A Customdusty Rimless Build - Page 14

jbanks · 01/03/2011, 11:25 PM

very nice round of pics!

customdusty · 01/04/2011, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by epleeds

The tank is looking awesome. have you had any issues with the light? I have heard some have had some issues. Still looking at one for my upcoming build and was wondering what you thought.

thanks

The light has been great, it is easily the nicest piece of equipment I have seen in this hobby. It puts out far too much power for what I need, but I enjoy the multiple bulb combinations that are available. I heard of a few issues as well, but not on the Stealth model. I think the issues were with wiring or internal ballasts on the previous version of the MH Infinity series.

customdusty · 01/17/2011, 11:24 AM

Update on what's new lately. I have been mulling over the possibility of taking a short hiatus from the hobby to focus on some other opportunities. This has motivated me to consolidate things and get my tank looking it's best now, since it may have to come down in the not so distant future. Since you can't trust anything these days, especially in the financial and real estate industries, only time will tell how things pan out.

That being said, I decided that it was time to thin the tank out and get rid of a bunch of corals that have grown too large, or have spread into multiple colonies which I had started to relocate to my fuge. In total, from either my DT or fuge, I removed about 10 small colonies and fragged much of my green slimer and green birdsnest to make new space. In doing so I also removed a couple of shrimp that seemed to be bothering my SPS. I don't have much LR so the shrimp graze my acros and steal whatever they can from the polyps at feeding time and given the low nutrient environment, stealing what little food that is available didn't sit well with the SPS. The overall appearance hasn't changed much at the moment, but I will need to rebuild the aquascape just slightly to get it back in form. I only have about 5 main pieces of rock, each of which is more or less covered in coral which makes re-arranging things really easy.

I also changed salts about 2 weeks ago. After a couple of years of using Reefcrystals, I got sick of cleaning the brown residue that coated my mixing container after each use. Whatever that stuff is, I don't want it in my tank nor do I want the extra work, so buh-bye. I had heard good things from a couple of local reefers, so I decided to give Tropic Marin Bio Actif a try. After about 2 weeks I have noticed improved polyp extension and some improvement in color. I haven't changed my dosing/feeding habits just yet, but may need to since I did start to some cyano growth which is causing my usually clean, white sand bed to become discolored a bit. I've also noticed a few spots of bubble algae popping up as well, so we will try and get that cleaned up. This salt seems to dissolve more quickly and I also use a lesser amount to make my typical water change, both good things, and no more filthy residue after using!

I recently bought one of the new Hanna Pocket Photometers for testing phospate. It works so much better than the conventional test kits that you need to either be a chemist to use or have x-ray vision to interpret. I don't test my water all that often, and I suppose I would be better about it if the tests were easier to perform and if I had more confidence in the result. A great product this turned out to be, and I put myself on the back-order list to get the alkalinity version as well. In my opinion, these are a great deal given that they are under $50.

That's all for now. I'll try and get some pictures up soon once things settle in.

customdusty · 01/31/2011, 02:52 PM

Something new today....

Mysteriously, in the last two weeks I quickly lost two small clams that I had and couldn't figure out why. Last night I noticed one of my larger clams looking a bit irritated, so today when I came home from work I flipped the lights on early to check everything out, and low and behold - a massive bristle worm inside my clam eating it inside out.

I quickly turned the lights back off, as not to startle the worm and let it escape to the rocks and then netted the clam and worm altogether. Now I've got my clam hanging suspended inside a net, but with the bristle worm inside doing it's damage.

I think the clam will probably stand little chance of recovery, even if I could get the worm out. Any ideas on how to extract the worm or should I just let things take their course?

moo0o · 01/31/2011, 09:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by customdusty

Something new today....

Mysteriously, in the last two weeks I quickly lost two small clams that I had and couldn't figure out why. Last night I noticed one of my larger clams looking a bit irritated, so today when I came home from work I flipped the lights on early to check everything out, and low and behold - a massive bristle worm inside my clam eating it inside out.

I quickly turned the lights back off, as not to startle the worm and let it escape to the rocks and then netted the clam and worm altogether. Now I've got my clam hanging suspended inside a net, but with the bristle worm inside doing it's damage.

