gjuarez's (pics added) tank, journal and philosophy

[gjuarez]

Hey guys, whuts up. Just wanted to start a thread about my tank. It's going to be a 29g sps dominated tank with a few clams, well actually it is, just set it up last week. All I am missing is the corals and clams, lol. This will be my way to keep up with the tank progession and for feedback. I am still waiting on my VHO bulbs so pics are coming up next week. Here's the info:

29g tank
Pine Stand
Canopy by Off the Reef (Pete)

Methodology
A modern method of the berlin system. Its barebottom, using starboard to protect the glass from rockslides. Plenty of flow to keep detritus suspended to facilitate its removal by the skimmer. Agressive skimming in the attempt to remove nutrients immediately. The goal: To maintain a nutrient poor system to grow sps.

Filtration
A little over 50 pounds of live rock
Euro-Reef 5-2 / DIY Sump/Fuge
Carbon
Weekly water changes
Weekly siphoning of detritus

Lighting
250w PFO magnetic ballast OR 175w IceCap MH E Ballast
250w 10k Reeflux - for growth
IceCap 430
2- 75w URI actinic - 420nm for coloration
2- Radio Shack Fans

Flow
Tunze 6060
Maxijet 1200
Spraybar - Mag 7 return

Cal/Alk Demand
B-Ionic
Drip Kalk
Weekly water changes
Working on a kalk reactor

Top-off
Ultralife Float Switch, dont want to have salinity/gravity issues in such a small tank.

Problems I predict
-I am pretty sure I will have heat issues. That is a lot of light for such a small tank. I have 2 175w Icecap mh setups, I may consider using one of them instead of the 250w setup. I am also buying more fans. I am planning on getting a 1/10 hp chiller in the next couple of weeks. Also, drilled my 10g sump with my dremel to plumb the mag 7 externally.

-Salinity issues. A small change in a tank this size can be huge. I will be using an ultralife automatic top-off to prevent that. Also, I finally purchased a refractometer and its in the mail.

-Corals growing out of the tank. LOL This would be a nice problem to have. I have so much faith that this will be a successful system that even though I dont have corals yet, I already bought a frag cutter. Frags coming soon!

Comments, concerns, suggestions are welcomed

[gjuarez]

I plan to be a little selective with varieties of color. Here is a list of the livestock I plant to keep:

Fish
a couple of chromis

Inverts
Fire shrimp
Cleaner Shrimp
A pretty big cleaning crew

Acroporas
Samoensis - Various colors
Humilis
Nobilis
Austera
Hyacnithus
Pink Millepora
Blue Milliepora
Echinata
Yellow and blue tip tenius
Greem Slimer
Yongei

Misceallanous
Seriatopora Hystrix
Pocillipora

Monitopora
Orange Cap
Electrical Green Cap
Purple digitata
Orange Digitata

Clams
1- Ultra Crocea
1- Maxima
At least over 3 inches big to avoid daily feeding

[JimD]

Id seriously re-think the Pocillipora, they can be extremely invasive and hard to control once established. I would consider it a pest coral. The inside half of my Magfloat was completely covered by it as well as all my returns and some areas I cant get to its still there. At frst I thught it was cool, now its like gggrrrr. Everything else sounds solid and well planned.

[gjuarez]

Jim, thanks. Its officially out of the list. I wanted the fluorescent green one but not if its extremely invasive.

[JimD]

In my experience, its the green ones that are the most invasive.

[Reef69]

Too much stuff for a 29 gal. IMO..

[gjuarez]

Diego, you think so? Corals or equipment? I will start with frags mainly. Not too many colonies.

[gjuarez]

BTW, this tank wont be a display for too long. Its going to become a frag tank in less than a year once i decide to setup my 75.

[ansonluna]

What the heck is Pocillipora? I did a search and found what looks like an SPS coral. Can you post a picture of it on here?

[LoneStar]

Looks like you put a lot of time and research into setting up this tank. Post some photos to show the build up and process ala the build ups in the large reef section on RC.

[Richard]

Id seriously re-think the Pocillipora, they can be extremely invasive and hard to control once established. I would consider it a pest coral. The inside half of my Magfloat was completely covered by it as well as all my returns and some areas I cant get to its still there


Jim, it sound like you are taing about somthing different. Is this coral your talking about....

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=458

There are some other species/colors but all are just a braching sps.

[TexasTodd]

Good to hear Jerry.

I'd NOT put caps in a tank that size. Heck, I'm not too fond of the realestate they take up in my 215!

When you can, you may want to sub a Eheim pump for the Mag 7......Mag's add a LOT of heat..but they don't cost too much! :)

I'd skip the Porcillapora and the Digitata in there, both for the reason stated above. "Coral Chess" get's old when a $10 colony take out a $200 colony. ;)

Todd

[JimD]

Richard, Im almost for sure its Pocillipora, do a Google image search using that spelling. The last pic on the first page looks almost exactly what I have except a little greener. I also have a bright pink one that hasent acted up but its much smaller than the green one. It seems that once they reach a certain size/age, they use this as a means of reproduction. And the reproduce very quickly. I have some in my prop tank, ya wannit? lol

[TexasTodd]

AH, looked it up.

It's correct spelling is Pocillopora............comon name is "cat's paw" of course. ;)


TT

[Richard]

I didn't know about that. I have a pink pocillopora and it hasn't caused any problems. I just thought it sounded weird that you got an sps growing on your magfloat. Some people clean them occasionally LOL!



have some in my prop tank, ya wannit?


Nope, I don't need any more problems. I can create enough of those on my own without any help from you LOL!

[JimD]

Actualy, theres two different spellings that generate pics using Google image finder, PocillIpora AND pocillOpora, I found that a bit peculiar. I had it growing everywhere and its not easily removed! The Mafloat was almost comical! Buy the way, did you get my pm?

[Richard]

I think the correct spelling is Pocillopora. Maybe you can id your nuisance guy here....

http://whelk.aims.gov.au/coralsearch/coralid_search.php

[TexasTodd]

Good old Google. :)

I looked it up in Paletta's book.

Todd

[gjuarez]

Thanks for all your input guys. Todd, I have decided not to get the digitatas but I dont think I could go without the caps. I love them. I know they take up a lot of real estate but they are some of my favorites. What if I frag them often? Also, what do you guys think as far as my lighting? Do you guys think its too much? SHould I go with the 175w IceCap setup instead?

[Richard]

I would do the 250's. You can always raise them up if you think it's too much.

