Dave's 135g

[DaveMorris]

Well, it's been a while since I posted pics of my tank. Now that I have my new Macro lens, it is time for some more pics. :D

The Frogspawn and Blasto came from Ron at his former shop:rolleyes: .
The Candycane came from Kamil.:D

[coral diver]

Nice looks like another one in the list for tank of the month good work Dave well done on the rocks

[dc_909]

Great aquascaping.

[Reefbabe]

Wow...great looking rockwork. Love the caves! I used PVC framing in my 90 and I loved how easy it was to get underneath the rocks. Looks lik eyour fish really enjoy them too!

[DaveMorris]

Thanks. I still need to hide some of the PVC. It drives me nuts when I see it.

I just added a 1/3hp chiller, compliments of Justin. The tank has been sitting at 78.3 for the last six hours. Works like a charm.

Sadly, I must report the death of the most beautiful Blonde Naso I have ever seen. I'm bummed. He seemed to be doing fine and I found him gasping for air on his side at the back of my tank. Within an hour of seeing him, he was dead. It's a mystery to me. The cleanup crew made quick work of the carcass and within two days it was completely gone. What makes a fish gasp for air? All of the others are doing fine. Water parameters are all in line, other than wacky temp shifts, which as noted above, have been fixed.

[DaveMorris]

Here are some new pics:

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My 2.5" clam

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My favorite zoo colony. Always open and happy!

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My Idaho Grape with a little growth in one month.

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Nice pink milli from the NCRMAS frag swap/BBQ

Soon I will be installing my custom-made calcium reactor. I don't want to kill any of the new SPS I got.

[mmoore0803]

That looks great Dave! Where are the great Capnella Macro shots? :D

[DaveMorris]

Here is my green birds nest from the most recent ORA order. (I mixed up the name before)

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[rollinghead]

Looks Great! and was very nice to meet U at the swap Dave!

[Redeye]

that stag looks JUST LIKE my birdsnest:)


How old was the Naso?

[DaveMorris]

The Naso was only a couple days old to me. Ron picked it up for me in LA and he had it for a few days and it was fine. I guess I didn't give him enough time to acclimate.:(

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My Echino...It is about six inches across.

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Capnella from Mike Moore (Are you happy now, Mike?)

I just picked up my calcium reactor from Jasper. I put up some pics when I get it plumbed.

[DaChrisDude]

Very pretty stuff, 'specially the Idaho grape and echino, nice

[DaveMorris]

I just got my Calcium reactor plumbed. (Thanks Jasper...It's working great so far) Now to test, retest, test, retest, observe, etc. Kicked my Mg up with some Epsom salts. Everything is looking good.:D

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Custom built by Jasper.

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Latest shot of my sump/fuge room out back.

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60g Refugium with some mangroves from Rudy. They have all added at least two leaves since I got them a few months ago.:D

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My two GenX 40 return pumps.

[crstjohn]

Sweet setup Dave. How big is your pump room?

[SDguy]

I'm so jealous of people with equipment rooms :D

Nice setup!

[DaveMorris]

It is a 9x12 Tuff Shed, but I also use it for storing garden crap and tools since I don't have a garage.

[fishfinger]

It is a 9x12 Tuff Shed, but I also use it for storing garden crap and tools since I don't have a garage.

That is a cool set up. Since I am new to reefing I had not thought of plumbing it to the outside of the house and having a room for all the stuff. Could you take some pictures and explain how you get the plumbing from the actual tank to the outside of the house into this room. I am thinking that this may be the way for me to go some day. I am very interested in this way of doing it and I have the area and means to be able to go this route if running the plumbing from the tank to the outside does not pose to much of a problem. I assume that the back of the tank needs to be up against the exterior wall of the house where the shed will be sitting so that you don't have pipes running all through the house like a hampster maze or something. Since I have a baby on the way I can't have something that they will be able to mess with also.

Thanks in advance.

[Redeye]

I have seen people just drill a hole in the wall, run the PVC through the wall, and silcone all around it, somewhere out of the way.
If you know what your doing, you can remove floorboards and run it like that too, just takes ALOT more work

have a few places I've seen, install the pipe BEFORE laying another layer of cement, plumbed to tanks like 200 feet away

Go to the chinese buffet in Chula off like H st (maybe?) MGM Buffet, there sump is a RK2 bin in a 8' deep hole back in the kitchen, plumbed through the cement

[DaveMorris]

I'll try to shoot some more recent photos of the through the wall plumbing. My tank is against the outside wall. The shed is about 3' from the house. I just cut a 5" hole in the wall and ran a 5" piece of ABS pipe between the house and shed. Everything runs through that pipe. When I switched to a 2" drain, I needed another tunnel so I put in another pipe. It works pretty good if you can handle a hole in your wall. I figured if I move, it will be easy enough to patch the hole.

