[Wiskey]

Neptune's Cove (i think that is the name) is supposed to be good.
Never been there though.
There is the DFWMAS for Dallas area Reefers they had a list of salt water stores.

DFWMAS

www.dfwmas.org

That's a great tip Jerry! Thank you! What day I'm heading down is still in the air a bit, but I'm hoping I'm leaving early enough that I can go somewhere on the way out.

I've also thought about staying an extra day to play some golf and hit up a couple LFS's, but I'm not sure if I can pull that off or not.

Whiskey

 

[jerryclunsford]

There is lots to do in the DFW area.
Don't play golf so can't help you there.

 

[Wiskey]

I almost forgot I had a thread on this tank!

So, I've wanted a new camera since 2017, and it finally got cheap enough to justify pulling the trigger! Canon 6D MK II, it was delivered to work today, and so I have a couple pics of this tank to update everyone with a year later. It became totally overtaken with Yellow Pylops, I have just done a major prune back on those, and this is what it looks like now:

Whiskey

 

[hackshobby]

Amazing what a little 'outa site/outa mind' will do....

Your Ricordia is KICKING BUT! I require some more stock for my new system......I lost my last piece just prior to the big move....fell down between the rocks, and 'poof'!

Speaking of 'Reefs in a Jug'......I tried to pull the plug on mine....walk away from it.....declared it 'finished' more times, and every time I turn around it's still there....going to rename it my TIMEX REEF!

While I was tearing down the big tank for the move down stairs I saw this still on the shelf, and still rolling....put it down stairs on a shelf, and this time there wasn't a window to supply it's lighting needs.....only a overhead shop light'LED'. Blasted thing is still going. ("The green is a resolved airstone that fell off once upon a time.") I forget how old this thing is now....4'5 years? Too lazy to look it up...I will eventually.....EVENTUALLY.
Hack

 

[Wiskey]

Yeah, not quite out of sight as I watch it every day, but I almost never have a camera here at work!

4.5 years and you don't do anything with it? Sounds like it deserves to keep going! Lol. Lots of people are searching for that kind of Hands Off approach.

Rics are funny things, I've had them sit and do nothing forever in perfect tanks, or even melt. I've also had them take off in the worst conditions. The way I have it figured Rics are all about luck.

Whiskey

 

[Doug1]

Nice to see this updates and stuff. Once divorce is settled and I kn ow what I have to live on I may go nano route

 

[hackshobby]

4.5 years and you don't do anything with it? Sounds like it deserves to keep going! Lol. Lots of people are searching for that kind of Hands Off approach.

I shut down my REEF in a JUG thread last year......announced it had served it's declared purpose as a 'science experiment' for my Son to 'see nature's struggle for survival'.....We saw the competition between various species struggle to make the best with existing resources....the vying for location, and the race to dominate....ran neck and neck for quite a while till the 'common' Mushroom won out as the 2nd place Kenya trees finally gave up the race. We actually thought they were gonna win....they blew past the leathers and GSPs, and with their height advantage shading over the Mushrooms thought for sure they were gonna win. Something, unobserved/noticed finally tipped the scales to the Mushrooms, and the last, far as I can 'see' Kenya Tree disappeared.

Going to be interesting now with the new lighting situation for it......took away the Sun they enjoyed in 100PAR for years, to now only an overhead LED shop light. Never even bothered to look at it's PAR reading at the jug......next time I'm bored, and checking PAR over my system I may......MAY?
I know Brandon has had great success with similar projects.

Rics are funny things, I've had them sit and do nothing forever in perfect tanks, or even melt. I've also had them take off in the worst conditions. The way I have it figured Rics are all about luck.

I've had a handful over the years, some doing better.....'lasting longer' than past attempts, but certainly noting I would deem as 'thriving'. I of course will try them again.....and again. And in this new system I have the option of having them in various conditions and see if any are given an edge. Same with those pesky Zoa's that have been my bane over the years.

I've always tried the Floridians rather than the Yumas as they have the reputation as being the 'easier' of the 2 groups. Have you tried both?

