Dennis's 28 gal JBJ

[Aquatic Empires]

Well i guess it' time to have a tank at home. I guess having a store full of fish and corals isn't cutting it and my kids are driving me crazy to put one at the house. So, i bought Will's JBJ awhile back when i helped him move and now it's time to set it up. And of coarse i'm going to tweak it a little. ;).

Tech Plans:
retro fit a DIY LED fixture built by me. (12 cree RB and 12 Cree CW)
reefkeeper lite with 2 pc4, SL1, and a ALC unit.
DIY LED moonlights
DIY UV LEDs will also be implented
Auto topoff already install by Will

Live stock plans:
3-4 sand anemones
15 neon gobies T.R.
15 sharknose gobies T.R.
flame tail blenny
3 scissortails
3-4 bar gobies
10 T.R. catalina gobies
pom pom crabs
anemone shrimps
porcelin crabs
cleaner shrimps
cherub/flameback angel
sexy shrimps
5-6 circus gobies
various snails
maybe a blue spotted jawfish

for corals it will be only Zoas and Acans!! packed to the GILLS!!!!
maybe a monti or two sprinkled in.

I brought some rock home from the store and clean up the tank a little. The kids also wanted to "help me"
http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/7396CC3D-orig.jpg
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http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/417E7029-orig.jpg

i think this will be the way my son will look like when he is partying when he's in college.

[Aquatic Empires]

after thinking to myself that i should have bought more rock to chose from for my aquascaping, i pulled out the good ole' epoxy and glued the rocks and barnacles where i wanted there. I should have taken a picture of my wife holding the rocks in place for 15 minutes! lol 5 minute epoxy is not really 5 minute epoxy. lol

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/3285D4CB-orig.jpg
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http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/8A9A96D0-orig.jpg

this is what i ended up with. i did epxy to rock to the back wall and all the rocks on each contact.

i just thought that i should get some barnacle blennies and ditch the flametail.. i dont know. we will see.

[Aquatic Empires]

its hard to tell of all of the caves and hiding places. the pics just dont do it justice..(im not talking about Luke!) lol

[Aquatic Empires]

i think im going to add some banded gobies to that fish list too!! got to have them also.

[Aquatic Empires]

my kids couldn't hang with me.

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/DBE02CE7-orig.jpg
http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/B2ADC6EA-orig.jpg

i hope this is not a glimps into the future with my son. passed out behind a wheel is not good

[rvalen]

haha that is too cute,, i have to hand it to my son he has been up and helping me out while mike at wrk,,,,is that the tank that was at the shop??? i have a sleeper head if u want him lolol haha (not that u have any problem with livestock),,,

[lifesaver31]

The picture of your son is PRICELESS!

[Ke0kea]

Looking good

[Tlalok]

Very nice ... I'm looking forward to one of those in the near future for my loft or maybe the living room ...

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk

[Tezzeract]

Looks good barnacle blennies you must get lol specially with that barnacle as the center piece

[Aquatic Empires]

well i just got back from my trip late last night and i started on my light right away. i finished the LEds in the canopy of the JBJ. I used a total of 24 LEDs. 12 cool whites and 12 royal blues all of them by Cree. i modified the canopy to fit the drivers in them. i am using 2 60 mm fans to cool them down. i also used LED seal and double sided tape to make a good seal between the new acrylic cover and seal off the LEDs from any moisture. I then drilled small holes in the acrylic to screw the top down. Th heatsink fit in there perfectly! i cant wait to fire it up in a few days, but first i need to update my reefkeeper lite. here are a few pics of the LED build (its backwards!):


http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/DD86F4EA-orig.jpg
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http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/C591B29E-orig.jpg

[BoBo65]

very nice, haha so this is what you were working on when you offered to help with my tank blowout. Im excited to c those lights fired up, I love the look of LED's

[tbone74]

Looking good dennis. I'm gonna have to pick your brain later i want to build an LED fixture for my sump to grow out frags.

[Aquatic Empires]

Looking good dennis. I'm gonna have to pick your brain later i want to build an LED fixture for my sump to grow out frags.

anytime Tony.

[Aquatic Empires]

well i have given his stocking list a great deal of thought and i decided to s**** it. Instead, i already added other corals in which i will list for my last post tonight. what i want to show with this tank is that LEDs can grow and maintain SPS and other corals. I am adding some healthy specimens but i am also putting in what i call "rescue" corals. Rescue corals are corals that are severly damaged and/or bleached out. I will not be using a protien skimmer, instead iwill be doing weekly water changes (5 gallons) using brightwell saltmix and the only chemicals i will be dosing is brightwell koralcolor and restore. I like to take a simple approach to reefing. in just a short amount of time, i already brought some color back into a "reef ready grape juice" frag that was completely bleached out. I also have a colony a green and red blastomussa merletti's that is also bleached. there are several "mystery" montis that are brown at the moment and i'm waiting to see what they will turn into. Tonight, i am adding an open brain that also looks like casper the freindly ghost. i am dipping corals at this time before i put them into the tank. i will return with the stock listfor this JBJ 28 gallon. i will take a new FTS on Thursday.

