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how do u guys do ur rock woork it loks so good ... myns looks liek crap what do u guys do... i must say nice tank any ways

In the age of darkness the blind man is the best guide. In the age of insanity look towards the mad man to show you the way

Thanks Norrec, I just messed with my rockwork until I liked it, and I must say, I've seen way better scaping than mine.

I cleaned up my fuge a little bit this weekend while doing a water change, and it looks pretty good, wo I thought I'd share. Before I was a bit embarrassed, that's why there haven't been recent pics of it. I just switched out the bulbs, the OLD ones were from my planted tank, and were a plant grow 4500K bulb and a daylight 6700K bulb. They were probably over a year old. These sprouted up some nastys I must say. I switched to a 10000K and a 50/50 and things are looking a bit better.

Fuge shot:


Yellowhead Jawfish:


Some zoanthids that were too algaefied for my main display:


The Autotopoff system, performing admirably:


The autotopoff system is working great so far. The only problem I had was the zip ties they came with broke when I tried to tighten them. That's how you adjust what level the float switch is in your sump, and the backup one too. I didn't really like that idea much anyways. Everything else seems to be quality. I have it up with lots of rubberbands until I figure out something more permanent. Any ideas?

I'm also thinking of taking my recent xenia cuts and putting them in the fuge to see if they grow with that little lighting(40W), the zoanthids seem to be doing ok and growing a little too. If they do well I may be inclined to even upgrade the lighting a little more, maybe a PC fixture.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Nice Blasto's Matty!

The rubberbands wont last too long so I would look for a long term solution..Id say try a good quality zip tie and see how it works?

Thanks DRO. The instant I saw them I said "yoink"! My boss hates when I take all the good stuff, I always promise him I'll bring some back eventually.

I replaced the rubberbands with a few zip ties I got at home depot for $1.50. These didn't break on me. I thought about grabbing some duct tape for awhile.

The topoff unit is sweet. Ahhh the easy life. It makes me wonder what automatic water changes are like *imagines sipping a cold one and watching the tank water change itself*. That might take all the fun out of reefkeeping. The 5 gallon bucket of RO lasted 6 days. Too bad I can't stretch that a full week and just remember to fill up on a certain day of the week. Ah well, I'll quit rambling now....

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

*imagines sipping a cold one and watching the tank water change itself*. That might take all the fun out of reefkeeping

Trust me, it doesnt take any of the fun out of it...it actually makes it more fun/enjoyable cause you have more time to sit and look at the tank.

Things are really starting to settle in again. It's amazing how long I could see the after affects of my mishap. I still am with the hammer, the main head looks ghost white, but the good news is that the 3 little baby heads have grown and have some good color. I haven't figured that out yet, but I'll just be happy about it.

Onwards to the pictures -->

FTS:


Left:


Hehe, I need to trim the xenia weeds

Right:


Torch has split heads, now there's 3! I like to call this one the torchspawn, it can't decide whether it wants to be a torch or a frogspawn*shrugs*.


One of my favorites showing some new bits of growth:


Another of my favorites, also showing a few new heads(red and green):

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I like to call this one the torchspawn, it can't decide whether it wants to be a torch or a frogspawn*shrugs*.

i love the name

let me know if you need anyone to take some xenia frags off your hands, ive got plenty of room.

wonderful pictures, tank looks great.

i like how in your full tank shot it looks nice and busy and crowded, in mine, its oh look theres somthing all the way over there, or here. i guess its nice to have lots of room, but im shooting for eventually having as many corals and fish as possible, only its going to take a few years.

overall, it looks splendid/:'

Nick
"Impossumable- unable to play dead"

Right now I have about 8 small frags that are going to the lfs I work at on thursday to pay for the most recent coral I bought. Right now I'm the area supplier of xenia elongata. Sad to say, but true.

Maybe next time I can send one out to you, I've never shipped anything live...I'm not sure exactly how it would go.

