The Tide Pool Project!

[ramoth41]

thought I'd move my hijacked thread over here.. more appropriate spot don't ya think??
Anyway..

IT"S A TIDE POOL!!!!!!! :YEAH: :YEAH:

Tonight was the night! We decided that we would make it saltwater at last!!:dance: We wanted it to have time to mix and settle out so we put enough Tropic Marin salt (the best salt mix out there in our opinion) to make about 100g and will give it time to mix, take a reading and add more. This weekend we want to start adding rock etc and if all goes well maybe some of the fish. All depends on weather (rain in the forecast)But we still plan to put up the shade canopy but with the cloudy weather we have had the water temps been 78 in the afternoon. Not gonna take the chance for overheating the pond! Heaters (2 400watt) are on the way should be here Friday so night temps are no longer an issue. The Filter is darn near done, all it needs is the media.. also due Friday!!Couple of holes and some PVC and the filter is done. The big job will be the official move! Last time we moved a tank it took 8 hours but that included a 12 mile road trip! lol
WHOO HOO :woohoobig:we're almost there!!!!!!!

[ramoth41]

IT'S A REEF!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :newole:

We put everything from the 125 in the pond and it's looking good!!!! All but 2 fish and all the rock now live in the backyard! The fish look fantastic their colors just exploded! Still needs more tweeks but I have a TIDEPOOL!!
pics!!!!!! here's a link to the to the vids I took and the whole pond pics/vids website!
http://pets.webshots.com/album/573719919UyEtkY?vhost=pets

[graphixx]

now how are you going to deal with the evaporation and if you get rain wont it dillute??? I have messed with the idea as well..... I actually did some shrooms in a make shift "table top" pool outside a few years back... the evap and the temp swings was the buggar but the shrooms DID GREAT!!!

Please Please Please keep us posted..... Love what your doing and its nice seeing some life on this forum!!!

[ramoth41]

Well so far the rain hasn't been a problem. Actually if you think about it if it rains it will add water. Since salinity goes up with evaporation a little rain won't hurt. But we haven't had a big rain, everywhere around us has though! So far we have been adding fresh water (RO/DI) to bring the water level and the salinity in line. At night we cover it to keep the temp from dropping to much. (plus the heaters).

Right now we really need to get a shade cover up to block the afternoon sun. It's been pretty warm and it seems to be hanging right about the same as the air temp Tonight it was 83 which the fish don't mind but the coral wasn't to happy. Not nearly as open as yesterday. But they are open! The big leather looks like crap but it's so big and heavy it's fraging itself! Really pretty ugly but it always was! lol The smaller leathers are open and the buttons are loving it open nice and big. The shrooms could benifit from a little more shade but they are open. Ron wants to get a UV shade tarp like they use in green houses (he is thinking of building one of those too can you say UPGRADE?!) . That is the next thing we must do.

Right now we have the BDS skimmer running pulling right out of the pond and it's foaming away, 2 Koralia power heads one at either end moving water around and 1 heater in the pond and one in the sump/waterfall. There is a pond pre-filter in the middle The bucket filter has 3 chambers with ceramic biomedia, carbon, and the blue filter pad stuff We are using the Quiteone 1000 running the prefilter and the bucket filter, The skimmer is on a magdrive 1200. Pretty much all the pumps etc from the 125 are now working in the pond.

So that's what's going on right now. All the fish are happy and swimming about, Mr Betta even poked his head out and had a look around! The Tang is loving the current swimming back and forth. And Odot the attack fish (clown)is back to his old ways and took a chunk out of Ron's hand, so he's happy! The colors on the fish are amazing! The Yellow Tail looks deep purply blue and the blue on the Singapore's fins practicaly flouresese. The Coral Beauty is a fantastic magenta with orange and yellow in his stripes with bule highlights. and the Tang is the brightest yellow with his fins going to almost orange! Even Odot's orange is oranger! lol I'm really glad we are making this atempt! I'ts quite the project but worth it!
Did you check out the pic and vids?
Will keep you updated!
s

[graphixx]

yeah, I checked the link.....FANTASTIC!!! Man this project of your has really got my gears turning!!! I would love to do something like this in my back yard but would like it to be a more year round thing.

