Only in the Bahamas...

[XtremeOCD]

I heard Baha Mar is Chinese funded and uses Chinese workers. Is there a larger Chinese influence now because of it?

I wouldn't say so. They built us an Olympic sized stadium for free which I figured was their way to do this project and use their people and resources. Bahamian government still runs the show though.

How long did it take you to clean those? With my last tank I spent a good few hours at least, and it was smaller than these.

I did a 10-15% water change once a week. Also my tanks were bare bottom besides the 90 which only had sand for a short time. I used white PVC board bottom to give the illusion of sand, but allow crazy flow and not have to worry about a sandstorm. The idea is to keep all waste and detritus suspended in the water column to be filtered out or used up by corals. Hardly anything settled in my tanks so it was basically just water change to replenish trace elements and keeping the skimmer etc cleaned.

That French Angel is a beauty, for a juvenile, price is $89 for one. Did you end up releasing him back into the wild?

Yea, I released them. One of them went into a friends tank. I wanted more than one but you can't have two in a small tank. They will fight all day.

[Richy P]

Are you allowed to harvest coral? Are there certain types which you are allowed to take?

[Hosum]

I can learn a lot from you about saltwater aquarium especially seeing how you have it setup. I currently have a nano 28g and a 12g. I have a 40g breeder tank and would like to turn that into a reef tank but then I would need to setup a sump for it. My brother has 3 other 90g tanks with sump and he said to take 1 or 2 if I want. The negative is $$ because I'm going to go crazy buying more and more fishes and corals and it's going to be a lot of work maintaining it. Thoughts?

[Horse86]

I heard Baha Mar is Chinese funded and uses Chinese workers. Is there a larger Chinese influence now because of it?

Isnt Baha Mar supposed to be complete this year?? When I was down there last year just about all the structural build of it was done. How does it stack up to Atlantis?

[XtremeOCD]

Isnt Baha Mar supposed to be complete this year?? When I was down there last year just about all the structural build of it was done. How does it stack up to Atlantis?

Yea...November. This is supposed to give Atlantis a run for their money big time.

I can learn a lot from you about saltwater aquarium especially seeing how you have it setup. I currently have a nano 28g and a 12g. I have a 40g breeder tank and would like to turn that into a reef tank but then I would need to setup a sump for it. My brother has 3 other 90g tanks with sump and he said to take 1 or 2 if I want. The negative is $$ because I'm going to go crazy buying more and more fishes and corals and it's going to be a lot of work maintaining it. Thoughts?

Well the bigger the tank the better as more water volume equals more stability. Just imagine accidentally dropping a half cup of oil or something in a 20 gal versus a 120 gal. The bigger volume would be less affected because it would be more diluted. Same with temperature swings. You have a heater break in a cold climate and a 20 gal will drop temp a lot quicker than say a 90.

I'm at the doctor but will write more when I get home.

Are you allowed to harvest coral? Are there certain types which you are allowed to take?

You aren't supposed to touch any anchored corals so I only use to frag off of stuff broken off. After a storm is a good time. Not very many people into it so if I took something off of a reef nobody would say anything. Its to prevent it on a larger scale I'd assume.

[XtremeOCD]

I can learn a lot from you about saltwater aquarium especially seeing how you have it setup. I currently have a nano 28g and a 12g. I have a 40g breeder tank and would like to turn that into a reef tank but then I would need to setup a sump for it. My brother has 3 other 90g tanks with sump and he said to take 1 or 2 if I want. The negative is $$ because I'm going to go crazy buying more and more fishes and corals and it's going to be a lot of work maintaining it. Thoughts?

I like the dimensions on the 40 gal breeder. Nice height where you don't need crazy lighting to reach the bottom of the tank. A standard 90 gal is 24 inches deep so you will need good lighting if you want high light demanding corals placed on the bottom otherwise you will have to place your corals higher in the tank. Can't remember if the 40 gal breeder has a tempered bottom so you may have to do a hang on overflow to add a sump. On my 75gal, I used a CPR overflow and made a blue acrylic cover to camouflage it against the blue acrylic background I added on the inside of the tank.

Here are some pics to show you what I mean.

Here is the tank with the white pvc board bottom I put down with silicone and the blue acrylic background I siliconed on the inside of the tank.



Here is the cover for the overflow box I made to hide it a bit



This is it in the tank. Top left



If the bottom wasn't tempered I would have drilled the tank. Also, I did an "over the top" closed loop to add more flow and made a cover to hide the plumbing in the tank. Here are some pics

The suction that had to go in the tank. I used mostly flex PVC for that. The pump was placed on a shelf above my sump.



