Fish World

[FullSend]

Prepare yourself for a rather long first post. This thread is going to document all of the tanks I have in my fish room. Which should be a relatively simple task, but I recently broke my own 2 tank limit. So now there is four of them. I have no idea how this happened.

40 Breeder Display

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Here it is! This is my display system. It's a 40g breeder with a 20H sump. I created a "L" shaped rock wall. It wraps around 2 sides of the tank allowing a full length view. I did my best to keep most of the rock work up against the wall of the tank. I was able to accomplish this by using a diamond-coated chopsaw blade on dry rock. Overall the process worked but it was more difficult than expected. Due to the cost of a diamond-coated blade I used a smaller one 6 or 7". Using such a small blade didn't allow me to cut the rocks the way I wanted to, but I am happy with the results. The "L" shaped piece is foamed to the tank wall. The piece on the right side is only set into the aquarium. While I did this so I could remove it the event I needed to move the tank, it has a gap behind it and fish may be able to get behind it. I did my best to leave the main body of the tank open for swimming. One downside is there is a limited amount of hiding spaces for cryptic fish. I did create a large cave in the corner of the tank. Several of the rocks protrude from the wall creating ledges. I am hoping to use coral and macros to create the actual cover in the tank.

Equipment:

Lighting: 2 Mars Aqua LED Black Boxes​

Return: Sicce Silent (?) - It's a larger model​

Skimmer: Reef Octopus 110-INT​

Wavemakers: MP10 and MP40​

Heater: Enhiem Jager​

ATO: Tunze ATO​

Controller: Apex​

Overflow: DIY Ghost Overflow​

Stand: DIY Based on Rocket Engineer's Template​

Livestock:

Fish:​

None​

Inverts:​

Too many - Hawaiian Brittle Stars​

Too many - Small Strombus Snails​

Coral:​

2x Types of Zoas​

1x Head of Hammer​

Macros:​

Cheato - In the Sump​

​

Side note there is something very strange growing in my skimmer. I'll snag a picture for the next post.​

20 Long QT

This photo was taken 1 day after receiving an order of macro algae. The algae immediately cause a nuisance algae bloom. I ran out of time before leaving to really clean everything up, but I did get everything under water and that was the best I could do. The reason I ran out of time will be the next section. I didn't have time to properly document which types of macro algae I recieved, for now they will be "Samplers". I'm looking into QT'ing inverts but it looks like this lot will be in for 76 days, or until 11/27.

Equipment:
Lighting: Mars Aqua LED Black Box
Return: Sicce Silent (?) - It's a smaller model
Skimmer: Tunze 9004
Wavemakers: None
Heater: Enhiem Jager
ATO: Me
Controller: Apex jr.
Overflow: DIY Ghost Overflow
Stand: DIY Based on Rocket Engineer's Template

Livestock:

Fish:​

None​

Inverts:​

None​

Coral:​

1x Types of Zoas​

Spiny Gorgonian​

Purple Plume Gorgonian​

Macros:​

Caulerpa Sampler (3+ Types of Caulerpa)​

Red Algae Sampler (3+ Types of Red Macros)​

Hypnea Pannosa (It's Blue!)​

This 20L system is what I would call Rev 1 ( or 0, if you're a python ) of my design. As such, it has the first DIY Ghost Overflow I built. Other than being much cheaper than finished products it allows me to seamlessly replace the teeth on the overflow with anything I can build. In the picutres you can see the intermediate tank is bulky and the water level in the tank is higher than I'm comfortable with. What you can't see is the two bulkheads to the tank create a bit noise with high flow. Moving on with this knowledge, I made a few changes for the version on the 40B: I shrank the intermediate outside tank, added a third bulkhead from the main overflow to the intermediate tank, I moved the main syphon line to the middle on the int. tank, and I made the overflow sit lower in the tank to allow more flow. The main changes I made between the 20L and the 40B were with the overflow. The other changes I made were mounting lights into the stand and adding wire duct to the inside of the stand. Highly recommend it if you're worried about wire management. If it fits in the duct, consider it managed. The duct is 3"x3" so there's plenty of room to fit wiring and I fit a few power supplies into the duct.

20L Ghost Overflow

40B Ghost Overflow

"I see two return line and only one return in the tank."

