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ScooterTDI's 12g Long Peninsula


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(edited)

Well, the tank has been up for about a year, so I figure it is time for an update. I've been through many battles in this first year (mostly dinoflagellates and hair algae). With each challenge, I've made changes to my setup and I think I've finally arrived at a functional system and maintenance routine. The most important/effective change to the hardware has been the DIY algae scrubber I made. (Please excuse the salt residue on the glass, I wiped it down before photos and didn't notice that I didn't get it all!)

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Edited by ScooterTDI
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I'm not culturing grindal worms anymore. The culture never really thrived and developed mites. I gave up after it appeared that the mandarin was plump and growing solely off of prepared foods.  She ended up jumping through a tiniest of holes in the lid. Really heartbreaking. Mandarins have always been favorites of mine and I put a ton of effort into training her to frozen foods. After she jumped, I couldn't bring myself to going through all the trouble to train another.

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I believe that was sold to me as "ORA purple tort". Though, I'm not sure ORA had a release by that name. Reminds me of a Cali tort (which ORA did sell at one point).  Bruce (bbyatv) often sells pretty big frags of it for a great price.

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Thanks, the back of the peninsula still has a long way to go before it all fills in and starts looking more natural though. Most of the acros are just now beginning to really start growing. 

 

I'm usually not very interested in macro shots of corals, but I was playing with my phone yesterday trying to get some good shots:

 

 

 

 

 

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  • 1 month later...

In the process or rearranging the living space in our house, I have acquired a fish room/closet! The aquarium has to move across the room, but now a closet will be directly behind it. First step was to protect the floor in case of leaks/spills. I removed the baseboards, cut out the drywall and plaster around the bottom, replaced with a perimeter of treated wood, then installed a shower pan liner. The wood frame that holds and tensions the liner is made from Ipe wood, so it is pretty much impervious to water. This should hold 20-30 gallons on the floor indefinitely. I'll install a removable, raised, Ipe deck over the frame. A metal rack will hold a sump, frag tank, and mixing station. RO line will be installed from the RODI unit in the basement.

 

Let me know if you have any ideas for this space. I still collecting ideas on how I want this system arranged.

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Omg omg omg! Are you going to keep the 12 and just hook up to a giant sump?! Please say yes!


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(edited)

Yea, I have no plans on replacing the display. I really like having a small shallow display tank. The sump won't be giant though. I only have a 38"x43" space. I picked up a two 20L at Petco (dollar per gallon) for a new sump and frag tank. I'll probably go get a third to use as a NSW mixing tank. I was originally going to set up a mixing station in the basement next to the RODI, but all the plumbing, electrical, and pumps to move water to the closet seemed unnecessarily expensive. Easily to just run an RO line into the closet and mix there.

 

Still deciding on equipment upgrades. I want to  repurpose as much existing equipment as possible. I'm also considering using the same light/pumps as the display (current orbit loop system). It's not my first choice, but it works well for the display and I can swap components around if any of them break. I also plan to use redundant  identical return pumps for the same reason. I'll probably use Quiet One 1200s. They've always been reliable for me and they are super inexpensive.

 

I need a recommendation for a new skimmer though. Total water volume is ~45g. Preferably not too expensive, but consistent and durable. The Ice cap skimmer I have now works great, but recently broke due to poor design on the gate valve system. It's still operational, but difficult to adjust now.

Edited by ScooterTDI
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I’m running about the same water volume, the reef octopus 110 int has been my favorite skimmer yet. Disks in perfect, and is a poo slinging workhorse


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Yea, the RO 110 int is on the short list. How has the reliability been on the RO pump?

 

I'm also looking at the Eshopps S-120 mostly for the Sicce pump. The Axium line also seems to be a good, no frills, utility skimmer.

 

 

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Yea, the RO 110 int is on the short list. How has the reliability been on the RO pump?
 
I'm also looking at the Eshopps S-120 mostly for the Sicce pump. The Axium line also seems to be a good, no frills, utility skimmer.
 
 


No issues for the 1 year + I’ve been running it!


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Making progress. I'll need to stabilize the rack by mounting it to the wall. Seems a bit too wobbly otherwise. 

 

That is pretty much the coolest exhaust fan ever  You know you are getting old when an exhaust fan really gets you excited. It automatically adjusts the fan speed to maintain a user specified temp and humidity range. I'm going to mount it above the door blowing into the hallway. I'll put a normal white 6"x6" HVAC return grate over the opening in the hall so it doesn't look to obvious. 

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Neat. I need to go ahead and do something like that in my closet and waterproof the bottom. Right now it's a mix of fish stuff and beer fermentation. Problem is, in Arlington, my Condo was built in the early 40's, so it's all plaster and lathe. In order to get cable/internet into all the garden style units, they start in mine drilled through the basement. Funny thing is though, I unplug my coax, and everybody else loses internet/TV, lol. Point is, I'd have to weatherproof that hole or something, I dunno. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, I abandoned the shelving unit. It seemed strong enough and I could stabilize it by mounting to the walls, but I couldn't get the shelves to lay flat enough. I ditched it and made my own shelves. Still need to do the finish work on the shelf frame, make the raised decking for the floor, and install the vent fan.

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Looks better, IMO.


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13 hours ago, ScooterTDI said:

Well, I abandoned the shelving unit. It seemed strong enough and I could stabilize it by mounting to the walls, but I couldn't get the shelves to lay flat enough. I ditched it and made my own shelves. Still need to do the finish work on the shelf frame, make the raised decking for the floor, and install the vent fan.

 

 

I kept a larger, 6-foot wide) steel shelving unit (purchased at Costco) many years ago to hold a 55-gallon frag tank and a 20 gallon remote deep sand bed. After some time, I noticed that the shelf supports bowed downward very, very slightly in the middle. The mechanism for the bowing was a slight outward twisting of what I'd call the joists. I was able to make reverse the bowing and make a sturdy, flat surface again by drilling the center of either support and installing all-thread and four nuts/washers to bring the supports back to vertical and the support back to flat.

 

I needed to find a solution back then because I had so much already on the shelf that I didn't want to move if I didn't have to. I've not gone back to putting tanks on these shelves since, though.

 

I like your new solution better anyways.

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  • 1 month later...

Making progress.... I got the frag tank and sump plumbed and I ran plumbing through the wall to where I will eventually move the display. I also made a mount for the frag tank light that flips up out of the way. Although they are too long for the frag tank, I chose those lights because they are the same as the display. It should make it easier to transition between frag and display and also gives the system interchangeability. I'm going to mount the Aquael LED strip that I won in the club raffle between the other two light strips. Things left to do:

1) mount shelf for dosers

2) mount Aqualel light strip

3) make a panel for various equipment controllers and route wires

4) run RO line into closet

5) move and finishing plumbing display

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Is that wood holding all the sump PVC going into it? You're not worried about it rotting? I like the light being able to swap up and down, you worried about rust? 

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