Blog Comments

Every pic I've posted is from my own tank. The zoas are all in there, for now. I have a plague of zoa eating asterina stars that have wiped out some bright greens I have and now I think they're targeting those red ones. I just got a small harlequin shrimp to take care of them but he's hidden in the rock since the day I bought him. Thanks for the comment on the montis, some of them are coming out nicely.

Nice progress Mits! Man I was looking through your blog a bit ago, is that Zoa colonies all in your tank? And your Monti's are beautiful!

Thanks. My RBTA hasn't moved since he found his favorite spot like a year and a half ago, so I hope he follows suit in the new tank.

I just recently plumbed a frag tank into my existing system like you are. All I did was add new salt water to the frag tank and didn't see any shock to my system at all. Just keep an eye on all you levels (temp, salinity, alk, etc) and you should be fine. Just watch it for a good 30 mins to make sure the returns and drains are running at where you want them to.

As for the RBTA I think letting it roam around is a good idea before you put anything back in there. Just remember it will probably move later down the road. My GBTA was in the same spot for about 3 months before it started roaming again and now I can't find it. I like to make sure that it has somewhere that it can hide its foot, isn't getting blasted with flow and is getting enough light. When you put it in place it near where you want with your hand lightly over it so it doesn't float away and it should try to grasp onto the first thing it touches. Then just wait for it to stop moving. Good Luck!

That's pretty cool mits, going to look good in ya new tank! I wanted to avoid the stack- on look in my new setup too, but it's hard unless you do what your doing. I'm going to go with the islands look. You keep up the good work and continue to keep us posted. ;-)

That pegging idea is genius! I have rock waiting to go that I think I will start drilling now. This should be exciting.

Wow Mits, ya 55g looks awesome! I can't wait to see how ya new build looks with all of the stuff in the 55g.

Hey Mits, Happy Birthday Man, hope ya have a blessed day! I have used two part putty and it has worked well. You can get it from your LFS. This project is going to be very interesting to follow for sure.

I recently drilled a bunch of LR for zip ties and acrylic rods. I used a new Bosch hammer drill/masonary bit from Home Depot...the blue ones. It cut through like butter, and very fast. I just used the bit in my 3/8" Dewalt electric drill. I found that using the zip ties was a must and made the job go smoothly.

Krylon Fusion spray paint will work well if the surface is nice and dry. Let it cure for at least 24 hours before getting it wet. Keep in mind if you paint it entirely, you won't see the air pocket forming in the apex of the tube. You might consider putting some tape over an area prior to painting so you have a small window to verify it is working right.

You can't drill tempered glass, and if you don't know if the walls are drillable and can't verify with the manufacturer, then skip it. Drilling glass is easy, and takes about 5 minutes per hole. I've taken pictures and documented the process before, but I'll have to put something together for this site in the near future. You can buy the bits on Ebay for cheap, or order them online. Some LFS have them for sale - I saw every size possible at a store in Phoenix, AZ last year. And a ton of bulkheads too. How handy is that?

Rigid airline tubing is sold in 30" sticks at Petco and Petsmart. It is usually 3/16" wide, so a 1/4" hole about 1.5" deep should suffice. You can observe the pegging method if you go to www.reefvideos.com and click on the matching video.

Rock can be glued together, tied together, wedged together, and two-part putty'd together. Any and all of those will do the job in most cases.

It never hurts to put foam under a tank. It helps level the system slightly and removes and high spots that might apply pressure (screw or nail tip) that is just ever-so-slightly exposed.

Also, there's no rim on the bottom of the 50, just glass. Do I need to add a piece of foam under it? I see it in many build threads and am curious as to it's necessity.

Thanks for the feedback. I am already using a HOB overflow and am used to it. I planned on shading the u-tube somehow (will krylon fusion work? will it break down if submerged?) and I got a new overflow for free with the 90. I fully anticipated drilling it but I really don't have another chance at grabbing a 90 if I would break it. There is a sticker under the bottom glass that says it's tempered, and I'm assuming it's only the bottom, but I don't want to take any chances. I also don't know where to get a decent hole saw for it that's not expensive and I've never drilled glass. If I can get those issues resolved, I'm all over it. I like the pegging idea for frags, do you know the correct bit size for the airline tubing? Any ideas for sticking the rock together during aquascaping? I'm thinking either zip ties or a pvc frame. My days of stacking it and hoping for the best are done.

Feedback is what you asked for, so feedback is what you will get:

I like it! That's going to be a fun setup to see evolve.

If you drill some smaller holes in the LR prior to putting it in the tank, you can use the "pegging technique" to place new frags in your tank easily, and be able to move them to different locations as you see fit. Pegging is a system of gluing corals to rigid airline tubing, and you stick that airline tubing in one of the many holes you drilled.

The HOB overflow is one you will have to keep an eye on to make sure it is working correctly every day, and shade it to avoid nuisance algae build-up. Do you not want to drill the tank so you can put in some permanent drains instead, now that you are doing this massive changeover?

There's an MP40w sitting here that will be in a future Reef Addicts contest... start crossing those fingers, I guess. LOL

Originally Posted by melev

Crown Royal Reserve or Cask 16, either one is amazing right out of the bottle like a smooth brandy. No ice, no coke, just room temperature - sipped, no swigged of course.

Truer words have never been spoken! Only down-side to Cask-16 (which is my FAV) is the price! The first time I tried it I got it "On the Rocks" and that's the only drink I had from the bar. It was opening night for a new restaraunt and when I went to pay my bar-bill he said, "That will be $27". Well I stated "No that's not right.. I only had one drink... something's mixed up." He replied, "That IS for just one drink of Cask-16. If you're gonna DRINK big you're gonna PAY big!"

For what it's worth I thought you were a "she" at first but something you said the other day made me stop and look at your avatar a lil closer and THEN I realized that was a child in the picture LOL!

I think we need to see a bigger version of your avatar. At least I do. Or change it to Jessica Alba. That works for me as well.

Crown Royal Reserve or Cask 16, either one is amazing right out of the bottle like a smooth brandy. No ice, no coke, just room temperature - sipped, no swigged of course.

Maybe I should get some Crown Royal for the pain...I've never had any of that, you know.

It's ok Melev, I never was looking for pity. I posted more because it's funny than anything. I told the Dr. that the thing I hurt worst was my pride. I have used a table saw, circular saw, power sander, rotozip, router and rockwell oscillating saw so far during this project with zero issues. But what happens when I improvise a way to clear a glue applicator? I skewer my hand. I've called myself an idiot at least 50 times. And yeah, that person on the left of my pic with the facial hair? That's me. Not the 1 year old on the right you may have mistaken for a woman...?????????

So now that you know the plumbing behind the leak it's a haha stupid *** moment?

I'm ok with that lol (I never thought you were a girl though lol)

I'm done feeling sorry for you Mits.

What? you thought any gal would be dumb enough to stab themselves opening a bottle of glue? Heck, the ladies are smart enough to hand it to a guy to do that.