My DIY jellyfish tank
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URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=68016
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Topic: My DIY jellyfish tank
Posted By: peiji
Subject: My DIY jellyfish tank
Date Posted: November 28 2013 at 11:35am
I was going to do this thread in stages as I built it but just never got around to it. So, here are some pics of the process. It's been a long time start to finish but I just but the jellies in yesterday. I'll start with some pics though as I built it. It's still not completely finished. I need to build a bottom and canopy but it's functional and running now. I only started with 3 jellies but hope to add 10 or so in total. Pics obviously don't do jellyfish any justice so I'll upload some videos later.
I started out with just the top tank donated by Adam Blundell and Shane Silcox. Thanks. However, the black plastic was starting to peel and it needed other repairs.
I used painting tape to create a mask for painting the oval shape.
Here's the mask all finished and the old black plastic torn off so I could pain the tank.
Here's the stand and tank all painted.
Here's the top so you can see part of the plumbing. I had Eric drill two holes in the top for the drain. One is the main drain that is backed up with a gate valve and the other is just an emergency drain. It's super quiet.
Here's the sump with live rock and sand.
Just one crappy pic of one of the lighting schemes. The light changes 7 different colors. The 3 jellies just came yesterday and so far so good but I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch. These are so fragile-looking.
one pic that didn't come out great. I need to use my other camera just don't have time right now. I don't have some great videos taken with my iPhone 5S.
------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer
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Replies:
Posted By: griffith
Date Posted: November 28 2013 at 3:51pm
Sweet!
Thanks for posting
Linn
------------- Pay it forward...
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Posted By: Aquarium Creations
Date Posted: November 28 2013 at 4:00pm
Glad it worked out
------------- Aquarium Maintenance,Consulting,Custom Built Glass Aquariums Rimless/Euro,24Hr Emergency Service 8015485201 Www.UtahAquariumDoctors.com [email protected]
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Posted By: DMower
Date Posted: November 28 2013 at 4:36pm
Looks cool!
------------- 150 gal reef with 50 gal sump. Reef Octopus DCS-200 Skimmer. AI Sol Blues.
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Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: November 28 2013 at 7:40pm
Thanks again for heading this up. Looks great so far!
Adam
------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun!
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Posted By: Dion Richins
Date Posted: November 28 2013 at 9:37pm
Nice Job!!!
------------- http://www.customaquariumfurniture.com" rel="nofollow - Bad "censored" Cabinets Best quality in the valley! He is one sexy bald guy, even with out a finger!(MAC)
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Posted By: bstuver
Date Posted: November 29 2013 at 9:29pm
This is so cool!!!
------------- Jackie Stuver
"wait these aren't the happy Hawaiians oompa doompa godly heaven on your face zoas? I dont want them then. lol!" Ksmart
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Posted By: Aquatic Evolution
Date Posted: November 30 2013 at 9:52am
Hey Jared, I received some Blue Jellies this week and they are doing great. Thought you might want to know...
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Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: November 30 2013 at 11:05am
Really? Can I keep them with Moon Jellies?
------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer
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Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: December 01 2013 at 7:14pm
That turned out great Jared!
Good luck with the photos of the Moon Jellies. With their transparent bodies it is very difficult to get a decent photo of them.
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Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: December 01 2013 at 8:42pm
Awesome!
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Posted By: Krazie4Acans
Date Posted: December 02 2013 at 10:15am
Jared, I have some questions on this great tank. First, I don't see a chiller running on this tank. Don't Jelly's require chilled water in order to do well? If you do chill the water is there any point in using live rock in the sump?
Second, was this a pre-built tank or did you build the oval insert that is in there to create the rotation flow? I love to watch Jellies but I'm not even close to jumping into a jelly tank. Just very curious.
Great job!
------------- My ocean. 90g (yup, won it!), 40g, 28g, & 10g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=63568&title=krazies-nano-paradise" rel="nofollow - Tank Thread:
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Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: December 02 2013 at 10:48am
i actually have a heater running on it right now. The jellies I have now prefer a temperature of 75 F. The tank is in the basement so I'll have to see what Summer is like but the lights don't put off any heat so I'm hopeful even in the summer I won't have to run a chiller.
The oval insert was put in by Adam Blundell I believe. I got the tank from him. I manage the flow with a valve on the return hose and a spray bar going back into the tank. So far so good.
------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer
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Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: December 03 2013 at 10:28am
For anyone that's interested, i found this video on YouTube that shows a Blue Blubber Jellyfish being kept with Moon Jelllies. I've also been told by the distributor of Moon jellies that they can be kept together. I think there's a blue jelly at Aquatic Evolution with my name on it 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5DKzt8rzq4" rel="nofollow - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5DKzt8rzq4
------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer
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Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: December 03 2013 at 4:26pm
Very cool!
