Blacknifes 50g Battle of SPS learning

[blacknife]

I have been trying to be productive while on this vacation.. er week of unemployment some projects that have been on hold for months are getting done. hah got this sump/tank from Kal at the fragfest without knowing it was him. did the baffles and resealed it 2 or 3 times before i got it right < i think that was around christmas> I started isolating the mandarin/frag tank sometime this afternoon. an hour or so ago things got back to full running everything back in place.

I used to have my rock in the first chamber, but I could not get in and clean it. There was lots of nasty goo in there. This go round the rock is on a pvc/eggcrate cage so if i ever need to clean out detritus I can just lift the rock out quick and suck away. there is also a new mj1200 in there to keep things stirred up, though that might get downsized when i tie the 40 in.

The last sump also had a baffle fail and eventually i just removed it, with no valve between the pump and the sump, it meant draining all the water out to do maintenance, that issue is resolved.




Here is my old sump just for nastiness sake:

It was too high, I could barely get anything in under the stand let alone clean much in there. I forget what i had the hole in there for, I think it was when i had it as a live rock refugeium before its sump life but when I started running zeo i had to bust a piece out to get the reactor in. my arms were regularly getting scraped on the rough edges. it might get rebuilt into something else for frankentank or perhaps just cut up for glass.

Just need a few more plumbing pieces for the 40 and another batch or 2 of water and the 40 will sit where the 20 now is. I think it will be bare bottom fragugieum, the 20 will be moved below the 40 and be turned into FOWLR Mandarin paradise, or let him go to a new home and just remove the 20. He/she is pretty skinny right now, the wrasse outcompetes for food and i have not been feeding the LPS much in attempt to get the SPS to grow.

All In all I wish I could take all these tanks and magically turn them into one but thats not happening for a while.


I just remembered one of the reasons I decided I had to get on this sump move is as I was trying to clean the barely working skimmer one more time over the weekend I lost one of the rubber bearings/bushings under the sump. I just now remembered seeing it as I was cleaning up under the sump and totally forgetting about it.. I wonder where it went. Oh well new skimmer as soon as I am working again anyway.


Ohh one more thing.. my white worms are now white worms amidst thousands of little bugs.. ugh.. dammed unsterile basement. I will try to start a couple new cultures out of the one culture i have and pull individual worms out and hope the bugs don't spread.

[blacknife]

busy today too. I cobbled everything together almost the way I want it. I will have to redo the bulkheads when i get some new ones.



need to decide if the 40 will be frag tank or just put most of the sps and the mp10's into it and leave the fish and lps in the other. manderin tank looks good there as long as the kids leave it alone. might need to skirt things in to make it all kidproof.

[blacknife]

Just fired up the radium above the 40... daymmmm that xm20k is gone for good heh.. i think it will be radium till the led-s show up.. i think ill be throwing the sps in there for sure..

[blacknife]

I took a bunch of shots with the slr but now Iphoto is acting up and so is everything else that will handle NEF. grrr

the 40 is looking awesome, mostly sps, both mp-10s 250wHQI radium, If the colours even of the frags that were totally browned out under 4-5 month old xm bulb all ready show colour everything else should colour up pretty quick.



only took this one with the phone before i pulled out the d200.



<.... .... ... ok an hour later ill try this again.... ... ... >
Unedited jpegs as nothing is co-operating today. This was a quick photoshoot before lights out rushing through everything I will try harder next time when everything looks better.

FTS


This rainbow has some hydroids or something in it its spreading pretty good not sure to pluck the hydroids out or just nuke that section of it.














bah I am to tired if your really interested here is the album

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/nakedboy/fts/

[Enigma]

Originally Posted by blacknife

I really love your rock in this tank.

[blacknife]

Originally Posted by Enigma

I really love your rock in this tank.

Thanks.. I will try to get a similar look when I rebuild.

So I was downstairs watching something on netflix, go upstairs for 20 mins, and my kid starts saying something about the tank dripping. I ignore at first as we were about to come back down to watch a movie. as we come down he starts yelling all excitedly. Before I can even see the water I can hear Power heads and return pumps churning and gurgling in air. Panic sets in.. breakers are shut off for safety.

I look for about 5 mins before I see that the bottom of the 40b is cracked diagonally corner to corner.


2 hours later cracked tank is outside. 15-20 gallons of water are cleaned up. all livestock is crammed into the display and sump.

meh i need to upgrade anyways I just can not do it right now.

[blacknife]

one mp10 has flaked out after being moved over too. Probably something simple but I am not worried about it right now, to grumpy.

I forgot my mckoskers does not get along with my dotty back and could not see him in the tank. the overflow has netting around it.

i fed everyone and could not see the wrasse and was worried because he got pretty beat up last time.


little bugger is in the baffles in my sump, I did not make those big enough to get a fish net in hah but he can stay down there till i know what the hell i am doing.