Russter's 20 gal Reef - Page 5

reefngeek · 05/14/2011, 06:20 AM

Beautiful tank. How often do you feed your dendro??

Russter · 05/14/2011, 08:27 AM

I don't do a lot of direct feeding of it as it seems to get a good amount of food passively, especially when I feed the Marineland gel food to the fish. It gets a direct feeding maybe once a week of a mixture of mysis, reefroids and pyhto along with the rest of the corals.

Russter · 05/17/2011, 11:35 AM

New light arrived yesterday and was waiting for me when I got home.

It was packaged well and no shipping damage.

It seems well built and has a huge heat sink and fan built in. The red button is the fan switch.

Installed. I got rid of the clips that came with the hanging clip and used stainless bolts and nuts to attach the hangers to the fixture.

Blue only. Very nice fluoresence in real life but I couldn't get the camera setting right.

White only.

Full on blue and white with very nice shimmer effect too.

I have dimmed it down to about 75% so that everything can get acclimated. I am very impressed with this light so far, especially for the price. Hopefully the corals feel the same way.

reefngeek · 05/17/2011, 07:32 PM

Looking great! Tank dimensions? Rimless?

Russter · 05/17/2011, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reefngeek

Looking great! Tank dimensions? Rimless?

Thanks! Standard 20 gallon high. 24" x 12" plastic trim.

reefngeek · 05/18/2011, 04:59 AM

Does the plastic trim bother you?I'm undecided on whether I should go rimless or not

Russter · 05/18/2011, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reefngeek

Does the plastic trim bother you?I'm undecided on whether I should go rimless or not

If I had the choice I would go rimless but I got this tank for free. It just looks cleaner to me especially if you do not have a canopy.

Boa1277 · 05/18/2011, 09:09 PM

Nice!

Russter · 05/19/2011, 10:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boa1277

Nice!

Thanks!

Russter · 05/26/2011, 03:43 PM

My battle with the emerald crab has come to an end. After a week of trying to catch the crafty critter, I have triumphed!
It all started when I noticed the crab perched in the branches of my green birdsnest coral. It looked like he was doing his usual duty of picking off bits of algae like he does from the rock. But upon further inspection, I noticed the crab was actually eating the tips and polyps off the coral. This of course would not be allowed. After many attempts to lure him with tasty bits of silversides, I came home today to find him in the birdsnest again. I managed to grab the crab with a pair of large forceps and pull him out of the tank (although he did not want to let go). He is now residing in the sump, where there is lots of bubble algae for him to enjoy.

ange062 · 05/26/2011, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russter

My battle with the emerald crab has come to an end. After a week of trying to catch the crafty critter, I have triumphed!
It all started when I noticed the crab perched in the branches of my green birdsnest coral. It looked like he was doing his usual duty of picking off bits of algae like he does from the rock. But upon further inspection, I noticed the crab was actually eating the tips and polyps off the coral. This of course would not be allowed. After many attempts to lure him with tasty bits of silversides, I came home today to find him in the birdsnest again. I managed to grab the crab with a pair of large forceps and pull him out of the tank (although he did not want to let go). He is now residing in the sump, where there is lots of bubble algae for him to enjoy.

I've had very similar experiences with my emerald, he is on his 5th strike and the next time I see him nip at ANY of my corals, SPS or not, he is going back to the LFS...

Fresh shrimp chunks a couple times a week seem to keep him full enough to not bother things for now.

Russter · 05/27/2011, 03:28 PM

Here's a quick little video of the tank with the new lights.

Russter · 06/02/2011, 12:45 PM

For some unexplained reason, the Bangaii cardinal ended up stuck in the overflow pipe a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if it died in the tank and got sucked in or if it got sucked in (maybe while sleeping?) and died in the pipe. Either way, it had seemed very healthy and was eating well, so not sure exactly what happened.
This opened up some room in my tank for another fish. I have always wanted a filamented flasher wrasse but could never find one when I had room for one. So down to the LFS I went with some xenia and colt frags. They actually had one so I traded the frags for this very beautiful fish.