I was thinking of turning a corner of my garage into the "equipment" room with a BIG sump also with a chiller and heater and then drill through the wall and plumb underground to a "tide pool" the place I am thinking would be between 2 trees so would be fairly shaded in the hottest part of the day. winter would be the kicker... it get DAAAMMM cold here in the winter would have to find a way to have a structure over the pool in the winter, but still get sunlight almost like a green house type of enclosure.
HHMMMMMM PLEASE KEEP US POSTED!!! This is fantastic!!!!!

[graphixx]

I dont know if you have any sps in there but i am sure they would LOVE the abundant sunshine!!!

[ramoth41]

Well after a day of sun the algae started to grow! But the not the nasty stringy green stuff we did have! We did rig a sun shade Monday night but Tuesday when we got home it had fallen partially into the pond. It wasn't supported real well and the birds were using it for perching. It was really ghetto rigged and well, can you say I told him so! lol! So last night we're out there at 10pm setting up a much sturdier canopy. Girl Scout lessons on setting up a dining fly and years of experience in working with what you have come in handy now and again! We attached one end directly to the house and the other we scavenged some tent stakes and heavy string and staked the other end. It covers about 90% of the pond, now it still gets some sun just not that glaring noon time on sun. AND today it rained .. a lot! as anticipated we don't have to worry about evaporation in fact I spent most of today hoping I wouldn't find my tang swimming in the yard because it over flowed! The canopy kept most of the rain out, though it did drip off the end. The tang was swimming in and out of the rain drops. I was LMAO watching him shoot in between the bigger run off drips. And the pond is now way full! all the way up to the rocks! The salinity is about 1.020 a little light but we are going to do a water change prolly in the next day or so. That should be fun!

The heaters seem to have finally caught up with the night temps, Last night because we used the cover for the canopy, and because the water was still pretty warm, we left it uncovered. This am the air temp was about 64 and the pond was about 76. (right now 11:15pm, air 64 pond 77) All the levels are darn near perfect too!
nitrate, nitrite = 0, calcium tested, with really old test kit, about 400 low but not unacceptible concidering we don't have any SPS (right now any way! ;);)),
PH =8.4, Alk= 300ppm. So other than the brown algae, prolly due to combo of sun and a touch of new tank syndrome, which the snails and fish are eating things are looking good. :D

Getting back to the SPS we do have 2 small frags of our torch and frogspawn that survived the crash but we haven't gotten brave enough to put them out there yet. But were still thinking on it! Ron says the $10 sps frags at Salty Critter are looking more and more appealing! I'll let you know! lol

We also have been thinkin on the green house idea!! Unfortunately we don't have the $$ who does? need a rich uncle with grant$$! I found some plans for DIY ones using PVC but they would never stand up to snow. Living in the "snow belt" we get the wet heavy stuff in mass quantities! Not your Idaho powder ski stuff! and can get pretty cold here too! Few years back we had 32 below at night Broke all kinds of records! "Blame Canada, Blame Canada!" (I blame them for all our crappy weather! lol) 4 season sun room came to mind too! But since we started this we have been planning next year and the location is top on the list! Starting sooner, building better, deeper and new location all are going to be planned a lot more carefully :rolleyes: The location now was so we could keep an eye on it even from inside. I think it would be way cool to get a web cam on it so we could watch it ALL the time!!

Well thats it for now! I'll get more pics and post this weekend, keep that link cuz I'm prolly going to post more there too! lol BTW if you click on the red word "albums" next to my name above the pictures you can see all the pictures I have posted at Web Shots! lol I think I have something like 46 different albums of all kinds of pictures!! from fish and flowers to fast cars and fireworks! lol If you check any out let me know what you think.. IMHO I got lucky on a few and they're darn good! lol
Till next time!
sarah

[graphixx]

I LOVE IT!!! good to hear that everything remains stable and running smooth. keep us posted I think something like this might be my summer project next year..... the wife really really wants a water feature in the back yard and I cannot think of a better way than a tide pool.

