BiGGiePauls33
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MrX's Build (Started 03/01/2020)
- Thread starter MrX
- Start date
OP
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MrX
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Skimmer is awesome. Pulls out some good "gunk".
Loving the ease of maintenance... when I do my water change on Sunday I just pull the collection cup section off, don't even turn off the skimmer most times, clean it quickly, and put it back on. Within 30-60 minutes it's back to normal.
Like I mentioned earlier, even the initial break-in period was really short.
The only thing I did since my original post was build a new stand for it. I used a small sheet of plexiglass and cut up some 'legs' (out of spare pvc deck railing I had) for it so that the skimmer was in the recommended 5.5" of water. I superglued the legs and left them clamped overnight. A couple days later I added a rubber mat (tool shelf matting) to dampen the sound a bit.
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MrX
Non-member
My Uncle's brother gave me some of his paintings at a cookout on Monday. Moved the pictures KidsX gave me and hung the two new paintings with them.
Syd Barrett's 'The Octopus' (2019 - 10"x10")
'Sea of my dreams' / 'Under the sea' / 'The Fish Tank' (2012 - 10"x20")
Yellow Tang (2020 - 10"x10") [Father's Day gift from my daughter]
Clownfish (2020 - 10"x10") [Father's Day gift from my son]
Some pictures of the tank... most of the corals are growing. A couple I haven't found their "happy" position yet. The teal duncan we have was starting to grow a second head and then the whole thing just retracted -- been a few days now, not sure what's going on with it.
Syd Barrett's 'The Octopus' (2019 - 10"x10")
'Sea of my dreams' / 'Under the sea' / 'The Fish Tank' (2012 - 10"x20")
Yellow Tang (2020 - 10"x10") [Father's Day gift from my daughter]
Clownfish (2020 - 10"x10") [Father's Day gift from my son]
Some pictures of the tank... most of the corals are growing. A couple I haven't found their "happy" position yet. The teal duncan we have was starting to grow a second head and then the whole thing just retracted -- been a few days now, not sure what's going on with it.
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absolutecarrot
Non-member
OP
OP
MrX
Non-member
Thanks.
coralfishreef
Non-member
Paintings from the kids will always be remembered. Did they initial and date the back?
OP
OP
MrX
Non-member
I don't think so, but I should have them do that. I have pictures on our file server sorted by date/holiday/etc. so hopefully we'll have those for a long time.
OP
OP
MrX
Non-member
Just received my order of an AHRise Smart Wi-Fi Power Strip (AHR-083). It has 4 Wi-Fi controllable outlets and 4 always on outlets. I'm using two of the Wi-Fi outlets to control the sump light and skimmer (both will run overnight).
This was $26 bucks on Amazon.
What other minimalist things are people using to control their tanks?
This was $26 bucks on Amazon.
What other minimalist things are people using to control their tanks?
OP
OP
MrX
Non-member
Not a lot going on with the tank. Getting a little GHA in the back right corner and some other yucky stuff in random spots; suctioned some out with a baster and turned gyres up a little.
*knock on wood* All the fish seem to be doing well; no losses since the Mandarin.
My teal candy cane has gone from one full head plus a baby starting to 99% dead. Not sure what happened. No other corals seem to be affected.
*knock on wood* All the fish seem to be doing well; no losses since the Mandarin.
My teal candy cane has gone from one full head plus a baby starting to 99% dead. Not sure what happened. No other corals seem to be affected.
OP
OP
MrX
Non-member
Thank you.
OP
OP
MrX
Non-member
Participated in another Zoanthids.com Live Sale over on R2R last weekend. My haul arrived today.
Frags arrived about an hour ago. Awesome shipping as noted previously.
Obsidian Zoa
Blue Lagoons Zoa
Pinky Pie Zoa
Pop Fizz Mushroom
Haterades Zoa
Daisy Smurfette Zoa
Scrambled Eggs Zoa
Falcons Zoa
$250 Mysetery Zoa Box:
Supergirl
Laffy Taffy
Inception
Oxide
Blue Russian
Pink Minefield
$250 Gift Certificate from Facebook Roll Call
Death Trap
Pink Zipper Grande
Mary Jane
Blondies
WWC Halle Berry
Flaming Fireballs
Picture of the containers lines up with the frag rack positioning. I do this so I can know which is which; at least until they settle and I move them to other places in the tank.
Frags arrived about an hour ago. Awesome shipping as noted previously.
Obsidian Zoa
Blue Lagoons Zoa
Pinky Pie Zoa
Pop Fizz Mushroom
Haterades Zoa
Daisy Smurfette Zoa
Scrambled Eggs Zoa
Falcons Zoa
$250 Mysetery Zoa Box:
Supergirl
Laffy Taffy
Inception
Oxide
Blue Russian
Pink Minefield
$250 Gift Certificate from Facebook Roll Call
Death Trap
Pink Zipper Grande
Mary Jane
Blondies
WWC Halle Berry
Flaming Fireballs
Picture of the containers lines up with the frag rack positioning. I do this so I can know which is which; at least until they settle and I move them to other places in the tank.
OP
OP
MrX
Non-member
Not much going on with the tank. Just letting it mature some more.
Biggest update would be the purchase of two Jebao SLW-30 powerheads to replace/supplement the Jebao SCP-120 Cross Flow Pump Wavemakers. One was starting to make some noise so I wanted to try something else; plus have some extra powerheads on hand never hurts.
Was interested in getting the SLW-30M which were "wireless" but couldn't find them anywhere. Was a little disappointed in the size, they seem a bit small. But they work pretty well even at 50%, so I won't complain.
Livestock wise we added a small Yellow Coris Wrasse to try a natural remedy for flatworms.