That's why I think I'm going to stick with small tanks. The price goes up exponentially for larger tanks. I can barely afford this one. I can't imagine trying to fill such a big tank.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Sorry if you lost any links or info tetratech...let me know if you still have some questions, I don't mind going over anything again.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Sorry if you lost any links or info tetratech...let me know if you still have some questions, I don't mind going over anything again.

Thanks Matty, I'm definitely on my way to the darkside. I'm just debating whether I should setup a sump with my tank. I'm using a 46g that isn't drilled. I plan on placing my order soon for a coralife skimmer. Your tank isn't drilled either right? So you setup the over the edge overflow. if I want to make a basic sump I guess I could use a 10g and create a separation for the intake and the return.

...or should I just use the hang on the back skimmer, with alot of rock and use my extra eheim ecco and fill with mostly bioballs.

Glad things came back for you. I love all the little activity all over the place.




My Scapes

Nah, I don't recommend bioballs really, stick to LR for biofiltration if you are going to do a reef, and if you use the canister for mechanical/chemical it should be cleaned out weekly, religiously. You don't want any gunk to sit in there for any length of time. That kind of becomes a hassle, which is why cannisters aren't used on reefs very much.

If you are going to do a sump, do a sump. 10G would be a waste of your time and money IMO. The only thing you are gaining with that is removing some equipment, water flow, and the risk of an overflow due to the small size of your sump. Note I didn't say you are gaining water volume, because you would probably only gain a few gallons.

You want your sump to be able to handle all the water that will flow out of your display should the power go out. In my tank, 5 gallons easily drops into the sump in that situation(probably more for you then). My sump is just as large as my display, so it can hold that extra volume(and more) running the sump just a little low.

In a 46G I would use a 20 Long or bigger. You should aim for at least 1/3 of your tank volume. This way you can probably get 12 or so gallons out of the deal too. If you aren't going to put a 'fuge in your sump, at least add a few baffles to cut down on the microbubbles that are caused by falling water. You can always mod your sump in the future with a dsb and lights and algae if you like.

None of that is needed, but each little extra thing you do, makes your life, and running the tank a lot easier. In terms of excess nutrients I don't need to do waterchanges. I only change water to replace the chemistry of the saltwater.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

or you can get what i have a WET/DRY filter. Which works just as well as the sump. A WET/DRY filter super charges biological filtration.

but..

there useally isnt a lot of romm to put equiptment in (i.e. heaters, skimmers) but there is useally a lil' space to put a heater. and you can useally find a WET/DRY with a skimmer.

>>>----> <----<<<

pnh

wet/drys are sorta outdated IMO...

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

havent look at your thread for a while matty. looking good!

How about some hyper-colour zoanthids? i got a few rocks and hold and cant wait to place them

How are the jawfish going? im thinking of adding some to my sump

Thanks patchy.

I actually have a few nice zoanthids. They just don't get the spotlight as much as everything else. I have some intense green ones that are growing crazy, but ATM they are getting attacked by my frogspawn. I've tried to put up a barrier between them, and it seems to be helping a little. I also have some orange ones in my sump, and theres a pic a page back I think. I have a little 6 polyp frag(started with 2 polyps) of what look to be eagle eyes or something similar. They have a few different rings of color. I also have a rock with some that have purple rings. I'll try to get a pic of all these for ya sometime soon.

The one jawfish I have left is doing terrific. There's a pic with him in it a page back as well. Just make sure you get them a nice size sand bed and some rubble for them to build with. Mine has constructed quite a nice house in my sump. He closes the "door" which is actually the foot of a deceased turbo snail at night so he can sleep without being disturbed.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Matty,

Thanks for the sump recco. How do you normally divide the sump from intake and the return. Do they sell special tanks with all the accessories with it or are you using a standard aga tank and DIYing the divider.