[ramoth41]

Well we are still battling the temp issues even with the tarp and heaters. But everything is still running and the fish are loving the room. We put one of the 4 yellow watchman gobies, who, when he was in the 30 he changed from bright yellow to a bland gray, is turning yellow again! :DI read that under different lighting they (and other fish) change colors seems the gobies are bright yellow only under reef lighting and and under less they lose color. Guess sun light counts even if it's filtered some!
We did a water change and it seemed to perk everyone up a little.. Gotta love this .. we just took the hose pumping to the sump and let it pump the water on to the ground! no mess no fuss! lol Yea I know we prolly killed the grass right there but it'll grow back! Besides why schelp a bucket if you don't have too! ;) I have some pictures I'll post as soon as I get them off the camera. Oh and the aglae hasn't gotten any worse and the levels are all stable not even a spike!
ttfn!
s
BTW I wanted a water feature too been bugging for years! this was they ONLY way he would dig me a pond.. Ron's thing was if he was gonna dig it was gonna be a tide pool! lol

[ramoth41]

NEW PICS!! just a couple of shots from this weekend Avery loves checking out the pond! Ron even let him touch some coral Now I just have to keep him from throwing things in like little boys love to do! That and stealing the rocks for "gas" in his car! lol

[ramoth41]

A video to check out! :watchtv:



(http://www.captivereefing.com/%3Cembed%20src=)100_3782.MOV (http://pets.webshots.com/video/3078167270060719313unwLEm)">


(http://pets.webshots.com/video/3078167270060719313unwLEm)

[graphixx]

man that tang is YELLLOOWWWW!!! glad to hear everything is running smooth.... KEEP THE UPDATES COMING!!! Even if it is just you and I enjoying this thread :)

[ramoth41]

No problem!! If you think the tang is yellow you should see the yellow tail damsel.. he is almost purple! and the Singapore's fins have these stripes that are the most beautiful electric blue/teal! The Coral Beauty never had the yellow orange on his body that he does now and the maroon color is almost a deep magenta! I wish I could get pictures of the angels but the flit around so fast it 's crazy! I'm sure some of the color brightness is due to the black pond liner but not all!! The Betta is in his element.. black fish in a black pond! I have only seen him a couple of times! But he is such the lurker! lol

[ramoth41]

OK here ya go ! I finally got pictures of the fish! Well all but the Watchman.. He hides way to good!! :cool: Some of them are a little distorted but I was shooting in the evening sun down through the water but I did mange to get some good ones so you can see the colors! They are soo cool!!!!!!!! even better in person! ;) The leathers shed and seem to be adjusting at last.. All but the big one, he is still shedding but I bet he'll be back to his big ugly self soon!

[graphixx]

the coral beauty and the butterfly are BEAUTIFUL!! the softies look nike too.. I am sure they are loving the natural sunlight

how is the algae and have you noticed any corraline growing???

[ramoth41]

Thanks! but that isn't a butterfly.. it's a Singapore Angel (Vermiculated Angel) and yea he is way cool! The Coral Beauty and the Yellow tail are almost 15yrs old now!! The clown is up there too! I think he is 13. Actually all of them are in double digits except the watchman gobies.. The corals are perking up. We haven'seen any coraline but we are hoping! lol The algae isn't to bad and like I said it's not the nasty hair algae and the fish are eating it!! lol
laters at work!
s

[at]

what happens when winter hits, it looks awesome but temporary

[ramoth41]

So the Pond has been up for almost a month and the corals are really looking good! We did have a big storm come through which blew the tarp down but no major damage to the critters. One of the poles was bent in half and the PVC we pounded into the ground to support the poles was pulled up and one of the guide strings snapped. But no other damage. I was worried about it overflowing and my Tang taking a swim in the yard!

Last week the weather turned hot and humid, 97f for the high! So we in our usual "work with what ya got" manner grabbed the cooler and some ice and made a chiller of sorts! 100ft of tube coiled in the cooler,attached to a small PVC valve in the cooler's drain another tube from that to a pump in the pond add ice (22lb size x 3 over time) over the coiled tube in the pond. Pump water from pond to cooler then back to pond. Viola a chiller! Worked pretty well! This isn't the 1st time we have had to make one.. way back about 10yrs ago we made one for a tank in an 2nd story apt w/o AC. Anyway every thing made it though!

