Jared’s sca 50g reef (1 year update 5-17/24)

[Ef4life]

I ordered a new skimmer for my 40b system, dfc80 from brs/aquamaxx. I plan on placing the old skimmer in the sca50g sump.

I saw this on monday out walking the dog. Aliens or space x you be the judge

And the tan part stockpile is growing, i ordered a bunch of wedge plates in both light and dark tan (or sand yellow and brick yellow as lego calls them) I also got another 10-15 mountain panels and a bunch of trelliss support for structure underneath not pictured.

and the vintage parts I ordered were to mostly complete this set - the legendary skulls eye schooner. I still need to finish the build - old Lego instructions are so much more difficult to follow than new sets. I bought reproduction sails from
Okbrickworks as I can’t afford to put out that much money for a vintage set in good condition. Im also missing the 1 rare pirate from this set, it sells for quite a bit so im not adding him to the collection anytime soon. All in I feel I did good price wise - about $200-250 total between the original goodwill bulk lot that had most of the ship, new sails, and a few bricklink orders.

 

[Ef4life]

The turbo snails I added certainly are putting in work. If there isn’t much algae they move to the scrubber and have been keeping it clean of any new growth

The 40b is looking good, I need to get back into doing some regular testing and dig out some new test kits from storage as I used up my open calcium test. And I haven’t been testing as often as I should which has led to calcium dropping to dangerously low levels - under 200 - I feel this cause the loss of 2 torches over the passed month. I’ve slowly been raising it back up. And nothing really skipped a beat. Here’s some photos of that system - the display and the frag tank - not my greatest photo work I barely cleaned the glass in these photos and just used an orange filter without adjusting anything

 

[Ef4life]

I swapped the skimmer on the 40b system with the new aquamaxx dfc80, so I’m 99% sure it’s going to need a stand to raise it higher, right now it’s not producing any skimmate but I think it needs a little time for the “break in” and then adjusting the height and air/pump speed. I really like the ease of assembly with this design, it should be easy to clean.

The old aquamaxx hob1 went to the sca sump. And it barely fits. I need to add a longer hose to the skimmer overflow drain so the bottle will sit flat. But other than that I’m likening it down here. Hopefully adding this skimmer will help bring this tank up to the next level as I feel it was really starting to need one.

And the schooner is done. I’m not sure where I’m going to display it yet, was thinking on top of the orphek but it’s too big to fit on it. I should have waited to assemble it while we are under construction, but I just had too get it put together.

We took a blue coat sailor as prisoner

 

[Ef4life]

I Cleaned the glass and dusted the lego today besides adding In the skimmer.

I added more minifigs to the ship also.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I swapped the skimmer on the 40b system with the new aquamaxx dfc80, so I’m 99% sure it’s going to need a stand to raise it higher, right now it’s not producing any skimmate but I think it needs a little time for the “break in” and then adjusting the height and air/pump speed. I really like the ease of assembly with this design, it should be easy to clean.

The old aquamaxx hob1 went to the sca sump. And it barely fits. I need to add a longer hose to the skimmer overflow drain so the bottle will sit flat. But other than that I’m likening it down here. Hopefully adding this skimmer will help bring this tank up to the next level as I feel it was really starting to need one.

And the schooner is done. I’m not sure where I’m going to display it yet, was thinking on top of the orphek but it’s too big to fit on it. I should have waited to assemble it while we are under construction, but I just had too get it put together.

We took a blue coat sailor as prisoner

I love the pirate ship!

 

[Ef4life]

I love the pirate ship!

 

[Ef4life]

More pirates arrived and are loading up the small but mighty cross bone clipper. Some
Very very rare parts in this set I have yet to track down at a good price that I’m willing to pay, so I had to make a few substitutions. It’s Also sporting a reproduction sail for cost reasons.

 

[Ef4life]

New full tank shot from tonight, the tank is running well, adding the skimmer has imo improved the tank, I’ve noticed the corals are starting to grow now, especially the montiporas, the little setosa chip has really took off over the last 2 weeks from being a mostly dead frag with a couple tic tac size pieces of living coral. now I need to get off my lazy bum And start doing more regular testing to make sure I’m keeping the tank stable. The algae problem plaguing the gorgonian has went away, And it’s now making a nice recovery from the tissue loss it suffered.

And fts from November 30, 2023 you can really see a size difference in these past 4 months

 

[Ef4life]

Some before and after growth shots

 

[Ef4life]

I took some top down photos last night under blues.

