RFBF's 90 Gallon Déjà vu All Over Again

[count krunk]

Got any new photos?

 

[Smirkish]

Thinner strips without question. I use to clip quarter-folded pieces of nori, and as you stated, the tangs would rip off these pieces, which would then float around the tank. I now use THIS METHOD to fold and cut my Asian nori.

Success! It worked perfectly!

 

[redfishbluefish]

Glad it worked for you....but I had no doubt!

I also see that I believe you use the same algae clip that I have....Ocean Nutrition.

I prefer this clip because they hold the entire width of the algae instead of just a small portion. That said, here's two little hacks for those clips.

1. The rectangular white hinge pieces eventually crack. A simple fix is a short length of CPVC 1/2" pipe that you cut open with one cut. The pipe piece offers the tension needed to keep the clip closed.....a spring closure.

2. Replace the suction cup with the magnet from a Two-Little-Fishes algae clip. The Two-Little-Fishes clip is too small....not wide enough, but the magnet is nice.

I talk about both hacks HERE.

 

[redfishbluefish]

After I dropped a five gallon jug into my Brute, breaking the heater that was simply laying in the bottom of the can, I think I have a solution.

Using my favorite silicone, I buttered up the suction cups on two heater holders.

This was now pressed up against the inside of the Brute, hopefully far enough out the way if old butter fingers drops another jug.

 

[redfishbluefish]

After I dropped a five gallon jug into my Brute, breaking the heater that was simply laying in the bottom of the can, I think I have a solution.

Using my favorite silicone, I buttered up the suction cups on two heater holders.

This was now pressed up against the inside of the Brute, hopefully far enough out the way if old butter fingers drops another jug.

Well this idea was a FAIL! I will admit that I did no prep work on the Brute surface or the little rubber suction cups....which likely had non-petroleum lube on them.

Not giving up.....I have another idea.....I'll be back........

 

[redfishbluefish]

So here's my next lamebrain idea to hold my heater to the side in my Brute can. First I removed the suction cups from the heater holders. Using a half inch piece of scrape acrylic, drilled holes so that the suction cup ends fit to the acrylic. Next I tapered the back side of these holes (you can see the taper bit in the drill press) so that if the epoxy I use doesn't hold these pieces in by adhesion, they will be held in by physical entrapment. This Rube Goldberg piece will then be siliconed to the inside of the Brute, but first ruffing up the surfaces of the acrylic and the Brute with sandpaper to increase the chances of good adhesion. Fingers crossed

 

[redfishbluefish]

I am optimistic this is going to work, with roughing up the back of the acrylic and the inside of the Brute with a rasp, and with the additional surface area for the silicone.

The one thing I didn’t anticipate was the head of the heater hitting the acrylic. I remedied that by flipping the piece around 180 degrees, leaving more room for the heather head

Slathered up the back of the acrylic, placed it in the Brute and then siliconed all around the edge of the acrylic.

After a day, I mounted the heater to see how it would look.

Fingers cross while I let the silicone cure…..end of the month is the next water change.

 

[Smirkish]

Silicone cured? Holding the extra weight?

Is it water change day yet?

 

[redfishbluefish]

Patience, patience, patience. Silicone is one thing most rush when in fact it takes weeks to cure. Not so much of an issue if it's just to seal, but when you're interested in adhesion, you've got to let it cure. I'm taking this one right to water change day.....end of the month....and I still know it's not done curing. (And I love the meme considering Spanky and Our Gang was one of my favorites back in the day.....before colored television.)


CLEAN UP CREW

Added a clean up crew of about 20 Astrea and Trochus snails....and somehow one Cerith snuck in there. Also added a peppermint shrimp that after acclimating disappeared into the rocks. Probably won't see him for some time.

 

[redfishbluefish]

First time to an LFS in over a year! Nice to be back. And holy cow, you need a second mortgage to buy anything out of Hawaii......$375 for a very small yellow tang. Anyway, added a midas blenny today. Was stressed out during acclimation and immediately darted into the rocks. Have to wait to get a picture. Claimed it was African, but I'm not convinced.

 

[redfishbluefish]

A little surprised he's out and about so soon. I think he's still a bit stressed and hasn't colored up all the way....still a bit dark. His current home is that hole in the lower right corner of the picture.

 

[redfishbluefish]

A couple shots of the tank tonight under blue lights but with a filter on the camera.

 

[redfishbluefish]

FTS under full lights, and gosh, does that look washed out. All I have is an android phone. Maybe I should try later when there is not so much white.

 

[redfishbluefish]

With predominantly blues on, it looks a little better (I think).

 

[redfishbluefish]

My fish only swim in 2/3 of my tank!

Did a major clean-up of the fish-room yesterday because we were having guests over to the house for the first time in over a year.....what a mess! In the process I moved the couch to be directly across from the tank. It used to be perpendicular to the tank, directly across from the television. So our guests come and we look at the tank, and I feed the fish, and we have dinner, blah, blah, blah, and, they being older than my wife and I, leave fairly early to go home. So after they left, I'm unwinding on the new couch location and marveling at how the room is clean, and I'm also watching my fish from a new perspective. As I sit there watching my fish....I only have six fish that I'm watching swim back and forth (Two tangs, a clown pair, blenny and dwarf angel).....I notice over that half hour or so that I'm decompressing that they only swim on the left 2/3's of the tank. They never go over to that "island" on the right.

Well this had me perplexed. Why aren't they swimming all the way to the right? And especially the tangs who supposedly like all that swimming room. Maybe it's like Twix candy bars....they have right and left Twix, and all I have are left fish???

So after redoing this tank from the Great Leak, where I lost a couple fish and a bunch of coral, I had planned on restocking fish and corals at RAP 2020, but that never happened.....RAP that is.....because of a minor biological disruption in the ethos. So the plan this year is to attend RAP New Jersey (Yes, it's called RAP NY, but like any good sports team, they insist on calling themselves NY.....BOOOOOO.....It's IN NJ), and restock the tank....and specifically look for right sided fish.

 

[redfishbluefish]

RIP Eric Carle

I know this is an unusual post to see on a fish site and certainly odd to see it in a build thread, but I had to mention because Mr. Carle was my son's most favorite author growing up, with his favorite book being........

It just came across on the 12 noon news that Mr. Carle passed. In tribute to him, The Very Hungry Candycane, which I moved up from my sump about a week ago....

 

[Smirkish]

 

[redfishbluefish]

My, my, my someone has antsy-pants over me getting the heater holder wet. I actually mixed up the salt tonight so that it’s ready for the water change tomorrow. And it would appear the heater holder is going to be a success….holding on like grim death…..it’s not going anywhere.

 

[Smirkish]

Success! That’s what I’m talking about! I may have to copy this. My current water change situation involves a lot of lugging water around, and it’s so much more time consuming that way. I change my big tank monthly, so it isn’t too bad, but I still have to set everything up each time. It would be nice to have something permanent and a big concern of mine was the heater, actually. I’m glad it worked. ;Cat

 

[redfishbluefish]

I'm still a water lugger. My water is made in the basement in five gallon water jugs....Here's a dozen jugs:

That then need to be lugged upstairs to where the fish room is located.