got ethical husbandry?

yaradartist's 36g

http://s870.photobucket.com/albums/ab269/yardartist/going%20sumpless/?action=organize

I am calling this set up sumpless, but you are right Brian, the kitchen tank is now in the place of the 13 and has the return pump in the back. I will be trimming back the rock some, but wanted to keep it all live in the move to decide later. Since the photo I added the remaining sand to the right end mostly.

First evening after the switch I opened the cabinet under the tank and almost poured the top off water in there with no sump. Habits are hard to break.

Part of this move is to be able to combine them both now into one larger hex. Gen gave me a good quote and I am considering. No fuge, no sump, with a HOB skimmer, and adding clams to the mix with stronger lights.
 
http://i870.photobucket.com/albums/ab269/yardartist/Largeflatworm.jpg

Found this last night moving base rock around to add new BAYMAC coral. about two inches long and one inch wide, it has uneven ruffled edge and moves flying in the water with flapping all of the those individual ruffles. A cloud. Not sure what it has been eating so it is isolated. Tore it slightly getting it off the rock.

Attached files /attachments/sites/default/files/Largeflatworm_0.JPG
 
In cleaning up today I fragged several chain corals. M. undata, purple monti, and tubs blue zoas. Hope they are well healed by the June meeting to pass to new hosts.

Also separated a caulastrea that was loosing a battle with a cyphastrea. The war started last evening and only one head has been zapped a little.
 
Because we all need to know what Richard is doing every moment, I'd like to report that it's noon and he's arrived at Pacific Garden Supply. What will happen now? Stay tuned for more excitement!!
 
Thanks Mike. I will let you know as July gets closer. Our roommate does a great job as the substitute animated water top off system. She has not changed water yet.

Yeah so he has track lights. They cross the tank every two minutes. This is the time photosynthesis can stay in peak production. The track was six feet but he had it running on less than half that length. At Six feet and one lamp, I would place higher needs corals on each end and the center would get a pass by every two minutes as it stopped at each end due to getting there in under two minutes. With a six foot pass there would be less rest.

With the moving light I am hoping to minimize the spot effect of each individual LED. The spot cone would pass over corals so each coral would get multiple color cones passing over it.

Jim you think that single green banded goby is a male?
 
Richard, I would offer to help look after your tank during your summer trip, but will be living on the peninsula by that time! Are you thinking about track lights for your upgrade tank? JAR's are really amazing. I also noticed that the giant prop tank at Neptune's has lights on a moving track.
 
I do wonder for the next system what less spread lighting then moved over the tank could look like. Given the long life of LED and given the rate they are improving if they were on and only lasted me three years I would more than likely be considering new LED emitters by then, so running them long hours now is not a problem. The current systems I see move the lamp visibly. I am looking into what one pass and back would involve per 24 hours.

Another possibility for my tank would be a disk turning on the ceiling and the light mounted on an outer edge. This way the light would move so different wave lengths are hitting the corals. I am looking at a larger hex so a long track may not be the best for me. It is good to see others interested in a similar slow track system.

Grace, the roommate, does a great job with the tank when we are away. It is usually in better shape each time I return from a trip because she follows the prescription and I always veer from it. Having another person on call for her if something odd were to happen is good.
 
Well the male green banded goby came out of the rock somewhere and was out eating and playing with his mate yesterday. Wondering if he was guarding eggs. He has some 'Y' shaped bars on one side so the two are easy to tell apart. He mainly stays up near the top of the tank in the rocks, and she is usually sited on the bottom, off the rocks.
 
http://s870.photobucket.com/albums/ab269/yardartist/LED/

Its a light.

Thanks to the club for getting me this far on my tank. I knew I could not do electric with my skills so posted up a group build for LED and several people stepped forward. Created lights for their tanks. Helped organize several of the group buys for parts. Designed and built controllers to dim them. I am just blown away at what has been created in BAR, and the generosity to go there as a group.

Also a little excited to see my build LED glow. The first photo in the LED album is 100% the second 15%. Not scientific, but visible difference and the difference in fried coral and happy coral or so I hope. Now I have to complete this set and add three more sets of 12 LED to finish lighting my two tanks.

Roberto, your help yesterday with the last connection and stringing in the controller was great. Thank you. I am now torn between the new toy and soldering. A great dilemma.
 
Not sure when the light fixture will be changed, but here is a collection of end of the PC lighting. Some photos labeled. The frag session from last week is visible in some. There are a couple hitcher clam/ two shell mollusks. The chain coral tony gave was blue before the cut and it did not like something, maybe the ReVive dip after. One frag lost the other two eating but so different looking after a week.

John, the blastos are healing up well. The pink one has two long arcs of the mother colonies remaining. It looks like one coral still. Thanks again for your help.

http://s870.photobucket.com/albums/ab269/yardartist/June%2025%202010/
 
Two weeks of giving away coral and the tank is looking better. I had feared I would miss some, but less clutter is nice. Some are getting larger so it is not sparse like it was starting out. Water change tomorrow and a little reorganization, then some new photos. Thanks John for the gentle nudge.

After failing to jump to a larger tank this fall, the priority now is to simplify the system. Get rid of noise from moving water and pumps. Add auto top off and LED. Test coral that look good under LED and keep them and continue to select out those that do not.

Another goal for the larger tank was a shorter tank, so may look into cutting down the hex to 18 - 20 inches and putting the same top back. Light does not get to the bottom enough to grow coral, and reaching it to clean is a finger tip stretch.
 
I can't recall but is it acrylic? Let's chop it up here and I bet I even have enough spare material if you wanted completely new top too.
 
Very nice. The plan is to separate it from the refugium and get it stable this week to leave in Grace's care for ten days. Then when I return, clean up the refugium to temporarily hold the hex contents.

Dave I used a router to open up the top a bit. That took less than an hour to cut and clean up. Not familiar with cutting the plexi as I usually score and snap it. Let me know when is good to work on it, and how long you think it will take.

I am OK with new top, but if the old one could be recycled, better.
 
I have some ideas of how we'd attack the problem. I cut a tank down once to make a sump and it turned out great.
We can discuss the time-line via pm.
 
http://s870.photobucket.com/albums/ab269/yardartist/2010October30/

I added a few notes around them this time. Where some came from and how big they were.
 
yardartist said:
Two weeks of giving away coral and the tank is looking better. I had feared I would miss some, but less clutter is nice. Some are getting larger so it is not sparse like it was starting out. Water change tomorrow and a little reorganization, then some new photos. Thanks John for the gentle nudge.

After failing to jump to a larger tank this fall, the priority now is to simplify the system. Get rid of noise from moving water and pumps. Add auto top off and LED. Test coral that look good under LED and keep them and continue to select out those that do not.

Another goal for the larger tank was a shorter tank, so may look into cutting down the hex to 18 - 20 inches and putting the same top back. Light does not get to the bottom enough to grow coral, and reaching it to clean is a finger tip stretch.
Click to expand...

Hmnmm DIY ATO is pretty easy.. possible DIY topic for an "off" month :) There's numerous club members that could contribute to this :) I built my own.

Cutting noise is always a goal of mine. Another great "off" month topic :)
 
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