[gjuarez]

The only thing is that they are as high as they can go inside the canopy. The bulb is about 7 inches from the water. If I see that its too much heat to handle I am doing away with the canopy and installing a pendant. I like the NOVAs and the luminarcs.

[Ross]

Just add more fans, that will really help out alot. I have a 150 w halide over my 12g and when it comes on (along with the 6in fan of course) the water actually gets colder then when it was off.

[gjuarez]

Thanks Ross, that is what i am planning on doing. What fans are you using and where did you get them? Have you heard anything about the Radio Shack 4" computer fans? They are pretty cheap.

[gjuarez]

Todd, forgot to metion that my mag 7 is externally plumbed. Do you still think that I will have heat problems with it?

[Ross]

With the pump hooked up externally you will greatly cut down on heat, to the point where you really wont notice any extra at all. The fan i got is a 6in computer fan from some computer hardware store, it is 12v and plugs right into a powerstrip!

[gjuarez]

I found this great deal on Ebay. they are 4 5' computer fans that come with the adapter. They are plug and play. Only 32 dollars, not bad.

http://cgi.ebay.com/4x-Aquarium-Cooling-Fan-System-fish-reef-Quad-Fans_W0QQitemZ7742497058QQcategoryZ3212QQcmdZViewI tem

[JimD]

Im usng AC powered fans from like Frye's I think, I have them plugged into the same powerstrip as the halides so they both come on at the same time, that way your not evaporating as much at night. I think I paid around fifteen bucks for one. I also use a few clip-on fans on those extra warm days.

[Reef69]

Sorry--Umm, well, if you are not going with colonies right away its ok IMO..I immediatly thought colonies :skeezy .. It seems good..im with Todd, dont go with caps as they take way too much space..

[gjuarez]

No worries Diego, I want to get frags to watch them grow. I think that makes it a bit more fun. I really want to keep some caps, but I think I am going to stay away from them. I am still debating on getting one, and put it to one side. If I do it will be a small frag and it will be on the lower portion of the tank and to one side. If it gets too big I will frag constantly.

Jim thanks, I hadnt thought about putting the fans on timers. It makes a lot of sense. I went ahead and bought the 4 fan setup deal. I am also budgeting for the Digital Aquatics Reefkeeper to make my tank as much automated as possible.

TO all, what is a good source for frags? I cant get them locally so I am forced to buy them online.

[TexasTodd]

Man, forgot to hit the "notify me" again. Has anyone else notice how anoying it is to have to hit that darn check box EVERY TIME you post? Reef Central keeps you on a thread until you tell it not to. MAAST only does that if you start the thread. PIMA.

Anyway, .......Ditto "I would do the 250's. You can always raise them up if you think it's too much. "

250's will be MUCH more useful when you upgrade......150's and lower would not be.

Truthfully, if it were me, I'd go 100% VHO on this set up. You would not believe some of the tanks I've seen done only with VHO's. This will: get you already set for VHO's actinic on your upgrade, cut down on heat over MH, let you vari the light amount by adding/subtracting bulbs, is plent for the tank size you're starting with, and make your corals look great. Plus, about the time you want to upgrade, it'll be time to replace the VHO bulbs anyway and you can get longer ones. ;)

A thought tip on caps. If you are using this mostly to bide time and grow stuff out: you can grow cap frags by glueing them to the glass up high in the corners of your tank. Keep them short. They use light up there that your lower corals aren't getting anyway. ;)

Todd

[TexasTodd]

Ooops, FRags.

Frags.org is probably the best.....after local. If you want specific/rare corals.

I have to run to the valley every so often too for work.

Reefermadness for the best deal 20 for $200 shipped.

If you come up here by chance most of the local stores have some nice ones too. CB Pets, AW, and Felipe (spelling!) will cut some usually if you ask.

TT

[gjuarez]

Thanks TOdd, thats good to know. Let me know when you are heading this way, I'll treat you to lunch if you let me pick your brain a little more. SO you think I should go VHO? I already ordered fans and will have a total of 4-6, so I doubt heat will be an issue. I am definately getting the reefermadness deal, I had already looked into that one. Check out the frags at ultimatefrags.com, Rommell the owner is hooking me up with an awesome deal.

I also wanted to say that I am a first time Euro-reef user, and now I see why this skimmers get so much praise. This thing pulls out lots of gunk. Although my tank was setup with established and cooked rock, I am still giving it about 4-6 weeks before I begin stocking it.

[TexasTodd]

Rommell is a good guy. Frags are generally a little small, but quality stuff and he is "tops" for backing up arrive alive and stay alive.

Todd

[gjuarez]

Cool, thats good to know. I am going to be ordering a couple of frag packs from him, at a price you wouldnt believe. Frag packs of 3 for 55 bucks, and i get to choose the frags. Not bad.

[gjuarez]

Todd, what do you think of a stylophora? Any experience with it? ALso, where can I find A. Gemmifera? I have been looking and no luck. I think I might have to go with its cousin, purple samoensis, they kinda look like each other. I am getting my vho bulbs on wednesday, I cant wait to get them to get some pics.

[TexasTodd]

That is a GREAT deal considering what Rommel has. You'll be able to trade those corals easily when they "grow up".

I've seen A. G on Reefermadness fairly often. My advice is to wait until you see one instead of buying something else.

The RM frag pack is great. You can watch them all grow and then sell off ones that are nice but you'd rather have something else.

Todd

[TexasTodd]

Jerry, go read your PM's pronto!

TT

[gjuarez]

Todd, thanks a lot. I swear I had been there a couple of times this week and I hadnt seen it. That is exactly what I am looking for. I think I might be split the order with a friend because I want to get some of Rommel's frags. Which frags on ultimatefrags should I go for?

[fishypets]

Jerry,

When are you going to post some pics man? This tank sounds like it will be amazing. Reminds me of like Yikan's was when his 60 gal was set up.

Heat was a BIG concern of mine when I set up my tank. I had the guy that built the canopy drill 4 inch holes in the sides and the top of the canopy. The idea was to have two ice cap variable speed fans pull cool air inside from the sides and two fans pushing the heat up the the top. Well the top holes were too small for the fans so I was stuck with only two fans in a closed canopy with 800W of M.H. The warmest my tank got this summer was 81.

Good luck and hurry up and post some pics!!

[gjuarez]

I will try to post some pics by thursday. I should receive my vho bulbs tomorrow. I will be using four fans that will be set on timers. Wish me luck with the heat. Euro-Reef rocks.

[LoneStar]

Good luck...let us know how the VHO's work out!

