Saltwater_Biker
New member
thanks for sharing!!! great job :spin2:
Susan's 65-Gallon Reef Tank
- Thread starter Susan Lohrer
- Start date
Susan Lohrer
New member
Not much new going on here. I don't do things fast. 
The bag is GFO. It used to live in a HOB filter, but that had to go when we put the stand up for the LEDs.
I have to pick up two little adaptor things to attach the return jets to the rest of my plumbing, and then I'll be all set to hook up my sump (and then the GFO will be in a reactor in there).
The bag is GFO. It used to live in a HOB filter, but that had to go when we put the stand up for the LEDs.
I have to pick up two little adaptor things to attach the return jets to the rest of my plumbing, and then I'll be all set to hook up my sump (and then the GFO will be in a reactor in there).
Susan Lohrer
New member
I finally got my sump running. I used an Eshopps overflow with a 1" drain but added a second 3/4" drain that runs at full siphon (inspired by the Bean Animal one). It's so quiet, you wouldn't believe it. The only noise I hear is from the water coming out of my skimmer (Seaclone in the sump, which is another tale altogether; I'm still trying to get the height right) and just a whisper from the pump. Well, and the fans on the LED. It's so nice not to have to stare at the heaters or the sponge for the skimmer anymore. And as it turns out, the Seaclone is so tall that I made a hole so it can stick up through the top shelf of my tank stand, and I can keep an eye on the collection cup right from my desk.
I'm not posting a picture of my plumbing. Suffice it to say that a couple of the joints are almost straight. Nobody needs to see that.
The only noise I hear is from the water coming out of my skimmer (Seaclone in the sump, which is another tale altogether; I'm still trying to get the height right) and just a whisper from the pump. Well, and the fans on the LED. It's so nice not to have to stare at the heaters or the sponge for the skimmer anymore. And as it turns out, the Seaclone is so tall that I made a hole so it can stick up through the top shelf of my tank stand, and I can keep an eye on the collection cup right from my desk.I'm not posting a picture of my plumbing. Suffice it to say that a couple of the joints are almost straight. Nobody needs to see that.
Susan Lohrer
New member
Bonus! My skimmer got over its confusion after being put into the sump and is skimming again.
Susan Lohrer
New member
Using my uncanny deductive powers,
/sarcasm
I finally figured out why my sump drain suddenly started gurgling really, really loudly at five this morning. Little bubbles were getting sucked into the U-tube and going down my full-siphon drain line. Why, why??? Because not as much water was coming into the tank as when I first set up and adjusted the plumbing. The return pump has a foam filter, and it needed to be cleaned. It's been going about three weeks, so I guess I know what I'll be doing every few weeks.
I was wondering, though: If you use this pump (Eheim Compact 3000) externally, you don't use the filter at all. Is it harder on a pump to let some crud go through it or to let it work harder because of stuff gradually plugging up that piece of foam? In my pump's case, there wouldn't be big chunks going through it because I have tubes of needlepoint canvas covering the tops of the drain lines. If removing that piece of foam would be a mistake, somebody speak up, OK?
/sarcasm
I finally figured out why my sump drain suddenly started gurgling really, really loudly at five this morning. Little bubbles were getting sucked into the U-tube and going down my full-siphon drain line. Why, why??? Because not as much water was coming into the tank as when I first set up and adjusted the plumbing. The return pump has a foam filter, and it needed to be cleaned. It's been going about three weeks, so I guess I know what I'll be doing every few weeks.
I was wondering, though: If you use this pump (Eheim Compact 3000) externally, you don't use the filter at all. Is it harder on a pump to let some crud go through it or to let it work harder because of stuff gradually plugging up that piece of foam? In my pump's case, there wouldn't be big chunks going through it because I have tubes of needlepoint canvas covering the tops of the drain lines. If removing that piece of foam would be a mistake, somebody speak up, OK?
Susan Lohrer
New member
Here's my torch coral (still in quarantine). I couldn't get the brilliance of the green with my phone. In real life, he's very pretty.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OX7enRLJbQk?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/OX7enRLJbQk?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
whiteshark
Active member
Looks good!
I know what you mean about the cell phone. I can't take a decent pic of my tank with it. I just ordered a Canon EOS 20D from eBay for some more picture taking options. I think any reefer needs to be at least an amateur photographer as well.
I know what you mean about the cell phone. I can't take a decent pic of my tank with it. I just ordered a Canon EOS 20D from eBay for some more picture taking options. I think any reefer needs to be at least an amateur photographer as well.