Biggest update would be the purchase of two Jebao SLW-30 powerheads to replace/supplement the Jebao SCP-120 Cross Flow Pump Wavemakers. One was starting to make some noise so I wanted to try something else; plus have some extra powerheads on hand never hurts.
Was interested in getting the SLW-30M which were "wireless" but couldn't find them anywhere. Was a little disappointed in the size, they seem a bit small. But they work pretty well even at 50%, so I won't complain.
Livestock wise we added a small Yellow Coris Wrasse to try a natural remedy for flatworms.
OP
OP
MrX
Non-member
If you're going with two of them you'd probably be fine with the 20s (guessing, I'm not an expert with these, nor have I seen the 20s in person). There's not a huge price difference so you could get the 30s and turn them down. I think it would depend partly on physical size and what you'd be happy with in your tank.
I have the SLW-10's and so far I'm very impressed with them. Didn't realize they made a bigger one that the 20...
OP
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MrX
Non-member
Back in August/October I won a R2R Supporting Member raffle and scored a $100 LiveAquaria gift certificate. I used it this past Sunday night and the new tank occupants arrived today!
We ended up getting:
- Convict Tang (Sri Lanka) - Medium
- Longnose Hawkfish (Sri Lanka/Sumatra) - Medium
- Foxface Lo (Indonesia) - Small/Medium
I've wanted to get another Tang for some time now, but wasn't sure what would work with our Yellow Tang (who thinks it is the boss of the tank, but the Pygmy Angel gives him a good fight). I was worried about the Convict Tang because I'd read they were more timid.
I looked around for an acclimation box to order and wasn't impressed. After seeing the Octo Aquatics "The SHU" on here and their website I think I'm spoiled.
Not being able to find a cheap/temporary/quick alternative I bought a Critter Cage from Petco for $7 and drilled a bunch of holes in it. I had an extra set of suction cups from heaters in my "box of junk" so I drilled a couple of bigger holes and glued them in. On the opposite side I put in some zip-ties in case I needed upper support (turns out I didn't).
The home-made, cheapo, acclimation box worked well. If I were to do one thing over I wouldn't have run it under water so quickly. The super-glue wasn't cured enough and ended up splashing across making it look messy.
After acclimating the new arrivals I turned off the lights and transferred the Convict into its cell, errr... acclimation box. The Foxface and Hawkfish went right into the display.
The Hawkfish perched on a rock near where it went in. The Foxface popped into a cave but was quickly, and literally, pushed out by the Pygmy Angel. The Foxface raised its spines a little but I don't think it really did much in response.
I left the Convict in the "box" for 5-6 hours. I was hoping this would let the other Tangs check it out and maybe be a little more relaxed. I can't say I even saw them go near the box.
After this "waiting" time I took the lid off the box and just let the Convict figure out it was free. After 3-4 minutes it swam up and out, and immediately into the Yellow Tang's cave. OH NOOOOO!!!!!!!
My son and I sat there waiting to see the Yellow beat the crap out of the Convict. Nope. A little bit of "chest puffing" but that was it. We were extremely surprised.
The Convict has been swimming around, it's very active, and checking out its new boundaries. The Hawkfish and Foxface were both out and about as well; right now the two of them have hunkered down seemingly for the night.
Oh yeah... when I first un-bagged the Foxface it was a really strange mottled/splotchy coloration. It was pretty ugly. After being in the tank for a bit it went back to its "normal" coloration. I knew they could change/darken at night, but I wasn't expecting it to be so dramatic.
We ended up getting:
- Convict Tang (Sri Lanka) - Medium
- Longnose Hawkfish (Sri Lanka/Sumatra) - Medium
- Foxface Lo (Indonesia) - Small/Medium
I've wanted to get another Tang for some time now, but wasn't sure what would work with our Yellow Tang (who thinks it is the boss of the tank, but the Pygmy Angel gives him a good fight). I was worried about the Convict Tang because I'd read they were more timid.
I looked around for an acclimation box to order and wasn't impressed. After seeing the Octo Aquatics "The SHU" on here and their website I think I'm spoiled.
Not being able to find a cheap/temporary/quick alternative I bought a Critter Cage from Petco for $7 and drilled a bunch of holes in it. I had an extra set of suction cups from heaters in my "box of junk" so I drilled a couple of bigger holes and glued them in. On the opposite side I put in some zip-ties in case I needed upper support (turns out I didn't).
The home-made, cheapo, acclimation box worked well. If I were to do one thing over I wouldn't have run it under water so quickly. The super-glue wasn't cured enough and ended up splashing across making it look messy.
After acclimating the new arrivals I turned off the lights and transferred the Convict into its cell, errr... acclimation box. The Foxface and Hawkfish went right into the display.
The Hawkfish perched on a rock near where it went in. The Foxface popped into a cave but was quickly, and literally, pushed out by the Pygmy Angel. The Foxface raised its spines a little but I don't think it really did much in response.
I left the Convict in the "box" for 5-6 hours. I was hoping this would let the other Tangs check it out and maybe be a little more relaxed. I can't say I even saw them go near the box.
After this "waiting" time I took the lid off the box and just let the Convict figure out it was free. After 3-4 minutes it swam up and out, and immediately into the Yellow Tang's cave. OH NOOOOO!!!!!!!
My son and I sat there waiting to see the Yellow beat the crap out of the Convict. Nope. A little bit of "chest puffing" but that was it. We were extremely surprised.
The Convict has been swimming around, it's very active, and checking out its new boundaries. The Hawkfish and Foxface were both out and about as well; right now the two of them have hunkered down seemingly for the night.
Oh yeah... when I first un-bagged the Foxface it was a really strange mottled/splotchy coloration. It was pretty ugly. After being in the tank for a bit it went back to its "normal" coloration. I knew they could change/darken at night, but I wasn't expecting it to be so dramatic.
