dickwillys 2ft Cube

[dickwilly]

Ok following on from the Then till now (http://www.reefcorals.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=11279/) thread this is gonna be the "where all my spare cash goes" thread.

Don't have to much time to go into details now, the misses says I've be on that bloody PC all night......

Needless to say the set up is a 2ft cube with sump. 150W MH's and lots of blood sweat and tears. I'll update the specs as I can but for now, something to look at:

FTS: Not the most current view, but one i had available
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/FTS%20%28Large%29.jpg


And then in no particular order......
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/clam%20%28Large%29.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/duncans%20%28Large%29.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/floridas%20%28Large%29.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/goby%20%28Large%29.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/grn%20yuma%20%28Large%29.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/hammer%20%28Large%29.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/new%20rics%20051%20%28Large%29.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/org%20yuma%20%28Large%29.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/porcy%20%28Large%29.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/purps%20%28Large%29.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/ric%20%28Large%29_1.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/rocky%20%28Large%29.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/Trachy%20&%20trumpet%20%28Large%29.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/tracy%20actinic%20%28Large%29.jpg


That should do for now, but I'll be back.

Ric

[cl0wn]

awesome pics, and a truly stunning tank.

[dollydip]

great pics and a stunning tank well done mate

[Tangman]

Hi Ric stunning pics and what a stunning tank you have, well done what camera have you and what lens has it. Twiggy:D:D

[moorish]

some excellent pictures,corals look great.derek

[mousehunter22]

Your tanks an inspiration;):D

[dickwilly]

Thanks for the comments guys.
The camera used is a Canon 350D, lenses )both Canon) are EFS 17-85mm (all purpose lens) & the 100mm macro.

Some specs:

2ft cube, with corner weir and durso, ~50L sump with 4ish sections. Sump kit = heater, biostar flotor (removed all the gubbins & just using it as skimmer), Eheim 1260 return, cleartides mini inline reactor T'd of return with rowaphos.

Sand bed in 2nd section - not quite a DSB - more a fuge with loads of cheato.

Two koralia power heads in main tank for flow. big one pointing in to front corner to disperse flow and a nano one pointing down the back of the rock work.
Under the back of the rock work is an egg crate shelf, so under the LR is a big open "cave" area.

I feed the tank every day (or every other day if I'm not around), with a home brew of frozen mysis, brine shrimp, cyclopeeze, coral vibrance and reef gel - all mixed up and stuffed back into blister packs & refrozen. The reef gel stuff is great, the fish go nuts for it and it makes a sticky paste which you can stick to rocks or glass to make feeding stations, which gradually gets eaten or washed into the water (thus providing a more natural feeding situation, so I tell myself).

I put together a stock list this morning but its about 2 pages long :)

Ta

Ric

[cl0wn]

hhmmm, like the sound of this reef gel, where do you get it (pm if non sponsor)

[poz1966]

STUNNING Tank whats the coral in pic 4 please like the colours:D:D

[cl0wn]

the corals in pic 4are mainly ricordea's poz. fungia top left, zoanthids bottom left and bottom middle.

[poz1966]

the corals in pic 4are mainly ricordea's poz. fungia top left, zoanthids bottom left and bottom middle.

Thanks for that will GOOGLE them:D:D

[cl0wn]

:doh: meant favia, not fungia. :sorry:

[Aqua Marine Imports]

hi clown
is one of the pics of a trumpet coral? the green one at the bottom right of the tank?
do you target feed it? any info on these would be great. ;)
Cheers phil

[cl0wn]

yup trumpet coral, candy cane or caulastrea sp. moderate lighting and flow. may benefit from target feeding, such as brine or golden pearls, tho' not essential.

[dickwilly]

Hi guys,

Poz/cl0wn
The fungia/favia in pic 4 is an Acanthastrea (Acan) not exactly sure which species - either enchinata or hillae....I think. Those Rics in pic4 are all Ricordia florida

pudsey
Its either a trumpet/candy cane (never looked it to exactly which one it is), but both are very similar. I feed all the corals that show a feeding response with the same mix as mentioned earlier, that includes the Ricordias, trumpet, Trachy, Duncans, Favia, Acan, some of the mushrooms, some of the palys (zoa), cloves.

[dickwilly]

The Reef Gel is made by Zoolife - it's called Colorfin Reefgel. If you google it you'll find plenty of people that sell it. It goes for about £16-£20 a pack. As i said I mix it up with frozen foods. - I soak the frozen in RO, rinse it out, mix up with the reef gel, then stick it back in the frozen food blister packs to use as needed. It lasts ages, I've been using it for over a year and have just started on my second packet.

