mike nickerson
New member
Great job. Keep it up.
owenspackmans 180 Reef upgrade build.
- Thread starter owenspackman
- Start date
Crazy_Beaver
New member
Everything looks nice man! Keep it up
HAHA ... no... My kids kept me busy. I check my levels and they are not consuming more than I can keep up with weekly water changes. So I am not pushing to set them up right now.
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
I was looking at your apex and it said your conductivity was 37.3. Have you fixed that?
owenspackman
New member
Well, I looked back and saw it at 20.x in one post of mine but didn't spot the 37.3....so you might be asking Worm that question! BUT they seem to read high numbers when the Apex is on but not being utilized. Not its functioning its reading between 2-4.
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owenspackman
New member
So bad news. My female Clown decided she rather be out of the tank than inside. Last night she jumped and I found her this morning, I had her since October.
She never really settled into the new tank, was always in the top 1/3 of the water column and in one of the front corners, at night she would get within 1" of the water surface, my water comes to within 1/2" of the tank top, she must have got startled during the night and when she jumped, she landed on the wrong side. Luckily my cat left her alone and I found her early this morning.
I know this comes with the territory with a rimless, but I wouldn't have expected it with a Clown, more the Firefish and Jawfish variety. Her mate is a little lonely now.
She never really settled into the new tank, was always in the top 1/3 of the water column and in one of the front corners, at night she would get within 1" of the water surface, my water comes to within 1/2" of the tank top, she must have got startled during the night and when she jumped, she landed on the wrong side. Luckily my cat left her alone and I found her early this morning.
I know this comes with the territory with a rimless, but I wouldn't have expected it with a Clown, more the Firefish and Jawfish variety. Her mate is a little lonely now.
owenspackman
New member
Photo time
Photo time
For some reason Photobucket & Reefcentral destroys the quality of these photos when they scale them down for forum viewing. If you want to see the better resolution, open them up in a new window and expand to full size in photobucket.
So one week after the upgrade was complete, here are some photos, still learning how to use the SLR.
The Elegance has now opened up, 24 hours after introduction.
Alveopora 24 hours after introduction.
Right hand shot of the tank
Photo time
For some reason Photobucket & Reefcentral destroys the quality of these photos when they scale them down for forum viewing. If you want to see the better resolution, open them up in a new window and expand to full size in photobucket.
So one week after the upgrade was complete, here are some photos, still learning how to use the SLR.
The Elegance has now opened up, 24 hours after introduction.
Alveopora 24 hours after introduction.
Right hand shot of the tank
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owenspackman
New member
Pulsing Xenia
Wild caught South Carolina Anemone
Left hand side shot
Front Tank Shot
Wild caught South Carolina Anemone
Left hand side shot
Front Tank Shot
Crazy_Beaver
New member
Great!I am jealous!I must hurry up!
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Every fish jumps. Some are known to jump more than others. I had a blue throat trigger that loved to carpet surf. Luckily that's what didn't cause his death.
On a good note your tank is coming along well.
I am moving this convo to my thread. No need to siderail this one.
I really like the new pics you put up.
bpcardona
Trying to hard
Wow, I have missed so much! You have done an amazing job on the tank!!! I have read through your thread today to catch up! I am impressed (but not surprised) on how this build turned out. A few comments!
I see that you place egg crate under all the sand. I would have recommend that you only put it under the rock. In other words cut out around the rock. Maybe you had your reasons and I missed it.
The aquascaping looks great! I like the open feel of the tank.
You kinda look like the Mr. Saltwater guy, but not as much as your wife looks like (insert famous model name here). That should make her like us again. :spin1:
What are your plan for water changes?
I see that you place egg crate under all the sand. I would have recommend that you only put it under the rock. In other words cut out around the rock. Maybe you had your reasons and I missed it.
The aquascaping looks great! I like the open feel of the tank.
You kinda look like the Mr. Saltwater guy, but not as much as your wife looks like (insert famous model name here). That should make her like us again. :spin1:
What are your plan for water changes?
owenspackman
New member
it has come a long way in your hiatus. But its good to have you back!
I had planned to do exactly that with the eggcrate, but I got a little carried away when trying to position the rock, plus not wanting to create too much die off in the time of positioning and filling it slipped my mind. It's certainly too late to fix now....i just have to hope it has no detrimental effect down the road trapping in too many nutrients and phosphate. With the whole argument over syphoning sand bed vs. leaving sand bed alone it may or may not have any effect. I've always syphoned my sand in my tanks, but i've also never kept sensitive corals. Now even if i want to, I can't fully syphon down to the glass due to the egg crate. So time will tell if this was an error on my part.
Water changes will be 10% on a weekly basis, I hope I have the ability to keep up with this. I did my first last weekend, drained 20 gallons and replaced with 20 fresh, no syphoning sand on my first change.
