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Unread 02/26/2014, 12:33 PM   #1
MGP
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20 long, Mr. Frugal back to Reefing

Hey everyone, I thought I would introduce myself and my tank as I make the fun transition back to reefing. My name is Mike and I've had one reef tank before (20 gallon high) but that was about 3 years ago.

I am now starting up a 20 gallon long tank, and to be honest a lot of the equipment I am using is modified. so there is a lot of trial and error going on so bear with me.


First things first, I popped the rim off the standard 20 L. The shallow depth and overbuilding of this certain tank made me feel confident this would be alright. In the picture you can see a 5 gallon next to it which was originally going to be my sump using a siphon as a bridge between the two tanks and a small power head return, but I decided to ditch this idea for whatever reason and now use a modded AC110 as primary filtration.


Here is my modded AC110. I have it on the minimum flow setting which is still even a little too strong, but it does provide really good flow. I separated it into chambers using acrylic with rubber glued on the sides. Basically nothing is permanently glued to the filter body itself, just fitted really snugly into place. There is some bypass flow but it is minimal. The water runs through a blue filter pad and then through a chamber of rock rubble and continues on to a chamber with macro algae. I am just trying this method out. I am aware of the concerns regarding rock rubble, but with the mechanical filtration before it and proper maintenance it should work. I'll see how much of a hassle it is and go from there. I have plastic mesh floating over the rock rubble chamber, which I am hoping will grow algae, but time will tell if it works or not. The lights are LEDs, and are mounted on an old aqua tech filter cover. It looks cool but I am skeptical about its efficiency growing the macro algae, so I will probably end up putting a 3500k CFL in its place if I don't get good growth. The overflow is from an old Eshopps kit.



Here it is with my DIY ATO system on the right and temporary lighting on top. I made the ATO with a file box from target. I have an old A/C float switch in the tank which is hooked up to a relay to run a LED light(to tell me its on) and powerhead in the reservoir. I also have another float switch in the reservoir hooked up to a LED to tell me when the water needs to be replenished. The lights are 2X 24watt T5HO. I will be replacing them with a Par38 and two supplemental 10watt LED multichips (will write up on that when they arrive)



Last Saturday I went to Tampa and visited a bunch of aquarium stores in the area since St. Pete doesn't really have any at all (very surprising to me). I picked up a few pounds of LR from the Coral Corral (very cool place), just to get my tank going and to lay some base rockwork. There wasn't much life on these rocks but there was good coraline algae growth and a little red mushroom.



Today was a really fun day for me. I picked up 10 lbs of LR from Tampa Bay Saltwater. It seemed like I received more than 10lbs, and the rocks were absolutely loaded with life. I heard some reviews, but when I saw it in person was when my jaw dropped. I would sit here and list everything that came on it but this post is already long enough and I have no idea what the majority of it is to be honest. But I am really happy with this purchase. I am glad I had the base rock so I didn't have to pile anything on the TBSW rocks and risk killing a lot of cool organisms.






That's pretty much it for now. I'll keep updating my progress as I add new things to it.

I'm thinking of getting some frogspawn and hammer coral, as well as zoanthids. I will be stocking with one or two clowns and some type of goby. I am on the lookout for good deals in my area, so that is why I wanted to introduce myself. Anyways thanks for reading along and feel free to criticize and help me out or ask any questions


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Unread 02/27/2014, 07:14 AM   #2
aguila88psi
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Cool setup


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Unread 02/27/2014, 07:51 AM   #3
LiquidCache
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Nice setup! I like TBS rock. I'm in the market and will definitely be purchasing some when the funds allow.


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Unread 02/27/2014, 07:51 PM   #4
BigRob383
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Nice setup, looks great


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Unread 03/01/2014, 06:33 AM   #5
installman
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Nice looking setup. Welcome back to the hobby.


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Unread 03/01/2014, 02:45 PM   #6
MGP
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Thank you to everyone for taking time to look on.

