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lastlight
02-22-2013, 02:36 PM
Figured I'd better put my new end-table to good use!

I started with a pico tank but had a few leaks on account of it having no end pane and nothing but tape holding it together:

http://fishbrains.net/images/93/tank1.jpg

I then picked up a new tank and Concept Aquatics Aquariums was kind enough to void all warranties by drilling a few holes in the back. I glued my failed pico in place:

http://fishbrains.net/images/93/tank2.jpg

Cured overnight and voila my end-table has been transformed =)

http://fishbrains.net/images/93/tank3.jpg

Aquattro
02-22-2013, 02:38 PM
You're insane.

Parker
02-22-2013, 02:47 PM
Along for the ride....... Again :D

lastlight
02-22-2013, 02:50 PM
Along for the ride....... Again :D

If I give many more rides I've been told to just buy a bus (to sleep in).

wayner
02-22-2013, 02:58 PM
I knew it - Too funny - dimensions of cube please - who made the stand

phi delt reefer
02-22-2013, 03:10 PM
whatever happened to the 404....

lastlight
02-22-2013, 03:10 PM
I knew it - Too funny - dimensions of cube please - who made the stand

Like I tell my wife it *could* be hookers and blow... so stand back and let me do this LOL.

The tank is a stock Marineland 93. Those clowns advertise the footprint as 30x30 but that is trim to trim. The tank itself measures 29x29x24 I think.

The stand is another quick lastlight special. I have Rona make all the cuts to the plywood then slap it together in the kitchen and add my trim.

sphelps
02-22-2013, 03:10 PM
So how many big gulps is that exactly?

lastlight
02-22-2013, 03:14 PM
whatever happened to the 404....

It's 20 feet from my office right where I left it. My buddy is still getting his basement ready to receive the glass (which still needs to be cut apart).

lastlight
02-22-2013, 03:21 PM
So how many big gulps is that exactly?

You're the engineer and I'm the dropout engineer. Don't get caught asking me =)

kien
02-22-2013, 03:21 PM
:pop2:

JDigital
02-22-2013, 03:22 PM
Plumbing looks a bit tight in the rear...

kien
02-22-2013, 03:23 PM
Plumbing looks a bit tight in the rear...

I didn't want to be the one to officially derail his new build but since you brought it up.. oh nevermind!

lastlight
02-22-2013, 03:24 PM
Plumbing looks a bit tight in the rear...

My plumbing's been working out. Thanks for noticing =)

Coralgurl
02-22-2013, 03:34 PM
Like a crack addiction, just can't stay away!!! Looks like a great size tank to work with, tagging along!

wayner
02-22-2013, 03:35 PM
Like I tell my wife it *could* be hookers and blow... so stand back and let me do this LOL.



I once told the wife the same and she asked me what was cheaper :lol:


Good luck with it and don't forget to croos out the 28 at the bottom unless your keeping it

lastlight
02-22-2013, 03:39 PM
Yeah I'm really looking forward to having a sump/skimmer again and the ability to grow sticks. Some can grow them nicely in nanos without skimmers but I've had no such luck. I'll be putting the sump on an elevated rack next to the 404 laundry tub. A really squat stand and an elevated basement sump should mean my head losses won't be too bad at all.

As for crossing out the 28... can't do that until she's empty lol.

Seriak
02-22-2013, 03:46 PM
Following along!

wayner
02-22-2013, 03:47 PM
Lets talk lighting - 1 400W or 250W Radium supplemented with t5's or are you doing the LED thing like a Mitras?

lastlight
02-22-2013, 03:54 PM
Lets talk lighting - 1 400W or 250W Radium supplemented with t5's or are you doing the LED thing like a Mitras?

Single black Mitras. Never even seen one before but I can do that when it finally arrives :lol: Sounds like that could be a month or more. It's got as little disco as you can get and the spread that a canon styled pendant can't give you. If my tank had been shallower I'd consider a 2x2 grid of the Kessil a150 I already have but I'd like the ability to tune the colours a bit too. I've come to want just a touch more blue.

sphelps
02-22-2013, 04:00 PM
You could always check out mine, you can explain your gulp theory at the same time. I don't think that teach that in Saskatoon.

Good choice btw :biggrin:

Goatman
02-22-2013, 04:58 PM
Single black Mitras. Never even seen one before but I can do that when it finally arrives :lol: Sounds like that could be a month or more. It's got as little disco as you can get and the spread that a canon styled pendant can't give you. If my tank had been shallower I'd consider a 2x2 grid of the Kessil a150 I already have but I'd like the ability to tune the colours a bit too. I've come to want just a touch more blue.

What about Orpheks?

i have crabs
02-22-2013, 05:20 PM
Looks good except all that glass on the back wall needs some kind of decorating, if only there was something you could put on it

Lance
02-23-2013, 02:18 AM
How did you make the 93 in your signature look like a tank with no water?

The Grizz
02-23-2013, 02:37 AM
Good god and I thought I went through tanks more then anyone. Where's the sump dude? I wanna see some plumbing, a skimmer and return pump ASAP.

gregzz4
02-23-2013, 02:46 AM
I have Rona make all the cuts to the plywood then slap it together in the kitchen and add my trim.
Nice job on the stand
Looking forward to the rest

We all knew you couldn't stick with a tank you could lift when full by yourself :razz:

duncangweller
02-23-2013, 05:22 AM
I really like that stand. Now you have made me want one of those. Damn you reefers and your nice setups

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

lastlight
02-23-2013, 05:25 AM
Good god and I thought I went through tanks more then anyone. Where's the sump dude? I wanna see some plumbing, a skimmer and return pump ASAP.

Well I have the sump but no room to setup the damn thing lol. The 404 and its sump are hogging up a great deal of my basement! Return pump and skimmer are back ordered so yell at Denny if you want lol.

Nice job on the stand
Looking forward to the rest

We all knew you couldn't stick with a tank you could lift when full by yourself :razz:

Aha there's a method to the madness maybe? I'm glad someone thinks so. My condition baffles me more than anyone trust me :biggrin:

Stones
02-24-2013, 05:59 PM
Good to see you are going to be back on the SPS bandwagon shortly. Nice job on the stand. You always seem to be able to pull off very modern and elegant looking stands but I guess you've had some serious practice by now!

fishoholic
02-24-2013, 06:24 PM
Love the stand and the dimensions of the tank, cubes rock!

Delphinus
02-24-2013, 06:40 PM
Can we start a pool for when it will be shutdown? Or is it too soon to make jokes like that?

Er, I mean, nice new tank, and stuff! Enjoy the ride..



(PS. I call June/July BTW ........ (too soon?) )

lastlight
02-25-2013, 12:57 AM
Thx guys. I can do stands with my eyes closed. If you saw some of the joints and how much wood filler they ate you might think I *do* build them that way!

Tony it's never too soon :) additionally, shut the frag up lol. My back is on fire. Spent all day cutting rocks for the back wall %#*^!

lastlight
02-25-2013, 06:59 PM
Before I mounted my rock background I attached these anchors underneath my overflow box. These will stabilize the rock work which is going to cantilever out a fair bit I think. They're large enough to fish a few long zip ties through them. An additional anchor will likely be place at the foot of the rock tower to keep the bottom from sliding around.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/anchors.jpg

Cory (i have crabs) was generous enough to lend me his chop saw with masonry blade. I spent a few hours frolicking about in a white cloud of pulverized reef rock on my front steps. The method I used to attach the rocks was silicone-putty-silicone. I have tried prying off one of the pieces and can't even wiggle it. Now that I have the tank flipped off it's back I can go in and identify which gaps can be seen at normal viewing angles and fill them in better.

