i think i jinxed myself in the title thinking i would actually have the time to keep this updated regularly....
i can't believe the last post date was august 18! that feels like yesterday!
8O
so here is the skinny;
all inhabitants are pleased with me for now. as they should be- there are only two fish in a 120!! a sailfin (isabelle) and a foxface (freddy). i will eventually add a clown and an anemone. i really want to keep a minimal bio load in there.
the leather and cabbage coral are really doing well, my kenya tree forest has space to bloom, my white star polyps are spreading like wildfire, my red mushrooms finally recovered and my green buttons are actually extending their "tentacles". which they have not done in a long time.
an amazing birthday visit to sfsuphysics allowed me to bring home several little peices of finger leather (all of which are growing steadily), little bits of little blue polyps, a friggin awesome rock of rare ______ blue and green mushrooms, and a bit of white something or other that unfortunaltly didn't make it... (thanks mike! :lol: )
i am beginning to notice a fair bit of coraline starting to grow here and there on the overflow cover, the unclean-able glass, and a new piece of live rock i added.
and last for the positives, my DIY durso is silent. whew.
now my gripes;
i am happy with the setup overall. the stand is cheap. cheappy cheap. i can't wait to toss it in the fireplace and burn it. i hate the way the front "door" stays on when it decides to stay on. the canopy is not the most user friendly thing in the world. i wish i had built one myself... oh well. next time....
i have developed a defect in the glass of the tank. i'll post some shots of it when i can figure out how to resize them. basically a sliver of glass physically broke off. it is about as thick as dental floss. i called glass cages and before i could describe it, tom described the piece of glass in my hand and told me where it broke off from. said it was from the pressure of the front glass pushing on the side panel and not to worry about it since it was on the inside. i agreed with his logic and went about my merry way. then i took out a rider to my renter's that specifically spelled out the coverages from the water residing within my tank. :wink:
my sump. the mag 7 is fine wide open, but man this tank burns through about 2.5-3 gallons of water in about a 30 hour time frame. that wouldn't be so bad, but since it is baffled it really quickly sucks that cavity dry. i really need to think about an auto top off. i left for two days and came back to hear the pump sucking air the moment i walked in the door. not so good since i have two 5-7 day trips coming up.
i also need to rethink my "waterchange automation" draggin buckets from bathroom to tank is going to get old quick.
waterflow - eh. for now it'll do. it's at the bottom of the list of things to buy. there is a koralia 4, a maxi 1200, and a powerhead 802. they all do what they were intended to do, but i want more flow. and i need an extra pump to mix water in the make up container. for now i am using the maxi as double duty.... again, it'll do for now....
lighting - this too, will do for now....... i've got my 250MH over the right side of the tank, and one 50/50 with one actinic T12 over the left side. its way darker than i want, but the mushrooms and kenya trees seem to like it. i have noticed the fish seem to hang out in this corner more when the lights are on also.... and that end of the tank gets direct sunlight for a few hours during the day.
overall in the world of "reefing", this tank not impressive. however, that wasn't the goal. the goal was to make a tank that is nice to look at, but yet is as simple as possible. with the exception of draggin water around, i am just about there!!!
thanks for reading,
here are a few photos:
i can't believe the last post date was august 18! that feels like yesterday!
8O
so here is the skinny;
all inhabitants are pleased with me for now. as they should be- there are only two fish in a 120!! a sailfin (isabelle) and a foxface (freddy). i will eventually add a clown and an anemone. i really want to keep a minimal bio load in there.
the leather and cabbage coral are really doing well, my kenya tree forest has space to bloom, my white star polyps are spreading like wildfire, my red mushrooms finally recovered and my green buttons are actually extending their "tentacles". which they have not done in a long time.
an amazing birthday visit to sfsuphysics allowed me to bring home several little peices of finger leather (all of which are growing steadily), little bits of little blue polyps, a friggin awesome rock of rare ______ blue and green mushrooms, and a bit of white something or other that unfortunaltly didn't make it... (thanks mike! :lol: )
i am beginning to notice a fair bit of coraline starting to grow here and there on the overflow cover, the unclean-able glass, and a new piece of live rock i added.
and last for the positives, my DIY durso is silent. whew.
now my gripes;
i am happy with the setup overall. the stand is cheap. cheappy cheap. i can't wait to toss it in the fireplace and burn it. i hate the way the front "door" stays on when it decides to stay on. the canopy is not the most user friendly thing in the world. i wish i had built one myself... oh well. next time....
i have developed a defect in the glass of the tank. i'll post some shots of it when i can figure out how to resize them. basically a sliver of glass physically broke off. it is about as thick as dental floss. i called glass cages and before i could describe it, tom described the piece of glass in my hand and told me where it broke off from. said it was from the pressure of the front glass pushing on the side panel and not to worry about it since it was on the inside. i agreed with his logic and went about my merry way. then i took out a rider to my renter's that specifically spelled out the coverages from the water residing within my tank. :wink:
my sump. the mag 7 is fine wide open, but man this tank burns through about 2.5-3 gallons of water in about a 30 hour time frame. that wouldn't be so bad, but since it is baffled it really quickly sucks that cavity dry. i really need to think about an auto top off. i left for two days and came back to hear the pump sucking air the moment i walked in the door. not so good since i have two 5-7 day trips coming up.
i also need to rethink my "waterchange automation" draggin buckets from bathroom to tank is going to get old quick.
waterflow - eh. for now it'll do. it's at the bottom of the list of things to buy. there is a koralia 4, a maxi 1200, and a powerhead 802. they all do what they were intended to do, but i want more flow. and i need an extra pump to mix water in the make up container. for now i am using the maxi as double duty.... again, it'll do for now....
lighting - this too, will do for now....... i've got my 250MH over the right side of the tank, and one 50/50 with one actinic T12 over the left side. its way darker than i want, but the mushrooms and kenya trees seem to like it. i have noticed the fish seem to hang out in this corner more when the lights are on also.... and that end of the tank gets direct sunlight for a few hours during the day.
overall in the world of "reefing", this tank not impressive. however, that wasn't the goal. the goal was to make a tank that is nice to look at, but yet is as simple as possible. with the exception of draggin water around, i am just about there!!!
thanks for reading,
here are a few photos:
