The Reef Central Corner Club Thread

I have a huge skimmer on my system... MRC's MR-4... on my 92gallon bow-front.. (yes, I have a big sump (175gal) but the skimmers rated for 900gallon tanks...

It' also pulls like a champ...

Never heard of this "too big of a skimmer" crap before... go big, or go back and get a bigger one later... then go home...

hehe..
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15215450#post15215450 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by boret
Is it against RC rules to point into another site (my local club site)?
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I'm not sure... post the link, or PM it to me... i'm curious..
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15211790#post15211790 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefscape15
This is the beginning of a little shroom collection. I want to mix in all types of shroomz, and have a big patch of them eventually
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Mushrooms grow and proliferate like crazy so watch out. I am using star polyps (clavularia) in all of my PVC pipes inside the tank, the ones I use for the Closed Loop because I want all of them covered and they grow at an amazing rate.... I just hope I wont regret it in the long term. (like everyone is telling me that I will)
 
I have GSP on a rock.. it came as a hich-hicker.. i think the previous rock owner actually wnated it... anyhow, i didn't notice it for weeks because of how I had positioned the rock... It's been 8months, and now it's starting to take over some of my zoa's and palys... i'm ppeevveedd! Hateful stuff for sure...

How do you kill it w/o killing the zoa's and pallys??? YOU CANNOT!!! argh...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15215472#post15215472 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Hookup
I have a huge skimmer on my system... MRC's MR-4... on my 92gallon bow-front.. (yes, I have a big sump (175gal) but the skimmers rated for 900gallon tanks...

It' also pulls like a champ...

Never heard of this "too big of a skimmer" crap before... go big, or go back and get a bigger one later... then go home...

hehe..
Click to expand...

LOL!!! My thoughts exactly!

Oh well, I will post the link. Mods if I am not supposed to, feel free to remove it.
This is a thread I started in my local club site to review several skimmers.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15215506#post15215506 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Hookup
I have GSP on a rock.. it came as a hich-hicker.. i think the previous rock owner actually wnated it... anyhow, i didn't notice it for weeks because of how I had positioned the rock... It's been 8months, and now it's starting to take over some of my zoa's and palys... i'm ppeevveedd! Hateful stuff for sure...

How do you kill it w/o killing the zoa's and pallys??? YOU CANNOT!!! argh...
Click to expand...

I know!!! The only way is to take the rock out.
But I like GSPs... I love the way they move inside the water. I have 4 different hues of green. But if they start getting aggressive with my zoas I will have a problem. So far they are coexisting peacefully. Crossing my fingers.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15213099#post15213099 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by lotusstar
Hey all,
Well I am still trying to figure out my lighting dilemma for my new 92g corner. I currently only have a 400w MH light (no idea the spectrum, I'd guess 10k) hanging over the center, and don't want to run that light all day long. I am trying to figure out supplemental lighting. I don't have a canopy so I have to try and make this look "pretty" for my wife to give me a thumbs up as she doesn't want lots of wires and bulbs hanging loose. Above my tank is a shelf that has the MH bulb hanging from it in a small canopy right over the center of the tank. What I am thinking might work would be to get two 24" fixtures to hang on the outsides of the MH bulb. So essentially they would be running along the 2 back walls of the tank.
My question/s are would 2 24" fixtures of T5's work? PC's? Would the supplemental light be adequate along those 2 walls? I am also wondering, do I go 50/50? All actinic? Any recommendations would be most appreciated? Can you guys maybe recommend to me some fixtures that aren't going to be terribly expensive?
Right now all I really have is a couple fish and a bunch of live rock, have a leather coral and little bit of frogspawn. Eventually I will be wanting to get an anenome, clams, SPS, so know I need fairly intense lighting.
Thanks all!
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lotusstar, I think building the canopy is totally worth it. You can put tons of different light configuration in there and everything is out of view, out of kids' reach, compact and a pleasant sight. Your wife will love it, you guest will love it, you will love it!!!!

I am not crazy about light flooding the room where the tank is. With the canopy the light doesn't flood the room and that makes it so much better looking imho.
 
I agree. I just built my own canopy and it is great. I kept my back and sides open so I wouldn't need a chiller. I currently have a 400w SE pendant & ballast, with 2 month old radium bulb, also 2 32w CF actinics in my tank. I also added a seperate fan.
 
This is my plan in the near future, once I have some spare time again. Get this! I went from having a standard 40hr work week for 1.5 years, to 3 months of 60hr work weeks, to being layed off for 3 months, to 4/10's and landscaping on the side, now i'm working a standard 40hr work week, but painting and landscaping at night and weekends! I had all the time when I was layed off and never got around to doing it, and it seems like if i'm not layed off, I'm working like crazy! What is up with that?!?!?!?!
 
Boret - I know they can be invasive, and I really wouldn't mind having a tank filled with mostly shroomz. I don't have a lot of stuff in there, and only about 10 small frags of SPS. If stuff gets taken over, it doesn't bother me. I have GSP right at the top of my tank under my MH, and if need be i'll take those top few rocks out to control it. As of now, it's one of my favorite things in the tank. I love how it waves around a little, and it's so shimmering bright metallic green!
 
Hey guys, thanks for the suggestions. I think I will probably do the canopy idea. Sounds good and didn't think about how it would stop the light from being dispersed all around the room. So I looked around in the DIY forums but didn't see any corner tank canopy ideas. Any of you guys have detailed pics or even plans?
 
There are many pics way back before the split... which is a problem for sure cause they're hard to go back and find...

I found these in my photobucket.

IMG_0484.jpg


LightingShots-1.jpg


LightingShots-2.jpg


LightingShots-5.jpg


LightingShots-3.jpg


NewCanopy-3.jpg


NewCanopy-4.jpg


NewCanopy-2.jpg


NewCanopy-1.jpg
 
The internal structure was pretty easy to build. I used a piece of 5/8 inch wood and traced the shape of the bow-front onto it and then used a jigsaw to cut it out. I did this twice, so I could get an upper curved piece and a lower curved piece, then added straight-bits of wood to match the lip of the tank. Added vertical braces and you have pick #1 (basically)

The doors were a PITA... In the end, i ended up tracing the curve shape onto a 2x4 and using a scroll-saw to cut the curves... doing this twice created and upper and lower curved support for the "planks" to get screwed into. Using one screw only, in the center, allowed the boards to more naturally follow the curve, but if I was to do it again, I would run each edge of the board(planks) thru the table saw to miter the edges for a tighter fit.

I used black silicone caulking to seal the gaps, and weather stripping at the moveable seams. The entire structure was painted with a white platic based paint.. it's super easy to wipe down from salt creep/splashing, etc..

The Luminbright is set so the bulb is 17" above the tank. This was determined based upon reading online. I did not use a PAR meter to determine the "best" spot for the light...

The T5's are mounted on 45degree "planks" and the reflectors are angled to provide downward coverage and shoot the blue actinics into the tank... In my design they are too low... by about 1/2 inch... I need to move them up just a bit...

Everything is open, to allow for as much air flow as possible, no fans are used, however I will add some as i think the bulb life is shortened due to the heat... I do not have heat issues in the water because of the basement sump and the basement is much cooler than the rest of the house... but some active fan-cooling would likely increase bulb life and from what I've read increase bulb performance for the T5's...

Hope that helps...

It was the biggest most complicated woodworking project i've done... i'm happy with the result... Though I really look forward to a rectangular tank cabinet build this falll... :) Curves suck!!!!
 
thanks guys. You've given me some awesome ideas!!! I really appreciate the advice and all the help. I'm going to start planning something and will try to document the build process to help others in the future. Thanks again!
 
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