Susan Lohrer
New member
Alas, I ordered (and lost) a clam from Liveaquaria. I'm not sure it was something I did, since my daughter and I got a bunch of creatures shipped in the same box, and all that survived were two snails. It was hot that day, and goodness only knows what happens on a UPS truck. 
Liveaquaria refunded and reshipped, though.
Still, I felt leery about ordering a clam again. So right now I'm acclimating a red starfish.
Liveaquaria refunded and reshipped, though.Still, I felt leery about ordering a clam again. So right now I'm acclimating a red starfish.
Susan Lohrer
New member
Drat.
I don't know how long these little guys have been in my DT, but I just noticed them today. They're on the ceriths (and the limpets, which doesn't really bug me). I guess I'll be picking them out when I see them, because I can't tell whether they're pyrams for sure, but whatever they are, they appear to eat the snails I want to keep. (I'm not getting a wrasse to eat them, because it could eat my ornamental shrimp.)
I don't know how long these little guys have been in my DT, but I just noticed them today. They're on the ceriths (and the limpets, which doesn't really bug me). I guess I'll be picking them out when I see them, because I can't tell whether they're pyrams for sure, but whatever they are, they appear to eat the snails I want to keep. (I'm not getting a wrasse to eat them, because it could eat my ornamental shrimp.)
Susan Lohrer
New member
Hi there, Qwuintus.
I'm not sure. I do know I'm not the right person to be responsible for the well-being of a little clam or a fromia.
The clowns and my Blenny are doing well. The boy clown spends a lot of time in his RBTA, and the girl clown is starting to hang out in it when she doesn't think I'm looking.
The torch wasn't growing at all, but then I started bringing the alkalinity up just a little, and its skeleton is growing just a little bit.
The Taotronics LED had a problem (the white lights stopped working), so the vendor replaced it, and it seems the fans they're using now are much quieter, so yay on that.
I've got a bit of a diatom bloom again (not because of the changed light fixture, since it started before that). We get our water from a mountain stream, and I suspect the bloom has to do all the rain we've had lately getting a bunch of nutrients mixed into the water; either that or it's the shrimp pellets I got for my sexy shrimp (everyone else in there likes the pellets too, so I've been feeding the tank more pellets than just two shrimp would eat). GFO doesn't seem to be helping much.
The pyrams (I'm assuming that's what they are; I don't have a magnifying glass strong enough to tell for sure) are down to just a few a day. I've been picking them off the ceriths by hand whenever I see them.
DIY update: I made a top-off system out of an upside-down 2L pop bottle (the reservoir) and the top of a cranberry juice bottle (the stand) that keeps the salinity consistent for two or three days at a time. I'm still working on the fishing-line mesh in a PVC frame that'll keep a wrasse safe (for when I get a wrasse someday). It's pretty fiddly, but aren't most DIY projects? :hmm5:
Susan Lohrer
New member
OK. Laser pointer lens plus crappy smartphone camera equals half-decent macro lens. This is the best shot I could get of one of these little snails.
They're not species-specific feeders, that much I can tell you. I've found them on: cerith, nassarius, trochus, limpets, and even those little purple tube worms. :sad2: I thought there were getting to be fewer of them, but I'm still picking out about ten of them a day.
They're not species-specific feeders, that much I can tell you. I've found them on: cerith, nassarius, trochus, limpets, and even those little purple tube worms. :sad2: I thought there were getting to be fewer of them, but I'm still picking out about ten of them a day.
Susan Lohrer
New member
Thanks for the ID, Misled.
Maybe they don't go after all snails, but they seem to have a taste for all the snails I have in my tank. So I'll keep picking them off.
Maybe they don't go after all snails, but they seem to have a taste for all the snails I have in my tank. So I'll keep picking them off.
Susan Lohrer
New member
I wonder if it might be smart to clean off all my snails and put them in the quarantine tank for quite a few months, and just let the pyrams run their course in the DT. Because I feel bad for my poor snails, getting the life sucked out of them.
Susan Lohrer
New member
Here's a creature growing in my DT. There are three of them, so I'm guessing they've been spreading but not awfully fast (I first saw one maybe a year ago). It's the very-hard-to-see beige anemone-looking thing with a whitish ring around its center, in the center of the photo. About a half an inch across including the tentacles. I kind of think it might be aiptasia... except wouldn't there be way more of them?
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