Ben's 28g redux

[benny z]

thanks. they were pretty rough when they arrived, and at first i had them on the sandbed in full lighting. they were not puffing up at all and not looking any better after a week or so, so i moved them into an area that is mostly shade, but receiving a little indirect light and they seem to be puffing up and healing better now. (the reason for the darkish photo)

cheers!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Very nice Ben!

 

[FLipp]

where'd you scoop those blastos from? i would love a frag.

 

[benny z]

Very nice Ben!

thanks rev!

where'd you scoop those blastos from? i would love a frag.

the blastos, as with several other pieces in this tank, were from will @ aqua sd. highly recommended!

 

[benny z]

alright! so today i made an up-flow algae scrubber!

found the jbj "nano-glo" refugium light at my lfs, and they have one of my tank on display there. i was able to test out the fitment, and come up with a way to place the light so that it shines into a chamber i don't have anything in. the water going into this chamber is flowing up through the chambers in the rear at this point, so i don't believe i will need any air bubbles to get algae growing here.

i bought this plastic mesh from my local fabric store, and cut it 3" to fit the width of the chamber front-to-back. mounted in this way i can shine the light on both sides of the mesh to get both sides growing. i notched it at the bottom so water can flow easily up both sides (it does not touch the bottom anyway). i also notched the top so that it hangs in place along the tank trim. i also did scuff up the plastic quite a bit so it is very rough.

here is how it hangs. this is centered in the chamber - not sure if it will stay that way on it's own or if i will have to fiddle with it.

this is the small jbj light. it has a magnet mount. the magnet mount on the inside of the tank will actually be in the return pump chamber next to this one.

this should line things up just like this, so that the mesh gets light on both sides.

BUT!

even as slim as the light is, it's still a tight fit between the tank and wall! too tight for me to be comfortable with leaving it due to it causing pressure points on the glass. so - guess next water change i will move the tank out a smidge.

 

[trido]

Great looking tank. I think those blue agave zoa's are some of the coolest I've seen. The price was perfect too.

 

[Diamond1]

Very nice tank! The algea scrubber looks like a good idea.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Great update Ben, you have an awesome collection of Coral and Fish for such limited size.... well done Sir. On the first video on pg 4 took me awhile to figure out the background noise coming from the MP-10, how is it in general. My apologies for not seeing and responding to your "Broad-Spectrum LED Blend" thread don't know how it made it past my 'LED Radar' must of been buried in my shop at the time. I think your thoughts on subject are quite accurate.

Cheers, Todd

 

[benny z]

Thanks guys! I think most of the noise that you are hearing in the first video is from the 4 24v fans in the hood. They are indeed pretty noisy and really bugged me when I first set up this tank. I guess over time I've gotten used to them.

You can hear the motor of the mp-10 whirring up and down when the lights aren't overpowering its noise. I can actually hear it now in the kitchen, about 20ft away from the tank. (Lights aren't on for a couple hours yet). It's not shaft noise from misalignment - it's just motor noise. It's also not something I hear if I'm not listening for it now tho.

 

[ritter6788]

Great looking tank and photos! Well done.

 

[benny z]

Thanks ritter!!!

 

[MrDJeep123]

Ooooooo! Interesting design for the ATS, post an update in a few days!

 

[benny z]

i will. i'm planning to move the tank tomorrow.

i was also told i will probably need the air pump/line to get the algae growth you usually see with these scrubbers. i thought that might be the case, but really don't want to deal with salt creep. i'll have to figure something out. maybe a cap of some sort. *shrug*

 

[benny z]

did my weekly water change tonight...a full 10g, which drained the tank display area more than half way. enough for me to slide the tank/stand out some from the wall to fit the light.

went ahead and added an airline (no stone) into the chamber for the air/water interaction for optimum algae growth. i'm worried about salt creep - we will see how that goes.

here it is installed, from the top. the light is indeed contained to the one chamber. perfect.

 

[MrDJeep123]

Salt creep shouldn't be that big an issue. Just keep the wiped clean of moisture.

 

[benny z]

so this morning i expected to find a flood on the floor because i changed something last night before bed.

that didn't happen!

there also doesn't appear to be any new moisture up around the trim area. that's a good thing.

also, now that it's light here's a picture of the tank now out a bit from the wall, with the light on the back side.

and just because this thread needs more pictures - new snaps!

 

[amppdx]

Very nice build. I really like how you put the tourch and hammer together. I thought they would sting each other, but I guess its just isolated cases? I'm curious to follow your ATS progress as well.

 

[benny z]

Actually, I saw a recent posting where someone had shown a photo of their torch surrounded by hammers. I inquired if he was worried about the torch stinging the hammer and several people replied that they were keeping them this way successfully. I tried it and snapped this photo. But then decided to move the hammer away again bc I thought I may have seen some stress. I'm not doing it again.

 

[benny z]

couple of shots from the sides. this first shot is up against the love seat this tank is next to, so i'm usually sitting in it looking into this view.

this is the third viewable side, exactly opposite the other picture. this side of the tank is about 24" from the bookshelves on the sides of our fireplace, and you really have to want to see what's back here and squeeze into this little area to see this view.

 

[benny z]

updated to the ats. this is day 7... the algae has started, but is browner than i'd have expected, and is clearly growing thickest where the light beams are directly hitting it. not really sure if this is what i should be seeing at this point or not...