[stevieh]

stunning tank:):)

[d j]

not much you can say about that TANK :eek: ONLY WOW :eek: WHAT A FAB TANK AND THE PICS ARE AMAZZING:D:D

[dickwilly]

Update on FTS - Taken about 1hr ago:

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/Ric%20acan%20013%20%28Large%29.jpg


Been experimenting with fragging some different stuff recently.
Bottom right are some Ric Florida's i sliced up a few weeks ago, doing really well, almost look like proper rics now.
Bottom middle is an Acan, bought alarge bit but as I often find it was too large to fit anywhere neatly, so out came the hammer and chisel. That was a few weeks ago, now all healed and looking good.
The Fiji yellow leather, at back left, I just took the scissors to. After much research, i found they weren't too fond of being cut. But it was starting to cover up its neighbours, so the other day i took the blade to one edge to see how it fared and it did fine, so i then took a bit more off this evening. Having a bit of trouble attaching the scrag ends to live rock, if anyone has any experience of fragging leathers I'd like to know how best to do it?

[androo]

nice tank that its fantastic
nice and clear
hopefully il get mine looking sumthing like that?
andy

[Nobba]

I got a fragged leather that had a cocktail stick through the bottom and then the elastic bands round this and the rock. Not sure if it will work with the head of the coral tho.
Let us know when some of thos rics need taking off our hands mate!!!!

[TerraC]

great looking tank, lovely array of colours..

[cl0wn]

yeah the cocktail stick and laccy band or cable tie combo is a good way to go. give it a couple of weeks to settle then the cocktail stick can be removed.

[dickwilly]

Picked up a couple of new bist last weekend - it was my bday and my dad kindly got me some store credt at the LFS.

Orange plate - Fungia
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q3/birthday 002-800.jpg

Chalice - Echinophyllia sp
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q3/birthday 005-800.jpg

Scoly - A bit sick looking but giving it some TLC and its looking better every day - daily feed with mysis and now its puffing up and extending feeders.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q3/birthday 009-800.jpg



And after several attempts got this little fella out. I'm not 100% sure but i think he's responsiable for some coral damage and maybe the loss of a few turbos - but he's safely in the sump now happy as larry.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q3/birthday 007-800.jpg

[JAYJT29]

Cant believe i missed this one! STUNNING COLOURS!
Jay :D

[Ben]

This tank is stunning on pics, but is 10x better in the flesh.

One to aspire too :D

[dickwilly]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I've got a load of pics today for an update, but the place i usually use to upload my pics appears to be offline rught now.

Oh well it will have to wait.

[dickwilly]

Time for an update.
No change in equipment but some new stoock and a bit of a re-aquascape.

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q3/ACan-800.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q3/Bower-800.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q3/Chal ham-800.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q3/Chalice-800.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q3/Green Acan-800_1.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q3/Herb-800.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q3/PLate-800.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q3/Plate scol-800.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q3/Ric-800.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q3/SColy-800.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q3/St Ric-800.jpg

And an FTS - not best colours as reflected light from the window was in my way

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q3/FTS-800.jpg

[Tangman]

For a small tank its absolutley stunning Ric, you dont have to have a big tank to have a nice tank as this one proves.Mind you you have a good contender in young Ben with his tank, he will soon be catching you up so you will have to watch it m8. Is that a green centred Anthelia in the first pic if so do you ever frag it as i want some. Twiggy:jump:

[marinemike]

stunning tank,is that a frag rack in last picture?

[gary smith]

superb looking tank with some top quality corals its a credit to you :goodjob:gary

[dickwilly]

Tis a frag rack in the top left. If i'm fragging stuff from my main tank I'll leave it in there for a while then move over to the frag tank - or if the frags dont do so well under the T5s of the frag tank.

Erick - its a green centred clove - if thats what you mean? I've now fragged it, as is grown well over the rocks so will have a few bit up for grabs in a few weeks. Its the same as these:
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/cllove%20%28Large%29.jpg

[Lukechromis]

Any chance of posting some of the above down south? :)

[Tangman]

Tis a frag rack in the top left. If i'm fragging stuff from my main tank I'll leave it in there for a while then move over to the frag tank - or if the frags dont do so well under the T5s of the frag tank.

Erick - its a green centred clove - if thats what you mean? I've now fragged it, as is grown well over the rocks so will have a few bit up for grabs in a few weeks. Its the same as these:
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2008Q1/cllove%20%28Large%29.jpg

Hi Ric yes thats the one m8, just let me know and i will pop over one week end and i can go to Lasgringos as well. Twiggy:D:D

[grumpy_banghai]

This is what I want to aim for in my 500 x 500 x 600 Cube. I need to keep a roof over my head though in this financial climate. :(
Looks stunning & is great for a modern living room instead of a huge tank sounding like the niagra falls with halides blinding you as you watch Corrie!