Not his best photo. I'm sure he is green wennerae. He hasn't gotten any bigger in quite some time.

You're right, I won't be able to target feed. I'm hoping that they will choose to hunt hermit crabs. It is no problem to dump a few hundred hermits in there from time to time. Combined with the existing crab population, that's my feeding plan. To my knowledge, I don't know anyone else who has tried this.

The 400 will be mostly sandy bottom.

The tank temp dropped to 76.5 last night. Looking at the history, the tank temp has been falling slowly ever since I had to shut off the two CL to prevent sand storm a few days ago.

Clearly, my 2 x 250W heaters can't cut it on their own and need the heat from all the pumps and lights in order to keep the temperature up.

Temperature in the fish room this morning was 68 degrees.

This all bodes well for maybe not needing a chiller...

MHs are going on today for 4 hours or so. It will be interesting to see what affect they have on room temperature.

More pics man, lol. Im dying to see the progress on this bad boy.

Love the rockwork and bar rail!! I had the same sort of plan for my next tank! You have executed every detail perfectly, im very impressed!

I think you need to invest in a few more heaters just incase, that big of a tank you don't want to risk anything.

Great work, keep it up.

I just ordered a single 500W Finnex titanium. That will increase my total heater wattage from 500W to 750W.

The good (OK, GREAT) people of JL were able to double-check a water test and they confirmed what I suspected...my ammonia test kit was too old and it simply wasn't working at all. (Thanks!!) I certainly have ammonia present, so my tank cycling is well underway. Yeah!

I did an immediate 40 gallon water change, even though none of the tank's few inhabitants are showing any stress. (Mantis haven't lost their appetite!)

I've also got to find out some way of preventing sand from being sucked up into the CL intakes. It's OK now that everything has settled down, but if any sand gets stirred up, there's nothing preventing it from being sucked into the CL. I've already had one of the 4-ways jam up from getting some sand in it. A 6"L x 4"W x 2"D piece of sponge over the inlet worked well until I just caught one of the sponges before it got completely sucked into the intake. I need some sort of combination of strainer and sponge. Maybe a sponge wrapped around a strainer with zip ties...but I would like something more elegant than that. I've got some new strainers on the way to experiment with.

i have 350gal with 4x250w heaters that work well.Id rather have 1 too many in case 1 fails

If you "T" off the intake of your closed loop then each end of the "T" will have less preasure draw. His will help with the sand issue. It's not pretty but it works. Also I had Paul @ OM mod my drum so that the drum was full width on the edges but in the middle it is about 2mm narrower. this way sand passes freely through the unit. I havn't needed to pull my OM 4-way appart in 8 or 9 months.

J

I had heard that you had some trouble with sand in your four ways...but never heard your solution. Here's a reason to take your 4-way apart...so you can show me a photo! I'm imagining the drum as a concave shape....From the side, it looks like ")("....?

I had been thinking about the "T" on the intakes...That would really increase the amount of plumbing in the tank. If it all can be hidden behind the rocks, it might be OK.

Ya Mine looks like crap but it is nesessary
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...05-1Medium.jpg

your right the drum looks like ")(" and works really well. What version are you running? I might have a spare

J

They are version 3's.

With not too much else to look at in the tank, I've been entertained by the two mantis. One larger, red one...and one smaller green one. (same species, I'm sure). Just as I began to think they might actually enjoy each other's company, there was a big snapping tussle and the smaller one took off out of the rock like a shot! No harm seems to have been done....this time.

They still share the same rock. (they don't have any choice, but it is a pretty large rock with lots of holes) It would seem that occasionally they end up in the same place at the same time....

This is the larger of the two. I suppose the most interesting thing about this picture is that it is taken through 1" plexi and 6 feet of water. You can also see a large orange tunicate that probably isn't going to make it...
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/100_0187.jpg

Killing time, waiting for cycle to complete....

I don't know about having all the mantises that you think in the tank. Best get rid of a few while you can still catch them. :wink:

And I have just the home for big red there. :biggrin:

You'll probably get a few more with the new shipment of LR too. My bet is that there will be a few deaths. A researcher on these guys said that although mantids can live together sometimes in the wild, they're usually different more docile species. N. wennerae are just too aggressive. Still, a couple might decide to live with eachother with only a few ritualised tussles.

Supplies/Hardware
 

I'm a little late on the reply but...... Princess Auto has all sorts of tools that you can usually pickup at Home Depot, Rona etc. They're at United Blvd & King Edward. Awesome prices and they've got tons of piping too. Highly recommend them for all sorts of project supplies. The Langley location's closer so I usually go there.

www.princessauto.com

Looking forward to a tank tour if the opportunity comes up :lol: Watching this project has helped me pass the time while I wait to get rock for my 75 Gal.

Keep up the GREAT work,

-Tony

Ha..ha..duly noted.

