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OtakuThugster's Mini-reef

4/15/09:
The Bastard Frag Tank

This here's my other, more neglected tank at my parents' house:

Full Tank Shot:


Right Angle View:


Left Angle View:


This beast here is where I learned and mastered all my basic aquarium techniques. It's my second saltwater tank ever, and it's been up and running since '98 or '99. As mainly a lps and softie tank in its heyday, this thing's basically been through everything from aiptasia anemone infestations, engulfing cyano blooms, to various crashes big and small. During my college years in Santa Cruz (from '02 to '04), my mom took care of it, doin' a pretty good job for someone who's never had any prior experience with saltwater. The nitrates, however, weren't kept in check, causing all my mushroom anemones to overgrow everything precious.

So recently, I did a major overhaul to get rid of the anemones, soaking half of the infested rocks in fresh water for a period of 2 months, followed by a cycling period of 4 months, and then finally, soaking the second half of rocks for another 2 months. This proved fatal for all but one fish, my skunk clown, who's been with me since my first aquarium.

While battling a minor cyano and various other algae blooms, the aquarium is currently being used as a frag tank, which a few of you have seen from DBTC. Yeah, I know it's over twice as big as my display tank, but hey, it's been with me this long; why tear it down when it can be used for something, right? Besides, my parents still love looking at it, and it has a lot of sentimental value for me.

Here's the set-up:
  • Tank - 70-somethin' gallon, ol'school All Glass Aquarium
  • Lighting - 6x T5, HO actinics with one JBJ, 150watt Viper HQI situated on the left side (if you're wondering why the color goes from 14k on the left to 20k on the right, that's why
  • Circulation - 2x Koralia pumps (a 2 and a 3)
  • Refugium - CPR AquaFuge with chaeto and live rock/sand
  • Skimmer - Ol'School, tried-n-true CPR Backpack
    Heater - EboJager (also tried-n-true)
    Maintenance - B-Ionic 3x per week, weekly to bi-weekly 4% water change, Activated carbon whenever I feel like it


    Future plans:

    Left side (under the halide) will be used to propagate sps's
    Right side will be used to propagate lps's

I'll post better pics in the future once I get a blue tang to clean up all the nuisance algae.
 
LOL...I am surprise you can still fit more stuff in there! More pics would be nice. And Thanks for the compliment. We enjoy our little hole in the wall shop too... :bigsmile:
 
Love your old tank too! It is not too unusual to have a larger frag tank than display tank. There are several people in the club that have exactly the same thing! :) It's all that DBTC propping. :D
 
Lyn said:
Love your old tank too! It is not too unusual to have a larger frag tank than display tank. There are several people in the club that have exactly the same thing! :) It's all that DBTC propping. :D
Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliment, Lyn. I'm just waiting 'til it looks more super-duper lookin' before I start posting more pics of it :D

And yeah, your right, I guess I am seeing bigger frag tanks now-a-days. I tend to favor this one for frags because for some reason, although this aquarium looks dirtier, my frags grow a lot quicker in here than my display. I can't put my finger on it, but here are a few factors that could contribute to the reason:
[list type=decimal]
[*]The tank has been established for almost 10yrs
[*]There's additional lighting from the T5's
I don't nearly put my hand in this aquarium as much as the display :((
[/list type=decimal]
 
Happy 4/20/09:
New Pics of New Stuff (Did I really say I had no room left...sike)

Top Shelf as of 4/20/09:


My new best friend, Algae Blenny:


Red Planet from Neptune's:


Purple Bird's Nest from Neptune's w/ Flowerpetal Monti from Cookie Jar in the swap & Qwiv's Tri-color from Hooked in DBTC seen in the fore/background:


Ricordeas from Neptune's:


Blue/Red Favia from Atlantis:


Alve's Green Acro (one of my favorites) w/ Coco worm from Tropical Reef on Taraval (love the service from these guys; always gotta pick something up when I'm there 'cause of it):
 
Thanks 8)

I think the ballast burns the blue tint out of my bulbs quickly, so I've been switching bulbs every 3-4 months since I got this. Currently, I'm using an Aqualine AB 20000+, 150w HQI.
 
Cinco de Mayo, '09:
Even More Stuff

Here's the latest bounty from my last fling before going on a coral budget:

Green/blue Brain from Ocean Treasures (Thanks, Derek!):


Scoly (also from Ocean Treasures):


A couple tiny Yumas (orange/green one from Aquarium Showroom and a superman colored one from Tropical Reef):


Orange-eye Chalice from Atlantis:
 
Yeah, it is pretty, ain't it. I always had my eye on it, and finally got the courage to get it last week. Hopefully, this'll be my last spending spree for a while.
 
Sweet setup. I really like your collection of corals.....a very nice mixture of everything. How's that sponge of yours doing?
 
Thanks for the comments, guys. The sponge, on the other hand, isn't doing so well. It started withering away a few months after I got it but has since stabilized. The polyps don't come out anymore either. I'm supplementing the feeds with phytoplankton, hoping the sponge will support the organism rather than the symbiotic, white polyps. I actually fragged out a piece that's doing well in my frag tank, but it fell between some rocks, and now it's whereabouts are unknown. Oh well, I'm just going to ride it out and see how the sponge holds up. If all else fails, I'll transfer the entire thing to the frag tank.
 
8/06/09
Version 2.0

So, I ended up losing a coral behind some rocks; and while trying to retrieve it, I knocked over some major rock structures. After my anger subsided from this idiot move |( , I switched mind states and turned this into an opportunity to redo my whole tank. First off, I removed the deep sand bed, so I no longer have to worry about old tank syndrome. The substrate is now just thick enough to cover the bottom glass. Secondly, I redid all my rockwork. Being that my girlfriend loves caves, I did just that. Also, after being inspired by seeing alve's tank in person, I made it a point to include columns in the design - that one's for you alve; hope to see you back in action soon. And lastly, I planned out for more coral growth - no more cramming frags into empty spots within close proximity of each other. As far as equipment upgrades, I added a Phosban reactor with ROWA phos media. If you've made it this far into this post, thank you 'cause not even I like reading; it's all about the pictures. So enough with all the waiting. Here are a few pics I took:

FTSv2.0 (I know it looks bare; let's just wait 'til it grows out some):


Misbar Clown from Aquatic Central:


Firefish from 6th Ave (this guy's partner was actually eaten by my brittle star - tried to save 'im, but it was too late):
 
It's the Aqualine AB 20000+ (150w HQI DE). It's had the longest duration of blue tint for a bulb I've ever run on my magnetic ballast. Everything else has burned out within a month or two, leaving the tank with a 14kk to 10kk look. I actually got the Phoenix 14kk, going off your recommendation. I'm going to wait 'til my corals perk up a bit, tho'. They all got pretty pissed off during the entire revamp process, and I don't want to possibly shock 'em with higher PAR. Don't exactly know for sure if that will happen, but I don't want to take any chances.

If you wanna borrow the Aqualine, I can lend it to you once I get the Phoenix on. It's lost a bit of purple since I first installed it, tho'.
 
Thanks for the offer for the Aqualine 20k -I don't think it will do too well on my tank though. My tank is pretty deep, and I feel a 10-14k bulb would be able to punch down a little deeper than a 20k would. At least, I thought 10-14k's were brighter than 20k's anyways :D I also want to maximize growth, without compromising too much of the aesthetics.
I am waiting for Gresham to get back to me on the ReefBrite 14k's, and their PAR levels. Maybe if we're lucky he'll even throw up a picture of the tank he has that are running the RB 14k's. If not, I may just stick with the Phoenix.
 
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