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Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: December 16 2013 at 3:40pm
Finally finished the top and bottom. In retrospect, I made the top too high but oh well, it works.
Here are some more pics and even some videos:
This one was from Aquatic Evolution. It's called a "blue jellyfish" but it's not a blue blubber jellyfish like I thought it was at first. Still, it's alive and appears to be doing ok after more than a week. It really looks like an upside down jellyfish but it does "swim" around and occasionally attaches itself to the glass or sides. Kind of strange.
More pics of the moon jellies: You can see the food in the stomachs.
here are some links to some videos: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202604407900636&l=6530673706501498796" rel="nofollow - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202604407900636&l=6530673706501498796
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202604369659680&l=3393444171666171981" rel="nofollow - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202604369659680&l=3393444171666171981
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202604332818759&l=1941582926598412428" rel="nofollow - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202604332818759&l=1941582926598412428
------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer
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Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: December 16 2013 at 5:07pm
I really like that new jellyfish Jared. Let us know if you find out its real name.
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Posted By: ksmart
Date Posted: December 16 2013 at 5:57pm
this is really cool!
I received a mailer from Aquatic Dreams and they are selling a desktop jellyfish tank that would be really cool. Funny thing was that later that night my wife was on groupon and saw the same advertisement for one but for a lot cheaper haha.
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Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: January 06 2014 at 2:53pm
Things took a turn for the worse. They were doing fine until a few weeks ago. They started to shrink and lose their tentacles. I did a few water changes before I left on vacation for a week. When I got back, one was missing and the other two had shrunk to the size of a dime and quarter. I did a few more water changes and then this morning, the other two were gone. Now I have to start over and figure out what to change in order to keep them alive. I find it hard to believe there's that much food to pollute a tank that has 50 gallons+ of water with a sump and a lot of live rock and live sand. I haven't had time to check the pH and nitrates, etc. since I've been back but they were normal when I left. Frustrating. I still have the jelly without a name. Spends all it's time stuck to the glass on the sides though.
------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer
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Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: January 06 2014 at 3:38pm
That IS frustrating. I do hope you get it figured out.
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Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: January 06 2014 at 8:09pm
Very unfortunate. On the plus side, your contribution to this learning and exploration is very valuable.
Adam
------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun!
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Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: May 09 2014 at 2:33pm
ROUND 2...
So, I made several adjustments after consulting with Nancy of Sunset Marine Labs and Wyatt of PB'N' Jellies. 6 months later, I just received my shipment from PB'N' Jellies to try again.
I'm now hatching live brine daily and I will supplement with Golden Pearls, Frozen Copepods and/or R.O.E. once I locate some. I'll start enriching my nauplii soon.
Last time I overestimated the ability of the live rock and sand to break down the excess food so I'll be more diligent in water changes, testing and I've also added a mechanical filter to my sump.
The water now flows onto a filter pad, then through a compartment of bio bale, then the next compartment of live rock and sand with a refugium growing macro algae. I opted not to put any activated carbon as Wyatt said the dust might harm the jellyfish. i also added a bubbler (airstone and pump) on Wyatt's recommendation.
Lastly, I had a lot of problems before with the jellyfish getting stuck on the spray bar and the grill where the water flows into the sump. I've made some DIY adjustments to that making the grill smaller and covering the spray bar with black plastic. So far it seems to be working like a charm but time will tell.
Here's my new sump:
Wish me luck on all these new changes. I'm not sure I can keep doing these $200 tests every time I order new jellyfish.
------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer
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Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: May 09 2014 at 2:37pm
Good luck, I hope it works out.
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Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: May 23 2014 at 10:17am
My jellyfish woes continue but not in the way I expected. In fact, everything was going great this time around. Jellies were getting much bigger in just the few weeks I had them. I finally got the flow figured out to where they weren't sticking on the return. I just bought new LED light strips. This morning I was adjusting some things and the LED cord came out and fell in the tank.
Jellies are not moving. I am still praying for a small miracle that suddenly I'll come home and they will be pulsing again.
I don't know when I'll have the funds again to order more. At least this time I'm more confident of everything working but i just spent all my funds on equipment, fish, food and coral.
------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer
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Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: May 23 2014 at 10:40am
Bummer
------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: May 23 2014 at 4:53pm
Oh man, that is horrible. I hope they recover.
