicker claw came off but I saved him and returned him to the sump. Hope it grows back!

 

[leviburns89]

Wow! Pistol shrimp generate a sonic boom with their claw, it literally changes the chemical structure of the water when they fire it off, they are so cool.

I also just took one for the team, and dunked my chapped knuckles back in, and created the 2 islands. It's amazing. I may even add some black sand to create a "river" in the void of the two islands. I will upload pics once the water clears.

I have kept the curing tubs at 80f with circulation the whole time. I have been trying to emulate the DT conditions from the start.

 

[BrianKC]

Awesome. Can't wait to see it. The black sand is a cool idea but since everything is always-shifting with your powerheads, CUC, etc, I don't think it would stay well-defined for long and would eventually just get dispersed with the rest of the sand.

Yeah, pistols are awesome. I have two grown-up ones; I'm not sure if this baby is theirs or just hitchhiked in along with them. Here is one of them coming out for a bite of food. They'll actually eat straight from my turkey baster now.

 

[leviburns89]

The black sand is a cool idea but since everything is always-shifting with your powerheads, CUC, etc, I don't think it would stay well-defined for long and would eventually just get dispersed with the rest of the sand.

You're right, I keep forgetting that lol. These things aren't an issue with FW, you can make a sand river, with suspending islands, and never have to worry. Oh well, it still looks dope. I can't wait to get a blasto and acan in there on that sea floor, gahh, so many things I want, dam you time!!!!

That is a seriously gorgeous shrimp, how do they do with your corals?

I only plan on having 2 clowns and a goby as far as fish are concerned, but my main priority is corals

 

[BrianKC]

Acans are awesome. I just got my first one last weekend.

The pistol shrimp is the pit bull of reefs. As in, misunderstood and feared for mostly no reason. Everyone lumps them in with mantis shrimp. They are pretty much blind and only use their supersonic claws as a defense. Mostly they make a burrow under the rocks and chill there. They do stir sand and burrow so make sure your rock are resting mostly on bottom glass and not sand, or you may have a rockslide.

Other than that, they're great and gentle. I literally saw one of mine last week emerge from the burrow with a hermit crab in his claw and gently drop it outside on the sand. As it turned and went back in its burrow, it gave a SNAP as if to say "uh uh, no you DONT come in my house like you all that."

Also...I always think pistol shrimp look like mega man with their one giant claw-arm.

 

[leviburns89]

Sorry for the muddy water, I just couldn't wait to post a pic...

The void between the two islands is about 6"

I couldn't make the right side any taller with the peices I had, they are just too big, and if I did stack them, they created ugly gaps that would eventually topple.

 

[BrianKC]

Looks awesome! You might bring the right island in just a bit to make cleaning between rock and glass easier.

Also, lots of folks drill holes in the rock and use acrylic rods to hold the stack together. Just a thought.

We have opposite problems. You have a long tank that encourages height. I have a squat, shorter tank that won't let me island easily.

 

[leviburns89]

We have opposite problems. You have a long tank that encourages height. I have a squat, shorter tank that won't let me island easily.

Haha that's life tho isn't it?

And nice reference to megaman, throw some late 80s in the convo lol, I just watched Big Trouble in Little China today haha, great flick.

As far as cleaning, I still have 1.25" to play with. It will be tought, but I'm sure I can design a wide, low profile brush at work.

How dirty/algaed does you glass get over the course of the week?

And acans remind me of funky socks, like the tops of them. Idk why, but they look like something Harry Potter would put his foot into lol

 

[BrianKC]

Haha that's life tho isn't it?

And nice reference to megaman, throw some late 80s in the convo lol, I just watched Big Trouble in Little China today haha, great flick.

As far as cleaning, I still have 1.25" to play with. It will be tought, but I'm sure I can design a wide, low profile brush at work.

How dirty/algaed does you glass get over the course of the week?

And acans remind me of funky socks, like the tops of them. Idk why, but they look like something Harry Potter would put his foot into lol

Ha! Or Santa's elves.

The glass doesn't get too crappy but probably every three days I can see a slight film and want to clean it off. You can get a mag float magnetic glass cleaner for the day-to-day and a nice bladed cleaner for deeper/corner/bottom cleaning. I was actually doing just that when my phone dinged that you posted. Here are my mag float and Kent scrapers.

 

[leviburns89]

Dang gina, reef tank in the billiard room.. someone has a good job lol.

Also, from playing leagues for my entire life, the thought of a tank in a billiard room terrifies me lol. I've seen so many balls fly off the table, no pun intended haha


Tis a gorgeous room tho

 

[BrianKC]

Haha. Thanks! Yes, I am definitely blessed in the job/income department. I actually measured the distance from the table; cue sticks have adequate clearance and jumping balls is strictly forbidden in this room.

This actually was the compromise with the wife after the tank flooded the upstairs 3 years ago. She got a basement remodel. I got my tank back. But, it HAD to be in the basement. That said, after the remodel, the basement is actually where we spend most of our time. This is the rest of the room, if you're interested.

