Badfish's Hand Built 45g Rimless Starphire Tank

[Tom@HaslettMI]

The 7/14 scape look good. My only suggestion is to move the roundish top rock over to the right (so it sits in the groove of the rocks below). I think it would look even better if it was not in the center of the tank.

I totally agree on the live rock... it should be live!

Tom

[Badfish]

A box O critters showed up to the door on the 13th, I order the mix n match special from : : : : Indo-Pacific Sea Farms : : : : .

I Picked -
6 Baby Bristle Worms (captive-bred)
WonderMud
Liquid N-Reducer
6 Nerite Grazers
6 Adult Strombus Grazers (captive-bred)
6 MicroHermits
3 Adult Hermits
Reef Amphipods (20 specimens)
Live Sand Activator (includes live sand, 6 Grazing snails, 6 MicroHermits and tiny worms)





The also gave me another free Reef Amphipods (20 specimens) which has a small piece of Tang Heaven Red
which the pods come attached to, so thats another free be that went in the fuge.


This was another awesome choice for my tank, after adding everything AND already having LR my tank has exploded with life. I needed a CUC anyways and this came to around the same price, the packing was clean and everything showed up alive and healthy, again very happy with this buy.

Before adding the IPSF pack I had no critters


Now my tank is over run with life and everything already seems to be benefiting.

[Badfish]

I took my LR out to add the wondermud and the critters to my sand bed, so this was the perfect time to do a little aquascaping (my favorite). My first attempt was a little to abstract, I was going for a pillar / shelf vibe but I thought it was too much,

Then my wife saw it and told me it was too much.


So with her help we came up this, with more of a cave/arch layout, I think it turned out better the second time around.




A little moon light action.

[MizTanks]

I'm just using cheato with a small piece of LR~my lil fuge is packed with copods I, like you am running reverse lighting from the DT~11pm to 8am on a timer.

BadFish, your tank is the bomb!!! Love the rock work. You've totally started your tank out right...you should be proud

[Badfish]

Thanks Miz, I just have to problems I am facing now. One is that my water is really cloudy and doesnt seem to be clearing up. Im not running any carbon yet. I did add some strips of a cut up carbon filter pad in my sump sock for now but I don't think its working well.

The other problem is really more of an annoyance, I have so many critters in there that the sails are constantly trying to escape, and since its a rimless they do! I usually find one or two day on the outside of my glass, I just toss them back in. Oh well, thats what i get for building a rimless

[MizTanks]

It's not your tank darlin lol-what are your parameters reading? Is it all snails or just one type that are trying to escape?
For the cloudy water I'd throw a HOB or canister filter filled with carbon on for a couple days.

[Badfish]

My tank has had quite a week, on Monday we lost power for a day, and then Wednesday we lost the A/C... for the 2 hottest days of the year. The good thing is my back-up plans work great; I have an auto natural gas generator that came with the house so the tank is wired to that, and I have it located in my basement in a room with no windows, we kept it closed off so the temp in the basement never reached over 76 even when it was over 100 out side!

Originally Posted by MizTanks

It's not your tank darlin lol-what are your parameters reading? Is it all snails or just one type that are trying to escape?
For the cloudy water I'd throw a HOB or canister filter filled with carbon on for a couple days.

Its just some little snail, its not really a problem, I just toss them back in the tank when i see them trying to make a run for it.

My water parameters are all right where they should be except my pH is a little low, it's 7.8 and my Alk is 7 dKH. The pH of the water when I mix it is always 8.3 so I think its a problem with Gauss exchange... I think.
I am still toying around with the tank and sump to try different ways raise the pH and clear up the water. I was thinking this as a solution to both
JBJ EFU-25 Reactor Canister Filter w/UV, up to 100 gal. - AquaCave

I would just run Carbon and maybe Purigen (no bio filtration i have enough LR for that) to clear up the water and then the discharge would be aimed at the water surface of my sump to help with the gas exchange. I think that would help with both problems but i am totally open to other suggestions.

[Badfish]

So rather than throw money at a new canister filter I just bought a bag of carbon and tossed it in my filter sock, it seems to be working for now. I also added another power head to the sump and aimed it at the surface to help with gas exchange and hopefully raise the PH.
A few pic updates to the tank,
AND I FINALLY HAVE FISH!

I have a total of 5 tanks and 0 of them have had fish until now. Nothing too fancy just 4 green chriomes, I wanted a school of something and these guys are doing great, all 4 are eating and healthy. Their names are Roger, Pete, John and Keith.(Can you guess where those names came from?)
I
add a few more things too,
Ric

Acan

Hydnophora sp

a nicely sized Lobo

Another Sick Acan

And some unknown Palys I thought were AOGs.(If anyone knows what kind they think they are please let me know).

I have been notice crazy new growth on most of the macro I thought was going to die off.


The Harley was added to the sump because I do not want to bother with having to put C.chips stars (their favorite, but very non-reef safe, meals) in my DT. Im hoping in a few months to get a nice big female to pair him with, looks like he will have to learn to share.

One last pic, this is my favorite view of the tank

[rosebud161616]

Originally Posted by Badfish

And some unknown Palys I thought were AOGs.(If anyone knows what kind they think they are please let me know).

Those look like Gobstoppers to me!

[Badfish]

YES SIR! Those be them alrighty. That was fast, almost too fast......

THANKS!!