IM 150 EXT soft coral lagoon and dartfish shoal

JumboShrimp

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Sooooo cute. (But I wonder whether if at that small size they are Aptasia-hungry yet?) Might have to be much larger to want to chop down like Pacman. :confused:
 
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hart24601

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Sooooo cute. (But I wonder whether if at that small size they are Aptasia-hungry yet?) Might have to be much larger to want to chop down like Pacman. :confused:
These are radial filefish, they don’t eat aptasia so they definitely won’t chomp down on aptasia! I just like their looks.
 
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hart24601

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Whew. 600lb package.
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hart24601

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Sigh. Very disappointed with aquatic-sealife shipping of the art-reef rock.

I sent them an email showing damage but all they did was wrap in bubble wrap. The boxes were split open. I have just only peeked in the other box but it appears as bad or worse. Not $500 of fun!

They are modular and come in 5 large sections with smaller bits to add all held wi
th acrylic rods. Or that’s the idea….

You can see some of the large portions were broken so the ID on them is just a nub.
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hart24601

hart24601

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I posted those images on art reef FB page. In minutes the owner messaged me apologizing for the packaging and is sending out two replacements tomorrow! Awesome service.
 
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hart24601

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Got the downstairs sump plumbed and ready for the tank with unions upstairs. Drilled a few more holes and added another wall cutout. Went from a single 1” drain and a 3/4” return to 3 1” drains and a 1” return so was plenty to do!

routed the reefmat tubing around the chaeto basket so the pipes are out of the way and can still access the reefmat easily in the front of the sump while I stand up straight. Big plus for me!
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hart24601

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I really wanted to perform a leak test of the lines from the upstairs to down before I get the tank. I got to thinking I could place the braided tubing inside the union and with the help of my favorite tape, self sealing silicone tape, I might be able to make a seal and run the pump, testing the pressurized return line and each drain. To save effort I just swapped the heads of each coupling.

great success! All 3 drains including the main into reefmat and return ran with pump at 100% power for about 5min each with no wet spots! Now when it’s hooked up there will be less flow as more head to the returns so they will see even less flow although the return might be under a bit more pressure. However this makes me feel so much better

very simple but effective

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hart24601

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Because of my concern did more leak tests for few hours. All good and secured the pipes well so no wiggle. Got another Red Sea salt bucket and am making a 50g brute and 30g to have ready. My lfs price on it is same as brs so that nice to support them. Had them order angelfish frozen food too that is sponge based. Also asked to order 4 40lb bags of fiji pink sand. He sells them lower than brs so bonus! I was going go to buy from him even if higher to support lfs but nice surprise. Idk if will use 160lb, probably not, but doesn’t hurt to have extra.

sent Dr Reef a message with my stock dreams and will see what he can get in and QT. Be nice if most of it to save me doing ttm.
 
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hart24601

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No word from Dr reef, perhaps better ways to contact that via his form.

The new art reef rocks will be here Friday, curious what he sent! I did try and reconstruct the existing rocks as well. Like a horrible jigsaw puzzle with superglue!

I got most of the large parts together somewhat similar to the original but doubt superglue will hold so I ordered the pink e Marco 400 cement to form around the joints it came today.

glue and soda joints!
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My 1st round was just putting the cement around the breaks. Can see color difference but when dry it’s almost the exact same color thankfully!
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Once that dried I noticed that since I was more concerned with application I didn’t texture it well. So few hours later I made another small batch and pressed some of the broken rock into it and to shape it and it really helped.
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At this point I figured would add the smaller accent bits that are on acrylic rods, but smaller and customizable as in can place anywhere. Some were broken but no biggie since this is all just for funsies really since have new coming unless I don’t like the new ones!
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they are very hard to get on camera but I am really happy with how they look and for such a mess how it turned out. I still have plenty of “extra” broken parts, but I think it looks pretty nice and good for fish hides. Not sure if the bonds will hold but the Marco with the acrylic polymer seems to be good stuff. I might combine these with the new removing some parts. Will see!
 
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hart24601

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Fed ex called. Tomorrow it is! Finding people to help move it Saturday. Sure hope fed ex goes to garage….
 
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hart24601

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If I decide to use these here they are in a possible mock up. The board is 48” same as tank. Still has a ton of depth as one can see from yardstick since tank is 35” wide!

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hart24601

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Yay fed ex dropped it off in garage. Amazing packed. Can open crate with just a pry.
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No damage and looks good.
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assembled the stand, drilled the kessil mounts in the stand with SS screws. The overflow lid has the same dimensions as overflow so can mount them around 1/2” to each side. Being eurobraced and overflow cover doesn’t leave many options!
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It’s a deep system!
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A worm with high fashion and practical utility: Have you ever kept feather dusters in your reef aquarium?

  • I currently have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 78 38.0%
  • Not currently, but I have had feather dusters in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 69 33.7%
  • I have not had feather dusters, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 26 12.7%
  • I have no plans to have feather dusters in my tank.

    Votes: 30 14.6%
  • Other.

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