-We don't talk about the rock wall not allowing the second return line to be installed.​

​

The Fun Begins

Like you do when you're bored, I found an add on craigslist for 2 Fluval EVO 13.5 tanks on craigslist for what I think was a deal. I agreed to buy them on a friday, picked them up on a Saturday, and had to leave the following Sunday morning. It's friday night and I have now agreed to caring for 2 new aquariums. I don't have anywhere to put them, off to home depot. The efforts well into the night on the kitchen counter result in the following stand. For roughly 5 hours of effort, I'm satistified with the results. The stand is made from 1x4s and is 36"x22". I made it a little longer than needed to potentailly fit a 40g breeder on top if I ever felt adventurous. I'm not a ME and don't know if it would hold 600lbs, but I'll pretend it will for now.

You can see how I reinforced the top sheet of plywood with shorter beams. They are ~6" apart. The spacing garantees there will always be two of them underneath a Fluval EVO 13.5 at any one time. I had an internal debate between the two methods below. I still don't know which one would have been stronger. If anyone knows, can you let me know?

Evo #1 - The Endler Tank?

Yup, you read correctly. The entire reason I was looking for a nano tank was endlers. You can see one of the young males in the picture. After reading it was possible years ago, I attempted it recently and had 5 endler's that needed a home. Even after turning off both vortecs in the 40B and cutting back on the flow from the return pump, it became apparent they couldn't handle the flow. Interestingly they will rest on top of flat surfaces now, even in a tank will much lower flow. I have seen them laying on top of the floating plastic plants, even with a reletively gentle 9x turn over rate.

Equipment:

Lighting: Stock EVO 13.5​

Return: Stock​

Skimmer: None​

Wavemakers: None​

Heater: None​

ATO: Me​

Controller: None​

Overflow: AIO​

Stand: DIY Based on Rocket Engineer's Template​

Livestock:

Fish:​

4 or 5 - Endler's Livebearers​

Inverts:​

2 - Small Strombus Snails​

Coral:​

None​

Macros:​

Cheato​

Evo #2 - Upgrades

The individual I purchased the aquariums from intended to set up both of the EVOs, they only set up one of them and added a few upgrades. I'm not sure about all of them, but I know about the following: upgraded the return to a sicce silent 1.0, lost the stock hood, added an AI Prime, and Intouch media basket. It came with a bunch of various equipment, but I didn't have time to process all of it. Before I left, I setup this EVO with the livestock they had and the AI Prime. The clowns are huge and I really like the patterns. I've only seen "designer" clowns in pictures or as 1" fish at the LFS. In person looking at a 2-3" fancy clown. They are incredible. The original owner purchased them in 2017 and claimed they would spawn. Maybe I'll get to try my hand at raising clowns?

Equipment:

Lighting: AI Prime LED​

Return: Sicce Silent 1.0​

Skimmer: None​

Wavemakers: None​

Heater: None​

ATO: Me​

Controller: None​

Overflow: AIO​

Stand: DIY Based on Rocket Engineer's Template​

Livestock:

Fish:​

2 - Ocellaris Clownfish​

Inverts:​

2 - Nassarius Snails​

Coral:​

Neon Green Toadstool​

Kenya Tree​

3-5 Heads of Candy Cane - This coral hasn't fully open yet​

Macros:​

None​

​

It has taken serveral hours to create this post. I hope you enjoy!

We shall see if I keep up with this thread.


I can't delete this picture. Please enjoy it again->

Edit: I deleted the duplicate picture

 

[FullSend]

9/22/20 - Update

Apologies for the low quality, my phone isn't cooperating.

In the last post only the blues were on for the FTS. Nothing new to look at, only snails, 2 zoa frags, and a single frammer head.

When I returned from a week trip, absolute mayhem broke lose in the 20L. The caulerpa had gone sexual, the makeshift frag rack had fallen over causing the purple gorgonian to shed 90% of its flesh, cyano had began its quest to conquer the aquarium, a film of algae had grown on the surface of the water, pieces of various macros were everywhere and the dragons breath algae had faded to about one square inch. I did what I could to organize everything and here is the final result. In the picture below the plastic container is holding the caulerpa. I bought an ice cube tray and placed a small piece of each algae in a separate compartment. Most of the macros are fading, but I have sodium nitrate coming in tomorrow. Hopefully this will be the magic bullet.
After organizing everything, I could finally document what I received.