I think the clam will probably stand little chance of recovery, even if I could get the worm out. Any ideas on how to extract the worm or should I just let things take their course?

this SUCKS

I was just thinking about this happening to my clam just yesterday so I bought a clam holder for it.

gl with getting the worm out. i have no ideas at all how i would go about getting rid of it

customdusty · 02/08/2011, 06:57 PM

Well it is time to abandon the Tropic Marin Bio Actif salt. Although most of my SPS corals seemed to respond relatively well, the cyano bacteria has been absolutely unbearable. I tried a bunch of different things to try and clear it up, but it persisted and worsened so bad that it just has to go. This is incredibly disappointing, given the somewhat positive results with the corals. No matter how nice the corals look, the overall appearance of the tank is just awful.

jbanks · 02/09/2011, 10:33 AM

Been going through a salt change myself.. Had a very bad experience with Seachem salt. I am now back to RC... However, I've heard that people are having great success with coralife salt. I had already ordered two 200gal boxes of RC. I'll have to live with the brown residue for a while.. LOL..

customdusty · 02/24/2011, 06:47 PM

Pictures

Few pictures I took recently. I never got around to putting my aquascape back together, so I kind of left things scattered around. It has been like this for so long that it has grown on me.

epleeds · 02/24/2011, 07:04 PM

that looks great...

SaraB · 02/25/2011, 08:34 AM

Looking great! How is that cyano clearing up for you since the salt change?

customdusty · 02/25/2011, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SaraB

Looking great! How is that cyano clearing up for you since the salt change?

The cyano has still been pretty bad. I did a couple of smaller water changes with my old salt brand to soften the blow a bit, but it has persisted anyways. I'm keeping things clean now by stirring the surface of the sand bed and blowing off the rocks every few days. When I do that I'll turn up my powerheads to the max and use a filter sock over night. It is very annoying, but my coral growth has spurted so I don't want to change back to my old salt just yet.

skh · 02/25/2011, 01:42 PM

Those SPS colonies are outstanding! You have a really beautiful tank.

canesfan44 · 02/25/2011, 04:50 PM

Your tank looks great.

customdusty · 02/26/2011, 11:15 PM

Thanks everyone. I have been more than humbled since taking up this hobby, so the nice comments are appreciated. I am often reminded that the one thing you can't buy or learn is experience.

customdusty · 04/01/2011, 09:01 PM

Actinic pictures. Preparing to downsize, so I sold off a bunch of stuff and consolidated, and sadly removed the large toadstool. It was taking up nearly a 1/3 of the tank, so it was just time. Also removed the Vortech's. Going great otherwise.

moo0o · 04/02/2011, 01:13 AM

new layout looks great! I'll miss your toadstool too.

JCR's Reef · 04/02/2011, 07:44 AM

Lookin good! What light fixture are you going with?

customdusty · 04/03/2011, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JCR's Reef

Lookin good! What light fixture are you going with?

Not sure on what the next fixture will be. I'm trying to downsize to a smaller tank, so I might end up in just a single MH pendant.

skh · 05/21/2011, 04:58 PM

Why are you downsizing? Time/effort? Space? I can't get over how well-formed and rounded your SPS colonies are. Really, really nice.

01/03/2011, 11:25 PM	#326
jbanks Lover of God's Creations Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Queens, NY Posts: 2,250	very nice round of pics! __________________ Jonathan Go ahead... Put the price on the bag. I don't have that problem any longer :) Current Tank Info: 180g Custom rimless Starphire, 48 X10 ATI PM T5 fixture, Vortech MP40w X3 with battery Backup, Bubble King Super Marin 250, Geo 612 Calc reactor, Profilux stand-alone Doser, Neptune Apex controller, Ozotech Poseidon 200 ozone generator

