MisterTang July 9, 2008 Share July 9, 2008 (edited) 7/9/2008 After winning a business case competition at work recently, I knew exactly what I was going to do with the prize money . Even running this setup entirely off the prize money, I'm still pretty manic about finances - we just bought our first house, and I just started grad school at VT. Thank heavens I have a wife who is really supportive of my hobby! I like to find deals. This is a 'budget' system... not to say that I haven't spent a relatively obscene amount of money on this darn hobby, but that I've picked up some nice stuff anywhere from 15-60% less than what it 'typically' goes for. My first real large-scale acquisition in this obsession hobby - live rock! Curing nicely in the RubberMaid vats: Since I bought this stuff from an established tank, there are tons of critters already on it. I've seen about a dozen little hermits and a clam or two: My RO/mixing container: a 45 gallon hex (maybe a dwarf lion tank if I have leftovers or donations ) Just looked out my front door, and found that my T5 lights got delivered two days early! Not very discreet... good thing I don't live in Sterling: I bought this as a Class A refurb direct from Current USA for $150 shipped, which means that it had previously been returned due to a broken bulb or something minor like that. Everything looks good (besides the user's error of arranging the bulbs incorrectly ): Edited July 9, 2008 by MisterTang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbartco July 10, 2008 Share July 10, 2008 I pity the fool.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDiver July 10, 2008 Share July 10, 2008 good luck with the build.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterTang July 14, 2008 Author Share July 14, 2008 Wow, what a weekend... the kind that makes you appreciate your day job a little more ! txaggies07 helped me move the tank I was buying from him, which was pretty nice of him to do. We ended up not taking any sand out and leaving a half-inch of water to keep the critters alive in the bottom, and as a result, the tank weighed just under what my Civic does (at least that's what it felt like). Unfortunately, him taking all of the live rock and corals out that day made the tank smell like rancid seafood. Even worse is that we both ended up drinking some of this crap trying to start siphons. That just about did me in as far as this hobby is concerned When we got to my place, the first order of business was to get rid of the nasty smell. I built an improvised 'carbon bomb' out of a gravel vaccuum from a friend's freshwater tank: The result? Five hours after being hooked up to my MJ900, the water was crystal clear with no smell whatsoever. I got my little RO filter chugging that night to fill the tank up for Sunday. I spent all Sunday afternoon lugging 100 lbs of live rock from the basement, three pieces at a time in a Reef Crystals bucket. I did my best at aquascaping, and I don't know that I'm very happy with it: Any suggestions on this would be really appreciated! The 'scaping kicked up some dust, so I'm leaving the carbon bomb on for another couple days: Tested the water this morning, and I've got 0ppm ammonia, nitrite, & nitrate. pH and alk levels are at 8.2 and 11 dKH respectively. I've got about 40 hermits scurrying around in there: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sikryd July 14, 2008 Share July 14, 2008 Its look good. Sweet idea on the carbon bomb... My wife got to smell some sweet liverock die off when we did the tank transfer. She didn't like it too much! I told her you have to drink the skimmate out of the skimmer too to be an "official member"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak July 16, 2008 Share July 16, 2008 Tank looks nice, are you going to mesh mod that turbofloater? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterTang July 16, 2008 Author Share July 16, 2008 Tank looks nice, are you going to mesh mod that turbofloater? Um, what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tygger July 16, 2008 Share July 16, 2008 Do a search on "mesh mod"... it's basically modifying the existing needlewheel in your skimmer's pump with mesh to increase air flow and reduce bubble size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txaggies07 July 17, 2008 Share July 17, 2008 Good thread so far. The new pics should be good when you get them. I am glad we got the plumbing fixed up today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOT July 17, 2008 Share July 17, 2008 Um, what? hahahahaha thats funny, what you need is a mesh mod GLABEN! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterTang July 17, 2008 Author Share July 17, 2008 Good thread so far. The new pics should be good when you get them. I am glad we got the plumbing fixed up today. Me too. Thanks for your help. I also moved one of the tiger-striped stars over last night, because he seriously looked distressed in his 10g temporary home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterTang July 18, 2008 Author Share July 18, 2008 Coming along quite nicely! Still not incredibly happy with the rockwork... Contrary to popular belief, serpent stars are quite obedient when trained properly. Here, you can clearly observe him following my command to exit onto the indicated rock I was so happy with the results of my improvised carbon doodad that I decided to run it permanently in my sump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Grenier July 18, 2008 Share July 18, 2008 Good work so far. I'm about to set-up my next tank