And i'm really pleased with the aquascaping too, so thank you! I like the opening and minimalist look, I do wonder if I should have kept the tank height lower considering my low height of rocks, I could have then increased to a 48" x 48". I enquired about this dimension at the time BUT the price sky-rocketed. Doesn't mean I don't love my tank as it is though!!
owenspackman
New member
I had an email and phone call from Miracles last week regarding my thoughts on the tank as they had read my disappointment on the finish of some of the silicone work in this thread. I spoke to Derek and he apologized and asked for pictures to present to production. It was pleasing to me that he cared enough not only for customer satisfaction but for the reputation of the company to make the effort to read the views and reach out.
Working in a production facility myself those final steps in quality are the absolute most important steps and should never, ever be rushed. For us it not only helps keep our product by far the best in the world, creates immense pride but also keeps those who use them safe.
My experience with Miracles overall was a positive one. The tanks quality is far greater than my previous AllGlass & Glass Cages 120's. They don't even match it. The production was slower than I would have like, they actually went about a week over the 6-8 week quoted, BUT i was extremely impressed with the quickness in freight (along with the cost on freight), 3 days from Canada to South Carolina via customs is impressive.
Working in a production facility myself those final steps in quality are the absolute most important steps and should never, ever be rushed. For us it not only helps keep our product by far the best in the world, creates immense pride but also keeps those who use them safe.
My experience with Miracles overall was a positive one. The tanks quality is far greater than my previous AllGlass & Glass Cages 120's. They don't even match it. The production was slower than I would have like, they actually went about a week over the 6-8 week quoted, BUT i was extremely impressed with the quickness in freight (along with the cost on freight), 3 days from Canada to South Carolina via customs is impressive.
owenspackman
New member
So I have my hands on some new corals.
I purchased some pieces from ebay, from a user I have had success with previously. 5 pieces, 1 Palm Tree Clove, 1 Milli and 3 Acros. I purchased from this vendor previously, they ship from Maryland and due to the cold evenings they're still experiencing he had to ship with heat packs. When they arrived in Charleston, SC, it was 85. By the time I opened them up, an Acro and Milli had already completely suffered from RTN with no tissue remaining.
The Clove might still be alive and just closed up? Doesn't look great right now. One of the other Acro's already showed signs of RTN in the bag but was much too small to frag for me, so super glued his base and we'll see how he does, polyps are showing though. The last Acro is pretty pale right now and no signs of polyps since he's been in.
Photos of the ebay purchases:
I have a local reefer close by who create a post on Craigslist a few months back to try and reduce the number of reef tanks he had, he was selling a variety of coral at great prices. He had such a great response he decided to make 4 small biocube frag tanks and start a side business fragging. He is getting pieces from suppliers and plans to start a website in the next few weeks. I got 8 pieces from him today, including Favia, Green Hulk Pavona, Monti's, Birdsnest and a Green Galaxea. I also swung by the LFS and picked up an Acro they had. Here are some rushed photos:
I purchased some pieces from ebay, from a user I have had success with previously. 5 pieces, 1 Palm Tree Clove, 1 Milli and 3 Acros. I purchased from this vendor previously, they ship from Maryland and due to the cold evenings they're still experiencing he had to ship with heat packs. When they arrived in Charleston, SC, it was 85. By the time I opened them up, an Acro and Milli had already completely suffered from RTN with no tissue remaining.
The Clove might still be alive and just closed up? Doesn't look great right now. One of the other Acro's already showed signs of RTN in the bag but was much too small to frag for me, so super glued his base and we'll see how he does, polyps are showing though. The last Acro is pretty pale right now and no signs of polyps since he's been in.
Photos of the ebay purchases:
I have a local reefer close by who create a post on Craigslist a few months back to try and reduce the number of reef tanks he had, he was selling a variety of coral at great prices. He had such a great response he decided to make 4 small biocube frag tanks and start a side business fragging. He is getting pieces from suppliers and plans to start a website in the next few weeks. I got 8 pieces from him today, including Favia, Green Hulk Pavona, Monti's, Birdsnest and a Green Galaxea. I also swung by the LFS and picked up an Acro they had. Here are some rushed photos:
owenspackman
New member
thank you!
I am planning a Ritteri after my vacation. None of my LFS sell them around here, so it will probably be a Liveaquaria purchase. Any experience with them?
Yes, and YES with a ritteri from them, too.
go sign up for the e-mail notification of a Ritteri Anemone (Sri Lanka). It will take a few days/weeks for them to get one in, anyway. If you sign up and the e-mail goes out, it goes out to all that signed up, so if you are not ready you are good. (sign up again if so) Once you are ready, jump quick when you get the e-mail.
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