Peace River's Found Parts Build

[Peace River]

Water changes are sooo much easier with this new water mixing station! The main happenings this week were in my clownfish systems - a pair of gold stripe maroons laid eggs for the first time and I added an A. percula male from Sustainable Aquatics to a lone percula female. They instantaneously took to each other - what a pleasant and welcomed surprise!

 

[Peace River]

This weekend I upgraded the pump in my IM 10g AIO cube from the stock pump (rated at 92 gph) to the Sicce 0.5 (rated at 185 gph). Still not exactly a powerhouse pump, but it did double the rated flow! With the recent addition of the Noopsyche K7Pro2 to this tank I think I will start adding coral after the holidays. In separate news, the Gold Stripe Maroon pair laid their second clutch of eggs so hopefully this is now a regular thing. If so, I will try to raise some of the fry after the holidays as well. Near term future plans also include adding more coral to the 75g reef tank as well as a continued evolution of the 55g Florida saltwater native fish tank (aka 55g found parts build).

 

[Peace River]

Interesting couple of weeks! I was in coastal South Carolina over the holidays so I got a fishing license and collected some fish in the tidal creeks (mostly killifish and sailfin mollies). With a 48 quart cooler and a USB air pump with air stone, I was able to successful transport all of the fish home with no losses (FWIW - I have found that adding floating plastic plants seems to give structure on the inside of the cooler and keeps the fish from having the urge to dash into the blank white walls). When I got home I quickly converted a 50g freshwater tank to a saltwater tank for them (no, I don't have pictures of the collecting or the tank). The tank is focused on being functional and I will work to breed the fish that I brought home.

Additionally, this past week I decided to upgrade the drain fittings on three of the 10g tanks in one of the clownfish rack systems. I wasn't as careful as I should have been and cracked the glass on one of the tanks so I had the opportunity to practice my tank drilling skills on the replacement tank. I had a spare 10g on hand so within a very short time the tank was drilled, plumbed with the new fitting, and back on line. The fittings on the other two tanks were also replaced (albeit a bit more carefully).

 

[Peace River]

Well, the found parts build system is no longer just made up of found parts (mixed feeling about that, but I think it was the right thing to do. Otherwise it would likely have lead to tearing down the tank sooner than later). With the driftwood breaking down and general build up, I couldn't keep up with the discoloration and particulates in the water using the existing canister filter and weekly water changes, so I upgraded to a Fluval 407 with noticeable results. On a side note, this past week I received and read the book, "Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas". Not the most amazing read ever, but still interesting.

 

[Weasel1960]

Read through the thread. Very interesting, thanks for the updates.

 

[Peace River]

Great day at @WWC!!! I was once again thrilled with the professionalism, quality, and genuinely nice and knowledgeable staff! Carlos helped me firm up a fish stocking list and a coral plan for my 75g and my 10g nano - every recommendation that he made was spot on (and I'm not always particularly agreeable).

...and yes, I bought a number of LPS corals to add to my 75g!

 

[Mastiffsrule]

 

[MERKEY]

Great day at @WWC!!! I was once again thrilled with the professionalism, quality, and genuinely nice and knowledgeable staff! Carlos helped me firm up a fish stocking list and a coral plan for my 75g and my 10g nano - every recommendation that he made was spot on (and I'm not always particularly agreeable).

...and yes, I bought a number of LPS corals to add to my 75g!

Even tho a little late, let's see some pics

 

[fishguy242]

yep...agree ,caught up ,came for pics /info "pipefish" ,not sure where i seen that.. but...

 

[Peace River]

Recently I stopped by an LFS to get some salt and the owner (and long time friend) mentioned that they had gotten a lot of by-catch fish in with their SW feeder shrimp shipment. The fish were eating the shrimp and, well, long story short I left the store with the salt, some green chromis for my 75g reef, and about 40+ native fish out of the shrimp tank - an even mix of pinfish, naked gobies, and pipefish that originated from Tampa Bay. The pinfish and gobies went into the 55g native fish tank (aka found parts system) and the pipefish went into a clownfish nursery tank. The nursery tank is a 17g muck bucket from Tractor Supply that is plumbed with a stand pipe that drains to a sump that has a small skimmer and return pump. Pipefish care is similar to seahorses and food and filtration always seem to be the challenge. So far, I have been feeding them pods, rotifers, enriched phyto, and @Reef Nutrition TDO B1. I also just placed a @Reef Nutrition order with more treats for the pipefish including beta brine, mysis feast, and artic-pods. The round tank, slow flow from the return pump, and a pre-filter sponge over the stand pipe tube (common clownfish fry setup) seems to keep the water clean and the food reasonable suspended. The bottom of the tub is painted white so it is easy to siphon off any extra food or waste.

