ReefWreak's 29g SPS Biocube Adventure!
- Thread starter ReefWreak
- Start date
ohmygodsomanydiapers. Between the new happy, healthy baby and changing jobs in December, I've really been exhausted through late 2017. 2018 is a new year with wonderful new things, but new challenges as well.
Hey Leon! Hope you got some iceboating in with this long, cold, and windy as hell winter we've been having.
The tank is still here... Mostly... Basically the big colonies at the top have almost plateaued over the surface of the water, which is cool, but at the same time it has choked almost everything else of light in the tank... So the bottom doesn't look good. And of course when that happened, bubble algae took over.
So I'm pretty displeased, but have noone to blame but myself. The good news is that while we somehow, despite being reasonably well compensated professionals, can't afford a house, we're moving out of our one bedroom apartment and into a rental house at the end of February. So while I won't have my dream 265 tank, I'm going to start looking out for maybe a lagoon 80 or similar tank.
That would be nice and I could finally bring in some algae eaters into the tank. Having a new tank is actually a pretty high priority on my wife's list, so I'm pretty pumped for the support. If we stayed in this apartment another year, I probably would break down the tank and sell it off.
I hope all my reefing buds are doing well. I haven't even opened a personal interest website while at my new job other than my email account because I'm too busy signing papers, coordinating stuff, learning, and just generally putting out fires. But it's an amazing opportunity, amazing institution, and I'll be on top of my role and start growing again soon.
Hey Leon! Hope you got some iceboating in with this long, cold, and windy as hell winter we've been having.
The tank is still here... Mostly... Basically the big colonies at the top have almost plateaued over the surface of the water, which is cool, but at the same time it has choked almost everything else of light in the tank... So the bottom doesn't look good. And of course when that happened, bubble algae took over.
So I'm pretty displeased, but have noone to blame but myself. The good news is that while we somehow, despite being reasonably well compensated professionals, can't afford a house, we're moving out of our one bedroom apartment and into a rental house at the end of February. So while I won't have my dream 265 tank, I'm going to start looking out for maybe a lagoon 80 or similar tank.
That would be nice and I could finally bring in some algae eaters into the tank. Having a new tank is actually a pretty high priority on my wife's list, so I'm pretty pumped for the support. If we stayed in this apartment another year, I probably would break down the tank and sell it off.
I hope all my reefing buds are doing well. I haven't even opened a personal interest website while at my new job other than my email account because I'm too busy signing papers, coordinating stuff, learning, and just generally putting out fires. But it's an amazing opportunity, amazing institution, and I'll be on top of my role and start growing again soon.
I had a 120, and it really did generally only need monthly maintenance other than feeding and topoff, and that's what I'd like to be at. I'd like more biological maintenance too. With the nano there just aren't many algae eaters that can last long term in a smaller tank. I'm hoping if I get into an 80-90 gallon, that I'll be able to have some grazing fish with a giant skimmer so that the algae will be taken care of by them to a large degree, and removed with the skimmer.
We'll see what happens. I've largely been operating my tank as a FOWLR the last year, only really changing out the two part when it runs out for the corals.
Something worth noting however, is that I have only had 1 minor issue with my LED lighting over the 3 years that the tank has been set up. One LED burned out, and was replaced within 24 hours, and since then it has been humming away, and looking great, while sipping electricity, the whole time. I don't know the PAR numbers as I never tracked them, but the corals seem happy (though who knows, maybe that's unknowingly why corals towards the bottom had been dieing and it isn't the corals at the top shading them out, who knows?!!).
I'll check your tank thread Rakie and see how things are going. Hopefully you haven't been set on fire or washed away in a mudslide.
soulpatch
New member
I feel you on the house front. My new house path keeps getting pushed as other things arise. This year I am shelling out well over 6K alone for a week trip to Disney....It hurts.