Right now, as expected, the algae has started to grow but the fish are munching away and we have at least one snail that is doing a fantastic job keeping his little area clean! lol There is about a 1ft square algae free zone! Now it they would only do that in the tank! lol. They are really going to hate going back in the tank when it's to cold outside! Unless we can come up with a way to build something that will stand up to NE Ohio snows!

New pictures asap..
So that's all the news from the Pond! I'll post more as things develop!

[graphixx]

YOU GUYS ARE DOING GREAT!! its soo awesome to hear that this thing is flourishing in the elements.

LOVE IT

[ramoth41]

So I completely forgot about the forum change and posted in the other! so here is a copy and past of what I wrote!! lol

OK Sorry it's been so long!! Here's the news from the pond!

Last weekend the weather started turning pretty cool at night and the heaters just couldn't keep up any longer. Even though we really did not have the 125 ready like we wanted to it was ready enough. Ron got ALL the old sand out right down to darn near a bare bottom and replaced it with CaribSea Indo Pacific black sand. Though it took a while to clear out it looks really good and I actually like it better than the all white sand. It's a mixture of black sand with just a touch of the white mixed in. Kinda like a lot of pepper and a little salt.
Anyway by now it's dark cold and raining out and we are moving rock in like mad!! We got all the rock in and we are out there with flash light and shop lights scooping fish!! BTW I do not recommend trying to catch fish and hold a shop at the same time from a 2ft hole in the ground in the rain! We managed to catch everyone but the lawnmower blenny and we just couldn't get him! His camouflage made it impossible to see him so we decided to wait and hope we could get him in the AM. The skimmer and some of the pumps we didn't need were still on the pond so we felt he would be fine. The next day he was gone! We can't figure out where he went! He was there! If he jumped he did a heck of a "Free Willie" leap! The water level was way down and he had to clear all the rocks around the edges! So now we know the Lawnmower Blennys can jump! And now he IS mowing the lawn!
Ok so after mourning our fish we moved the skimmer only to realize the thing wasn't working because it was plugged full of algae.. a giant cork of green gunk in the venturie So after reaming it out a chopstick we plumb it all again and it works great! Noisy as all get out but working. About this time I say mmm there seems to be a lot of water on the floor here.. must be from the skimmer dripping water.when we brought it in.. yea that's it no problem.. then about 10m later there was a rather loud POP what was that???? Now we have a problem but what was that.. OH SH&%#@#@!! the sump is leaking BIG TIME!! I must point out here the sump is 2 rubber maid 50g tubs .. one inside the other so this means they BOTH are leaking! Grab the towels, buckets and another tub and pump the water out grab a 4th (30g) tub and redo the entire sump! No showers tonight honey we just used every towel we have on the floor!
Soooo after all that we finally get everything going again. We at last got to look at the tank and actually it isn't to bad. Way more swimming room than before and more caves etc. but we want to do a little more arranging. The fish were a little confused about why there wasn't the room like before! they would stop at the corners and you could just see them looking out going "wait a min I KNOW we had more room than this before!" One thing we did notice right away was they seem to be swimming out in the open more. Like they are just a bit bolder. As for the coral it is all just a little brighter than before. There are some shrooms and buttons that we couldn't move and they are more brown than what was outside all summer. The brown/green shrooms are more light green and the reds went bright red. The brown buttons when to an orangy/green. The best part WE GREW PURPLE!! and PINK coraline!! Every rock has at least some! We had lost most of the coraline in the tank when things went crazy but not anymore IT'S BACK!! whoo hoo!! (Pic included!)
So that's what's up.. That and plans for next year! Looks like we're are going to go a bit bigger! F later bottom and wider area.. Looks like the pond might become a yearly thing! Maybe next year we will try a bit of SPS!! can you say "Coral Farm"?
pics to follow!

