The Official Asylum Reef Tank Thread

[Smoking Dragon]

Originally Posted by Blueface

I just realized, a 75/90 is 48 long.
If this wet dry is 30 long, need to know how your cabinet is set up as you may not be able to manage getting this in there without dropping it down before placing the tank on the cabinet and that can be a problem down the line.

I didn't realize that either. I could make modifications to my cabinet. But, I would have to take into consideration the structure of it for safety. I downloaded plans online. It has 3 sections that are 15 3/8" wide each. My son and I are going to build it ourselves, to save lotsa money. I guess I will have to wait till it's built to look for a filter system.

[Smoking Dragon]

P.S. I got a better water tester kit and found my ammonia and nitrates / nitrites were high. I did a 1/3 water change and added stress enzyme. Fred looks better and is more active now, and is eating better. I also got the salinity to 1.018, as per recomendations. I think that is better so that I can place feeder fish in the tank and they will live until he gets hungry.

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by sergeant smoky

I didn't realize that either. I could make modifications to my cabinet. But, I would have to take into consideration the structure of it for safety. I downloaded plans online. It has 3 sections that are 15 3/8" wide each. My son and I are going to build it ourselves, to save lotsa money. I guess I will have to wait till it's built to look for a filter system.

Go to Dr. Foster and Smith and see some of the cabinets they have.
You would be surprised how cheap they are.

If your plans call for three sections/openings on a 75/90 that is 48" wide, that will definitely be a problem with ANY wet dry.
Can't imagine any that will swing that opening.
I would recommend you find plans for a more traditional two door piece that has large doors and as such, limits the dead space in the center between the doors. This will give you more room to work with and specially down the line to service the tank. The worst thing you can have is a system that you can't access.

Believe it or not, that center brace on that tank is not really main support. The support is built around the four sides of the tank which will hold and distribute the wait. That center brace is more for support of the doors. Many ways around this.

Note the photos I just posted of that tank I built. Note how I practice what I am preaching and how it can be done to make for simple access in the future. That is a 300+ gallon tank and the support is strong enough yet allows awesome access to all components, even after the doors were eventually hung.

[Blueface]

In the case of my tank, the center brace is a somewhat of a support but I stil managed to build it with ballroom dancing space. Both sets of doors on both sides swing completely open with nothing to obstruct.

My filtration is more like what your wet dry will look than the one I did for my customer. Mine is 12 yrs old and I did it much simpler than, before I got into the complicated plumbing. I have been updating it here and there through the years but never splurged on a new custom built wet dry as I did for customers.

To give you an idea, that is a 72" long furniture and that wet dry is 36" long.

Note the tape and arrow BC-Axeman was referring to.

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by sergeant smoky

P.S. I got a better water tester kit and found my ammonia and nitrates / nitrites were high. I did a 1/3 water change and added stress enzyme. Fred looks better and is more active now, and is eating better. I also got the salinity to 1.018, as per recomendations. I think that is better so that I can place feeder fish in the tank and they will live until he gets hungry.

Great, glad to hear he is better.

Don't feed him feeder fish, specially if fresh water as some folks do.
That is not part of their diet.
Eels by large part eat shrimp, clams, etc in that family.
While he may be eating other stuff (heck, mine eats the regular food I feed the fish - granules that you see in the photo I just posted of my tank), it is not necessarily good for them or the tank.
Feeder fish and things like silver fish are bad for the water chemistry, specially in a 75 gallon system or smaller that has less tolerance for variance.
Some eels like a zebra moray will starve before they even dare try to eat a live fish.
They are not designed for that.
Get in the habit of feeding him once to three times a week, depending on how he looks as far as seeking out food.
The more you feed an eel, the more he will grow. The less you feed, the longer he takes to grow.
Place a shrimp piece on a feeding stick for eels and control what goes in the tank so to limit waste.

[Smoking Dragon]

Yeah I'm gonna stop by the asian store on the way home and pick up a few fresh, live clams for him to try.

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by sergeant smoky

Yeah I'm gonna stop by the asian store on the way home and pick up a few fresh, live clams for him to try.

