Tswifty's Custom 40g Rimless Build Thread

[Padrino]

that green acropora looks incredible

[Tswifty]

Zip tied the cord to the light rack with a few black zip ties... no more unsightly cord hanging in the picture:

[kudora]

the tank is going to look very full(mature) in no time swift!!

[OwNeD162]

Looking good as always TJ
Can't wait to have mine setup to compare with yours

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by tiffrobbins
Absolutely Lovely! Your gobies are also inspiring

Originally posted by kudora
wow that mille is awesome btw. i had one of those gobys awhile back they are great additions.

Originally posted by Padrino
that green acropora looks incredible

Thanks guys. The gobies actually shot down into my Midas Blenny's old burrow together, so hopefully they pair up right away. I still haven't spotted the other Yasha Hase White Ray Goby since the morning after I added it to the tank though.

Originally posted by PhilipOSU
TJ that Acro from LA is amazing. I can't believe how big it is.

Yeah I was shocked as well. It's such a nice piece. I hope it holds its neon green color.

Originally posted by OwNeD162
Fish look good TJ !
Are the gobies in a FW dip there?
And I have to agree, that Acro is amazing!!!

Thanks Mitchell. The gobies were just in a small container with tank water. I figured that might be the only chance I'd have to get a picture of them, because there's always a chance they'll burrow out of sight.

Originally posted by OwNeD162
Looking good as always TJ
Can't wait to have mine setup to compare with yours

Originally posted by kudora
the tank is going to look very full(mature) in no time swift!!

I hope so.

Time to sit back and let everything color back up and grow in.

Hopefully I can get a nice FTS tomorrow once everything opens up, or I may wait until I add the Bartlett Anthias to do so. Although I'll probably need to ask someone with a nice camera to help me out, because my camera definitely is not handling the 22" depth front to back at all.

Also, I need to find a streak free cleaner for the acrylic. Even using RO/DI water, it's hard to get a crystal clear front pane.

[subREEFed]

clean looking tank! looks great can't wait to see growth pics later on

[crvz]

Originally posted by Tswifty
Yeah I was shocked as well. It's such a nice piece. I hope it holds its neon green color.

I'd like to keep up with that as well, so keep us posted! I assume that's a wild colony, no? I'm not certain who the Divers Den does it, but it seems many of their larger pieces are wild. I'm curious how they adapt to captivity, so maybe this can be a nice example for us.

[DiscoReefRover]

I myself have a nice millie wild colony and yes they have a adjustment period to them ..mine is doing great and is one of my nicer pieces !!

[rfd515]

Looks great.

I may have missed it, but can you elaborate on what you used and how you made the pipe for pendant? I'm working on a tank for my son's room and what you made looks perfect.

Thanks,
-Bob

[Tswifty]

I've been monitoring the levels daily since hooking up the Calcium Reactor. I've had to make some adjustments here and there, but am getting closer to the sweet spot.

START
Calcium: 470 ppm
Alkalinity: 11 dKH
Magnesium: 1320 ppm

24 hrs
Calcium: 450 ppm
Alkalinity: 12 dKH
Magnesium: 1320 ppm

36 hrs
Calcium: 470 ppm
Alkalinity: 12 dKH
Magnesium: 1380 ppm

48 hrs
Calcium: 470 ppm
Alkalinity: 13 dKH
Magnesium: 1380 ppm

72 hrs
Calcium: 470 ppm
Alkalinity: 12 dKH
Magnesium: 1410 ppm

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by rfd515
Looks great.

I may have missed it, but can you elaborate on what you used and how you made the pipe for pendant? I'm working on a tank for my son's room and what you made looks perfect.

Thanks,
-Bob

Thanks.

I used 3/4" EMT Conduit, and the appropriate conduit bender.

Here is a picture of what the bender looks like. I was able to borrow one, but Lowes or Home Depot sells them somewhere in the ballpark of $30 - $50. However, any electrician should have one.



To make the rack, it was just a lot of trial and error, running up and down the stairs to test fit where I was making the bends (it definitely was more of a guess than exact measurements), and making the bends slow. In order to get a nice 90 degree bend without pinching the conduit you need to gradually walk the bender back as you bend the pipe. The second bend was particularly difficult to make. I had to park my car on the pipe (the end I wasn't bending) so it would stay put and not keep flipping up as I tried to bend the pipe.

When I started, I took a small piece of scrap conduit, slid the bender on, and just bent it back to 90 without walking it back to see what would happen. It basically crushes the pipe where the bend is made.

Like I said, it's trial and error.

[Tswifty]

Originally posted by subREEFed
clean looking tank! looks great can't wait to see growth pics later on

Thanks.

Originally posted by crvz
I'd like to keep up with that as well, so keep us posted! I assume that's a wild colony, no? I'm not certain who the Divers Den does it, but it seems many of their larger pieces are wild. I'm curious how they adapt to captivity, so maybe this can be a nice example for us.

Originally posted by DiscoReefRover
I myself have a nice millie wild colony and yes they have a adjustment period to them ..mine is doing great and is one of my nicer pieces !!

Yes it's one of their Maricultured Colonies. They have different categories that you can choose from. Aquacultured (usually frags), SPS (captive colonies), and Maricultured (wild colonies).

At least I think that is how they break them down. I know a local guy who has purchased 3 or 4 of them, and all seem to be doing well.