Bonus points to anyone that can tell me where my mp10s are going to go =)

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/wall1.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/wall2.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/wall3.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/wall4.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/wall5.jpg

A little bit of insurance until I have sand in.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/wall6.jpg

sphelps
02-25-2013, 07:09 PM
Your level of patience and persistence never ceases to amaze me. That looks like a jig saw puzzle from hell which you nailed by the way.

kien
02-25-2013, 07:15 PM
^what Fabio said.

Seriosuly, I'm not typically a fan of rock walls but you actually made it look really good. It suits that tank's dimensions.

FishyFishy!
02-25-2013, 08:04 PM
Bonus points to anyone that can tell me where my mp10s are going to go =)


They are mounting to the bottom of the tank pointing upwards right??? I heard it was going to be a sandstorm tank :twised:

Those 2 eye holes on the rock wall will be great for viewing the tank from the back.

lockrookie
02-25-2013, 08:38 PM
I too wish to say it looks great can't wait to see it all covered. I do want to caution to tho cleaning wise the corners will be hard to scrape the junk out with the rock close to it I made that mistake on my 50. Just want you to keep that in mind... Following as always

lastlight
02-25-2013, 08:59 PM
Thanks guys.

I purposely used my thinnest pieces near the edge to minimize the work involved with cleaning the glass. I've actually come to prefer using a blade completely hand-held and just zipping across each pane so getting to these won't be bad at all.

Stones
02-25-2013, 11:44 PM
Those 2 eye holes on the rock wall will be great for viewing the tank from the back.

Whenever I need a good laugh, I usually don't have to look much farther than your thread Brett:biggrin:

That rock wall looks pretty slick and will only look better once it starts to get covered with coralline alage. FYI a recipricating saw with a metal blade also works great for mutilating up live rock but I'm guessing you wanted the flattest cut possible for your intended purpose.

I'm a bit confused by the means in which you stuck the rock to the glass.

Silicone - putty - silicone isn't quite as self explanatory as it would seem....

Did you putty the center of the rocks and then put a bead of silicone around the putty? That's what it kinda looks like in the pics but all I can really see is the putty.

Zoaelite
02-26-2013, 12:12 AM
We need a Canreef TOTmM (Tank of the multiple moments) for your amalgamation of tanks :razz:.

Can't wait to see this thing filled, do you know the glass thickness on that puppy? I did a quick online search but couldn't source it for the 93, if its 3/8" your good to go but ifs its 1/2" your MP10s won't work.

lastlight
02-26-2013, 01:35 AM
I welcome laughs, thread jacking you name it glass you're enjoying it lol.

I'm a bit confused by the means in which you stuck the rock to the glass.

I put silicone on the rock, then a thin circle of putty then more silicone. Similar to what crabs did but I added silicone between rock and putty. So far so good!

I did a quick online search but couldn't source it for the 93, if its 3/8" your good to go but ifs its 1/2" your MP10s won't work.
I did my homework and made sure the tank was 3/8 before ordering it :)

Btw this is my last tank :)

Coralgurl
02-26-2013, 01:49 AM
I welcome laughs, thread jacking you name it glass you're enjoying it lol.


Btw this is my last tank :)

I see a bet in those words......any takers??

Great job on the rock wall, you've got some great pieces there!

Parker
02-26-2013, 01:50 AM
Btw this is my last tank :)

You sit on a throne of Lies!!

Pan
02-26-2013, 10:57 AM
Before I mounted my rock background I attached these anchors underneath my overflow box. These will stabilize the rock work which is going to cantilever out a fair bit I think. They're large enough to fish a few long zip ties through them. An additional anchor will likely be place at the foot of the rock tower to keep the bottom from sliding around.

A little bit of insurance until I have sand in.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/wall6.jpg


Man that freaks me out...looks cracked....

lastlight
02-26-2013, 01:32 PM
Yeah moving the tank across the stand leaves black marks from the trim. I'm going to have to paint around the tank once it's in position to make it look nice again.

Pan
02-26-2013, 05:13 PM
Yeah moving the tank across the stand leaves black marks from the trim. I'm going to have to paint around the tank once it's in position to make it look nice again.


Marks..okay :)

I just thought it looked cracked.....glad it isn't and what are your planes for the wall?

fishoholic
02-26-2013, 06:28 PM
Can we start a pool for when it will be shutdown? Or is it too soon to make jokes like that?

Er, I mean, nice new tank, and stuff! Enjoy the ride..



(PS. I call June/July BTW ........ (too soon?) )

:pound:

Your level of patience and persistence never ceases to amaze me. That looks like a jig saw puzzle from hell which you nailed by the way.

Agreed the rock looks awesome




Btw this is my last tank :)

Famous last words! I think for some reason I've heard them before :razz:

JDigital
02-26-2013, 06:36 PM
Btw this is my last tank :)


hahahaahahaahahaahaaahaahahahaahahaaa....... *breathe*... hahaahahahaahahahaahahahahaahahahaahahahahahaahaah aahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.


Carry on. :razz:

kien
02-26-2013, 06:40 PM
..Btw this is my last tank :)

everybody calm the frak down! It was simply a typo on brett's part. What he meant to type was, "this is my lastlight tank". That is all. Now carry on.

Lance
02-26-2013, 06:49 PM
Nice job Brett. Not a big fan of rock walls but I must say I like this one. Now if we can just get you to leave the damn tank long enough to grow a little coralline!

lastlight
02-26-2013, 06:52 PM
Nice job Brett. Not a big fan of rock walls but I must say I like this one. Now if we can just get you to leave the damn tank long enough to grow a little coralline!

I dunno it's cool and all but I'm starting to get a little tired of it...

No I actually am *trying* to mean it this time. When I get this thing wet I'll maybe get a little ticker in my sig to track it's age and start taking bets :mrgreen:

JDigital
02-26-2013, 09:48 PM
There's no doubt you'll get it wet... all your tanks have... it's a question of whether a line ends up dashing through that 93... :lol:

BTW, I have NO idea where you are thinking of putting your MP10's.. It's baffling to say the least. /sarcasm.

lastlight
02-26-2013, 10:08 PM
BTW, I have NO idea where you are thinking of putting your MP10's.. It's baffling to say the least. /sarcasm.

I might have to put'em where the viewing holes are currently :razz:

lastlight
02-28-2013, 01:59 PM
after drilling and defacing the new tank i thought i'd better fill it with water to make sure it holds the stuff lol. filled it last night and then had to head out for a few hours which always seems to happen when i fill these things :neutral:

woke up today and we're still full to the top and all my rock work is still solidly attached. my hoodie is actually still laying in the tank pinned to the bottom just in case there's a few that let go but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

with water in the tank you simply cannot see the rocks at any angle you want to thanks to diffraction etc. so i'm not planning on filling the tiny little nooks and crannies i don't think and will instead try and work on the main rock tower this weekend. :biggrin:

Delphinus
03-02-2013, 07:14 AM
So I just logged on tonight and saw a thread "93g for sale" I thought geeeeeeze, but then clicked it and saw it was a different tank. So, um.. yeah. Carry on...

lastlight
03-02-2013, 01:08 PM
I'm guessing you're still a bit chafed I let someone else drill my holes tony? It was a choice born of convenience bro please don't take it personally. I still have faith in you and your tool. Please can we move on?

Leah
03-02-2013, 03:41 PM
Maybe she is wishing about now.... that it was hookers and blow. :biggrin:
And maybe show a bit more restraint. :wink:

lastlight
03-04-2013, 02:25 AM
it's not hookers and blow but here's my finished tower =) layout of the boulders on the ground may change but the primary structure is DONE. Hands are RAW from drilling and handling the rocks for so dang long.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/tower1.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/tower2.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/tower3.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/tower4.jpg

and an awesome vertically shot phone video. ugly but it gives you a better idea...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9wmjk8Fnvw

reefwars
03-04-2013, 02:32 AM
looks awesome brett man , the way you have your structure made is going to allow the fish alot of swimming room , i went for a similiar style and notice the fish swim circles around it all day .....they wouldnt get that in a typical walled reef:)

kudos!!

kien
03-04-2013, 03:21 AM
That turned out really good. I approve.

fishoholic
03-04-2013, 01:35 PM
Very nice, I vote for when you get sick of this tank you sell it to me :mrgreen:

lastlight
03-04-2013, 02:49 PM
Thx guys.

