Cali Kid Corals

65 gallon tank

More of a project list progress update, than an actual tank update.

Most recent project

I finally made a trip to tap plastics recommended by a few members here. I picked up a few small sheets of acrylic for $7.

I traded a member a few sps frags for a 15 gallon ato reservoir at the last swap.
It didn't have a covering for part of the top. So for the first time ever I was able to cut acrylic sheets and use weldon to diy a replacement lid of sorts for the ato. I probably could have matched it exactly if I bought the same color and thickness of acrylic that was already on the ato (not in their bargin bin). However I wanted to keep the cost down and I could always do it again in the future.

* the blue is just the protective plastic film the actual acrylic is clear. I may paint this part black to better blend/ prevent light getting through.

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Current project:

Cleaning 2 1/2 - 5gallon buckets of calcium reactor media to be used as substrate donated by @H2OPlayar from his old tank break down. I will definitely have some to share.

Next Project:

Will be to make a diy adjustment to the sump on this tank based on stock parts that were missing when I got the set up. The missing parts are adjustable wall sections in the sump that allow for you to use the middle chamber as a refugium.

I will make a future post specifically relating to this project. I know this will be my 1st true challenge from me tinkering with acrylic. It will require many precise cuts, and alot of insight to make it functional yet not permanent while going off pictures of the factory instruction manual as a guide.
 
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Here is the next update:

Sump modifications to allow for center refugium.

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This is the sump un modified.

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These two images show my modifications to the sump.

1.) Acrylic sheets from the scrap bins at tap plastics. I measured them roughly cut grooves into them than snapped off pieces to reach the desired size. Dremel tool was use to cut out the notches and cut the narrow strips of acrylic.

* very time comsuming work requiring me to use all of my patience and focus. For my second time ever messing with acrylic, I managed to do it all without any noob errors.


2.) Clear Acrylic attached to the black Acrylic dividing wall section using weldon 16.

* the issue was there was those giant holes in the center of the black dividing walls.

3. With a bit of thought I was able to make a water diverter lip for the water to flow over into the fudge water fall style.

4.) A small 1/4 inch gap was purposely left on the portion with the smaller holes to allow restricted water to into the return pump section. I didn't want the water to rise to the top of the entire fuge section. To be able to maintain a safety barrier with water level in case of power loss or unexpected without overflowing the sump.

* This mod was important to make the water entertaining the sump rise higher and still fall down into refugium section. ( I'm hoping this will create a tumble/ aeration for the burning bush I plan to grow here)

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These two pictures show the finished results. Looking closely you should be able to make out the water fall into the fuge section.

1.) The algae grow light I was aquired a while back works well. This is the first time I plugged it up. (I plan to have this on a timer opposite to the time the tank lights are on)

2.) The protein skimmer was moved to the return pump section.

* I plan to find a large sponge to fit right infront of that section between the two dividing walls there. The purpose will be to prevent alage and other larger junk from reaching return pump. I hope to be able to find a very large corse sponge - less likely to clog up yet still lets water flow through.

3.) Bio media was added to the sump under the filter flow drain sections.

* I may or may not leave this media here, based on recent potential issues brought to my attention on another thread. About the possibility of them leaching unwanted things into the tank.

They have been soaked for 3 1/2 months in my main Biocube 32. So they are staying put for a good while in any case to help the cycle.


Overall a successful project I believe.

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This shows the crushed coral media being bleached dried, and soaked in prime, than rodi, and finally in the tank.

**I have more crushed coral undergoing the same process I plan to share if someone is intrested in some.


It's basically permanent by this point with out major headaches and tons of work. Yet I'm always open to input? If anyone notices any potential issues or over all thoughts?
 

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MichaelB said:
Here is the next update:

Sump modifications to allow for center refugium.

View attachment 58119

This is the sump un modified.

View attachment 58115View attachment 58116

These two images show my modifications to the sump.

1.) Acrylic sheets from the scrap bins at tap plastics. I measured them roughly cut grooves into them than snapped off pieces to reach the desired size. Dremel tool was use to cut out the notches and cut the narrow strips of acrylic.

* very time comsuming work requiring me to use all of my patience and focus. For my second time ever messing with acrylic, I managed to do it all without any noob errors.


2.) Clear Acrylic attached to the black Acrylic dividing wall section using weldon 16.

* the issue was there was those giant holes in the center of the black dividing walls.

3. With a bit of thought I was able to make a water diverter lip for the water to flow over into the fudge water fall style.

