Xmetal's 75G AGA

xmetalfan99

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I started this build about 1 year ago. Nothing to fancy in the tank or equipment wise. I was on a college student's budget during most of the build. This limited the equipment and coral I could buy.

Here are some photos from the move of the 50G to the 75G.

Some rock from the 50:
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Coral fish and other goodies from 50:
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No more rocks and most live stock removed (The water only got dirtier from there) :
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Adding aragonite to 23 gallons of fresh saltwater:
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Putting sump into stand from side door (dirty water from adding arogonite has a cameo) :
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I decided to cut some 50 micron (I think it was actually 25 micron) filter pads to go in tray while I wait for the dust to settle down and the water temp go to about 76. These pads came in very handy later that night.
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Finished filling the tank and added the LR and most of the LS from my 50(the water looks AWESOME lol ) :
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I went through 5 of the 6 micron pads I had previously cut. These pads inhaled the dust and muck from the new aragonite and the old LS. They got clogged after about 10 minutes of being in the filter. It slowly took longer and longer to clog.
Before:
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After:
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If I told you this is what the tank looked like in the morning would you believe me? This photo was taken 3 hours after the first FTS:
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What is left of the 50:
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half of the apartment was pretty trashed by the time I was done making the move:
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xmetalfan99

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Here is the installation of my Tunze Osmolator. Probably the best investment I have made towards the tank.

ATO installed. I love the alarm on it. I am very pleased. Installation was a real PITA, but was worth it.

The magnets for the sensors are very strong and I was worried that I may break the glass if they barely snapped together. So I decided to keep my fingers between the magnets and the glass until I deemed the glass "safe".

Sensors:
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From bucket into tank:
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Computer:
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Holding bucket/shelf:
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fsu1dolfan

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Thanks for sharing...Great shots of your upgrade!! Amazing what those filter pads did in a few hours!! Do you have any updated pics??
 
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xmetalfan99

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I love my SWC 160 Cone. I had to purchase it because my old skimmer wasn't sitting properly and kept spewing water out of my sump. I figured that wasn't a good thing so I bought one of these when they were just released.

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xmetalfan99

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The following are photos of the tank a few days after installing the skimmer and refugium. I tried lighting the refugium with cheap moonlights. Did not work well for growing algae.


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xmetalfan99

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Since you can only post 15 photos at a time here are the rest from 4/19/2010. The tank has really changed a lot since then. I actually miss the look of it.

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xmetalfan99

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on 5/3/2010 I decided I needed more rock to place corals and to make the scape a little more interesting. I used dry rock and really saw how purple my rocks were compared to the bone white rock I had just purchased.

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xmetalfan99

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6/16/10:

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The xenia rock had gotten out of control and had to be moved to where it couldn't reach any other rocks. I don't know why xenia is so attractive when you start out, but it is. Probably because it is cheap.

Stocking:

CUC:
lots of hermits, astraea(sp) snails, turbos, nassarius, nerite
2 sand sifting stars
2 emerald crabs

Fish:
1 yellow tang 4"
1 hippo tang 2" (please no tang police. The hippo and yellow are very tiny and will be used as an excuse to get a larger tank )
2 false percs
1 purple firefish
3 chromis
1 royal gramma
1 6-line wrasse
1 clown go goby

Coral:

assorted shrooms
assorted zoas
assorted candy canes
assorted acans
duncans
sun coral
wellso
trachy
xenia
gsp
hammer
acro frag
frog spawn
1 dieing plate

Other inverts:
5 clams
1 bubble tip nem
2 cleaner shrimp
 
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xmetalfan99

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I was tired of having some really crappy rock in my tank. Crappy as in large and dense. I finished nuking my rock a few days ago and soaked it in some saltwater over night to test the water so I would know if it was safe for my tank. It was, so I rearranged my rock for the last time...I hope....

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xmetalfan99

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These photos were taken 6 months in to the build. I kept changing my rock up. I'm never happy with my rockwork. I wish i had puttied dry rock before setting it up.


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xmetalfan99

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I awoke on 9/21/10 hating how most of my rock looked and how there was so much wasted space. With a little help from my supervisor I came up with the following. Not what I was planning on doing, but I think it will be just fine. I was able to get more space between the rocks, but I am not completely happy with the two larger rocks to the right of the overflow.

Tank:

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xmetalfan99

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24 hours later I hated the bland rock wall and had to come up with something else. There is a slight curve to the base of the rock and a gentle slope from the left to the right. There is also a smooth slope from back to front. The only thing I don't like is how the zoa rocks look.

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fsu1dolfan

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I have a whole bunch coming. :)
This is the condensed version of the build.

Yeah once i realized you were posting more i just sat back and watched....great progression shots. Tank looks good. And i laughed about the xenia comment - I had started with xenia and GSP and both got outta control...growing pains of a first tank.
 
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xmetalfan99

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here are some blurry photos from 10/18/2010. I not very good with the focusing thing. I need a better camera where I can manually focus instead of depend on auto.



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My acan farm:
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xmetalfan99

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Yeah once i realized you were posting more i just sat back and watched....great progression shots. Tank looks good. And i laughed about the xenia comment - I had started with xenia and GSP and both got outta control...growing pains of a first tank.

I like GSP and xenia if it was in a garbage can lol.

My girlfriend loves xenia and GSP. I slept on the couch for a few days when she noticed those two missing. I say it was worth it,
 
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xmetalfan99

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On November 5th I had to remove my flame angel. I was not a happy camper. Some photos are before the uproar and some after. The ones showing the stand are going to be before the uproar.

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After months of searching, i finally found the sunburst rainbow frag I had gotten from Gary in the beginning of the summer. L:ets just say it did not look like the above photo when it was found. :(
 
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xmetalfan99

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Video from 12/11/10. Taken on my ipod. It actually takes nice videos. This was a pleasant surprise.

[video=youtube;UmNeSNeeyzQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmNeSNeeyzQ&feature=player_embedded[/video]
 
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xmetalfan99

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I had an out break of cyano due to cyclopeeze from october to november that finally ended at the end of December as well. I don't know why people love that stuff, but my fish wouldn't touch it and my corals didn't want it either. All it took was one feeding to screw it up.
 
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xmetalfan99

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photos from 2/2/11. I finally got my NextReef reactor hooked up and cleaned out my fuge. I had a thermometer break in it and the bearing went everywhere and rusted. I was not a happy camper.
Fuge:
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Reactor (I love the NextReef MR1 Reactor and will recommend it over the TLF every time) :
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Angled shots of tank:
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A Few of My Chalices:
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Some Acans:
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Ever Popular Zoa Rock:
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Candy Cane Frag (Seems to only split when I feed it) :
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Tube Anemone (a cool non-photosynthetic anemone that is very bright) :
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