Jahmic's Tasty Cubed Reef Recipe

jahmic

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
I wish I could!

I'm renting now, and no basement here. Space in general is an issue, and fitting 100 gallons of water in my home was a small miracle in itself :p
 

jahmic

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
jahmic;310175 said:
Actually...after thinking this through I'll either have to run the other tank off a separate return pump, or get a larger return and consider re-plumbing the current setup to accommodate the 2nd tank.

I went through my "what if" worst case scenarios, and using the closed loop to pump water into the 2nd tank introduces a bit of a risk. If the return on the main display fails and the closed loop keeps running...water will be diverted away from the main tank and into the 60p...which will be sending water to the sump shared by both tanks. It'd only be a matter of time before the tank emptied completely and the sump overflowed.

So scratch that idea, lol. I'll try to figure out a way to get this all plumbed together within a reasonable budget...but I may put that part of the build on hold if it requires too much more equipment.
Any thoughts on this? I'm wondering if I should try to get a slightly larger return and split the line so that it can be used for both tanks...or if it'd be better to run a separate submersible pump as a return for the smaller tank. Since the tank I'd be adding is only 18 gallons...I'm also wondering if I'd be able to use a Y-connection on the current return pump I have without causing any problems with the current build.
 

Mermaid Gardens

Anthias
M.A.S.C Club Member
Looks great so far.
 

jahmic

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
Dr.HarlemTutu;310370 said:
That's cutting it close. Maybe a bugger pump would be better. Or a small 2nd return if you have the room.
I may have room for another pump. Right now...I have a couple maxijets running the UV sterilizer and carbon reactor. I'd like to make an attempt to cut down on the number of pumps...maybe I could find a submersible pump capable of running the reactor, UV sterilizer, and act as a return for the 2nd tank?

Is that a crazy thought? I'm thinking a small manifold to split the output from the pump into 3 lines with a couple ball valves inline would do the trick. I need about 350gph between the UV and carbon reactor...just need to figure out what the overflow on the ADA is rated for and figure out a new pump.

Mermaid Gardens;310377 said:
Looks great so far.
Thanks :) After a few weeks of renewed frustration with green hair algae, I'm starting to win the battle and enjoy the tank again lol
 

jahmic

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
Well..I've been slacking on updates quite a bit. I have probably 100s of pics from the summer to sift through and upload...and I just remembered I took pics of Ric's tank that I never edited and uploaded. Work has been a bit busy lately...to say the least. :ballchain:


Anyway, in the meantime, figured I'd just post up and share the fact that I've made the switch to halides. Went with a Lumatek electronic ballast, lumenmax elite reflector, and 250W DE phoenix 14k. The light-spill will take some getting used to...but I'm looking forward to seeing what differences I see with the tank. I'll take and post pics to track the progress. :)

My camera's battery is dead...so here's a quick preview til later this week.

 

jahmic

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
The way things are mounted now...lowering it will require a trip to the hardware store, or more holes in the wall :p

It's in the plans, just figured I'd keep it a bit high for now to see how things acclimate.
 

jahmic

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
Probably long overdue for an update...

The tank has been doing great under halides. I've been feeding fairly heavily, and went to a once every 4-6 week water change schedule for a while. The downside is that it caused a GHA outbreak...although I really didn't care too much since the tank is filled with nems and the algae gave someplace for the pods to hide. On the plus side...my wrasses love the extra pods, and my BTAs are looking pretty great these days. :)

Oh yea...and also my rock nems apparently had a spawning event that went unnoticed until now!



Found this little guy hiding in the back corner of the tank...it's tiny. That's a trochus snail shell in the background. I'll be keeping a close look to see if any more pop up, BUT...this one may have just been a lone survivor since it popped up in a very low flow area of the tank where detritus tends to collect. My initial thoughts are that this one just ended up in the right spot and any others may have either not gotten enough food...or may have been swept away since I had previously kept a decent amount of flow across the rest of my sandbed.

I should have a large pic update on the rest of the tank over the weekend :)
 
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jahmic

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
Thanks. Even if it's just one nem...I'm pretty stoked. This was the one long term goal I hadn't yet reached with this tank. Got it done just in time since the tank will probably only be running another couple months :(
 

jahmic

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
Hmm...I haven't fed my rock nems in a while. Maybe I'll see if more are hiding. It's possible the one I found wandered off further than the others.

It has pretty well defined color now. I never noticed it under the halides, but put some LEDs over the tank yesterday. I immediately saw the tiny red glow in the sandbed. The tentacles are red and the oral disc (which you can't see in the pic) appears to be reddish gold right now with black stripes running across. I'll see if I can get a better shot top-down with the macro lens on the camera this weekend.
 
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