DTC Build - Mark Shelly

[Mark Shelly]

I decided to enter the contest.
First order of business is to get the live in live rock. I am starting with a partial bucket of used tank water in it. I have a power head, heater (not sure I need that), the primary coral I plan to use, two pieces of coral from my tank which I may use, but is meant for seed here. One is Pipe organ Coral, hopefully for pods and initial color and form interest. Another is flat with coralline algae. I am thinking of drilling a hole in the container I selected for a spigot for a variation on the theme, hence the bucket.

 

[Mark Shelly]

After much thought, I settled on a pico aquarium set. It is the Top Fin 2.5 gallon tank for $50 from PET SMART. Since it comes with a light and pump set behind a bulkhead. I will not use an air stone as I had wanted. To fit the drink tank challenge theme, I drilled a hole for a top mounted spigot. I plan to do water changes as follows: baste the tank with a turkey baster to stir up debris; place a container under the spigot and open it up; pour the new water directly into the tank. Once to water level is flush with the bottom of the spigot opening and the spigot stops flowing, I will close the spigot and dump the water. Early on, the water will probably come from my old tank for its bacteria content. I don't have to worry about a dripping faucet as it should be at or above the water level. Obviously, I will remove the filter behind the bulkhead wall openings as we can't use mechanical filters. The spigot is on order. I was considering a low front spigot as well, but the budget limits that if I need to use a different light.

 

[Mark Shelly]

In trying to control costs, I orders my spigots using free shipping. They have not even been shipped yet, so basically free means free to take their time. I did decide to use another low spigot in front. I decided to go with a stainless steel spigots as I don't have much confidence in the plastic ones I have seen. The low spigot means that I can't keep my rocks in the tank yet. I started setting up the live rock. I mounted it on a grate to keep if from potentially falling over and breaking the glass. I do have the pipe organ coral under the back to prop it up. the rest didn't fit. I do have one small rock in my other tank I might use as as it has yellow sponge on the bottom.

 

[Mark_C]

Mark,
Careful with the stainless steel. It will rust in salt water.
I ended up going with food grade plastic spigots due to that.
Brass was the other option as it wont rust, but it has copper as a component.

 

[Mark Shelly]

I know this stainless will rust to an extent as it is not 316 grade, probably has not been passivated, and the salt water will have oxygen in it, but seeing how flimsy dispenser spigots are, I decided to go this way.

 

[Mark Shelly]

I drilled the second spigot hole, but can't do any more on the tank until I have spigots. I found out my wife has Amazon Prime and I could have had everything here by now.
I went coral shopping today. I got a blue Zuma from Tropiquarium and several other mushrooms from Mark at Ultimate Corals. The two corals I really wanted were a bright red and a light blue mushroom. I got the blue, so I am almost there. I am a little hesitant to spend too much on a red mushroom yet.

 

[Mark Shelly]

My spigots and Tuna Blue ABI 12 Watt light came in today. I am now almost capped out in spending at $96. I am using an old 5 head flexible arm light fixture with reflector removed. Only 2 of the sockets work. I installed the spigots and performed a leak test. The top spigot is my overflow/water line.

 

[Mark_C]

Nice job. Think i'm going to be hitting Mark up next week for a few shrooms and palys myself.
Love the idea of an overflow for the top up, my son has a beta tank with same principle and works well. Alo like the duality as in emergency or for complete WC you have the low tap for a full empty.

I'm keeping mine to a single tap only, low, and plan to do drastic water changes every 2 weeks or so.

 

[Mark Shelly]

I figure with 2 compartments, I had to get 2 taps, one for a Zuma Colada down low and the other for a Mushroom Float on top. I trimmed the base a little to allow me the put in the main rock without removing the spigot or return. I then placed it in the tank, added some sand, filled it with water, and turned on the pump. The light is the one that came with the tank and what I will probably use for photos or looking into the tank. I put the tank in a foil tray for leak safety. But that will make using the front spigot a little more difficult. It was a good thing I did as I hadn't closed the spigot before adding water.

 

[njtiger24 aquariums]

looks good man.

 

[Mark Shelly]

The water is clear after running for 24 hours (I stir the sand and it clears in 1 hour). Ammonia is high. No Nitrite or Nitrate. I had to braid my light goosenecks to get the bulb high enough. I will also need to remove some material from the rear cover because of the spigot. It looks like I could loose 1/8 inch a day through evaporation. My next post will be after the cycle when I put the first corals in.

 

[Mark Shelly]

I have now placed a few mushrooms into the tank. I have also had a diatom bloom and done my first water change as seen in the first picture. Top spigot worked, although slowly since there is little water pressure at the top.