Very nice, I vote for when you get sick of this tank you sell it to me :mrgreen:

I'm not parting out this time!

Here's a few more shots I took before applying epoxy and lifting the structure into the tank.

Big thanks to Kien for supplying the acrylic rods and direction!

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/tower5.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/tower6.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/tower7.jpg

sphelps
03-04-2013, 03:30 PM
I see you also enjoy converting living spaces into tank construction zones and well as ruining perfectly good pliers. Nice work on the rock tree thing, do you have a plan to prevent yourself from knocking it over once it's full of nice sps growth?

lastlight
03-04-2013, 03:36 PM
I see you also enjoy converting living spaces into tank construction zones and well as ruining perfectly good pliers. Nice work on the rock tree thing, do you have a plan to prevent yourself from knocking it over once it's full of nice sps growth?

Yeah those have been my reefing pliers for a few years now lol. and the construction zone worked pretty well. i could sweep water back into the circulating rock bin as it fell on the operating table and re-submerge pieces once they were drilled.

The top overhang is drilling and there are tripled-up zip ties connecting it to the glass anchors i attached to the underside of the overflow box. The structure is very stable actually.

kien
03-04-2013, 04:03 PM
despite my best efforts to clean and dry the tools that I used for my rock work they all ended up in the garbage anyway. All rusted and beat up.

Great top down shot. It's hard to really get a sense for depth and aspect with structures like these in 2D images.

lastlight
03-04-2013, 04:12 PM
Thanks. yeah before i use these pliers or my old wire cutters which are now reef zip tie cutters i open/close them for a few minutes under running water then paper towel them to minimize rusty juices lol. both were good quality to begin with and still work well enough after 6+ years of sorta mostly reefing.

Madmak
03-04-2013, 04:27 PM
Looking good!

Delphinus
03-04-2013, 05:12 PM
I do the same thing with my tools .. it's sort of the ritual for using them "one more time."

Rockwork looks good!

lastlight
03-04-2013, 05:17 PM
Thing I never mentioned though is I don't have a good pair of pliers or wire cutters. They're still my everyday ones as well lol. So far so good though you do need to hit the sweet spot with those cutters or it's no dice.

fishytime
03-04-2013, 06:13 PM
Dats some pretty funky lookin rockscape there mang!

sphelps
03-04-2013, 06:40 PM
Thing I never mentioned though is I don't have a good pair of pliers or wire cutters. They're still my everyday ones as well lol. So far so good though you do need to hit the sweet spot with those cutters or it's no dice.

I have several of each but all seized shut :lol:

fishytime
03-04-2013, 08:02 PM
Very nice, I vote for when you get sick of this tank you sell it to me :mrgreen:



:nono: we don't need ANOTHER tank!

kien
03-04-2013, 08:05 PM
:nono: we don't need ANOTHER tank!

who are you and what have you done with Doug?!?!?

lastlight
03-04-2013, 08:09 PM
My thread just got double-douged! Sweet!

Lance
03-04-2013, 10:05 PM
Nice job on the rockwork. Me like.
Isn't drilling rock fun? I always have to wear goggles or risk getting live rock goo in the eyes. :lol:

fishoholic
03-05-2013, 02:45 AM
I'm not parting out this time!


Famous last words!

:nono: we don't need ANOTHER tank!

True. Just been thinking about downsizing the 2 230g and 80g to a 90g ish cube. Not sure I have it in me to say goodbye to my big fish though, even though financially it makes sense :neutral:

JDigital
03-05-2013, 03:35 AM
Dats some pretty funky lookin rockscape there mang!

:photo:... This is a rare sighting folks! Don't make any sudden movements or you may scare this elusive creature away....


Your rock structure looks good Brett.. looks like lots of work.

lastlight
03-05-2013, 04:34 AM
True. Just been thinking about downsizing the 2 230g and 80g to a 90g ish cube. Not sure I have it in me to say goodbye to my big fish though, even though financially it makes sense :neutral:

Look you two can argue that one over on the couch tonight or something. It's not going to be *this* tank Doug don't worry bro I got your back like that =)

Your rock structure looks good Brett.. looks like lots of work.

Thanks Josh. Not the most natural looking scape by a longshot but I am so excited to populate it with my corals. Hands down my favorite scape I've managed to come up with. I love viewing it from the top right now. only have two small Tunze in there to keep the rock happy so it's quite calm on the surface and easy to see everything. and yeah it was a ton of work and only involved a handful of holes to be drilled.

I'm about to do some serious hand exfoliating. Got me 50 lbs of Caribsea Seaflor to scrub and rinse before it goes in :biggrin:

lastlight
03-16-2013, 03:43 AM
i always dread drilling my ceiling. lots of prep work to ensure something hangs level not to mention in the right spot. i measured 10 times and hung once. i was very lucky to find a joist an inch off from dead centre over the tank so my strip of wood on the ceiling is barely wider than the mitras.

This thing disappears above the tank since my living room has next to no lighting in it other than some dim lamps. The manual was missing from the box but I have had time to just manual tweak the channels.

Currently have blue, royal blue, cool white and hyper violet at 100%. Red 30%, Hyper Red 20%, Green 40% and Yellow 10%. It's very bright and the overal look has more blue than my somewhat flat looking Kessil.

There is definitely colour banding but easily the least noticeable of the LEDs I've seen. The photos also show a pattern like I have strips of light blocking material running in parallel rows above the tank but it doesn't look like that in person and I just quickly snapped these.

Excited to mess around with these more. Love the small size of the unit and the big light it throws everywhere. I easily got light to even all the spots on my rear wall but I was blinding my wife on the couch at that point. Had to move it back to about 7" off the water's surface.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/mitras1.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/mitras2.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/mitras3.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/mitras4.jpg

gregzz4
03-16-2013, 03:47 AM
I like it Brett. The rock wall gives it some nice depth in the front view

Where's the Orange-back ... I don't see him in the pics :rolleyes:

kien
03-16-2013, 04:00 AM
Nice :-) :pop2:

wayner
03-16-2013, 04:23 AM
Looks Great

lastlight
03-16-2013, 04:38 AM
Thx guys. Ill try my dslr to more accurately show how the lights effect really looks. Those strange shadowy bands the camera sees are def not visible to me.

I like it Brett. The rock wall gives it some nice depth in the front view

Where's the Orange-back ... I don't see him in the pics :rolleyes:

I did pickup another leopard wrasse today but the oranges are too big to reside in my nano.

Zoaelite
03-16-2013, 04:48 AM
You sir... Have obviously done this before. Looking good Brett!

The Grizz
03-16-2013, 04:49 AM
Wow a mitra, guess the kids don't get any snacks for the next couple months :lol:

lastlight
03-16-2013, 05:17 AM
Ok so here are pics with the camera and not the iPhone. Gone are the strange shadows. Now depending on monitor settings a bunch of other things your mileage may vary but to my eyes these very accurately show how the tank looks in person. I will probably reduce the cool white to bring the overall look a bit more into the blue.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/mitras5.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/mitras6.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/mitras7.jpg

Here you can spot some of the yellow highlights on my rocks. The banding is almost entirely in the yellow spectrum and hardly noticeable. There is no seperation on my sand other than in the shadows behind the tower. None on the tower or rocks on the sandbed but a bit on parts of the rock background.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/mitras8.jpg

lastlight
03-16-2013, 05:30 AM
Ok what dark magic is this. My channels i manually set before to 100% are at 60 now lol. It must have some default dimming program on it lol.

lastlight
03-16-2013, 07:35 AM
Just spent an hour with the light composer app. Totally blown away at the control this thing gives you.