If I were to go smaller scale on the tank front then a 265 or so I would actually do 2 tanks set up in tandem. IE Have a 120 with a side 20 gallon frag tank.
One of my biggest complaints is fragging and having to leave them in my tank on a rack or on sandbed. It breaks site lines and I have to be careful where items go so they dont attack one another. I REALLY want a frag tank now but am limited as to where to put it. I stuggle as I have a closet on the one side I need to be able to get into so thinking of a small tank on a wheeled stand with disconnect unions to be able to roll it out of way if needed.
If I were to go smaller scale on the tank front then a 265 or so I would actually do 2 tanks set up in tandem. IE Have a 120 with a side 20 gallon frag tank.
One of my biggest complaints is fragging and having to leave them in my tank on a rack or on sandbed. It breaks site lines and I have to be careful where items go so they dont attack one another. I REALLY want a frag tank now but am limited as to where to put it. I stuggle as I have a closet on the one side I need to be able to get into so thinking of a small tank on a wheeled stand with disconnect unions to be able to roll it out of way if needed.
Housing sucks really badly -- The land on my home is worth $1.2m, and sadly, that's just the land. The house depreciates the value.. In my older neighborhood built in the late 50's, when someone finally moves out or (sadly) dies... The new owners all start the same way -- Knock down the house, build a McMansion. And of course I'm a student, so I don't own the house.
As for me, No mud fires here Reef. I've done a lot and had a lot happen. Now that the dinos have been gone for a long time so growth is really picking up.
I switched up to Radions, I happened to win a xr30 G4 Pro, and everything responded exceptionally well to it. Moreso when I got the diffuser. In general, all's been well, no issues, decent growth and color, etc etc.
So when you say you're looking for an 80-90 gallon are you imagining a 3' or 4' footprint? Because if you're just looking for around that water volume, the 80g deep blue is pretty cool if you want a lagoon style tank. It's deeper than a frag tank, but shallow. Really cool tank size.
As for me, No mud fires here Reef. I've done a lot and had a lot happen. Now that the dinos have been gone for a long time so growth is really picking up.
I switched up to Radions, I happened to win a xr30 G4 Pro, and everything responded exceptionally well to it. Moreso when I got the diffuser. In general, all's been well, no issues, decent growth and color, etc etc.
So when you say you're looking for an 80-90 gallon are you imagining a 3' or 4' footprint? Because if you're just looking for around that water volume, the 80g deep blue is pretty cool if you want a lagoon style tank. It's deeper than a frag tank, but shallow. Really cool tank size.
soulpatch
New member
My housing situation is because I refuse to lower my lifestyle to put more money aside or pay things off faster. I dont want to be house rich and cash poor so if I can't survive and buy larger as I love now then I will continue to wait. My daughter's 1300 a month day care stops this year as she hits kindergarden in the fall (time sure does fly) so that reduces to like 300 a month in before and after care with summer day camp still being like 1200 a month.
Also have some older house bills finishing up this year so looking forward to that. Now if only the winter would warm up so my electric bill was not more then double normal fees...I also need to wean myself from wanting the big name frags.... lol
Dont worry though Reef. in the next couple years when I move I will get our 300+ tank with fish room containing qt and frag tanks. Ill be sure to have a nice guest room for you and your family to stop in
Also have some older house bills finishing up this year so looking forward to that. Now if only the winter would warm up so my electric bill was not more then double normal fees...I also need to wean myself from wanting the big name frags.... lol
Dont worry though Reef. in the next couple years when I move I will get our 300+ tank with fish room containing qt and frag tanks. Ill be sure to have a nice guest room for you and your family to stop in
five.five-six
Well-known member
Having a child is like an endurance test that never ends. You don’t ever really adapt to it but eventually you forget what it was like befor the kid and then it’s not so bad anymore.
120 is a really nice sized tank, how many gallons is a 24X24X48? That’s a size I would like.
Pandagobyguy
New member
Thanks, and congratulations! We gave up on the house hunt. Forever renters....
