Occ_motorcycles 2.5 nano build

[alberthiel]

It's an oceanic biocube skimmer. It's driven by air not venturi. It's a new airstone so that may be part of it

Oh I see, and yes maybe the airstone is the problem ... is it a wooden one or a ceramic one ... if ceramic I would replace it by a wooden and also if you put a stronger air pump on it it will produce more and smaller bubbles. That is if you want to make the change .. with a low load it may not yet be needed.

 

[dorky]

This is from occ_motorcycles. It's a wooden stone and I let it soak a few days before I started it. That way the wood would swell an produce the smallest possible bubbles.

Also the load is tiny because I do not feed anything it's all photosynthetic so far. No outside feeding.

 

[occ_motorcycles]

I think your thinking the skimmer is the issue. However it's not a bad lil skimmer because I have used it before on a 15 gallon tank. It worked great but was bulky in the small tank.

Being the design or the skimmer it's not really adjustable in the water level because the level is so high in the tank. (Mounts by suction cups)

The issue is actually the waste it's supposed to remove. Being there are no fish pooping or anything producing larger amounts of waste, the skimmer is not able to pull much.

 

[alberthiel]

This is from occ_motorcycles. It's a wooden stone and I let it soak a few days before I started it. That way the wood would swell an produce the smallest possible bubbles.

Also the load is tiny because I do not feed anything it's all photosynthetic so far. No outside feeding.

Maybe a stronger air pump will help ... and even photosynthetic corals will benefit from extra feeding ... but it is up to you what you do of course. I do feed mine and they do grow faster.

 

[occ_motorcycles]

Maybe a stronger air pump will help ... and even photosynthetic corals will benefit from extra feeding ... but it is up to you what you do of course. I do feed mine and they do grow faster.

The pump is a stronger pump. No worries. It works for what it want.

 

[occ_motorcycles]

Well encountered a few small issues yesterday

First was the water level is often touching the bottom lip of trim. (You can almost see where this is going). So I went to use a microfiber cloth to clean glass and a nice stream of water came flowing down the middle of the glass. Ended up cramming a large amount of silicon (that I also used for the wall) into the gap between trim and glass inside the tank.

And all is well so no worries there. Also I am making a little larger build 7.5 gallon cube from deep blue. Rimless and so instead of a heater and skimmer and all that stuff building up to take space in my tank I will just not use them.

Basic concept.

Dry rock.
Sand
Light
Coral on rock

That's about it. Gonna show the lfs owner he is stupid.

Anyway all water looks good in the 2.5. The little baby orange acan is looking better. He is opening up and all and so it all looks good.

Thanks for reading.

 

[alberthiel]

Well encountered a few small issues yesterday

First was the water level is often touching the bottom lip of trim. (You can almost see where this is going). So I went to use a microfiber cloth to clean glass and a nice stream of water came flowing down the middle of the glass. Ended up cramming a large amount of silicon (that I also used for the wall) into the gap between trim and glass inside the tank.

And all is well so no worries there. Also I am making a little larger build 7.5 gallon cube from deep blue. Rimless and so instead of a heater and skimmer and all that stuff building up to take space in my tank I will just not use them.

Basic concept.

Dry rock.
Sand
Light
Coral on rock

That's about it. Gonna show the lfs owner he is stupid.

Anyway all water looks good in the 2.5. The little baby orange acan is looking better. He is opening up and all and so it all looks good.

Thanks for reading.

Yes the rims are not always totally glued as I have found out myself but why are you running the water level that high if I may ask ? Did you lower the water level when you added the silicone so it did not come in contact with the water as it would leach that strongly smelling vinegar like smell compound in it in the water but I guess you must have lowered it and dried the areas so the silicone would stick ..


Also I must have missed something : why is the LFS stupid ?

 

[occ_motorcycles]

Yes the rims are not always totally glued as I have found out myself but why are you running the water level that high if I may ask ? Did you lower the water level when you added the silicone so it did not come in contact with the water as it would leach that strongly smelling vinegar like smell compound in it in the water but I guess you must have lowered it and dried the areas so the silicone would stick ..

Also I must have missed something : why is the LFS stupid ?

The wall was built to big from the beginning. So the water level was to high.

The lfs owner has a bad idea as to how a business should be ran. Walks in and the world revolves around him.

Albert it's a long story about a guy trying to make a dollar with two stores when he can't even do one. He has made so many enemy's that most of his former employees are setting up shop and trying to get him to shut down.

 

[alberthiel]

The wall was built to big from the beginning. So the water level was to high.

The lfs owner has a bad idea as to how a business should be ran. Walks in and the world revolves around him.

Albert it's a long story about a guy trying to make a dollar with two stores when he can't even do one. He has made so many enemy's that most of his former employees are setting up shop and trying to get him to shut down.

Oh I see ... yes I have known a few of those over the decades that I have been in this hobby .... they get away with it for a while and then have to close shop.

But if they don't know how to run a business and provide service and keep their customers happy and coming back then I guess they deserve what happens to them. It's unfortunate but I guess it goes on in every type of business not just in the hobby.

 

[occ_motorcycles]

Oh I see ... yes I have known a few of those over the decades that I have been in this hobby .... they get away with it for a while and then have to close shop.

