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Octopus Proofing a Red Sea Max 250

My house is going to be taken over by Cephalopods! :lol:

~Thoughts of Octopus magnets on my car that say my Octopus is smarter then your 5th grader!~ :razz:
 
Can't find anything on eBay to have one made. I'm gonna check the local detail shops around here. The ones that do car graphic type stuff. Bound to find someone who does it. :sagrin:
 
I need to find an artist to make the Octopus for me. I'd like a nice tribal design, and then have the words in a nice text. I have a friend I just may go to see at work tomorrow. He does the artwork for a Newspaper, and designs stuff for Sea Base. I'll get him to draw something up, and I'll post it up when I get it.
 
Yay the new tank got here today! :smile: I'm so stoked I would take photos but its already 9:15 & I had an extremely annoying long day. :roll: I looked over the tank inside and out for any kind of flaw, but didn't find a single thing.

I'm putting the Sand in it tomorrow and starting my cycle. I'll take photos, of it once I get started. I get my own tank room now!!! Gonna use the LR I've been cycling for a few weeks, and the new substrate I ordered from Red Sea Fish.

I'll also be taking a few photos of the 2 main pieces of LR I want to stick in it. Lots of Coraline algae on it, and some sort of Flowerpot coral. Looks like a Xenia sort of. And I have a HUGE Conch shell in one of my tanks that the Maroon Clowns used to like. Hopefully the Octo will like it to. I'm too afraid to buy any barnacle clusters on eBay cause no one can tell me if they have been chemically treated. So I figured not to even take the chance.

Husband has me thinking on buying some elbow PVC pipe from Lowe's and maybe making a artificial one? I don't know something I'm pondering. Would be nice if it worked, maybe less stress going nuts with a flashlight looking for the poor thing for the first few weeks.
 
lol that one bristle worm is huge! I try like mad to get mine out. I know their supposed to be good and help, but when mine get like that .. time to spring clean the tanks. lol
 
AND WE HAVE LIFT OFF! WOOHOOO! FINALLY!
 

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Ro/Di water was taking forever, but it's filled. Let the cycling commence.

Anyone know of an easy to test and read calcium test?

I'm using a SeaChem Reef Status Calcium test kit. And it seems very accurate, but I was hoping for a simpler method. But meh, better safe then sorry.

Seachem - Reef Status: Calcium

I'm loving the substrate! Even after stirring it up extremely well after I rinsed the crap out of it. You can see in the above photo, it's still partially visible in there.

With this next photo it's only been about 20 min, and it's clearing up so fast!

Just now priming the skimmer, and boy is it sensitive. You can't turn the knob very far forward or backward, but its so super sensitive. You really only need to move it maybe 1mm at a time. But I'm just trying to get the bubbles going and wait for a few days for it to start frothing.

The filtration is consisted of the water flowing through the vent into the skimmer chamber, then through the left side that has 2 big carbon bags & some ceramic tubes in another bag, then it goes through another chamber with a floss pad in a plastic holder that you can take apart & put fresh in. Then finally out through the pump section, back into the tank. The right of the skimmer chamber takes water from the skimmer section through a section that holds the heater with a sponge to capture debris, & then through another pump section back into the tank. I was kind of thrown off by this thinking it wouldn't filter as well, but as you can see in 20 min this thing is turning the water over quite well. I keep stirring up the substrate to try and get as much of it flattened out and even across the bottom.

I will be taking photos of them on my first water change. I didn't think to do it yesterday as I was in such a hurry to get it going. But finally turned the lights, Skimmer, & the pumps today.
 

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The timer is kind of tricky, but I'm reading up on it now to be able to set it.

I'm thinking about talking to my daughters Votech and see if I can't get them to, cut to size the Thick Plexi glass piece to put over the front section. I was gonna do it myself, but it's gonna be the thickest piece I can put in there, and we don't have anything that can cut that thick of Plexi glass. I don't know of anyone else that could do it either.

I'm going to put a hinge on it, if I can find a plastic one, and attach it to the back wall on the inside of the filter chamber. I'll use silicone to attach inside the filter wall, then plastic type screws to the top. So I can lift the lid, & the actual Plexi glass separately. So I still have lots of room to be able to get to the front back and sides to clean it when I need to. I will not be doing it alone, my husband or daughter will be there as well so I can clean while the other can Octo sit. lol It's my first Octo and not sure how fast, or what to expect while cleaning. I'm thinking it's going to be interesting once they get used to my hands being in the tank.

Can't wait to get the Plexi glass cut for it, attach it, and then find some red vellum for the Merc later down the road. I can't find it anywhere around here. Gonna do a search online for it.
 
You won't have to worry about cleaning the tank around an O.mercatoris. It is not until you get into larger species that they have been known to interfer with cleaning. Whether they are protecting their homes from disruption (my opinion) or interacting (the opinion of many) is not established.
 

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