[BLKBRDTA]

Hmm, man thats crazy sorry for that. I wouldn't go for another shrimp if you plan on keeping that Pseudochromis. I know they are usually timid and good community fish, but im sure he is the top fish in that tank and will often show aggression to the subordinates in order. I would either take the chromis back, and get another shrimp and possibly fish, or keep the chromis and get another fish.. I know, shrimp are awesome creatures, just have to be careful not to mix them with any shrimp and coral eating fish.. Sorry to hear about that though, my skunk shrimp was the only one allowed in the Flame Angels caves, but now the Angels gone so all the others are invading the shrimps space..

[zook365]

Yeah i saw the pictures of you flame angel, its too bad it passed away. I hate it when things die without explanation.

And haha gotta feel bad for that little shrimp

I drew the plans for my sump/refugium. They are pretty rough plans but i know what all of the materials i am going to buy right down to the exact sized pieces plexi glass. I also found these pumps that are the exact size i need and crazy cheap for 120 gph

D&T Aquarium Supplies-Aquarium Supplies For Saltwater And Freshwater Aquariums, And Ponds

I took a pic of the plans though. . . lol. . .

[BLKBRDTA]

The rough sketch looks functional, thats crazy though, cant say I have ever seen a double sided refugium before but from the looks of it, I would say your onto something with that. The pumps are perfect too, just make sure you are "inhaling" as much as "exhaling." I also saw on the description that at 0 feet it is rated at 120 gph, and at 1 foot its 85, 2 feet 45, 3 feet max. Make sure you put that into consideration as well.

[zook365]

Haha yeah i know its really going to be something, Im going to get the rock rubble and cheato from my friends 75 gallon tank and refugiumonce i have it together. I am problaby going to be doing lots of testing to make sure there is equal intake vs outflow so my it doesnt flood or anyhting. It will all be a matter of adjusting the pumps, cutting bigger holes and getting more flow throughout. But you can see im going for very compact

[BLKBRDTA]

Yea, it looks great Zach, im sure it will come together just fine. Careful not to put too many small LR chunks in the wet/dry area, you want them to filter the water, not catch it, ya digg.

[zook365]

Alright sorry if its been some time since i last posted but it has been going a little slow. I ordered all of the plumbing parts and pumps from D and T aquarium supplies, ordered and received the 2-32w sunpaq retrofit, and ordered five pounds of Timora sea live rock from premium aquatics (should be arriving Tuesday). I'm still waiting on the pumps and the rock but i received and installed the light and am very pleased with the brightness. I'll post some pics, the tank looks very bare.
Btw how do you make it so the photos dont show up as hyperlinks? But instead just as photos that you dont have to click on to view.

[BLKBRDTA]

Yo Zook, great to see you updated. The retrofits you decided on look great and are plenty bright enough. Don't worry about it looking bare, just take your time and it will come out even better (which your doing just fine.) Pictures look great too, heres how to post them on a thread..:

Go to: imageshack.us

Fast, easy and free with no subscription!

Either save the file/picture to your HDD or select URL from the top and copy and paste the URL into the same area.

Then adjust the resolution if you want to resize the picture.

Click host it!

Scroll down and un-check "Include Details"

Then click on the "Hotlink for forums (1)" bar, and copy and paste code into the RB posting box.

There you have it! Hosted pictures without having to click on the hyper-link!

(Lots of sites are available for hosting pictures and videos, however IMO imageshack.us is the easiest, fastest, and safest.)

[zook365]

Alright thanks for the info. The rock arrived yesterday and i now have it in a ten gallon with a emperor 400 filter, a heater and my modded hood until i receive the other parts. To tell you the truth i wasn't amazingly impressed with the live rock. I received it with two day airmail and there was no die off despite the fact that it was twenty degrees outside which was nice. I requested i get four pounds of rock, each piece about a pound or so. Instead i got one bug heavy piece with not a lot on it. The only interesting thing on was a crab but it was dead. . . The customer service was great though. Here are soe pics of what i have.

I hope this works
The piece of rock

and the poor crab

[BLKBRDTA]

Good job on the picture posting, I guess my directions weren't too bad.. Yea usually when buying LR off a website, you would want to go with a few more pounds than calculated. Because they weigh it with scales, it really doesn't matter to the seller what size of LR the buyer is given, as long as it totals the stated amount. So you could get a bunch of tiny LR fragments, or like you got, one huge chunk of the stuff. As for the quality and color of the rock, Coraline algae (pink, green, blue, purple etc.) will develop over time (and under the right lights) with proper Strontium and Molybdenum dosing, as well as other naturally depleted vitamins and minerals. Most it not all LR looks plain when you first get it, but give it a few months and you will see why they call it Live Rock. On a tank that size, be very cautious about the amount dosed as well, most of the instructions for dosing are based off a 5-10ml/50 gallons, but doing the division properly you can find exactly how much you will need to dose.

Sorry to hear about the crab, that would have been a cool free gift lol. Just hope that he wasn't coral hungry, as a lot of people have been discovering recently on the forums. Solitary Sumpage to the Gorilla Crabs! hahahaha

[zook365]

Thanks for the suggestions.
The stuff for the tank i ordered a while ago is still on back order at D & T Aquarium supplies so i had was anxious enough to end up putting together a mini skimmer. I have had it on my 20gal that has the flounder and bass in it but it seems to be working very well.
[URL=http://imageshack.us][/UR]
What i skimmed in less than 24 hours

And my ghetto air stone that i made

I was surprised it actually worked well

[BLKBRDTA]

Hahaha That thing is pretty cool man. Did you put that together yourself or did it come in a kit? lol Your ghetto air stone hahaha. Looks like you got quite a decent amount from just 1 day of skimming, now you know your contraption is fully functional.