I have all the channels set to ramp up over two hours starting at 2pm. Full intensity lasts from 4 till 10 when they slowly ramp down over two more hours. Then the moonlights are on until ramp up again.

You can even program the backlit screen lol. It's at 30% when my moonlights are on and 80% the rest of the time.

You can also set the overall output % and while its currently at 100% just for staring at it looks like with a few clicks I can acclimate my corals by increasing it from a much lower starting point over a month etc.

Totally impressed! I really wish the software ran on a Mac tho. It pained me to pull out my wife's ancient netbook.

gregzz4
03-16-2013, 08:14 AM
you can spot some of the yellow highlights on my rocks
You're right, I think I can see the Orange-spot in there somewhere :mrgreen:

Have fun with your lights :wink:

lastlight
03-17-2013, 03:24 PM
Have fun with your lights :wink:

Having so much fun LOL. Watching these things ramp up and down is pretty freaking cool. I'm sure the tank's inhabitants will behave differently when they sense things getting dimmer. Moonlights look rad too... royal blues are puuuurdy.

Here's my super fancy fish room! It fits almost entirely where my old salt mixing bucket used to go lol. How embarrassing.

A standard 90 is going on the bottom shelf to hold my ro/di. Small tank is my weekly 10g water change. Ro/di will go behind the 10g tank exactly where it used to be.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/sump1.jpg

steve fedyk
03-17-2013, 10:48 PM
Really like the rock work and the sump room looks great. Keep the pictures coming on the sump room.

lastlight
03-20-2013, 05:50 PM
My plumbing is nearly done! All that's left to do now is wait for the paint to cure on my return manifold and glue it to the flex pipe behind the tank.

Behind the tank.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/plumbing5.jpg

Here's the manifold. It's got 3/4" threaded outlets which will each connect to a pair of locline flares to direct flow towards the overflow etc. The trim on my tank is nice and tall and will hide it really well.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/plumbing1.jpg

Here's a shot of the two lines for my herbie and the return line heading into the sump.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/plumbing2.jpg

And two sump shots. There's a speedwave 2640 in the back and a vertex omega 150 and vertex rx-u 1.5L. I'm hoping I can tune the thing to run both carbon and gfo otherwise I'll add one more. The skimmer is built as well as my old sm250 I'm super impressed. I am waiting on a part that was missing from the box however so I can't comment on it's operation yet.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/plumbing3.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/plumbing4.jpg

sphelps
03-20-2013, 06:06 PM
Have fun adjusting that gate valve :lol:

Did you use purple PVC primer on the return manifold first?

lastlight
03-20-2013, 06:10 PM
I've run herbies before how will this be more difficult?

No the primer I had is clear. I don't keep anything in my tanks that will scrape the paint off. Only the bottom 1/4 - 1/2" of the horizontal runs will actually touch the water.

sphelps
03-20-2013, 06:14 PM
Valve is downstairs tank is upstairs... certainly won't be as easy as typical setups and the large pressure on the valve means the slightest turn will make a big difference. I did it that way as well before, thinking it would be better but you can install the valve under the tank, works pretty much the same.

I was looking at your manifold wrong, thought it ran down the back of the tank and not the perimeter.

kien
03-20-2013, 06:21 PM
[IMG]http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/plumbing4.jpg

How will you know how much to adjust that gate valve?

lastlight
03-20-2013, 06:21 PM
Yeah you are right it's going to have tons of pull. I plan to FaceTime with the wife so I can see what's going on upstairs :)

phi delt reefer
03-20-2013, 07:24 PM
Yeah you are right it's going to have tons of pull. I plan to FaceTime with the wife so I can see what's going on upstairs :)

murphey's law... the one time your network hiccups....:lol:

JDigital
03-20-2013, 07:37 PM
Looks like a lot of work to tear all that down in a few months. :lol:


Looks really good though. Typical Brett Style! :mrgreen:

Delphinus
03-20-2013, 08:01 PM
You still need a gate valve if you have a Mitras??? Tsk tsk. Colour me slightly less impressed with that light then. :p

kien
03-20-2013, 08:09 PM
Looks like a lot of work to tear all that down in a few months. :lol:

You still need a gate valve if you have a Mitras??? Tsk tsk. Colour me slightly less impressed with that light then. :p

ouch! Brett, maybe you should have just thrown up a pic of your cats :-)

lastlight
03-20-2013, 08:13 PM
ouch! Brett, maybe you should have just thrown up a pic of your cats :-)

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/152/237/zP10f.gif

lastlight
03-21-2013, 06:27 AM
Return manifold is ON! I did not measure too carefully ahead of time I only knew I wanted the pipes to be as close to touching glass on both sides of the tank. It took me a while to maneuver the thing under the trim lips on both sides but lucked out. pics taken with moonlights on... royal blues really mess with camera sensors lol.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/plumbing6.jpg

You can see here why I really liked this trim and why I went with 3/4" instead of 1" for this part. The trim totally hides the pipes.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/plumbing7.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/plumbing8.jpg



http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/plumbing9.jpg

FishyFishy!
03-21-2013, 01:07 PM
Return manifold is ON! I did not measure too carefully ahead of time I only knew I wanted the pipes to be as close to touching glass on both sides of the tank. It took me a while to maneuver the thing under the trim lips on both sides but lucked out. pics taken with moonlights on... royal blues really mess with camera sensors lol.

You can see here why I really liked this trim and why I went with 3/4" instead of 1" for this part. The trim totally hides the pipes.



Looks sick!! You can barely notice its there. blends in very well with the tank trim. Have to say... awesome job as usual!

Kryptic4L
03-21-2013, 05:43 PM
Wow love this, rock wall is phenomenal. plumbing looks amazing.

lastlight
03-21-2013, 06:01 PM
Thanks guys =)

The tank is officially running!

The speedwave needed to be on speed 3 of 6 to overcome the head losses. I've got it on speed 4 currently. Definitely not a silent pump and the sump in a cavity in the wall is amplifying it but the tank upstairs is literally dead silent and I can't hear the pump in my office on the other side of the basement so it's all win.

Adjusting the herbie was actually easy and I never even needed to look at the tank upstairs. Just watch the bubbles from the primary pipe it tells you all you need to know. What I wasn't ready for tho were the massive burps when that pipe first started hitting its siphon stride! sent water over the edge of the sump 3 times before i got it dialed close enough to stop it. i'll have to simulate a power failure and restart to see if it does that with a properly tuned gate valve :lol:

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/plumbing10.jpg

My temporary locline.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/plumbing11.jpg

My temporary filter socks aka pvc shavings colllectors.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/plumbing12.jpg

Zoaelite
03-21-2013, 06:13 PM
I think its time to add a hyperlink to the 93 in your siggy!

Zoaelite
03-21-2013, 06:14 PM
Or does that doom it for a cross out as well:razz:?

lastlight
03-21-2013, 06:14 PM
I think its time to add a hyperlink to the 93 in your siggy!

I'm a one-tank kinda guy Levi. Soon lol =)

Or does that doom it for a cross out as well:razz:?

Ok that never crossed my mind. Maybe there shouldn't even be a thread.

kien
03-21-2013, 06:36 PM
Very nice. I would put a backup/redundant zip tie to secure the return lines just in case one zip tie goes or the trim breaks on that zip tie and sends the return line dropping into the tank. Certainly not a catastrophic failure but could send frags or corals flying if it ever happened. I'm not sure how strong that particular trim is but previous trim that I've had on tanks degraded severely overtime and became quite weak. Just something to think about (not hating btw!).

lastlight
03-21-2013, 06:38 PM
This trim is very thick actually. I probably should drill two more mounting holes but i'll opt for an i-told-you-so if that ever happens lol. that's not an excuse to push on'em when you come over lol.

