Joe's Wet Dream, A 550 Gallon Work In Progress

[Jobiwan]

Hey Jason, I get about an inch of real thick goo every few days, that's when I clean it, it's due, I'll take a pic before I clean it, I haven't tried to tweek it, I kinda like the thick goo thing, probably not optimal though I suppose. Those are fish I've had in my frag tanks since my 180 tear down, most of whom I have had for 3 or 4 years, we raised the Naso from a little 2 inch pup, I never much liked Naso's, my wife picked it out, but it has really grown on me, he basically rules the tank, but in a benign sort of way. He really digs the swimming room and the current, he "surf's" on the CL currents, cool to watch, great exercise for the fish.

 

[chrisjet]

wow, just read through your entire thread - Absolutley amazing, you must be proud and maybe a little stressed. That is probably the most amazing system I have ever seen in a residence! Great Job

 

[Jobiwan]

Thanks, that feels good to hear those kind of compliments, I was very fortunate to have the best folks around, Clear Fabrications & Veralte Aquatics, put this together for me. Please stay tuned, I'll have some great pics once the hood is done and the installation is complete, just to pull a date out of my butt I'll say January 15th will be the big day.

 

[brady816]

thanks for the pics of the fish and the rockwork and the corals Looking very good man!!!!!! Keep the updates rolling out

 

[Jobiwan]

Bubble King 300

Jason, ask and you shall receive, for my initials are JC. Here is a pic of the BK 300 and a couple of closeups of the foam, you can see that the foam is breaking just at the bottom of the neck of the skimmer, for the most part it just idles along like that, I may tweak it a bit, but I'm not sure if I need to, time to hit the Zeovit site. It must be doing something, just did my water tests, NO3- 0 PO4- 0 Ca++ 430 ppm, Alk 2.4 meq, or there abouts....
.
.

.
.

.
.

 

[Bricky]

Joe, you should try it with the foam about a quarter to half way up the neck of the cup. To do this you just need to turn the top portion of the return pipe. There is a wedge cut out that limits the return of water to sump here.

If you need more help let me know. I could also take pics if you need them.

 

[Jobiwan]

Thanks Matt, I'll try that, appreciate it, I'll pick your brain more sometime. Beautiful job you're doing, Is your hood & stand back from the powder coaters yet?

 

[Jobiwan]

I've got the BK just about wide open now Matt, It produced about 1/2 inch of dark skimmate while I was dialing it up, it's not producing now, must have got everything out, it's really whipping up the water though...

 

[Scooterman]

We need to run a Long (really Long) Pipe to my sump from that skimmer, I think it is about time to do some cleaning being that it isn't so busy you know!

 

[vwmoneypit]

Wow Loooooking Goodcant Wait To Set Up My Refuge

 

[Jobiwan]

I just took 3 lbs. of chaeto out, sold it on eBay for $30.00, I'll be exporting aroud 3 to 5 pounds a month, as soon as I can get my production up to 10,000 pounds/month I'll be on easy street....

 

[NC2WA]

Joe,

Cool, when I get my fuge started, I may be giving your a jingle

 

[Jobiwan]

It's free to anyone that wants to pick some up, It has been genetically modified, I have been trying to splice my own DNA into it for some time now...

 

[NC2WA]

Joe,

Let's keep the splicing and replication of DNA to the goats for now. LOL

 

[JPG@CFI]

Joe,

All must hail the KING!

 

[dragoneggs]

Loving it!

 

[Jobiwan]

Thanks Mark

Just wanted to thank you again for your contribution Mark, those attachments are so much better than the drilled hole/nylon screw setup I envisioned, can I take some photos of them to show the folks, or is it classified? I wouldn't want to inadvertently give space shuttle technology to the Chinese after all....

 

[Jobiwan]

Introducing Jason.....

Thought I'd show off my latest addition, just transferred him from quarantine into the tank. Here's a photo of Jason, my Red Sea Asfur Angel. I named him after my favorite tank crafter. He's about 3 inches long and as you can see already is developing his adult coloration:
.
.
.

.
.
The CAD drawings for my hood were completed today, they are sweet, with any luck it may be completed before the first of the year.

I hadn't planned on having any Zoa's in my tank, pretty though they are they can take over, and they are tough on SPS. I decided to isolate them in the front by attaching them to a couple of dead coral heads away from the live rock structure, I like playing around with the "living art" concept, seeing how many varieties I can put in place to create a multicolored work. Here is a photo of the two pieces, one is about 6 months old, the other I just did this week:
.
.