Michael B · 06/02/2011, 01:24 PM

Stunning fish & great photos

ange062 · 06/02/2011, 02:07 PM

Wow, that carpenters is beautiful! I've been looking for one for myself. Didn't have much luck with my first flasher wrasse, a mccoskers, it lasted about a month then died mysteriously.

Russter · 06/02/2011, 05:04 PM

Hopefully this one lasts longer than a month

It was sold to me as a filamented wrasse, but I think you are right with it being a Carpenter's.

Carpet_Surfin · 06/02/2011, 07:41 PM

Awesome wrasse and great tank setup

Flatlander · 06/03/2011, 07:00 PM

Nice tank Russ. Look forward to seeing how the lights work in the long run for you. When I downsized to my 20g standard tank a month ago, I also grabbed one of the SWC fixtures when in the city. So far working fine and my sps frags seem to be responding well, so far.

Russter · 06/03/2011, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flatlander

Nice tank Russ. Look forward to seeing how the lights work in the long run for you. When I downsized to my 20g standard tank a month ago, I also grabbed one of the SWC fixtures when in the city. So far working fine and my sps frags seem to be responding well, so far.

That is good to here that your sps are doing well under the light. Mine seem to be showing growth under them as well.
The new wrasse has added some more movement to the tank and coaxed the firefish out into the open.

Video

Russter · 06/08/2011, 06:00 AM

Some water parameters from last night:

Temperature: 80.0 F
pH: 8.24
Salinity: 1.026
Calcium: 420 ppm (API)
Alkalinity: 9.358 dKH (Hanna checker)
Magnesium: 1300 ppm (Elos)
Nitrate: 0 ppm (API)
Phosphate: 0 ppm (API)

Russter · 06/16/2011, 08:40 PM

A couple of goodies arrived in the mail today. Got a Vortech Battery Backup, as well as a UPS battery backup that will allow the Apex to send me an email in the case of power failure. Also got a couple of impellers for the Mag 9.5 to replace the one I broke last week while cleaning the pump. Stupid ceramic shafts.

Russter · 07/17/2011, 04:09 PM

It's update time again. The tank is now 10 months old now and starting to really fill out.
Things have been going well, except I lost a couple of fish. The flasher wrasse jumped to his doom despite the net cover I made. I have plans to make another with smaller holes so that no fish should be able to sneak through. The lawnmower blenny died of what I assume was old age as there was no other explanation. Was eating lots and I read somewhere that they only live a couple of years. Also gone are the two firefish. No bodies found just disappeared. They had a burrow behind and under a large piece of rock so it is possible there was a cave in. Both disappeared around the same time.
Corals have been growing well with no signs of stress or disease. The switch to LEDs seems to have gone over without a hitch. I really like colour that the LED lights have and the shimmer effect is great too.

FTS

Russter · 07/17/2011, 07:19 PM

Here is 1.5 months growth of the green-tipped birdsnest under LED lights. I think this is a pretty good indication that LEDs are just as good as metal halides and T5s for coral growth.

...........................................June 2, 2011................................................................................................ ...............July 17, 2011................................................

Clownfish 11790 · 07/17/2011, 09:48 PM

That is an awesome tank! I just read through the entire thread. I'm subscribing to this for sure!I am thinking about switching to LEDs, but having a 20g L is somewhat troublesome because the fixtures are usually only around 12" or so and since it's 30" long I would need around two.

Any suggestions from a pro such as yourself?

Russter · 07/18/2011, 05:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clownfish 11790

That is an awesome tank! I just read through the entire thread. I'm subscribing to this for sure!I am thinking about switching to LEDs, but having a 20g L is somewhat troublesome because the fixtures are usually only around 12" or so and since it's 30" long I would need around two.

