Mr. Microscope's 25 Gallon Cube

Mr. Microscope said:
Thanks chgoblknazn! The aesthetics of the build and aquascape in general are very important to me. Just wish I had a better camera to capture it all.

My next step is to hide all the stupid ugly cords. I think I'm going to drill another hole in the back of the stand and install a 12 volt fan to blow out heat and moisture. Then, I'll be able to mount a powerstrip and the MP10 controller inside the stand. My goal is to have just one cord coming out or the stand to the wall outlet. I'll probably install a GFO on that outlet as well (probably should have done that a while ago).
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That's exactly what I did with mine. I have one cord from my stand routed through a hole and to the wall. There are two powerstrips along the roof of my stand and I used velcro to wrap cords and stick them to the roof as well. I have velcro with adhesive and velcro with one side felted and the other side with the hooked side of velcro. Home Depot has them.

I actually need to go in there and tidy up some since I've added more equipment.
 
chgoblknazn said:
That's exactly what I did with mine. I have one cord from my stand routed through a hole and to the wall. There are two powerstrips along the roof of my stand and I used velcro to wrap cords and stick them to the roof as well. I have velcro with adhesive and velcro with one side felted and the other side with the hooked side of velcro. Home Depot has them.

I actually need to go in there and tidy up some since I've added more equipment.
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Nice! Thanks for the input and ideas. I hadn't considered using the top of the stand. I can't wait for cordless power.
 
BTW, it's official. My clowns ARE hosting my Derasa clam. D'oh! It seems to be getting used to it though. I just hope it doesn't decide to close up on one of them. Video to come.
 
chgoblknazn said:
Isn't that bad for the clam though? Will it not get irritated and damaged?
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Yeah..might not be the best thing. I'm planning to get a torch soon. I have a place built for it close to their home. Maybe if I move the clam, the torch will grab their attention and they'll make the switch.
 
Facepalm...
Here's a video of my clowns hosting the clam. They really seem to go at it more when the lights start dimming down (second part of the video).

 
New Livestock 2012.03.13

Hello All,

I went to a local swap this past weekend and picked up a few pieces.

First on the agenda was this captive bred Bangaii Cardinal pup:
cardinal20120312.jpg

This guy acclimated extremely fast. He started eating right away and hangs out with my clownfish. They all seem to be good friends.

I also got a beautiful porcelain crab from Pacific East Aquacultrure. I couldn't get a picture of it, but it's one of the purple guys. Though, I've never seen one quite like it. The feeders are an intense blue! Pic to come as soon as it shows itself.

For corals, i got a nice sized mini colony of ORA green birdsnest, a couple polyps of Darth Maul, Blue Hornets, and some kind of morph off of Untouchables. I also found a nice torch for the clowns. They haven't found it yet, but it's only two heads. So, perhaps when it gets bigger. Additionally, I found some clove polyps. I think they're papaya cloves. Here's a pic under the blue LED's. You can see the torch in the background.
DMandUntouchable20120312.jpg
 
I don't remember who I got them from, but I was some guy towards the back of the swap. Were you there? I got the DM and Untouchable morph from him too.
 
Mr. Microscope said:
FTS 2012.02.28
FTS20120228.jpg


All the plumbing seals held during the test last week. So, over the weekend I positioned the rock pillar and added sand. Then, I filled up the tank with salt water. The dust finally cleared last night and I added some live rock this morning from my frag tank to seed the dry stuff and get everything going. I'm considering today the first official day of reef life in my new cube. I can't believe it's finally happening. I feel like celebrating!

Whoopie!!!
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i love that rock bro.. where did u get that kind of rock?
 