[gjuarez]

sure will, thanks bud

[gjuarez]

I received my VHO bulbs and refractometer today. I love the look of the reeflux with VHOs. Pics coming soon.

[JimD]

Did you get the 250 watt 10k's? Are the vho's actinic? If so, whats the wattage?

[gjuarez]

Yes, 250 10k and the VHOs are actinic, 75 watts. pretty good looking combo.

[JimD]

Any idea when you might get a few pics up? It'd be cool to see the reeflux with and without the actinics.

[gjuarez]

I will try to get them by tomorrow Jim. I need a friend to come and take them, I am not as good. I think I need some lesson from Todd.

[LoneStar]

You should get some crazy growth with that 250w 10k :) not to mention the VHO actinics with give off crazy beautiful colors

[gjuarez]

Hopefully, those are my intentions. I have carefully planned this tank to make sure that everything is done right. I really incourage you guys to point out some things that I may be forgetting. Pics by tomorrow, i promise.

[gjuarez]

Besides pocilloporas and caps, what others should I stay away from in my 29? I heard that I should also stay away from hydnophoras, that they are very aggresive towards acros.

[jason]

Jerry, are you going to be around this Saturday evening? I would like to calibrate my hydrometer to your refractometer. I think my SG is to high, but I dont want to make changes until I can confirm that. Anyway, you need to come by and check up on your frags under my new reeflux 10k's.

[gjuarez]

I will try. I dont know if I am going to Roma yet. I need to calibrate my refractometer, no instructions came with it. Jason, are you avaialable next week to take pics of my tank?

[jason]

Sure. I'm going to NY Sunday and comming back late Monday. So any other day would be fine with me. Just let me know and I'll be there.

[GaryP]

OK, here are my thoughts Jerry. I haven't gone through and read the whole thread so I may be touching on a few things that have already been addressed in previous posts.

1. I'm not a big fan of BB tanks but I know some successful tanks are run that way. I won't go into that arguemnt here. My problem is that I just don't understand it on a logical basis. The only support of the idea is based on empirical evidence and not scientific principles. My other problem with it is that its based on more labor. That may be fine on a 29 gal., but wouldn't work for me.

2. I'm not really sure you need a chiller for that size tank. It may be overkill. I would re-think the radio shack fans unless you can get some information on what cfm they are rated for. I think they are low speed fans, and I always suggest providing excess cooling capacity for high humidity days. I have 4 fans on my 125 but only use 2 of them when I need additional cooling when the humidity in the house is high.

3. I like the idea of a spraybar and have run one in my tank before. They are somewhat problematic though. The holes have a tendency to scale up because of the pressure change as the water hits the openings. I plan on putting one in my new tank as part of a closed loop but will do so in a way that allows me to do maintenance on it as necessary. It will have removalable locline nozzles that can be taken out for cleaning.

4. I am really uncomfortable with using kalk on a tank that small. Your margin of error is pretty small with that water volume. That is one of those things that may be difficult to scale down from a larger system. If you still want to use Kalk then you might want to consider just using a drip jug where you have more control of dosing. I really doubt you will need a lot in the way of supplements in a tank that size with weekly water changes. B-Ionic may be a better way to go for small supplementation. If you are looking at the Kalk for pH control, you may want to consider using something like washing soda. which is a little more forgiving and allows for better dosing control as it is more water soluble.

[GaryP]

If you go ahead with it BB, I would suggest you stock it pretty heavily with detritivores such as small hermits. This could help cut down on any detritus buildup. There is only so much you can do with power heads and siphoning. There are always going to be little nooks and crannies where you can't get where detritus may accumulate.

[LoneStar]

http://redneckreefers.com/rnr/images/smiles/pics.gif

[Thunderkat]

http://redneckreefers.com/rnr/images/smiles/pics.gif

:pics

[gjuarez]

lol guys. As you guys heard Jason is coming to take pics next week. I just cant get the camera to work for me, I suck at pics.

Gary, I went ahead and purchased some other fans from ebay. They are a total of four. I will have lots of evaporation but my auto top off will take care of taht for me. As far as Kalk, I have a small doser that measure about 16oz, I let it drip at night very slowly. Ph seems to stay normal. I dont use it as much though, I mainly rely on weekly water changes and B Ionic to take care of cal and alk demands. Also, i decided to skip the chiller as well. If the heat is too much for the tank to handle I am just removing the canopy and installing a reep optix pendant. I am stocking small hermits and other types of detrivores to take care of detritus. I ahve decided to wait a while to stock up my tank. I am going to be running it by itself so I can see how high the temperature goes. I really want to make sure that the setup will be perfect before I start stocking it. Gary, if you see anything else let me know.

[GaryP]

The problem with a Kalk reactor on a nit that size is that even using a slow dosing rate you may end up shocking the system. You simply don't have enough water volume to adequately dilute it. I think you are a lot better off with the drip system if you do use Kalk at all.

Evaporation is a good thing! Evaporation means that your tank is cooling itself. Large amounts of heat are carried away in the evaporation process. When you have a cooling problem is when you don't have evaporation, such as I mentioned when the humidity is high. If you don't already have a digital thermomenter, get one. Checking the temp a couple times a day is a good routine to get into. You can get an inexpensive indoor/outdoor electronic thermometer at Radio Shack that works well. Its bascially the same thing as sold at LFS for more then twice as much.

You'll probably need to do some experimenting with the fans to figure out how long to run them, and how many. On my 125 I have 2 X 100 cfm fans running on the same cycle as the MHs. The other 2 are only run occasionally when I need extra cooling. I'm going to add a heater to prevent the fans from cooling to much on days like today when the temp in the house may be a bit low and humidity is low.

[gjuarez]

Gary, maybe I gave the wrong impression. I am not using a kalk reactor. Its a DIY drip container. Its about 16oz. I fill it up 3/4 and stir it around and wait for it to settle so I can drip during the night. Also, I do have a digital thermometer but I feel it may be a little off. The drip rate is about 1 drop/5 seconds.

The fans I got were 80cfm if I can remember correctly, dont quote me on that, but its a total of four. If that doesnt help I am adding a small fan to hit the water in the sump to help evaporation. If that doesnt do the trick, I am going with a pendant. The only thing i have to do now is figure out how I am going to incorporate my VHOs with it. Regardless of what I do, my VHOs will be part of my lighting, I want to have good coloration on my corals.

