Carey's Final Reef Upgrade- 180g

[carey]

It mounts from the side if thats what you mean. I think we can put the pole near the top of the canopy underneath and then just slide the harnesses around the dowel. The canopy is quit tall and it should fit, but just.
Just got an 8 foot dowel from lowes and the side mount hardware so I guess we will see how it works out. Fingers crossed it does! lol

[carey]

Just got back from walmart with all the extension cords and electrical crap I will need to hook up the led's. The dowel is mounted at the very top of the canopy so we can just hook the hanging harness from there and they should hang pretty well. Going to run all 3 white cords to a single extension cord, same with the blues. the just plug each one of the extension cords into a timer. Got heavy duty stuff too so it should be able to handle the current which with leds I believe isnt all that much.
ALso might move the biocube fish tonight, the hawk and the combtooth have been chasing and picking on the itty bitty sailfin blenny. he is too cute to have him suffer so hopefully I can get it done tonight. The I will remove the last rock and nuke the entire tank with ammonia for a few days and voila, a perfectly clean biocube with NO aipastia. Darn things are even on my heater and in my skimmer. :-(

[Oscarr19]

I'll be waiting for pictures!

[carey]

Got the four fish from the biocube moved to their new respective homes. Took awhile, boy were they quick. lol
Also managed to save 5 corals too, had to break a rock apart to save one cinnamon paly but there are no aipastia on these corals now. woot! I also broke my stunner chalice into about 4 pieces, trying to glue one to a frag plug now but not having much success.

Just threw in at least a cup of ammonia and actually watched as the aipastia's visible just withered up and died. Happy day! Didint ruin any rock either, took it all out. Just have to mix up the sand so any of those aipastias left can die too. I had a bunch that were growing out of the sand. I figure I will let the ammonia run for a few days and then begin to do the water changes that will get rid of the ammonia. AND then, its off to craigslist for the biocube. it will be a sad day but I really have to sell it, I have way too many tanks. Although even once I sell the cube, the 60g rimless and the 125g i will be buying another tank for the rest of the fish that cant go in the 180g. I am now thinking a 57 rimless. Should be enough room for the mandarin, clowns, clown gobies and the sailfin blenny. Might put the tailspot blenny in there as well, havent decided where he will go.
So I guess my work is almost done for tonight. And tomorrow- THE LIGHTS!
woohoo

[Dav3]

If your lights came with the same harness mine came with prepare to ditch it. 4 cables attached to a single hook just doesn't work well. The lights tend to twist and not sit straight.

[Scooterdragon]

So you Are selling the 60 as well?

[carey]

@dav3- we will be using two mount points on each side. So it should be more stable hopefully
Scooter- Yep, selling the 60g rimless as well


ANyone know how to attach a stunner chalice to a frag plug? The glue is just not sticking. :-(

[huma-huma]

Id say use epoxy

[mr_X]

Just blot the bottom with a paper towel and make it dry as possible before adding the glue. it's probably sliming too much to make it stick.

[redsea]

Originally Posted by carey

Got the four fish from the biocube moved to their new respective homes. Took awhile, boy were they quick. lol Also managed to save 5 corals too, had to break a rock apart to save one cinnamon paly but there are no aipastia on these corals now. woot! I also broke my stunner chalice into about 4 pieces, trying to glue one to a frag plug now but not having much success. Just threw in at least a cup of ammonia and actually watched as the aipastia's visible just withered up and died. Happy day! Didint ruin any rock either, took it all out. Just have to mix up the sand so any of those aipastias left can die too. I had a bunch that were growing out of the sand. I figure I will let the ammonia run for a few days and then begin to do the water changes that will get rid of the ammonia. AND then, its off to craigslist for the biocube. it will be a sad day but I really have to sell it, I have way too many tanks. Although even once I sell the cube, the 60g rimless and the 125g i will be buying another tank for the rest of the fish that cant go in the 180g. I am now thinking a 57 rimless. Should be enough room for the mandarin, clowns, clown gobies and the sailfin blenny. Might put the tailspot blenny in there as well, havent decided where he will go. So I guess my work is almost done for tonight. And tomorrow- THE LIGHTS! woohoo

Congrats on getting the fish moved! Any pictures? Hehe.

[carey]

Got the biopellet reactor installed. It is working superbly! I have 3 other reactors and this one looks to be the best one of the bunch. It easily held 500ml of pellets with a TON of room to spare. I am liking the downward flow rather than the upflow typical with most reactors. Not a single pellet is clogging or not moving. Usually with the other reactors they would clog up by the first week or so, I will be keeping my eye on it.
Did NOT get the darn canopy put up yet, it's kinda heavy and myhusband cant do it himself and I dont think i can be of much help. A friend was gonna come by today but he called in sick so i guess we will have to draft someone else to assist.