My Scapes

They do make prefab sumps, but can be entirely too expensive. Think hundreds of dollars. My sump is a 30 AGA and I got some glass cut at my local hardware store, home depot might do it as well. It doesn't need to be thick, as it's not really holding any weight. I'll post a sump pic from a while back so you can see what I did. The only thing I wish I would have done different was to make a "box" for my overflow pipe. This would create a lot less splash, and salt creep in that area. It would be a simple rectangular box with a hole cut at the top to fit the overflow pipe. A simple solution for me to do now would be to cut some tupperware to size instead. The glass could have been cut a little higher so there would be more volume in the sump, but that's just details. I went on the safe side with the cuts, I didn't know exactly how much water would flow from the display when I cut the pump, so I kept the water level a bit lower (cut the glass shorter) just in case.

So lets see...

1 is the return
2 is the fuge
3 is the baffle area which keeps bubbles to the right
4 is the water coming from the display via overflow

If you can't see the two left peices of cut glass are touching the bottom and siliconed all the way around and are the border for the fuge. The peice of glass farthest right traps bubbles in the right most section of the sump. It isn't resting on the bottom of the tank, it's about an inch and a half off the bottom. That one wasn't easy to silicone there and I had to hold it there for 5ish minutes before it held. It's a really simple design and can be improved upon in many ways. feel free to get imaginative.

Attached Image:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Thanks alot Matty

So if I'm not going with a Fuge, I could just have one piece of glass separating the intake from the return section with all my filter media in the intake side?

Also, do you have a pic if your overflow from the display?

Thanks much

My Scapes

Tetratech, to answer your question, you would 2, or more depeding on bubles. You need to be able to for the bubbles to the surface, so you would want a over-under, or the other way around.

its me sk8freak20...i need to get premie so i can change my name back

Yep, I agree with RBMark. You should at least put in a set of baffles to reduce the amount of bubbles. If you want, go ahead and put these all the way over to the right or left like I have so you could add a fuge later if you wanted....or at least some macroalgae and a light.

I'll get you a pic of the overflow tomorrow. I don't have a nice clean pic from setup. It's going to be a little.....used looking . We'll probably see some little feather dusters and sponges and stuff. So umm...top down I guess is what you are looking for, maybe from the side?

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

O.K. now I'm with you. I didn't notice the over / under at first. thanks much guys

So Matty, all you have in the intake side is the protein skimmer, no pads, etc.



My Scapes

Actually I do have a mesh bag with carbon and one with phosguard. There's also a backup heater in that section. I had to run two heaters this winter because my housemates wouldn't raise the heat above 60. 17-18 degree difference was making the one 300W heater run constantly so I put two in there. One on the left and one on the right.

There's two places I have mechanical filtration. One is a prefilter for the overflow. The other is the prefilter for the return pump. If I cause a sandstorm, I have a HOB filter I use to help clear things up, but I don't run it all the time.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Some pics of some stuff including my new coral.

My new "chalice" echinophyllia of some sort:


I got it a couple weeks ago now, and it is continuing to color up. it started off as the fleshy orange that you see with just specks of pink/red, and none of the blue/green stuff. I'm pretty sure it will keep coloring up - might even get to be something really nice. Even if it stopped now, I still like it. At first a couple of it's mouths opened up to where you could see skeleton, but for the most part have healed up. The only one I'm still worried about is the mouth on the bottom left that you can see in the pic.

Here's a closeup for the nice colors:


Macro of my galaxia:


Zoos for Patchy:






I promise I'll get you that overflow pic tetratech - I wanted to get a full tank shot so I started cleaning the glass and forgot all about both. I'll post again later today with both.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Ok as I promised, overflow from overhead:



And the FTS:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

That tanks is really looking nice! It looks to be alot bigger than the size it is, and I think thats awesome!/:'

its me sk8freak20...i need to get premie so i can change my name back

looking great!

filling out very nicely...you may need another tank soon!

That tanks is really looking nice! It looks to be alot bigger than the size it is, and I think thats awesome!

