45 Gallon Reef Diary Year Two

[Mr Miagi]

The clove polyp is clearly a soft colony-type polyp, most resembling GSP if you ask me. It spreads out in a mat fashion and is growing REALLY fast in my tank. Its doubled in size in about 3 weeks

Wicked. Thats some awesome little coral! Ill have to keep my eyes peeled!

 

[SkiFletch]

What are the dimensions of the 65g gonna be?

36x18x24". Have a 29g (30x12x18") for the sump. Will probably mock-up the sump tomorrow and start hood construction next week. I'll try and take some pics of the stand in its un-stained state tomorrow

 

[n3ont3tra]

36x18x24". Have a 29g (30x12x18") for the sump.

Nice. Sounds similar to what I'm gonna do.

 

[SkiFletch]

So, here it is, the frame of the new stand (minus doors, trim, and stain). The top and bottom frames are made of 2x4's and the verticals in the corners are also 2x4's. Sides are made of 1x10 pine boards secured in place with some aluminum angle. I was going for a very open space under the stand and I think I achieved that...

So next step was to put the sump (standard 29g all glass 30x12x18") in-place to start mocking up. No biggie right? Whoops, first mistake. While I designed the stand with enough room for the sump to fit inside it, I forgot that I'd have to actually get the sump tank into the aquarium. As you can see here, the 2x4 vertical supports are in the way.

Luckily the non-structural "lid" for the stand was very loosely set in place with just a couple screws which was easily removed, and so the sump went straight down into the tank, yey

And then, design flaw #2, this one a show-stopper of sorts. Notice in this side-view the small space between the top of the sump and the top of the stand.

Turns out that the space there is too small for both the skimmer to fit in, and too small even for the collection cup. If I use a 29g tank here, I'll never be able to do maintenance on the skimmer... This is of course not acceptable, so now I have to go find a 20 long. Oh well, I guess we're always learning from our mistakes

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i love clove polpys, they got one in at our lfs that i was very very tempted by but it wasn't a very good specimin so i resisted, really want one one day though

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, if you ever do get over to Toronto I'll frag you up some

 

[Miss Wiggle]

he he excellent

 

[sianeds]

Awww bummer there ski.

I feel better about my woodworking skills now. My stand looks like a chimp built it but I measured it all perfectly

 

[SkiFletch]

So thats it, I should have hired a chimp? Doh

 

[SkiFletch]

Great news . New friendlies purchased today. My LFS got in some RARE Acanthestrea Lordhowensis frags from Australia near the GBR. It appears that Australia has recently given some CITES permits to ship some of these guys to us in the States. SWEET! Anyways, they have acclimated and are now adjusting to the new tank. Since these are a little rare, lets just say they weren't cheap . Will post some pics tomorrow when they're nice and fleshy and happy. In the meantime, my frogspawn was really nice and puffed up today so I thought I'd take a picture

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ooooh pretty frogspawn, really want one of those, just giving the tank time to settle

 

[Mr Miagi]

Great news New friendlies purchased today. My LFS got in some RARE Acanthestrea Lordhowensis frags from Australia near the GBR. It appears that Australia has recently given some CITES permits to ship some of these guys to us in the States. SWEET

I am a bit disappointed with this really. All the ranting and raving about preserving coral reefs and our fragile eco-systems, but the almighty dollar reigns supreme. Why not continue to allow the Australian market to take from the GBR/other areas, but prevent their over exploitation (which is bound to happen with a larger international market), all whilst we still cant import Invertebrates! Its another case of pathetic judgment and the almighty dollar winning over common sense and though fullness.

Good for you though Ski (not blamming you of course, just annoyed with my Government/Authorities). But it will no dought raise the price of our coral here! Whilst the top grade gear gets exported for a greater price and we get all the sloppy seconds!

 

[SkiFletch]

Heh, yeah politics suck huh? I didn't know you guys couldn't get imports, thats for sure a raw deal

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, as the hardware comes together over the next few weeks you'll all be getting much-needed pics . So here's the first in that installment, the stand is now all stained and ready for the tank. No doors yet but I'll worry about those after everything else is done

 

[shibby]

looks good ski, il be waiting for the pics n updates