[jojo22]

Darn you Sarah, gonna make me come up to you and see this bad boy in person next year arn't ya.

[ramoth41]

well it ain't like you haven't been invited! MORE than ONCE kiddo!!
BTW guess what the daughter got!!! Your gonna love this
Introducing .... Brisbane the Brindle Pit Bull!! She is a 12wk old blue nose and what cutie!! Dahlia (the boxer mix) loves having a little sister to play with!

Anywho you can come up any old time! lol :D

[jojo22]

What a cute pup, I steered away from the pits due to BSL, then I submerged myself in the Am. Bulldogs. I have a thread in the non-reef pet section. Have to get together and talk reef/play with pups soon.

[jimsflies]

So I completely forgot about the forum change and posted in the other! so here is a copy and past of what I wrote!! lol

Join the conversations over here! LOL.

I have been checking to make sure that everyone knows about the move and isn't posting on the old site. I think I am about ready to put the redirect in place, so it will automatically route traffic to here. Just been making sure there isn't anything we need off the old site, because it has to eventually get deleted.

That's quite a project you had going!

[ramoth41]

So anywho the pond is now in planning stages for next summer! :roll_eyes: You can come help us anytime you want! Any one close is welcome anytime.. well call first so we can clean :o:eek:.. the tank silly :duh:... Right now all the critters are doing just great! We are thinking right now on just how big this thing should be next year!:upgradebug:
For sure it will have to have some UV blocking shade, not our great tarp and maybe hard plumbing in ground. And a flat bottom! We are thinking along the lines of expanding the old pond and incorporating the new via channels. But that's a while from now! But gotta plan this one out way better than the last one! I must say the bucket filter worked great! As soon as we get a bigger sump for the 125 it will be on the tank! Talk about simple to make too! and CHEAP! :cool: Gotta love cheap/free in this hobby!

[jojo22]

You should do a thin stream connecting the two ponds with a little wooden bridge going over it, and have the filter pull from the large and return to the small, SPS would probably like the small pond and creek with the flow obviously being stronger their.

Okay now I shut up before your hubby comes down to Canton ot kick me in the.....well you get the idea.

[ramoth41]

You should do a thin stream connecting the two ponds with a little wooden bridge going over it, and have the filter pull from the large and return to the small, SPS would probably like the small pond and creek with the flow obviously being stronger their.

Okay now I shut up before your hubby comes down to Canton ot kick me in the.....well you get the idea.
It was his idea!! lol though I came up with the initial pond idea! :D

[jimsflies]

Are you setting up the tidepool again this summer?

[Sir Patrick]

That sure was sweet last year...I am with jim! Gonna do it again?? Would love to see it again!

[ramoth41]

Hi sorry it's been a while! this winter has been a hard one for us!
It's still a bit chilly here for the Tide Pool right now and I'm not sure if it's going to be a pond or a tide pool this time. We are still workin on that. It's not in the best place in the yard as we found out last year too much sun made it a bit hot! Even with the tarp for shade. We have been toying with a different set up though. We are thinking about setting up more of a raised pond. using cinder block and RR ties. I saw a FAMA article about setting up somethin like that for tropical fish. Anyway until it warms up some everything is still on hold! But what ever we do do I'll be sure to let ya'll know!

On another note.. I know I told ya'll that my daughter got married to a Marine last Nov? Well looks like Avery (who is now 4 :doh:) will be getting a sister or brother in Dec!! :thumbsup: Ahh another little reefer in training! :roll:

I'll keep you posted on both fronts!
sarah

[jimsflies]

Welcome back Sarah... Congrats on being grandma again.

Looking forward to this year's installment of the Ohio Tide Pool Project!

[Sir Patrick]

Looks like you guys have learned some things from last year. Hope you keep up the tide pool idea, and dont turn it into a pond.

If it does become a pond though, dont be a stranger-

http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7542

[cidsar]

I realize I am coming along 3 and 1/2 years after the original posts, but as a new member with an interest in creating a large outdoor SW pond, I was wondering if there is any new information you would like to share. Also, the link to the photos no longer works. Is there some new link I might try to view what you have now. Thanks, Dennis