But if they don't know how to run a business and provide service and keep their customers happy and coming back then I guess they deserve what happens to them. It's unfortunate but I guess it goes on in every type of business not just in the hobby.

Yes and unfortunately it's either them or another store that's the same way except for the fact they were the only ones I. The area for 15 years so the place is gross and never has health fish. So people will deal with a rude guy that has high prices and a clean store so that they don't have to go to the gross store.

There are people taking things into their own hands and starting stores.

First lesson of business don't let your employees know how much you spent on each item and who the supplier is. They will get that info and then undercut your prices and have the same quality stuff.

Anyway I hope that explained some more of my and other people's frustrations.

 

[alberthiel]

Yes and unfortunately it's either them or another store that's the same way except for the fact they were the only ones I. The area for 15 years so the place is gross and never has health fish. So people will deal with a rude guy that has high prices and a clean store so that they don't have to go to the gross store.

There are people taking things into their own hands and starting stores.

First lesson of business don't let your employees know how much you spent on each item and who the supplier is. They will get that info and then undercut your prices and have the same quality stuff.

Anyway I hope that explained some more of my and other people's frustrations.

Yes and treat your employees as if they were customers too, meaning well, and they won't leave you and go out on their own ... of course there are always exceptions

 

[occ_motorcycles]

Yes and treat your employees as if they were customers too, meaning well, and they won't leave you and go out on their own ... of course there are always exceptions

Especially when they deal with suppliers more and know them better than you.

 

[alberthiel]

Especially when they deal with suppliers more and know them better than you.

True ... Mind you eventually they find out anyway just from looking at the labels on the boxes that come in

 

[occ_motorcycles]

Yeah but having the price list of what he paid???almost priceless and then knowing what his markup is. Also all overhead costs. It's pretty simple how that could turn out.

 

[alberthiel]

Yeah but having the price list of what he paid???almost priceless and then knowing what his markup is. Also all overhead costs. It's pretty simple how that could turn out.

I guess if one wants to then one is going to find a way to do it regardless of what information one has access to so yes what you mentioned in all those messages helps but is not necessary as one can get a license and then go to a wholesaler and one will get all the prices anyway ...

 

[occ_motorcycles]

True but having it handed to you from someone that you don't care for and also knowing that those numbers mean paying the bills or not has a good bit of power to do things your own way and allowing you to do things in a way better suited to your desires. (Of all the people to say this to) and running your own business too.

My desire is to have my own shop but I am not able to start one right now.

 

[alberthiel]

True but having it handed to you from someone that you don't care for and also knowing that those numbers mean paying the bills or not has a good bit of power to do things your own way and allowing you to do things in a way better suited to your desires. (Of all the people to say this to) and running your own business too.
My desire is to have my own shop but I am not able to start one right now.

It all starts with a Business Plan ... and once you can get that together then you can figure out what it you need to find out, do, acquire, etc ... including marketing, merchandising, advertising, store lay-out, filtration and of course a lot more ... starting a business is not that easy in this day and age if you want to be successful so the more research you do the better off you will be and the more detailed your business and operational plans are the more likely you will be to succeed.

I have a consulting business also and I typically putting all of what is needed together and outlined and costed etc ... is usually a job that can run anywhere from 10K to multiples of it depending on how complex the plan that needs to be put together is.

Of course instead of starting from scratch one can buy and existing business and then modify what needs to be and change business practices if needed, etc . etc ..

It takes a lot of start up capital nowadays to start a store and then you have to have additional capital for all your expenses for at least 8 to 10 months so you do not fail for lack of initial capital.

But based on what you said you are not ready yet for that.

When you are though I wish you the best!

 

[occ_motorcycles]

Quick update.


Seems the idea of no rock really could work long term.

Lps are about the only thing I see I can keep in this tank and they do look good.

Sps do not do well at all in this tank. I am not sure what to think as to the cause of their demise but at some point I will stop trying and losing.

I think at some point soon I will try again on the build and build a shorter wall. This will lower the water level and keep it looking more of a show tank. Also using a 50gph pump would be better than the 75 that I currently have. Also maybe if I tried a small canister filter for mechanical filtration it would be better.

Thanks for reading this thread

 

[alberthiel]

Quick update.
Seems the idea of no rock really could work long term.
Lps are about the only thing I see I can keep in this tank and they do look good.
Sps do not do well at all in this tank. I am not sure what to think as to the cause of their demise but at some point I will stop trying and losing.
I think at some point soon I will try again on the build and build a shorter wall. This will lower the water level and keep it looking more of a show tank. Also using a 50gph pump would be better than the 75 that I currently have. Also maybe if I tried a small canister filter for mechanical filtration it would be better.
Thanks for reading this thread

Just out of curiosity occ_motorcycles if you do not use Live Rock what are you using for your biological filtration ? I know it is only a small tank, a Pico really, but you do need some way of dealing with ammonia and nitrite. Also in such a small tank what kind of LPS are you keeping or going to keep ... just wondering.

 

[occ_motorcycles]

Just out of curiosity occ_motorcycles if you do not use Live Rock what are you using for your biological filtration ? I know it is only a small tank, a Pico really, but you do need some way of dealing with ammonia and nitrite. Also in such a small tank what kind of LPS are you keeping or going to keep ... just wondering.

Remember the tank clear is what I am using.