The red sampler turned out to be, at least:

Botryocladia​

Cracilaria​

Halymenia​

Bryothamnion​

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The caulerpa sampler:

C. Ashmeadii​

C. Prolifera​

C. Paspaloides - Probably but it went sexual and dissolved​

After organizing the chaos in the 20L, I imediately created more chaos by taking down the two evos I had purchased less than a week prior. The fish were placed into a 10g to begin the TTM. Always hopefull I plan to have the clowns and endlers for a long time. I don't want Ich hanging over my head down the road when I could have prevented it sooner.

Funnily enough the clowns seem to enjoy the 4" tee more than the Evo. I've had marine aquariums for at least 10 years and never owned a clownfish. I'm enjoying the constant squabbling. The fish I owned the longest, Clown Goby, just sat there and looked at you, this is a welcomed change.

The endler's are in the breeders basket. To me they look about clownfish bite size. To the clownfish they must look like a snack. No snacking on the project fish.

I finally went through all of the coral from the EVO and consolidated the non-fish tanks into the 20L. The mystery branching coral is a candy cane. There are 3 heads I think will pull through and 2 more that have a little bit of flesh. Maybe they will pull through? I found a tiny rock with 4 zoa heads on it. They havent opened up, I'm guessing they are a yellow color. Can't wait to find out.

In the mean time, I'm working to finish the Evo stand. I have fitted a plywood piece to create a bottom shelf, applied liberal amounts of wood filler, and finished half of the sanding. I need to have everything in the 20L in the Evos by Sunday night.

Edit: Cleaned Up Photos at the end

 

[FullSend]

9/27 Update

After a week of solid work on the aquariums in the PM. I had to leave again. A brief list of accomplishments: fragged my first corals, took down 5 aquariums, set up 6 aquariums, broke the 20L overflow system, finished the evo stand, and spent way too much money.

I can't think of a good place to start, so I'm starting with the first picture uploaded.

I am by no means a photographer, but I do enjoy trying to photograph my clowns. The added challenge is they both have a "better" side. I'm not sure why they both chose to be more patterned on their left, but that's on them. They are currently in their 11th day of TTM. Hopefully the 20 gallon will work in its current state.

Which brings me to the 20L. I moved everything out of it, bleached the aquarium, rinsed it, let it dry, and assembled my own design incorrectly... I put too much pressure on the external acrylic tank and pulled it apart at the seems. So I drained the tank below the bulkheads, placed a heater and powerhead, and left. No pictures. Just disappointment in myself.

Like all great stories flashback to the final days all of the frags were in the 20L.

This was enough sodium nitrate to bring the nitrates up 10ppm in ~25 gallons of water. The next time someone tries to lower their nitrates to 0pmm. I'm going to show them this picture. That's a few grams of NO3 in 3.3 cubic feet of water.

After dosing the nitrates all of the macros colored back up the green macros and dragons breath had gone translucent returned to their colors. With in 2 days the caulerpa had shot out new sprouts.

That takes me to the evos. One evo has been set up to hold the corals and select frags of macros. The other is holding everything else.

I split the 20 head zoa frag into ~3 heads per plug. Some have a pattern to them and others are solid green. I mounted the 4 zoa heads I received with the evos to a plug, split the kenya tree into 3 plugs, and hopelessly mounted a piece of each macro to a plug. I'm not expecting them to stick, but I tried.

Patterned Zoas

Unopened Zoas, Green Zoa in background
(Editing this in Nov, they never opened)

Here is the other evo with everything else thrown inside. The breeder net is holding back the caulerpa from overtaking everything.

I promised a picture of the thing in the skimmer. Delivered.

Years ago my family dubbed my aquariums "Fish World" I'll be using that as the thread name for now.


Edit: Cleaned up duplicate pictures

 

[Tankkeepers]

Nice and good job

 

[FullSend]

10/6 My pride wenteth before the fall

I attempted to rebuilt a new external tank for the 20L after pulling the old one apart. The measurements I originally made make no sense atm. So going off of what makes since now the pattern to fit the holes I drilled doesn't line up. All I'm left with is new lids for the internal boxes that roughly fit and 80% of the external box. If only 80% was enough... The new best timeline is everything up and running on the QT is Friday. Making up some water to keep up with WCs on the currently half full QT tank.

 

[KWT]

Nice job, keep on keepin on

 

[Tankkeepers]

Almost to bad it's not horse shoes or hand grenades

 

[FullSend]

10/13/20 Fixed It, Kinda

Late Update but I was able to get everything running again on Thursday or Friday, I don't remember.

Caution this post involves little to no actual talk about my livestock.