I also wanted to mention that most of the rock I have has been in my previous systems so I have had it for a while. They were also cooked to the point where they have absolutely no color, plain and dry. They dont shed as much detritus if any. I also have 2-3 pieces that i got from my friend but they had cyano. Cyano is slowly dying and these rocks are leaching a tiny bit of detritus. This is where I failed, I was just needing those type of pieces of rocks that I didnt care about that. These rocks allow for plenty of flow to pass through the bottom and to keep detritus from settling. The rock work is elevated and on top I have shelf pieces that are staggered to form a shelf like structure. This will give me plenty of spots for coral placement.

[GaryP]

Jerry,

I was just going back to your original post. I think you mentioned a Kalk reactor there.

You have a ton of cooling with 4 X 80 cfm. I doubt you will end up using more then one fan most of the time. The extras will come in handy though when you have a peak cooling requirement on humid days.

[gjuarez]

Gary, I am sorry. Yes I did mention it. I was working on it but I decided to make a skimmer instead. I cut the acrylic tubing but then I felt that I would not need it and that perhaps it could do more harm than good. I still dont trust automated stuff completely. I have heard horror stories with kalk reactors and especially automated RO units. Hopefully the fans will take care of the heat. At this point, that is my only concern. Unless you can maybe point another thing out. I need all the advice I can get. What do you think about flow? Gary, I would also appreciate it if you could give me that washing/baking soda recipe.

[GaryP]

I have a feeling you will have no problems with heat. You have almost as much air flow on your 29 as I do on my 125.

Here is a link to the buffer:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

[gjuarez]

"The seven most abundant ions in seawater, in decreasing order of concentration, are chloride, sodium, sulfate, magnesium, calcium, potassium and bicarbonate. Using this new recipe will keep all of these ions in their appropriate ratios (detailed below). "

Gary, great article. Hmm, I wonder why people are so concerned of elevated levels of sulfate if they are some of the ions that are most abundant in natural sea water. I have been reading on RC a lot lately and this seems to be a concern for a lot of reefers. Would you happen to know how it contributes to an ecosystem?

[GaryP]

Jerry,

Check out Texas Todd's "interesting reading" thread.

[gjuarez]

Will do.

[gjuarez]

What do you guys suggest for photoperiod? I want to have my VHOs on for 10-12 hours. I am still debating on how long I should have my halides on. I am open for suggestions.

[LoneStar]

I run my hailde for 7 hours. Great growth so far ;) The actinics run for 12 hours.

[gjuarez]

I was thinking about running them for 6-8 hours. I have heard of a lot of reefers running then for 2-4 hours but I dont think I would want to experiment with such a short photo period. Maybe I should start with 6 hours and gradually lengthen it a bit.

What about feeding your corals? What are you feeding them if you feed them at all? I have heard of golden pearls but I dont think I could find them locally. Phyto? Cyclopeeze? Oyster eggs? What are my other options?

[LoneStar]

I am using DT's Oyster Eggs and Kent Marine Chromaplex. I won the Chromaplex at Aquatic Warehouse a while back and have been using it a few times a week. Corals seem to like it and the colors of them have shown better. I started using it more cause I was stupid one day and left the DT's Phyto on my stand and then split to work. >_< Oyster Eggs I may use once a week.....

[TexasTodd]

Golden Pearls are not frozen Jerry. The only place you can get them is www.brineshrimpdirect.com, but they're not expensive and get shipped standard ground. ;)

TT

[gjuarez]

Thanks Todd. Are they a good source for food in your experience? I want to feed a little due to lack of nutrients (I hope)

[TexasTodd]

No experience personally. Many "pros" use them though.

I did confer with a certian speaker we had in. ;)

Also, forgot, I run my halides from 9 to 5, vho from about 6:30 to 9pm. Extra boost, high noon halides from 11 to 1pm.

IME short photoperiod leads to a change of colors toward what I personally don't like. The growth and health will be great still.

Plus, I LIKE to look at my tank with it lit. Kind of hard running 2-4 hours a day! It's funny to me as we got in to this to mainly look at our tanks, but people are hung up on "we don't need that length of light peroid". YES, WE ALSO DON'T NEED BIG BOXES OF WATER IN OUR HOUSES! :)

Todd

[gjuarez]

LOL. ABout eight hours is what I was planning on. Once I get my 20 for $200.00 from reefermadness, I was thinking of doing a shorter photoperiod for the first week. Only because I know reefermadness keeps their corals under 20k lighting. I think I should acclimate them with a lesser photoperiod because of the big change in intensity. WHat do you think? BTW, I also dont like the idea of not being able to look at my tank because the lights were out. I could stare at it for hours, very therapeutic. To me, staring at my tank is like watching the discovery channel on a flat screen T.V.

I have a pretty good idea as to what speaker you confered about the GP. I would say he has a bit of credibility. LOL. I'll try them out to see if they work out for me. THanks for the link.

[TexasTodd]

Sure.

I always leave frags from RM on the bottom of my tank for about 1 week. In good lighting and good flow. Propped up so they get flow all around them. His warranty is void if you glue them on rocks before 4 or 5 days I think.

Then I glue at about one week and slowly start moving their little rocks up. If they start to bleach, back to the bottom for a week and start over. Once they're each at their "happy place" I glue them down to stay or wedge them in.

Some on RC say his frags die easily but I've had really good luck with them just going slowly.

Todd

Todd

[GaryP]

Jerry,

I feed oyster eggs, cyclopeeze, rotifers, daphnia, and brine shrimp naupali.

[gjuarez]

Gary,

How do you get a hold of the rotifers? Do you grow them? Is that the green water stuff?

[Ram_Puppy]

there are several places you can get rotifers from...

Florida Aqua Farms comes to mind.

https://3kserver7.com/~frank/secure/agora.cgi?cart_id=9397797.583*Uj6fE8&product=LIVE_ CULTURES

[gjuarez]

Ram, thanks a lot for the link. I will look into it. Nice tank by the way. Cubes are awesome.

[GaryP]

Jerry,

I am using frozen rotifers from Hikari. I would love to grow my own, but you have to have green water to feed them. I would love to do this, but I just don't have the room right now. That's a project for the future. You might try checking with your local LFS and see if they can start bringing them in for you.

http://www.hikariusa.com/rotifer.htm

[jason]

Jerry, maybe with the help of Allan we can experiment with growing our own food source? I've always wanted to try, but didn't have the room.

BTW, my trip to NY was rescheduled for Thursday due to weather. I'll be back Saturday night. Sunday evening would be perfect for me if you want to take pics of your setup. :pics LMK

[gjuarez]

Yeah, I will be available on Sunday so we can finally take the pics. I have been doing some changes so its good that we havent taken pics yet. How's the A. Valida doing, well all the frags of it?