Once the rest of the rock starts coming in, I imagine that the little guy will find a safer home. You're next in line to get wayward mantis..es. If you want them...I think I saw over 100 posts from you on the mantis forum of RC!

I'd really like to see your close loop design, anyway you can post some diagrams/photos? Or perhaps describe the layout, # of intake/outlet, position and gph per outlet. Really admire your setup!

As the Dart is rated at 3600gph with 0 head, I expect I'm pretty close to 3000gph through each CL depending on friction loss. 2" pipe to the pump, 1.5" output from the pump, 4x1" outlets from the 4-way.

You might refer to page 2 of this thread for more detail, including pictures of the pumps, 4-ways and back intakes/outlets.

Here's a flow diagram of the 2 closed loops. This is a top view, so you can see the position of the tank bottom outlets. Red/Green fire together, then purple/brown. The one grey line coming straight down from the right loop is actually at tank drain. Arrows show direction of flow through the loop..NOT the direction of water in the tank or the direction that the outlets point. Little triangles are union ball valves.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...Ltopview-5.jpg

As the 4-ways rotate, the 2 back wall outlets all fire at the same time, then the tank bottom outlets fire. This pushes water forward and generally downward, then upward and back toward the overflows. The idea is to create a "rolling effect". It would have worked even better if I had placed the "red" outlets closer to the front of the tank, but I couldn't stand to look at them there.

This also has the effect of blowing the sand/detritus toward the front of the tank...which will keep stuff out from under the rockwork and up front where I can see it and clean it out.

seriously?! thank you so much, I would definitely appreciate some mantids! Actually I owe ticketyboo one. He reserved one for me even though he was looking to get one himself... so now he gets first dibs on anything i find.

lol yeah RC, that's me alright. RC is the best source for reliable mantis info. Dr. Roy is my hero. I felt that after taking so much info from there, I figured i should give back to the community... or something, lol.

hell id take a few mantises off your hands as well... .if youd be willing to ship them to edmonton

I have Nitrate - yeah!!
 

Yes... I have Nitrate at a level of at least 10ppm. Isn't that wonderful?!! Yes, it means that my cycle has completed. I'll double check on ammonia/nitrite tomorrow, but I don't think I'll find any.

Two loads of Live Rock, some fish and I'll have the start of a decent aquarium instead of just a big construction project...and...well...a bit of a nitrate hangover...

I got tired of removing the skimmer cup every time it got full....so I put this little modification on yesterday. A little 1/4 inch line with a valve on the end so that whenever the cup looks a little full, I can drain it without shutting down the skimmer.

I'll put one other bulkhead in as an emergency overflow. Emergency overflow will just fall back into the tank. If the cup gets too full, the skimmer starts percolating like a coffee maker.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/100_0188.jpg

Brilliant!!!

Sorry Brad finally took my OM appart. Been busy helping people move entire stores full of Photo labs :)

Here is my Modified drum
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g2...DSCF0002-1.jpg

Yes, I can see the difference in that drum. Paul should make that a standard issue. I suppose mine will eventually wear out and I'll have Paul make my new ones with the "McKenzie Mod".

Nothings good enough until you've modified it.
 

(**UPDATE**) The following mod was later removed from the filter screens because it clogged up nearly every day. Once the tank sand settled, there proved to be no need for these filters in any case. (**UPDATE**)

Here is the result of my DIY solution to preventing sand from going in the intakes of my CLs. I wanted to achieve 3 things:

1) Not make anything that was too ugly
2) Increase the surface area of the intake so as to reduce suction and make the intakes generally safer for critters and fish
3) Prevent sand from getting through

Here's the result. Original intake screen on the left, new modified screen on the right. Now...if only I could find black coarse foam.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/100_0122.jpg

I'll post more detailed photos on the DIY thread if anyone wants to see exactly how these were made. Here's the link to that thread:

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...136#post243136

Oh My GOSH, it looks so amazing. What more can I say, amazing.

Doug

I think that I can now say that I actually have an aquarium. Still no fish, but yesterday was a significant one. Another run to Seattle and I have my first load of real, aquacultured Live rock.

This is about 1/2 of the rock that I will need overall. I haven't done any kind of aquascaping...just get the rocks into the tank so they can recover from the trip.

Here's what the tank looks like as of a few minutes ago. Even with the rocks just laying around the bottom, the tank depth makes it quite visually interesting already. The tall gorgonians help out a lot.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/100_0124.jpg

Here's a closer shot of one of the rocks. It has a 20"+ coral growing on it. I think it is a gorgonian of some kind.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/100_0126.jpg

Here's a close up of that branching coral pictured above. Can anyone identify what this is?
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/100_0583.jpg

Here's another shot of another interesting rock. This one has about 15 good sized gorgonians (purple w/white, cream w/gold). They have had polyps extended since the moment they went into the tank. I need to do some research on care/feeding of gorgonians....
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/100_0125.jpg

Finally, identified hitch-hikers included about a dozon large crabs, countless starfish, 1 large hermit and about 6 small ones, at least 3 pistol shrimp, and this porcelin crab. No mantis were seen, but they are being heard!
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...n/100_0581.jpg

wow, yeah Id say you officially have an aquarium all right! im curious about that gorgonian too... very pretty.

