Third Time's A Charm!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13273754#post13273754 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by O-man21
Wow! How's my brain doing?

Sorry - must be early.

Struck me as an "odd" question. :D
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13279262#post13279262 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by phishcrazee
Looking good, I like the clover chalice, very unusual. This will be an awesome tank when it's all grown out...........

Yeah the clover chalice is an unusual piece alright. I hadn't ever seen a chalice that had that tealish blue rim before I got it.



Brad
 
I am hoping to finish stocking the corals in the next month or two. I will probably be placing an order or two with some of the premium online places. Before I do, however, I wanted to see if anyone locally has anything available that I would be interested in.

I am primarily interested in branching sps. I have mostly high light spots available. I prefer corals that have one very bright color that is striking across the room. I don't really like the ones you have to look at through a mesoscope to appreciate.



Here is what I currently have:

Monti Setosa

Purple Monti Digi
Red Monti Digi
Green Monti Digi

Red cap
Green with purple rim Cap
Green with blue polyps Cap

Superman Monti
Red encrusting Monti
Sunset Monti
Pokerstar Monti

Orangish pink Ricordea Fl
Red Ricordea Yuma

Krypronite Candycanes
Green Candycanes

Yellow Porites
Pinkish Purple Stylo

Ultra Chalice
Masterpiece Chalice
Tyree Watermelon Chalice
Candy Corn Chalice
Clover Chalice
Purple Chalice
Cherry Bomb Chalice
Darth Maul Chalice
Blood Red Echino
Pink Echino

Meteor Shower

Tyree War Coral
Blue War Coral

Green Duncans

Red with green mouth Blastos

Red mouthed acans

Blue Cali Tort
Bluberry Tort

Green Milli
Pink Milli
Bluish pink Milli

Pink Birdsnest
ORA green Birdsnest
Ponape Birdsnest

Chips Acro

Puple (Humulus?)

ORA blue Bottlebrush

Green Slimer

Teal Stag

Garf Bonsai

Tricolor Valida

ATL Ruby tabling Cytherea

Purple Monster




Let me know if you are local and have anything for sale!



Brad
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13292627#post13292627 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dascharisma
I am hoping to finish stocking the corals in the next month or two. I will probably be placing an order or two with some of the premium online places. Before I do, however, I wanted to see if anyone locally has anything available that I would be interested in.

I am primarily interested in branching sps. I have mostly high light spots available. I prefer corals that have one very bright color that is striking across the room. I don't really like the ones you have to look at through a mesoscope to appreciate.



Here is what I currently have:

Monti Setosa

Purple Monti Digi
Red Monti Digi
Green Monti Digi

Red cap
Green with purple rim Cap
Green with blue polyps Cap

Superman Monti
Red encrusting Monti
Sunset Monti
Pokerstar Monti

Orangish pink Ricordea Fl
Red Ricordea Yuma

Krypronite Candycanes
Green Candycanes

Yellow Porites
Pinkish Purple Stylo

Ultra Chalice
Masterpiece Chalice
Tyree Watermelon Chalice
Candy Corn Chalice
Clover Chalice
Purple Chalice
Cherry Bomb Chalice
Darth Maul Chalice
Blood Red Echino
Pink Echino

Meteor Shower

Tyree War Coral
Blue War Coral

Green Duncans

Red with green mouth Blastos

Red mouthed acans

Blue Cali Tort
Bluberry Tort

Green Milli
Pink Milli
Bluish pink Milli

Pink Birdsnest
ORA green Birdsnest
Ponape Birdsnest

Chips Acro

Puple (Humulus?)

ORA blue Bottlebrush

Green Slimer

Teal Stag

Garf Bonsai

Tricolor Valida

ATL Ruby tabling Cytherea

Purple Monster




Let me know if you are local and have anything for sale!



Brad



Just bringing this inquiry to the new page.


Brad
 
Today Nielsen and I finally got around to staining the tank stand. We already stained the canopy and the matching tv stand, and they have a couple of coats of clear on them.



To protect the tank, I taped along the spots where the tank touches the wood. I also saran wrapped the entire tank to prevent any splatter from getting in the water.


In the end the stain was a little darker than I intended. I had the stain custom matched to the flooring, but it is on the darker side, as opposed to the medium I wanted.



Here is the tank prep.
IMG_0035.jpg




IMG_0036.jpg




IMG_0039.jpg









Here is the tv stand. The color is actually much darker in person.
IMG_0041.jpg







Here is the Canopy. The color here is closer to reality.
IMG_0043.jpg









Here is the tank stand, freshly stained. It still needs to be cleared.
IMG_0047.jpg





IMG_0044.jpg




I should have the entire thing cleared and finished by next weekend.


Brad
 
Continues to look absoluetly amazing!

I know youre in the DSM area, but Hung(sea of marvels) got a large red mouthed(and green/white i belive) acan colony recently. It prob has about 45-75 mouths. He has it as a colony presently but expressed to me that he was thinking of breaking it up. Might be worth giving him a call and seeing if he can shoot you some pics or something.

Again your tank is amazing! and I want your SPS!
 
Hey Brad, looking at your conicle 310 tank, I sure would like to get something similar. Can you tell me where you got it? I've been looking online in google but don't know how to word it, just doing a search for water container isn't helping.