[gjuarez]

Gary, I have read a little about that stuff. It seems very interesting. I had a friend who would drip greenwater into his tank to keep fire corals. I guess and do a bit more research on rotifers and green water, sounds interesting. Now, what exactly is greenwater? Is it plankton? How do I get that stuff?

[GaryP]

Green Water is DT's on the hoof.

You need to get with Instar when you are up here. He grows green water and rotifers for his baby clowns. You can also feed the rotifers to baby brine.

[gjuarez]

Cool, thanks Gary. Larry is a great speaker. His aptasia presentation at Stephen's was very informative. I will try and see if I can get with him next time I go overthere. It be cool to check out his baby clownfish and the berghias.

Gary, back again to the fans. In addition to the fans I bought I got some other fans from radio shack that are 85 cfm. Do you think two of these will be fine? I dont want to have too many fans so I am hoping these two will be enough. What do you think?

[Marlin]

Jerry:
I've also thought about starting some green water and rotifer cultures. Maybe you, Jason and I can get together and git-er-done.

BTW I'm still in Puerto Rico...flying back tomorrow night. So far no problem with my tanks, they have been on auto-pilot for two weeks.

Rick

[gjuarez]

Rick, thats good to know. Having fun? We definately need to get together and have some kind of setup for rotifers. Jason and I are getting together on Sunday evening, maybe you can join us.

So Gary, the green water is just DTs. Is there anything else? I guess I will just do a search.

[dwdenny]

Can't wait to see the pics Jerry. Sounds like it is going to be on heck of a system there.

[gjuarez]

LOL. I hope. Doug, you really need to meet some of the reefers. Jason and Rick are cool guys and have awesome setups. Knowledgeable reefers too.

I went ahead and bought some pretty big Radio Shack fans. I wasnt too happy with the ones I ordered so I bought these, they are 85cfm. I think I will be fine with them.

RIck, give me a call when you get back. I have a six of michelob ultra sitting in the fridge.

[dwdenny]

I can get over there for that. Good digital too. lol DOnt have time though will be out of town this weekend and next.

[gjuarez]

Cool. Maybe for the march mini meeting you'll join us. I have recruited more members over the last few weeks.

A little update on the tank. I had to break down the sump because my mag 7, which is plumbed externally, was leaking. It seems that maybe last time I cleaned I threw out the washer or something. I went ahead and added a bead of silicone around the edges. Letting it cure right now and setting up tomorrow again. I love the look of the reeflux and the VHO, I had to say it one more time. I am also installing the new fans tomorrow. Pics coming on Sunday when Jason comes and takes them.

[GaryP]

Gary, back again to the fans. In addition to the fans I bought I got some other fans from radio shack that are 85 cfm. Do you think two of these will be fine? I dont want to have too many fans so I am hoping these two will be enough. What do you think?

Well, I'm running my 125 on two 100 cfm fans. I plugged in my two back up fans this afternoon because my temp. got up to 83. The temp usually stays at around 78 with two fans running on a timer with the MH lights. To answer your question, I think you will just need to do a little trial and error to find what works for your tanks.

[GaryP]

So Gary, the green water is just DTs. Is there anything else? I guess I will just do a search.

I think DTs is a mixture of nanochloropsis and isochloropsis algae. Check this out.

http://www.sjwilson.net/reef/

You have to click on the navigation bar on the right.

[gjuarez]

Gary, great link. It is a well documented process and its short and sweet. It doesnt seem to be too difficult but it takes time and commitment. I'll be contacting Larry for more info.

[LoneStar]

Cool. Maybe for the march mini meeting you'll join us. I have recruited more members over the last few weeks.

A little update on the tank. I had to break down the sump because my mag 7, which is plumbed externally, was leaking. It seems that maybe last time I cleaned I threw out the washer or something. I went ahead and added a bead of silicone around the edges. Letting it cure right now and setting up tomorrow again. I love the look of the reeflux and the VHO, I had to say it one more time. I am also installing the new fans tomorrow. Pics coming on Sunday when Jason comes and takes them.


Do you have any sort of union with a ball valve or a true union ball valve inbetween the pump and sump? Since you have it all out, I would put one in just incase you have a problem and gotta pull the pump without draining part of the system....

[gjuarez]

I sure dont, I dont know much about plumbing, but I did noticed that problem. I had to empty out that compartment of my sump so I could remove the pump without spilling all the water. That's my first mistake but luckily its early in the process where I can fix it. What do you suggest I do?

[LoneStar]

Well if you have a bulkhead on the sump what you need to install after that is a ball valve. I believe the mag 7 is 1/2 inch line. After the ball valve, install a union connection after it. Then you can connect the mag pump. So its bulkhead -->ball valve -->union -->pump. This way you can shut the ball valve and then be able to unscrew the union and take the pump off. You can also do the same thing for the return section of the pump. pump -->union -->ball valve -->return line. That way you can shut both ball valves and won't have to worry about water leaking from the sump or the siphon action in the main tank. You will only have to deal with a small amount of water that is still in the pump and the short amount of pvc lines. (A towel to soak it up if you have to take the pump out will be all you need to catch it).

[LoneStar]

So how many fans will you be using in the canopy?

[gjuarez]

THanks, my plumbing is very basic, I dont have much experience with it. At least I know what the parts you are talking about are, and with that explanation I should be all set. I am only installing two radio shack fans, they are 85cfm. I have to convert them from ac to dc, or the other way around. LOL In a tank this size I think its going to be enough, but I am going to do a trial this weekend once I set them up. If they are not enough, I ahve some spare fans that I will use.

[LoneStar]

I don't think too many fans will be a problem for you. Its like one of my computers I built; the more the better but it just depends on if you want the hear the constant humming all the time lol. On my 55 gallon, I just use (2) 120mm fans in the canopy. One pulls in air, the other draws it out. They are on the two far ends of the canopy also.....but there is always a debate on whether you want them sucking or blowing air in the canopy. All I know is that if you have a constant air moving through the canopy it works well. The exhaust side blows out a lot of hot air. PS my fans are mainly for air exchange and not for evap cooling. I have the set higher than the water level so although it might help in the evap cooling, they are mainly for the air exchange. For cooling I leave that up to the chiller.