4.) A small 1/4 inch gap was purposely left on the portion with the smaller holes to allow restricted water to into the return pump section. I didn't want the water to rise to the top of the entire fuge section. To be able to maintain a safety barrier with water level in case of power loss or unexpected without overflowing the sump.

* This mod was important to make the water entertaining the sump rise higher and still fall down into refugium section. ( I'm hoping this will create a tumble/ aeration for the burning bush I plan to grow here)

View attachment 58118
View attachment 58117

These two pictures show the finished results. Looking closely you should be able to make out the water fall into the fuge section.

1.) The algae grow light I was aquired a while back works well. This is the first time I plugged it up. (I plan to have this on a timer opposite to the time the tank lights are on)

2.) The protein skimmer was moved to the return pump section.

* I plan to find a large sponge to fit right infront of that section between the two dividing walls there. The purpose will be to prevent alage and other larger junk from reaching return pump. I hope to be able to find a very large corse sponge - less likely to clog up yet still lets water flow through.

3.) Bio media was added to the sump under the filter flow drain sections.

* I may or may not leave this media here, based on recent potential issues brought to my attention on another thread. About the possibility of them leaching unwanted things into the tank.

They have been soaked for 3 1/2 months in my main Biocube 32. So they are staying put for a good while in any case to help the cycle.


Overall a successful project I believe.

View attachment 58121View attachment 58122View attachment 58123View attachment 58125

This shows the crushed coral media being bleached dried, and soaked in prime, than rodi, and finally in the tank.

**I have more crushed coral undergoing the same process I plan to share if someone is intrested in some.


It's basically permanent by this point with out major headaches and tons of work. Yet I'm always open to input? If anyone notices any potential issues or over all thoughts?
Click to expand...

The tunze fuge light that I am using (8850) only operates at 10% power if not under water. Something to consider if PAR becomes an issue.
 
fishy408 said:
The tunze fuge light that I am using (8850) only operates at 10% power if not under water. Something to consider if PAR becomes an issue.
Click to expand...

So your sayng best to put it under water?
Any other information about this light would be helpful as well.

I honestly know nothing about this light.

I don't plan to start the fuge for a while in any case. Tank os still empty.
 
MichaelB said:
So your sayng best to put it under water?
Any other information about this light would be helpful as well.

I honestly know nothing about this light.

I don't plan to start the fuge for a while in any case. Tank os still empty.
Click to expand...
That’s what I did. Figure more power the better considering these don’t have much power in the first place. I like these because they are submersible and less light penetrating other chambers.

Your media substrate looks nice.
 
fishy408 said:
That’s what I did. Figure more power the better considering these don’t have much power in the first place. I like these because they are submersible and less light penetrating other chambers.

Your media substrate looks nice.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I will certainly plan to use it under water when I actually start using the fuge. More so a light. test to see if/ how it worked. I keep all the lights off on the tank unless i'm tinkering around.
 
A few updates for this tank:

Current plans:

1.) Eventually shift the euphyllia from my main tank to the 65. I will start with a test hammer from my frag tank to see how it adjusts before moving those from main tank.

2.) Get more complete par readings now that i have the meter. Last time i had the meter i tested only high sps level output on the lights. I won't have to run the lights at those levels for a while.

3.) Move nems and my maroon clowns into this tank Eventually after adding other fish i plan to stock in it first.

4.) Give it a week or two than add clean up crew, and seed the refugium in the sump with some of the burning bush microalage.

5.) Actually hook up the ink birds I've been to lazy to install as a safely control for the heaters in both tanks.

My overall future plan is to let this tank run as a mix reef until it really matures than revisit the orginal plan of making it sps dominant. I decided to take the long approach of wanting to wait until the tank is futher along and ready for sps to thrive in it. While I use my current main tank for mostly sps.

Recent addtion:

I was checking out aqua plus today and saw a few filefish one that I definitely wanted to have in this tank eventually. It’s the only fish beyond my marrons I know i wanted in this tank. I definitely wasn't planning to spend money but It was $30 less than half the price I've seen anywhere else. So I forced a confident expression and got it.

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I needed to add a fish to the tank to see how it does. I care to much about my current fish to let them be the test subjects. Also after considering that putting my overly assertive maroons first would be a dumb idea lol. I'm still thinking of what other fish I want for this tank in the meantime.