Any suggestions from a pro such as yourself?

Thanks, although I am definitely not a pro

I think that for my fixture (around 16" long), you would probably need 2 of them for anything over 24" if you are planning on keeping any sps. If you have softies, you might be able to get away with just one, although you will probably notice a darker area near the sides of your tank.

05/26/2011, 03:43 PM	#110
Russter Northern Reefer Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada Posts: 531	Finally! My battle with the emerald crab has come to an end. After a week of trying to catch the crafty critter, I have triumphed! It all started when I noticed the crab perched in the branches of my green birdsnest coral. It looked like he was doing his usual duty of picking off bits of algae like he does from the rock. But upon further inspection, I noticed the crab was actually eating the tips and polyps off the coral. This of course would not be allowed. After many attempts to lure him with tasty bits of silversides, I came home today to find him in the birdsnest again. I managed to grab the crab with a pair of large forceps and pull him out of the tank (although he did not want to let go). He is now residing in the sump, where there is lots of bubble algae for him to enjoy. __________________ - Russ Current Tank Info: 75 gallon

05/27/2011, 03:28 PM	#112
Russter Northern Reefer Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada Posts: 531	Here's a quick little video of the tank with the new lights. __________________ - Russ Current Tank Info: 75 gallon

06/02/2011, 12:45 PM	#113
Russter Northern Reefer Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada Posts: 531	Good and Bad news For some unexplained reason, the Bangaii cardinal ended up stuck in the overflow pipe a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if it died in the tank and got sucked in or if it got sucked in (maybe while sleeping?) and died in the pipe. Either way, it had seemed very healthy and was eating well, so not sure exactly what happened. This opened up some room in my tank for another fish. I have always wanted a filamented flasher wrasse but could never find one when I had room for one. So down to the LFS I went with some xenia and colt frags. They actually had one so I traded the frags for this very beautiful fish. __________________ - Russ Current Tank Info: 75 gallon

06/02/2011, 01:24 PM	#114
Michael B Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 480	Stunning fish & great photos __________________ Inside the Glass Box - my New Reef Obsession

06/02/2011, 02:07 PM	#115
ange062 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Houston Posts: 3,223	Wow, that carpenters is beautiful! I've been looking for one for myself. Didn't have much luck with my first flasher wrasse, a mccoskers, it lasted about a month then died mysteriously. __________________ JBJ NC28, Radion, MP10, HOB-1, Mini Arctica, 2LF Phosban 150's - MARSH May 2012 TOTM JBJ 3g Picotope, Panorama Pro, AC70 29g AGA Planted FW

05/14/2011, 06:20 AM	#101
reefngeek Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Broadview Heights, Ohio Posts: 79	Beautiful tank. How often do you feed your dendro??

05/14/2011, 08:27 AM	#102
Russter Northern Reefer Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada Posts: 531	I don't do a lot of direct feeding of it as it seems to get a good amount of food passively, especially when I feed the Marineland gel food to the fish. It gets a direct feeding maybe once a week of a mixture of mysis, reefroids and pyhto along with the rest of the corals.

05/17/2011, 11:35 AM	#103
Russter Northern Reefer Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada Posts: 531	New light arrived yesterday and was waiting for me when I got home. It was packaged well and no shipping damage. It seems well built and has a huge heat sink and fan built in. The red button is the fan switch. Installed. I got rid of the clips that came with the hanging clip and used stainless bolts and nuts to attach the hangers to the fixture. Blue only. Very nice fluoresence in real life but I couldn't get the camera setting right. White only. Full on blue and white with very nice shimmer effect too. I have dimmed it down to about 75% so that everything can get acclimated. I am very impressed with this light so far, especially for the price. Hopefully the corals feel the same way.

05/17/2011, 07:32 PM	#104
reefngeek Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Broadview Heights, Ohio Posts: 79	Looking great! Tank dimensions? Rimless?