The cover to hide the plumbing in the tank






Output nozzle I made up with pvc pipe I painted black and some lockline fittings




Shot with nozzles in the tank and the cover




Eventually I took it out of the tank, but it worked well. I was able to accomplish what I needed to with better placement of my Tunze streams and using the sea swirl

[mgftp]

What kind of black paint did you use to paint that? How did it hold up? Any chipping or peeling?

[XtremeOCD]

I always tinkered with stuff and here's what I did to a 10 gal. This first shot is the tank, the backwall (blue acrylic), white pvc board bottom, and overflow to hide my pumps for the tank, skimmer and phosban reactor. This was pretty wicked. I didn't even get to add water. When My friend saw it, he begged to buy it so I sold it




Here's everything silicone in place and the side compartment blacked out. I taped it off and painted the side of the tank black so you couldn't see the pumps





Did a water test and set it up in the house on a temporary stand. All of my stands and canopies I built myself and the acrylic 38 gal I posted yesterday I designed and had built as well as I designed all of my sumps. Just a regular stand I put this on until I had time to build the real one and just made a little hanging bracket for the 150w HQI metal halide until I built the canopy. This was as far as it got. My friend came and had me plug in the light to see it and bought it right there on the spot lol.

[XtremeOCD]

What kind of black paint did you use to paint that? How did it hold up? Any chipping or peeling?

I used Krylon paint and it never chipped. The painted pipe was never in the water. Only the lockline which came black. This is how it sat on top of the tank (the output manifold)




and here's the pump

[XtremeOCD]

Here's how the 38 gal was set up.

Tank had an external overflow and the pipe you see coming up the side was the sump return line.



The back where you can see the overflow box and the return line




First plumbing was (2) suctions and 4 outputs through 1500 gph pump.



Wasn't happy with the flow so I added another pump. Didn't want to re-plumb the whole thing from scratch so I just altered what was already there and said screw it.

[mgftp]

Ok, thanks.... was looking for something that would hold up under water, seems many people says krylon doesn't..... On my new canister filter the stupid intake and output tubes are clear which really stand out against my black background, would like to paint them black.

[Hosum]

Wow, you're very creative with this. Can you help me with a sump design for the 40g breeder tank?

[tetraktys13]

Cool thread. I'm strongly considering moving to the US Virgin Islands in a couple of years; what's island life like in your opinion? I will recheck thread if you already answeted that question. And have you ever been to the USVI?

[XtremeOCD]

Cool thread. I'm strongly considering moving to the US Virgin Islands in a couple of years; what's island life like in your opinion? I will recheck thread if you already answeted that question. And have you ever been to the USVI?

Never been there, but the Caribbean on the whole is pretty nice. I love island life. Very relaxing

Ok, thanks.... was looking for something that would hold up under water, seems many people says krylon doesn't..... On my new canister filter the stupid intake and output tubes are clear which really stand out against my black background, would like to paint them black.

If you go to your local pet shop or even somewhere like Home Depot you should be able to find black vinyl hose. I use to use it with my canister filters when I used them to run carbon.

Wow, you're very creative with this. Can you help me with a sump design for the 40g breeder tank?

Not a problem man. A good place to get ideas is http://melevsreef.com. Marc has tons of designs. It will all depend on if you want a refugium section, skimmer in sump or external etc.

[XtremeOCD]

Wow, you're very creative with this. Can you help me with a sump design for the 40g breeder tank?

Here is what one sump went through.

Designed this wet/dry filter for my 90 gal.




Well, after fighting algae do to excess nutrients and high nitrate levels in the tank, I converted my wet/dry filter into a sump removing the bio-balls. Wet/dry's are great at doing what they do...Converting ammonia (created by decaying matter, fish poop etc) into nitrite and then into nitrate in a short amount of time which is great for tanks loaded with fish, but the buck stops there as their are no anaerobic zones for denitrification to take place so you end up with an accumulation of nitrates which is fuel for algae to grow. This is where they got their name "nitrate factories" from. So...I added in a few baffles and a bubble trap and ended up with this.





Chamber 1 - For my Protein skimmer to catch incoming water. I plumbed this one externally. I also hung a bag of carbon in there

Chamber 2 - For my fuge where I just ran a light over on an alternate photo period from the main display with more wattage per gal so that any nuisance algae could grow there rather than the tank as the conditions were more favourable there. Also, had my phosban reactor pump in there.

Chamber 3 - Return chamber


After adding my sea-swirl, when I turned off the return pump it was attached to, it use to back siphon quite a bit before breaking the siphon and so I only had a small window to mess with before it overflowed my sump so I had this made





I then added it to the pre-existing sump using a bulkhead and silicone. Now I gave myself a lot of head room for evaporation and for back siphon






On the 38 gal, I designed a simple sump. Only 2 chambers with a 3 walled bubble trap.

Chamber 1 - Skimmer sat in-sump this time on a shelf. Also had my bag of carbon in there and my phosban reactor.

