Dary's tank!

[Gregcoyote]

My old reactor has a top and bottom foam filter that keeps media out of the sump.

 

[Dary421]

The overall design concept on the reactor is innovative ( no pun intended ) but it needs a few tweaks mechanically keep it reliable , a foam filter in hindsight might have helped but it’s just possessed !

 

[Dary421]

I’ve been rather busy the last week or so trying to clean up my sump area a little bit so I’d have a little room to work in it. The first thing was to move my ats which was located on top of my sump. Unfortunately this location was next to impossible to remove the screen out for cleaning , about the same time I got a burr up the hind side to build me a micro algae reactor too,..well , about a zillion trips to the hardware store for parts and pieces I think I accomplished my goal.
The ats was moved about 6 feet to the right outside the sump on a little shelf which will make cleaning out the screen a piece of cake ,..I decided to build a micro algae reactor out of an old reef octopus protein skimmer overflow canister,...This in itself was quite an adventure!!, buying acrylic tubing ,diamond hole saws , led lighting a multitude of pvc fittings and enough beer to complete the build was challenging ,... everything is up and running without a hitch ( so far ) ,..included a few pictures which may give you an idea of what’s going on ,...also included a sunrise picture from work

 

[Dary421]

 

[Gregcoyote]

Wow. That’s pretty innovative. It will grow chaeto like crazy. Can you clean it easily?

 

[Dary421]

Wow. That’s pretty innovative. It will grow chaeto like crazy. Can you clean it easily?

I’ll let you know in a week or two :-/

 

[Sniperhank]

So, running the ats and cheato reactor?

 

[Dary421]

... at this point I am ,...I always want to try out a micro algae reactor

 

[SeanMonster]

Never seen a project that wasn't made better with adult beverages. [emoji16]

 

[Dary421]

Never seen a project that wasn't made better with adult beverages. [emoji16]

In all 3 phases too,....designing ,constructing and completion.... I had a little leakage from the bulkhead of my ats after repositioning it to its current location so I decided to disassemble it and reseal the bulkhead using some silicone sealant , by George I think I got it sealed for good !

 

[Bdonaldson]

I Stopped by the lfs on the way home and bought a couple of corals to start filling up a gap or two in the tank ,..a neon green birds nest ,a large monti confusa and a green piece of monti Capricornis ,... luckily my lfs buddy gives me a little price break ,... over the next couple of months I’ll be working from the center of the tank to left side trying to get a few frags to brighten things up a little View attachment 304564View attachment 304565View attachment 304566

Those corals,you picked up look really nice Dary.

 

[Bdonaldson]

That is prettgy innovative Dary. Looks like it turned out great.

 

[Dary421]

That is prettgy innovative Dary. Looks like it turned out great.

Hi barb,.... I decided to build one just to run it side by side with my ats just to see which one would produce the best results ,... so far it’s the ats by a mile ,... I also took advantage of a few of the “ Black Friday” aquarium supply deals and bought a few more aquatic life filters for my rodi unit , a bucket of salt ,a lg jar of carbon, another brs carbon / gfo reactor and a couple more Hanna test reagents,...I think I’ll be set aquarium wise for awhile .

 

[Bdonaldson]

Hi Dary. Sounds like you made out on black Friday. I should have got in on that. I could have used some gfo and carbon.

 

[Dary421]

A little update ,.... about a month or so back I lost my powder blue tang after 8or 9 months ,.... at this point I have absolutely no idea what happened ,..totally heathy looking and very active , he was always shadowing my other fish and fed very well,.... all water parameters were very consistent and well within ideal parameters, i realize that something just doesn’t die because it wants too but this was really puzzling to me ,... anyways , my lfs buddy called me this afternoon to let me know that he got a shipment in with a pbt with my name on it !!!
I’ll pick him up tomorrow after work ,...fingers crossed !!!!

 

[Gregcoyote]

You probably already know this, but most tangs eat an enormous amount of green matter to get any real nutrients. I keep nori available 24/7 and even feed spirulina flakes. Along with proteins every day.

 

[Dary421]

Thanks Greg, for the reassurance,that’s about the only thing that made any sense to me was the diet ,... the pbt is one of those creatures that’s on my bucket list that I truly want to succeed on ,...its, as you know such a beautiful addition to your tank .... stand by , I’m sure I’ll be picking your brains in the future

 

[Gregcoyote]

Good luck!

 

[Dary421]

 

[Dary421]

The powder blue stayed in his little isolation chamber for about 24 hours while his new tank mates got a chance to check him out without being able physically to interact with him .
Upon release the fioxface followed it around but really wasn’t very aggressive towards it, the cute little Bambi eyed scopace tang wasn’t as accepting, it was rather pushy and bullying .
Over the last day and a half the aggression has subsided a lot but not to the point that’s it’s over yet .
It’s kinda funny because the last pbt was immediately befriended by the scopace tang like two lost buddies.
Hopefully,the aggression continues to subside over time , the pbt has nipped at some algae on the glass surface and picked st some nori rubber band to a rock but hasn’t tried its luck yet at the ol’feeding clip .
Got my fingers crossed,... sometimes I wish I had a 3 hundred gallon tank .