Tank Journal Archive
:rolleyes Thanks, will do.
Headed down to Bunarong Aquarium Frankston today to pick up NSW. I was taking the kids to the beach afterwards then on to Mentone's bargain bin BUT the gremlins are out early this year. My car went totally insane (picture that scene in Close Encounters of the Third Kind), instrument failure, car starting & stopping on its own, alarm warning light flashing, headlights, interior lights, indicators all flashing.:eek
So I nursed the car through a slow 2 hour drive to Tooradin where I finally had to stop because kids needed dunny. One of my 20 litre drums had broken at the bung and dumped all that salt water through the floor and into my electrical system. Eventually got home & I'll tackle that problem tomorrow.
The reason I didn't wait for RACV was that I picked up a couple of nice corals/frags and wanted to get them home. Also got another different macro for the sump. Gremlins again, my floating thermometer had come loose from its holder, the bottom broke off and had dropped all those little balls into the sump. Luckily the glass that came off stayed in one place and we got all the balls out (we think) using a magnet. Well fuck the gremlins,they don't realise that I'm a stubborn old fart and that was a good day for me
.
One coral I picked up was a "knuckle coral", It looks like a mini lobo but is a different genus altogether and lives in a symbiotic relationship with a worm that enters through a special hole in the coral skeleton. I'll research it more tomorrow but at $15 bucks I couldn't resist buying it for Donna (wifey) as she thinks she lives in a symbiotic relationship with a worm too!
Also bought a torch frag for $10. Pics and details tomorrow.
FUCKING GREMLINS! Had to rewrite this all twice as new server booted me off and deleted it all. Time for a bourbon then I'm going to drag my wife to bed so I can have a knockback.;)
EDIT: Bunarong had NOT given me the wrong coral. I just couldn't get my head together on the night. They had given me exactly what I asked for. Next time I'll check before the bourbon...
So I nursed the car through a slow 2 hour drive to Tooradin where I finally had to stop because kids needed dunny. One of my 20 litre drums had broken at the bung and dumped all that salt water through the floor and into my electrical system. Eventually got home & I'll tackle that problem tomorrow.
The reason I didn't wait for RACV was that I picked up a couple of nice corals/frags and wanted to get them home. Also got another different macro for the sump. Gremlins again, my floating thermometer had come loose from its holder, the bottom broke off and had dropped all those little balls into the sump. Luckily the glass that came off stayed in one place and we got all the balls out (we think) using a magnet. Well fuck the gremlins,they don't realise that I'm a stubborn old fart and that was a good day for me
.One coral I picked up was a "knuckle coral", It looks like a mini lobo but is a different genus altogether and lives in a symbiotic relationship with a worm that enters through a special hole in the coral skeleton. I'll research it more tomorrow but at $15 bucks I couldn't resist buying it for Donna (wifey) as she thinks she lives in a symbiotic relationship with a worm too!
Also bought a torch frag for $10. Pics and details tomorrow.
FUCKING GREMLINS! Had to rewrite this all twice as new server booted me off and deleted it all. Time for a bourbon then I'm going to drag my wife to bed so I can have a knockback.;)
EDIT: Bunarong had NOT given me the wrong coral. I just couldn't get my head together on the night. They had given me exactly what I asked for. Next time I'll check before the bourbon...
There's always a bright side if you look hard enough or drink enough grog.
Walking Knuckle Coral (H. cochlea)
Here's a little on the knuckle coral, fascinating critters, I'm going to get a few more. Here's a quote from that site:
“The Walking Dendro is very new to the aquarium trade – only a few have every made it into the hobby so far. It resembles Whisker Corals (Dendrophyllia sp.) and Cup Corals (Balanophyllia sp.) but is actually a very different coral. The coral itself grows on one single head like the Cup Corals but is photosynthetic as opposed to the other two corals mentioned. It grows around a hole in its base where a worm species takes up residence. This worm gives the coral its “walking” reputation – as the worm moves around the tank, it takes the coral with it. The coral can however survive without its worm “transportation”.”
Walking Knuckle Coral (H. cochlea)
Here's a little on the knuckle coral, fascinating critters, I'm going to get a few more. Here's a quote from that site:
“The Walking Dendro is very new to the aquarium trade – only a few have every made it into the hobby so far. It resembles Whisker Corals (Dendrophyllia sp.) and Cup Corals (Balanophyllia sp.) but is actually a very different coral. The coral itself grows on one single head like the Cup Corals but is photosynthetic as opposed to the other two corals mentioned. It grows around a hole in its base where a worm species takes up residence. This worm gives the coral its “walking” reputation – as the worm moves around the tank, it takes the coral with it. The coral can however survive without its worm “transportation”.”
Actually watching it is really cool. I rang Brett at Bunarong & asked him to put two more aside for me. I'll pick them up on the weekend plus swing by Reeflections.