I'm really hoping my landlord doesn't mind a 48" tank... That 100g shorty from SCA looks pretty sweet (I think it's them that had it). There's a fantastic deal right now for a used in-store display IM SR60 with AP700, but I really want to try to make 48" work so I can have tangs to eat algae.
Speaking of eating algae, my wife convinced me last night that I should do a water change and start scraping out the algae and throwing away dead corals. So we did. The tank looks MUCH better, though still having some STN on some of the acros. I think salinity is too high, and 2 part dosing is too high, so a lot of tweaking to be done before it's stable, but at least water changes are part of the way...
I'm really hoping my landlord doesn't mind a 48" tank... That 100g shorty from SCA looks pretty sweet (I think it's them that had it). There's a fantastic deal right now for a used in-store display IM SR60 with AP700, but I really want to try to make 48" work so I can have tangs to eat algae.
Speaking of eating algae, my wife convinced me last night that I should do a water change and start scraping out the algae and throwing away dead corals. So we did. The tank looks MUCH better, though still having some STN on some of the acros. I think salinity is too high, and 2 part dosing is too high, so a lot of tweaking to be done before it's stable, but at least water changes are part of the way...
five.five-six
Well-known member
Don’t give up on owning. Right now isn’t the best time with a new baby but owning is the way to go. Try to avoid buying in a HOA. HOA advantages: neighborhood keep nice and clutter free, no one can paint their house hot pink or leave their lawn to die and be overrun with weeds, many repairs are paid for by the HOA. HOA disadvantages: They are the spawn of Satan.
Yea, the primary reason for not buying right now is that the market, particularly in NYC, is just too hot. People here spend 50-60% of their income on housing, and that ain't right. And the houses reflect it. Our bar is moderately high, but we're moderately high paid professionals, and we're still not interested in being house poor.
So we're just going to rent for the foreseeable future, and I assume the market will take a dump in the next 5 years, and then we'll buy. The BUYERS costs of closing on these houses, mostly because of the higher NYC taxes, cover a year and a half of rent, and we have really high pressure high productivity jobs, so who knows how long any of us will want to stay anyway. Renting just made sense for the time being. We'll still be putting money away at the end of the month, just not as much.
So we're just going to rent for the foreseeable future, and I assume the market will take a dump in the next 5 years, and then we'll buy. The BUYERS costs of closing on these houses, mostly because of the higher NYC taxes, cover a year and a half of rent, and we have really high pressure high productivity jobs, so who knows how long any of us will want to stay anyway. Renting just made sense for the time being. We'll still be putting money away at the end of the month, just not as much.
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We're renting a house. It made more sense, and is more space for our growing family (aquarium).
I have a guy I've had do maintenance who also works for the big NYC LFS keeping an eye out for me on tanks. I keep trying to push for a 48" tank, and the LFS just so happens to have a new red Sea reefers 425xl for a pretty good deal....
Now I'm going back and reading all of the floor support and deflection threads that ca1ore and ericarenee posted in to get my learn on. I just have to keep in mind that it's no more weight than 4 large men standing on a 2'x4' patch, so in the scheme of things it's not a lot of weight. The deflection of that weight over a few years causing slight sag in the floor, which could lead to uneven weight distribution and tank structural problems, that's the issue.
Also I'm going back and seeing the results of my friends' tank mods, like Homer's ATS, soulpatch's whole setup, rakies cube, and 5.56's new totm-in-training. Hopefully I've helped people over the years, and now others are helping me again. It's a beautiful thing.
I have a guy I've had do maintenance who also works for the big NYC LFS keeping an eye out for me on tanks. I keep trying to push for a 48" tank, and the LFS just so happens to have a new red Sea reefers 425xl for a pretty good deal....