[onad75]

Dave, your tank looks really nice in person, you have a great setup. Rock work and plumbing is kick a$$.
And thanks again for the CD

[nanoreefbro]

Thanks Dave for opening up your home and showing us your tank. I too like the aquascaping work and I didnt notice the pvc at all. Once the coraline growth comes in and the corals fill out you won't even notice it. The water changing setup is the bomb!!! :D

[DaveMorris]

Thanks guys. You can come over anytime.

I just tested my water to see how my calcium reactor is doing. Alk is up to 11.9 and calcium is at 450ppm. Now I just need to figure out how I need to adjust it. Do I change the bubble rate, the flow rate into the sump, or both?

[nanoreefbro]

Ron is probably more knowledgable on that then I am.. I am still doing my research on Calc Reactors..

[DaveMorris]

Here's one of my newer residents:

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:D

[crstjohn]

Sweet pics Dave. I gotta get over to see your tank and setup!

[DaveMorris]

Any time you want. Just give me a call.

[onad75]

nice Dave, are you going at the frag swap? if so let me know i got something for you.
I also have a basic instruction setting up and adjusting Ca reactor ( comes with my Geo) let me know if you need it i can fax it to you or give you a copy on Sat.

[DaveMorris]

I will be at the meeting/frag swap on Saturday. As for the calcium reactor, I got some further knowledge and help from the manufacturer himself. He cleared up most of my confusion. Thanks

[Big Brother]

its been awesome watching this tank progress.

cant wait till its full.

[DaveMorris]

My latest SPS frags have happy polyps and seem like the reactor is giving them their much desired calcium. I still have plenty of room for more.

[DaveMorris]

Here are some of my latest additions:
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Water parameters:

PH - 8.4
ORP - 481
Alk - 11.2dKH
Cal - 430ppm
Mg - 1410
Salinity - 1.027
Amon. - 0
'trates - 0
'trites - 0
Phos - 0

My Jasper/reactor seems to have brought a wonderfful stability to the tank. Everything looks happy and healthy.

[Jas0863]

Dave, nice looking species. Whenever you frag. the Burgundy Pros. or the branching Danae lmk.

[davocean]

Very nice tank/setup!
Really like the rock work and caves.
Also jealous of your equipment room.
That's a pretty cool looking reactor, I saw Jasper's tank when I got some frags, but didn't realize he made those.
I may have to join the Jasper reactor club.

[DaveMorris]

Wow...I put a black brittle star in my tank at least two months ago and didn't see it at all from the day after introduction until yesterday. I got home very late and was checking out my tank under the cover of a red flashlight and low and behold there was that brittle star. What do you know.....

And thanks for the compliments!

[seahorse_man]

Dude that plumbing is sweeeeeeeeet.;) What is the big water jug for?:confused:

[DaveMorris]

The top water jug is replacement saltwater and the bottom one is fresh topoff water. Topoff is automated with a Spectrapure level controller connected to a Rio600. The water change system consists of a drain valve and a gravity fed saltwater valve. I shut off all of the pumps and let the 20g sump fill up close to the top. (Normal level when power is lost) I open a valve that drains the sump into the yard. When it is drained, I shut the drain valve and open the saltwater reservoir valve. Once the sump is filled, I shut off the saltwater and restart the pumps. Overall it takes about 15 minutes and most of that time is spent waiting for the sump to drain. I havee had two back surgeries, so I didn't want to have to lift heavy water jugs.

[DaveMorris]

Here are some recent shots of some of my new acquisitions:
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Octospawn that I won at the NCRMAS raffle. It came from FragsCity.

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My tricolor vileta from Rollinghead. It is finally showing purple on the tips and green on the base.

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This is my little corner of the tank that most of my softies are hanging out in. Modest flow and out of the way.

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Blue tip tenius from Direct Marine after the NCRMAS meeting. 30% off sale!

[Nick_Kun]

man, I see red bugs on that valida. Get some interceptor.

[EyeReef]

was going to say the same thing


man, I see red bugs on that valida. Get some interceptor.

[Nick_Kun]

http://www.sdreefs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25118

[pnguy3n]

sweet octo.

[DaveMorris]

It is a frag from Harold at FragsCity. I think he has more of them.

[SolRo]

Damn you Dave!

I wanted that octo! ;)

[DaveMorris]

The first time I can safely wack one of his heads off, it's yours!

[DaveMorris]

I dipped the Tricolor in a strong Lugol's solution and so far it seems like it may be working. I am going to keep an eye on it and see what happens.

Today's water parameters:

Salinity - 1.026
PH - 8.36
Alk - 11.2 dkh
Cal - 430ppm
Mg - 1390

So far, so good with my Jasper reactor. Water has been good and corals seem happy. The tank is substantially more stable now. It's amazing what a decent chiller and calcium reactor can do.

[SDFISHMAN]

Looks good Dave.. Seems the chillers is keeping up..