01/17/2011, 11:24 AM	#328
customdusty Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Geneva, IL Posts: 1,095	Update on what's new lately. I have been mulling over the possibility of taking a short hiatus from the hobby to focus on some other opportunities. This has motivated me to consolidate things and get my tank looking it's best now, since it may have to come down in the not so distant future. Since you can't trust anything these days, especially in the financial and real estate industries, only time will tell how things pan out. That being said, I decided that it was time to thin the tank out and get rid of a bunch of corals that have grown too large, or have spread into multiple colonies which I had started to relocate to my fuge. In total, from either my DT or fuge, I removed about 10 small colonies and fragged much of my green slimer and green birdsnest to make new space. In doing so I also removed a couple of shrimp that seemed to be bothering my SPS. I don't have much LR so the shrimp graze my acros and steal whatever they can from the polyps at feeding time and given the low nutrient environment, stealing what little food that is available didn't sit well with the SPS. The overall appearance hasn't changed much at the moment, but I will need to rebuild the aquascape just slightly to get it back in form. I only have about 5 main pieces of rock, each of which is more or less covered in coral which makes re-arranging things really easy. I also changed salts about 2 weeks ago. After a couple of years of using Reefcrystals, I got sick of cleaning the brown residue that coated my mixing container after each use. Whatever that stuff is, I don't want it in my tank nor do I want the extra work, so buh-bye. I had heard good things from a couple of local reefers, so I decided to give Tropic Marin Bio Actif a try. After about 2 weeks I have noticed improved polyp extension and some improvement in color. I haven't changed my dosing/feeding habits just yet, but may need to since I did start to some cyano growth which is causing my usually clean, white sand bed to become discolored a bit. I've also noticed a few spots of bubble algae popping up as well, so we will try and get that cleaned up. This salt seems to dissolve more quickly and I also use a lesser amount to make my typical water change, both good things, and no more filthy residue after using! I recently bought one of the new Hanna Pocket Photometers for testing phospate. It works so much better than the conventional test kits that you need to either be a chemist to use or have x-ray vision to interpret. I don't test my water all that often, and I suppose I would be better about it if the tests were easier to perform and if I had more confidence in the result. A great product this turned out to be, and I put myself on the back-order list to get the alkalinity version as well. In my opinion, these are a great deal given that they are under $50. That's all for now. I'll try and get some pictures up soon once things settle in. __________________ "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." --George W. Bush, Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000 Current Tank Info: 105g Mixed Rimless Starphire by Miracles - Reefthreads.com "Noteworthy Tank" November 19, 2010 Podcast #13 - Sfiligoi Stealth 12x39 T5 - 2x Vortech MP40W - BK/Vertex Alpha Cone 200 - Neptue Apex - 2 Part - Tunze ATO - BRS 5 Stage RO/DI

01/31/2011, 02:52 PM	#329
customdusty Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Geneva, IL Posts: 1,095	Something new today.... Mysteriously, in the last two weeks I quickly lost two small clams that I had and couldn't figure out why. Last night I noticed one of my larger clams looking a bit irritated, so today when I came home from work I flipped the lights on early to check everything out, and low and behold - a massive bristle worm inside my clam eating it inside out. I quickly turned the lights back off, as not to startle the worm and let it escape to the rocks and then netted the clam and worm altogether. Now I've got my clam hanging suspended inside a net, but with the bristle worm inside doing it's damage. I think the clam will probably stand little chance of recovery, even if I could get the worm out. Any ideas on how to extract the worm or should I just let things take their course? __________________ "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." --George W. Bush, Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000 Current Tank Info: 105g Mixed Rimless Starphire by Miracles - Reefthreads.com "Noteworthy Tank" November 19, 2010 Podcast #13 - Sfiligoi Stealth 12x39 T5 - 2x Vortech MP40W - BK/Vertex Alpha Cone 200 - Neptue Apex - 2 Part - Tunze ATO - BRS 5 Stage RO/DI

02/08/2011, 06:57 PM	#331
customdusty Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Geneva, IL Posts: 1,095	Well it is time to abandon the Tropic Marin Bio Actif salt. Although most of my SPS corals seemed to respond relatively well, the cyano bacteria has been absolutely unbearable. I tried a bunch of different things to try and clear it up, but it persisted and worsened so bad that it just has to go. This is incredibly disappointing, given the somewhat positive results with the corals. No matter how nice the corals look, the overall appearance of the tank is just awful. __________________ "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." --George W. Bush, Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000 Current Tank Info: 105g Mixed Rimless Starphire by Miracles - Reefthreads.com "Noteworthy Tank" November 19, 2010 Podcast #13 - Sfiligoi Stealth 12x39 T5 - 2x Vortech MP40W - BK/Vertex Alpha Cone 200 - Neptue Apex - 2 Part - Tunze ATO - BRS 5 Stage RO/DI