 

[BrianKC]

Ps...can you say homeowners insurance for the win!

 

[leviburns89]

Haha no doubt! My parents lost the house I grew up in, to a house fire about 5 years ago. They were super big into insurance, and had a 3000sqft home built in the same spot. Now my dad has a 20 cubic yard alligator habitat in his basement, and a 4000g koi pond in the front yard with a 6ft waterfall. They really made the most of insurance lol.

The last 2 years I was in the new home industry, and helped design several amazing houses, but that is absolutely beautiful. The color scheme is great, and the blue from the tank adds a fantastic calming ambiance.

I currently am back in the entertainment industry after a 4 year hiatus. I'm a scenic carpenter for a tv show. Not my dream job, but it definitely keeps me engaged, and I get to hang out with some of my favorite celebrities all day, every day.

Currently in the process of producing a miniseries that should be airing within the next year, and if all goes well, I will be my own boss again. Then I will be able to have a man's tank, and perhaps a bar in the basement as well lol.


Is it bad that I can name every bottle on your bar lol. Save some of that Bombay for me, next time I'm in KC lol. Im a Gin n tonic junkie.

 

[BrianKC]

So many things to respond to!

1. Name the series and the celebrities.
2. Will you please build me things? I have a list.
3. Thank you. My wife architected the layout and textures, but I picked all the colors.
4. An alligator habitat in the basement?? I need pics. That sounds amazing.
5. A "mans tank" is more about what's in it than how big it is. Mine is only a 65. I had a 180 5 years ago before the divorce and the move, but honestly...I enjoy the 65 more.
6. I'll tell the wife to hang onto some Bombay for you. That's hers. I'm a bourbon man myself. Seriously, if you come to KC let me know. You're reef people and reef people are always welcome.

 

[leviburns89]

Well its a channel, formally known as Shop NBC not a particular series. But I work with Andrew Zimmern, Paula Dean, Suzanne Somers, Todd English, Marshawn Lynch, to name a few lol. I design, and construct all the studios, it's just me and my mentor that do it too, so it feels like I actually contribute to something.
Andrew Zimmern is my hero tho. He gets paid to travel the world, and eat food... how do I get that job lol.

And yeah, I bought my dad 2 baby American alligators about 7 years ago, they had lived in a 250 wide up until the house fire, then he decided to commit a huge portion of the basement to them once they rebuilt. I will have him send some pics, and upload them.

As far as our miniseries, it is going to be based on the art of swordsmithing. My mentor and I have been making traditional, and tactical swords, and we are creating a series to showcase the art, and history. We will be showing how different swords are made, how they were used, and some modern practicality examples as well.

Kind of like a more professional version of ZombieGoBoom.

 

[leviburns89]

Finally settled.

 

[BrianKC]

That looks awesome!

 

[leviburns89]

Quick update:

I was in the market for Bio-Spira, but after learning that they have switched their formula to sw/fw, vs just sw, I was quickly deterred. They apparently add fw bacteria and sw bacteria now, and is only 50% of what I actually need.

So I was given this $200 gallon jug, for $10 because I mentioned I was part of my local reef. The small bottle I wanted was $11.99, and I would only have needed about 5 cap fulls, and told the lfs I would give the rest away, and he said "oh, in that case, just take this, I have 6 more, and will never use it all before it expires in 6 months"

So this was a helluva deal, and I get to give as much away as I can. It treats about 15,000 gallons lol.

I also was able to purchase 10 lbs of premium live rock for $10, and the owner threw in a handful of really nice rubble that had its own tank, and had been pest free for over a year, free of charge.

Here is before

And after

This should help seed the tank, and allow my ghost feeding to help grow the bacteria.

I also made this double drip line acclimatization tank at work today.

One line will feed 1 drop/second from the DT, and another will feed 1 drop/sec into a drain bucket. Also free using scrap materials at work.

Not bad huh?


**I should also add, I still plan on waiting at least 4-6 weeks to allow the tank to properly cycle. The smartstart was just to help the bacteria populate. I have NO intentions on adding livestock for a good while.

 

[BrianKC]

Hahaha. 55 gallons down. 14,945 gallons to go. That's a pretty sweet deal. Also, awesome rock additions. Have you thought about making one island taller than the other? Last; sweet acclimation tank. Are you planning to use a QT tank?

 

[leviburns89]

Are you planning to use a QT tank?

Well, since I have formed a good relationship with my lfs, any fish I buy, I can have them quarantine. I do have a 10g spare tank, but my wife would have a fit if I brought another tank in the room.

That being said, I only plan of having 2 clowns, and possibly a single goby. From what I've read, corals only need to be dipped and acclimatized before introducing to the tank. The frags I have my eye on are tiny, single polyp tiny, so hitchikers should be minimum, if not zero, and come from a super reputable source.

As far as making one island bigger, I've played with the rock's quite a bit, and this seems to be the only way to get them secure, and still palatable. Any other configuration, and it just seems jaged, and unable to hold frags.