By the way, the biocube is full of ammonia right now and it stinks like nothing I've ever smelt. lol BUT there are over a hundred dead bristleworms on the sand now and every single aipastia withered up and died. I am so excited. Gonna yank the current sand this week and start refilling the tank as well. I figure I can add some dry left over sand I have and some of the live rock that I got with the 180g setup that is still in a garbage can and then sell it as a complete setup.
I have been feeding the 180g twice a day for now, just wanna make sure the copperband keeps this habit of eating frozen as well as fatten him up a bit. lol The filefish have turned out to be very neat little guys, they hang out together and are quite the pigs when it comes to food, they will chase down the last little piece of mysis. lol
Since moving the biocube fish over I have not seen the falco hawkfish eat, hoping he will get with the program soon, he had no issues eating in the cube.
As far as corals, they are all looking pretty good, good extension on my LPS and the zooas are all open and look happy. As for the hollywood stunner chalice that broke into like 4 pieces I guess time will tell. I managed to dry off the underside enough to get them glued to frags discs at least so that was a start.
I'm really sorry my posts are so long guys, I just get going and cant stop. I'm sure you all are the same when it comes to your tanks and fish. LOL

have a good night everyone!

[redsea]

Originally Posted by carey

Got the biopellet reactor installed. It is working superbly! I have 3 other reactors and this one looks to be the best one of the bunch. It easily held 500ml of pellets with a TON of room to spare. I am liking the downward flow rather than the upflow typical with most reactors. Not a single pellet is clogging or not moving. Usually with the other reactors they would clog up by the first week or so, I will be keeping my eye on it. Did NOT get the darn canopy put up yet, it's kinda heavy and myhusband cant do it himself and I dont think i can be of much help. A friend was gonna come by today but he called in sick so i guess we will have to draft someone else to assist. By the way, the biocube is full of ammonia right now and it stinks like nothing I've ever smelt. lol BUT there are over a hundred dead bristleworms on the sand now and every single aipastia withered up and died. I am so excited. Gonna yank the current sand this week and start refilling the tank as well. I figure I can add some dry left over sand I have and some of the live rock that I got with the 180g setup that is still in a garbage can and then sell it as a complete setup. I have been feeding the 180g twice a day for now, just wanna make sure the copperband keeps this habit of eating frozen as well as fatten him up a bit. lol The filefish have turned out to be very neat little guys, they hang out together and are quite the pigs when it comes to food, they will chase down the last little piece of mysis. lol Since moving the biocube fish over I have not seen the falco hawkfish eat, hoping he will get with the program soon, he had no issues eating in the cube. As far as corals, they are all looking pretty good, good extension on my LPS and the zooas are all open and look happy. As for the hollywood stunner chalice that broke into like 4 pieces I guess time will tell. I managed to dry off the underside enough to get them glued to frags discs at least so that was a start. I'm really sorry my posts are so long guys, I just get going and cant stop. I'm sure you all are the same when it comes to your tanks and fish. LOL have a good night everyone!

I'm so happy that the Butterfly continues to eat, and that the Filefish are so interesting! They sound like so much fun to observe, especially when feeding!

I'm sure your Falco Hawk will come around. He is probably just getting used to his new castle!

[carey]

Here are the pictures! Got the canopy on and all the led panels hooked up. What a mess of wires! lol Thank god for zip ties.

[skywhitney]

Looks great!

[carey]

Thanks! It seemed to take forever to get here. lol

I have a new problem though it seems.....

I have a coal eater in the tank. Some pf my green palys are ripped apart, not much left of them either. I'm guessing the filefish or the copperband.
If I keep them very well fed will they continue to eat the coral? i have been feeding lightly.

Also, anyone know what would cause a higher than normal alkalinity? I'm at 12.8 dkh!

[erichm20]

Looks awesome! Too bad for the coral eater though I've heard once they develop a taste... As for the alk it could be a number of issues. What does ca look like? Do you dose anything like buffer or kalkwasser or two part. I realized i was doubling up alk with ph buffer and alk along with ca and mg. It was way high like 14. For me the ca was also low so all I had to do was add ca chloride without adding alk and cutting back on buffer and it balanced back out after a about two weeks.

www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/11/chemistry

This is a good article on it with what to do for various alk and ca imbalances.

[carey]

See, I have not dosed anything at all in the tank which is why I was wondering how the alkalinity got so elevated. I will test the calcium and magnesium later just to see but I expect them to be in normal range.

Yeah, Ifound the coral eater, its the filefish. Actually watched them munch the rest of the palys. Looks like I will have to break down the tank to get them out. I'm trying to overfeed and see if that helps but I dont expect it really to matter in the end. I am so bummed, just got the rockwork to where I like it too.
I figure I will put the filefish into the 125g, heck, maybe they will eat some of the aipastia. But that is only until I sell that tank then I am not sure what to do with them. I have the 90g but I dont think they are tough enough for that tank.

Stupid filefish, I was really starting to like them, they are kinda sweet together but Ijust cant have them eat my corals. Luckily I dont have that many polyps so maybe they wont touch the lps? I have no idea.....

[mr_X]

My filefish used to chomp on LPS. Every once in a while I would see a dime sized bald spot on different things. He "outgrew" this behavior though and hasn't touched a coral in a year. There's hope.

[carey]

Thats encouraging X, so you think maybe I should let them be for awhile and see what happens?

Also, what do you make of my elevated alkalinity? Nothing has been dosed or added to the tank at all...

[mr_X]

Don't have a clue about the alk. I wouldn't worry about it though.
As for the file, that's up to you. my file is 3" full grown, and I can't promise yours will follow suit. make sure he eats I guess.