JDigital
03-21-2013, 07:33 PM
What are you using to feed the Vertex Reactor? Just tee'd off from the return?

Everything looks good.

lastlight
03-21-2013, 07:52 PM
Yeah just a tee off the return.

Delphinus
03-21-2013, 08:06 PM
I had a very similar return manifold on my old cube and it was just secured in place by the plumbing (held in place by a union). There was maybe 1/2" of play at the end of the run but you really had to wiggle it for it to be noticeable.

Thing is, there are times when you may *want* a little wiggle room up there (reaching in with a razor blade to get at a spot of HA or coraline or something, for example). So honestly I'd just sort of leave it as-is.

Everything looking good. That sump is tight, haha!

(And not hating... Not sure why you'd think I was hating, geez.)

lastlight
03-21-2013, 08:35 PM
(And not hating... Not sure why you'd think I was hating, geez.)

i think the graphic of the kid doing a wheelie gives away the joking tone of my message no? :biggrin:

Delphinus
03-21-2013, 08:47 PM
Is it wrong that I want to take the toy car out for a spin myself? I'm, um, asking for a friend. Not me. A friend.

kien
03-21-2013, 08:49 PM
Is it wrong that I want to take the toy car out for a spin myself? I'm, um, asking for a friend. Not me. A friend.

get in line!!

.. also, for a friend btw.

lastlight
03-21-2013, 09:27 PM
we should all go test drive some power wheels at walmart together. really stir poop up!

kien
03-21-2013, 09:38 PM
stir poop up!

teehee..

JDigital
03-21-2013, 10:50 PM
get in line!!

.. also, for a friend btw.

It is about your size, isn't it? I mean your friend...

kien
03-21-2013, 10:55 PM
It is about your size, isn't it? I mean your friend...

the size of my little friend is not important here! Wait, what ??

gregzz4
03-22-2013, 03:24 AM
Very nice job on the returns dude

Snappy
03-22-2013, 03:30 PM
My goodness someone has been busy! Looks great Brett.

lastlight
03-22-2013, 03:38 PM
Thanks guys! This weekend the plan is to move the heater down to the sump, get ATO, carbon and gfo running and setup the mp10s.

I told my wife to not get used to the dead silence the tank currently exhibits lol.

I need to bring back to life one of the dedicated circuits from the 404 too I guess...

Kryptic4L
03-27-2013, 09:16 PM
And.... Did you actually accomplish anything on the weekend ?

lastlight
03-27-2013, 09:21 PM
oops homework check! thanks for asking.

well i am leaving for the long weekend so I got osmolators running on both tanks last night. cleaned out my 'new' 90g and got it placed under my sump and filled with 0 TDS. the skimmer is slowly breaking in but there's probably not a ton to skim out right now. also have some gfo and carbon in my reactor and i think it'll actually work out nicely with both of them inside a single reactor.

my brs order should arrive on tuesday then I can get my socks running, locline on the display and start cleaning up a few loose ends before i test the water to see where she's at.

picked up another ghl doser and need to sort out where i'm going to store my jugs etc.

at this point i'm absolutely DYING to get me some sticks again under some decent lighting. so far all i'm growing in the display is a very lush hair algae forest. I'm actually not worried about it... i'll groom it and let it take nutrients out of the water for free.

oh and my female leopard wrasse is doing super. not eating the tiny NLS pellets yet but is nice and plump on pods and mysis. can't wait to turn her loose on this tank.

Kryptic4L
03-28-2013, 04:19 AM
Sounds like things should be ready to rock next week. And thanks for the reminder. Had to get my brs order in tonight

lastlight
04-11-2013, 04:26 AM
Things are going pretty well with the new tank. The initial outbreak of hair algae is well on it's way to annihilation. combination of me with scissors and my speed freak of a tailspot. he has gone ballistic on the stuff and littered my sandbed with green turds! my few sps pieces from the 28 are slowly starting to colour up it's pretty exciting. next project for the tank is a proper window frame kit screen top. temporarily have adhesive hooks holding my mesh down.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/collage.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/fts1.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/fts2.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/fts3.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/fts4.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/fts5.jpg

fishoholic
04-11-2013, 04:30 AM
Niiiice! :thumb:

Delphinus
04-11-2013, 04:31 AM
Wow, nice. What is that super red coral sorta in the middle of some of the pictures there?

gregzz4
04-11-2013, 04:39 AM
Holee freakin' nice pics :smile:

lastlight
04-11-2013, 04:42 AM
Thx guys.

Tony I think you're looking at the blue mouth red goniopora.

kien
04-11-2013, 04:46 AM
Very nice. Looks like you're ready for some KLF. We'll get in touch when I get back.

..not that we are ever out of touch.

lastlight
04-11-2013, 04:50 AM
Very nice. Looks like you're ready for some KLF. We'll get in touch when I get back.

..not that we are ever out of touch.

Oh hey boss really good to hear from ya. Safe travels and stuff :)

kien
04-11-2013, 04:54 AM
Oh hey boss really good to hear from ya. Safe travels and stuff :)

Ya, long time no talk. Thanks, should be interesting. Assuming I make it to the trip. And if I make it back LOL.

Kryptic4L
04-11-2013, 07:24 AM
Looking good man, love the whole tile picture thing, kinda tells the story of the tank.

wmcinnes
04-11-2013, 09:41 AM
well done sir, well done.:biggrin:

reefermadness
04-11-2013, 10:45 AM
Nice round of pics !

mseepman
04-11-2013, 04:44 PM
Beautiful pics! You've really managed a nice blend of the colors! That wrasse is awesome too.

lastlight
04-11-2013, 04:52 PM
thanks guys.

yeah i sorta focused on LPS and zoas while i had the 28 since the sticks didn't fare too well so i managed to collect what i think are some pretty nice pieces. easier to get colours out of them than sps. faster for sure lol.

i seem to be having good luck with the leopard. my old one ate pellets and just about everything else so my fingers are crossed. this little girl is so small!

Kryptic4L
04-11-2013, 05:06 PM
What's ure leopard secret, I have one ready to go in a 10 gallon once she starts eating. She don't wanna eat though

Cymaster007
04-11-2013, 05:34 PM
I really like how the back wall came out! Really nice instead of a regular black background

lastlight
04-11-2013, 06:35 PM
Thanks. Sitting in front of the tank sorta half makes you forget it's a tank. I'm really glad that I went ahead with doing it.

What's ure leopard secret, I have one ready to go in a 10 gallon once she starts eating. She don't wanna eat though

I just asked Denny if she was eating at the store. She was eating mysis which was good enough for me. I'm sure she'll come around the NLS soon enough.

Kryptic4L
04-11-2013, 07:37 PM
Maybe I'll try chopping up some mysis then. She's not going for the frozen cyclops which I thought would be more up her alley. Thanks man

Some reason I do t think asking Denny questions is. The answer :)

steve fedyk
04-11-2013, 11:55 PM
Are you going to place some corals on the back wall of the tank.
The arch looking great.

denny_CC
04-12-2013, 12:01 AM
wow buddy corals are looking very healthy im also seeing some serious growth from them , some of the pieces look familiar hehehe:P


glad the little lady is doing good , if shes anything like my large leopard she will go for pellets when shes bigger size.

looks good man:)

lastlight
04-12-2013, 01:05 AM
Are you going to place some corals on the back wall of the tank.
The arch looking great.

thanks. yeah there's not a ton of coral in the tank yet but i've got a few on the back wall:

birdsnest in foreground. small piece of red cap you can't see behind it.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/backwall1.jpg

favia and vice zoas on top. small piece of green cap below it.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/backwall2.jpg

wow buddy corals are looking very healthy im also seeing some serious growth from them , some of the pieces look familiar hehehe:P

Thanks bro. Yeah plenty of Denny stuff in here =) the green/purple acans are my fav and they barely had any colour when I scored them from you. everyone that comes over loves your dragon soul favia... will be bad ass once it gets big!

lastlight
04-12-2013, 01:09 AM
forgot to squeeze a few of the algae-destroying, turd-bomber into my collage:

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/turd1.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/turd2.jpg

JDigital
05-08-2013, 05:33 PM
Update!