This is the story of how one mistake re-plumbing a running aquarium created a week of headaches. When I went to reassemble the 20L I did not push the tank far enough back against the self supported external tank. Then when I tightened the bulkheads pulling the external tank to the 20L it pulled one of the seams on the external box apart. I built the first box and was confident I could rebuild another box no problem. I had improved the design moving to the 40B, so I wanted to replace it anyway, but any time I have to replace something instead of get to, it's not as much fun.

So, the first attempt to rebuild the external box did not go great. I made the side pieces too tall in the template, which resulted in a "send it" moment with the miter saw. Turns out if you move slow enough, the miter saw can be used to trim acrylic. Which isn't to saw the acrylic is overly appreciative, see below. After knocking off the excess acrylic, I used the scuffed edge for the top end of the box. Hopefully that will mitigate any added weaknesses.

Scuffed Edges

Mistake on Template

Second issue is in my original plan I made the holes slightly larger on this box to allow a better fit to the overflow box bulkheads. Which led to the newly designed holes not lining up both on hole size and the space between the holes. See above, the original 2 year old template is below the newly cut acrylic. This then created another call to the plastic shop, an unplanned trip to the semi-local maker space, and a less than productive day at work. I would say measure twice cut once, but I don't remember measuring once for the CAD work. At the time it seemed logical for the holes to be the exact size as the hole saw used to drill the glass. False.

Semi-related to the acrylic not being cut correctly, I thought I would create a cradle to hold the acrylic while I glued it together. Which went great, absolutely no issues. Until, The glue made it behind the piece of acrylic I was gluing. Pulling an uncalled for amount of the solvent behind the acrylic. This acrylic is now permanently attached to the plywood. It was a plan and I was proud of it until it failed.

In addition to the new external tank, I created a template for new overflow box lids.

This is the first attempt, but you get the idea.

Here are the final lids in all of their glared picture filled glory. The one of the left is a 1/8" gap and the one of the right is a 1/4" gap. For some reason I'm more afraid of the front teeth not keeping up with the flow into the tank than the non-solid top allowing algae to grow in the box. So I created teeth on the top of the lids also.

Finally this brings me to the finished new external box.

Surprisingly with all of the holes into this box the best way I've found to leak test it is to tape the holes off with duct tape.

The old larger box vs. the new smaller box

The finished project is ~60% the size of the old box. Considering the thickness of the 20L glass I really want to minimize the amount of weight supported by it.

Now to plumbing, I thought most of my issues would be involved with the box, wrong. I've plumbed 4 aquariums breaking any plumbing so I thought it would be a breeze. I was reading about Teflon and discovered it isn't meant for PVC. So I disassembled all of the old threaded fittings and clean off the Teflon tape. Equipped with a new tool, a PVC sealant/lubricant, I promptly proceeded to crack 3 bulkheads. I really wanted to make sure they were cracked, so I slept on it and woke up to enough water on the floor to confirm my suspicions. Que removing the freshly finished plumbing. Re-armed with my new tool, my trustee pair of rusted channel locks, and my collection of spare bulkheads I repaired the plumbing. Easy.

I don't have new pictures but the clowns are enjoying the same spot in the fully filled 20L as they were with the half filled 20L. Picture a 20L with a few 2" tees, 2 clowns refusing to leave one of them, and a breeders net holding back small fish from uncertain consumption by fish refusing to leave their chosen tee.

Edit: Removed the pictures from the bottom

 

[FullSend]

Nice and good job

Thank you

Nice job, keep on keepin on

Thank you

Almost to bad it's not horse shoes or hand grenades

I'm sure if I had hooked up the old box again, it may have turned into a bomb of sorts. ;Drowning

 

[FullSend]

11/6 Update

I've been eh busy for the past, almost, month. After the mayhem of setting up and taking down aquariums, it has been nice just coast and maintain all of them. I'm in the process of learning how to test weekly and dose appropriately.

40 Breeder

No new livestock. This aquarium is still in the middle of a precautionary fallow period. The period started at 6pm on September 19th and will, potentially, end 76 days later on December 4th.

I woke up in the middle of the night to the unmistakable sound of a snail blending in a wave maker. I gave it a minute is see if it would work itself out, and it did. I was relieved when I didn't wake up later to a broken impeller, but I was not expecting to find the snail had won in another fashion. Snails 1, MP40 0.

That's right, a 1/4" snail was able to slow the impeller on the pump enough to eject it from the wall of the aquarium. Luckily the wet side is secured to the aquarium.

I've been unhappy with the current configuration of the sump. Which is fair, when I built it I didn't know exactly how I wanted it to work, but now I've had some time to critique it and iterate on the design.

In the very dark picture from this morning, I've circled what I'm currently unhappy with. All of the circles on the skimmer are all related to the green circle on the bottom. I didn't bother to read the operating depth of the skimmer when I sized the baffles. This causes the skimmer to sit really high in the sump over all minimizing the space to remove the skimmer cup, yellow circle. Another side effect is the skimmer cup actually rests against the return line, causing a buzzing sound.
Brown circle, I didn't initially plan on having a fuge. So I've put in a random piece of egg crate to contain the cheto, which again rubs up against the return pump creating a buzzing noise.

To the drawing boards! To do, add fuge, reduce the size of the return chamber, and lower the skimmer cup, Luckily I had a tube of silicone from building the first sump. Unluckily I didn't do anything to plug the end of it causing the entire nozzle to cure and plug the tube. What happens next is a reasonable escalation.

Now, in my defense, I intended to only notch the tube and check if all of the silicone had cured. When I should have stopped after seeing uncured silicone on the blade of my hacksaw, I decided to saw the entire tube in half. Good news, there is plenty of silicone left. Bad news, the tube will no longer hold pressure or apply a bead of silicone. Back to the drawing boards again. My solution, tape, tape, and more tape. First layer, duct tape for sealing properties. Second layer, electrical tape to really secure the duct tape to the tube and hold the whole thing together. Third and final layer, Electrical tape to hold the now misshapen tube in the caulk gun. 10/10 the tape did it's job.

The first time, when I built the first sump, I went with the sit the tank vertical and drop the baffles into the aquarium method. This made for messy seams, wonky angles on the baffles, and overall was difficult. Not one to make some mistakes twice, I went with this method:

The finished, inverted, product.

This method was much better. It allowed me to maintain the same width on the seams, hopefully square up the baffle with the wooden blocks, and clean the seams as I went. I ended up doing the baffle shown, letting it cure overnight, then rotating the aquarium to do the final two. Slapped a quick two-tone spray paint job on the aquarium. I plan on installing it this weekend.
Photo dump

Wall of hair algea in the caulerpa evo
Cool variety of caulerpa
Hypnea Pannosa at the base of C. Prolifera - I haven't had luck with Hypnea Pannosa in the past. It usually turns white and melts. Happy to see it still blue after some time.

Red Macro growing more branches?
The only remaining piece of Palm Caulerpa, C. Paspaloides
Feathery algae on the front glass, Bryopsis?

All of the zoas in the frag tank are semi extended but won't fully open?
Tiny piece of Halimeda had doubled in size
Spaghetti Worm in the sump?

Clowns overly enjoying their PVC homes

I built some modular rock structures for the 40 Breeder, but I'm saving it for another post. They're curing in yet another tank I set up. "Only Two Aquariums"


Edit: Hopefully the pictures are formatted right now.

 

[FullSend]

11/6 Follow Up

I did in fact install the new sump tonight. As usual I managed at least one mistake. The plan was simple drain one tank, remove old sump, extend the return line, place new sump, and fill new sump. I did you unions so I planned to replace one half of the union and move on. Somehow the same size unions I bought at the same hardware store where different sizes and frankly didn't fit. I found out after I glued it together.....

Simple plan and execution.

Clearly the collar for the existing union is not going to work.

Finally worked through all of it, gave the PVC glue time to set up, and sent it.

Ignore the wiring. Currently, I am much happier with this design. Even though most of the tank is half full it holds the same amount of water. I'm running the skimmer about 2 inches deeper in the water, hopefully I can get it dialed back in. Can't wait for the snails to reinvade the sump and create all kinds of noise on the ~4" drop of water from the fuge to the skimmer section.

Sneak peak of the rock structures. It's only ~8 pounds of live rock but it fills a 10g.

 

[FullSend]

I'm really itching to put the new rock work in the main tank, but it's sadly still producing large amounts of ammonia. I was hoping the live rock attached to the structure would speed the process up. No luck, going to be a waiting game.

Rock curing tank on the left and the DT on the right

 

[FullSend]

11/15 Update
Evos
The entire wall of algae, shown in the quote above, disappeared over night at some point this week. It left behind an orange/brown film on the glass. There isn't any film on the rocks which makes me think the bristle worms are eating it. I took a ball of random caulerpa and placed it into the frag evo to, hopefully, replicate the results. There is a bit of a cyano problem in the frag tank. The hypena pannosa, blue macro, started following its trend of becoming pale and melting. I've since moved half of into the shade of another macro. It seems to have colored backup, but who knows. I dosed both evos to 10ppm nitrates to keep the macros fed.

I'm not enjoying the top off requirements for the open top evo. And so the master plan for another ~50 gallon system begins.

New Rockwork
The 10g with the rock curing has started forming diatoms, but I'm leaving for the week and don't see any perks in rushing anything.

40 Breeder
Super exciting update, I rotated one of the zoa frags so two of the polyps receive more light. *mind blown*

20L QT
I let the three remaining endler's out of their breeder net prison. The next day all three were incredibly plump with algae/scraps the clowns left. At some point the smallest endler's disappeared. I'm not saying the clowns ate it, but I am heavily suggesting it. The clowns are really growing on me.

Unrelated
I got to visit an aquarium with a large clown harem tank (100+ designer clowns of all variaties). Normally designer clowns do not catch my eye past extra white painted in. I used to think that domino clowns, black with a cheek spot on each side, were the least interesting. After seeing them in person just wow, I'm going to need a pair of those at some point.

 

[Pkunk35]

Your tanks are super interesting! I bet barnacle blennies would love your rock wall.
Your clowns are also gorgeous, love that pattern. Following!

 

[FullSend]

I've got big plans this weekend. There's two boxes from BRS and at least one on the way from amazon. All scheduled to arrive Friday, rooting for you holiday shipping.

I'm just going to leave these here for reference.

 

[FullSend]

I have done many things! I'm going to reward each with it's own post. Probably not all at one time.

To start with I have redone my RO/DI storage. I have the luxury of an unused shower I've converted to supply my RO/DI water. It's evolved over the past few months from a filter sitting in the shower that filled, often over filled, 5g containers to brute trashcan with a float valve to its current state. Previously, I had to manually dip a 5g bucket into the brute to get any water. Anything that was stuck to the bucket ended up in the brute. So the first thing I accomplished is I built a stand for the brute and filter, drilled the brute, and plumbed it all together.

Before and After

I have used several valves from chain hardware stores with acceptable results. That valve pictured above is the most difficult valve I have ever encountered. So far that's the only complaint I have. If I were the valve I would be very nervous about being replaced.

 

[FullSend]

More than a week later, I finally have the time to type up more of the update.

The next thing I worked on was the cable management for the 40 breeder. It was incredibly messy and located right next to the sump. I'm started getting more and more nervous about splashing water on the expensive electronics. Over time I came up with a scheme to drill into a pocket I created by skinning the inside and outside of my 2x4 frame. The goal was to cut into the pocket and use the 2x4 frame to build a partially recessed "panel". Making my best educated guess on where the 2x4 started, or ended if you want to think that way, I mocked up the finished project with tape and cardboard. The mock up had everything coming in tight with about ~1" between the components and no room for the power bricks. Not ideal when most electrical connectors stick out ~1" from everything. In the picture below you can see the multi tool I started with. After the experience it was not the proper tool for the job.

How it started verses how it ended. Notice the change in tools.

The jig saw was better but I was still cutting blind and ended up butchering the edges. This is the worst offense. I should have known because it was becoming very difficult to lift the saw....

Soldiering on I spent a couple hours fitting plywood to create my box. I think it's only wood glued together with a few screws into the 2x4 frame and pins from the top into the sides. Hence the old thermals pushing the bottom panel up into the sides and the clamp pushing the right panel out. Looks silly but it worked perfectly. I then glued a .5" plywood backing to the back of my "panel". The next challenge was to cut a hole into through 3/4" of plywood to pass the cabling through. Made more difficult by the vortechs. The best thing about the pumps is there are no wires to the tank itself, but on the other hand the dry side cannot be separated from the controller.

Cue cutting a 2"x4" hole.

Cue primer (And the end of the thermals)

Cue the most difficult and tedious part. I unplugged everything put the return pump, vortechs, and light to start moving everything over. The vortechs without over site from the apex ramped to 100%. The Mp40 in particular rearranged most of the sand in the display. *Unplugs Vortechs*

I started moving everything over, organizing the cables as I went. 4 sticky backs in.

~8 sticky backs in.

Unknown amount of sticky backs x2 in, I found out the powerstrip wasn't going to cooperate at the top of the panel. I moved it to the thicker left panel, intended to hang a door on and absolutely stand by the decision.

After getting everything in the box wired I did the inside.

Wire way with vortech power brick, ATO line, and light switch.

Second power brick and clean cables running into sump

Finished product. Endler squatting in the return chamber inspecting my work and mocking my ability to net her.

 

[FullSend]

Next up is how I really used the Black Friday sales.

First thing is I wanted to purchase a better camera. So I bought a used DSLR. Which leads to roughly one in ten pictures being better than what I can take with my phone. I understand it's a whole new skill set and takes time, but I have no idea how to develop the skills. I'm reading what I can online, taking random pictures, and staring at all of the options in lightroom hoping for the best. Despite all odds, I did take a few good photos.

*File Size Too Big* Back to lightroom it is. To get it to upload I reduced them to 4k (3840 x 2160).

I had to snap a few pictures of the clowns peeking from their beloved PVC fittings in QT. I meant to submit the first or third image to the November headshot contest, but didn't because of all of the cyano in the QT.

Endler Hanging out

The camera is exciting and all but there were more sales to take part in. I wasn't satisfied with the black box LEDs. I kept reading about them and becoming less and less confident in them. They put out the light they need to but I read about fire concerns and their LEDs aren't as efficient as some of the other fixtures. Plus I was very unhappy with the conduit holding them up, it was leaning on the back of the aquarium slightly. I shopped around with the key point the lights had to hook up to the apex. Really narrowed down the field to Kessil and Reef Breeders. I ended up with a Reef Breeders fixture and the parts to hook it up to the apex. Here's a FTS with the camera and the new fixture in a temporary set up.

My immediate impression was the light was just better to look at. The black box LEDs seem harsh in comparison. I think I voided the warranty adding the Apex module to the lights. Not sure, there wasn't any explanation on how to do it online. No youtube video, pdf, or instructions. I got hooked up and set it to a 10% schedule based on the AB+ spectrum. This confused the 3 coral frags. The pink zoas, on the left, closed up for a few days. The green and yellow zoas expanded and stretched to the light. The frammer just looked a little less grumpy.

This is all great but I'm here for the fish. On 11/30 the clowns and Endler had served 72 days in lock up. Excited I moved them into the DT. Then read you should really go fallow for 76 days, oops. The clowns had never been in the DT only ~5ft away so its possible, but the endlers have never shown any spots. I think there will be a more opportune time to redo the fallow period in the future, upgrades people. I did wait the additional days to move the frags and macros from the evos, rant about that later, and the rock structures I built. Which finally brings me to the present state of the 40B. For the sake of my ineptitude with photoshop, let's call the white balance "needs work" or "has promise". The frags are sitting in the sand to acclimate to the light.

I did throw a glass top on when I was working on the wiring. The lights are plenty powerful to punch through it for now. Probably better for the thermostat anyway. The canopy I built no longer fits. At least the cables are organized.

Clowns

Free Floating Snail

This was my biggest concern with the sump. The dreaded snail waterfall.

Unfortunately, I woke up to both of the endler's in the sump. I managed to catch one, the other one didn't last in the sump. My experience is endler's can't stand a turn over rate higher than 10x the volume. The remaining endler is in the DT with the vortechs off letting the macros settle. With the lower flow it's perfect. I wanted the endlers to fill a small dither fish role. Nothing special about them just a minnow looking fish going about their day but they would add to the depth of the aquarium.

Now I'll rant about the evos. Strangely I like the stock one better. The hood keeps the evaporation down, the stock light kept the toadstool and macros happy, and it never made any splashing noises. The "upgraded" evo with the hydra loses about a cup of water every day. Which in turn creates splashing noises which are bad. The evo is in my bedroom. Sleep and splashing noises are a no go. As they sit the frag evo has no frags in it and the macro evo is still full of macros and the foot of the toadstool. I tried to pry it up and succeeded in prying it apart. The top half seems content with the arrangement, not so sure about the foot. Hopefully it regrows a head, making it my first "fragged" coral.

 

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Final Black Friday 2 weeks after post

I had an empty QT tank on my hands and some extra time to care for new additions. I ended up ordering 5 hi fin banded gobies and a trio of smith's blennies. Everything I've read and my past experiences would have told me the gobies would fight in the QT and the blennies would be okay with each other. The exact opposite played out. The fish have been in TTM since the 2nd.

Gobies

Everything I read said the gobies would act aggressively with each other. Even with 5 in a 20L they never chased each other and the group would share the same hiding spot. They did tend to "pair" with another goby. To me there wasn't any organization in it. Any fish could be found hanging out with any other fish, they didn't have any chosen mate. Which is great, I'd like to have 2 pairs with pistol shrimp coexist in the 40B. They eat anything, mysis, brine, large pellets, small pellets. Tiny missed a pellet and created a bubble, which he then proceeded to sample and spit out.

Blennies

One the of the smiths blennies would skirmish with either of the other two if they left their allowed hiding place. I gave this one the nickname 'the general'. So far they only eat micro pellets I bought for baby endlers.

Turns out they can change their color.

 

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Believe it or not, I'm still in the hobby. I'm going to try and summarize everything I accomplished in 2021.

Endler Experiment Failed

The last endler passed late 2020 or early 2021. I'm going to leave endlers alone for the foreseeable future. Do I think that they can survive the high salinity? Yes. I do not on the other hand think they can handle the higher flow rates found in reef aquariums. I did pick up 2 more ATO units. If I ever try again I will *very* slowly raise the salinity, I'm thinking months not days/weeks.

Hi Fin Gobies

I really believe that having a bare glass tank put a ton of stress on the Hi Fin gobies. They would sit motionless and refuse to eat. One fish would hide near the overflow grates and refuse to move. Any future attempts to QT shrimp gobies are going to involve a painted bottom or possibly a substrate. Tiny was the only goby to finish QT and has doubled in size.

I even purchased a microscope to try and figure out what was happening in the QT. I didn't figure anything out with it, but I did end up with some cool pictures. Below are two pictures of a tailfin:

Smith's Blennies

For the most part the blennies did not get along. The most dominant fish would keep the other fish in hiding all day. This only compounded the problem of keeping these fish well fed. They are very active fish and were very selective in feeding. I really struggled to keep weight on them. Overall, I was not successful in QTing any of these fish. Yet to be successful with fang blennies.

Revamped My QT Protocol

I didn't feel very successful with TTM. I felt like I was always rushing to get ready for the next transfer. So I looked for alternatives. Keeping it simple, I've moved to Humblefish's QT protocol. Essentially the method utilizes 30 days of copper, prazi, and metro. This method is much easier for me to follow, giving me more confidence.

Starki Damselfish

Late December 2020 I ordered 2 starki damselfish from DD. Each fish arrived in great condition. I have always been pleased ordering from LA/DD. I did my best to pick two fish with different body profiles. I was hoping to hit the 50% chance of forming a pair. I failed and the smaller fish ended up bulling the larger fish, go figure. I banished the smaller fish to a breeders net for the duration of QT.

Built an Evo Rack

Definitely the most exciting thing I was able to do this past year. When I built the stand for the 2 evos I may have built it exactly large enough for 3 Evos. One evo purchased later and the shenanigans were on. I scrapped off the stock webbing over the tank with a razor blade. I painted 3 sides and the bottom of each evo black, and drilled three holes in the back of each evo. I wouldn't recommend using evos to build a fish rack because of the price, but if you manage to get two evos cheap and don't mind buying a third it looks really clean.

This is when I was assembling the drain plumbing and starting the return. Each tank is drilled with the return on the left and two returns in the middle. The plumbing is 100% supported by the stand and attached to the tanks using silicon tubing, shown below.

As much as I dislike threaded fittings each evo is plumbed in using eight (8!) threaded connections. Using Teflon tape I was able to get a water tight connection on all but two connections. I was able to utilize the modular design to quickly tighten the two connection and seal the leaks. Fearing the fittings I have not touched the plumbing since.

The sump is almost identical to the 40B design, except I turned the fuge section into a filter sock holder. There is an acrylic plate with two holes sized for socks horizontally supporting them. It completely forces the water to go through the socks. I still have enough room to remove the socks and clean them. I really like this design and want to implement it on the QT and the 40B. I used silicon tubing instead of nylon to the return pump. This ended up being much quieter.

Here is a picture I quickly snapped today. Both of the damsels have thier own tank and tiny is in the far right one. If you want to know what the stock evo lights are capable of the middle tank is full of caulerpa.

So far this covers until February 2020. Although, things really slowed down from here. To be continued...