Slakker's Oceanic 58g

[fuschia_red]

very nice.

 

[michika]

That is a lot of rain! Wow!

I like where this is starting to go!

 

[Slakker]

Thanks for the kind words Your "from scratch" setup has been an inspiration for me while setting up my new system, though admittedly my lack of experience in this sort of thing, as well as college-related funding limitations, have prevented it from being anywhere near the same level

Still, I'm working with what I have and I'm happy with the direction the system is going. My pH probe arrived on Friday and I've just made it home to get it. I know, that sounds weird, but I have all of my stuff shipped to my parent's house rather than my apartment, as there's really no safe place to leave a package in my building. Plus I end up back here filling my RO jugs at least once a week anyways. Anyways, when I opened the box it seemed like the probe had leaked a bit...there was a substance shockingly similar to salt creep on the probe around the soft clear plastic end. It seems to still have a good amount of liquid in there, so I'm figuring it's probably fine. I guess if it doesn't work I'll be giving MarineDepot a call tomorrow to try to sort things out.

Which brings me to my next big, dramatic, eventful, and incredibly exciting update...I've just ordered a new set of filters for the RO/DI system (an AirWaterIce 75gpd Compact Reefkeeper). I checked the TDS and found them at 20 :eek2:

Probably not a huge deal, but it's much worse than 0, and it's been at least a year since any of the filters have been replaced, so I figured it was probably long overdue. Sediment, both carbon stages, and DI chamber total came up to about $50 shipped, which is well worth it in my opinion.

 

[michika]

This is the first set-up I've done that I haven't been in full-time courses, plus a part-time course, and working a FT job. I am loving it!

That is really cheap for replacements for your RO/DI!

 

[Slakker]

Yeah, I'm not taking any courses during the summer this year, but I am commuting ~45 minutes both ways to a full time job...so I figure that makes up for it.

Edit: pH probe calibrated with 7.0 solution and in the tank, reading ~8 with the lights out

 

[Cuby2k]

Hey I'm on board, love a new setup.

 

[Slakker]

Thanks Rod! Hopefully this thread will get a lot more interesting as the cycle winds down and I can start putting some really fun stuff in the tank.

I just realized I never posted this before, a picture of the 12g that I have now and have had for the past year. Everything in here will be coming over to the 58 eventually.

Some of the rocks are starting to get some aiptasia again, so I'm thinking about leaving the 12 up and running for a while and adding a peppermint shrimp in there to try to get rid of them before swapping tanks.

 

[michika]

Ah yes, the infamous 45 minute commute... I am still so amused that you can do that day after day!

Your little 12g is so cute! I would make a great QT system, or even a frag tank.

 

[Slakker]

Funny you should say that...it's part of my plan For now the 12g is going to be my quarantine for new additions. It might end up as a frag tank somewhere down the line, but for right now I don't have much to frag

 

[michika]

So what is in this little 12g? I see a clown, and that is about it for non coral livestock.

 

[Slakker]

Just the clown and her "boyfriend," a few snails, and one particularly feisty hermit crab. He's somehow managed to kill off the other two hermits I had, plus several snails over the past year. His most recent victim was one of my Nassarius snails, whose shell he currently lives in (so very creepy...) The odd thing is, I had 5 snails, he killed one, and there's a second empty nassarius shell on my sandbed...yet I have four living nassarius snails...

For coral it's just the frogspawn, a couple of hairy mushrooms, some zoa's, small frag of Blasto (Wellsi, I think it was).

I have a couple of small pieces of SPS that were doing well for a while, but I couldn't get in to the dorm I was living in at the time over spring break...and a week of no top off in a nano can be devastating. Luckily everything else recovered just fine, but the SPS took it really hard. Pretty sure the pocillipora is gone, but who knows. New polyps have grown back from less, I'm sure, but I'm not holding out hope.

 

[michika]

I never got that part about not be able to go back to your dorm while spring break or x-mas break, or some other break was ongoing...its so strange to hear of that happening.

 

[Slakker]

I go to a fairly small school, student population of just over 10,000 people, in a very small town in Wisconsin. It's a school known as a "suitcase campus," where most students, especially those living on campus, go home almost every weekend. With this in mind, the department of ResLife doesn't see a need to keep the buildings open over extended breaks of any kind.

I had figured that being an RA, my keys would still get me in...and they would have, but the two different nights I tried to come in and sneak in the side door, campus police was checking the complex and I figured the tank would go without care for a lot longer if I got arrested for breaking and entering on state property

 

[michika]

haha!
I suppose, I've never gone to a small school unfortunately. My university is/was a beast of 3 campuses!

So what is the plan now for your new tank come September? Take it back to school with you?

 

[Slakker]

Ah yes, that's the beauty of it all. I've moved out of the dorms and am renting an apartment in town, where I'm living and have set up the new tank. One of few benefits of attending university a whopping 15 minutes away from my home town...lol

This tank should get to stay put for at least a year before I have to move again...no more shuffling it and all of my inhabitants back and forth three or four times a year.

 

[michika]

A year means a nice opportunity for it to mature and grow in! Which should work out great for you.

 

[Slakker]

Yep, I'm hoping that things will benefit greatly from having a larger and substantially more stable system.

 

[Mykel Obvious]

Make sure you save your pennies so you can buy a bigger tank when you do move Might as well upgrad if you have to break everything down anyway

Oh, and see, you don't need action shots... just need to post more (I'm hoping to find time to start my build thread soon myself, DT is up, but still trying to find time to get my refugium online...)

keep us updated

 

[Slakker]

:lol: Yeah, I'm already kind of thinking I should have gone bigger with this tank...but even if I do upgrade when I move into a more permanent apartment (it's probably going to be quite a while between leaving this crappy place and buying a house) I am still thinking that I might want to keep this system up and running.

I don't know...in any case, the next system I build is going to take quite a bit longer to plan out and build, and will quite possibly include a custom built tank (and maybe some starphire), but that's many, many years down the road...

You know, once I start gaining ground on my college loans...I'll need something else to go into debt for

 

[Mykel Obvious]

Yeah, I'm with you all the way... I just got water in my 65 and already want a bigger tank... I've decided that I will never buy another tank that is less than 24" front to back (and would prefer 36" space allowing and truth be told) I want a large strip of sand in the front and down the middle... ended up with a small strip in the middle :sigh: 18" just isn't enough to aquascape the way I want, I guess... added a sump after I bought a non drilled tank in the thoughts of doing a totally hang on back system... Oh, and now I want T5's as well... definitely going to plan out the next system better BEFORE I spend any money!!! :grrr:

I'll be forever paying off my student loans... so what's one more debt :lol: