Lurking danger 75g Dragon Lair

[vlangel]

I’ve never seen anything like that before—a total original! Can’t wait to see it wet!

Thanks! I dont think I have ever seen anything like it either. When I was an 8 yr old kid, i saw a blank canvas on every surface. I once painted a brick wall onlong our driveway right before we sold our house! Not sure my parents were thrilled with my blossoming art interest, LOL! My current tank has a mural also but the final outcome did not match my vision so I am doing this tank a bit different. It is coming out much better this time around. Hopefully i can do as good a job on the kelp as I am doing with the seadragons.

I am excited to see it wet too!

 

[Esox]

That looks amazing!

 

[vlangel]

That looks amazing!

Thanks Esox, hopefully I can finish the mural without messing it up, she says nervously!

 

[Esox]

That looks amazing!

Thanks Esox, hopefully I can finish the mural without messing it up, she says nervously!

You're gonna knock it out of the park. Can't wait to see the finished masterpiece.

 

[vlangel]

My mural is still chugging along. I dont have the lasting focus for art that I used to so 2 hours at a time is about all I can do these days. I get restless after that. Anyway, today I worked on macroalgae and 2 creepy critters. I chose a ribbonfish and an angler fish for their menacing teeth, although my painting isn't quite capturing that. I don't want Jaws but I don't want Flipper either so I will try to work on that some more. All the elements of the painting are now sketched and taped on the glass or started with paint. I am thrilled with the composition. The painting moves the viewer's eye in a circular motion keeping the focus toward the center of the tank. That is where most of the coral should be as well because that is where the light will be the most intense. So all in all I am pleased. Oh yeah, I bought a 20 gallon high at Petco's 40% off sale for a sump. It is a good size for this tank.

 

[vlangel]

One more day of painting with a brush until I will be ready to spray paint the background. I prefer to do that outside on the patio if possible but it needs to be a day that has almost no breeze. Our nice days are limited here in western PA.

 

[vlangel]

I spray painted the background. It came out a little darker than I intended. I did want some of the aspects of the painting to fade into the background and that did kind of happen; just not quite as i saw it in my mind's eye. It is better than the art on the 56g and once the aquascape is it will naturally be de-emphacized and it is still original art. And it will hide wires and help equipment blend in.

 

[vlangel]

I started the transfer from the 56g column display to the new 75g Leafy Dragon display. Even though I have done this a number of times, it is still always nerve wracking when I am actually ready to do it. I began at noon and called it a day at 8:30pm. Gone are the days when I would pull an all nighter to get it done in one shot! LoL

Anyway, so far so good. The old tank is down, the fish and coral are in a spare 20g L and the new tank is up, leveled and 2/3 full of water. I am adjusting temperature and salinity. Under the cabinet is the 20g H that I bought to be a sump (should I decide to use a sump). It is also Perky, my aged percula clownfish's home along with all his anemone friends. When I finish taking down the old sump in the basement I will capture Rice Krispies, my pistol shrimp and he will live there too. He was banished to the sump years ago for being a serial killer of small fish.

I am very happy how the mural artwork looks under the lights. Much better than it looks in ambient light. I should have taken a pic before the water, rock and sand clouded everything. When it clears up I will snap a quick Pic. But for now, here is how the tank looks.

 

[vlangel]

Well, the transfer is done! Hallelujah! I am getting too old for this, LOL!

 

[vlangel]

The water column has cleared up nicely. Most of the coral are opening up but a few are still being temperamental. I am just gonna leave things be and hope they improve on their own. The fish have adjusted well and are swimming around like they have lived in this tank their whole lives. The last pic is the view my hubby and I have from our recliner sofa. The tv is to the right and the reef to the left,,,pretty nice view!

 

[vlangel]

So near the end of the day, my last piece of aquascape arrived! It's actually the item that is central to my theme of 'Lurking danger'. What could be more peaceful than Leafy seadragons, right? But our aquariums can often be a balance between serenity and tension, satisfaction and discouragement. I wanted this display to reflect some of that dichotomy so both the mural and the aquascape have elements that hint of something less than peaceful. I will post pics hopefully tomorrow. Stay tuned!

 

[vlangel]

So here are the promised pics! The top pic has a ribbonfish among the kelp. The 2nd pic has anglerfish just to the right of the trumpets and the bottom pic has a dinosaur skull (with saber-tooth tiger teeth) ornament integrated in the rockwork. Each is hopefully subtle but lurking nonetheless! BTW, Guardian the YWG loves to hang out in the skull's mouth.

 

[vlangel]

Here is a video link for whoever is interested. It's about 2 minutes.

 

[vlangel]

One of the lurking dangers manifested itself yesterday:
So I was labeling all the electrical cords from the equipment. At one point I heard something arc-ing and smelled that burnt electrical smell! I immediately turned off both surge protectors. I got out an extension cord (which was plugged into a different outlet) and proceeded to plug each piece of equipment into the extension cord. I was looking for any signs that the electrical component of any particular piece of equipment was compromised. I went thru them all and they all worked, or so I thought. So I labeled them and plugged them in.

This morning I decided to increase the flow from my Carefree Fish wavemaker. However when I pressed the mode button nothing happened. In fact when I pressed any of the buttons nothing happened. The led lights up but the function is frozen where I had it set, so the electrical issue yesterday must have been the controller to the wavemaker getting fried. Bummer!

So, now I need a new powerhead/wavemaker. I guess you get what you pay for and I don't think I want to risk anymore cheap chinese ones. My son gave me an mp10 and I am impressed with the vortech. So I am gonna bite the bullet and buy an mp40 and another wet side for both pumps. Holy smokes, that's gonna be as much as I spent on tank and stand! Oh well, I think it will be a good investment in the end as far as making maintenance easier and outfitting the tank with the least intrusive but most effective powerhead.

 

[vlangel]

The Seadragon's Lair is coming along well. The diatoms are starting to go away less than a week of starting. I see pods on the glass even when the lights are on and best of all, most of the coral are recovering (albeit slowly).

I love how easy this tank is to care for. The 20" of height is easy to clean the glass or move coral or rock around. I also love how spread out and roomy the tank looks. Flow has been the biggest challenge but hopefully when the mp40 comes that will give the added boost the tank needs.

I am still tinkering with things. Today I was trying to learn how to adjust the inkbird temperature controller. It's pretty bad when the equipment describes itself as plug and play and I am confused! I think that I finally got it figured out though, LOL.

The other thing I did today is clean the fishroom some more. I have spare aquariums, powerheads and filters. I have too much stuff so I discarded another garbage bag. I had thrown away 2 other bags of garbage a couple of weeks ago. I need to keep enough stuff in case of an aquarium seam failure that I can save as many animals as possible. However, it time to get rid of old plumbing, anything that's not operating and misc this and that. My fishroom is a small space that used to be a well room and now all my fish stuff fits in that space nicely. More than likely I wont even use what I have kept but I am prepared if I need it.

 

[vlangel]

I tested today. Still no ammonia so I am sure the cycle is done. I really don't think the tank had even a mini cycle.
I also tested nitrates - 15ppm and phosphates - .5ppm. So I think it is ok to order macroalgae now. I want some dragon's breath (need that for the dragon's lair) and some blue octodes.

 

[Esox]

Wow! I thought the painted critters alone were pretty cool, but adding that shaded background just takes it to another level. Well done.

I'm never going to be happy with my plain old black backgrounds now.

 

[vlangel]

Wow! I thought the painted critters alone were pretty cool, but adding that shaded background just takes it to another level. Well done.

I'm never going to be happy with my plain old black backgrounds now.

Oh no, I certainly didn't intend to discourage you with your tank!

If it makes you feel any better, I did a mural on the back glass of my last tank and it was a major disappointment! However, I still had to use that tank so had to look at my sub par artwork for the next 9 yrs! So, dofeel bad bad. Plus that happened to me and I am a graduate from the art institute of Pgh, albeit many moons ago.

 

[vlangel]

My MP40 came yesterday and it is amazing. The MP10 that my son gave me was making some noise so I put the new wet side that I bought for it, plus I added the rubber spacer that is suppose to be used with glass thickness on my tank and the noise went away. They are pricey but I am liking it.

 

[vlangel]

Today I made a trip to our lfs. I wanted to see if they had any of the fish that I was interested in. They did! I came home with a blue eyed kole tang and a small 1 spot foxface. Right now both are acclimating in baby nets. When the lights go down I will release them. I will try to get pics of these new guys as soon as they comfortably are coming out.

BTW, I love the vortechs and so do my coral!