afboundguy's downsizing (or upgrading???) 25 gallon cube build

[afboundguy]

Remounted the acan frags to quahog shells today. Attempted to trace out the size and cut them with a steel to mount them more flush.

 

[afboundguy]

 

[afboundguy]

 

[FixIt]

I like this shell idea a lot. I may have to try this. Looks more organic.

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[afboundguy]

I like this shell idea a lot. I may have to try this. Looks more organic.

They also grow much faster because they can spread and don't have to expend energy and nutrients building a skeletal structure plus I like the spread out look better than the balled up look... Cost me $1 for two large quahogs can't beat that price...

 

[FixIt]

I like this shell idea a lot. I may have to try this. Looks more organic.

They also grow much faster because they can spread and don't have to expend energy and nutrients building a skeletal structure plus I like the spread out look better than the balled up look... Cost me $1 for two large quahogs can't beat that price...

I see a multicolored zoa colony in my future. Just have to figure out where to get the shells from.

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[afboundguy]

I got mine from the Market Basket seafood section...

 

[afboundguy]

Wow I can't believe it's been over a year since I updated this thread... A lot has happened since then such as loosing most of my SPS due to neglecting the tank. Not sure if the new light cooked the SPS as I never thought to do a PAR reading when I switched over but I'm guessing it was more the neglecting the tank.

I ended up stopping the 2 part dosing automatically once the SPS all went and I sort of just let the tank go on autopilot until about 2-3 months ago. I ended up switching to Red Sea salt and between that and actually doing weekly water changes I have started to turn the tank around. I am going to go with a mainly LPS and softy tank with a handfull of SPS. I have a setosa and Greg Hillers yellow porities and I believe that's it so far. I plan to add maybe 1-3 more easy level SPS to add some extra color.

 

[afboundguy]

I did end up getting a black cardinal fish from the FFM and so far him and the pajama cardinal are getting along. He's a pretty cool fish with a lot of personality now that he's out and about...

 

[afboundguy]

On a weird note talk about the weirdest "symbiotic" relationship I've ever seen there has been a hermit crab in my gorg frag for weeks. Today when I was working on my tank I actually thought he might have been stuck so I moved him and in less than 5 minutes he was back in the same spot...

 

[afboundguy]

My goal of doing live food I have set up a phyto and copepod set up as well as a white worm set up. The phyto and copepod set ups are in a 10 gallon tank half way full with a small powerhead and an adjustable heater with a small digital thermometer as my basement is about 55-60 degrees and too cold. So far it's working well. I had had the set up in a rubbermaid container but it was hard to see it so that's why I chose a 10 gallon tank instead...

 

[afboundguy]

The white worms are in a wine cooler that I got on FB marketplace for 20 bucks. I just fed the tank some today for the first time and the fish loved it!

 

[afboundguy]

I ordered one of the circular brine shrimp hatchery dishes and plan on getting that up and running... I also plan on setting up a spot feeder like Paul B has for potentially getting an aquacultured mandarin which is another reason I'm doing the push for live food.

Future plans involve a hang on back refugium and would like to get the Aquamaxx HF-M set up with a fuge and skimmer but I'm trying to get a used HOB refugium for now as it's more cost effective...

 

[afboundguy]

I also tested the PAR finally after borrowing a PAR meter and I plan on trying out some acans again now that I know the PAR is within their range. I also hope to stock up with more frags and move them up to the rockwork after I give the 2 RBTA's a few more weeks just to make sure they still stay in the spot they have been in after I epoxied the rocks together to make sure they don't roam after I pissed them off

I also will be setting up the 2 part dosing again tomorrow. I ended up mixing the calcium, alk and mag solutions today and ran out of time to set it up before work tonight. I did purchase some BRS 1.1 ml dosers and I think I'm going to give them a try and see how they do...

 

[CAPSLOCK]

Wow, lots of updates. Really interesting with your gorg hermit. I've never really seen one stake out a place like that.

 

[afboundguy]

Wow, lots of updates. Really interesting with your gorg hermit. I've never really seen one stake out a place like that.

I legit thought he was stuck since I hadn't seen him move in forever. The gorg has it's polyps extended and looks perfectly normal it's just really weird and different!!!

 

[afboundguy]

I also went through the whole thread again and again I'm amazed at the progression. I will definitely post more updates of the work I plan on doing these next few days/weeks!!!

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

Good stuff, I wouldn't mind trying my hand at live foods in the future.

 

[afboundguy]

Good stuff, I wouldn't mind trying my hand at live foods in the future.

Knock on wood so far it's pretty easy. Haven't seen a ton of copepods in my jar but I still see some movement so that's good... Hardest part was figuring out how to keep it the proper warmth in my basement and the set up I did seems to be the easiest...

I ended up going with the round hatchery after seeing it in action and doing some research. Seems much easier and for the price it includes brine shrimp eggs and saves me probably hours of DIY time making the inverted bottle and airline tubing set up...

 

[gobyvin]

I legit thought he was stuck since I hadn't seen him move in forever. The gorg has it's polyps extended and looks perfectly normal it's just really weird and different!!!

I have had this same thing with a scarlet reef hermit and Grube’s Gorgonian just like yours. The hermit eventually lost interest.