Now I'm going back and reading all of the floor support and deflection threads that ca1ore and ericarenee posted in to get my learn on. I just have to keep in mind that it's no more weight than 4 large men standing on a 2'x4' patch, so in the scheme of things it's not a lot of weight. The deflection of that weight over a few years causing slight sag in the floor, which could lead to uneven weight distribution and tank structural problems, that's the issue.
Also I'm going back and seeing the results of my friends' tank mods, like Homer's ATS, soulpatch's whole setup, rakies cube, and 5.56's new totm-in-training. Hopefully I've helped people over the years, and now others are helping me again. It's a beautiful thing.
Wally B has some interesting stuff in his current pre-build thread. I hadn't heard of Dri-Core (Dricore?) but it's high strength plastic with wood on the top, evenly distrubutes up to 1000lbs per 1'x1' or 6"x6" area (I forget which size) either way.. They exceptionally sturdy, keep water from gathering below the floor, very good weight distribution, etc etc.
If it may work for you, give it a quick look. It seems like one of those things I'll never go without once I heard of 'em. Best part is there pretty thin, so they aren't gonna raise the tank more than like 2/3 cm or so.
And under the house, long 4x4 or 2x4 with floor jacks
I'm sure there's more eloquent solutions, but these are cheap to implement and pretty reliable.
If it may work for you, give it a quick look. It seems like one of those things I'll never go without once I heard of 'em. Best part is there pretty thin, so they aren't gonna raise the tank more than like 2/3 cm or so.
And under the house, long 4x4 or 2x4 with floor jacks
I'm sure there's more eloquent solutions, but these are cheap to implement and pretty reliable.
homer1475
New member
Yes no more weight then 4 grown men, but it's static dead weight. It's not going to move, unlike the 4 grown men.
On the ATS front, it's finally kicking in with nice decent growth. I'm now cleaning about a cup of nice healthy dark green GHA on each weekly cleaning. They take a while to get working properly, but once it does...... I'm running at .03 PO4(Hanna ULR) with just a small amount of algae on the overflow. The bottom of my closed box ATS is loaded with all kinds of life which is also a major bonus. I feel the ATS does much better then just a wad of chaeto. It does better at nutrient control, and as a pod breeding ground.
On the ATS front, it's finally kicking in with nice decent growth. I'm now cleaning about a cup of nice healthy dark green GHA on each weekly cleaning. They take a while to get working properly, but once it does...... I'm running at .03 PO4(Hanna ULR) with just a small amount of algae on the overflow. The bottom of my closed box ATS is loaded with all kinds of life which is also a major bonus. I feel the ATS does much better then just a wad of chaeto. It does better at nutrient control, and as a pod breeding ground.
I've lived in Queens all my life and despite making a pretty good salary i've never been able to buy. Just too damn expensive and i struggle to justify the prices even if i could buy one. I am reserving buying a house for when we finally move away, meaning retirement, since i am locked in to NYC for my job.
I've never had the nerve to go past 55g because of the weight, in our apartment, so i feel your pain.
But somehow we still manage to squeeze in 3 cats, a 50 lb dog, and a bird, along with a fish tank. And our kid finally finished growing up and moved out, so there's an extra room. Hmmmm what to do with it......?
I've never had the nerve to go past 55g because of the weight, in our apartment, so i feel your pain.
But somehow we still manage to squeeze in 3 cats, a 50 lb dog, and a bird, along with a fish tank. And our kid finally finished growing up and moved out, so there's an extra room. Hmmmm what to do with it......?
Our floor already has some jacks. I asked because I know I had seen some discussion about floor jacks from RC, and the owner said it was so the new kitchen tile floor didn't get cracks if the floor sags at all. I'll have to check out the Dri-core, but I imagine it's not necessary.