[Aquatic Empires]

just finished putting in the new corals. I know what a lot of you are going to say that i didnt quarantine. i did it at the store. i'm not worried about flatworms or bristleworms. i just dont want some of the serious stuff like AEF or red bugs, mantis, etc. It is really late so i will post the stocklist in the morning or late afternoon. I did put in tonight however a purplehae monti, tyree purple undata, black hole sun yuma, mystic grape favia, mia's pot of gold favia, tyree pink favia, dragon soul favia, bleached open brian (trach), neon orange pavona maldevensis (needs to color up), red chalice w/ pink eyes (needs coloring), orion's belt chalice, purple and red polyp monti, purple deaths zoas, amour of God zoas, and purple heart people eater zoas.

[johnboy411]

sounds awesome
cant wait to see pics

[Tlalok]

pics pics!!!!

[five O]

Its time for a update Dennis.

[Aquatic Empires]

Sorry for the long hold over guys. my kids decided to give some milk to the fishies!!! I had a milky white mess. I cleaned it up now and di a few water changes and viola. all clear now. i did end up losing two of the rescue corals that i had, but they were in bad shape anyways. One was a monti and the other was the reef ready grape juice. so here are some pics of the tank. i will also post up close up pics and label what they are 9if i even know what some of them are). so here is the FTS and the side views.

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/1D159409-orig.jpg
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http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/531150DD-orig.jpg

[RickMartin]

Be sure to add some red acros, red planet, strawberry shortcake and some red and pink millis. Red coloration in acropora seems to be the color in question under just white and blue leds.

[Aquatic Empires]

the three brians on the ground are doing great or making a great comeback. the red brain on the left is really happy and plump. he actually gets bigger than that. the middle brain was completely white but has now since started to regain some of the red around the outer rim of the coral and mouth. the symphylia brain on the right is okay. he has since stopped receeding and starting to plump up a bit. Above him is an aussie orange scolly that has refused to die! He has regenerated back from about the size of a pencil eraser. i brought him home so those feather dusters multiply in the tank. way back in the cave is my yellow and green ricordea that fell off the barnacle and floated to the back of the tank. Above the left brain coral is a chalice that was also completely white. the red has started to come back nicely and the pink eyes as well.

http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/953305CB-orig.jpg

from the top left we have a really green psammacora, lime green zoas, and ORA spongodes. one the second level of corals i have (starting from left side again) a model sponge and a purple haze monti. The model sponge is really cool. it changes color depending what angle you look at it. With really bright light, the sponge turns other colors too. so far the colors that are on it are dark blue, light blue, and green. the purple haze monti hasn't gotten its full color back yet. the next level down of corals is a colony of zoanthids. when they arrived, they were green skirts with blue centers that has since morphed into something else before i brought them home. let's see if they turn back are become something else completely. Moreover, the feather duster always accompanies the big "really green psammacora." it is a 6" x 4" colony.
http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/FD8326A6-orig.jpg

mystery monti. im waiting to see what it will color up to. also, in the background is a pagoda cup coral. at the very top in the forefront is a blue psammacora. beneath that is an ORA orange cap that is turned slightly up. i forgot to fix it before i took the pics today. Moreover is a frag of a Tyree true undata. next over is a ORA hyacinth birdnest. going down from there is an austeapora coral frag. i love the deep purple base with the green polyps. the polyps will change color depending on the lighting. to the right of that is two polyps of Amour of Gods.
http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/7E990EAB-orig.jpg

dragon soul favia, setosa, ORA grube's gorgonian, a recovering and regenerating cynarina coral, and orion's belt chalice. on the bottom right, is a black hole sun yuma that is also regaining its color rapidly.
http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/2A158BC6-orig.jpg

cotton candy monti.....this one is supposed to look like this. lol. also there is another monti that is located to the bottom left. next to the cotton candy is a midas gold mushroom. i will have to get a better pic. this is the underside. the zoas that are closed up are red.
http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/9F082F16-orig.jpg

close up of the other mystery monti
http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/0E8657AD-orig.jpg

green skirt zoa with blue ring and white center, tyree pink favia and a deep red christmas favia.
http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/47CC9FED-orig.jpg

recovering maze brain coral. it was completely white with no color what so ever. the green has returned fully but the brown ridges have not yet. that will take some time. another brown mystery monti and a pale chalice. no color change yet. The neon gobies that i got from ORA had some ick on them. they are almost gone now. i left them in the bag until i got home. i medicated with metronidazole and a varied diet soaked in garlic and vitamins.
http://i1182.photobucket.com/albums/x454/aquaticempires/Snapbucket/dennis%2028%20gal%20jbj/29058475-orig.jpg

[Aquatic Empires]

here are some more pics of the other side of the aquarium. i will post descriptions later.

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[gritchie4]

I see you took those awesome clowns home. Looks awesome dennis!

[Aquatic Empires]

Just finished acclimating 6 ORA yellow sharknose gobies! i know i havent updated in awhile. i have neglected my own tank. im leaving for Cali in 2 hours so i will update after i get back.