:mrgreen:
Tamed that is looking really awesome man. now you want to get a picture of the misses in the tank NOW!!!!!!!!

you didnt need a permit to bring the rock over the border.

Permits?
 

No permits needed to drive to the US, pick up and drive back across....there are taxes involved, depending on the customs guy.......in the old days they said "what is live rock"?? but these days they have more experiance on the laws...and how to process a border crossing...Brad is the guy to ask!

Richard TBS:smile: :smile: :smile:

It has been my experience this far that they don't really understand what Live Rock is. (Why would they?) Now...I'm not going out of my way to explain it to them, either. I just answer the questions that they ask. "How long have you been in the US, What have you acquired?...How much is it worth?..."

When they ask, I just tell them that it is rock for my aquarium. You're not going to successfully explain how the biological filtration of a reef aquarium works to a border officer in 30 seconds...and you know...they don't really care...Sometimes, they'll sometimes ask a ton of questions, but they don't hear the answers. They just want to hear that you have answers.

They do struggle with how to classify it for importation purposes. The first time, they classified it as "sand" (because I did have some sand, as well). This time, it was classified as "limestone". Next time, I'll be bringing the previous paperwork and I'll be telling THEM how to classify it.

Either way, it is a product of the US and qualifies as duty-free. You pay your 6% GST and 7% PST and be on your way.

It's not the cheapest alternative, believe me...but the best rarely is.

Amazing score on those gorgs. If the polyps are brown or tan coloured then they will be photosynthetic in which case you're set. If non-photosynthetic well then you'll have to do a little work finding the right sized foods but if you can find that you should have some success with them.

How many lbs of rock is that so far (guesstimated) ?

One type of the gorgonia certainly has brown/tan polyps. I sure hope you are right about them being photosynthetic. That would make things much easier on them. I do have plans for this to be a heavily fed plankton tank, but I know that I'll never sustain corals that need to be target fed.

Somewhere between 150 and 200 lbs. By the time I'm done, there should be lots of free swimming and growth space left.

I'm not sure you really need to target feed the non-ps gorgs. I used to think so but now I wonder if as long as the right sized particles are being added to the water, they should be able to catch them.. (?? after all they're not target fed in the wild, but who knows). So you may need to experiment a little, like having a "feed mode" for a few minutes (or more) with subdued currents and so on. I'm just theorizing of course, I haven't had any long-term success with the non-ps gorgs as yet but I do have about 4 varieties of photosynthetic ones that seem to be doing well (I'm always on the lookout for other ps ones).

No idea on the ID of that funky gorg/mystery coral but the others look like they might be Muriceopsis flavida "purple plume gorgonian" (just a guess, I'm no expert).

.. I was going to link in a few pictures of the one I have (purple plume) but apparently my webspace has disappeared off Shaw ?? Weird. Well maybe another time, now I need to figure out where all my pictures I had uploaded have gone to ??

Phytoplankton
 

I came to realize quite late that I feeding a tank of this size with DTs was going to get a bit expensive...so, like any good addict, I decided to brew my own.

I rigged up this little baby from an empty salt pail. (in a few years, I might be able to build a garage from empty salt pails, and I'm looking for anyone who has a design to build an automobile from empty salt pails)

The light fooled my camera. It's not really this green. This device could make 6 litres per week of phytoplankton. I'm not sure how much I'll be need.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/100_0206.jpg

Here's the recipe I've used so far:

1 tbsp of DTs reefblend
2 L SW mixed to about 1.020
14 drops of concentrated plant food
1 ml of Kent essential elements
Continuous gentle bubbling
16 hours of light, 8 hours dark
Brew until dark

My first ever batch achieved this in 6 days. The colour of this photo is very accurate. My first brew isn't as green as I would prefer. On the final day, it began to take on a distinct red/yellow tinge. It is still very dark. It's possible that the colour is simply due to the the specific plankton that happen to multiply best from the DTs mix.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/100_0207.jpg

I've started another batch, using less plant food. I'm thinking that the first batch may have run out of food, so by cutting the food in half, I should see a dramatic result that will tell me what I need to do.

What did you use for food in your culture medium?

Schultz 8-14-9 African violet liquid plant food.

8% N
14% PO4
9% K2O (Potash)
.1% Fe
.05% Mn
.05% Zn

Hmmm, you know I just realized that I have an african violet that hasn't been looking too great lately. I think I'll give some to it!