Thanks, I keep getting people saying it looks big. In person it looks tiny...but it is crammed with stuff.

filling out very nicely...you may need another tank soon!

I KNOW! But I can't I won't let myself set tup another one....It's going to be be killer moving them in a few weeks.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

updates, hows that wrasse i thknig aobut getitng one hwen my tank is set up

your tank (matty) is so much cleaner then myn i have the stupid dumb brown algae and hair algae all over the place and it grows back so fast gurrr

>>>----> <----<<<

pnh

The wrasse is doing great. I personally wouldn't put one in anything smaller than a 30G(not 29) as I think they need at least the 3ft to swim in. They are pretty active swimmers. I can't imagine ever not having a wrasse of some sort now that I have mine. They are very colorful and fun to watch.

your tank (matty) is so much cleaner then myn i have the stupid dumb brown algae and hair algae all over the place and it grows back so fast gurrr

IMO it's all about how the tank is set up. Do it right from the start and things fall in line pretty quick. Taking shortcuts in the beginning makes things tougher in the long run and usually end up being more expensive. That's why I always recommend people to research their setup for weeks(if not months) before starting up and trying to use more than the necessities. All the "extras" like RO/DI, sumps, fuges, quality protein skimmers, etc really make things easier.

I've been researching my next setup for a few months. So far I have the tank size and lighting I want. Everything else is still up in the air.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

ill have it in a 40B so i think it will be ok

That should be great....just watch out, they can be jumpers. A glass top or eggcrate is recommended, though I go open top and haven't had a problem.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

what about wooden canopy?

There could still be problems, but that's better than having an open top I'm sure.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

alright, so what size tna kyou gonig to get

Matt,

I just wanted to drop in and say what a wonderful job you're doing with that tank.. The progression from your first full tank shot to your most recent is just amazing..

Very good job

Matty, not only is your tank developing, but your picture taking skills are as well.

Lookin' good...I'm moving to my new tank tomorrow, cant wait to show you what I've got going!

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Sorry for the delay in posting....

alright, so what size tna kyou gonig to get

Actually I think I'm going to stick with what I have for now and I'm going to upgrade my freshwater planted tank.

I just wanted to drop in and say what a wonderful job you're doing with that tank.. The progression from your first full tank shot to your most recent is just amazing..

Very good job

Thanks Oleta, great to hear from you! How's your salt tank going? I just remember a year or so back you were working on a nice aquascape.

Matty, not only is your tank developing, but your picture taking skills are as well.

Lookin' good...I'm moving to my new tank tomorrow, cant wait to show you what I've got going!

Thanks Liana, but I think my photography skills have progressed as far as my camera will allow.


My tank got moved successfully, but I'm still without internet, so no pics or anything yet. Hope your move went/goes well too. I have a few new additiions including 2 peppermint shrimp and a pocelain crab. Maybe some new corals too...I can't remember what I've shown, it's been too long. I've also turned my fuge into a softy tank with macro algae, it has 2X65W PC's on it for lighting. All my xenia, shrooms, leathers, zoas, and GSP have been moved down there. Now my LPS get full dominance of my display. I'll try to get some new pics up when I get the internet going inmy new apartment.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

OK I finally got the internet up today, so here's the pics as promised.


Unknown coral with zoo frag:


New brain frag, top down view:


Purple and green blasto:


New peppy shrimp...cleaned up the aptasia in about 36 hrs, no joke:


Orange crush, lots of new growth:


New echino, has orange, red, and a few blue splothches and pink eyes...a beauty:


New zoos:


Hammer has regained it's color niceley after bleaching:


Green echino growth pic:


Galaxia looking hot:


Finally a good pic of my flasher wrasse:


Red and green blasto and pink echino:


Frontal:


From the right:


From the left:



That's all for now, I'll get some pics of the fuge after I clean it up a bit. It's now turned into a softy tank with macroalgae. The jawfish looks pretty cool peering out from around the xenia and gsp.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Can you make a final list of all the fish and corals, Or will that be too hard? You have a lot of things if you do make a list. Also whats the grand Total as of now?