All those plumbing parts can be found at Home Depot or Lowes. I'm not too sure what you have down in your area but I bet an Ace Hardware or a mom and pop can hook you up too. Depending on if you use hard line PVC or some sort of flexable tubing, will depend on what adapters you will need, like barb fittings to pvc adapters and whatnot. ;)

[gjuarez]

Cool. I have pvc and I think I know exactly what I need and what sizes I need. We do have a home depot and a lowes, mcallen is not as small as it sounds, not that its huge either. LOL I really appreciate the help, nobody had asked me about that. IF you notice anything else let me know. Wow, this thread took off, its at 100 posts now. I appreciate everyone's input but keep it coming. I am still hoping Larry will chime in on the rotifer culture.

[LoneStar]

If your lucky to find 1/2" true union ball valves, their pretty nice to use. The ball valve is located in the middle and has a union style connection on both ends. If you ever change your system around, you can always reuse the ball valve center section and just buy a new union to replace the ends you used/glued.....but its hard to find 1/2" true unions in the stores. I found these at Lowes, but they are 2" and 1.5" diameters:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a142/LoneStarSA/tank7.jpg

[gjuarez]

Following all that plumbing made me dizzy. Looks like you have quite a bit of experience with that. I found an old thread of my 29g tank of last year. The pictures suck and the tank didnt look that great either. My rock was a bit more colorful then, its all tan now from when I cooked it. Here is the link:
http://www.maast.org/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=11057&hig hlight=

[GaryP]

Air exchange = evaporative cooling. You are just exchanging cool dry air for hot humid air and breaking up the layer of heavy, humid air on the surface of the water. This increases cooling and evaporation. Unless your hood is hermetically sealed it doesn't matter if you push or pull with the fans. What does matter is that the fans sucking are going to be coming in contact with a lot more salt that may cut down on their service lifetime. If you have one set pulling and one pushing air out, you are basically moving the same volume of air twice. You have set up a wind tunnel. Yes, you can feel the heat on the exhaust fans, but the same heat would be leaking out around the hood if it wasn't coming through the fan. Its just concentrated in one area and feels like there is more of it.

[Instar]

I also wanted to mention that most of the rock I have has been .... cooked to the point where they have absolutely no color, plain and dry.


You have detailed a highly efficient skimmer, starboard, siphoning of detritus, only 2 fish? There are a couple issues in all this. First, what is cooked rock? If its boiled for 10 minutes till its all dead? This destroys everything we buy live rock for, most notibly the bacteria culture RE: denitrifyers and the coraline algaes for starters. Best thing next time is save the 5 dollars/lb and just get the cheap ole base rock for a buck fifty because thats what "cooked" rock has become. First thing you will need is a bacteria innoculation and without live sand you will have to find a liquid culture suspension to get things balanced to support sps. And you may need a coraline innoculum as well since "cooked" rock is probably dead for that as well. (maybe I missed this discussion on the post here?) Without the balance, plan on major issues with serious nusiance algaes such as hair, cyano and bryopsis eventually after a real nice brown diatom bloom. I would not put an algae/plankton live culture of any kind in this tank until you have worked through all the extra start up issues of not having any life on the rocks to take care of these things.

Next, there is a significant difference between nutrient poor and nutrient zero. Once it's clean and balanced and maintained without a sand bed, there could be no nutrients with exquisite cleaning and that means low color retention in the corals... unless you do feed them something in their size range. Live phyto, oyster eggs, live newly hatched baby brine and enriched rotifers (live) will help with this. I'll defer on the golden perals because of the multiple size (in microns) packages and discussion that revolves around that. You have to use the correct size for your corals or its just adding nutrients to your system without most of the directly desired benefit.

Regarding live phyto, get a good starter plate from one of the aquacultures and follow the instructions in the Plankton Culture Manual available from Florida Aqua Farms. https://3kserver7.com/~frank/secure/agora.cgi
If you don't have a source for the algaes or want to see others beside this one, there is one in California and a biological supply on the east coast that has algae starters and rotifers.
You should be able to find instructions for phyto (single cell simple algaes) and rotifers. DT's is not a suitable starter culture source. You will have to study about the different species of algaes to decide on the ones you want to grow for the nutrients you want most. All in all, phyto and rotifers are royal pains. Easy to crash and burn these cultures. You can control the amount of HUFAs and various amino acid contents if you can manage live algae cultures. In this way you can try feeding the rotifers different ones to see how the colors develop in the corals with different nourishment ratios.

Establish green water algae cultures and some back up foods if the green water crashes before getting rotifers. Without a steady growing green water phyto, rotifers are not going to be nourished with what you need them to have unless you can also provide the back up food sources when phyto cultures crash. You can feed almost anything to a rotifer though, so if your green H2O crashes, you can use a variety of things like Selcon, yeast, the smallest of the golden perals (like 2 to 10 microns), a preserved algae meal or paste, or frozen algae paste. Just don't over feed them using all this kind of stuff. You can even use DT's on rotifers and they will be just great as coral food.

I could keep live rotifers on hand for people who wanted to use them if there is enough demand for them. When you're ready, if you PM me, I can have some for you in about a week out of my cultures so you can start your own.

[LoneStar]

Yes, you can feel the heat on the exhaust fans, but the same heat would be leaking out around the hood if it wasn't coming through the fan. Its just concentrated in one area and feels like there is more of it.

It all depends on how your hood is constructed. If you have slotted vents on the top, then I would say have both fans sucking in air on both sides. But if the top of the canopy is solid, the only other worthy escape for the air is the cut out on the back side. For example mine is only 2" tall, just enough room for pvc to fit through. The air will be eventually pushed through there, but for the setup I have now, blowing air in and pulling it out works the best....

You do have a point on the fans pulling air out of the canopy. Salt encrustation can happen faster. But fans are cheap! You do not need any fancy heat controlled ones or anything. Standard computer fans work just great. Their only a few bucks on the internet. Most are rated for 30,000 hours, but in a saltwater situation, you might calculate worst case, half that life time. When you do wire them up, just put a connector on the fan and wireharness side. So when you do replace them, unplug the old fan and plug in the new one.

[gjuarez]

Larry, I appreciate your input. THanks for chiming in. I guess I should have explained a little better on what I meant by cooking the live rock. I guess I will do it now, it might be a long read so grab a snicker.