05/18/2011, 04:59 AM	#106
reefngeek Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Broadview Heights, Ohio Posts: 79	Does the plastic trim bother you?I'm undecided on whether I should go rimless or not

05/18/2011, 09:09 PM	#108
Boa1277 Registered Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Tucson Posts: 317	Nice!

06/02/2011, 05:04 PM	#116
Russter Northern Reefer Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada Posts: 531	Hopefully this one lasts longer than a month It was sold to me as a filamented wrasse, but I think you are right with it being a Carpenter's. __________________ - Russ Current Tank Info: 75 gallon

06/02/2011, 07:41 PM	#117
Carpet_Surfin Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 98	Awesome wrasse and great tank setup

06/03/2011, 07:00 PM	#118
Flatlander Premium Member Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: BC, Canada Posts: 2,886	Nice tank Russ. Look forward to seeing how the lights work in the long run for you. When I downsized to my 20g standard tank a month ago, I also grabbed one of the SWC fixtures when in the city. So far working fine and my sps frags seem to be responding well, so far. __________________ Doug TOTM April 2001 Current Tank Info: 50g sumpless sps tank..Evergrow 2081 led..Apex control..Tunze 9012 skimmer..Tunze calcium reactor..Tunze kalk reactor..2 rw8,s..1 MP40..1 Hydor Korillia 1200gph..Tunze ATO..all propagated sps frags

06/08/2011, 06:00 AM	#120
Russter Northern Reefer Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada Posts: 531	Some water parameters from last night: Temperature: 80.0 F pH: 8.24 Salinity: 1.026 Calcium: 420 ppm (API) Alkalinity: 9.358 dKH (Hanna checker) Magnesium: 1300 ppm (Elos) Nitrate: 0 ppm (API) Phosphate: 0 ppm (API) __________________ - Russ Current Tank Info: 75 gallon

06/16/2011, 08:40 PM	#121
Russter Northern Reefer Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada Posts: 531	A couple of goodies arrived in the mail today. Got a Vortech Battery Backup, as well as a UPS battery backup that will allow the Apex to send me an email in the case of power failure. Also got a couple of impellers for the Mag 9.5 to replace the one I broke last week while cleaning the pump. Stupid ceramic shafts. __________________ - Russ Current Tank Info: 75 gallon

07/17/2011, 04:09 PM	#122
Russter Northern Reefer Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada Posts: 531	10 months old It's update time again. The tank is now 10 months old now and starting to really fill out. Things have been going well, except I lost a couple of fish. The flasher wrasse jumped to his doom despite the net cover I made. I have plans to make another with smaller holes so that no fish should be able to sneak through. The lawnmower blenny died of what I assume was old age as there was no other explanation. Was eating lots and I read somewhere that they only live a couple of years. Also gone are the two firefish. No bodies found just disappeared. They had a burrow behind and under a large piece of rock so it is possible there was a cave in. Both disappeared around the same time. Corals have been growing well with no signs of stress or disease. The switch to LEDs seems to have gone over without a hitch. I really like colour that the LED lights have and the shimmer effect is great too. FTS __________________ - Russ Current Tank Info: 75 gallon

07/17/2011, 07:19 PM	#123
Russter Northern Reefer Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada Posts: 531	1.5 months growth Here is 1.5 months growth of the green-tipped birdsnest under LED lights. I think this is a pretty good indication that LEDs are just as good as metal halides and T5s for coral growth. ...........................................June 2, 2011................................................................................................ ...............July 17, 2011................................................ __________________ - Russ Current Tank Info: 75 gallon

07/17/2011, 09:48 PM	#124
Clownfish 11790 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Illinois, USA Posts: 120	That is an awesome tank! I just read through the entire thread. I'm subscribing to this for sure!I am thinking about switching to LEDs, but having a 20g L is somewhat troublesome because the fixtures are usually only around 12" or so and since it's 30" long I would need around two. Any suggestions from a pro such as yourself?

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