Chamber 2 - return chamber to pump back to the tank

[ZBlacktt]

Strong fish tanks up in here, lol. I've always wanted to go salt water. But that there cost and maintenance in these parts. Oh lawd.... so I've only done the fresh waters.

[XtremeOCD]

Strong fish tanks up in here, lol. I've always wanted to go salt water. But that there cost and maintenance in these parts. Oh lawd.... so I've only done the fresh waters.

Lol! Yea..The equipment can get outrageous then you have to factor in liverock etc. Maintenance can be a pain too especial if you have corals. I use to test alk, calcium and magnesium daily. I also dosed my tank with the 2 part B-Ionic and had to adjust the dosages as the demand changed etc. Freshwater is a walk in the park lol.

[XtremeOCD]

Cool thread. I'm strongly considering moving to the US Virgin Islands in a couple of years; what's island life like in your opinion? I will recheck thread if you already answeted that question. And have you ever been to the USVI?

You made me lol. I've accidentally done this a few times too

[health4life24]

I did a 10-15% water change once a week. Also my tanks were bare bottom besides the 90 which only had sand for a short time. I used white PVC board bottom to give the illusion of sand, but allow crazy flow and not have to worry about a sandstorm. The idea is to keep all waste and detritus suspended in the water column to be filtered out or used up by corals. Hardly anything settled in my tanks so it was basically just water change to replenish trace elements and keeping the skimmer etc cleaned.

I always used rocks in my tanks, which meant I had to go through the whole routine of vacuuming, etc.

Have always done freshwater. Would be interested in having a saltwater aquarium though.

[XtremeOCD]

I always used rocks in my tanks, which meant I had to go through the whole routine of vacuuming, etc.

Yea, if you don't have sufficient flow to keep the detritus off the rocks then you'd need to either use a turkey baster and blow them off or put a small power head in your hand and blow them. Any detritus settling on the rocks is once again fuel for algae to grow and degrades water quality. I never used sponges, filter socks or anything in my systems. Even pumps that used sponge filters I removed because any waste trapped in them isn't doing you any good if its still in the tank. It will still rott and degrade water quality. Only thing I used that needed a sponge was my CPR overflow box which I swapped that sponge every 2 days max. I'd clean one and just keep alternating.

[mgftp]

I always used rocks in my tanks, which meant I had to go through the whole routine of vacuuming, etc.

Have always done freshwater. Would be interested in having a saltwater aquarium though.

Pics of setup?

-

There should be an aquarium thread in the misc. I have noticed a few started but they always die off after a page or so. Maybe I'll trying starting one up if I can get some help from you guys to post in it until it gets some views and regulars.

[XtremeOCD]

Pics of setup?

-

There should be an aquarium thread in the misc. I have noticed a few started but they always die off after a page or so. Maybe I'll trying starting one up if I can get some help from you guys to post in it until it gets some views and regulars.

Yea...I posted in a few I saw that flopped lol . I don't mind you guys posting in here if you like which questions, discussions and pics. Its cool. I'm going to hit the sack now. Back was still killing me from that bad driver hitting that pole with me in the car so I had to go to the doctor and he gave me a shot.

Light out

[mgftp]

Yea...I posted in a few I saw that flopped lol . I don't mind you guys posting in here if you like which questions, discussions and pics. Its cool. I'm going to hit the sack now. Back was still killing me from that bad driver hitting that pole with me in the car so I had to go to the doctor and he gave me a shot.

Light out

Goodnight sir.

I'll post some pics of my new poverty setup later this week, expecting my light which will be the last piece to come any day now.

[health4life24]

Pics of setup?

-

There should be an aquarium thread in the misc. I have noticed a few started but they always die off after a page or so. Maybe I'll trying starting one up if I can get some help from you guys to post in it until it gets some views and regulars.

It's not set up, I had to get rid of it when I moved.

The tank was similar to this:




The filter was similar to this:




I had air tubing going down into the middle for bubbles.

[tetraktys13]

You made me lol. I've accidentally done this a few times too

Idk how that even happens

[Hosum]

Never been there, but the Caribbean on the whole is pretty nice. I love island life. Very relaxing




If you go to your local pet shop or even somewhere like Home Depot you should be able to find black vinyl hose. I use to use it with my canister filters when I used them to run carbon.



Not a problem man. A good place to get ideas is http://melevsreef.com. Marc has tons of designs. It will all depend on if you want a refugium section, skimmer in sump or external etc.

Thx for link, will read through it for ideas. I think I'm going to get my brother's 75 gallon tank with stand but no sump. I want to do an overflow kit like the one you did to your 10 gallon. Instead of painting the glass with blue acrylic, do you think it's ok to use a background sheet? How much should I partition the tank for the overflow and pump?

Pics of setup?