In other news, my Rock Flower Anemones (RFA) spawned in the 75g reef and that resulted in one little glowing RFA baby!

 

[Weasel1960]

Nice update but....where’s the pics?

 

[Peace River]

Here is a picture of a few of the pipefish lounging on a plastic plant that I added to there tank.

 

[Peace River]

...and an image of the clownfish nursery tub that has been conscripted to pipefish duty.

 

[Peace River]

...and one of the gobies.

 

[Peace River]

I had the pleasure of enjoying RAP Orlando this past weekend and purchased (5) RFAs for my 75g and won an Eshopps Eclipse overflow in the raffle. The pinfish and gobies are doing well in the 55g "found parts" tank. Additionally, today I ordered a few automation parts as part of an upgrade to my mixing station including (4) TDS sensors and a leak detector that will connect to the Hydros controller. I'm also looking at upgrading my RODI system, but haven't placed the order yet. It looks like I will be attending the photography class at WWC next weekend and I may HAVE to come home with some corals and fish. I'm also planning to attend Aquashella Orlando next month so who knows what opportunities will be available there!

 

[Peace River]

I picked up my new custom RODI system this past weekend at Aquashella where AquaFX featured it in their booth. The system has a large carbon tower (50" tall, 1.5 cubic ft), 2 sediment filters, 2 membranes, and 2 DI chambers along with a booster pump and auto-flush. The system is controlled by a Hydros controller with an incoming water solenoid that is connected to the high and low water fill sensor in the 65g Norwesco RO tank (the mixing station also has a matching 65g saltwater tank powered by a Varios 6 pump). Additionally, we added 2 dual TDS meters that are connected to the Hydros (in addition to the built-in AquaFX TDS meter) so TDS will be tested in 5 spots (and tracked for trends in 4 of those spots).

The team from AquaFX was fantastic to work with throughout the whole custom design, build, and delivery process! Big shoutout to Jeromy and Doug!!!

 

[Smarkow]

I picked up my new custom RODI system this past weekend at Aquashella where AquaFX featured it in their booth. The system has a large carbon tower (50" tall, 1.5 cubic ft), 2 sediment filters, 2 membranes, and 2 DI chambers along with a booster pump and auto-flush. The system is controlled by a Hydros controller with an incoming water solenoid that is connected to the high and low water fill sensor in the 65g Norwesco RO tank (the mixing station also has a matching 65g saltwater tank powered by a Varios 6 pump). Additionally, we added 2 dual TDS meters that are connected to the Hydros (in addition to the built-in AuquaFX TDS meter) so TDS will be tested in 5 spots (and tracked for trends in 4 of those spots).

The team from AquaFX was fantastic to work with throughout the whole custom design, build, and delivery process! Big shoutout to Jeromy and Doug!!!

Wow this is cool. Feel like RODI is in general under-automated as most TDS do not connect to controllers… is this system available to the public yet?

 

[Peace River]

Thank you for the feedback and the question! It is a custom designed system that I worked through the details with Jeromy from AquaFX, however all of the parts are available between AquaFX and vendors that carry the CoralVue Hydros controllers and Hydros accessories. In addition to the automation, I was surprised how many people that I talked with at the show weren't familiar with carbon towers and their benefits.

 

[Peace River]

As I mentioned previously, a couple of months ago I got a bunch of native fishes from Tampa Bay that had come in as "by-catch" of an order of saltwater shrimp to a LFS. About a dozen Pinfish went into the 55g
'found parts" build along with the gobies. Although the Pinfish are usually considered baitfish and have little interest in the hobby I decided to keep them for observation so I could learn a bit more about this species. I feed the tank heavily and they are voracious eaters (feeding heavily also lets some of the food get down to the gobies). Surprisingly, the favorite food of the Pinfish seems to be flake food stirred into the water column (this is purely anecdotal, but it has been consistent for more than two months). There are several other invert residents of the tank (mainly a variety of crabs) including one that started out about dime size and now is at least 2.5 inches wide. Over the past few weeks I've notice that a Pinfish seems to disappear every couple of nights. The behavior of the Pinfish seems to be similar to medium-aggression cichlids that I have kept in the past. There is some chasing, but I haven't seen any true bullying like mating cichlids or aggressive south american cichlids. I'm guessing that the large crab is picking them off at night. It is an interesting cycle. Additionally, the gobies, pupfish, and killies in the tank haven't been affected so far.

I currently have two pair of clownfish laying eggs in the the clownfish part of the fish room; the 75g reef is slowly finding its way forward (nothing major good or bad to report); and other experiments are ongoing.

 

[littlefishy]

So much more interested in biotopish tanks than general mixed reefs