[zook365]

Nope i just threw it together with the stuff i found around the house. I tried to find a bottle that would be the perfect size to fit behind the false wall. The top screws off and everything so i am very pleased with how it came out.

[BLKBRDTA]

Yea thats awesome that it works fine, just by looking at it I would say it looks functional. My buddy made a 100 gal homemade skimmer, but he ultimately upgraded as his started to fall apart lol. Hows the tank and LR cycling coming along?

[zook365]

It was cloudy for only a day, there were not ammonia spikes at all and diatoms have started covering it in the last few days. But remember this is still only in just a ten gallon i had lying around to cycle the rocks in until i can built a false wall for the eclipse and receive all of the plumbing parts. The DIY skimmer will go behind the false wall.

[BLKBRDTA]

Yea thats normal for it to be cloudy the first few hours. Diatoms covering it are not a bad thing, its actually a good sign. Diatoms are algae that typically occur when a tank is just completing or has finished the nitrogen cycling process, new live rock is introduced, as the curing process can add nutrients when some organisms on the rock die off, or tank maintenance has been neglected. It is a normal occurrence, as diatoms are one of the first to appear in the chain when the tank conditions are conducive for algae growth, and is usually a precursor to other forms of desirable and undesirable nuisance type green macroalgae. Keep us updated when the stuff from D & T finally arrives off back order. Your doing great Zach.

[zook365]

Well, the stuff is still on back order. . . but i have gotten around to making some more progress. I bought a sheet of acrylic at home depot and assorted other things to put the false wall together. I have done what work i can until the plumbing fittings and pumps finally arrive.



In the tank where it will be but without silicone


And just for kicks i set up a little fw in the kitchen

[BLKBRDTA]

Great job on the false wall Zook, I know waiting in anticipation is very hard to do, you get bored so easily so you have to build something! lol I'm diggin the little FW tank you have on your counter too, I wouldn't mind having a little FW as well, my sisters Betta doesn't count lol. Props on the pics too, your learning to host, thats very useful on this forum. I'm going to soon be starting a DIY LED lighting thread for everyone out there that can't afford the $2,000+ PFO's that just got taken off the market anyways. My projected total for everything ---- less than $500!

[zook365]

Thanks, i encountered a couple problems along the way but it turned out alright. Lol, the black plastic i used was. . . interesting. They had no black sheets of plastic at home depot! I was surprised they had no black acrylic or Plexiglas. So i cut out the bottom of a mixing tub that i found for only four bucks . The only problem was silicone didn't stick to it so i had to sand the strips where they would be attached after i had already siliconed it to find out it didn't work. And the fw was actually a present for my mom's birthday. Oh and trust me i know everything there is to know about betas! I bred them for a couple years! And then i had to get rid of 100+ beta bowls and betas around the house after the eight months of raising them.
The whole beta faze was too much work for me.
I'll be looking forward to the LED thread! I have been very interested in LED lights. I'll stop talking now.

[BLKBRDTA]

Hahahaha "I'll stop talking now" hahahaha You don't have to do that Zook lol But yea that sux about the plastic, I hate it when things don't go as planned. And it is hard to believe that Home Depot wouldn't have black acrylic, isn't that their job? To have everything someone sitting at home would need?? I mean it is "The Home Depot" lol. Yea this LED thread should be started within a week. I'm still working out all the kinks between the company I am purchasing everything from and their "pre-sales" department ins't too good at answering e-mails lol. I know speculation will arise on the new thread because most people only trust something that has a price tag to speak for it. But the whole purpose of me pioneering the DIY LED thread is so that my fellow reefers can benefit from it as well as me, all for 1/4 the price of a PFO! I will say though that i'm not sure if I will post where I got the products from, not because I don't want anyone to know, but because I don't want to get sued! Any member that would like to know where the products were purchased from can PM me. Laterrr mayne!

[zook365]

Lol, so yeah that lead thread sounds cool. I hope you are able to get a good color because from the pictures that i have seen i haven't been greatly impressed. What size unit are you making? And i am quite frustrated with D and T Aquarium supplies. I emailed them and they said the parts should be off back order with in a couple days. It has been about two weeks since they said that. I emailed them again and he said the same thing. . . . grrrr. Oh and i happened to go to the cape last weekend, caught a couple cold water nems (even though it was almost below freezing) and have them in a tank now. They are bright orange.

[BLKBRDTA]

Thats cool you caught some Nems and put them in your tank. If I lived closer to the ocean I would have done the same, although a lot of people disagree with doing this. I know that many people do think LED lighting isn't sufficient for good color rendition, but if you check out Cozer's LED thread if you haven't already, it will show you some benefits of having them (http://www.reefbuilders.com/forums/n...reef-tank.html). And from what your review is about D&T, I think I am now for-warned.

[zook365]

Jeez you reply fast. Actually i put the nems i caught in my cold water tank with the fluke and bass. Its hard to find cold water nems for sale so its really the only option .
Anyway, pictures!



Enjoy

[BLKBRDTA]

Hahaha yea I kinda do reply fast, idk why I always do though lol. Nice pictures! Yea that is a good idea to put it in the cold water display, otherwise things would have ended differently with warm water.

Pics are a beaut!

[zook365]

OMG, I just looked at the link you showed me. Dear lord I don't think I will ever be impressed with the colors on other peoples corals anymore. That has to be the most fantastically diverse, colorful, and just plainly jaw dropping beautiful tank with those LEDs I have EVER seen. Like wow, I'm actually speechless.

[BLKBRDTA]

Agreed. Thats why I want to design a DIY LED fixture. But so far not too many people are for it lol.