When I say cooking the live rock, I dont mean cooking it in the oven or boiling it. I mean using a concept that rids the rock of stored phosphates and detritus. Live rock is cooked by removing all sources of food for algaes. This is done by putting it in containers where ZERO light gets in and ZERO nutrients are available for algae to feed on. No light for photosynthesis, and no nutrients for it to feed on. When I cooked my rocks, I placed it in some containers in my laundry room. They were placed in the containers with pretty big pumps that blasted them pretty hard. That helped in getting rid of all the detritus. Every single week, the rock was scrubbed, dunked, and shaken in the water to clean it as much as possible. After that, they went in into another container with 100% new batch of saltwater, with 0% nutrients. This was done for approximately six weeks. So for six weeks, the rock received zero light and zero nutrients. The algae was forced to feed of the little tiny bit of phosphate that the live rock leached and stored, until if finally finished it and starved to death. So this helped in getting rid of the algae and the phosphates. Getting rid of the algae created a bit more of surface area, thus the rock became more bacteria oriented. So thats right, I recharged the rock. My rock became tan because I lost all of my coraline algae, but I dont mind because I have rock that leaches absolutely no detritus. My rock has always been alive (live rock), and now i feel it is more alive than ever.

Summary for the lazy People
Cooking the live rock helps in reducing the amounts of detritus being leached by the rock. Less detritus, less nutrients. With time, rocks store phosphates and by cooking the rock we eliminate all the sources of food for algae. Algae is forced to feed of the stored phosphates until it finishes them and starves to death. THe algae eats the phosphates, it dies and in doing so also provides more surface for bacteria to grow. Cant go wrong, its like recharging the rock. Makes the job easier for the skimmer.

[Instar]

Ok, thats better. I had this vision of a BBQ grill... n/m I've read of people boiling, blow torching, sitting in the sun, etc. Those procedures are harmful actually where your procedure is beneficial.

Do you get copepods or tunicates from this recurred, purged rock? All the bacteria should still be in there and quite capable of doing what needs done with that procedure and perhaps some of the smaller crustaceans that live in rock as well. They will be eating the less fortunate algaes that can not make it in such a procedure. The high current helps keep those small life forms in the rocks and that is beneficial normally. Your procedure, even though its beneficial, will not kill algae spores so the potential is still there in those rocks to develop normal algae cycles and get back to the coraline. It will still take a little time to get the coraline stability though.

[gjuarez]

THe live rock will be seeded with some smaller pieces of live rock with plenty of coraline algae. I like to take smaller peices and sratch the coraline off, it helps in releasing spores and getting it to establish itself again. Coraline will eventually grow on it. The rocks look very clean with the exception of a few rocks that I had to put in there to give me the open space in the bottom of the tank. Some of the rock I used in the bottom had cyano but I had to use them because of the shapes. They allow me to not have any dead spots.

[gjuarez]

Just found out again that I am not a very good plumber. My mag 7 was leaking, it leaked a lot of water in my carpet. I am so mad. It was leaking from the output area. I put plenty of white plumbers tape but its still leaked. Any suggestions?

[Instar]

Check the pipe type and thread match. It should be a tight fit and screw in without cross threading to a point where it becomes very tight without the pipe tape. After you have a good fit, then it only takes a couple turns of the white teflon pipe tape to make it glide together. The tape should be wrapped with the threads so it actually tightens the tape as you screw them together as opposed to unwrapping the tape as u go. Make it very snug with just your hands and then tighten just a touch more with a pipe wrench or channel locks if you think you need to. Unless a fitting is cracked, it should be fine. Also, make sure the O-ring is in the first fitting that comes with the Mag and that it seats in the grove. Then screw that fitting all the way in and be sure it stays that way when you work the plumbing. Use hose clamps on the flex if you are using that. If its all hard pvc, just gotta make sure to use primer and glue in a smooth motion so its clean and glued all the way around. Just start over in the problem area. It's usually easy if the pipes are clean and no fittings are cracked. This is kinda a shot in the dark without seeing it.

[Richard]

Rock "cooking" is just the latest craze. Keeps you from dealing with the mess after curing it in your tank. In the past it was just called curing the rock or sometimes called patience. Of course "cured" rock has come to just mean that it is not producing ammonia/nitrite so I guess it was time for a name change. So whala "ROCK COOKING".

[borneo]

Jerry, Give a call tomorrow I can give you a hand on fixing your mag 7.

[gjuarez]

Cool. Thanks Allen.

[fishypets]

That is sweet!!! I would have a very hard time not stocking that thing in the first week. Keep us posted Jerry.

[gjuarez]

Cool, thanks Brian. I had a lot of trouble loading the pic as an attachment. I will see if I can send you another one tomorrow.

[gjuarez]

LOL. I am giving it a little more time and I am still fixing the plumbing on it. It was leaking. I am waiting about a month and getting the deal from reefermadness. I kinda wanted to be picky about the corals I was going to get but due to my location that may be a problem. Heat is in check. So far, I am just worried about the plumbing. THe Euroreef is pulling out some serious foam, and thats because its not even pulling out water from the main display as of right now.

I also put in about 5 nasarius snails, 10 astreas, and 5 turbos. Some scarlett hermits are coming soon. I will try to find a way to post more pics tomorrow.

[jason]

here are more pics of your tank

[jason]

some more

[LoneStar]

NICE

[jason]

some more

[jason]

Ooops I double posted

[gjuarez]

There you have it guys, pics with actinics and without actinics. Jim, those were for you. A little late but better late than never.

Jason, I appreciate you taking the pics as well as posting them too. I was having trouble doing it. What do you guys think so far? What about the aquascaping? Should I change anything? Let me know.

[jason]

I think it looks great.

[gjuarez]

I wasnt sure if I liked the aquascpaing. I definately need to get the tunze magent holder so I can play around with the flow a little more. Still working on the plumbing though, still leaking.

[LoneStar]

Yeah Jerry, the Tunze magnet holders kick butt!! It will allow you to place it in a lot more spots than the standard mounting hardware would.

[gjuarez]

I have the older tunze model, one of the brown ones. Do you think the magnet will work for this one.

[LoneStar]

Not sure but talk to rvitko, roger, on reef central and ask him about the mounting brackets.

[JimD]

Looks really nice! The lights are looking very good as well is the tank and settup! Thanks for the pics! Only thing I 'might' change is the orientation of the rock farthest to the left on top, I would probably arrange it so it was a little more horizontal or try to get the flatter part of it to be the top instead of the round part being up. My eyes tell me that it would look more symetrical and still random. Otherwise, it looks like you have plenty of nice spots for coral, lots of openness for flow, and an awesome base for a great tank! Oh yeah, one more thing, Im sure you made room behind the rock to get the spraybar out for regular cleaning,,,,, right? lol ^5! Excellent so far.

