Project 58!! (Image intense)

[Maxx]

12-30-2004

The holidays have kept me pretty busy. I've still been trying to get things done though. Our local reef club, (SEASL www.seasl.org) is going to Inland Aquatics (www.inlandaquatics.com) on Jan 8th and I'd love to be able to buy something for the tank then. Its gonna be a few months before I can really put any corals or anemones in the tank, so I'm looking at fish. Inland breeds clowns so this would be a grerat time to pic some up....We'll see if they have anything I can bring home.

I did manage to finish the aquascaping though. I'm not real happy with the left side, but I LOVE the rock work on the right. The pics dont look too good IMO, but I definately got what I was looking for, open rockwork with lots of room for fish to swim.

Here is the right side. I took the pic with out flash since it really made the image tough to see properly through my crappy digi cam. The tower is actually 4 seperate rocks that were drilled and are held together with about 5 or 6 acrylic dowels (3/8" diameter). I just used a standard 3/8' wood drill bit, but it was 12 inches long. Cut the acrylic rod to fir and shoved it in the hole. works good. The little rock to the right of the tower is actually homemade by a guy from the reef club, Darren.

[Maxx]

Here are 3 pics of the left side. The main rock is a Lava rock I've had since I was 12 years old and keeping marine fish in Hawaii. It weighs about 35 lbs and has lots of crazy holes and caves. I tried drilling it.......friggin nightmare!
Drilling Lava Rock requires:
1....Patience, (It doesnt happen fast)
2....Time (see #1)
3... good masonry drill bits
4... a good drill, preferably not a cordless...sucks to change batteries out every 10 minutes, ( I was using a cordelss 18 volt dewalt. I had plenty of drill for the job, a corded drill would have been better

It actually didnt work very well and I wound up removing all but one dowel on top used to hold another Darren special homemmade rock on top.
I really dont like how this looks and will probably play with it some in the intervening months. As it is now, the rock is just balanced on top of the two legs....

this one shows the underhang...I have absolutely no idea how the camera flash made those crazy white squiggly squares in that pattern....obviously, the tank doesnt really have those in it.



different angle...shows that the arm from the twoer doesnt actually reach over that far.



Here is the final one... I think it looks better than this in person, but I'm still not real wild about it.

[Maxx]

Finally a full tank shot of the aquascaping.




Things left to do:

Hook up calcium reactor
hook up chiller and new sump return. This will involve a whole new sump return manifold. I want to use Loc-Line on the return in order to alleviate some dead spots in front of the overflow box. I may just order some eductors for better flow....
Set up Liter Meter 3 for top off stability.
Nick

[Craig Manoukian]

Nice work Cave Man!

[Maxx]

One of the guys on a different board pointed out some things about my aquascaping:

with the current state of your aquascape, how do you plan to place corals there??? It seems all the rocks are very vertical and you have not left much of any horizontal areas to put them on. The aquascape does look very open, but besides also looking very delicate (like it would all come down with just a snail moving over it) it doesn't have a lot of "shelving" for things to be attached to.

I can certainly see how that might seem to be the case with the crappy pics I posted up previously. Fortunately, I took some all new crappy pics to (hopefully) show how much horizontal space I really do have. The saguarro/tower looking rock structure on the right is actually 4 rocks connected together and has alot of horizontal space with several levels and ridges to place corals. I dont plan on stocking this incredibly full of corals anyway, as I want the reef to grow in as opposed to be crammed full of corals....(thats about all I can afford anyway so thats convienant).
I went pretty heavy on the acrylic rods holding the saguarro/tower, 6 in all. Anything that will cause that to fall apart will just about destroy the tank too. Its supported by a nice flat base. I used my power compound miter saw (not a fine wood 80 tooth finishing blade, just the regular old 40 tooth one that came with it) and cut the base of the rock smooth. No problems, no issues, it actually went ALOT easier than I thought it would after Mojoreef suggested it to me.
The lava rock structure on the left is balanced on top of those two rocks, but its really secure. An over zealous eel might pull that apart or an octo...but neither of those are going in here. I deliberately pushed, pulled, poked and messed with all of the rock to make sure it was stable and wouldnt come apart or fall easily. I even tried tipping both structures, and wasnt able to do it without using more force and strength than anything in the tank is going to possess.
I had a large turbo snail tear up my old 20 gallon because it was clumsy and some of my corals were just "stacked" on the rock as opposed to fixed. I made sure this wasnt going to happen this time.

