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RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:03:51 GMT

the circus is in town again. if you ever get the chance to see Cirque du Soleil it is a lot of fun. it was a great day to be at the beach. temps in the low 70's. just beautiful.

he rode this bike about a mile down the crowded boardwalk and then back again.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:55:44 GMT

the good old days when i had a bunch of monti caps in the tank.

a friend gave me some frags last week. they are still alive and well and will get into the tank one of these days.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:50:03 GMT

if only these were as easy to kill as corals. they are still proliferating all over the tank. i think Ron Shimek says they are a type of colonial stage of a jellyfish.

i am trying to figure some material to combine with CaOH and then smother them. i was thinking something like silly putty or clay. some thing that could be removed or maybe smothered in two part epoxy with CaOH mixed into the two part.

the tangs keep the algae grazed short and you can see the white bare rock that has been grazed by the urchin.

some corals were mostly unaffected by the recent tank events.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:51:59 GMT

reef related sort of dog photo.

which looks more comfortable?

just chillin

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:46:50 GMT

i just changed all the various componenets of the RODI unit and recharged the Kati Ani Di beads.

after RO was 85 TDS and after DI was only 1. now 1 and 0.

the color change is as sodium hydroxide is flushed thru the beads from the top down. after it is done the color change was not as pronounced as you see in the photo.

i am getting some frags tomorrow from a nearby friend.

time to clean the skimmer. this is about three weeks worth of skimmate.

doesn't seem like all that much. it is pretty thick though. i still hope to have the courage to turn it off one day.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:18:18 GMT

i am very sad still but... i still have a 2000 gallon pond at our office that has 15 big Koi and a few smaller ones too. i just came from there where i fed them and just sat and enjoyed watching them for a bit. not the same as at the house but that is the way it is.

even though we have work again for now i am still way in debt and there will likely never be a pond at this house again.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Crow — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 08:42:20 GMT

Sorry to hear about the pond...

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:40:00 GMT

i took one look at her and Lola just popped into my mind, however my daughter likes Abby which is what the people that found her named her. so that is not really her name either.

i have never met the dogs of the people that found her. when i told them what i named her they told me one of their dogs is named Lola. weird!

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefmo — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:23:40 GMT

What a cutie! Got a name yet?

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:07:24 GMT

we got a new dog. she was a stray that apparently was left behind when the owners lost their house and had been running the streets a couple of weeks.
she is only half as big as Bryson so no problems. she is very shy right now but is warming up to us.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:51:26 GMT

playful Bryson

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:48:55 GMT

Bryson loves Nori.

Happy dog

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

charlesr1958 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:07:33 GMT

Having followed your thread with Eric on the loss of some of the corals, I too would be highly suspect of the NSW being or having been used. Now that you have switched over to ASW, hopefully you are past all that. Strange though how one tank has specific organisms while another similiar tank doesn't. I've noted the same with many of my tanks, you THINK they are pretty much the same, but theres always a few critters that do well in one but won't survive in the other. I've never been able to figure that one out.

Chuck

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:01:30 GMT

this is the most variable coral in the tank.

as soon as the lights go out the feeding tentacles come out.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:49:06 GMT

and now it looks like this.

some still look fine.

the clams have kept growing.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:43:04 GMT

of the two tanks in the garage the anemone tank has lots of feather dusters, the other one none. both receive DT over flow water. the feather duster tank has anemones, ATS, and fish and is also bare bottom. the other tank has several inches of sand, one Heliopora, macroalgae, no fish, and no feather dusters.

how come? there are lots of them in the sump tanks underneath too.

some corals continue to do well.
the Umi Xenia looks good and is spreading even though a nearby Xenia Elongata nearby faded away.

the Lobophylia never receeded. however the little piece of Montipora came from a piece that showed no signs of life and then one day i saw this little piece.

this piece is a survivor of the tri color frag plug. it has come back from almost nothing.

this Acan was kind of the canary in the coal mine. the whole piece started out like this.

and then parts died off the coincided with additions of NSW.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:58:34 GMT

i still have several of these in the system. i must be feeding too much because i don't see a diminution of aiptasia.

the anemones continue to thrive. both the good and the bad.

the Elegance coral has not had a skeleton since April but continues to live although it is smaller.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

charlesr1958 — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:21:03 GMT

I'm sure you are going to be pleasantly surprised once you do get a look at the algae fauna, should be a great deal of nematodes and copepods, I can also just make out a lot of swimming "dots" as well, but the scope is not powerfull enough to make out what they could be.

