Budster's Twin in Wall Build

All this! And no coral?
Just tries not to drool at the awesome set up.

Yeti:

The corals can't be too far behind! They're comin'.............Budster

It's been 10 month's since my Miracles 210g Starphire DT was delivered, It's been three month's since the system started to cycle, and it's been about 6 weeks since I put the first live-stock in the tank, and I'm happy to report that all is well. I have added, since my last up-date, (12) scarlet hermit crabs,(24) dwarf blue leg hermit crabs, (24) Turbo snails, (3) peppermint shrimp,(1) burgundy star fish, (7) blue-green Chromis, (1) Fox Face Lo, (1) Six Line Wrasse, (2) Orange Spotted Sleeper gobies. All my new neighbors appear to be doing well, I did loose one chromi some where in the tank and I lost another when I left my side netting off and he jumped out of the tank, but that is the only loss so far. I have experienced and survived the dreaded "New Tank Syndrome" already, the brown alge was first, covering almost everything in a day or two, changing to green hair alge in only a few days. I picked the green off the rocks as best I could and it went away slowly, only to be followed by a very small amount of Red Cyano on the sub-strate and glass. I did not treat or dose anything during this period, I instead decided to let it run it's course naturally, because testing showed Nitrate and Phosphate at zero%, and it did just that in a few short weeks, the tank now is 98% alge free with the exception, of course, of the Coraline Alge seeded from the Live Rock I added. The 250 lbs. of Marco Dry Rock is already showing Coraline Alge population, small purple-red spots growing bigger every day. Soon I will have a tank full of beautiful purple rock teeming with life and covered with live coral, can't wait! Water parameters are "rock solid", SRO Skimmer is producing as expected, Maxspect LED's are programmed and working "Awesome", in short, all the time and work in starting this system is paying off. I have done just one water change so far, and the manual water change configuration allowed me to do a 10% change (38g) in about 5 minutes of turning valves and starting pumps, while never disturbing the kids in the tank.

I have finished triming the tank perimeter but have not installed the bar top and stools yet! I will attach a few pics of the tank from the living room side.

So I guess that's the last up-date to this build, as this build is just about complete, ahead is the fun from playing with the new toy! I hope all ya'll out there who have been following along will let me hear from ya this time. The last few up-dates brought disappointing response, maybe too boring or maybe ya'll jumped off the ship, I'm not sure, so let me know what ya think.

Now that I have a tank, I need a better camera!

Budster...................................

I think you've done a magnificent job on the complete project, from the planning of the "behind the scenes" to the set up and lay out of the tank. I'm so jealous of the fact that you can do a water change of that size in such a short time.
The tank itself looks awesome. My only concern would be the turbo snails, I found them to be like a drunk driver with a bulldozer with my smaller frags, but with the softies, no problem.
I hope you'll still post pics of the tank as it matures as I think it will be a joy to follow.

I'm always following along! With my new job and schedule I'm always checking the forum from my phone... so it's a pain to type responses. I'll make sure to always post a quick thumbs up. Your tank looks amazing! I'm loving watching it come together and can't wait for my 227 to get up and running! This makes me anxious! Great tank!

Yeti wrote:I think you've done a magnificent job on the complete project, from the planning of the "behind the scenes" to the set up and lay out of the tank. I'm so jealous of the fact that you can do a water change of that size in such a short time.
The tank itself looks awesome. My only concern would be the turbo snails, I found them to be like a drunk driver with a bulldozer with my smaller frags, but with the softies, no problem.
I hope you'll still post pics of the tank as it matures as I think it will be a joy to follow.

Thanks Yeti, I appreciiate the kind words, I will continue to keep in touch with pics. and participate more on the forum now that I have more time to. ...............Budster

matt_longview wrote:I'm always following along! With my new job and schedule I'm always checking the forum from my phone... so it's a pain to type responses. I'll make sure to always post a quick thumbs up. Your tank looks amazing! I'm loving watching it come together and can't wait for my 227 to get up and running! This makes me anxious! Great tank!

Matt: Thanks, I will watch out for your new tank, sounds pretty similiar to mine.

Hello all ya' East Texan Reefers!  When last we talked my tank was just starting to mature and I was just starting to add the life.  I was just getting to know some of ya'll here on the Web, then I fell off the edge and haven't been along for a while.  I'm happy to report the tank is doing well, have had no glitches (knock on wood), the design and application have proven to be flawless so far.  I've been busy this summer with my 20 acres of pasture, my big aquarium (1/2 acre bull-gill/striper pond) and just trying to keep the garden and grass green in all this heat.  The tank is populated at this point by (2) Gobies, (2) Clowns, (1) 6 line Wrasse, (1) Neon Wrasse, (5) Chromis, (1) Pacific Blue Tang (1) Yellow Tang
(1) Naso Tang, (1) Fox Face Rabbit Fish, (2) Cleaner Shrimp, (1) Burgundy Star, (5) Black Spiny Urchins (hitch hikers from the original live rock), and (1) green bubble tip Anemone.  I have not yet started to consider coral, I think the tanks ready, I've got the lighting for them, so I will soon start looking for frags for my tank.  

I would like to throw something out there for comment.  I would like meet some of ya'll, share ideas and thoughts on what I'm doing here (and what your doing too!), and generally get to know some of the guys and gals I share this interest with.  I would like to host an open house here at my place in Mineola, probably on a Saturday or Sunday or both if necessary, probably next month or early in October.  I am going to Alaska for the Silver Salmon run in  Takeetna, Alaska the first week in September and will be home on the 17th, so it would be some time after that.  If you would be willing to come by and spend a little time, let me know here on the forum, and if there is enough interest, I will plan it when I get back, and let ya'll know right here on ETAK.