Again these are just crappy pics the two "greenish" looking ones are when the MH's were kicking on....

Left side shot. This shows a side profile of the lava rock. I still dont like this side very much, but it does have room for at least two decent sized coral pieces on top.



Slightly angled down shot of the tower showing the different levels and platforms.



Side shot of right "arm" of the tower. The angle on this is kinda funny, cause it looks like its almost touching the front pane of glass on the tank when its really a good 2.5 inches away from it. But this shot does show the length of that arm...



Here is a top down shot of the tower with lightbox moved out of the way. Lots of room for frags and later decent sized corals there.



Finally, a top down shot of the lava rock again with the lightbox removed.



I was standing on a small step ladder when I took the top down shots....makes my 58 gallon look like a nano.... LOL
Again these are crappy shots, but the idea is to convey (a little better) the different shelves and platforms I have available for coral placement. I also plan on putting one or two LPS right down under the two "arms" of the tower. These are lower flow areas and the corals can expand to get more light or retract to get less if they desire. Thats just a tentative plan right now to be honest, I'll have to see how things develop later on.

I keep saying it, but its true....I'm just not wild about the lava rock side of the tank. I will be playing around with it abit, especially since I have some 50-60 lbs of live rock left over. I'm sure I can make something really cool out of that. But I do really like the tower side of the tank.

I do really appreciate the comments and constructive criticism from all, please continue. Your continued input and influence only help me improve my tank and make it a better environment for the critters I want to keep in it.

Nick

[Mom]

I always said you were gifted!

[mps9506]

Just make sure the rock work does not prevent the flow from moving the detrius into the overflow down the drain to be filtered out by the filter sock and skimmer.

Or at least the the detrius doesn't collect in a hard to siphon spot.

[Woodstock]

Awesome aquascaping!!

[Maxx]

Lol,
Thanks Mom.....I thought it was "special, not retarded"??? Or was Uncle Joe just kidding?

Mike,
thanks...no worries there. It primarily collects right in front of the overflow under the left "arm" of the tower rock piece, and in both front corners. It also wants to collect on either side of my overflow in/around the closed loop outlets. The current behind the returns is almost non existant. So I will be plumbing the sump (through the chiller) into two seperate returns(on either side of the overflow) that point downwards towards the closed loop returns (coming out of the oveflow box) and down the front of the overflow to blow all the crap out from under that arm/overhang. The Loc-Line that I need to do that is sposed to arrive tomorrow. We'll see if UPS ground cooperates.

Doni,
Thanks. It still needs some work though.

Nick

[Mom]

Originally Posted by Maxx

Lol,
Thanks Mom.....I thought it was "special, not retarded"??? Or was Uncle Joe just kidding?

Gifted. Definitely gifted and talented. Your Uncle Joe was younger then and had no child with which to compare your giftedness! That's no slam on Josh--Joe just had no idea!

The tank is really awesome in person, and Rich and I are quite impressed. The hard work and care really shows--you should be proud of all your putting together, tearing apart, putting back together...! It was worth it all.

[Maxx]

1-19-2004,

Short update....no pics.
The tank looks like an algae farm right now. While drilling the rockwork, I must have killed off more stuff, because I had a short cycle. Combine that with all the plasticisers leaching out phosphates from my plumbing and you've got a great environment for algae. I hadnt expected the algae bloom since I had the rocks sitting in a 55 gallon tank with a protein skimmer for 6+ months...but all did was really cycle the rock. So basically this is a new tank.

Tank parameters currently are:
Temp 78-81 F
Ph 8.1 as per Sea-Test kit
Ammonia 0.0 as per Sea-Test kit
Nitrite 0.0 as per Sea-Test kit
Nitrate less than 10 ppm as per Sea Test kit
Salinity 1.026 as per refractometer

I need to get a Salifert Nitrate kit. I have their Calcium and Alkalinity test kits, but I'm really not worried about those levels just yet. These Sea Test kits are leftover from my FO days...where you dont need to be as precise. All of these parameters are good though, as long as I dont try and put anything too delicate in there for right now. The tank will be stable since Ive got a chiller holdiong down the temp, The Ph is right from my tapwater, (St Louis water is hard), and I have a Liter Meter taking care of the top off. My skimmer is running as wet as I can get it, (riser tube is extended as far as possible) and all I'm getting is dirty brown tea. Cause I really dont have anything in the tank...other than algae.