Chris

30G Display
30G Sump
40lbs. live rock

Fishies/inverts:
1 Yellowhead Jawfish
2 Occelaris Clowns
1 Yellow Clown Goby
1 "Blue" Flasher Wrasse
1 peppermint shrimp
1 porcelain crab
numerous snails and hermits

Corals:
Various shrooms and zoos
Hammer
Torch
Frogspawn
4 Acan. Echinata
3 Blasto Merletti
Tubastrea sp.
Galaxia
Alveopora
Montipora Capricornus
green star polyps
regular and silver pulsing xenia "elongata"
4 Echinophyllia
Blue Oxypora
candy cane
1 unknown coral
1 favites brain(i think)


I don't want to talk about how much it's costed....though not too much more than the last estimate, whatever that was. Most of the cost was in the startup(pump, LR, Skimmer, Lights, etc.) anyhow.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Whoa... I respect your privacy. That is a lot fo stuff for a 30g tank. That was also a very quick reply. Also what fish are in your sump?

EDIT: Also didn't you have sun coral?

Chris

Whoa... I respect your privacy.

I didn't mean it like that, it's just I've really spent too much, and haven't really kept track. If I knew I wouldn't mind telling you. I just don't know on purpose.

That is a lot fo stuff for a 30g tank.

The fish load is actually pretty light. Corals don't really put much strain on the bioload unless they are dieing.

Also what fish are in your sump?

Just the yellowhead jawfish.

EDIT: Also didn't you have sun coral?

Yep, that's the tubastrea spp. I listed.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Very nice aquarium, Just out of curiosity what is that aquarium at the bottom for???

10gallon: 8neons 5gallon: 1betta
1oto
2platys

The aquarium in the bottom is a sump. It is used for multiple things. It is used for filtration, added water capacity, to hide heaters, etc. There it plumbing that runs the water from the main tank to the sump and back up again.

-Josh

How many more fish could you put in that tank to make the load just right? Inch Wise.

Chris

Well my clowns are pretty small right now, so I suspect that it will be just right when they reach full size. I wouldn't want more fish though. More fish means more maintenence. I'm lazy sometimes, so I compensate with a good setup and a lighter load than some people would have. I guess to really answer your question - I could have another small fish, another small goby or something like that.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Well the sump got it's photoshoot tonight despite the algae....it is a fuge after all.

Full sump shot:



A few shots of the Yellowhead:





Some leathers:


My new shroom frag:


Duster closeup:



Hope you likey.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

New peppy shrimp...cleaned up the aptasia in about 36 hrs, no joke:

Is the aptasia the algae you had, if so put the Peppy Shrimp in your sump. No offence but the algae is pretty gross. Also why dont you have an unpopulated/undecorated smaller sump instead of a larger one that is the same size as your main tank.

P.S. Do you have an anenome in your tank?

Chris

Aptasia is a type of anemone. A pest, it will sting any corals near it and they multiply quickly.

No offence but the algae is pretty gross.

Meh. *shrugs*. It's not too bad. And it's only because I put my planted tank fixture over the sump. Everything is growing well, but the bulbs are old and one of the bulbs is a red plant grow type. I don't really care because it's a refugium. It's not supposed to be real pretty, it's supposed to be useful, which it is.

Also why dont you have an unpopulated/undecorated smaller sump instead of a larger one that is the same size as your main tank.

Personally I think that would be a waste of space. A larger sump means more water volume, which in turn means a more stable system. Adding in a refugium increases populations of natural foods, and nutrient export which keeps the nitrates and phosphates under control. All that means less work for me. Plus since I run the system on a reverse photoperiod, there's always something cool to check out. Can't beat that.