Chuck

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:53:21 GMT

it still needs a lot of tweaking to get the water flow right. the slot is too wide allowing too much water on one side and none on the other. i think there is enough flow overall. the flow is just overflow water from the tank. the limiting factor is the overflow in the garage tank is only one 1 1/2" pipe. i can't open the valve from the DT all the way or it would overflow the garage tank.

i am going to try to look at the algae under the scope one day and see what i can see. this is how fish geek i am. i told the family all i wanted for the holidays is a dissecting scope but i don't think we can afford one this year.

i have one of those jewelers loops that is 20x. maybe i will see what i can see with that and a bright light.

things are licking up though.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

charlesr1958 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:41:49 GMT

Wow, thats a really cool set up and I can imagine the amount of and diversity of life that it could and proabably does support. Ya know, every time I see such things, the thought of living ocean side always comes to mind. So close, yet so far...

Chuck

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:39:20 GMT

here is a partial picture of the garage. i am not really happy with the water flow over the ATS.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

charlesr1958 — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:32:46 GMT

Those are great! To me they look just like most of the rocks that I pull straight out of the ocean. Which I hope to do more of this coming week....

Chuck

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:17:35 GMT

we don't really do any work with hot asphalt anymore. i still have one kettle and have used it a handful of times in the last few years.

these photos are for you you Chuck. i finally cleaned the glass on the garage tank and could see in from the side. these sponges are under an overhang and get very little light.

these feather dusters are growing in 1/4" of debris on the BB of the tank.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

charlesr1958 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 06:31:07 GMT

I for one am glad you dodged that bullet, its a wonder you got any sleep at all untill that job was done and out of danger. I wouldn't last an hour at that job, for some reason, and its the only smell that gets me, but asphalt is a sure way to run me off...

Chuck

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:58:38 GMT

not reef related except this is how i pay for my obsession.

before we could finish a storm came up. we had one day to waterproof the job temporarily. there went enough money up in smoke to keep me in salt for a year or more. we spent a day prepping for the rain. i am really happy to say not a single leak.

here i am actually working on the roof. my crew would be the first to tell you that doesn't happen often.

the job is all covered. about a 200' long building with a 3' wide swatch open to the weather in the middle of the builing and another along one whole edge. it rained 2.25" that night. almost unheard of in October here. October rainfall is usually unmeasurable.

last night i had to go back to the building at 8pm as we were have huge winds and things were blowing off the roof. if the wind had blown like that when it was raining it would have been a huge disaster and i would be out of business for good. last night nothing too bad happened but flying debris could have been really bad. one car got a piece of debris on it that the manager removed prior to my arrival and i couldn't get a good look at the car in the dark. no wonder i don't sleep well in the winter time.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

charlesr1958 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:37:39 GMT

Its on one of the peppermint shrimp, a very obvious red bulge, quite common amongst the Caridean shrimp.

I'm really glad to hear of your future plans, but the thought of not being able to maintain a tank with at least some corals would have me looking towards Florida instead...

Chuck

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:59:47 GMT

chuck-

i can't see it in the photo. your powers of observation are amazing. where in the photos is it? the shrimp were fresh, on ice at the fish market when i bought them.

it is sad about the pond. i still have about 20 koi, 15 big and three medium to small ones at the office pond that i see every day. i probably won't have a pond here at the house again. within a couple of years we will sell the house and build a smaller one in the area or move to the tropics. i am already thinking about what to do differently with the tank. we both like Hawaii but you can't have corals there. we could retire on the beach in Hawaii if we wanted.

my new mantra-
smaller house better tank, more energy efficient, all on one level to decrease pumps needed for moving water vast heights. the fish room will be in a greenhouse or atrium too.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

charlesr1958 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 06:41:31 GMT

Hey Carl, I'm really bummed out to learn that you have to take down the pond, I loved my pond as it was my place of "peace" after working all day and can't imagine having to drain it. Hang in there my friend, hopefully things will turn around sooner than later.