Well I received my Par38 bulb yesterday and went about making a device to hold it above the tank. Being frugal I decided to just use PVC. I got 3/4 inch 5 foot PVC, a 3/4" to 1" T-connector, a 3/4" to 1.25" bushing, and some nylon screws to clamp it to the tank. I bent the PVC and just used some caulk and black spray paint to bring it all together

Here it is hung above the tank. I am satisfied to far, everything seems to be responding to the new light well. I am still waiting for my 10 watt LED multichips to arrive so I can light the sides of the tank, more DIY to come


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Unread 03/01/2014, 05:36 PM   #7
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Looking good so far. Hope the heat from the par38led doesnt sause the pvc to soften up and bend more.


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Unread 03/01/2014, 07:18 PM   #8
MGP
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Yeah same here. Just felt it and there isn't significant heat on the PVC so it should be fine. I had to warm it up to about 450 degrees to get it to bend


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Unread 03/02/2014, 07:54 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MGP View Post
Thank you to everyone for taking time to look on.

Well I received my Par38 bulb yesterday and went about making a device to hold it above the tank. Being frugal I decided to just use PVC. I got 3/4 inch 5 foot PVC, a 3/4" to 1" T-connector, a 3/4" to 1.25" bushing, and some nylon screws to clamp it to the tank. I bent the PVC and just used some caulk and black spray paint to bring it all together

Here it is hung above the tank. I am satisfied to far, everything seems to be responding to the new light well. I am still waiting for my 10 watt LED multichips to arrive so I can light the sides of the tank, more DIY to come

What a great DIY project, I am impressed!

and you can ID stuff on the rocks here
http://tbsaltwater.com/thepackage/organisms.html

Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com


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Unread 03/04/2014, 07:31 PM   #10
MGP
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Thanks again Richard for the rock. I've identified a few things and realized I had quite a few whelks lurking around, so I removed most of them. I am still looking for the pistol shrimp who is snapping around at night but no success so far (not that I'm going to remove it, just want to put a face to the snap).

I picked up some coral from Fins and Skins in Pinellas Park, 3 from the 10 dollar frag tank. Baby frogspawn, nice clump of zoas, and clump of GSP... just to get started. Other than one of the bags leaking saltwater in my Jeep it was a good purchase. They all opened right up and look unbelievable under the PAR 38. I must say my old T5HO made everything look washed out compared to this light, the colors are so vibrant.

Still waiting for the 10W LED chips, excited to rig something together for them. Also waiting for the tank to mature a little more before adding fish and any more coral


Edit: Here is a little updated photo. The camera makes all the difference


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Last edited by MGP; 03/04/2014 at 08:02 PM.
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Unread 03/05/2014, 08:01 AM   #11
liverock
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MGP View Post
Thanks again Richard for the rock. I've identified a few things and realized I had quite a few whelks lurking around, so I removed most of them. I am still looking for the pistol shrimp who is snapping around at night but no success so far (not that I'm going to remove it, just want to put a face to the snap).

I picked up some coral from Fins and Skins in Pinellas Park, 3 from the 10 dollar frag tank. Baby frogspawn, nice clump of zoas, and clump of GSP... just to get started. Other than one of the bags leaking saltwater in my Jeep it was a good purchase. They all opened right up and look unbelievable under the PAR 38. I must say my old T5HO made everything look washed out compared to this light, the colors are so vibrant.

Still waiting for the 10W LED chips, excited to rig something together for them. Also waiting for the tank to mature a little more before adding fish and any more coral


Edit: Here is a little updated photo. The camera makes all the difference
Looking good there!

You most likely will never see the pistol shrimp, as the kind that hitch hike are usually very tiny....about 1/4 inch , and have a symbiotic relationship with sponges, live underneath them, and rarely come out. There are other pistols that come in the rock sometimes, but they are large 1-2 inch guys, are green in color and look just like a miniature Maine lobster

The rock sure looks happy!

sea ya
Richard TBS
www.tbsaltwater.com


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Unread 03/05/2014, 08:20 AM   #12
hoohoohdillyo
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Looks great! When you are looking for more stuff, please ask on here. Many of us have plenty of corals that can be fragged and sold, even sometimes some freebies!