Hack

 

[Doug1]

Off to get puppy, hopefully

 

[Wiskey]

Nice to see this updates and stuff. Once divorce is settled and I kn ow what I have to live on I may go nano route

Do it Doug!! Nano's are super easy as well, you just do a 50% water change and reset things.

Whiskey

 

[Wiskey]

I've had a handful over the years, some doing better.....'lasting longer' than past attempts, but certainly noting I would deem as 'thriving'. I of course will try them again.....and again. And in this new system I have the option of having them in various conditions and see if any are given an edge. Same with those pesky Zoa's that have been my bane over the years.

I've always tried the Floridians rather than the Yumas as they have the reputation as being the 'easier' of the 2 groups. Have you tried both?

Hack

I have these because I thought they were cool looking and they were on sale lol. There are a couple in my 10G as well, and those are doing slightly better actually, probably due to better maintenance on the home tank. I think I have Yumas all over the 135 that my clowns love, as well as those purple ones that are in absolutely every crack and crevasse, I'm pretty sure I found one of those purple mushrooms growing in the couch which worries me for a whole new set of reasons.

I've never had issues with Zoas other than them overgrowing everything. I have found that they have widely varied light requirements, some of them shrink way down and do badly in higher light, and others will melt away in lower light. Once they are happy though they tend to take off.

I recommend you get a Zoa frag and put it in about 150-200 PAR to start,.. see what happens. With the new system and the new light you might just find that they suddenly do great.

Whiskey

 

[Wiskey]

Off to get puppy, hopefully

Puppy?! You have to post pics!!

Whiskey

 

[hackshobby]

I recommend you get a Zoa frag and put it in about 150-200 PAR to start,.. see what happens. With the new system and the new light you might just find that they suddenly do great.

Yeah a few frags of them, and a few Ricordias......strewn about and see what conditions, if any in my new system they like.
THANKS!
Hack

 

[Doug1]

I posted puppy pics in breakfast thread but here

 

[Wiskey]

I posted puppy pics in breakfast thread but here View attachment 243763

That is so cute Doug!!!! I love my little guy.

Whiskey

 

[Wiskey]

It's been a while before I updated here, so I figured I'd take this chance.

I got a new job, so this little tank came home for a few little updates. The control system that I built about 10 years ago had started to fail, the analog inputs weren't reading properly anymore so I couldn't get feedback from the system status anymore. This obviously killed the topoff system, but other things were affected as well. I thought about fixing it, but I have an old Apex Classic I'm not using for anything else. The NIC is failing, but it still has some life left in it. I removed the old hinged side and mounted the apex to a board connected to a panel that recessed into the side. I think it's a nicer look.

I also 3d printed a nice little holder for the Apex Display that replaced the old 4 line display. Again stainless steel button head screws finish off the look. I also 3d printed a shade for the light to keep it from shining in my eyes.

The EB8 that controls the devices is mounted to the back:

And the temp sensor, heater, topoff float switch, and return are nicely tucked under the fan panel on the top:

The tank inside got a little upgrade as well. I'm sticking with the candycane that did so well in here, the zoas, and chalice, but the green mushrooms were growing out of control. I've removed them, and added a Policipora and a hammer frag I had.

Now it's almost ready to head into the new job! The Sexy shrimp is doing good as well, but it's afraid of cameras.

Whiskey

 

[VWD]

Apex on a little tank is cool. So you have a 3D printer and can make stuff. I can think of so many thing that would be cool to make . Guards for powerheads being one

 

[Wiskey]

Yeah! This is something that I'm pretty new to really. I've been looking at 3d printing for a long time because there are allot of slick things out there you can do, but I'm just dipping my toes in really. I've made feet for my frag tank to support the rack, and a few things for this tank. I think it will be a super helpful tool in the future though.

Whiskey

 

[jerryclunsford]

You could probably print up a cheap, simple flow meter

 

[cath]

See if your local library has a 3-D printer. We have three at my public library.

 

[Wiskey]

You could probably print up a cheap, simple flow meter

I looked but didn't see anything. What kind of flow meter are you thinking?

Thank you,
Whiskey