That ATS production sounds fantastic homer, thanks for the update. I still get 0.0 on hanna ULR, but yet there's still bubble algae. The glass barely grows any algae. I always thought ATS was a more efficient method than a fuge with chaeto. Chaeto makes sense when you have a big tank to do some spinning with, but for most setups, a nice compact ATS is probably a very good solution. The problem is that they're still mostly DIY these days. I might even splurge for a Santa Monica, even though in theory I could make one out of takeout containers. If it would strangle out my bubble algae, I would definitely have moved to an ATS sooner.
Therinx, welcome to my thread. It's definitely scary to think about buying around here. The only people that own are people dead set on it and will pay 50-60% of their net takehome pay (that was almost us), or people who bought 15 years ago for 1/3 the price that the houses are now. What scares me too is that it's a 30 year mortgage, and unless there's a huge inflation bubble that eats up that insanely high asking price, then you're going to be stuck with insanely high payments forever. My parents tell me they thought their mortgage was crazy back in the day, but most of their lives the world still grew on average 3%, with the last 20 years or so at almost 10-15%. Right now the world is pretty stagnant again, and to pay a high asking price when you may not be getting career growth and raises like people did through the late 90s and early 2000s just doesn't seem sustainable. So we're waiting. If inflation spikes, and everyone gets 15% raises every year, sure, what the hell, why not, every year that inflation increases, the actual cost of that mortgage relative to income shrinks. But if the economy is stagnant, and we don't get big wage increases, and we're already "house poor" then it doesn't leave much wiggle room in case the economy tanks, which it will a number of times over the next 30 years.
So while I feel like a beholden serf for living in someone else's house and paying rent, that's just what it will be until we either move to somewhere more reasonably priced, or the economy tanks and we can afford a house with our savings. Hopefully my rent is high enough that they don't mind me adding a hundred gallon tank.
A quick picture of where I'd like to put the tank (above this, up against the wall, and that section already has a jack no more than 6 ft or so away):
I also took 360 degree pictures, so I have that too if anyone is interested in seeing them (I can PM links).
That ATS production sounds fantastic homer, thanks for the update. I still get 0.0 on hanna ULR, but yet there's still bubble algae. The glass barely grows any algae. I always thought ATS was a more efficient method than a fuge with chaeto. Chaeto makes sense when you have a big tank to do some spinning with, but for most setups, a nice compact ATS is probably a very good solution. The problem is that they're still mostly DIY these days. I might even splurge for a Santa Monica, even though in theory I could make one out of takeout containers. If it would strangle out my bubble algae, I would definitely have moved to an ATS sooner.
Therinx, welcome to my thread. It's definitely scary to think about buying around here. The only people that own are people dead set on it and will pay 50-60% of their net takehome pay (that was almost us), or people who bought 15 years ago for 1/3 the price that the houses are now. What scares me too is that it's a 30 year mortgage, and unless there's a huge inflation bubble that eats up that insanely high asking price, then you're going to be stuck with insanely high payments forever. My parents tell me they thought their mortgage was crazy back in the day, but most of their lives the world still grew on average 3%, with the last 20 years or so at almost 10-15%. Right now the world is pretty stagnant again, and to pay a high asking price when you may not be getting career growth and raises like people did through the late 90s and early 2000s just doesn't seem sustainable. So we're waiting. If inflation spikes, and everyone gets 15% raises every year, sure, what the hell, why not, every year that inflation increases, the actual cost of that mortgage relative to income shrinks. But if the economy is stagnant, and we don't get big wage increases, and we're already "house poor" then it doesn't leave much wiggle room in case the economy tanks, which it will a number of times over the next 30 years.
So while I feel like a beholden serf for living in someone else's house and paying rent, that's just what it will be until we either move to somewhere more reasonably priced, or the economy tanks and we can afford a house with our savings. Hopefully my rent is high enough that they don't mind me adding a hundred gallon tank.
A quick picture of where I'd like to put the tank (above this, up against the wall, and that section already has a jack no more than 6 ft or so away):
I also took 360 degree pictures, so I have that too if anyone is interested in seeing them (I can PM links).