Mr. Microscope said:
I don't remember who I got them from, but I was some guy towards the back of the swap. Were you there? I got the DM and Untouchable morph from him too.
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I was there in full effect in my skinny jeans, bright blue Kid Robot zip up track jacket and Rocky Racoon fitted New Era cap. You couldn't miss me...with being one of 4 brown people there and all those colors. I stood out like a piece of Jason Fox coral. :8party:
 
jeppun21 said:
i love that rock bro.. where did u get that kind of rock?
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I built it with fiberglass rods and an acrylic base from dry rock I got from Reef Cleaners. They probably have some of the best customer service I've experienced. I told John Maloney what I wanted to make and he helped to pick out the pieces. I also get all my clean up crews from him and he totally hooks you up.
 
chgoblknazn said:
I was there in full effect in my skinny jeans, bright blue Kid Robot zip up track jacket and Rocky Racoon fitted New Era cap. You couldn't miss me...with being one of 4 brown people there and all those colors. I stood out like a piece of Jason Fox coral. :8party:
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LOL! Nice simily. I actually did miss you, but I was only there for and an hour and a half. It was a huge PITA drive out there. Yeah, coming from NYC, the lack of diversity around here is kinda shocking.
I really want to get more cloves. Aside from Yumas, they're probably my favorite softy. Zoas excluded from that statement of course. I put them in a different category: the obsessive compulsive category.
 
Mr. Microscope said:
LOL! Nice simily. I actually did miss you, but I was only there for and an hour and a half. It was a huge PITA drive out there. Yeah, coming from NYC, the lack of diversity around here is kinda shocking.
I really want to get more cloves. Aside from Yumas, they're probably my favorite softy. Zoas excluded from that statement of course. I put them in a different category: the obsessive compulsive category.
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Yeah, I know what you mean. We need more diversity in these forums!!!

Ping Jeni (Pufferpunk) for some of her cloves. I'm not sure what kind they are but they have this gorgeous peach/orange streak in each petal that glows. They are gorgeous and are growing really quickely in my setup.
 
Update 2012.03.21

Hello All,

There's been some changes with my tank, both to the livestock and equipment.

For starters, here's a new FTS:
FTS_20120321.jpg


I mounted most of the SPS frags I had in my rack on the top garden space. Now I just have to sit back and let them grow! I also mounted the new clove polyps at about the middle of the column and found a great spot for the torch. I have to say it's looking quite happy now. The yumas were also moved up to a semi-shaded area of the rocks.

I had a small outbreak of diatoms on the rock pillar last week. After a 20% water change, they've gone away and there is now a little bit of algae building up, but I think that is already starting to go away as well. The main reason I had this build up may have been due to lack of flow to the filtration. The MJ900 just didn't have the oompf for the near four foot head. Everytime I fed, the water would look cloudy for a whole day. So, I switched to a Mag Drive 3. I've very happy with the new turnover. The tank cleans up much faster now. Also, I got some Chemi-Pure Elite. Though, I've decided to only run that once a week overnight. I find it strips the water a bit too much for my liking. My zoas don't really react well to it.

Now that you've gone though all that, here's a little treat. I realize the FTS's don't really do the tank justice. So, here's a little movie to give you a better idea how the tank looks up close. Enjoy!


More to come!
 
Well, I haven't posted a lot of images of the corals up close. So, I did a little photo shoot the other night. Enjoy!

For starters, here's my favorite new addition. I think they're papaya cloves:
cloves20120323.jpg


My other favorite new addition is this torch. It keeps looking happier and happier everyday. Here's a little hypnotic movie of it under blue LED's:


Here's those new zoas under daylights this time. I think they're equally impressive. The Blue Hornets are taking some time to come around, but that's how I got them and they were cheap. So, I figure I can wait for them to grow and color up. The Unthouchables are still looking healthy and the Darth Mauls are getting bigger!
newzoas20120323.jpg


I got this acro about two months ago. I haven't been able to identify it yet though. Please help if you know what it is. I really like the polyps. It started out kind of a dull green, but is starting to turn red at the base.
unknownacro20120323.jpg


I love these yumas. They've had several babies for months, but the big ones were always covering them up until recently. The big guys finally moved far enough away to give the babies some light and a chance to grow up.
yumas20120323.jpg


My hermits never cease to amuse me. About a month ago I fragged some of this colony of Radioactive Dragon Eyes and Green Bay Packers. A few of the polyps fell off the plugs and landed on rubble sitting around my tank. One happened to stick to a little shell. Yesterday, I noticed that one of the hermits decided to move into the shell. I now have a walking zoa!
HermitwithRDEs20120323.jpg


Here's one of my left handed guys hanging out in the acans. Testing fate IMO. I like how the baby acans are a little striped. They almost look rainbowish at times.
hermitandacans20120322.jpg


