Show me your aquarium
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Quarantine! All your hard work would be undone very quickly and that would be heartbreaking!
And man maths dictates that now would be the perfect time for something like a TESLA powerwall with backup, you know JIC the power goes out.
Thanks for the update Sway, always entertaining reading yous updates!
And man maths dictates that now would be the perfect time for something like a TESLA powerwall with backup, you know JIC the power goes out.
Thanks for the update Sway, always entertaining reading yous updates!
extraT said:
Quarantine! All your hard work would be undone very quickly and that would be heartbreaking!
And man maths dictates that now would be the perfect time for something like a TESLA powerwall with backup, you know JIC the power goes out.
Thanks for the update Sway, always entertaining reading yous updates!
I have battery backup on one of my circ pumps on my stingray tank, it can run for hours. And man maths dictates that now would be the perfect time for something like a TESLA powerwall with backup, you know JIC the power goes out.
Thanks for the update Sway, always entertaining reading yous updates!
I also have a small generator should I expect a long outage, it would be enough to keep the tank at a cooler temp that would sustain her.
can anyone recommend a mat for underneath the aquarium - we are getting some new furniture thats quite nice oak - and we currently have some "camping mat" style on our old crap unit, but wanted something better and nicer - seems a big range out there, but dont want to spend money an essentially another camping mat, so any experience and input welcome!
TIA!
rider73 said:
can anyone recommend a mat for underneath the aquarium - we are getting some new furniture thats quite nice oak - and we currently have some "camping mat" style on our old crap unit, but wanted something better and nicer - seems a big range out there, but dont want to spend money an essentially another camping mat, so any experience and input welcome!
TIA!
I mean, you do essentially want a camping mat (closed cell PU foam sheet)!TIA!
If cut to just under the size of the aquarium (I'm talking a mm or two inside) then a 5-6mm sheet of black foam sheet is going to pretty much disappear.
Maybe something from somewhere like here?
https://www.gbfoamdirect.co.uk/foam-cut-to-size/pl...
Caddyshack said:
I have battery backup on one of my circ pumps on my stingray tank, it can run for hours.
I also have a small generator should I expect a long outage, it would be enough to keep the tank at a cooler temp that would sustain her.
Sine wave genny is on my list to get.I also have a small generator should I expect a long outage, it would be enough to keep the tank at a cooler temp that would sustain her.
I'd like to fit a proper autoswitching UPS, but frankly it's not possible where the tank is, and how I've got my electrics organised (everything runs through a single wall socket, into a DJ lighting switch panel).
Caddyshack said:
I have battery backup on one of my circ pumps on my stingray tank, it can run for hours.
I also have a small generator should I expect a long outage, it would be enough to keep the tank at a cooler temp that would sustain her.
We did look at solar panels and battery storage last year, but we will only be in this house for another 5 years tops, and couldn't justofy the spend V return.I also have a small generator should I expect a long outage, it would be enough to keep the tank at a cooler temp that would sustain her.
I do have a 2000w Inverter generator, which I have yet to need - enough to run the return pumps, powerheads and one of the two heaters, but not the lights.
Short term I have a couple of these rechargeable air-pumps that the kids and neighbours know to throw into the tank if there is a power cut and we are not at home.
Each one runs for about 24hours on a full charge, and keeps enough movements and oxygen in the water until I could get home and get the generator online.
https://amzn.to/42goHwW
2kW genny would run my whole tank and more!
Max load is under a kW for my whole tank - and that's assuming running the lights at full power.
We're planning on moving in a few years, and already ensuring there'll be a priority for a nice big tank (thinking 5x4 peninsular would be lovely) - but the infrastructure demands are scary!
The other real factor for me is being able to get more ATI Straton lights to cover a bigger tank.
Max load is under a kW for my whole tank - and that's assuming running the lights at full power.
We're planning on moving in a few years, and already ensuring there'll be a priority for a nice big tank (thinking 5x4 peninsular would be lovely) - but the infrastructure demands are scary!
The other real factor for me is being able to get more ATI Straton lights to cover a bigger tank.
Went to the opening of a new store in Portsmouth yesterday. Shows promise, and free cake.
Have been looking for a nice anacropora for a while, really nice growth form, hardy and radioactive glow. They had one, so in the bag it went.
Then, thanks to a rush of sugar to the head (b
d free cake!) a frag of maricultured acropora millpora dropped into a bag too. This, this was a stupid thing to do. Millies are tough, and maricultured Millies even more so. I am not good enough to keep this alive, and it is going to strip faster than a Nevada hooker being paid for by the minute.
However, this pic pleased me. The different growth forms, colours and contrasts all from the same family of corals.
Red Planet that's due to be mounted to rock work this week on the right, anacropora in the middle, pink maricultured millipora on the left.
Have been looking for a nice anacropora for a while, really nice growth form, hardy and radioactive glow. They had one, so in the bag it went.
