lastlight's 225

Delphinus · #1 11-01-2009, 03:58 PM

When *I* fill Brett's tank? That makes no sense at all Doug, your keyboard is really in need of replacement. Now it's shifting objective focus mid-sentence and not just randomly dropping characters!

fishytime · #2 11-01-2009, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delphinus

When *I* fill Brett's tank? That makes no sense at all Doug, your keyboard is really in need of replacement. Now it's shifting objective focus mid-sentence and not just randomly dropping characters!

Makes sense in my mind when I read it

kien · #3 11-01-2009, 06:34 PM

Very nice! This reveal was definitely not disappointing. Although, this is just the beginning. You still have that empty canvas to paint :-D

lastlight · #4 11-02-2009, 07:32 AM

Thanks guys.

Bit of a setback tonight but not too bad. I got Greg's old ro/di unit up and running but realized the di gasket was cracked and no good and the di cartridge that he also gave me was not re-fillable. I'd hav ordered one if i'd known.

My tds meter says the ro membrane is putting out 0-1 tds so i am going ahead and filling the tank without the di working for now. I quickly tested the incoming calgary water with the same inline probe and it was 280 so I think it's working...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dez

I can't remember, are you going mixed reef? Or Sps?

Yes I plan to have all the less light hungry stuff under the shelves.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lance

Ooooooooh! That looks great! Good job. Those big, heavy pieces aren't easy to work with are they?

As I was leaning over into the tank and lowering some of these I had flashbacks to when I dropped a rock in my much smaller cichlid tank back in the day and blew the bottom out on it. 3rd floor of an appt too!

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishytime

are you still gonna pick up a few pieces of LR to seed the tank?

Definitely will be needing a few seed pieces. I'll see you soon! Should I let the tank run with saltwater for a while before tossing the seed rock in or can I do that asap? After my tank is nice and pod-infested etc I will sell the rock since I have no plans to add to my current layout.

Delphinus · #5 11-02-2009, 04:28 PM

You can always keep the extra rock in the sump.

Also, I think you can add the extra rock pretty much anytime.

lastlight · #6 11-02-2009, 04:32 PM

Thanks Tony.

I have one large and one small piece in my 10 gallon fuge and the rest of the space is for chaeto. I really have no room in the sump for any rock unless I pile it above my heaters which are laying in my small return compartment.

Actually they might solve my microbubble problem without me adding a sponge guard like I was going to try. Only issue is that is a small space and my topoff area is small as it is. Tossing rock in it will mean a day's evaporation will really knock it down (if my ATO ever failed).

Good news about the live rock! I'll grab a few pieces as soon as my salt has circulated a day.

Delphinus · #7 11-02-2009, 04:37 PM

Oh - yeah - nix the sponge idea (IMO...)

lastlight · #8 11-02-2009, 04:48 PM

I'll feel better too about ordering all that rock. I kicked myself when I had the aquascape done and had *really* only used the shelf pieces and maybe 3 or 4 more small boulders lol.

lastlight · #9 11-15-2009, 07:37 AM

So already I can't keep my hands out of the tank. I'm cursed like everyone else of course. The longer I look at my aquascape the more concerned I was.

1. not enough interesting places for small fish to swim or hide. Not enough rock on display.
2. Lots of nice shelves to place corals on but not enough smaller piles for coral, not enough caves and not enough cracks to swim through.
3. No depth as both towers viewed from the side basically lined up.
4. Kien's underwater video raised the aquascape bar way too high for comfort.

Here is the old FTS:

Two slightly different angles of the new FTS. Notice I rotated the entire middle tower so that from the front you see just how interesting it is. Originally I had the neat profile facing the end of the tank.

Old FTS viewed more from above:

This shows perfectly why I am happy I made the change. It's more dynamic, interesting and the swim-through cave on the right end is pretty cool.

Few more random looks:

lastlight · #10 11-15-2009, 07:44 AM

Besides changing my rockwork I also did my first water change. It was easy. Flipped a switch and turned a couple valves. Hardest part was waiting for the small Eheim to top the 24 gallons back into the stand from my office. I didn't mix my new water with a heater. The awesome part about the way I have the water change tank circulating pretty slowly in the system is that the Ranco detected no temperature change at all as the slightly cooler water worked it's way in.

Ammonia still reads less than 0.25. Water prior to messing with my rock was very clear. Skimmate keeps getting darker. I drain about 2 inches from my cup each day. My ball of chaeto is about 6 times it's initial size. Pods are really growing in numbers and a film of algae is forming in the fuge.

As for flow...well my sand in both the front and back will not stay put. For now I have dialed the power of each 6100 to minimum and replaced the 24V jumper in the 6101 with the 15V. All pumps are running much slower and my 7095 is only ramping from 30-40%. It's still got good circulation for now and I will adjust as time goes on.

I also hack-sawed out the old fuge drain and put a proper T fitting rather than an elbow on the bulkhead. Let's me get a bit more flow through the bulkhead and skim the fuge rather than have the bulkhead fully submerged. Cutting pipe in that stand took me over an hour. 2 cuts and careful placement of garbage bags to keep pvc shred out of the water. The new plumbing is much quieter. No more splashes can be heard with the doors shut. It's all motor whir now (Dart).