Cool Blenny Bro.

lastlight
05-08-2013, 10:12 PM
Well I hate to update without pictures but I hate ignoring your request even more so here we go with a quick rundown lol.

I've gotten the hair algae completely under control now. I purchased a couple things that helped me out:

- Gravel suction attachment for my siphon. Getting a ton of poop out now during my water changes.
- Yellow tang who decimated my algae in a week and does a great job of keeping it in check
- diamond watchman goby that actually sifts my sand. Tank was cloudy for days as he worked his magic. No tank should be without one. My yellow watchman is such a slacker!

Other new fish I've added:

- squarespot anthias pair
- orangeback wrasse

With the new additions my skimmer is finally picking up the pace. I'm still skimming fairly wet but the colour is darker and I'm draining the cup daily out of necessity.

As far as equipment and DIY goes I replaced my 10g water change tank with a larger tank so I can perform larger changes if I want and also not have water sloshing over the edges of the tiny 10g. I've got my parts ready to build my mesh top as well and I'm looking forward to ditching the 3M sticky hooks that are currently holding the screen in place.

I'm adding the odd coral here and there but for the most part I'm just letting things stabilize. Strangely my coraline has not yet taken off but until recently hair algae occupied most spaces on the rocks.

JDigital
05-09-2013, 05:16 AM
Yellow Watchmens ARE slackers. I'm "fish-sitting" a YW for lorenz0 and 1) I never see the bloody thing, 2) he doesn't so a darn thing to keep the sand clean. Wish I could bring home the pair from the office.

Orangeback Wrasse.... don't think I've seen one of the dem.

TheMikey
05-09-2013, 06:09 AM
Is that a TailSpot blenny? I can't tell if it's a unique colouration or just the lighting.

lastlight
05-09-2013, 03:12 PM
Yellow Watchmens ARE slackers. I'm "fish-sitting" a YW for lorenz0 and 1) I never see the bloody thing, 2) he doesn't so a darn thing to keep the sand clean. Wish I could bring home the pair from the office.

Orangeback Wrasse.... don't think I've seen one of the dem.

Yeah he was paired with a pistol shrimp so he was cool by association before. I lost the shrimp and now he's just a free-loading bastard. I'll snap some pics soon I just haven't had time. It's a snazzy little wrasse.

Is that a TailSpot blenny? I can't tell if it's a unique colouration or just the lighting.

Yeah it's a tailspot. The colours are a touch over-saturated in the photos.

Cubeman
05-09-2013, 04:05 PM
Yeah it's a tailspot.

I'm thinking of getting one for my 37gal column sps tank to help with algae control. Any issues with polyp nipping and do they actually 'work'.

lastlight
05-09-2013, 04:56 PM
they graze all day. compared to my yellow tang he doesn't accomplish a ton but he does eat a lot of algae. the two i've had never really touched the longer pieces.

i have also heard they can be polyp nippers but i've loved both of mine and had no issues.

lastlight
05-21-2013, 03:56 AM
I think I'm done adding fish to the aquarium. Yesterday I finally found a black leopard wrasse. He was eating mysis 5 min after I added him!

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/black1.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/black2.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/black3.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/black4.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/black5.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/black6.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/black7.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/black8.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/black9.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/black10.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/black11.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/black12.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/black13.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/black14.jpg

kien
05-21-2013, 04:39 AM
Looking good boss. That blue dragon looks killer photobombing the wrasse there LOL. Also, let me know when you like me to take that wrasse off your hands.

duncangweller
05-21-2013, 05:29 AM
Looks really good. I'm a huge fan of your fish selection.

Good job

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

mseepman
05-21-2013, 05:53 AM
Wow, great shots! Your tank is looking so nice!

I just got a Leopard similar to the second one you pictured. I didn't know multiple leopards could be in the same tank. Do they bother each other?

lastlight
05-21-2013, 01:33 PM
Thx guys. The leopards could care less about each other. They actually both ignore everyone.

riceboy
05-21-2013, 01:40 PM
hmmm interesting i see some sunny ds and rastas lol

we need to do a trade lol

Delphinus
05-21-2013, 03:35 PM
Wowl that black leopard looks awesome. The fish all look great, neat assortment/spectrum of patterns and colours in there..

freezetyle
05-21-2013, 03:57 PM
That square spot looks huge! great looking additions

lastlight
05-21-2013, 04:11 PM
thanks guys. yeah i'm really happy with the mix of colours and i've got a little swimming action in all areas of the tank which is nice. It's actually quite a busy little display now and I'm spending far too much time camped in front of it lol.

the squarespot is smaller than my old one but he knows how to pose like a boss that's for sure. i never had luck getting my female to eat in the 400 but this one is a little pig and the male actually followed her example.

Delphinus
05-21-2013, 04:44 PM
Oh, that's good news!

I've been wanting to try some anthias myself but I'm sorta torn on which ones. I like the squarespot (squareback? whatever they're called), I like the lyretails (squamipinnis), I like the bicolors ... well OK I like them all. Hardly ever see the bicolors available though.

lastlight
05-21-2013, 04:47 PM
I came so close to pulling the trigger on a lyretail pair but had that hard moment with myself where i admitted my tank is already too small to house the squarespots i already have lol. it was right after that moment that i took another gander through the tanks and found black beauty =)

kien
05-21-2013, 07:23 PM
Wowl that black leopard looks awesome. The fish all look great, neat assortment/spectrum of patterns and colours in there..

TRANSLATION: So when are you upgrading??

chef
05-21-2013, 10:27 PM
I've got the same cube. With a mp40 blasting in wave mode, a vertex 150 omega and coast to coast overflow I find it magical!!

lastlight
05-21-2013, 10:52 PM
I've got the same cube. With a mp40 blasting in wave mode, a vertex 150 omega and coast to coast overflow I find it magical!!

congrats nicely done!

JDigital
05-22-2013, 05:20 AM
TRANSLATION: So when are you upgrading??

Or downgrading.. you never know which direction brett will go!

Looks really good buddy. Wrasses looks awesome

kien
05-22-2013, 03:18 PM
..you never know which direction brett will go!

Brett swings both ways. Trust me, I know.

kien
05-22-2013, 03:18 PM
Brett swings both ways. Trust me, I know.

Wait, what?!

JDigital
05-23-2013, 01:56 PM
Wait, what?!

Brett gets around.. It's common knowledge. :razz:

lastlight
06-06-2013, 08:53 PM
speaking of getting around...

someone finally got around to getting rid of all the big glass down here! my kids can't wait to see the stand gone so they can play down here again.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/404.jpg

kien
06-06-2013, 10:15 PM
sorry about the chunks out of your foam board there.. I was really hungry after that run and I really didn't want eat any lizard food.

chi
06-07-2013, 06:06 PM
X

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 4 Beta

lastlight
06-07-2013, 06:43 PM
X

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Thx man. I appreciate the kind letter :)

ChizerBunoi
06-08-2013, 02:17 AM
Wow Brett finally made it through your journal. Looks amazing. I really like the way it fits into your living room. And that aquascape is fabulous, much better than a colored wall.

What are you running in your media reactor? GFO and Carbon?