Don't worry, we never see our Pistol Shrimp either... Only his molt, and that's about once every 1-2 months depending. Ours started at about 1/2" when we got him and now up to about 1 3/4"-2". Only time we really got to see him was when we moved and again when we had to restructure due to a fish digging on us. It's so awesome hearing his "gunshots" throughout the day and night. Was able to snap some cool shots of him and will post them when I can get the pictures uploaded.


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Unread 03/05/2014, 08:28 AM   #13
BigRob383
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I'm interested in trying a PAR 38 bulb myself, how do you like yours? Which one did you end up going with? Brand? Color? So many to choose from lol


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Unread 03/05/2014, 10:08 AM   #14
MGP
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Thanks guys,

I am definitely planning on using this forum for some frags in the near future, I just got a little impatient and I was in the area so I picked up some cheap starter coral, plus I wanted to support the only reef store left in Pinellas. With that being said I am on the look out for some hammer or torch coral if anyone in my area happens to be reading

The Par38 is great, I kind of jumped the gun on it as I have been doing a lot of reading on DIY LED and kind of wish I went that rout, simply for the joy of making it myself. I still get to fiddle with the 10W chips so I am looking forward to that. I got my Par 38 from OCREEF, mainly because they were the only site with a video showing it over water. It has 6 Royal blue, 4 White, and 2 UV Cree LED's. They make the coral shine with very vibrant color, much much much much (much) better than my T5HO in that respect. My only complaint is that I put it right over the AC110 outlet so there is an absurd amount of shimmer, which is blue and white. I'm not sure if I am going to address the ripples in the water of if I am going to maybe take the lens off the LEDs, or just leave it how it is... I'm going to see how it looks when the supplemental lighting comes in and go from there.


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Unread 03/05/2014, 10:24 AM   #15
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I had a mantis shrimp that came in as a hitchhiker on some lr.I moved him into a 2 gallon acrylic tank in the living room and he was one of the coolest things ever, he would watch everyone walk by and seemed to watch the tv too.


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Unread 03/05/2014, 10:27 AM   #16
MGP
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I stumbled on some threads about mantis shrimp a few days ago. Very cool little creatures, they are my next project for sure


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Unread 03/05/2014, 10:37 AM   #17
BigRob383
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Thanks for the info, I really like the color of your light. I think I'm going to order one.


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Unread 03/05/2014, 03:57 PM   #18
MGP
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Few Pictures, told ya that frogspawn was a baby lol


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Unread 03/06/2014, 05:32 PM   #19
MGP
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Found this guy on the bottom of the tank... not sure if it is a molt or dead crab. There was a hole in the front near the mouth but it doesn't look big enough for a soft crab to slip through so I suspect something killed him.

Any ideas on identification?

I suspect gorilla crab


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Unread 03/06/2014, 06:29 PM   #20
MGP
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And just because I like trying to learn how to best take FTS here is a photo


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Unread 03/08/2014, 10:08 PM   #21
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Don't know if anyone is still tagging along but I found this crab hunting in the sandbed. I'm thinking stone crab so I removed him before he could hide. Any input?


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Unread 03/09/2014, 12:10 AM   #22
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Your finding some cool hitch hikers


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Unread 03/09/2014, 09:34 AM   #23
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Here are some pictures of what I believe is a whelk, should I remove him?


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Unread 03/09/2014, 12:41 PM   #24
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Just some updates,

Purchased some coral from Jay

Here they are after being in the tank for about 5-10 minutes, I'll take more pictures when they open up all the way

The last picture is an update of the frogspawn, hard to get a good picture of it because it's moving so much with the current, but it seems to have gotten a little bigger


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Unread 03/09/2014, 02:39 PM   #25
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Here are the Duncan and Trumpet, they look very healthy

Notice I messed around with the Duncan in the first picture on Photoshop, just for fun


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