Recent project:

After picking up the parmeter and buying a fish that I knew I wanted eventually any way. It forced me to get off my butt and address the issue of my tank having no lid within the canopy. So it took me a few hours but made two for both sides of the tank out of my last remaining egg crate.
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* This is definitely not the route I wanted to go. I prefered a screen mesh lid. Yet funds are blah and I already had the egg crate. I seriously doubt my diy skills trying to make one out of screen that wouldn't look like crap.

Next Projects:

1.) PAR readings, add test hammer, maybe some leathers etc.

2.) Get RODI unit hooked up.

3.) Make frag racks

4.) Figure out what direction to take with the other biocube32. Either frag/grow out tank or a anemone tank. - split in many directions it's been hard to decide.
 
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For the frag racks, make sure you drill fairly slow. If you see the template I gave you, it has chips on some of the holes because I had the drill set to max and just wanted to get the holes over with. When I drilled the actual sheets, I took it slow and they came out very clean.
 
Update:

3 days since adding:
1 Aptasia eating file fish
1 Neon green toadstool frag
3 Green rhodactis mushrooms, 1 blue discosoma mushroom, and 1 tiny sun kisy bounce mushroom.
* fish eating but not agressively and hanging out in corner of the tank.
** corals keeping color and looking healthy.

2 days since adding:
2 test hammers 1 from main tank and 1 from softy grow out tank.
* fish eating better still hanging out in the Corner of tank but goes from one corner to the other.
** corals looking good, the hammers have extending some and looking happy.

1 day since adding:
2 different addtional colored hammers.
* fish is chasing down food, and exploring the full tank.
** corals overall look good. Except Two hammers haven't fully extended I suspect to much par so shifted them lower in the tank.

Today I added 40% of my euphyllia (hammers and frogspawn)to the the 65 from my main tank.

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I held back on adding my larger hammer colonies, my few higher end hammers, and my 3 torches. (I would want to see all the others looking happy and fully extended before I consider moving my favorite hammers.)
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This allowed me to remove 1- out of 6 frag racks from my main tank and shift the torches away from the hammers more.
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This is a shot of my softy grow out tank. I don't think I've ever shown a picture of it.
Over all this is a temporary set up until I work on setting up the other biocube32 as a dedicated grow out tank.

Progress is being made, yet I will give it more time for observation adjustjng par and flow before adding any more euphyllia.
 
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Darkxerox said:
Looking good! Got any herbivores in there yet?
Click to expand...
No need to get some but has been less than 4 days lights on i fear they would starve if added this soon, i don't wanna let it go to where it's a issue with alage, so figuing maybe next week adding a few than ramping up their numbers over time.

Tank has only been feed 3 times for the one fish. Unless you guys think i should add now?

This thought process was just my personal speculation.

@PjFish
@Darkxerox
 
Tank has entered the ugly phase. I added a pj cardinal fish to this tank one I've had 2 years. It's doing great.

Unfortunately the aptasia eating filefish didn't make it. I found it dead this morning. I doubt the cardinal had anything to do with it, being a very peaceful fish that was house with my other pair of tiny clowns from grow out tank.

The file fish did eat but not very agressively. Prehaps it wasn't in the best condition or I failed at feeding it enough or It's specific food preference. There were no obvious signs of disease over the time I had it. How or why it died I'll never know.

I desperatly need to add more clean up crew to this tank. I'm force to wait until pay day next week. I don't want to take any more from my existing tanks.

I added 2 trochus snails, 2 turbos, and 5 hermits from my main tank last week.

I estimate I need another 10-15 snails and maybe 10 more hermits to fight back the diatoms.
 
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MichaelB said:
Tank has entered the ugly phase. I added a pj cardinal fish to this tank one I've had 2 years. It's doing great.

Unfortunately the aptasia eating filefish didn't make it. Found it dead this morning. I doubt the cardinal had anything to do with it, very peaceful fish that was house with my other pair of tiny clowns from grow out tank.

The file fish did eat but not very agressively. Prehaps it wasn't in the best condition or I failed at feeding it enough or It's food preference. There no obvious signs of disease over the time I had it. How ir why it died I'll never know.

I desperatly need to add more clean up crew to this tank. I'm force to wait until pay day next week. I don't want to take any more from my existing tanks.

I added 2 trochus snails, 2 turbos, and 5 hermits from my main tank last week.

I estimate I need another 10-15 snails and maybe 10 more hermits to fight back the diatoms.
Click to expand...
i can donate 3 hermits to the cause if I can find them, and some dwarf ceriths.

Diatoms typiically fade though, and I would venture to say that diatoms are one of the most benign algaes you can have. They occupy space that otherwise might get infested with other algaes
 
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