I love this fish. Never seen it before until now.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/black11.jpg

gregzz4
06-08-2013, 03:35 AM
Man, I finally get a minute to check in on your thread, and there's no new tank shots :neutral:

lastlight
06-08-2013, 03:39 AM
Thx :)

As for my reactor I'm only running gfo in it now. Too messy to try and place rox carbon in there. I put a small amount of rox in each if my socks and weekly toss it when I clean them.

Gotta borrow inlaw daddy's macro again!

lastlight
06-08-2013, 04:14 AM
howzabout a new, crap quality and colour video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIP-mJkb0ks

daplatapus
06-08-2013, 04:14 AM
It says it's private you tease :D

lastlight
06-08-2013, 04:17 AM
It says it's private you tease :D

oops. fixed =)

daplatapus
06-08-2013, 04:21 AM
Thanks :D

That's cool, what is it?

lastlight
06-08-2013, 04:25 AM
Thanks :D

That's cool, what is it?

black leopard wrasse wakes up around 2:30pm and comes out of the sand. I lucked out and only had to sit there shooting video for 60 seconds.

b09u5
06-08-2013, 09:58 PM
Seriously cool. I had no idea. Is it just the black leopard that does that, or do other wrasses do the same?

gregzz4
06-09-2013, 12:20 AM
Great vid Brett

Whether planned or sheer luck, I love it :smile:

lastlight
06-09-2013, 02:20 AM
All leopards do and possibly others. Can't recall if my old melanarus did but I don't think so.

As for the video I knew roughly when she gets up but I got lucky. Had only sat down and started filming a random patch of sand for less than a minute.

Proteus
06-09-2013, 02:34 AM
Coris wrasse and fairy wrasse do also

gregzz4
06-09-2013, 03:07 AM
As for the video I knew roughly when she gets up but I got lucky. Had only sat down and started filming a random patch of sand for less than a minute.
Mhmm, a likely story

Honestly though, I'd love to even 'see' my coris go to bed, nevermind seeing him come out in the morning

Great shot dude :wink:

lastlight
06-09-2013, 05:53 AM
I've got an orange back fairy so you're saying he sleeps in the sand as well? Totally had no idea I'm going to watch the tank tomorrow evening and see! Forgot about the coris. I had one and yes he def did bury himself too. It's pretty easy to see them go in if you happen to be around the tank to see the plume of sand go up when they dive. My meleagris is so small though that her rip entry never gives her away.

And Greg that coris is going to totally renovate that little tank of yours as it grows. You're housing a future beast there.

Proteus
06-09-2013, 01:31 PM
Not sure of all fairy wrasses. My lineatus and red margin wrasses did

Myka
06-09-2013, 01:54 PM
Awesome video! It's interesting littl things like that which make this hobbby so attractive to me.

fishytime
06-09-2013, 05:28 PM
most fairy wrasses sleep in the rocks and spin a cocoon

Proteus
06-09-2013, 05:38 PM
I knew parrot fish did that but not wrasse. Cool though

chi
06-09-2013, 09:09 PM
Niceeee. The rock work is sick

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 4 Beta

lastlight
06-15-2013, 06:12 AM
Here's another really short clip. I spotted my Palau Nephthea briefly shut all it's polyps perhaps in response to particulates in the water. After shooting for a few minutes it did it again. My light was at 2% power so the quality is pretty poor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQHHOtCtG-E

Reef Pilot
06-15-2013, 12:33 PM
Palau Nephthea
Aka kenya tree?

lastlight
06-15-2013, 03:17 PM
Aka kenya tree?

No this coral is the one rumoured to be extinct in the wild although I'm not sure I believe that. It is neon green and in my opinion far more attractive.

noy
06-22-2013, 11:07 AM
awesome tanks and amazing shots of the fish

lastlight
06-22-2013, 07:11 PM
awesome tanks and amazing shots of the fish

Thanks! I haven't seen my orange back fairy wrasses for 2 days now hopefully he's in hiding for some reason...

I snapped these literally 5 min before I evacuated with my family thursday. not the greatest and the lights were very dimmed but good enough:

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/flood3.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/flood1.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/flood2.jpg

Skimmerking
06-22-2013, 07:54 PM
ya its ok brett yours isn't like Kien's thou with fast running water and no power

christyf5
06-22-2013, 09:16 PM
Glad your family and tanks weathered the storm well. I was wondering how things went for you :biggrin:

kien
06-22-2013, 10:49 PM
Looks good and glad to see everything made it through. Thanks for helping me keep sane over the past couple of days!

lastlight
06-23-2013, 12:21 AM
Looks good and glad to see everything made it through. Thanks for helping me keep sane over the past couple of days!

I made sure to not call when I was crying for you.

#CanreefStrong

christyf5
06-23-2013, 12:36 AM
I made sure to not call when I was crying for you.

#CanreefStrong


:lol:

lastlight
06-25-2013, 04:19 AM
my tank is nothing but little sticks for the most part so my group shots are somewhat sparse but i'm without a macro at the moment so here's a few:

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/flood4.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/flood5.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/flood6.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/flood7.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/flood8.jpg

mrhasan
06-25-2013, 04:23 AM
http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/flood5.jpg


I have this one in my system. Possibly the fastest grower among acropora and it coloring up very nicely in the middle of my tank. What is it called?

And glad to see that your tank has hold up against the power outage and everyone in your family is safe :)

Rice Reef
06-25-2013, 04:26 AM
Sps looks great, even better in six months!

lastlight
06-25-2013, 05:05 AM
I have this one in my system. Possibly the fastest grower among acropora and it coloring up very nicely in the middle of my tank. What is it called?

And glad to see that your tank has hold up against the power outage and everyone in your family is safe :)

I'm assuming you mean the middle one not the ponape bird's nest? I got it from Snappy and I believe it's a purple valida. I got it coloured down and have had it better than it is now... needs more time I guess! it is growing well now though.

Sps looks great, even better in six months!

Yeah it's amazing what 6 months can do for small frags. they get a bunch of branches which start growing branches... and the rest is an buttload of brs chemicals.

michaelis88
06-25-2013, 06:38 AM
Very nice acan selection u got there

daplatapus
06-25-2013, 01:49 PM
Your tank looks really nice. Did you ever find your orange back fairy wrasses?

lastlight
06-25-2013, 02:55 PM
Very nice acan selection u got there

Thanks I wish there were unique and interesting acans for sale more often. so i could have less money in my wallet lol.

Your tank looks really nice. Did you ever find your orange back fairy wrasses?

Thanks.

No the wrasse appears to be gone. I have a screen top and my only cleanup crew is a pair of peppermint shrimp. I have no idea why I haven't found any traces of the poor guy. Maybe wrasses can die in their sleep (under the sand) ?

ChizerBunoi
06-25-2013, 03:09 PM
Do you have to move all those corals on the ground to vacuum the sand bed?

Sorry to hear about the wrasse. Maybe he made a cocoon around himself and is attached to the rocks somewhere?

lastlight
06-25-2013, 03:19 PM
No I just vacuum around them as best I can. As things grow in I'm going to be able to vacuum less and less. A lot of sand is sorta under overhangs etc.

JDigital
06-25-2013, 07:45 PM
Are you using Acan Plus?

You Acans are puking polyps!

Tanks looks awesome.. better than my dismal water filled cube of glass..

lastlight
06-25-2013, 08:10 PM
Are you using Acan Plus?

You Acans are puking polyps!

Tanks looks awesome.. better than my dismal water filled cube of glass..

Thanks man. Yeah I started up again with the Acan Plus once I knew I had the hair algae under control. I'm feeding 2-3 times per week and the colours and appearance of the acans have really improved. Some of my zoas and palys love the stuff too especially the candy apple reds and the sunny d's. their growth rates have increased as well as their coloration.