I really like how this green and purple Micromussa (top left multi polyp)has started getting some orange stripes. And the button scoly is looking good (bottom center single polyp)

 

[nuxx]

Whoa tank is looking great

 

[Ef4life]

Thank you

Whoa tank is looking great

 

[Ef4life]

So ordering new gear is very rare for me, like I have ran that old aquamaxx hob1 skimmer for 10 years now, it works fine why upgrade right? And I’m liking this new dfc80 I just got, but what I’ve always wanted was a spare skimmer/pump/powerhead/etc to swap out when they get dirty. Yesterday brs sends a sale message- 50% off aquamaxx- so I bought another hob1 and dfc80 for spares. This major sale price makes me wonder if they are discontinuing the aquamaxx line. Either way I have backup skimmers now and part of my dream tier maintenance setup has been reached.

I will say I was ticked off paying nearly full price a week or 2 ago for the new skimmer. But that passed when I spent even more money

 

[Ef4life]

New backup skimmers arrived this morning and a top down shot of the 40b as it’s looking good.

I also decided to do something about my skimmer needing a stand. I won a few goodwill auctions of lego Duplo in bulk over the last week, and I was sorting out the bulk last night and had an idea, An 8x8 Duplo plate and some 2x2 bricks made the perfect size stand, and the rubber feet actually sit between the studs so it won’t slide off.

Also if your wondering why a grown manchild like myself would buy bulk Duplo - it’s because it still works with lego system bricks- you can use it to build up hidden support structure quickly In large builds. Sort of like the drop off reef I want to build. An quick photo example and an awesome video showcasing the power of Duplo. No I did not build the display in the video

 

[Ef4life]

Working under the hot sun - the pirates reveal the true reason for coming to the island, they are digging up a buried treasure.

 

[Ef4life]

So I finally bought some hooks to hang up the dirty filter socks to drip dry over the sump, laundry hooks are what they are called, and they fit nicely on a closet pole, but also work well hanging off 1” pvc plumbing over my sump.

Link for the clips
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09Y2S57DG?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

 

[Ef4life]

Relaxing tonight watching melevsreef and my reef, we are starting to make some progress, I finished the tile shower I was working on last week, So I’ve been working on my house until the next job starts. HVAC is about 80% installed now, and we are starting the electrical. We added a new electrical sub panel in the house that will power the kitchen, back bedroom, master,
Garage, and a few outside receptacles we want to add.

New electrical panel

Some pics of some new framing, wiring, and the hvac

And then more demo, i tore out most of the closet but kept the sink since it’s still In use. It will have to come out eventually but not yet. We are going to replumb this half of the house (which is 90% of the plumbing really) since it’s so open, our copper lines run under the concrete slab, and we have had a few leaks in the copper in the past so we want to eliminate any future potential leaks on the old pipe and are going with all new pex ran through the attic space. I also have some plans for this future sink space, I plan on getting a slab and have our stone fabricator make a counter so I can undermount this sink for a nice clean sanitary look. I also want to to go edge to edge in that space so about 6’ of length which will give me a nice space for setting up the frag saw or doing maintenance work. Im thinking of making the counter top space on a slight downslope to make it drain into the sink automatically. I will probably find a matching 36” sink base cabinet to hold the sink to have a nice finished look.

 

[Ef4life]

I had an idea for a new lego diorama - the megalodon attack - I decided to plant my lego bonsai onto my large forestman build I’ve been working on for a long time, that left me with an lego empty pot, I had the little ship from a bulk lot I bought and I though cool I’ll just plop it in the tray and add trans light blue pieces and done, but then I remembered I had the shark from another lackluster lego set, so I modified it a little bit, enlarged the pot with the pieces I have and ordered some more to finish it off. I can’t wait to get it done.

Forestman moc I’ve been slowly building, don’t mind Dennis he’s just a little lost

Modified shark

The ship is from the lego ideas ship in a bottle set

Final idea - just need to finish the tray up.

 

[Ef4life]

HeresTank is still chugging along, cleaned it up yesterday and took some photos,

I also got the parts and lights needed to finish my megalodon attack. Im
Happy with how it turned out. Not sure if I really love the led flicker module. I might buy some different lights to try something better to get it more evenly lit up and reduce the hot spots from the led. There is also a lego jaws (the movie) set to be released hopefully later this year - it’s going to be a definite must buy set for me. “Here’s to swimmin with bow legged women”

 

[Ef4life]

I forgot to update on the mangroves - both are about to open up the second set of leaves, the one planted in the larger sand container (on the right in photo) has really started to get some height compared to the other. I wonder if the nasarius snails churning that sandbed is helping growth or just the larger space for root growth