But, the tank was ready for fish and some hardy inverts, (clean up crew).
I bought two firefish, 5 turbo snails, and 4 scarlet hermits for the tank. The firefish pretty much got blown all over the tank, so I had to turn off the closed loop for a day or two until I could return them to the LFS where I bought them. They were healthy lil boogers...ate like pigs....didnt want to have to get rid of them. But, it was better for them in the long run.

I've been having to re-think my tank's stocking list, since I have so much flow going on through this tank. Ive always liked the Chevron tang, but they get to be a little big for my tank at a full grown size of about 12 inches. I dont like Kole tangs, but wanted to stay in the Ctenochaetus family of tang, (bristletooths) as they are really good at eating up detritus. I wound up deciding to go with the Tomini Tang:

Photo by RobZ


These are the smallest tangs, only reaching around 5 inches in the wild. They are kinda tough to find so I started looking around and called the Marine Center. I spoke with a very nice guy, who answered alot of questions, but said they didnt have any in stock. He told me they come in infrequently maybe one a month or so. Just looking around for any other vendors, I came across Liveaquaria.com. Generally I'm a little reluctant to order from online giants, as I wasnt sure of how they operated and what their feedback was. Doing some research I saw that live aquaria has a very good reputation and was given the thumbs up from almost everyone who bought from them, except for those few people who didnt follow the instructions on acclimating or signing for the shipment. Under those circumstances Live Aquaria wont guarantee the animals and your on your own...these folks got annoyed when they werent given a refund after being told they wouldnt.....read the website folks...
So anyway Live Aquaria said they were out of stock on the Tomini tangs, but I could put myself on the waiting list for them when they got them back in. So I did. Yesterday.
This morning, I got an email that they had Tomini tangs in stock ranging in size between 2.5-3.5 inches in size. So I ordered one. Its sposed to arrive Saturday, (Will be shipped on Friday) and will be shipped to a local Fed-Ex center where I will pick it up. I'm really looking forward to getting it...Ive always loved the look of this fish, ya just dont see it very often...and like I said I have an algae problem.

The Tomini will share the tank with a Royal Gramma, a Black Cap Basslet, a pair of clowns of some sort (Still trying to figure that one out...clowns are notoriously poor swimmers, but they are better than firefish), a flame angel, and a smaller wrasse, (most likely a 6 line for pest control). And that should do me just fine.

Thats about all thats going on right now in the tank. More updates will follow as things develop.

Nick

[Brucey]

Max, you'll love him. Great little tang and my Powder Blue and Brown both ignore him. He's a bullish little fella and doesn't mind when everything kicks off around him, he just carries on nibbling at the algae. Goto love him
Take care bud
Brucey

[Maxx]

Brucey,
I had no idea you had one of them! How long have you had it? How much has it grown since you've had it? Where did you get it from? Any tips on feeding or care that might be worth knowing? I've kept several other tangs before in the past including Chevrons, so I'm familiar with the family needs....just kinda jazzed about getting a new critter I havent kept before...

BTW how are Drew and the Lovely Lou?
Nick

[Brucey]

Maxx you old dog.

No sprecial requirements on the Tomi Tang. Obviouly the same as any other tang, supplement the algae needs the tank can't supply with Nori or such. Also lives frozen brine or mysis. I've had mine about 2 months now and was the smallest fish I have ever bought. prob less than 1/2". He's now approx 1.5" and really settled and happy. I can't beleive my powder blue doesn't touch him . . . . he tries to kill any new tang in the system.

Lou and Drew are fab matey. He's growing SO quick. 5 months old now. Wedding a mere 10 weeks away. How are your plans going ???

Brucey

[Tarasco]

I didn't realize that Tomini's stayed so small. That should be cool. Make sure and take pics when you get it.

Are you worried about any sort of aggression between the Royal Gramma and Blackcap? I've heard of people keeping both, but usually in bigger tanks.