Mummy Eye Chalice looking sexy as usual!
MummyEyeChalice20120322.jpg


I love this maze favia (or at least I think that's what it's called, please correct me if you know better).
maze20120323.jpg


Here's some of the ORA Green Birdsnest that I got at the swap. It broke into three pieces when I tried to get it off the plastic blue ORA plug. So, I mounted them all in various spots on the pillar.
GreenBirdsnest20120323.jpg


I've got a few ORA Red Planet frags. The one on the lower right (under the Garf Bonsai) has been under my light for a very long time. The one on the left is newer. You can see a huge color difference. I'm continuing to raise the intensity of my LED's. I'm guessing over time, they will balance out and the green will turn into a hot red pink.
redplanets20120323.jpg


Finally, here's the Derasa. Happy as a clam!
derasa20120323.jpg


More updates to come!
 
Update 2012.04.16

Hello Everyone. It's about time for the monthly updates.

I'm getting a little bit of algae build up on the pillar, but there isn't any on the live rock. I'm not too worried about it as I'm continuing manual removal and weekly water changes. I'm hoping to have it starved out eventually.

I also treated for flatworms the other day. I didn't have too much of an infestation, but I wanted to get on top of it before it got out of hand. Unfortunately, I'm still seeing a some but the population has been severely reduced. So, I have plenty of time to get some more Flatworm eXit and try again. One odd thing though, is that I may have lost my dwarf cerith population. They are all on the sandbed and not moving. If they're all dead though, they haven't caused a cycle. All the corals look okay. I'm keeping my eyes pealed for signs of stress, but so far so good. I read that ceriths can go dormant. I'm hoping that is just the case.

On to the pics! To start: Here's the latest FTS. No new corals, but I've mounted several more in place on the display rock and several are really starting to settle in and grow.

FTS20120415.jpg


I took a couple shots from the sides to give a little better perspective on how the overall tank looks:
FTSTilts20120415.jpg


...and a clam's eye view of the pillar:
clamseyeview20120415.jpg


The SPS is doing well. The Palmer's Blue Milli is getting extremely polypy! Who says SPS can't be, "flowy?"
palmersbluemilli20120415.jpg


Here's a movie to prove my point:

​
The GARF Bonsai is really spreading. Soon, it should be from the frag rock to the pillar:
bonsaiacro20120415.jpg


Finally...drumroll
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Tu-dah!
happyhostingclown20120415.jpg


One of my clowns started hosting my torch last night. Check out this movie! Ahhhw yeah!

​
Hopefully, the other clown will get into the act too. I'm planning to get several more torches for the bottom in addition to some more papaya cloves.

I'm debating on adding another fish as well. It'll either be a tailspot blenny or a six line wrasse. Though, I might just hold off on another fish all together. I not running a skimmer right now, and would likely have to add one if I get another fish.
 
Update 2012.04.27

So, I've been battling some bryopsis lately. The fact that I killed off all of my snails hasn't been helping either. In comes ReefCleaners to the rescue!

I got a new army of dwarf ceriths. Also, I picked up some dwarf plexis snails, some additional nassarius vibex, and I'm giving virgin nerites a shot. Additionally, I decided to add some macros to the display in a hopes of starving out the bryopsis. I got some grape calurpa, and some flame algae. Also, being added to the mix next week will be some Red Gracilaria. Check them out!

GrapeCalurpa20120426.jpg

This particular breed of grape calurpa is much more controllable than others. So, I'm not concerned about it getting out of hand.

FlameAlgae20120426.jpg

I LOVE this flame algae! It goes from orange to purple and even glows a little under RB LED's. I can't wait to see if the Red Gracilaria is similar. Overall, I'm really digging how these macros have added to the look of my reef. I really feel like it's starting to look like a little ecosystem now.

Finally, here's a little treat. I finally caught a glimpse of my porcelain crab. I'm starting to see it more and more now. He found a new favorite spot upside down under my yumas. I love how it's feeders are bright blue and orange. My wife pointed out to me that he's missing a claw. I don't know how he could have lost it unless the hermits decided to team up on him or something. I'm sure the new one will come with the next molt. Here's a cool movie:

 
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