Then, thanks to a rush of sugar to the head (b
d free cake!) a frag of maricultured acropora millpora dropped into a bag too. This, this was a stupid thing to do. Millies are tough, and maricultured Millies even more so. I am not good enough to keep this alive, and it is going to strip faster than a Nevada hooker being paid for by the minute.However, this pic pleased me. The different growth forms, colours and contrasts all from the same family of corals.
Red Planet that's due to be mounted to rock work this week on the right, anacropora in the middle, pink maricultured millipora on the left.
Balls. Replacement female Bellus has turned up a lot faster than I was expecting, so no time to setup a QT tank...
My sphincter is puckering. Fingers crossed!
She's not going in the shop I bought from's system, she's being kept in the bag direct from supplier. Hopefully that cuts out one vector for infection.
My sphincter is puckering. Fingers crossed!
She's not going in the shop I bought from's system, she's being kept in the bag direct from supplier. Hopefully that cuts out one vector for infection.
I know it's stupid - but I'm rolling the dice and hoping they're loaded with me...
She never entered the shop's system, has come directly from TMC where she's been in copper for three weeks.
She's also an absolute fking unit. Three times the size of the male and super chunky - I've never seen a healthier looking fish.
There's no way I'd have been able to QT her, without a properly decent sized setup.
Wish me luck, or tell me 'I told you so' when she wipes out my entire tank...
She never entered the shop's system, has come directly from TMC where she's been in copper for three weeks.
She's also an absolute f
king unit. Three times the size of the male and super chunky - I've never seen a healthier looking fish.There's no way I'd have been able to QT her, without a properly decent sized setup.
Wish me luck, or tell me 'I told you so' when she wipes out my entire tank...
Turn7 said:
Jeez you do like a gamble !
Really hope it’s goes well for you Sway
I really don't! But also ended up with essentially no choice - it arrived weeks before I thought it would, and we've got loads going on preventing me from having been setup in advance...Really hope it’s goes well for you Sway
So, I had a choice of it going into a system which I think has an infection in it, then quarantining at home - or taking direct from TMC in therapeutic copper which she's been in for three weeks and putting straight into my system.
I know the risk, and there'll be some sleepless nights over the next week or so...
She really is a beaut. So everything I can see is favourable. Which of course it will be - until it isn't.
Best of luck with it. If it really has been in therapeutic copper then ich and velvet shouldn't be an issue. If it's fat then my only other concern would be flukes. Not sure they're prone to those or not?
Completely unrelated to the above but I've just lost a big colony. I accidentally caught a tabling acropora with the glass cleaner and snapped it off and it unfortunately fell onto another one and stung it. The dead patch seemed to get infected and it ended up RTNing over night. I took a tonne of frags off it, only one has survived.
I'm not sure what to do with big dead acro or the live but snapped off bit!
edit, forgot the pic! I've laid it down here for the moment, not sure whether to chop it up or chuck it out
Completely unrelated to the above but I've just lost a big colony. I accidentally caught a tabling acropora with the glass cleaner and snapped it off and it unfortunately fell onto another one and stung it. The dead patch seemed to get infected and it ended up RTNing over night. I took a tonne of frags off it, only one has survived.
I'm not sure what to do with big dead acro or the live but snapped off bit!
edit, forgot the pic! I've laid it down here for the moment, not sure whether to chop it up or chuck it out
Edited by budgie smuggler on Thursday 1st February 13:05
Edited by budgie smuggler on Thursday 1st February 13:12
Update...
Female Bellus came in direct from wholesaler, and I cross checked with another LFS that that one does indeed keep in copper.
She's huge, and has settled in very, very well.
Due to the size difference, they've been renamed Jamie Lannister and Brienne of Tarth.
New corals settled in very well (so far!) - one crazy thing was that within four hours of adding them to the tank, Alk dropped by 0.5dKH, and the Manager has been dosing increasing amounts since. Think the millie, prior to stripping faster than a Nevada hooker being paid by the minute, is being a good girl and sucking hard too...
Crap photo, but it's colouring up to a nice pinky peach, with visible growth tips and very hairy polyp extension. She hasn't shaved...
Have had a bit of a weird one (well, it's been weird for a couple of weeks...) with certain frags either losing their tips:
Or getting a bald spot (the digi is a higher class hooker, waxing right in the cleft...):
In the last couple of days a single chalice has receded a bit - all the others growing fast.
Had a reefy chap round today to give me some advice, and as we were chatting, noticed Buffy (the polyp slayer...) taking a nibble. Balls. Rolled the dice and came up snake eyes. (hmm, seems there's a Vegas theme to this update).
So, fish trap borrowed, and she'll get replaced with either a nice wrasse, or the Japanese Swallowtail that's been sat ever since I took it off hold at LFS in December.
Some other corals (yep, st pics):
Iron Man Chalice
Duncan
New leptoseris that's going to colour up a dark, vertical bit of my scape.
Only other thing to note, to maintain the Vegas theme, is I swapped out my pill...