02/09/2011, 10:33 AM	#332
jbanks Lover of God's Creations Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Queens, NY Posts: 2,250	Been going through a salt change myself.. Had a very bad experience with Seachem salt. I am now back to RC... However, I've heard that people are having great success with coralife salt. I had already ordered two 200gal boxes of RC. I'll have to live with the brown residue for a while.. LOL.. __________________ Jonathan Go ahead... Put the price on the bag. I don't have that problem any longer :) Current Tank Info: 180g Custom rimless Starphire, 48 X10 ATI PM T5 fixture, Vortech MP40w X3 with battery Backup, Bubble King Super Marin 250, Geo 612 Calc reactor, Profilux stand-alone Doser, Neptune Apex controller, Ozotech Poseidon 200 ozone generator

02/24/2011, 06:47 PM	#333
customdusty Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Geneva, IL Posts: 1,095	Pictures Few pictures I took recently. I never got around to putting my aquascape back together, so I kind of left things scattered around. It has been like this for so long that it has grown on me. __________________ "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." --George W. Bush, Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000 Current Tank Info: 105g Mixed Rimless Starphire by Miracles - Reefthreads.com "Noteworthy Tank" November 19, 2010 Podcast #13 - Sfiligoi Stealth 12x39 T5 - 2x Vortech MP40W - BK/Vertex Alpha Cone 200 - Neptue Apex - 2 Part - Tunze ATO - BRS 5 Stage RO/DI

02/24/2011, 07:04 PM	#334
epleeds Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: virginia Posts: 346	that looks great...

02/25/2011, 08:34 AM	#335
SaraB Coral Killer Join Date: May 2005 Location: Lemont, IL Posts: 4,461	Looking great! How is that cyano clearing up for you since the salt change? __________________ Sara

02/25/2011, 01:42 PM	#337
skh Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 312	Those SPS colonies are outstanding! You have a really beautiful tank.

02/25/2011, 04:50 PM	#338
canesfan44 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: S Florida Posts: 1,728	Your tank looks great.

02/26/2011, 11:15 PM	#339
customdusty Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Geneva, IL Posts: 1,095	Thanks everyone. I have been more than humbled since taking up this hobby, so the nice comments are appreciated. I am often reminded that the one thing you can't buy or learn is experience. __________________ "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." --George W. Bush, Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000 Current Tank Info: 105g Mixed Rimless Starphire by Miracles - Reefthreads.com "Noteworthy Tank" November 19, 2010 Podcast #13 - Sfiligoi Stealth 12x39 T5 - 2x Vortech MP40W - BK/Vertex Alpha Cone 200 - Neptue Apex - 2 Part - Tunze ATO - BRS 5 Stage RO/DI

04/01/2011, 09:01 PM	#340
customdusty Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Geneva, IL Posts: 1,095	Actinic pictures. Preparing to downsize, so I sold off a bunch of stuff and consolidated, and sadly removed the large toadstool. It was taking up nearly a 1/3 of the tank, so it was just time. Also removed the Vortech's. Going great otherwise. __________________ "I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully." --George W. Bush, Saginaw, Mich., Sept. 29, 2000 Current Tank Info: 105g Mixed Rimless Starphire by Miracles - Reefthreads.com "Noteworthy Tank" November 19, 2010 Podcast #13 - Sfiligoi Stealth 12x39 T5 - 2x Vortech MP40W - BK/Vertex Alpha Cone 200 - Neptue Apex - 2 Part - Tunze ATO - BRS 5 Stage RO/DI

04/02/2011, 01:13 AM	#341
moo0o Premium Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: SJ,CA Posts: 1,694	new layout looks great! I'll miss your toadstool too.

04/02/2011, 07:44 AM	#342
JCR's Reef Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Fort Wayne, Indiana Posts: 1,303	Lookin good! What light fixture are you going with? __________________ >Josh< Current Tank Info: Starphire Rimless Tank, ATB Elegance 200. Click on my name and visit my build thread. Lots of pics

05/21/2011, 04:58 PM	#344
skh Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 312	Why are you downsizing? Time/effort? Space? I can't get over how well-formed and rounded your SPS colonies are. Really, really nice.