Tswifty's Custom 40g Rimless Build Thread

Hey man, glad to hear you got rid of the cyano, I'm having huge problems with it in my tank at the moment, I basically have a box of water and red slime carpet :p...
Sucks about the bubble algae, I've never read anything on how to get rid of it so I've unfortunately got no suggestions :(...
I'm still struggling with my bryopsis, between the bryopsis, cyano, and general dirtiness my tank looks pretty bad at the moment, need to do a big clean out...
Glad to hear that the FW exit seems to be working :)... I've heard of so many tanks crashing after doing a massive FW exit dose due to the number of flatworms dying, but I'm glad that yours has pulled through ok :)...
Keep us updated :)
Yeah the massive FW Exit dosage was scary, and my corals were VERY ticked off during the process. I wouldn't ever recommend for anyone else to do what I did though. I feel like I really know my tank well and there's not much I can't counteract or fix, and it still scared the heck out of me. :lol:
TJ,
Your corals are looking awesome! Apparently i have a lot of reading to do to catch up in your thread!
Thanks Rob!
Seems to be a trend happening...I'm going through a flat worm outbreak, Have the carpet of cyano and the tank needs some major TLC. I've got the FW Exit set to go in the tank and 70g of saltwater mixed and ready to go for a water change. After reading that It helped you TJ with some of your FW's I figured I'd get off my butt and get after it too...
A very knowledgable friend of mine suggested a Green coris wrasse as the best cure for FW's but I haven't had any luck finding one locally so FW exit it is.
I really like the Blue Life Red Slime Control product. More than a few people I know (including myself) have used it with success. It gets rid of the cyano very quickly. Just took me 4 or 5 days along with 2 pretty large water changes and fresh carbon to get all the medicine out of the water so my skimmer could work properly again.

As far as the FW Exit goes. I have mixed thoughts on it. I've gone through more than a few boxes of it only to have them return within a matter of days. If I happen to see them again, I'll probably try out the Levasole (sp) treatment instead. Good luck though. Marc has a nice write-up/guide on his website about using FW Exit.
 
TJ,
Where did you land a job? i may have to come to pioneer ohio to see our sister plant. Ill let you know if and when i will be down there. Would like to come see you.

All the best.
Rob
 
Glad to hear the good news about the job but sad to hear you won't be enjoying your tank as often... :) :(
congratulations on the new job TJ!
Thanks guys! :D

It's going to be a little rough not being around the tank as much, but without as heavy of a bioload, and vodka/bacteria/amino acid dosing requirements, I think it should be fine in my absence. Plus I'll only be about 2hrs away, so I'll probably try to stop back at least once every 2 weeks.
TJ,
Where did you land a job? i may have to come to pioneer ohio to see our sister plant. Ill let you know if and when i will be down there. Would like to come see you.

All the best.
Rob
The job is in Akron, OH. Haven't checked where Pioneer is, but if it turns out to be a reasonable driving distance let me know. I also know a lot of people in Cleveland and the surrounding areas with tanks that are always happy to show off their systems, and could probably put together a nice tank tour one day if you would like as well.
 
Been doing my best to get everything squared away before I head out to Ohio later this week. Tank seems to have stabilized out nicely. I added 15lbs of Fiji Pink sand yesterday, and it immediately made the tank look a TON better IMO. I enjoyed the barebottom look for a little, but it felt like something was missing.

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Camera batteries died before I could get coral pics, but ended up with these 2:

Candy Apple Red Palythoas

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Rommel's Rainbow new growth tips

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Here are some fun pictures from my parent's house the other day. We got hit with 22 inches of snow Friday night/Saturday morning. Luckily we only lost power for about 4 hrs throughout the entire storm. However, it took almost 2 days before the snow plow hit our street and people were able to get out.

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I feel ya on the snow, went skiing this weekend and came home to 16 inches or more. Got stuck trying to pull into the driveway like a fool. I new better. 10 minutes of rocking the car and I was in the house and ready to relax. Teaching 2 kids to ski is a long weekend.
 
Haha... yeah this weekend was brutal. I live on the corner in our neighborhood, and my roommate and I probably helped push/dig out at least 10 cars that got stuck in the middle of the intersection. To make it even better, I just heard we're supposed to get another 12 inches tomorrow night! :rolleye1:
 
Tj,
I just may take you up on your offer. Would love to see some tanks if i can make it. Ill let you know!
Thanks!
Rob
 
Well with all the recent growth in my tank I haven't taken the time to check water parameters or adjust any of my Ca, Alk or Mag dosing programs. After testing today I upped all my dosages. Calcium and Alkalinity are now dosed 6 times per day, and Magnesium 2 times per day. I need to test my dosing pump's flow rates again before I can post an accurate amount of just how much of each part I am dosing.

Here are the water parameters from today. I'll be using the Reef Chemistry Calculator along with Bulk Reef Supply's Reef Calculator to determine the amount of each part I will need to add to get my parameters back into my target zone of:

Cal: 440-460 ppm
Alk: 8-9 dKH
Mag: 1440-1500 ppm

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It looks like it may take a few days to get my levels where I want. To hit my targets here are the required additions from the Reef Caluclators.

307 ml BRS Recipe 1 Calcium Solution
100 ml BRS Recipe 1 Alkalinity Solution (Soda Ash)
700 ml ESV B-Ionic Magnesium (Liq)
 
Oh my goodness look at your tank! Beautiful.
I love the par measurements you did.
That sunset monti has some crazy growth.
Congratulations on the new job. :)
And wait...you have SAND now?
Apparently I need to go back a few more pages and read and catch up...
 
Still working on getting everything in order before I move. Finally took some time to trim up some corals, and had to relocate a coral or two due to border wars. The worst was my ORA Joe the coral and ORA Red Planet. I think the Red Planet would have eventually won the battle, but wasn't planning on waiting to find out.

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Also, I picked up some more conduit and am planning on building the new light rack tonight.

Here are some pictures from today:

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Looks good TJ!
currently i have been fighting with some cyno which has been pretty annoying in the sand bed. Today i pointed an extra powerhead in one area and really added some extra flow. How have you overcome this issue? I remember you removed all your sand, but i don't think i could pull that off.
 
New light rack.

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Problems this time though. I used 90 degree conduit fittings instead of bending the entire bar. The pendants seem to be too heavy for the fitting holding the horizontal bar to support, so it twists which causes the horizontal bar to dip down towards the water's surface.

So I'm considering a few potential fixes right now... not sure which way I am going to go yet though.
 
New light rack.

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LightRack2_02152010.jpg


Problems this time though. I used 90 degree conduit fittings instead of bending the entire bar. The pendants seem to be too heavy for the fitting holding the horizontal bar to support, so it twists which causes the horizontal bar to dip down towards the water's surface.

So I'm considering a few potential fixes right now... not sure which way I am going to go yet though.

TJ,
Could you not Create the mirror image with some more conduit and fittings and connect the central bar that over hangs the tank. This would prevent the bar from leaning to one end. It would also ensure that your lights never slide off your bar and into your tank..

Always looking out for you!
 
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