Magnetic stirring pill for the kH Manager - stock one on right. Supposed to be placed with the curved edge facing down - inherently unstable (like the best Vegas hookers) and every now and then would ping around the sample beaker and give an artificially low reading. New one on left - sits flat, stirs like a good un, and doesn't ping around the beaker. Boom. Thanks Jeff.
Female Bellus came in direct from wholesaler, and I cross checked with another LFS that that one does indeed keep in copper.
She's huge, and has settled in very, very well.
Due to the size difference, they've been renamed Jamie Lannister and Brienne of Tarth.
New corals settled in very well (so far!) - one crazy thing was that within four hours of adding them to the tank, Alk dropped by 0.5dKH, and the Manager has been dosing increasing amounts since. Think the millie, prior to stripping faster than a Nevada hooker being paid by the minute, is being a good girl and sucking hard too...
Crap photo, but it's colouring up to a nice pinky peach, with visible growth tips and very hairy polyp extension. She hasn't shaved...
Have had a bit of a weird one (well, it's been weird for a couple of weeks...) with certain frags either losing their tips:
Or getting a bald spot (the digi is a higher class hooker, waxing right in the cleft...):
In the last couple of days a single chalice has receded a bit - all the others growing fast.
Had a reefy chap round today to give me some advice, and as we were chatting, noticed Buffy (the polyp slayer...) taking a nibble. Balls. Rolled the dice and came up snake eyes. (hmm, seems there's a Vegas theme to this update).
So, fish trap borrowed, and she'll get replaced with either a nice wrasse, or the Japanese Swallowtail that's been sat ever since I took it off hold at LFS in December.
Some other corals (yep, s
t pics):Iron Man Chalice
Duncan
New leptoseris that's going to colour up a dark, vertical bit of my scape.
Only other thing to note, to maintain the Vegas theme, is I swapped out my pill...
Magnetic stirring pill for the kH Manager - stock one on right. Supposed to be placed with the curved edge facing down - inherently unstable (like the best Vegas hookers) and every now and then would ping around the sample beaker and give an artificially low reading. New one on left - sits flat, stirs like a good un, and doesn't ping around the beaker. Boom. Thanks Jeff.
Fair play to you salty lads, I've kept some very finicky and relatively expensive FW fish over the years but still not sure I could be arsed with the hassle of not having a big water change as the solver of most issues, I admire the time and effort (and cash) you put in.
My pico is thriving, Anubias is shooting roots all over, shrimp population is up at least 50% and the Betta my 4 year old insisted we rescued is a pig.
My pico is thriving, Anubias is shooting roots all over, shrimp population is up at least 50% and the Betta my 4 year old insisted we rescued is a pig.
That's cracking.
Should mention there might be a big freshwater setup coming my way... LFS has it in from a breakdown. Interesting big 'elongated' corner tank (about 5' wide, 3ish' deep in the corner, tapering down to about 15" wide at the other end) with sump.
I'm a little impulsive, and with a bit of rejigging of the lounge it'd make an incredible Malawi cichlid tank...
She'll kill me.
Should mention there might be a big freshwater setup coming my way... LFS has it in from a breakdown. Interesting big 'elongated' corner tank (about 5' wide, 3ish' deep in the corner, tapering down to about 15" wide at the other end) with sump.
I'm a little impulsive, and with a bit of rejigging of the lounge it'd make an incredible Malawi cichlid tank...
She'll kill me.
Edited by Sway on Sunday 11th February 18:34
Sway said:
That's cracking.
Should mention there might be a big freshwater setup coming my way... LFS has it in from a breakdown. Interesting big 'elongated' corner tank (about 5' wide, 3ish' deep in the corner, tapering down to about 15" wide at the other end) with sump.
I'm a little impulsive, and with a bit of rejigging of the lounge it'd make an incredible Malawi cichlid tank...
She'll kill me.
Oof, that's an awkward shape and has a rim (I'm all about the above tank details), I've tried to love a circa ~ 300l corner tank before and it just didn't happen.Should mention there might be a big freshwater setup coming my way... LFS has it in from a breakdown. Interesting big 'elongated' corner tank (about 5' wide, 3ish' deep in the corner, tapering down to about 15" wide at the other end) with sump.
I'm a little impulsive, and with a bit of rejigging of the lounge it'd make an incredible Malawi cichlid tank...
She'll kill me.
Edited by Sway on Sunday 11th February 18:34
That said I'd go for Geos over Malawis, good luck with the wife!
Hmmm, hate to be negative, but I dislike corner tanks.
They are very awkward to work with, epsecially towards the corner point of the tank, plus with those extension sides, the viewing is possibly going to look tricky if you arent 100% in front of the tank.
But, deffo get it bought, and setup a tank full of murderous incestuous agrressive thuggish yellow and blue fish......
Yours, a big Malawi fan....
They are very awkward to work with, epsecially towards the corner point of the tank, plus with those extension sides, the viewing is possibly going to look tricky if you arent 100% in front of the tank.
But, deffo get it bought, and setup a tank full of murderous incestuous agrressive thuggish yellow and blue fish......
Yours, a big Malawi fan....
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