Landsailor's 55 Gallon Reef

[Landsailor]

This is my tank that I bought from craigslist. It's only looking this good due to the great advice and support I've received from LVVR members, (especially hebsway and Abetheman890), Forum Sponsors Aquatic Empires and Reptiles-n-Reefs, and a couple other LFS.

https://plus.google.com/photos/106146759908059749145/albums/5694541188700664209?authkey=CJOZksuHncX-0AE

Most of the rocks are just thrown in there for now. Aquascaping should happen this weekend.

Current inhabitants
Ocellaris clownfish
Coral Beauty
Flamehawk
Three lined damsel
snowflake eel
three very lucky ghost shrimp
cleanup crew (turbos, astreas, hermit crabs, various others)

Future Plans
Sump/Refugium (hopefully this weekend, already have the overflow, return pump, AquaC Urchin skimmer)
LED Lighting
Get the canopy back on
Expand Apex Jr.

[Aquatic Empires]

looking good Jason. let me know how the egg crate trick works for you.

[Landsailor]

The tower looks cool and I had exactly the right amount of eggcrate and floss for it.

It was pretty disheartening to have the tank just barely not fit through the door opening, so it's either drain the tank or sand the wood just a tiny bit. It's like 1/8" away from being perfect.


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[Landsailor]

Well, after about 90 seconds of sanding with my Festool sander in grinder mode with 38 grit sandpaper, I can squeeze the 10 gallon tank into the stand. Not going to start it up this close to bedtime. :)

[tbone74]

Ha! festool sander... ill keep dreamin' :)

[Landsailor]

...and with only about a tablespoon's worth of dust on the floor, too. (At least something lasting came out of my old business!)

[Landsailor]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzSGp73ixYk is a horrible, shaky YouTube video of it.

The sump is up and running, but some of the mushrooms and new zoas aren't happy about it. However, the established zoas are reproducing, so things can't be too awry. One of the ghost shrimp went for a bit of a waterslide ride. I couldn't get him out of the overflow, so I put the net in the sump, lifted the overflow filter, and flushed him to the net. He spent the rest of the night on the other side of the tank for some reason. :)

I'm not yet confident enough to leave it running full time, but I'm pretty impressed at how well the AquaC Urchin is working when I'm home. I'm still adjusting the overflow box location. Even set relatively low, it's still sucking a few air bubbles. They don't get trapped in the U-tube, but still a bit worrisome. The return ball valve is only about 75% open.

Any ideas?