I bought another kent squirt thingy for dosing but the device is really annoying. When you submerge a 24" tube partially filled with the food into the water you need to expertly manage the pressure on the bulb to keep water from forcing its way in diluting the food. No matter what this almost always happens so I'm planning on rigging my own device with a syringe or seeing if I can get my hands on Julian's Thing (http://reefbuilders.com/2011/09/10/julians-thing-2/).

lastlight
07-07-2013, 06:31 AM
Photo dump!

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro1.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro2.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro3.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro4.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro5.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro6.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro7.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro8.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro9.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro10.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro11.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro12.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro13.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro14.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro15.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro16.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro17.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro18.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro19.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro20.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro21.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro22.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro23.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro24.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro25.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro26.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro27.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro28.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro29.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro30.jpg

lastlight
07-07-2013, 06:31 AM
http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro31.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro32.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro33.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro34.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro35.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro36.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro37.jpg

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/macro38.jpg

thmh
07-07-2013, 02:53 PM
Wow lights that's some sexy pictures, so I see you put away your camera phone and brought out the big boy ehhh!

~Tony

Reef Pilot
07-07-2013, 03:45 PM
I am jealous indeed,... I need to get a proper camera...

kien
07-07-2013, 04:52 PM
Killer pics man! Can you mentor me on how to take these cinematic photos?

Delphinus
07-07-2013, 04:58 PM
Yeah, wow! :eek:

fishoholic
07-07-2013, 05:05 PM
Great pics!

noy
07-08-2013, 03:13 AM
awesome pics - what are your camera/lens and settings?

lastlight
07-08-2013, 03:50 AM
Thanks guys.

Was shooting manual on a nikon d80 with a 105mm macro. I don't really know a whole lot about camera speak but it was set to F22. For white balance I just set my camera to 9900K bulb and it comes out very close to true.

b09u5
07-08-2013, 03:52 AM
Killer pics! Unreal! Nice work!

michika
07-08-2013, 05:02 AM
Thanks guys.

Was shooting manual on a nikon d80 with a 105mm macro. I don't really know a whole lot about camera speak but it was set to F22. For white balance I just set my camera to 9900K bulb and it comes out very close to true.

Very very nice.


FYI you can make your own "Julian's Thing" with some stiffer tubing and a 5ml syringe from the pharmacy. Just fit the tube over the end of the syringe and voila. I've done it for years now to spot feed. Cheap, and easy to replace or customize for food size.

JDigital
07-08-2013, 03:22 PM
Wow.. Photo's look fantastic.

I'm jealous of your SPS. I never really had a problem keeping SPS in the past, but I can't for the life of me keep any piece I buy these days alive in either of my tanks. :sad: What's your secret?

lastlight
07-08-2013, 03:43 PM
Thx Josh.

No secret really and while my relatively small collection is for the most part growing, most of the pieces are not yet very coloured up at this point. I find it always takes me a long time to get sps settled and i've never had many pieces reach the potential that other reefers reach.

As for my system it is quite basic.

- Mitras (~13k, 71% power) light ramps up / down for 2 hours. Full intensity for 6 hrs.
- DD H2Ocean with weekly 10 - 15 gallon changes
- reactor with gfo
- 2 filter socks with a bit of carbon in them. cleaned out weekly
- filter foam on top of socks which i rinse off a few times per week
- skimmer cup emptied once a week
- food added is NLS pellets, Pacifica Plankton and Acan Plus

Back wall of the tank was of course all dead rock. It leached a lot of nutrients but I think it's pretty settled now. Rest of the rock was live.

I turkey baste the tank thoroughly at least once per week. The coral looks very happy when I do this!

sphelps
07-08-2013, 03:51 PM
This is your best build thread for pics so far! Can't wait to see the next one.

lastlight
07-08-2013, 03:58 PM
This is your best build thread for pics so far! Can't wait to see the next one.

Lol thx. Next one meaning next round of pics right?

reefwars
07-08-2013, 04:15 PM
Brett come take some pics for me lol ill give you zoos for pics as mine suck lol :pp

sphelps
07-08-2013, 04:31 PM
Lol thx. Next one meaning next round of pics right?

Sure...

chef
07-08-2013, 04:53 PM
Just reading your specs and didn't notice any dosing.If ya use h2ocean salt and regular water changes, is that sufficient? Nice job btw.

JDigital
07-08-2013, 04:55 PM
For a comparison I've bolded my 62G system..

Thx Josh.

As for my system it is quite basic.

Check - I'm very similar in schedule, with a varying K rating- Mitras (~13k, 71% power) light ramps up / down for 2 hours. Full intensity for 6 hrs.
Check - Same Salt although very different WC schedule....- DD H2Ocean with weekly 10 - 15 gallon changes
Check - Same- reactor with gfo
Negative- 2 filter socks with a bit of carbon in them. cleaned out weekly
Negative- filter foam on top of socks which i rinse off a few times per week
No comment - My skimmer isn't performing well at all- skimmer cup emptied once a week
I use PE Mysis, Pacifica..- food added is NLS pellets, Pacifica Plankton and Acan Plus

Back wall of the tank was of course all dead rock. It leached a lot of nutrients but I think it's pretty settled now. Rest of the rock was live. I'm starting to think the Live Rock is a major factor vs a 100% Dry Macro

I turkey baste the tank thoroughly at least once per week. The coral looks very happy when I do this!


Beside the LR you added we are not so far off in comparison, which only frustrates me more. :lol: I should likely increase my WC schedule.. I do 20G once per month compared to your 40-54G per month.

In the end.. Keep up for the good work, based on your photos you're doing all the right things. :wink:

lastlight
07-08-2013, 04:58 PM
Just reading your specs and didn't notice any dosing.If ya use h2ocean salt and regular water changes, is that sufficient? Nice job btw.

I balance the major 3 as well sorry forgot to mention that. I dose BRS chems for Ca and Alk. My Mg is always spot on.

Rice Reef
07-08-2013, 11:42 PM
Just had a chance to catch up on your recent reef porn and man, looking awesome there!

Skimmerking
07-09-2013, 12:34 AM
looks good man

lastlight
07-21-2013, 09:32 PM
Thanks guys. Here's a new piece I picked up yesterday. Fiji Green Pipe Organ.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/pipe.jpg

thmh
07-22-2013, 01:08 AM
purty!!!:D

JDigital
07-31-2013, 08:22 PM
Isn't it about time to start tearing this tank down, selling all the gear off and trying a different size tank? :mrgreen:

lastlight
07-31-2013, 08:37 PM
Isn't it about time to start tearing this tank down, selling all the gear off and trying a different size tank? :mrgreen:

sorta growing bored of that so i'm trying something new this time =)

sphelps
07-31-2013, 08:52 PM
It's disgusting how good your pictures are now

kien
07-31-2013, 09:15 PM
It's the new and improved lastlight.

letsdiscus
09-12-2013, 04:11 AM
Hi,
Beautiful pics of the tank and mitras. I have a similar tank in making with GHL Mitras which is pending to be hooked up. Can u pls advise what type of screw u used to fix in the hanging bolt provided by GHL.

lastlight
09-12-2013, 06:32 AM
thanks!

i just used regular wood screws to first secure a piece of plywood to my ceiling. then the same screws to anchor the fixture into the plywood.

JDigital
09-12-2013, 03:23 PM
Photo update soon?

lastlight
09-12-2013, 05:39 PM
nothing too exciting happening in my tank. need to work on colour and growth!

JDigital
09-12-2013, 05:59 PM
nothing too exciting happening in my tank. need to work on colour and growth!

Join the club... :neutral: Any of you SPS bleached out under the GHL? I'm still struggling with some pieces.