.
.
Here is a closeup of the older piece, there is a lot of fuzzy red algae between the colonies even after the toothbrush treatment, luckily the tangs and coral beauty have been picking at it regularly:
.
.

.
.
This is the new one, I used a few more varieties of Zoa's on it, should be looking good in 6 months to a year, knock on wood...ouch, that gives me a headache..
.
.

.
.
I picked up four other fish along with the Asfur, I've got three small Hepatus Tangs, they are cute as can be and are eating like pigs, I've had them 3 weeks, gonna leave them in quarantine a bit longer, I've heard that they are one variety of Tang that can be very susceptable to parasites and such, they seem quite healthy and school together, I'd have liked to get 6 but I had to consider their fullgrown size. The other fish I have in quarantine is a Copperband Butterfly. I intentionally let one tank get overrun with Aiptasia knowing I'd be getting a Copperband, no better way to train one to eat Aiptasia than making it it's primary diet, he's made a significant dent in them. I'll leave him in there until all the Aips are history, by then hopefully the live rock will have developed enough life to keep him happy. I'm agonizing over what other fish to acquire, trying to stay away from too many others that will grow to large size, I'm almost maxed there, I'm wondering how 6 or so Flame Angels would do in there, kinda the Malawi Cichlid theory, (throw enough in all at once and the agression will be diffused), I'd like to see a harem develop, Anyone have any info on this? That's it for now, best regards, Joe

 

[Jobiwan]

Water Changing System

Here's a more detailed look at my water changing setup Fred, it is a bit crude yet, haven't quite got around to the finishing details yet (Note the extension cords and heater cords everywhere), I've played with it and done several water changes in the last 6 weeks, it makes water changes fun.

The first photo gives an overall view, the vertical tank is itself 5 feet tall and 105 gallons, with the stand Jason welded up I getting used to the ladder thing when I add salt. The tank came from plastic mart, back in the midwest, they have any size or shape in vertical or horizontal tanks you could want, mine was a bargain at $105.00, but then came the shipping... The stand has been coated with the bedliner Line-X, the only way to go with any steel exposed to salt.
.
.

.
.
.
The next photo shows the guts underneath, the pump is an Iwaki 100, it moves the 100 gallons of water in about 3 minutes, I'll upgrade to one with some power eventually so I can be assured of winning the water change race... the horizontal manifold has three valves as you can see, the nearest one controls the Kanaflex running to out sewer line, it will occasionally be used to flush out the sediment that builds up in the course of a few water changes over time, the middle one will go midway up the tank to provide a bit of current to mix the salt, the last one is the line to the sump, that is about a fifty foot run of Kanaflex, I envy the folks that have there garage just on the other side of the wall the tank is against...The other valves provide the means for the inevitable need to work on/replace the pump.
.
.
.

.
.
These are the valves setup at the end of the sump, the bottom one is the direct sump feed, the nearest one on the horizontal manifold opens the line to the sewer, you can see the yellow RO wastewater line beyond it, this RO unit is dedicated to top off only and is located below the tanks in the pump area, I have a separate one in the garage for the salt vat. The far valve opens the line from the salt vat. If both horizontal ones are opened and the sump feed is left closed the pump can be ran a few moments to flush out standing salt water in the fifty foot run, don't want to run water that has been standing for any length of time into the sump. Once it's flushed the near valve is closed, sump valve opened, and away we go. Not shown is a bulkhead at the bottom rear of the sump with a valve to allow drainage of the sump into the sewer prior to adding the new water. Pretty basic once you figure out the logical valve placement, has to be for weak minded individuals such as myself to use it, that's about it....
.
.

.
.
.Got some other good news on Friday,the CAD drawings of my hood are completed, fabrication will begin this week, soon my half-assed lighting setup willl be history....Best regards, Joe

 

[NC2WA]

Joe,

I have had a CBB in QT for 4 wks now, but he is rarely eats. Any idea what foods to try to force this dude to eat?? I have tried clams strips wedge in a rock, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp (the only thing that he may eat from time to time).

Unfortunately, I do not have any rock with aiptasia on it, or I would place it in my QT. I am afraid if it does get good nutrition soon, it is going to die. I would place him in my main display to gorge on the copepods, but he has black ich on one fin and the back dorsal fin. Once this is cured, then I plan on placing it in the tank (if he makes it this long).

On a positive note, I purchased a sweet 3 inch Majestic angel from SharkReef. It is in another 20g QT (separate from the CBB), and is already eating mysis shrimp !!!! I am very pleased. I am going to try and coax it to eat from my hand.

Haven't come up with a name yet, but any ideas, shoot them my way. <wink, wink>.

Kirk