Benjmain's 75g Garage Reef
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- Thread starter mrbee2828
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mrbee2828
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BTW, I'm putting this on a frag swap and hope to see some of you east coast types there: MAMAS | Fall Frag Festival October 19, 2013
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mrbee2828
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So it's been well over a month now since I began the acro treatment. I took a bazillion macro shots today to inspect for red bugs. No signs! So I think I'm going to do one last dip today and return the colonies to the display However... before I do that I have seen more monti eating nudis on my large remaining cap. It's at the bottom of the left side but I have decided to take an extra 30mins or so today and remove the upper rockwork to get the massive rock/cap out and dip it as well. I'm going to brush it really well to remove any remaining eggs that may survive the dip process. I will post pictures tonight or early this week.
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Flameback Pair
started reefing 1999
Sounds like you're getting the upper hand on the red bugs.
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mrbee2828
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I had a friend over for some beers and conversation this weekend and it was just about impossible to see the inside of my tank. I haven't cleaned the glass in over a week with everything going on. I pretty much spent the whole day cleaning and working on it. I took a few pictures afterward. I'm working on a new rock pillar for some of the colonies I have that will be in tomorrow at some point. Notice... zero red bugs. #winning
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Beautiful photos!
ReeferMan420
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Awesome pictures!
TJ's Reef
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Wow! Just read through entire thread, what a great build thread and detailed routine on dealing with the Reef pests. I'm an avid DIY-er myself and its always nice to see others so inclined. Glad you stuck with it and came through with such a positive attitude. No matter how careful we think we are, sometimes a nasty slips through the cracks that we have to deal with and you done good...
Cheers, Todd
Cheers, Todd
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mrbee2828
Active Member
They didn't flex much at all. I make these for local reefers. I bought a ton of the screen the other year and make them to order.
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mrbee2828
Active Member
Not much has been happening with my tank as of recent. I have been consumed with the addition and rapping up softball with all the rain delays this year. Here are some progress shots. We are breaking through today. The electrical will be getting a massive overhaul this week and I'm getting them to run 2 breakers to the wall the tank will be on.
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mrbee2828
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I haven't updated much as the addition and holidays pretty much consumed me. 2014 is going to be a big year for me and this hobby. 3 tank builds, QT, automatic water change system for the entire house, a grow out rack and a new business and website are all in the works.
So the addition came out great. I'm 99% done and working on a few pieces of trim and have some staining to do still but waiting for it to warm up a bit to get back out in the garage. Speaking of temperature, I had the panel in the house upgraded in early December for the new hvac and future large reef build. The upgrade took much longer than expected and the temperature dropped into the mid 60s. I had my truck powering a portion of the tank on and off all day. This shocked and killed a few pieces of coral and stressed everything else in the tank as well. I lost a lot of color but things have been coming back slowly.
Well I had our local club macroalgae guru stop by yesterday and we ate some lunch and gab for a few hours about the clubs, corals and work. After talking about my tank for awhile and my apparent troubles, he noted that my fuge was way to crammed and everything was going sexual. So while I know the panel upgrade hurt my tank, he thinks that the variety and close quarters of the fuge are also stressing the acros. I'm pulling everything out that I can except some of the cheato and mangroves. Hopefully this will help but until I get this thing inside I feel like I'm going to keep hurting the tank with temperature fluctuations and other issues.
I'm trying to sell off a lot of pieces and cut back a lot of others locally. Somehow I'm going to try and get my office painted and the floor installed over the next few weeks and get the rimless set up going that I posted about this time last year. I hope to move the remaining pieces over to this tank and another frag tank in a few months. We'll see... seems like an impossible goal right now after 3 months of construction
By then I hope to have pulled the trigger on a new tank and gotten a start on the steel stand construction. From there I need to get the custom sump and water change station done. Skinning the stand can come later. If all goes well I can have stock moved over from the crammed tanks to the large reef this summer.
Another challenge is selecting, ordering and curing rock. I've decided to start anew minus some of the smaller encrusted rocks. I have to many random polyps, kenya trees and other such things from getting into the hobby that I don't want to bring over to this new system. I'm looking at fiji and tonga right now. More to come....
So the addition came out great. I'm 99% done and working on a few pieces of trim and have some staining to do still but waiting for it to warm up a bit to get back out in the garage. Speaking of temperature, I had the panel in the house upgraded in early December for the new hvac and future large reef build. The upgrade took much longer than expected and the temperature dropped into the mid 60s. I had my truck powering a portion of the tank on and off all day. This shocked and killed a few pieces of coral and stressed everything else in the tank as well. I lost a lot of color but things have been coming back slowly.
Well I had our local club macroalgae guru stop by yesterday and we ate some lunch and gab for a few hours about the clubs, corals and work. After talking about my tank for awhile and my apparent troubles, he noted that my fuge was way to crammed and everything was going sexual. So while I know the panel upgrade hurt my tank, he thinks that the variety and close quarters of the fuge are also stressing the acros. I'm pulling everything out that I can except some of the cheato and mangroves. Hopefully this will help but until I get this thing inside I feel like I'm going to keep hurting the tank with temperature fluctuations and other issues.
I'm trying to sell off a lot of pieces and cut back a lot of others locally. Somehow I'm going to try and get my office painted and the floor installed over the next few weeks and get the rimless set up going that I posted about this time last year. I hope to move the remaining pieces over to this tank and another frag tank in a few months. We'll see... seems like an impossible goal right now after 3 months of construction
By then I hope to have pulled the trigger on a new tank and gotten a start on the steel stand construction. From there I need to get the custom sump and water change station done. Skinning the stand can come later. If all goes well I can have stock moved over from the crammed tanks to the large reef this summer. Another challenge is selecting, ordering and curing rock. I've decided to start anew minus some of the smaller encrusted rocks. I have to many random polyps, kenya trees and other such things from getting into the hobby that I don't want to bring over to this new system. I'm looking at fiji and tonga right now. More to come....
chefb_5
Active Member
WOW is all I can say! Very impressed with ur dedication and not to be mean, but here I go this has been one of the greatest threads I have seen in a long time!! Not trying to put any of the other reefers down because all have been great threads. You can't beat the man cave with all the goodies and bells and whistles I mean dang no need t be inside the house lol this is a great thread keep up the great work can't wait to see more!!
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mrbee2828
Active Member
Very kind of you. I don't know if I can agree with you on that level but I hope others are going to learn a lot from my mistakes and challenges. This really has a been "from day 1" learning experience. Starting with PVC overflows, a PC fixture and kenyas to now with LEDS, an inline frag system and acros. I jumped the gun on my rimless build and it's been stale for a year so I'm not going to start the large build thread until I get the tank ordered. Again, thanks!
