ChrisOaty
Member
Alright folks. After my last tank had to be torn down over a year ago, the itch caught me and my fresh water 65 just wasn't cutting it any longer. So, I decided to dig out my old 14 gallon BioCube and make some major modifications to it.
The first thing I did was Tear out the rear black plastic divider which leaked anyway. I had a large 8" diameter pvc tube that I cut in half and siliconed to the back. Out of plastic mesh, i made a overflow grating that doubled as an algae turf scrubber. I used the stock pump to return water back into the display with eggcrate above that as a barrier for a large handful of cheato (thanks seabass!)
To the front (display side) of the overflow (which i meant to spray paint black, but completely forgot to) I siliconed small pieces of DIY rock I made via a mixture of portland cement, rock salt, and a little aggregate. This rock is EXTREMELY porous and even floats, providing excelent surface area and more than enough filtration power. As you can see, i also had fun making a couple other shapes including a cave (which looks a little too uniform on the inside IMO) and a loop.
The cycle was long and drawn out as pretty much everything in here was dead, including the sand. A tiny piece of raw salmon was placed in there to begin the cycle. I monitored ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, alk, and calcium levels for almost a month. Taking readings almost every other day. For the past week, everything reads 0 and calcium sits at about 460, ph 8.2.
Earlier today I ordered a cleanup crew from reefcleaners.org, and threw Goober in. Within hours he was eating pellets and poking in and out of his new home. I also ordered 5 royal blue and20 4 cool white cree LEDs and a powersupply from rapidled.com (i have a heatsink, thermal paste, tap, and wiring already). This will allow me to keep even the most light-hungry critters and corals while keeping heat levels under control under the southern california heat.
I popped in a chunk of liverock with a ton of coraline on it to kick start the coraline growth as I understand it doesn't take to DIY rock all that well and found a few red feather dusters and this guy. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but there's another smaller one just like it and seems to be slowly moving around. It's my understanding that coral doesn't really move around, but anemones do. The picture's colors are a bit off (camera phone) but the tips of the appendages are a orange/pinkish color. Can someone please identify this for me?
The first thing I did was Tear out the rear black plastic divider which leaked anyway. I had a large 8" diameter pvc tube that I cut in half and siliconed to the back. Out of plastic mesh, i made a overflow grating that doubled as an algae turf scrubber. I used the stock pump to return water back into the display with eggcrate above that as a barrier for a large handful of cheato (thanks seabass!)
To the front (display side) of the overflow (which i meant to spray paint black, but completely forgot to) I siliconed small pieces of DIY rock I made via a mixture of portland cement, rock salt, and a little aggregate. This rock is EXTREMELY porous and even floats, providing excelent surface area and more than enough filtration power. As you can see, i also had fun making a couple other shapes including a cave (which looks a little too uniform on the inside IMO) and a loop.
The cycle was long and drawn out as pretty much everything in here was dead, including the sand. A tiny piece of raw salmon was placed in there to begin the cycle. I monitored ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, alk, and calcium levels for almost a month. Taking readings almost every other day. For the past week, everything reads 0 and calcium sits at about 460, ph 8.2.
Earlier today I ordered a cleanup crew from reefcleaners.org, and threw Goober in. Within hours he was eating pellets and poking in and out of his new home. I also ordered 5 royal blue and20 4 cool white cree LEDs and a powersupply from rapidled.com (i have a heatsink, thermal paste, tap, and wiring already). This will allow me to keep even the most light-hungry critters and corals while keeping heat levels under control under the southern california heat.
I popped in a chunk of liverock with a ton of coraline on it to kick start the coraline growth as I understand it doesn't take to DIY rock all that well and found a few red feather dusters and this guy. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but there's another smaller one just like it and seems to be slowly moving around. It's my understanding that coral doesn't really move around, but anemones do. The picture's colors are a bit off (camera phone) but the tips of the appendages are a orange/pinkish color. Can someone please identify this for me?
Any up date pics? I'm curious, how did you make your LED system? I'd like to switch to LED at some point.