I couldn't help notice that one of your shrimp looks to have a parasite, red bulge on the side of its carapace, not sure if their larvae can survive aquarium conditions or not as I am assuming you bought the shrimp as is. Bopyrid parasites

Chuck

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:08:02 GMT

Clams, shrimp, mussels, squid, sardines, tuna, vitamins and AA, rotifers, cyclopeeze, mysis, and ???
It makes about 15 pounds and will last a few months. The kitchen Aid was not an aid. The sharp blade on the Cuisinard food processor works much better, pulsing as needed.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:07:07 GMT

I recently needed to make some fish food. I am lucky. I have an Asian Supermarket and a fish market nearby. I buy nori, I think 30 10x10 sheets, for about $4.50. the dog loves them too.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:29:14 GMT

see my other thread. http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic103175-9-1.aspx#bm103210

the ATS is my third one. it is not that great. the material is too flimsy and the slot is too wide so too much water spills out without making it all the way around to cover all the screen but it is growing algae on the part, a little more than half, that is getting water. i need some updated pix.

my first generation had pods but that was before the tank got poisoned.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

DXmarinefish — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:18:54 GMT

I really love your setup, and i have been following it with a keen interest. Well done.

I have a question please.
With the ATS you have, have you noticed any increase in pod life at all, any more significant than when you did not have an ATS?

I run an ATS and its working miracles, in the process of updating the design.

Regards.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Crow — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 11:25:10 GMT

Awesome setup...

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 06:38:36 GMT

the surge tanks are kept in the dark. one is empty and the other has several pounds of long established live rock with sponges et al. over that i put a layer of 1" size dry coral. that was 6 months ago.

when i look in these tanks and the garage tanks that are fishless i don't see any pods moving around. the only water movement in the surge tanks is the inflow of water to fill. the surges are fed from water at the end of the sumps.

should i run a powerhead in the surges? should i fed these other tanks directly?

i think my water quality overall is getting better. i have been running the ro/di almost continually and changing out water with Seachem ASW. the cyano in the display has gone. the one Acro remaining is growing and the Heliopora is still doing well in the garage tank with lot of macroalgae seen below.

there may still be a few small crustaceans. i saw one Mysis shrimp the other night after lights out. i think it was just the exoskeleton blowing in the current but it means there was/is mysis still in the system. when i first set up the tank there were no fish in the system and the display tank was ruled by hundreds of mysis. i know many of the fish i have like them, the two hawkfish, copperband, 6 line wrasse, Mandarin, et al.

when i don't clean the viewing panel for a few days there are some very small, less than 1mm pods in the algae film.

in the display there are lots of the tube worms with two feeding tentacles in the sand. there is also hundreds of mini brittle stars all over the system. is there a fish that likes to eat them? i don't think a Harlequin shrimp would survive the hawkfish.

should i feed more? should i feed after lights out? i only occasionally feed after dark.

PO4 levels were 0.19 a couple of days ago and i used Lanthanum Chloride for the first time in many weeks.

there is a lot to do later today. 150 gallon water change while sucking out aiptasia and debris, clean skimmer, change carbon and GFO. clean tank.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:25:17 GMT

There still continues to be a dearth of small crustaceans. When I look in the tank at night I don’t see any small crustaceans. The Mandarin continues to pick at the rockwork and doesn’t seem to be suffering.

This garage tank has no fish. It grows macroalgae and sponges but there doesn’t look to be any life in the sand. That is probably not true but that is how it looks.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

J-Luis — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:28:36 GMT

Oh wow !

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:10:11 GMT

This one suffered some and got cyano on part of the exposed skeleton. It is gone now replaced with coralline.

The Elegance lost it’s skeleton in one of the tank episodes many weeks ago. It continues to live though it is shrinking despite daily feedings with Cyclops et al.

I have no idea what this is. I just noticed it one day on the clam that had been there for many months. Then a few days later it was gone. Could it just be flake food that I fed a couple of times?

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 11:49:33 GMT

The Heliopora in the garage tank continues to do well. I put a piece in the DT a few weeks ago and it continues to live.

Some other corals continue to do well also.

Lobophylia

The Gorgonian continues to grow.

This one is one of the first corals I ever got. It waws about 3” then. Apparently very hardy.

The pocillipora has suffered a bit. I have found several colonies of a green one in the tank that also did not die. One as large as a quarter.

Another one that continues to do well.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 09:37:39 GMT

Some of the LPS corals lost some tissue but didn’t die.

RE: 700 gallon tank build with 4x8 natural light skylight over tank

Reefski — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 09:35:55 GMT

The economy has taken it’s toll on my business and I couldn’t keep the koi pond. I sold many of the fish and took 15 to the 2000 gallon pond at the office. I also moved a big bead filter and ¾ hp pump there as well. Now many more people can enjoy them everyday. I do worry though about someone putting something in the pond. I have seen a couple of pennies on the bottom.

The pond will remain empty for the fore seeable future. It is weird and sad when I walk out the back door it is so damn quiet. The pond would have been seven years old last week.