There's not a lot of open substrate in Donna's tank but its moved about 6 inches overnight.
I can't seem to get the brain working today.
This seems such an obvious thing but I've always run sumpless systems & I'm now setting up a tank & sump from scratch. Due to the way things worked out, My sump is already up and running, plumbed and everything but the return pump is NOT plugged in. I have 4 different macros growing in the fuge, a new DSB just starting, etc.
The rock going into the DT is 2/3 base rock (ex live from previous systems) & the other third from another tank where I've had it curing, seeding, etc. There should be little to no die off theoretically.
My question: Should I fill the DT and let it cycle BEFORE activating the sump overflow & return, or just set the whole system in motion. The health of the macro is my only consideration. ...Also posted in tank support forum.
This seems such an obvious thing but I've always run sumpless systems & I'm now setting up a tank & sump from scratch. Due to the way things worked out, My sump is already up and running, plumbed and everything but the return pump is NOT plugged in. I have 4 different macros growing in the fuge, a new DSB just starting, etc.
The rock going into the DT is 2/3 base rock (ex live from previous systems) & the other third from another tank where I've had it curing, seeding, etc. There should be little to no die off theoretically.
My question: Should I fill the DT and let it cycle BEFORE activating the sump overflow & return, or just set the whole system in motion. The health of the macro is my only consideration. ...Also posted in tank support forum.
The tank is ready to go except for covering the weir. My car electrics are shot after my close encounter of the third kind the other day so getting anywhere is going to be problematic for a while. I've heard back from a couple of acrylic suppliers and the cheapest option (delivered) was $66 for 1 piece 400mm x 292mm & 2 pieces 400mm x 125mm. There's a guy on masa that does small acrylic jobs and he is $88 plus postage but that's for a single manufactured unit to fit over the weir, but he can't do it for a few weeks anyway as he's on holiday. So given that and the fact that I'm now desperately saving to fix my car, I've decided on a new approach.
I'll put black aquarium trim on the weir edges to hide them and help them blend into the black background. A compromise admittedly but much easier right? WRONG! I spent four days on the phone and this is the result:
Bunnings carries it in 20mm - off white ONLY for use as waterproofing & it can be painted (yuk) but will eventually come off. They (and hardware's generally) also stock metal versions & 3 colours in PVC but these are the standard slotted pieces used for cabinetry edging etc. I could find only one company making black plastic un-slotted "L Angle" in Australia, they seem to supply the aquarium trade. They only sell it to registered businesses at a minimum order of 25 metres. My sister works for Bunnings & spoke to the Bunnings buyers to get some of this info.
Fortunately the guy who did some tank repairs for me before xmas (Lee at Australian Aquariums is a bloody legend) has offered to post me some. By the way, Lee rang me literally as I was typing this and he actually has a different & better supplier but he has to order a minimum of 300 x 3.5m lengths. That is almost 10 KILOMETRES of trim.:eek So it seems almost certain that ultimately, tank builders are the initial distributor into the trade as far as we're concerned.
If I'm not happy with the result after say a couple of months, I'm going to buy this from eCrap and trim it to cover just the front of the weir, I did have some reservations about not being able to inspect the weir anyway & fate is definitely pushing me along a certain path. The reason I don't just do that now is that I don't own any of the correct tools to get a good cut edge & I'm not in a position to acquire them.
I'll put black aquarium trim on the weir edges to hide them and help them blend into the black background. A compromise admittedly but much easier right? WRONG! I spent four days on the phone and this is the result:
Bunnings carries it in 20mm - off white ONLY for use as waterproofing & it can be painted (yuk) but will eventually come off. They (and hardware's generally) also stock metal versions & 3 colours in PVC but these are the standard slotted pieces used for cabinetry edging etc. I could find only one company making black plastic un-slotted "L Angle" in Australia, they seem to supply the aquarium trade. They only sell it to registered businesses at a minimum order of 25 metres. My sister works for Bunnings & spoke to the Bunnings buyers to get some of this info.
Fortunately the guy who did some tank repairs for me before xmas (Lee at Australian Aquariums is a bloody legend) has offered to post me some. By the way, Lee rang me literally as I was typing this and he actually has a different & better supplier but he has to order a minimum of 300 x 3.5m lengths. That is almost 10 KILOMETRES of trim.:eek So it seems almost certain that ultimately, tank builders are the initial distributor into the trade as far as we're concerned.
If I'm not happy with the result after say a couple of months, I'm going to buy this from eCrap and trim it to cover just the front of the weir, I did have some reservations about not being able to inspect the weir anyway & fate is definitely pushing me along a certain path. The reason I don't just do that now is that I don't own any of the correct tools to get a good cut edge & I'm not in a position to acquire them.
