silverado61
Well-Known Member
Nah. Just checking to see if you'd fit in the tank. You ARE a trigger ya know. 
Silverado61's Stand and Tank build.
- Thread starter silverado61
- Start date
silverado61
Well-Known Member
Everybody, we'd like you to meet our critters:
This is one of our banded serpent stars. To give you an idea of how small he is, his central disk is about the size of a quarter. His coloring is gray with black bands on his tentacles. You'll notice he's got one very short tentacle. We call him "Gimpy".
This little guy is brick red with black bands. His central disk is about the size of a nickel. We call him, of course "Red".
And this guy is also brick red with black bands. His central disk is about the size of a half dollar. His tentacles are much longer than the others. You can see that most of one tentacle is gone. If you look closely though, it's actually growing back, much like a lizards tail. We obviously call this one "Stumpy".
The only Astraea sp. Snail we have. He was an extra. We only ordered 3 different kinds. He's the fourth.
One of two Trochus spp. Snails
One of the two Nerita spp. Snails
SWF only lets you post ten pics at a time so the rest are in the next post.
This is one of our banded serpent stars. To give you an idea of how small he is, his central disk is about the size of a quarter. His coloring is gray with black bands on his tentacles. You'll notice he's got one very short tentacle. We call him "Gimpy".
This little guy is brick red with black bands. His central disk is about the size of a nickel. We call him, of course "Red".
And this guy is also brick red with black bands. His central disk is about the size of a half dollar. His tentacles are much longer than the others. You can see that most of one tentacle is gone. If you look closely though, it's actually growing back, much like a lizards tail. We obviously call this one "Stumpy".
The only Astraea sp. Snail we have. He was an extra. We only ordered 3 different kinds. He's the fourth.
One of two Trochus spp. Snails
One of the two Nerita spp. Snails
SWF only lets you post ten pics at a time so the rest are in the next post.
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silverado61
Well-Known Member
One of five Nassarious Snails.
These guys I must have gotten from Flower. I thought I killed them in transport because they were on the front seat of my truck in the sun on the way home. So far i've found five of these guys all over my rock work. even in the DIY rock.
I guess they do play dead Flower. lol
And we've also got ten Blue Legged Hermits. So far they haven't gone near the snails. (Fingers crossed).
Our tank has life! Woo Hoo!
These guys I must have gotten from Flower. I thought I killed them in transport because they were on the front seat of my truck in the sun on the way home. So far i've found five of these guys all over my rock work. even in the DIY rock.
I guess they do play dead Flower. lol
And we've also got ten Blue Legged Hermits. So far they haven't gone near the snails. (Fingers crossed).
Our tank has life! Woo Hoo!
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silverado61
Well-Known Member
Hello??? (Knock knock knock) Is there anybody out there?
silverado61
Well-Known Member
Thanks trigger. I kinda like the little buggers myself.
silverado61
Well-Known Member
We love ours too. Two of them look like they had been attacked in the wild and missing portions of one or two of their tentacles but I swear they're growing back. That's just too cool!
I think of it as saving them and giving them a good home where they can live out the rest of their lives feeling safe from other predators.
Gimpy is a little shyer than the other two but we're working on him.
That's just one of the reasons I love this hobby.
I think of it as saving them and giving them a good home where they can live out the rest of their lives feeling safe from other predators.
Gimpy is a little shyer than the other two but we're working on him.
That's just one of the reasons I love this hobby.
snakeblitz33
Well-Known Member
Looking good buddy
silverado61
Well-Known Member
Thanks Seth. Its still a work in progress.
silverado61
Well-Known Member
I know that all I have right now are Snails, Hermits and the serpents but I can still just sit in front of the tank for hours just watching them. It's like each one has their own personality.
The snails just take their time but they still move like they have a goal. When they're on the front glass, I look at them under the magnifying glass and watch how their foot moves or the way each of them scrape food off the glass.
The hermits are like ants. Always searching. Always digging. Always picking at something. It's like they never get tired and they never punch off the clock and just relax.
The serpents are in a class all by themselves. I'll take their food and smear it on a piece of coral tied to a fishing line and lower into the tank. Usually in the same spot and they go right to it. Sometimes I'll put it in a different spot just to see what happens and they still go right to the rock. Amazing sense of smell seeing as they have no eyes. They'll grab the food with the tips of their arms then coil them till they're under the central disk then they feed. The little one (Gimpy) stays hidden so when the other two get their fill i'll move the rock over to where he hides then he'll come out to eat.
The snails just take their time but they still move like they have a goal. When they're on the front glass, I look at them under the magnifying glass and watch how their foot moves or the way each of them scrape food off the glass.
