220 superbuild

[mtfatwork]

update time again. 1st- The powder blue is recovering nicely from the crypt, and the tail and fin rot. He is probably about 90% better now. Lost the marine beta, which makes me sad, but I have had him for a few years, and I kinda like the idea of possibly being able to keep cleaner shrimp in the tank. I am having a really hard time keeping the levels up in this tank without the reactor done for it, so I am contemplating moving most of the sps out and back into the frag tank where the reactors are setup and running until I have the final pieces I need for the tank. Also I picked up a pair (male and female) of Magnificents that are in QT right now. One is doing splendid, and the other is not sick, just very shy. I am not sure if the one is eating or not, so I guess we will see. Anyway, got most of the facing done on the tank on the 4th. All that is left is to build the columns for the canopy, the doors for the stand, and the cabinet for beside the tank.

Here is a pic of it as of today:

[crvz]

Looks great, Mary! Can't wait to see some pics of the new fish.

[mtfatwork]

Thanks Chris . Cant seem to get any pics of the rabbits yet, they are in a quarantine system right now, and are pretty shy, but they are both eating very well, so I am not worried about them. A friend brought over a 5" sailfin yesterday, so sailfin is now in the tank, and I have a school of 5 lubbock fairy wrasses coming on Wed. It is starting to come together

[old_man_river]

bump

[mtfatwork]

well, I wanted to update with pics tonight, but alas, my camera met its maker tonight. . Structurally the tank is the same as it was. Getting some decent growth out of the corals currently and gained and lost a few fish. All seem to be healthy now though, no more ich, and the stocking is close to complete now.


Here is the fish list as of today
Blonde Naso Tang
Sailfin Tang
Niger Trigger
Teminkii Wrasse
2 lubbocks wrasses
orange spotted hawkfish
1 loneny chromis
mated pair of true percs
pair of Magnificent rabbitfish


Clams~
2 derasa
1 black maxima
2 crocea
1 squamosa

Tons of sps and a few LPS
some of the highlights~
Tyree True Soli
Tyree phonape seriatopora
Tyree ponape torch
Tyree purple unknown
Frag Farmers montipora setosa
Tyree Bali tricolor
Myagi Tort
Becker Tort
Cali Tort
Shawn Bennett Tort
Karls Candelight Acro
Tyree ultimate blue stag
Steve Elias Stag
Leng Sy Cap
Idaho Grape monti
Tyree rainbow monti
Garf bonsai
Tyree Pink lemonade
Tyree True undata
Miami Orchid
Blue milli
Rose milli
Aquarium City red milli
Tyree sky blue milli
Tyree 20,000 leagues lokani
Scripps milli
chips acro
ora green birdsnest


and many many more. I am going out of town this week, but I am hoping to start working on drilling and setting up the top off and water change tanks next week

[mtfatwork]

picked up a Nikon d50 this weekend, and am currently working on figuring it out. I will have some new pics up by the end of the week, when I have figured out enough to get a few to turn out

[mtfatwork]

As promised some updated pics...

FTS (excuse the lighting, caught it as the halides were turning off)~


Mr. Naso


Niger Trigger


Male Magnificent (or female... not really sure). Would have a pic of each but the other one is camera shy


One of the lyretail









Got some new fish today. Decided that the little fish should really outnumber the big fish . Here is a list of the new guys:
4 Lyretail Anthias
A candy Hogfish
A male Lubbocks fairy wrasse

[crvz]

Looks good! You're going to have to give us another FTS when the halides come on.

[mtfatwork]

Chris, I will try to get one when I am off later this week. I have also been working on the water change tanks, I have the design drawn up for the stands, and have been drilling and installing bulkheads and float valves in my spare time. I will take some pics of the tanks as they look now, later this week as well, and hopefully my stand will be built soon since I am no good at wood work (ahem... Honey, please build the stand) so I can get them plumbed in. The tank has been fairly neglected because water changes are such a pain, that I am having some algae issues. Once I get the tanks plumbed I am going to be doing water changes like a mad woman...lol

[crvz]

Water changes aren't too bad for me (I do them every 2 or 3 weeks lately), but I do seem to have quite a bit of particulate blowing about the tank. Do you notice that? I don't really know what to do about it, but I may just need to cut back on feeding. I go a little overboard.

[mtfatwork]

I didnt cook my rock before adding, and I am paying for it now. They have done a ton of shedding, and unfortunately I am just not set up to replace the water so that I can really clean the bottom of the tank. I had a ton floating around for a long time, now it has seemed to settle in finally. Feeding can definitley be a cause, but if you skim wetter and adjust your flow pattern to make sure there are no dead spots, in theory all the waste and extra food will be processed by a good skimmer. I am still waiting on the skimmer for my tank, so my small one (well not so small to some folks..) is working double time on a 400 gallon system, and it just cant keep up. What kind of skimmer do you have on your setup?

[crvz]

Originally Posted by mtfatwork

I am still waiting on the skimmer for my tank, so my small one (well not so small to some folks..) is working double time on a 400 gallon system, and it just cant keep up. What kind of skimmer do you have on your setup?

I have a EuroReef CS250 for my 150 gallon system; it should be plenty for the tank. I think what's been my problem is that there are a few dead zones and I need to get some power heads on the bottom of the tank to get them blown out. I just have the 2 tunzes, so I've been considering adding a hyrdor or 2 along the bottom to disturb the piles that have been showing up.

[mtfatwork]

Originally Posted by crvz

I have a EuroReef CS250 for my 150 gallon system; it should be plenty for the tank. I think what's been my problem is that there are a few dead zones and I need to get some power heads on the bottom of the tank to get them blown out. I just have the 2 tunzes, so I've been considering adding a hyrdor or 2 along the bottom to disturb the piles that have been showing up.

Yep, that would be the issue. You could do a maximod in the back corner facing the long way and it should kick everything up. The Hydors dont seem to push very far,or very strong, at least from what I have seen, so maybe not the best option in this case. Maximod is just as cheap, and will give a heck of a lot of flow in one direction, which sounds like what you need.

[mtfatwork]

For that matter, even a couple of seio 820's would probably do the job if you put them at opposite ends pointing towards each other.

[crvz]

Originally Posted by mtfatwork

Yep, that would be the issue. You could do a maximod in the back corner facing the long way and it should kick everything up. The Hydors dont seem to push very far,or very strong, at least from what I have seen, so maybe not the best option in this case. Maximod is just as cheap, and will give a heck of a lot of flow in one direction, which sounds like what you need.

I've got a couple maximods, but I don't care for them. I'll have to investigate!