-

There should be an aquarium thread in the misc. I have noticed a few started but they always die off after a page or so. Maybe I'll trying starting one up if I can get some help from you guys to post in it until it gets some views and regulars.

That would be cool, let's see how much traffic we'll get on the misc with aquarium hobbyist.

[XtremeOCD]

Thx for link, will read through it for ideas. I think I'm going to get my brother's 75 gallon tank with stand but no sump. I want to do an overflow kit like the one you did to your 10 gallon. Instead of painting the glass with blue acrylic, do you think it's ok to use a background sheet? How much should I partition the tank for the overflow and pump?



That would be cool, let's see how much traffic we'll get on the misc with aquarium hobbyist.

That wasn't paint I used. It was actual blue acrylic (like plexiglass/plastic). Same stuff acrylic tanks are made out of, but in blue. I used that on the inside of the tank because I didn't like the look of a blue background on he outside of the tank. You sometimes get a weird reflection with glass between it (well for me and my OCD ).

As for the partition, do you want to just part off a side to hide pumps like I did and a hang on skimmer? If so, you'll have to figure out which skimmer could work for a 75 gal that is a hang on style and what space is required for it and the pump to operate. Also, if you are going to do the overflow to spill over into that compartment and use pumps to recirculate water back in you have to be careful. You would need the correct tooth size slotted in the overflow wall. Too slim and you won't get enough flow in there and will end up sucking that side compartment dry if the overflow can't handle the flow rate of the pumps. With that comes another issue...Too wide of a gap and fish can get in there. Also, if you try and use longer teeth to increase what the overflow can handle, then that will drop your water line level in the tank. Probably not the best idea for a tank that size unless you don't mind adding a power head or two in the actual tank for extra flow and just use the extra compartment to house your skimmer, carbon etc and one pump to return water back into the tank. It all depends though on how much flow you want that overflow wall to handle. There are calculators and thinking of it and the size of a standard 75 gal that is 18 inches front to back, you could probably get pretty good flow through an built in overflow. Those little hang on ones are good for about 600 - 800 gph and that's nothing compared to the size of what yours will be so you will probably be fine.

[XtremeOCD]

You made me lol. I've accidentally done this a few times too

I was only messing with you. I don't worry about reps lol

[Hosum]

That wasn't paint I used. It was actual blue acrylic (like plexiglass/plastic). Same stuff acrylic tanks are made out of, but in blue. I used that on the inside of the tank because I didn't like the look of a blue background on he outside of the tank. You sometimes get a weird reflection with glass between it (well for me and my OCD ).

As for the partition, do you want to just part off a side to hide pumps like I did and a hang on skimmer? If so, you'll have to figure out which skimmer could work for a 75 gal that is a hang on style and what space is required for it and the pump to operate. Also, if you are going to do the overflow to spill over into that compartment and use pumps to recirculate water back in you have to be careful. You would need the correct tooth size slotted in the overflow wall. Too slim and you won't get enough flow in there and will end up sucking that side compartment dry if the overflow can't handle the flow rate of the pumps. With that comes another issue...Too wide of a gap and fish can get in there. Also, if you try and use longer teeth to increase what the overflow can handle, then that will drop your water line level in the tank. Probably not the best idea for a tank that size unless you don't mind adding a power head or two in the actual tank for extra flow and just use the extra compartment to house your skimmer, carbon etc and one pump to return water back into the tank. It all depends though on how much flow you want that overflow wall to handle. There are calculators and thinking of it and the size of a standard 75 gal that is 18 inches front to back, you could probably get pretty good flow through an built in overflow. Those little hang on ones are good for about 600 - 800 gph and that's nothing compared to the size of what yours will be so you will probably be fine.

That's exactly what I want to do, but what do you think about me just having one of these sitting in the back of the tank?

http://www.petco.com/product/112546/...quariumFilters

[XtremeOCD]

That's exactly what I want to do, but what do you think about me just having one of these sitting in the back of the tank?

http://www.petco.com/product/112546/...quariumFilters

Wet/dry = nitrate factory = crazy algae growth. Would be good for fish only and you could probably add some in there like tangs to keep the algae to a minimum, but if you plan to add corals you will have a problem as corals are sensitive to nitrates. It took me 10 months to go from 10 ppm of nitrates down to zero. Denitrification is a slow process (converting nitrates into basically nitrogen gas) but nitrification (ammonia--> nitrite ---> nitrate) is a very fast process and nothing beats a wet/dry at doing it because of the surface area and the highly oxygenated water. Fish can handle 50 ppm easily of nitrates, but not corals. All depends on if you mind seeing algae and if you want corals. For a freshwater tank, wet/dry is the best way to go. Because things are so different, you don't end up with algae forests like a saltwater tank would so you'd have to figure out which direction you want to go with the tank. That skimmer is probably underrated too lol. Most all-in-one systems like that are