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Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: January 26 2015 at 10:06pm
Wow. Has it really been that long? I think my last attempt was some time after June when I ordered 5 smalls and boy were they small. Way too small for the way my outflow was set up. They didn't even last 2 weeks. I took a long break and diverted my attention to dart frogs and my reef tank. I've been running an empty jellyfish tank for over 6 months now. I didn't want to kill the filtration and I always thought I'd give it another chance but it's taken this long to try it again. Now that I have 6 dart frog vivariums, 11 frogs and tadpoles on the way, I've maxed out my available space for any more frog stuff so I decided to turn my attention back to jellyfish.
Well, tomorrow will be the 4th and final attempt. I made some major improvements to the tank. This time there is no way the jellies will get stuck. They may die from other reasons but they're not getting stuck in the outflow this time. Anyway, the jellies should arrive in the morning so hopefully I have some good news to report in a few weeks. Also, Wyatt from PBnJellies is carrying a dry food for jellyfish now that he says works great so there will be slightly less feeding maintenance as well.
------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer
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Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: January 27 2015 at 2:58pm
That is great news Jared. I hope it goes well.
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Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: January 27 2015 at 3:32pm
So far so good. I got the jelllies in around 11 am and the flow is pretty much perfect now. And they are much bigger than I've ever had.
------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer
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Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: February 09 2015 at 8:59pm
It's been a few weeks now and I have to say, this time the Jellies are doing awesome. Mike S. and Bob were at my place yesterday to take some pictures so you may see some in a while. So far they are getting bigger, the flow is perfect and even the one that got damaged in the first day has completely healed. Even the tiny jelly about the size of a nickel we call squishy is doing just fine. I think it came by mistake. It was so small, they probably didn't even realize they scooped it up with the others.
I feed about twice a day. Dry stuff (Golden Pearls, Cubic Jellyfish food) in the morning and freshly hatched brine in the evening. I hatch the brine every other day. Half of it I use right away and the other half I store in the fridge for the next evening. I also siphon the uneaten food about every other day. So far so good. I only have 3.1 jellies. (the .1 is squishy). I'd like to add at least 3 more when I get the funds back up in my paypal account.
I run the temp about 76 but I could run at 78 if I wanted to. Everything else runs just like my reef tank. Same salinity and generally the same parameters.
I'll post some pics and/or video here in a minute.
------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer
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Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: February 09 2015 at 9:18pm
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10205799577737885&l=8039541021108931253" rel="nofollow - https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10205799577737885&l=8039541021108931253
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10205799574417802&l=6942215379863260560" rel="nofollow - https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10205799574417802&l=6942215379863260560
------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer
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Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: February 09 2015 at 9:45pm
Sa-weet!!!!
Adam
------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun!
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Posted By: LaRue
Date Posted: February 10 2015 at 5:56am
Posted By: Hogie
Date Posted: February 10 2015 at 8:16am
That's pretty neat. Can we see a full tank shot?
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Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: February 10 2015 at 8:30am
I'll post some tonight. In the meantime, here's a kinda decent shot I got with my iPhone of it feeding.
------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer
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Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: February 11 2015 at 12:44pm
Definitely one of the coolest tanks I've seen!
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Posted By: superman1981
Date Posted: February 13 2015 at 2:08pm
Totally cool
------------- Sure you are, you are Crappy Reef Club Member #1 -Chk4tix
6 gal nanocube 65 gal http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=78639&title=tims-65-gallon-build" rel="nofollow - build thread
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Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: March 27 2016 at 10:32pm
It's been a while since I gave an update. My old batch of jellies fizzled out after about 8 or 9 months. I did some more tweaking to the system and installed a nitrogen sulfur reactor. I ordered 7 medium jellyfish that came in around 2.5" in diameter. They arrived in mid-January. It's now End of March and they are about 7-8" in diameter. They are larger now than I've ever had them.
here are some pics I took tonight.
------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer
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Posted By: bstuver
Date Posted: March 28 2016 at 12:21am
Love this, it's seriously so cool
------------- Jackie Stuver
"wait these aren't the happy Hawaiians oompa doompa godly heaven on your face zoas? I dont want them then. lol!" Ksmart
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Posted By: Marcoss
Date Posted: March 28 2016 at 7:48am
That is a huge amount of growth! I wish I had the patience for something like that tank.
------------- RedSea Max S400 - 90G Rimless Frag Tanks x2 - 185 Lookdown Bin
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Posted By: peiji
Date Posted: March 28 2016 at 9:07am
BTW, i'm going to posting this for sale. I've been wanting to upgrade my reef tank and having a reef tank, jellyfish and 17 dart frog vivariums is just too much time and money. Something's got to go.
------------- Jared Page Highland, UT Graphic Designer
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