Freeze them when you get home.
It kills any parasites they may bring that may affect the tank.
I then thaw them in a cup with water, split it and drop the half shell with the claim in the tank.
Once he is done, scoop out the shell.
If he doesn't like it, get it out of there.

He will go nuts for it as he also will for shrimp.
I take a medium to large shrimp and cut it into about three pieces (for the size of my eel).
I then feed him the pieces on a feeding stick.
Mine goes through about 5 shrimp on average, about two times a week.

[Wolfgang]

Hey Carlos,

Just last night When I put some of the shrimpy water in my tank, to let my eel know it was dinner time, My eel went bonkers and swam out in the open all over the tank. Thats my first time seeing her whole body since I bought her 6 weeks ago. I guess she is getting comfortable now. Also when I did my late night flashlight check she was perched on a rock curled up similar to a snake. Man do I love my eel :-).

On another note, lets see some more pictures of CORAL people!!!! This IS the reef tank thread

Ill have pictures of mine tonight after I get my camera from my GF's Im starting to have a nice little collection of Zoos. Today I jsut added some what I believe to be purple people eaters, tubbs blues, and latina lips. I swear I am not making up these names. Check out the gallerys on zoaid.com.

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by Wolfgang

Hey Carlos,

Just last night When I put some of the shrimpy water in my tank, to let my eel know it was dinner time, My eel went bonkers and swam out in the open all over the tank. Thats my first time seeing her whole body since I bought her 6 weeks ago. I guess she is getting comfortable now. Also when I did my late night flashlight check she was perched on a rock curled up similar to a snake. Man do I love my eel :-).

On another note, lets see some more pictures of CORAL people!!!! This IS the reef tank thread

Ill have pictures of mine tonight after I get my camera from my GF's Im starting to have a nice little collection of Zoos. Today I jsut added some what I believe to be purple people eaters, tubbs blues, and latina lips. I swear I am not making up these names. Check out the gallerys on zoaid.com.

Try this next time.
Dip the shrimp in the water and quickly pull it out.
Watch that eel go nuts just off that.
They have generally poor vision but unbelievable sense of smell.

On the corals request, I asked my wife if I can set up a reef tank with the spare 55 that is in the garage.
Her response was "sure".
That was followed by a pause.
Followed by, "just go ahead and physically switch places with the tank in the garage".

[Wolfgang]

lol. Ill have to try that. I still have to cut the shrimp up pretty small. My eel cant eat a whole one yet.

[Blueface]

Originally Posted by Wolfgang

lol. Ill have to try that. I still have to cut the shrimp up pretty small. My eel cant eat a whole one yet.

Mine doesn't either and he is large.
I cut a large shrimp in three.
A medium shrimp in two works well for him.

[Wolfgang]

I mean even cut int pieces she can finish thw whole thing, She maybe eats 4 pieces and she is done.

[Smoking Dragon]

I would like to introduce the newest member of my family ........ Fred the eel

[Wolfgang]

SWEET!!! Thats a beautiful eel right there

Thanks for sharing the eel pictures, Sarge. I could see why you were worried about it.

[shilala]

I gotta change some water today. I'm so excited. hehe

The coralline algae in my tank has been going nuts. The two sides and the back are almost totally covered. It's starting to move in on the front bottom and sides. This is going to take three or four hours to clean. I blame the snails. They keep the tank walls clean enough from the soft algae to allow the coralline to grow. The balances are so tricky in this closed system.

update!



3 Colonies of zoas right now, just generic ones right now, but some nice color out of two of them, I gonna get rid on on though, not real colorful, a Blasto Merleti, Devils hand, and a water melon mushroom, very cool coloring.

2 Percula clowns, 3 Blue/green Chromis, Coral beauty, Yellow headed sleeper goby and a Coral Banded Shrimp.

This is fun!


That Eel is freaking sweet by the way!

I spent from 11:30 am to 6:00 pm (with a break for a cigar) yesterday doing cleaning and maintenance on my reef tank. I think the coralline algae is going through a seasonal bloom. Took some pictures:

[Smoking Dragon]

The rocks in the tank, are they the live rocks? Also I was thinking about setting something up like that for Fred. I worry about him knocking them down. Is there a way to attatch them together so they are really stable?