afboundguy's 35 cube/display fuge/mangrove build thread!!!

[afboundguy]

afboundguy's better 1/2 wasn't a fan of the setup with the work bench acting as sort of a wall. I want to add a wall and a wall behind the tank to semi-finish the area. So I got a good workout swapping out the metal storage rack and the work bench. Had to move the work bench like the Egyptian's and had to use a round wooden dowl as it is quite heavy!!! Also added a flag and a sky backdrop so she wouldn't see all the stuff in the shelves

 

[afboundguy]

Tackled the RKE organization this morning. Didn't tackle organizing behind the board so I still have some ways to go but wife is happy!

Much roomier when turning the steps now too

 

[afboundguy]

Made a stop at a LFS and picked up some euphyllias, an RBTA and a tester acan as I relapsed

 

[afboundguy]

Quick FTS before off to work

 

[afboundguy]

Set up new fuge lighting as my old 2 light one had one of the lights cut out so I bought these that had 2 sets of 2 for 4 total lights. Put 3 of them on the fuge and one in the first section that has the live rock with the turf algea and zoas on the old tank's rocks

 

[afboundguy]

Fat guy innna lil anenome

Didn't take them too long to get back into their grove!!!

 

[ED3]

Looking great Dave, glad to see the progress!

 

[afboundguy]

Hung the Reefbreeders light and it looks much better!

 

[afboundguy]

Hooked up the inkbird along with the 2nd heater. Didn't go with the wifi version as I never checked the app with the old one and it did fry...

Finally hooked up and calibrated the pH probe as well. I 3D printed a probe holder. Power on the RKE setup went out and the fuge lights have those inline controller plugs that reset every time they loose power. That's on my list of things to rewire so the RKE just controls them

 

[afboundguy]

Finally hooked up my "dual" BRS reactor as well I say "dual" as I never intended to run GFO and wanted some space saving so I made it a single reactor. Emptied out my bags of carbon into the chamber and used a Sicce 1.0. Think it might do a tad bit better job that the bags of carbon that were squished in the return pump section ‍

 

[afboundguy]

Got a few more fish and a lot more corals so here's an updated FTS...

 

[afboundguy]

Took a quick video yesterday after dumping in a bunch of baby brine shrimp from the hatchery

 

[afboundguy]

Been having to do way too much adulting lately and been beyond busy and need to take some time off from a variety of things but created this quick updated tank video a few days ago. I was thinking I sort of miss the tank being on the main floor so I could look at it more

 

[afboundguy]

Must be doing something right as the clownfish have started to lay eggs again! First batch was a tad scarce but the subsequent batch looked much better!

First batch...

Second batch...

I actually plan to try and raise some and hope to start a rotifer culture within the next few weeks as my phyto cultures have been up and running. I don't have any intentions of moving the clowns into a breeding tank or trying to get them to lay on a removable tile as I know that would increase the amount of clownfish I could hatch and raise but I really only want to try raising a batch for fun and I don't want to do it for money and just plan to sell them wholesale to various LFS in my area.

With that being said I found a nice 3D print I am in the process of printing and I ordered a small light to catch them the night they hatch and plan to keep track of the cycle so I can install the setup accordingly.

Here is a quick video of the setup... I like that I could print a separate holder for the growout tank and easily move it between tanks. I think ideally I would print two holders for the growout tank and have 2 of the "baskets" so I could catch both nights of egg hatching and place them next to each other in the growout tank.

 

[afboundguy]

I ended up replacing the media in my BRS reactor from normal carbon to a 2/3 ROX carbon and 1/3 GFO mix that was only a tad over 1/4 a cup and had lots of extra room so I ended up throwing in some bio spheres since I couldn't think of anything else for the lots of extra space.

 

[afboundguy]

I also used the the second BRS reactor from when I split the dual reactor and made it into a CO2 scrubber and placed it up near the window. Seems to get me about a .2'ish raise in pH from a 7.9 to almost an 8.1. I also added an airline valve to give me a much better ability to more finely adjust the skimmer besides just the gate valve...

 

[Flameback Pair]

@afboundguy subscribed.

- Mitchell.

 

[afboundguy]

@Flameback Pair thanks for the support! Been slacking it on updates but pods are exploding in the tank!

Got some T-iso and rhodomonas phyto cultures and 3 different pod strands (tisbe, tigriopus and apocyclops) from @TopShelfAquatics and plan to start those cultures this weekend. Once they are up and running plan to add a mandarin as my white worm cultures are coming along and I will seed tank with pods and baby brine shrimp.

I kept a mandarin in my old 25 gallon tbis way and should have even more success as I have a larger tank with a sump!

 

[afboundguy]

Picked up a pair of Mandarinfish from @Biota_Marine but think I lost the female haven't seen her in months. Hoping she's somehow in the sump even though I took out all the rockwork. The male is easily double the size already and eats pellet and frozen food with gusto!



I have added a tad bit more corals and I have 4 strands of phyto going (8 gallons total) and three different copepods cultures and feed tank fresh hatched BBS 1-2 times a day.

Here's an updated video from a few days ago. I am basically done buying corals. My local club (Boston Reefers) had a big event this weekend (Fragsgiving) and I went away from my normal smaller cheaper frags and bought 2 clams and a scolly but this video is before I purchased those.

 

[afboundguy]

Picked up an Orchid dottyback as well as an Indigo dottyback from @Cultivated Reef in an attempt to make a mated pair and I believe it is working as the Indigo was much larger than the Orchid and they have been doing the dance and the Indigo has been making several large caves...