Icedgxe’s Versa 42g build
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icedgxe
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Rock came in about a week ago!! I decided to go with TBS rock again. I have about 10lbs of Walt Smith 2.1 in my Nuvo 10 and have been very happy with it. Although I am still trying to catch one last gorilla that has completely eaten my sunset millepora. But, with the gold comes some bad, and I think the good wins out in this situation. I went with one large piece of Pukani and the rest of the pieces are 2.1. The rocks look amazing and have tons of life on them.
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icedgxe
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Nothing much new to report. I built a stand for the skimmer to raise it up. It was sitting in around 9” of water and not it’s around 6.5”- 7”. Other than that, things have been pretty smooth so far. Going to try and trap a couple of crabs and then hopefully get things moved over in the next couple of weeks.
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icedgxe
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Things are going pretty smoothly. Diatoms came and went in about 2 days or so. I have a couple of spots that look like cyano, but they don’t seem to be taking a foothold. Once I set the scape the way I want and position the power heads, this spots should get taken care of.
Now, on a bad note. I have the usual hitchhikers that I know I will need to get out eventually in the way of whelks and gorilla crabs. What I wasn’t expecting to see as I looked at the tank last night was a tiny, nasty, terrible, rolly Polly looking, horrible crustacean with beady black eyes staring back at me from the sand bed. If you haven’t guessed by now, I found an Isopod of which I believe to be a Cirolanid. I quickly ran and grabbed my net and was able to scoop it out. I saw one more a bit later, but it did into the sand before I could get to it. So now I need to make a decision. Delay moving everything over for a couple of months to try and starve them out and also try to catch them along the way. Option two is to try and get a hold of interceptor and run a high dosage as explained in an article I found and nuke them. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Now, on a bad note. I have the usual hitchhikers that I know I will need to get out eventually in the way of whelks and gorilla crabs. What I wasn’t expecting to see as I looked at the tank last night was a tiny, nasty, terrible, rolly Polly looking, horrible crustacean with beady black eyes staring back at me from the sand bed. If you haven’t guessed by now, I found an Isopod of which I believe to be a Cirolanid. I quickly ran and grabbed my net and was able to scoop it out. I saw one more a bit later, but it did into the sand before I could get to it. So now I need to make a decision. Delay moving everything over for a couple of months to try and starve them out and also try to catch them along the way. Option two is to try and get a hold of interceptor and run a high dosage as explained in an article I found and nuke them. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
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icedgxe
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So I ended up catching two isopods. I can’t say for sure which species they were. I haven’t seen any in about a week. I am going to continue to monitor daily after lights out to see before I move anything over.
ethridge78
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Just read your whole build thread its coming along nicely . Just bought a versa 42 myself.
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icedgxe
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So I think tomorrow is the big day. I will be moving everything over from the Nuvo. Today I added a new return nozzle and I want to take a minute to show it to you and write a quick review on the item and the company.
So last week I decided to order a Vivid Creative Aquatics RFG nozzle. I wasn’t quite sure what size to order and ordered a 3/4” nozzle. When it came in, I took it out of the box and immediately realized that it was way too big. I called VCA and spoke with Antonio. He asked me some questions and after some discussion, he said he was sorry it didn’t work and was going to mail me a 1/2” model. He asked me to look at the knuckles to see if they had writing in them. After getting off of the phone I sent him some pictures of my setup. He replied and said that it was not genuine loc line and said I would need a couple of parts. He not only told me what I needed, but sent links to what they were. He said if I didn’t want to have to buy the extra parts, that he would issue a full refund for the part. The kicker is he wasn’t even asking for it back. He also gave me a code for free shipping if I decided to go through with the order. I can not say enough about the fantastic customer service that I received. It is not every day that companies go out of there way to help a customer these days. On top of that, the piece itself is AMAZING. Great craftsmanship and the flow produced is fantastic. I recommend everyone go out and get one.
