90 gallon custom cuttlefish finally almost done

[corpusse]

So my tank is just about ready. It is at least presentable enough so that I can show it off. Tank is a custom perfecto 36x24x24 eurobraced with starphire front pane. Starphire is much clearer then regular glass. Finally finished the plumbing. I am just waiting on a few parts for my skimmer. I bought a bubble king mini 200 used for just $400. Normally the skimmer is well over 1k. I thought it was great. From a local reef shop that was missing a few parts. They told me they'd be in within 2 weeks. Well 6 later they aren't here so I've ordered them from another place. Just a couple of screws and one plumbing part is stopping me from using it. Real frustrating.

I made the sump myself just a simple 29g with a skimmer section, bubble trap and refugiem. It's a little messy but it works.

I really like the colour of the paint I used for the background. It'd darker then in my reef tank. I originally planned for a more exotic aquascape but I went with a simple approach and just a few acrylic rods. There's about 95lbs of rock in the tank.

The tank is lit by just 2x39 but I think its a little too dark. I will consider adding an additional 2 bulbs so corals look a little better. For now it's fine with just a couple of soft corals inside.

The cuttlefish are still a bit too small to go in and there is still a touch of nitrate, just 5ppm but should drop to zero soon. Added cheato and a small light to the fuge. Still thinking about a remote dsb.

Here are the pics:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OxZoGqFQrPI/SqV2Bgj5zuI/AAAAAAAAAjA/5nxE8EsZzwE/s800/IMG_1965.JPG

 

[Tommycs]

Looks great!

 

[DWhatley]

I am a big fan of black only backs but I will have to admit that that color blue looks stunning and I really like the aquascaping!

 

[smalljerm]

real neat! i love the rock scape! keep us updated!!

 

[corpusse]

Some updates. My soul survivor is getting close to full grown. I'd say he's around 3.5 now. He now eats silversides in addition to shore shrimp. He can handle about 5 a day so my stock will soon be depleted at which time I hope he can survive entirely on frozen which shouldn't be a problem. I'm going to pick up some uncooked shrimp from the grocery store later. He eats off a feeding stick or a fishing line. I couldn't find any fishing line so I made the stick first.

The tank itself is looking half decent. Added some colour with some red macro algae and a neon green singulaira from austraillia. I'm starting to dislike the yellow lights so I'll be switching the bulbs soon. I'm just using the stock 10k actnic setup so I think I'll switch both to 14k bulbs. I am also going to add 2 more bulbs that will be on for just a couple hours a day to display the corals better.

In the next week or 2 I'll be getting some more cuttlefish eggs and starting the cycle all over. Hopefully this time no tank breaks and I'll end up with at least 5 or 6 to go in the 90 gallon.

 

[CaptFish]

Man your tank looks great!!!! I love how colorful it is.

 

[hobogato]

very nice! is that a koralia? what did you use to screen it to make it safe for the cuttles?

 

[corpusse]

very nice! is that a koralia? what did you use to screen it to make it safe for the cuttles?

That is a korilla I'm just using mesh that you use to make mesh wheel modifications to protien skimmers.

This is not permanent. I had a vortech MP40 but sadly it broke and I haven't gotten around to sending it in. I imagine it will cost a couple hundred bucks to fix too. Once I get that fixed I'll probably add one more small powerhead maybe an mp10 and that's it. Those come with the foam covers.

I don't like using korillas long term as they have a tendency to leak stray voltage.

 

[corpusse]

Here's a couple of new photos. I wanted to get one of him eating off the feeding stick but I could not hold it and the camera. By the time I had it in my hand he pulled the silverside off and was retreating and I just got the one photo.

 

[corpusse]

Heres a video clip of me feeding him with a feeding stick

He only eats the shrimp when its right in front of his face and won't strike at it.

 

[cuttlegirl]

Ahhh, he is so cute, I miss having cuttles...

 

[Damien]

very nice.
when i'm looking at this tank i wish have time, place and money to try it ...

 

[corpusse]

Updated shot of the tank.

going to be picking up some more eggs soon and eventually will get to the point where there is a breeding colony in there.