I placed some mushrooms in the tank. Due to the light color, it will be difficult to get photos showing what I see. The mushrooms are Ricordeas or Dicosoma as best I can tell. Top right is a reddish brown mushroom. Below it is an unknown mushroom on the plug a yellow brown mushroom was on. It is under the rock. Below that is a blue green mushroom. On top center is an orange Zuma Ricordea rock. I only wanted one, but I couldn't see how to break it up. Below and to the right is a Ricordea that looked yellow when I bought it. Below and to the left is the blue ricordea. On the ground is a yellow brown mushroom. A blue mushroom is peaking out the rock. A green stripe is bottom left, with a yellow green ricordea top left.

 

[Mark Shelly]

I finally figured out how to do the custom white balance. In these pictures, everything looks a tad red. You can see some of the diatom bloom. I had the ISO way up, so the pictures are very grainy.

 

[Mark Shelly]

For the status check.
Observation #1. I was getting about 3/16 inch of evaporation a day. I topped with fresh water daily to keep from getting salt creep. I also partially covered my tank to reduce evaporation, which helps as I see water droplets on the glass.
Observation #2. The drink tank was running hot. This is first thing in the morning before I can attribute it to the lights. I think my pump is creating too much heat. I uncovered the tank so the evaporation is up again, but the temperature is down. I also turn the pump off and on. but need a permanent solution. I might use a Hydor wave pump that that only turns off and on one channel to reduce the time on to 50%
Observation #3. A high spigot doesn't drain quickly. I have to wait for one cup to fill before placing in a new cup of water or it will overflow. While replacing about 50% water, I would stick the empty cup into the tank to displace the water. I need to connect a tube to the spigot, or better yet, to the low spigot.
Observation #4. A small pump creates too much flow for my mushrooms. I need to reduce the time it is running to less than 50% or find a way to reduce flow. I would switch to an air bubbler, but I have no budget left. One mushroom already detached.
Observation #5. Don't put too much sand in the tank. The sand is above the water grate. Without a filter pad, the pump keeps sucking up sand and deposits it at the top of my tank. This will probably damage my pump eventually.
Observation #6. It is almost impossible to work in the tank without it overflowing. A base that catches water is a must. Maybe I should work in the tank and drain the water at the same time, replacing it after.
Observation #7. It appears that water changes will be the key here.

I did add one small trocus snail to the tank. I also tried feeding with Coral Candy. The shrimp in my main tank had babies. I should have collected some for this tank. It might have worked for some if I had an air stone while reducing the diatoms.

 

[Mark_C]

Nice build and great advice.
Thanks much. Just finished my stand and will begin the tank this Wed or Sat, will keep points in mind.

 

[Mark Shelly]

Here is a newer picture. I have a nice diatom bloom going on. I have been feeding with coral candy. I do have a film on top of the water. This photo shows the ABI tuna blue light, which is really a mix of several different frequencies. If you look hard, you a see a few spots where the color is a little different.

 

[Mark Shelly]

Here is a Ricordea that slipped into a hole in the rock. Sometimes it comes out. It seems to fluoresce a yellow color. I am curious to see how it comes out. It looked a little pink when I got it.

 

[Mark Shelly]

Here are a few of the other mushrooms in the tank. I have 2 rocks in the tank with multiple ricordeas on them. My plan is to break the rocks up and keep the smaller babies in the tank and move the more mature ones into my main tank. This protects me against loss and fits more the idea of growing mushrooms out in the tank. Where possible, I try to get small mushrooms for this tank. It helps keep costs down while providing some mystery on what the tank may turn into. Here are the green mushrooms in the tank. This green stripe mushroom is currently loose. I didn't notice before, but it looks like there are 2 of them. I added this for color and pattern contrast. The second is a teal spotted olive colored mushroom. The last is a bounce type mushroom that was attached to a rock another mushroom came on.

 

[Mark Shelly]

Here are the blue mushrooms in the tank. These mushrooms fluoresce green. And in certain lighting conditions, blue takes on a purple color. Since my light have a large abount of blue in them, I don't know what to expect for final colors.
This Ricordea looks very blue to my eyes, but I expect it to change to a teal. This teal mushroom looks very green in this picture but is teal to my eves, more like the one on the right. Blues mushrooms are my favorite if you can get the lighting right.

 

[Mark Shelly]

These are the yellow mushrooms. The plain yellow mushrooms look yellow but fluoresces green. In certain lighting they turn more brown. The location will be critical. The Ricordea on the right is unusual. It fluoresces a yellow orange like you see. But when the bubbles emerge, they turn more green. The earlier picture on the right shows more yellow, so I don't expect to see as much yellow in the future. Slight changes in lighting or white balance makes this coral look different.