So last week I decided to order a Vivid Creative Aquatics RFG nozzle. I wasn’t quite sure what size to order and ordered a 3/4” nozzle. When it came in, I took it out of the box and immediately realized that it was way too big. I called VCA and spoke with Antonio. He asked me some questions and after some discussion, he said he was sorry it didn’t work and was going to mail me a 1/2” model. He asked me to look at the knuckles to see if they had writing in them. After getting off of the phone I sent him some pictures of my setup. He replied and said that it was not genuine loc line and said I would need a couple of parts. He not only told me what I needed, but sent links to what they were. He said if I didn’t want to have to buy the extra parts, that he would issue a full refund for the part. The kicker is he wasn’t even asking for it back. He also gave me a code for free shipping if I decided to go through with the order. I can not say enough about the fantastic customer service that I received. It is not every day that companies go out of there way to help a customer these days. On top of that, the piece itself is AMAZING. Great craftsmanship and the flow produced is fantastic. I recommend everyone go out and get one.
ethridge78
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Anything new with the Tank?
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icedgxe
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Well, I got everything moved over a couple of weeks ago. I have since added a couple of new frags. I also ended up switching the 660 gph powerhead for another 1050. Flow has greatly improved. Everything seems to be responding really well to the move. I do need to work on the ato some. T was syphoning, so I can only fill the ato container half way right now. I’ll try and get some pictures up when I have some time.
ethridge78
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Can’t wait to see
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Here it is. Don’t mind the dirty glass please haha.
Really like that elegant aquascape. Maybe better than your 125 tank even.
ethridge78
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Very nice
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icedgxe
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Thanks! I was trying to go for something a bit more open this time around. I really like the way it turned out. I’ll try to get some more pictures soon.
Thanks!!
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icedgxe
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I haven’t updated this thread in a while. Tank is still running pretty well and growing in nicely. I will try and get some updated pictures soon. Just recently got a couple of new frags that I am looking forward to seeing grow out.
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icedgxe
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Work has been crazy lately but I finally have some time for a quick update. I have made some equipment changes since the last update. The first change was getting rid of the e-flux wave power heads. I kept having issues with them dropping in power or stopping. Sometimes I would be able to take them apart, clean them, and that would get them back working well but that wouldn’t last longer than a few weeks before it happened again.
At that point I had enough, I decided I needed a change quickly so I swapped them out for two Tunze 6040 nanostreams. I was familiar with Tunze from previous experience so I confident they would be an upgrade. I ran the 6040’s up until about a month ago. While I love the quality, reliability, and power of them, the flow pattern was a bit to linear/pointed. This was causing some weird growth form certain corals and others were getting blasted. I decided to look for something with a wider flow pattern and better programming abilities. I had a Vortech on my previous build but didn’t want to go that route this time. After a ton of reading I decided to give the Reefbreeders RP-M a shot. So far I am very happy with this purchase. It is a very wide flow pattern with plenty of power as well. I am getting better flow throughout the whole tank and the corals are responding very well. On the lighting front, I decided to switch one of the coral pluses out for a blue plus to see how I like it. I just did that at the end of last week and I am happy with it so far as well.
Enough talk, you came here for pictures. I only snapped a few during all blues, but here they are. I threw in a picture of my low tech planted Nuvo 10 for giggles.
At that point I had enough, I decided I needed a change quickly so I swapped them out for two Tunze 6040 nanostreams. I was familiar with Tunze from previous experience so I confident they would be an upgrade. I ran the 6040’s up until about a month ago. While I love the quality, reliability, and power of them, the flow pattern was a bit to linear/pointed. This was causing some weird growth form certain corals and others were getting blasted. I decided to look for something with a wider flow pattern and better programming abilities. I had a Vortech on my previous build but didn’t want to go that route this time. After a ton of reading I decided to give the Reefbreeders RP-M a shot. So far I am very happy with this purchase. It is a very wide flow pattern with plenty of power as well. I am getting better flow throughout the whole tank and the corals are responding very well. On the lighting front, I decided to switch one of the coral pluses out for a blue plus to see how I like it. I just did that at the end of last week and I am happy with it so far as well.
Enough talk, you came here for pictures. I only snapped a few during all blues, but here they are. I threw in a picture of my low tech planted Nuvo 10 for giggles.
