My Saltwater Headboard

seahorse11

Member
Ben,
That tank is Freakin' AWESOME!! I would LOVE to have that! You should take a picture and send it to a magazine and enter a photo contest. I have never seen anything like that before, that is totally unique! Not only is the tank itself beautiful, I love the way you set up the LR.....SPECTACULAR!
 

joe123

Member
Originally Posted by Benj420
Hahaha, no I haven't bonked my head on it yet in 3 years, but my girlfriend..... that's another story....
I assured her it was made out of acrylic for HER safety.
Current livestock:
Gold stripe maroon clown
Yellow tang
Spotted mandarin
Rose bubble tip anemone
3 huge pieces of bright green sinularia
a few misc SPS
3 clams, 1 derasa, 1 gigas, 1 crocea
2 shrimp, 1 peppermint, 1 skunk cleaner
tons of bright green star polyps
assorted zoos
1 mushroom leather
lots of xenia
assorted snails, hermits
I will be adding some mythrax crabs when I make my next livestock order.
Has had in the past:
powder blue tang (died)
copperband butterfly (moved)
a few more SPS that were either moved or didn't make it
Seaclone skimmer (don't recommend)
I'm sure there are a few more I'm forgetting.
Hardware:
72" long x 15" tall x 9" front-to-back out of 3/8" Spartech Cell Cast Acrylic
Red oak surround w/ 2x4 skeleton frame
4 x 72" VHO & 2-Icecap 420 (2x10,000k & 2xActinic)
Magdrive 7 return pump
2 medium sized powerheads
DIY skimmer w/ Magdrive 5
20 gallon high "stock" glass tank as sump from LFS
That's all I can think of right now.
I had an aiptasia problem at one point, but the copperband butterfly and peppermint shrimp took care of it. I am currently having a problem with some bubble algae and lots of red flatworms. I am getting the mythrax crabs for the bubble algae and am not sure what to do about the flatworms yet.
Here are some more pictures from various times over the three years:
YOU.SAID.YOU.HAD.AIPTASIA.PROBLEM.HUH!
IF.YOU.DON'T.MIND.IS.THE.BUTTERFLY.WORTH.IT.TO.GET.RID.OF.THE.STUFF.???THIS.STUFF.IS.STARTING.TO..............TAKE.OVER.....HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

shu-perman

Member
Have you had many if any problems during maintance of getting your bed wet, etc? What would you do different now to solve that problem compared to what you did oringally?
Great tank idea.....Very well done and I'm am seriously thinking of copying/stealing your concept....for my next tank....
 

speg

Active Member
Originally Posted by Benj420
but my girlfriend..... that's another story....
I assured her it was made out of acrylic for HER safety.

That was actually the first thing to come to my mind... :p it's a neat setup... although it wouldnt work for me :( even if it is acrylic I would end up shattering it ;)
 

benj420

Member
Originally Posted by JOE123
YOU.SAID.YOU.HAD.AIPTASIA.PROBLEM.HUH!
IF.YOU.DON'T.MIND.IS.THE.BUTTERFLY.WORTH.IT.TO.GET.RID.OF.THE.STUFF.???THIS.STUFF.IS.STARTING.TO..............TAKE.OVER.....HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, I had two things in the tank that probably worked together to rid it of aiptasia. The copperband butterfly certainly ate most of it, everything it could find (all of my tube worms too). The other thing I had in there was a single peppermint shrimp which was making a small dent in things, but could not keep up with the whole tank. Once I added the copperband, he ate all of the aiptasia he could find in about a week, but wasn't interested in eating anything I fed to the tank. After all the tube worms and aiptasia were gone, he started to get skinny, so I returned him to my LFS (no money, but hopefully he at least survived). After that, I never saw any more pop up, and I dont know whether to attribute it to the copperband, or if the peppermint shrimp at the "stumps" that were left behind by the copperband. It is now 8+ months later and there are no signs of it returning. So, if I were you, I would start with a few peppermint shrimp and see how it goes from there. They seem to be easier to keep alive once the aiptasia is gone. So, I lost $35 on the copperband, but in the long run it was well worth it.
Originally Posted by Shu-perman

Have you had many if any problems during maintance of getting your bed wet, etc? What would you do different now to solve that problem compared to what you did oringally?
Great tank idea.....Very well done and I'm am seriously thinking of copying/stealing your concept....for my next tank....
I have a few beach towels that I lay across the bed before any real maintenance begins other than feeding or dosing B-Ionic in the sump. There is no such thing as stealing my ideas, only borrowing, that is why I post them here, so I can show off a bit, and so that others can learn from my successes and failures as well.
What I would do different is to make the overflow boxes external so they don't take up space in the tank, not put hinged lids on the top, but lids that can be removed and rinsed much easier (but definitely use lids). I would also put the sump in an easier location to get to, since my bed is a waterbed, I can't just slide it out of the way to do sump maintenance. I would also do a closed loop system and get rid of the powerheads, they also take up a lot of space and don't look good.
 

racinereef

Member
i like it you just help me and my wife with are next bedroom set sent a am a carpenter that works for trade show company works with arlicic as well it done deal for me to make that thanks
:thinking:
 

benj420

Member
Yes, they are indeed red flatworms. I am open to anyone's suggestions on how to control or eliminate them. If I take a piece of coral out of that tank to put somewhere else, Salifert Flatworm Exit seems to work. I use an old 2.5 gallon tank, remove 2.5 gallons from the headboard, add 2.5 gallon of new SW to headboard, put 5 drops of Flatworm exit in the 2.5 gallon tank (a double dose) and soak / swish the removed coral in the tank for a few minutes. This does a good job of removing the flatworms attached and they don't transfer to the new tank. So, I know that the stuff works, but I am fearful of using it on the whole tank because the "body juice" of a flatworm is toxic and there are so many of them that I'm sure it would cause more harm than good in the long run. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get their population down to a small number, then I can use the FW Exit.
Any ideas? I thought I remembered someone saying that a 6-line wrasse will eat them, does anyone have any experience?
 

promisetbg

Active Member
Great tank!
Gee...too bad about those pesky flatworms.I do know they can't survive long without light.Spotted mandarins are supposed to eat them too.I have them as well,but only in my refugium..and alas...my nano too
They only like low flow.
The only thing I know for certain that eats them is velvet nudibranchs.Only problem is once they finish them the nudi dies..and then the eggs of the last batch will hatch.
I had three beautiful ones at one time that were doing an awesome job eating them in my fuge.I thought they had gotten them all,so I quickly found them new homes.Then they came back after I did. :mad:
 

joe123

Member
You Are The Master. If The Copperband Eat Some And The Shrimp Eat Some, I Think It Will Be Worth The Price Of Both. Seems To Me It Looks As If You Know What Your Doing So Thanks And Wish Me Luck!!!
 

puffer24/7

Active Member
can u take a pic from the side cuz it kinda looks like a tank and stand right at the back of ur bed am i right?
 

benj420

Member
Uhhhh, it IS a tank on a stand at the back of my bed. It's not an in-wall. If you click on the link in post #17 you will see construction pictures and it might help for you to see what it is shaped like.
 
Top