[rfd515]

Thanks for the write-up on the pipe

[Kreeger1]

and Maricultured (wild colonies). Those aren't wild, there cultured on cement rubble plugs like the one yours is on.
Wild is usually busted right off the reef sometimes with rock sometimes no rock.
Mariculture has a much higher success rate then wild.

Wild you'll find some really neat pieces but a good majority tend to brown out or do not make it, the ones that do usually end up being the gems of your tank.

[Tswifty]

Maricultured corals are wild colonies that are collected then grown in marked off ocean beds (lagoons) under natural sun light for a time period... similar to the way a lot of Live Rock is made, then once they get to a certain size the rock base is snapped off and sent to retailers.

I have another Rose Millepora that looks to be grown in a similar fashion, and actually still had zip ties coming out of the large base disc it was on.

[Kreeger1]

yep, just as a said, cultured far from wild.

Wild are broken right from the reef and shipped out the door. No growing in the aquaculture fields in the ocean.

Sometimes you will see the base of these aqua cultured corals having pop bottle tops molded into the fake rock.

The only draw backs I see is sometimes the corals take on a un natural growth pattern...Turaki's look wierd and so do some of the other fine coralite structured corals. In there true environment there not getting the same flow as they do in the open grow of
facilities. This is probably were all the pest enter the hobby as well, when you take the coral out of it's natural environment and don't take the other creatures with them ( fish, shrimp, ect) The pest that attack these corals have no fish or shrimp that eat them and keep them in balance. This was a heated topic at one of the macnas/imac.

Mariculture as used by there site is also none as Aquacultured by most others. There using the term aquaculture to represent what they possibly grow in house.

But all in all Mariculture is not wild.

[Kreeger1]

if you look at both those corals, you'll see that the rock base is not snapped off, its a man made arragacreate base. The survival rate is much higher on aqua cultured pieces. They don't go from chopped off, to boat to trans shipper like the wild ones do. It's chopped off, planted on plugs and the able to heal up then shipped out to the trans shipper.

[Tswifty]

Well Maricultured can't be exactly be called aquaculture either... I guess it's sort of a middle ground. They may dress up the plug a bit, but I would still consider it a wild coral.

It's technically grown the majority of it's life in the wild... even if it's transplanted to another area in the wild for a time period. I didn't ask how long the Maricultured Corals spend at their facility before being offered for sale. Obviously they aren't being grown in the ocean in Wisconsin.

I called Live Aquaria to confirm what I stated above, and they also stated that the Diver's Den SPS section is their wild stuff... a.k.a. clipped and shipped.

[Tswifty]

Currently in the tank I'm trying to find a balance in flow. I need to dial the Vortech down a bit, as the corals in the line of it's output are getting blasted, and have very little polyp extension. The new Diver's Den Milli looks kind of funny, as the top half has short stubby polyps and the lower half is nice and bushy.

So I turned it down a bit, and switched it into ReefCrest mode, which has faster switches in intervals than Lagoon mode. I'm also considering moving the Tunze 6025 up to the tank, then placing the VorTech into a pulse mode for bursts of flow from time to time.

[Kreeger1]

but the name even states cultured. Thats how all the company's do there aqua cultured stuff, they chip off the pieces, some native women use fishing line to tie down the coral, they grow it for a few months and ship it out.
It's all wild at one point. But the point were it goes from wild to growing in a lagoon turns it to aquaculture. There's no disputing that at all.
So there Divers den is the wild and the mariculture is there brand name for "aqua cultured" and the aqua cultured is there in house frags?

Remember that superman digitada picture you posted 2 weeks ago, the cultured one whatever it's called. picked one up, coloring up nicely as we speak

Side note, can you get a wave in your tank with the vortec? I'm considering getting one or a nikon d60 for my next tank purchase. Would like a wave in the tank but would also like amazing pictures. My nikon s50 sucks at reef tank photos

[Tswifty]

Yeah I guess I hear you on the "culture" part, but still would consider it a step removed from aquacultured. Since it's still being grown in a natural environment with regards to water/lighting/etc.

As far as the question... They may have larger pieces in that section, but I usually only see frags for sale there... and that's also the section where they sell ORA frags, and some other name brand aquacultured corals as well.

You'll have to let me know how that digi does. I hear they are really finicky and hard to keep the true color. I really want one, but would hate for it to brown.

I can't really push a wave, I only have about 1" to play with... however, I could get some short or longer pulses going. I'm going to give the lower ReefCrest setting a shot, and see how the corals respond for a week... then probably make another adjustment.

I'm in the same boat with the camera as well, my P&S is ok for close up shots, but I can't seem to get any nice shots with the 22" depth (front to back) in the new tank.

[Kreeger1]

I guess the key to this digi is blast it with light, it's the highest coral in the new tank.

[maroun.c]

Got 3 of those maricultured corals(green accro, red brown mille and a pavona) in my tank and actually their the only 3 large colonies that seem to be doing the best and have not changed colours. well only the red brown mille did get some gren in it so it's a small change for the best I guess. I got on e from Holland another from Germany and the third from UAE and all are on those cement plugs that seems to have spent some time in the sea. one does have that inverted bottle cap in it. Don't know if they use it to secure the plug on some thread in the rocks in the sea.
TJ one question about your alk as you seem to be around 12-13 all the time? is it safe to be higher than 11 long term?

[Tswifty]

I'm walking it back down gradually, making small adjustments and testing the daily impact. I don't want to go either way too fast.

I'm hoping to have it settle between 10-11 dKH

[Padrino]

yea agreed, even 12 is high i would probably try to keep in in the 9-10 range based on what i have read in the geo forum