The hermits are like ants. Always searching. Always digging. Always picking at something. It's like they never get tired and they never punch off the clock and just relax.
The serpents are in a class all by themselves. I'll take their food and smear it on a piece of coral tied to a fishing line and lower into the tank. Usually in the same spot and they go right to it. Sometimes I'll put it in a different spot just to see what happens and they still go right to the rock. Amazing sense of smell seeing as they have no eyes. They'll grab the food with the tips of their arms then coil them till they're under the central disk then they feed. The little one (Gimpy) stays hidden so when the other two get their fill i'll move the rock over to where he hides then he'll come out to eat.
silverado61
Well-Known Member
Very delicate as far as water quality. I've read that you can cut them in half and if the water quality is good they will regenerate. If they feel extremely threatened they can drop an arm as a distraction till they escape. Amazing creatures.
trigger40
Well-Known Member
my trigger used to grab a snack from my star. he would always bite the ends off.
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Very impressive. I just bought a 110 with an oak cabinet. Beautiful. Keep us postedI'm not really sure if anyone will even read this. I just wanted to keep a log on my progress of my 72g stand and tank build.
I have been planning this build for quite some time now. Reading, researching, asking a lot of questions here, a lot doodling on paper, drawing up rough graph blue prints and doing the final drawings of what I wanted it to look like when it's finished.
I started building the frame for the base about two months ago but then the cold snap hit and since I'm doing this in a unheated garage, all work came to a grinding halt.
I have been working on cleaning all the equipment I have on hand that I can use for this build ( sump/fuge, power heads, etc ) and cleaning all the equipment that I used on my 36g tank which mysteriously crashed for reasons I still haven't figured out, I do know it's was nothing I did or neglected to do, and putting it all away for future use.
Mother nature recently gave me a break in the weather for a few days so I had a chance to do some more work on the stand and make some modifications on the design.
Now it's getting colder again so the build is back on hold for a couple more weeks. I checked the Farmers Almanac and it looks like in two weeks or so the temps should stay in the 40's and up so I should be able to work steady on this build. Until then I'll just keep planning and preparing.
Here's a few photo's of what I've done so far:
I'm using 1x4 kiln dried pine boards for all the framing. I got a lot of inspiration from 2quills build including towers on each end of the tank and the light bridge across the top of the tank and towers. but since I don't have the tools or woodworking knowledge that he does, I'm doing the best I can with what I have to work with along with some design changes.
All the boards for the framing have been doubled up and overlapped at each joint using Guerrilla Glue on all contact surfaces. All the boards that are sandwiched (Doubled Up.) are glued, clamped and pneumatically nailed together. Each buttressing joint has been glued, clamped and screwed in place. Each corner joint surface has been reinforced using dowel pins and glue. Once the plywood has been cut to fit the inside of the base I'll do the framing inside the base for the end cabinets. All the screws I'm using are stainless steel and the pneumatic nails are galvanized to prevent rust.
I've done just about as much as I can on the frame for the base. The next step will be installing the plywood inside the cabinet. Since I'm using 3/4" oak on the deck of the stand and I'll have half a sheet left over, I'll be using the other half inside the base.
Here's my plan for the placement of everything in the stand:
In the base, the left cabinet will hold the container of R/O water for top off and it will also house the siphon hoses for water changes. The right cabinet will have the breaker box and GFCI outlets to plug in all the equipment. The inside will be double walled so the outlet boxes won't be exposed to any splash from the sump/fuge. The main section will house the 35g sump/fuge with enough room to remove it through the front if needed without taking the whole stand down.
Because I'm too lazy to get on my knees to reach the switches to control equipment, I'll be installing them in the right side tower. It will also hold the light controller for the LED's and the speed control for the return pump since it will also have the feed delay switch. The left tower will be for misc. storage. Meds, dosing, food, testing supplies, etc.
The light bridge will of course hold the coral LED lights which will be on drawer glides so that I can pull them out for cleaning and maintenance on the tank.
If I planed the stand build right, it should all be able to be taken apart in four pieces (not including the tank) at a moments notice for repairs, upgrades and improvements.
Once all the framing and electrical are finished, I'll paint the inside with white marine paint so the lighting for the sump/fuge will be amplified. Then I'll close everything up using either birch or polar wood. Finishing with stain and polyurethane.
Well, That's it for now. I'll update this in a couple of weeks once the weather allows me to continue my work.
As always, any input or ideas will be greatly appreciated.
Till then: Always learning.
silverado61
Well-Known Member
Thank you. It's finished, so keep reading. There's seven pages to this thread,