and have a "T" with a control valve off the return so I can connect my doodad too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterTang July 23, 2008 Author Share July 23, 2008 Hooray for progress! The clowns are out of QT and are the tank's first fishy inhabitants: Picked up this awesome pair - Wallie and Eve - at AquaCo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amay121 July 24, 2008 Share July 24, 2008 Mr. Tang, I didn't get your names until I finally looked at them. Nice. But where's Eve's laser gun though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterTang August 11, 2008 Author Share August 11, 2008 Chuck, the Chalk Basslet Blenny picked up at AQUACO during the party, with a thriving piece of Sinularia from FragFest in the background My "just won't quit" Xenia from FragFest. I had really f'ed up gluing this to the frag square, and had glued half the polyps together, and the other half onto the square itself... and yet, it has made an astounding comeback. Galaxea from FragFest is also thriving Pepper, the cowardly Peppermint Shrimp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txaggies07 August 18, 2008 Share August 18, 2008 Looking good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDiver August 19, 2008 Share August 19, 2008 coming along nicely.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterTang August 19, 2008 Author Share August 19, 2008 Thanks for the kind words, guys! Here's one I snapped a few days ago - Stinky Pete, the Skunk Cleaner shrimp doing his job. Also, everything is starting to purple up, which is a great sign in roughly 30 days since the tank started. It took well over three months for my 10g to do it. Thank heavens for experience and lessons learned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterTang September 3, 2008 Author Share September 3, 2008 Update! Picked up awesome Frogspawn from DaveS. This is now my official "show piece" until I get my phosphate issue nailed down and get my dream SPS. I got this nice zoa colony for a steal from AQUACO during their sale last weekend! ...as well as this mushroom for a cheap $5. This picture was after I had moved it and it was irritated, it was about 33% larger before. And some Kenya tree pieces that stevearlen gave me, and I subsequently glued to a rock. This went much better than the Xenia gluing fiasco (see above). The torch coral that disappointingly lost its middle head :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak September 3, 2008 Share September 3, 2008 (edited) Are those zoas I see to the right up above and to the right of the shrimp under the rock over hang? If so you may want to get those moved out into the open so that they are getting more light. Also you'll find these reffered to as Paly's not zoas, very little diffrence but just wanted to let you know. Things look like they're comming along great, keep up the good work. Edited September 3, 2008 by jason the filter freak Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefmontalvo September 4, 2008 Share September 4, 2008 Very nice tank. I really like all you photos. I use a mix of 1 cup active carbon and 1 cup of phos ban in my reactor it seems to the the job. I change it every month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterTang September 4, 2008 Author Share September 4, 2008 Are those zoas I see to the right up above and to the right of the shrimp under the rock over hang? If so you may want to get those moved out into the open so that they are getting more This is actually a depth perception issue with my camera. There is an overhang there, but the zoas are not actually underneath it anymore - they came from a 10g with low NO lighting into my 75 with 200+ watts of T5 lighting, and getting them to the point that they aren't annoyed by the more intense lighting has taken weeks! Also you'll find these reffered to as Paly's not zoas, very little diffrence but just wanted to let you know. Things look like they're comming along great, keep up the good work. Thanks for the heads-up on this. I wondered why I was getting funny looks from Sean at AquaCo when I asked for the zoanthids Very nice tank. I really like all you photos. I use a mix of 1 cup active carbon and 1 cup of phos ban in my reactor it seems to the the job. I change it every month. I am actually using a bit more carbon than this... like a cup and a half, and then I take some of the more worn-looking crud out each Sunday until a month goes by, and then dump the rest. My phosphate reducer has me less than thrilled, honestly... I still have a problem with nuisance algae growing on my glass (albeit at a slower rate than previously experienced), and am getting frustrated having the tank start to look cloudy through the glass after four days or so. I would like to get a proper phosban/carbon reactor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterTang September 13, 2008 Author Share September 13, 2008 Finally! My latest addition, and my favorite-all-time fish - named Melemele, Hawaiian for "Golden Yellow" This fish was a big deal for me, and is the whole reason I got interested in marine aquaria back when I was 12... it has taken me another twelve years to come up with the proper environment for one! An interesting close-up of one of my clowns And finally, the way the tank looks with the new frogspawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDiver September 13, 2008 Share September 13, 2008 the tank is looking really nice.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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