Staples 46 Gal Bowfront Build

[Staplesofficewar]

Originally Posted by fihsboy

Looks sweeet. Thats the way to go, buy frags and watch it grow. You get so much more enjoyment out of the tank that way. (especially when you pay 80-200 an inch for an acro) Your tank is looking sweet. How's the fuge look with water running through it?

Hmmmm... With my macro causing cloudy water...I am 99 percent sure it was that...see my most recent rant...all I have is a heater and chunk of LR. I have 40# of sand in the garage from marc that I am considering putting in my sump as a DSB... Then put some rubble on that. Tell me about mangroves

[fchidsey]

Very nice great build thread

[fihsboy]

Mangroves are very very slow growers you have to use a lot of them for it to work. What I wanted to do.........was set up a 33 long next to my window, and grow about 100 in it. On top of that, you have to prune weekly like your pruning a bonsai.......the only reason I was succesful with the mangroves was I have bonsai's as well and I know how to get the most out of it without killing it. I had 56 mangroves on my 29 gallon and 60lbs of live sand in my sump. I dont think you could fit enough in your refuge for it to make a difference. The nice thing about them is.......they pull out the nitrates and phosphates......thats what they feed on, BUT they leave particulate matter, which in turn feeds your corals. I would stick with an amazing skimmer. Maybe an ATB or Octopus extreme. Although I loved my mangroves.......and they were efficient.....they took a LOT of care. Every other day I had to mist them with fresh RO water. Salt creep will kill them and the leaves excreet salt. It can be done......but its tricky.

[fox2589]

tank is looking great!and you were right on that marco sand..mine has been cloudy for about 3 days and just not showing signs of clearing..i hope to have a full update on my tank and setup by tommorow!-drew

[Staplesofficewar]

Originally Posted by fox2589

tank is looking great!and you were right on that marco sand..mine has been cloudy for about 3 days and just not showing signs of clearing..i hope to have a full update on my tank and setup by tommorow!-drew

I was saying my Macro....not Marco

[Staplesofficewar]

Hey Everyone,

I haven't updated in a while so here ya go.

I now have a RO/DI resevoir in the garage - an old brute trash can - that has a capacitive sensor that looks through the side about halfway down and a float at the top to stop filling. In addition to the float, I have a timer to close the supply water to stop filling in the event of a bad float. I can post a schematic if anyone wants it, but it uses 3 relays, a small power supply, a timer, float switch and capacitive swith. It's been working working about 3 weeks without a problem.

I have a ATO in the sump now. redundent float switches and redundent solenoid valves. This is controlled by an allen bradley micrologix 1100. (it controls other things as well).

I removed all my Marco sand and put about 5 or 6 inches of it in my low flow refug with a chunk of live rock. I got some more chaeto from the LFS and that is in there at well....

I also have PODS! Some kind of little white things. I haven't seen them in the display, but there is lots of them in the refugium.

I now have 2 fish , 3 corals, and a disappearing peppermint shrimp (he almost always is in hiding)

The fish appear to be doing well, swimming, eating well. The Clown has developed some black spots, maybe from the branching hammer?

The corals are not 100% yet...I haven't been able to figure out what is going on with them. I am thinking of getting a PO4 test to rule that out and maybe run something to remove copper?

Here are some pics!







Until next time!