[gjuarez]

double post[/url]

[gjuarez]

Jim, actually there is no space behind the spraybar. In a tank like this space is very limited, I had thought about that too. My plan was to take a powerhead and blast detritus, if any, out of there like every three days or so. Sure its a lot of work, but what isnt in this hobby. THanks for your input, I didnt like that rock either so I think I might be replacing it with another one. That rock prevents me from having more placement for corals. Ideally, I would like a flat piece, I will check tomorrow if I can find a good one.

The actinic makes the tank look a lot more blue in the pics than it actually is. In person, I can hardly tell the difference when I switch the actinics on and off. I cant wait to start stocking my tank, but I am going to wait like a month even though it done cycling.

[LoneStar]

Wait till you get SPS in there, then you will realize when the actinics are on and off lol

[gjuarez]

LOL. Yeah I know, specially around the tips and with greens.

I might be going to the meeting on Sunday. Is anybody fragging? I might want to put a couple of frags to start of with.

[gjuarez]

Plumbing fixed, I think. I have also had my tank up with the halides and the tank is not getting hot. Pretty good fans. Guys, I really need more suggestions. Still debating whether I should keep the 250 watter or swithcing to 175. Do you guys think I could bleach my corals with too much light?

[gjuarez]

Guys, i bought this frag from Tim Marvin about a year ago before I took my tank down. I would like to get one again but I dont know the name. It looks a lot more purple than the Idaho Grape, so I doubt it if its that. Does anyone know what it is? That is the only cap I am getting for my tank and might be the centerpiece. I made some space for it. Let me know.

[gjuarez]

Anyone?

[LoneStar]

:innocent







bump

[JimD]

If you got that from Tim, he probably got it from Jim Norris, who got it from me, if thats the case, its just a typical purple cap, at least it was at the time, with the way people afix all these designer names to certain corals nowa days, who knows.

[gjuarez]

OH ok, yeah I got it from Tim about a year ago. This was the purplest (made up word) cap I had ever seen. It may not seem that way because it changed a bit in color in my tank. I loved but unfortunately I had to sell my stuff due to a leakind tank. THe person who I sold it to moved so I cant get a frag back. If you still have it, I'd like to buy a frag once my tank is ready.

[JimD]

Sorry, I dont have any of that anymore. It should be readily available through most online vendors I would imagine. Ive seen some nce ones on occasion here.
www.cquarium.com
Warning though, hes not cheap, youd probably have better luck placing an ad here.

[gjuarez]

Cool. Cant wait to see the tank man. Jim, thanks for the link.

[gjuarez]

Man, i installed the new fans and they are just too strong, and noisy too. I think these will evaporate a couple of gallons per week. Too strong. Heat certainly will not be an issue but the auto top-off will be going crazy all day.

Do you guys add anny buffer to top off water? Dr. Ron mentioned in one of his threads at RC that it is one of the biggest mistakes reefers make, that RO water is slightly acidic. What do you all think?

[LoneStar]

I just top off with regular RO water. One day I'll build a kalkreactor and top off with that 'inline'. So far after 9 months of using RO to top off, no problems.

How many fans did you use? What where the CFM of them? From what I have encountered with computer fans, the more CFM the noiser they may be.

[LoneStar]

Oh and this may be off topic, but whats with the "Maast Index" link not working? I would have posted this in the correct forum if I could get there!?! :roll

[gjuarez]

I have 2 fans. The CFM on them is 85cfm. They are too strong in my opinion. They are very noisy too. Both are blowing in, I am not sure if I did it the right way.

[gjuarez]

Still debating whether I should get the 20 for $200.00 deal from reefermadness or the 12 for $150.00 deal from ultimatefrags. Rommel from ultimate frags is willing to work with me on getting specific frags, and I have heard from other members who have ordered the frags from reefermadness that some are brownies. Has anyone ordered from ultimatefrags?

[gjuarez]

So no one has ever ordered from Ultimatefrags? Okay, where have you guys ordered frags from that you thought it was a pretty good deal?

[gjuarez]

I decided to go with the frags from ultimatefrags.com. THe owner let me choose the corals for their "We choose" frag pack. Its basically 12 frags for 150 bux. I am getting one purple cap and the rest are acros. I will be ordering next wednesday so lookout for pix.

My starboard is gettin covered in coraline and I havent made a single water change or added any B Ionic yet. I wonder what caused it to take off so fast. My rock is turning purple so everything is looking nicer now. Stay tuned for next week's pics.

[gjuarez]

Bump just for ya bill.

[gjuarez]

Its been a while since I have updated the thread. The frags are doing great. I got them about 3 weeks ago on my trip to san antonio. THe color and growth is good. Pics coming soon.

[gjuarez]

Havent updated this in a while. I stocked it up a bit, just a bit, still have a long ways to go. I have added some nice sps to my collection. Here's a list of my current livestock as far as corals:

3" Samoensis colony - very bold green
3" Green Milliepora Colony - green
3" Sarmentosa Colony - Fluorescent green with pink tips and coralites
4" Aspera Colony - Very nice piece, emerald green with teal tips
2" Pink Birdsnest
1.5" Samoensis - Free frag from Reefermadness, light blue
2" Green Slimer - From fin-addicts
5" Montipora Cap - Brown but turning a little green

[gjuarez]

Sorry, pics coming very soon.

[TexasTodd]

:innocent

TT

[fishypets]

You have been saying "pics coming very soon" for a long time now Jerry. :P Quit staring at your tank all day and get busy. We want to see some pics!

[gjuarez]

LOl, I have right. THis time I meant it. By soon I mean next week, I bought a camera and I'm expecting it next week. I will make sure to take some pics then. I am getting a frag shipment next week as well, I will try and get a pic of those too. :)

[fishypets]

What camera did you end up going with??

[gjuarez]

Todd, I promise to get that skimmer shipped out to you this week.

[TexasTodd]

:)

Then you'll be gettint TWO frag shippments!

Todd

[gjuarez]

Time for an update. My tank is doing great. The rock is starting to get coverred in coraline, and my starboard is full of it. I upgraded skimmers from a Euro-Reef 5-2 to a Euro-Reef 6-2. These things pull out gunk. Since then I have added a couple of corals but I am expecting some more frags soon. Some of the newest corals are a pretty big colony of A. Aspera, a nice colony of A. Nobilis, a nice size colony of A. Robusta. I also have a nice cali tort frag and a birdsnest that is growing like crazy. I promise to get some pics soon, this time I really mean it. LOL