Oyster Reef Ecosystem Tank

[Chasmodes]

Thanks E.Litvin! More updates to come. I'm down to 78 oysters left to glue, will be done sooner than I had hoped, I think. I would have glued more the past couple days but I ran out of Gorilla Glue. Got more yesterday, so hope to get on track again. More pics to come after I finish the section that I'm working on. I am so fired up about this tank again.

Got a Hypsoblennius invemar this weekend! So stoked! Been wanting one forever. I gave a guy some free frags and by chance he is a diver and I mentioned that they are out there and that if he ever finds them, I would love one. He actually found them and got me one and he took one. It has been hiding behind my overflow for a couple of days but I saw it out on the rocks last night so hopefully it comes out soon for good.

Wow, those are so beautiful! Now I'm really jealous :bounce2: :lolspin: How is he getting along with the molly miller?

 

[happyhourhero]

Wow, those are so beautiful! Now I'm really jealous :bounce2: :lolspin: How is he getting along with the molly miller?

Cant say as last night was the first time id seen it anywhere besides behind the overflow box. The molly and the seaweed tolerate eachother so i cam hoping it will be the same for this one...

 

[OrQidz]

Really cool idea! Those oyster shells look so neat.

 

[Chasmodes]

Thanks OrQids!

Update: in the pic below, the oysters laying flat on the table are the ones left to glue. I'm down to 52, I think, at last count. In the first picture, the gap between the back part of the left reef and front reef will be connected (actually, there are 3 separate cultches (or modules, if you will). I bought a new bottle of glue and did a lot of work last night. I'm really happy with how it's turning out.!

Left side (sorry, pic a little blurry, I must have moved)

Front, from above:

From the front:

I really like the half arch coming out from the right side. More work to be done tonight. :dance:

 

[Chasmodes]

For comparison, a pic from earlier in the thread, a picture that really inspired me:

 

[happyhourhero]

looking good!

 

[OllieNZ]

Can't wait to see this in the tank

 

[Chasmodes]

Finally finished the oyster reef, all of the oysters are glued into cultches that fit together.

Front, from above:

Front, tank bottom level:

Left side:

Right side:

Here's a video, trying to show depth and perspective that photos can't seem to capture. I tried to keep the aquascaping rule of thirds in mind when doing this. I'm really excited about how it turned out, better than I imagined when this all started.
https://youtu.be/I0d8HfyIGMg

Next up, finish the stand.

 

[Breadman03]

That's going to look great!

 

[Chasmodes]

Thanks Breadman!

I wanted to embed the video, so I'm trying again:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I0d8HfyIGMg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Chasmodes]

Got a Hypsoblennius invemar this weekend! So stoked! Been wanting one forever. I gave a guy some free frags and by chance he is a diver and I mentioned that they are out there and that if he ever finds them, I would love one. He actually found them and got me one and he took one. It has been hiding behind my overflow for a couple of days but I saw it out on the rocks last night so hopefully it comes out soon for good.

Hey Zack, how is your Hypsoblennius invemar doing? Are all of your blennies getting along? Any pics?

Regarding my tank, no further progress since I finished the oyster reef cultches. Money is the issue. Right now, the stand makes for a great workbench for assembling my 75g stream tank DIY 3D background. I've made quite a bit of progress on that, for another thread in another forum :fun4:

After I'm done with that, I'll complete the stand. I've purchased everything that I need, so all I need to do is the assembly, painting, and finishing of the stand and cabinet doors. I also need to build the face frame for my cabinet drawers.

 

[happyhourhero]

Cool, cool. In my frag tank I have a seaweed or eyelash and a tesselated. In my main tank I have a seaweed, 2 Molly Millers and 2 Tesselated.

They all seem to get along well but i have not been able to find the tesselated in my main tank. They are super shy.

 

[JZinCO]

Chas, just letting you know your build has inspired me. I am planning a 30g, 2nd display tank for macroalgae and seagrasses. I have tediously spent time pairing and gluing mussel shells (with varying degrees of mouth openness). I have read in the literature, snails like to lay eggs inside dead bivalves, plus maybe my (eventual) barnacle blennies may like them.
Or they may just create the perfect habitat for hair algae

On that note, I've also got a bunch of old barnacles.

Both the barnacles and mussels will decorate the back wall I will put together.

Anyway, can't wait to see more progress from you.

 

[Chasmodes]

Chas, just letting you know your build has inspired me. I am planning a 30g, 2nd display tank for macroalgae and seagrasses. I have tediously spent time pairing and gluing mussel shells (with varying degrees of mouth openness). I have read in the literature, snails like to lay eggs inside dead bivalves, plus maybe my (eventual) barnacle blennies may like them.
Or they may just create the perfect habitat for hair algae

On that note, I've also got a bunch of old barnacles.

Both the barnacles and mussels will decorate the back wall I will put together.

Anyway, can't wait to see more progress from you.

Wow, thank you for the compliment! I can't wait to see your tank as well. Do you have a build thread? I like the idea of a barnacle and muscle wall. It is tedious to match and glue shells like that, more effort than I imagined when I started out. But, now that I'm done, I kind of miss it. I view it as art work. All I have to do is make it living art work!

Not much new on this build except I painted the doors to my stand. I have to build a face frame and install them still. I'm still using my stand as a work bench for my other tank build. I guess I should stop being lazy and clear off the work bench that I have that is designed for that purpose :crazy1: Also, lack of money still plagues me. My well pump is going bad, so fixing that has to come before my tank purchases. Still, I'm hopeful. I've been dragging this out way too long.

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I hear you on the money thing. I think that's why there's so much DIY these days.

I am patiently waiting for you to get this great idea going! You have dragged it out a bit. Like I should talk…

 

[jewlz]

What an involved build! I cant wait to see it all together with water in it.

 

[Chasmodes]

Thanks guys.

Yeah Michael, the financial crisis of 2008 hurt me pretty bad along with my daughter's school loans... ugh... :headwalls:

 

[Michael Hoaster]

Yeah, that was rough. I took a warehouse job just to get by. That was also when I bailed on reef keeping and converted my tank to fresh water planted. On the bright side, I finally learned enough to be successful with plants. Combining what I learned from both sides was huge for me.

Keep chugging along! Do what you can, and keep us informed! There's a lot you can do for free, like research, design and decisions on things like overflows, etc.

 

[Chasmodes]

There's a lot you can do for free, like research, design and decisions on things like overflows, etc.

Been doing a lot of that! I still haven't decided on the overflow yet. I don't want a center overflow, and the sump will be in the next room on the other side of the wall. At least, that's the plan for now. The stand is not much lower than the tank, so head height will be less than a foot probably. But, I could scrap the sump stand and put the sump on the floor or under my tank. All up in the air.

Here is the tank... what would you do for an overflow if you used a sump? (question for anyone too)

I may not use a sump at all for this tank. Not sure yet. I won't be using a skimmer, so if I used the sump, then it would be for extra water volume, a place to do water changes and such, and a fuge.

Here is the sump:

 

[Michael Hoaster]

I'd do it coast to coast on the side that will be the back. Beautiful tank and sump!