DAY 1 - I FINALLY GOT IT WET ;)
I stuffed around most of today getting the overflow tuned right. Next time I will use identical sizes for all outlets however there's no way flow to my sump will ever be impeded with this setup. Please excuse the dirty glass, I'll polish it tomorrow.
LH Side
RH Side
Overall View
Close inspection of the LH pic shows a heater in a black guard to blend in with the background. I have a heater in my sump but if that heater OR the return pump fails there would be no heating, I always like to run a heater in the main tank and once I position properly it will be difficult to see. But I can still see the comforting glow of the heater indicator inside the guard when it's working.
My weir is not yet covered. Later in the cycle I'll do an 80% water change and fit the cover while it's almost empty. Silicon will cure underwater if not under stress or pressure, it just takes a long time, ie; weeks.
The only problem I've got now is that a very generous starter gift arrived from Vaultboy today, they're happily settling in the seed tank but I wish I could put them in the DT now. Oh well I should be right to put them in in about 8 weeks.:D
Photos of the gift pack when it all de-stresses.
I stuffed around most of today getting the overflow tuned right. Next time I will use identical sizes for all outlets however there's no way flow to my sump will ever be impeded with this setup. Please excuse the dirty glass, I'll polish it tomorrow.
LH Side
RH Side
Overall View
Close inspection of the LH pic shows a heater in a black guard to blend in with the background. I have a heater in my sump but if that heater OR the return pump fails there would be no heating, I always like to run a heater in the main tank and once I position properly it will be difficult to see. But I can still see the comforting glow of the heater indicator inside the guard when it's working.
My weir is not yet covered. Later in the cycle I'll do an 80% water change and fit the cover while it's almost empty. Silicon will cure underwater if not under stress or pressure, it just takes a long time, ie; weeks.
The only problem I've got now is that a very generous starter gift arrived from Vaultboy today, they're happily settling in the seed tank but I wish I could put them in the DT now. Oh well I should be right to put them in in about 8 weeks.:D
Photos of the gift pack when it all de-stresses.
Lots of drilling carefully & inserting 8mm clear acrylic rods to keep it stable plus 2 tubes of aquaknead and a little superglue gel - I'm so done with unstable rockwork. The right bommie may not stay like that, with the two plates on top of each other. If it doesn't work, I'll change it (I've pre-drilled holes in case) but I'm going to place an anemone in there and hope that it stays put (unlikely). It should be the right light & flow for a BTA or Crispa but as we all know, nems do what they want, not what we want. :confused:
Although it can't be seen easily, much of the rock has had 8mm holes bored into it for a depth of 20mm to accommodate frag plugs. There is also the potential in the design, to build a bridge from the LH rockwork to the RH bommie and again holes have been pre-drilled to insert rods for this. Ditto for the high peak in the middle of the tank to the peak at the left.
I may never do it as I'm trying to get past the reef wall look but if I need more real estate for coral later on, it's an option. Because I'm unlikely to be in a position to upgrade in the future, I've tried to spend a lot of time thinking this through, what I want to achieve, future planning, etc. so that this will please me over the long term. I have two forms of relaxation when the health gets on top of me, one is to sit and watch the (sometimes minute) goings on in the tank/s. The other is to go sit with my chooks down in their yard and chill out.:cool:
Believe it or not I find this more helpful than most of the pain drugs and shit they try to give me. Healthier too.
Although it can't be seen easily, much of the rock has had 8mm holes bored into it for a depth of 20mm to accommodate frag plugs. There is also the potential in the design, to build a bridge from the LH rockwork to the RH bommie and again holes have been pre-drilled to insert rods for this. Ditto for the high peak in the middle of the tank to the peak at the left.
I may never do it as I'm trying to get past the reef wall look but if I need more real estate for coral later on, it's an option. Because I'm unlikely to be in a position to upgrade in the future, I've tried to spend a lot of time thinking this through, what I want to achieve, future planning, etc. so that this will please me over the long term. I have two forms of relaxation when the health gets on top of me, one is to sit and watch the (sometimes minute) goings on in the tank/s. The other is to go sit with my chooks down in their yard and chill out.:cool:
Believe it or not I find this more helpful than most of the pain drugs and shit they try to give me. Healthier too.
You did a great job, no sign f either the rods or the putty! I already have a scape in mind for the next tank using the same methods as you, no idea if or when it will start but the planning is there in my mind.
Agree with you 100% about the tank being better than the drugs, various things with the health with the latest an infected tooth for 3 weeks................kick back in the chair and watch the tank for a few hours then realize the meds are overdue didn't miss them at all!
Agree with you 100% about the tank being better than the drugs, various things with the health with the latest an infected tooth for 3 weeks................kick back in the chair and watch the tank for a few hours then realize the meds are overdue didn't miss them at all!
Members online
No members online now.