Go

[Dale]

Well, my substrate experiment just keeps getting better (not).
Apparently the "green diamond" grit isn't a granitic based substrate at all but Nickel slag!!! Argghhh. A quick check on the www.targetproducts.com website (which I should have done if it hadn't flown under the radar on me) tells me I have a metal based substrate with low to moderate toxicity to fish. It took me by surprise as I never thought that slag would look like that.
So... don't buy that stuff

[Delphinus]

Bummer.. it looked so good. Oh well, on the bright side, at least you found out now and not the hard way!!

I've got to ask though .. why not just use the real thing? Couldn't you just go to a beach somewhere and dig up a couple buckets worth? Or is there a reason that won't work? (Has to be probably the most economical thing though??)

[Dale]

Well, that took a little while (June 2006 - May 2008)

Here's a shot of the tank now



Hum... It's no longer a 135G. tank. That tank was moved to the rear of the fishroom and now houses my school of freshwater sunfish. In its place I've installed a 75G. display serviced by a 100G. sump.

Here's a schematic of the sump set up:



The one change is #12 listed as a closed loop feed. The surge from the CSD was a little too much so I had to plumb that line as an additional drain into the sump.

and a shot inside the fishroom:



Everything is a little rough right now. As I decide that each system is working as wanted I will tidy things up (even though, as a hobo reef, the decor could be called "shabby chic"

Here's a shot of my return pump; a modified AC 110 powerfilter. Two of my goals were to reduce power consumption as a whole and to reduce heat inputs into the system (mainly removing submersible pumps that heat the surrounding water). By mounting the sump 10" lower that the display I could use the AC 110 filter as a return. It runs on 14 watts and the pump is external.

[Dale]

Here's the CSD (Carleson surge device). It's basically a three gallon bucket with three bulkheads. One for the surge line, one for the feed line and one for an emergency drain line.



It, the chiller and eventually the skimmer (not the current skimmer) are fed by this externally mounted pump (Pondmaster 250)



Here's a shot of the refugium portion of the sump. It is lit by a Coralife CF unit sitting on the wide center brace. Some additional flow is provided by a small Hydor powerhead with a rotating head. The refugium currently houses three Pacific green burrowing anenomes and a tuft of Macroalgae. There is about 150 lb's of LR in the sump and display and I have used some pieces to make a bridge in and out of the refugium for hermits and other dentrifores. The blue bottle is just being used to trap out some rock pricklebacks that have been attacking the anenomes.



Here's what a prickleback looks like:



They are amazingly curious fish that can last 17 -23 Hr's out of water but they are savages. I originally trapped them out of the display (and put them in the sump) after they began attacking my sun star and now I must trap them out of the sump as well. It's back to the quarentine tank for them!

Here's a shot of a burrowing anenome



and what it looks like when it's had enough

[mark]

Great for the update.

For your CSD, how's it for putting bubbles in the display?

[Dale]

Hi Mark,
Not so bad, I'd say. It drains at the surface so I think that helps. I tried putting the outflow lower in the tank but the back pressure wouldn't allow for a complete syphon break. I'll add a video of it down the road.

Here are some more Fauna shots (sorry, I'm a lousy photographer)

This is a Staghorn sculpin



and some Three spine sticklebacks




An Aggregating anenome



and this is my sun star. Keeping one of these was the inspiration for this whole set up. I'm afraid he is raiding the cookie (mussel) jar.



So far all of the Fauna has taken readily to frozen mysis, bloodworms and clam meat as well as phytoplankton, rotifers and cyclopeez for the barnacles and mussels.

[Whatigot]

awesome...
can you post some more pics of the whole set up?
I'd also love to see a video or more pics of your sunstar.
really cool and original set up man.
props.