THanks,
Santiago
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13337251#post13337251 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by saintperez
Hey Brad, looking at your conicle 310 tank, I sure would like to get something similar. Can you tell me where you got it? I've been looking online in google but don't know how to word it, just doing a search for water container isn't helping.

THanks,
Santiago

I go through sprayer specialties. Unfortunately they are local to me and not you. Try a search on cone bottom poly tanks. You should turn up something. I paid around $2 per gallon for the cone tank with the plastic stand included. For the regular tanks, you can get them for $1.50/gallon or so.


Hope that helps,
Brad
 
dascharisma,

Even though it is obvious that a lot planning went in to this setup, is there anything that you would change or do differently with hindsight (equipment etc.)? Did everything go as planned (aside from the usual overages on the budget and time line)?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13358293#post13358293 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fukalite
dascharisma,

Even though it is obvious that a lot planning went in to this setup, is there anything that you would change or do differently with hindsight (equipment etc.)? Did everything go as planned (aside from the usual overages on the budget and time line)?

LOL. I have been meaning to make a post detailing all of the things I wish I could go back and fix. Here is a quick list.

The tank itself: In hindsight, I wish I had gone with glass. I went with acrylic because I didn't think I could get a heavy glass tank through that narrow window. But after having done the acrylic tank, I know that glass would have been possible. Also the tanks were about $2000 different, but that is just a fraction of the cost of the system, and would have been worth it. The acrylic scratches so easily. No matter what you do, you can't keep it nice. I know a lot of people don't care about tiny imperfections, but it drives me nuts! Also, if I were doing acrylic again, I would have done 1" and not 3/4" sides. The tank bows a bit, and I hate it. It isn't anything to be concerned about, and from straight on you can't see any visual distortion, but from a side view of the panes you can see it.

The rock: If I could do it over again, I would have taken the time to cook the rocks. Right now I am still battling some hair algae. It isn't that bad now, and it is getting better, but it is a clear sign that there were nutrients stored in those rocks. There is no reason to suffer through that, when a couple of months in a stock tank in the garage would have taken care of it.

The fish: Looking back, I really wish I had quarantined the fish additions. One cheap little fish ended up wiping out around 15 (of course more expensive) fish. All of those deaths added to the nutrient load of the system at a time when I was trying to establish a balance. I can't say that I will quarantine every fish I get in the future, but I sure hope I do.

The sump: While my sump works just fine, I wish I had done it a bit differently. Right now there is a place for a prop section in the middle, but its not what I would prefer. I would rather have built a slightly smaller sump, and then had a giant prop tank above the sump on an extended version of the table on top of the sump. I think that would have been much better. I wouldn't have needed to leave so much room above the sump for lighting, and I could have made the table lower and longer. A good sized prop tank can easily allow for the tank to pay for its own upkeep (although you'd be crazy lucky to get it to pay for the original cost of the entire system.)





Here are a few things that turned out really well:


The aquascaping: To this day, I am really pleased with the rock work. Not only does it look great, but it is very functional. It gives me lots of lower light areas on the outsides of the outer pillars and all around the lower legs that are perfect for spotlighting non branching pieces. Things like chalices, ricordea, and danae have great spots. In the center of the tank is a ton of open room for branching sps to grow. I can't wait until the center of the tank is a big thicket, and the outside is covered in bright colored, low lying pieces. It will be unlike anything I have seen done.

The ventilation: The choice of fans and their control and hook up has worked excellently. So much heat gets sucked out of the room by those halide vents. They are on with the lights, and 110 degree air is pumped outside. When the room gets to hot, a separate bathroom fan kicks on and keeps things cool and dry. I don't even use my chiller. Lots of people have humidity problems with large systems, but even in my small house, I haven't had any issues.

The plumbing: Even with as complex as it is, there is nothing I would change about my plumbing. Everything is in perfect harmony . There is exactly the right amount of extra space in the sump to allow for the main pump to shut down (though I could have accommodated my above change to the sump without issue). The skimmer stays perfectly constant even though it is gravity fed, and the 300 gallon conical tank works great.






Brad
 
I had hoped to have a bunch of pics of the new frags I ordered from Atlantis, but unfortunately they arrived dead. The shipment was supposed to show up on Friday, but didn't leave Cali due to mechanical issues with the plane. Then, it was supposed to show up on Saturday, but Fedex couldn't find the crate that the box was in. So I ended up not getting the order until Monday, at which point it was toast.

They are shipping a replacement order out tomorrow, and I will post some pics when I can. For now here are this month's pics. The tank didn't get cleaned on schedule due to lack of time.



TankFront10-01.jpg






TankLeft10-01.jpg






TankRight10-01.jpg






On a positive note, I think I have my skimmer figured out. After adding an Alita 40 air pump, I am able to keep the water line at the base of the neck and still produce good quality skimmate.

Skimmer10-01.jpg







Brad
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13470487#post13470487 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Luiz Seadorf
Hi. Love your aquascaping.
How did you fix the rocks to the back wall ?


The back wall is free standing. There is actually a gap between the wall and the back wall. The gap allows me to place Tunzes hidden behind the wall and it allows me to keep the back clean, which is a huge part of making the tank look clean and sharp.

IMG_8970Large.jpg





Brad
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13468572#post13468572 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Double-J
Tanks lookin awesome!!!

Save the compliments for when my new corals are ready to be fragged. Heck, you might even have your new cube tank set up by then!



Brad
 
Back
Top