EDIT: Nope, I don't have any anemones pest or otherwise since my peppermint shrimp ate all the aptasia.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Shrimp eat anenomes? Ouch. Is it still okay to have just a plain sump?

Chris

Is it still okay to have just a plain sump?

Of course. It's just not as beneficial, IMO.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Matt,
Normaly don't get into the darkside too much but your tank looks nice. I like your rock arangement and your corals look nice too.

How many LB of LR do you have in there?

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Hey, thanks for visiting the darkside and for the nice comments, wings. I think I have about 45 lbs or so of LR in there. Mostly Fiji.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I just visited RandyO again, always has nice stuff. I got a few pretty neat frags.

Purple oxypora(i think) with green eyes:


Purple, green, and brown Zoanthids:


Blue/green and pink echino:


And a porcelain crab I got from work:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Everything is still looking great!

I agree that Peppermint Shrimp are wonderful for getting rid of the pest anemone. My shrimp got rid of the little boogers in no time flat as well

I do have a question for ya. I was looking to get a few Zoos but I read somewhere that peppermint shrimp will pick at (eat) them. Have you found that with your experience?

Keep up the great work! BTW, thanks for all your help!

-Josh

I've been keeping an eye out for them bothering my zoanthids, cause I have a couple nice frags I don't want them bothering with, but I haven't seen the peppermints near them at all. I think there is plenty for them to eat in my tank though. They are general scavengers as well, and I make sure to feed something that sinks for them a couple times a week. I think they are pretty satisfied in my tank, I have two now, a male and female I think. The female is about to pop with all the eggs she is carrying. Free food for the tank I guess.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

What do you sink for them to eat?

-Josh

I have krill and some sinking veggie type pellets that I sink to them. They also get some of the mysis and brine that I feed to the rest of the tank, as well as the occasional live baby brine that I get from work.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Just another quick update to drag this thread from the depths.

Oxypora growth pic:


Green zoanthid growth:


New candy cane (caulastrea) frag:


Shot of peppy la shrimp:


enjoy

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

*sigh*

I wish I had a tank that looked that darn good *day dreaming*

Maybe someday. Looks GREAT Matt!

-Josh

Thanks Josh, you'll get it too. Tanks have a way of maturing. I definitely noticed the tank get better with age. I think I got lucky a few times with the setup, too. As they say, it's better to be lucky than smart/skilled!

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Well I made my first modification to my tank in quite a while. Recently I decided that there wasn't enough flow/waviness going on in my tank. I didn't want to just add some powerheads, not because of the powerheads themselves, there's plenty of places to hide them if you are creative, but because they don't accomplish anything but water pushing. So I got one of these natural wave timer dealies]http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_wavemakers_aquarium_systems_natural_wave.asp?CartId=[/link]. Because it alternates flow from one powerhead to another, two powerheads weren't going to cut it. I got two maxijet 900's in addition to the acuaclear 200 and 300 I already had. Since the timer only accommodates 3 powerheads, I got a [link=hydor flo for the fourth, which runs constantly. Only one of the new powerheads is visible at all, but I'm not bothered too much by it anyways. I have the timer set to switch every 30 seconds, though I might change that. So far I'm very impressed with these products. If I can get a video posted onto photobucket, I'll link to it later tonight maybe.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I always wondered how those products worked! I can't wait to see the result! Thanks for sharing

-Josh

Well I really like the flow I have through the tank now. I haven't had time to make a video and post it on photobucket, but I probably will in the future.

The real reason for the post though is to say that I am getting new lights for the tank. My freshwater tank needs the same fixture as the salt tank, so I decided to upgrade to a T5HO setup. I decided on the IceCap 660 and 4 39w bulbs. It was a retrofit kit that I ordered, and I already built the hood from the dimensions that ReefGeek gave me. I'm thinking this is going to be a lot more light than the tank is used to. I was hoping that someone might be able to tell me if I could run two cycles, two lights on for 10-12hrs and two lights on for 6-8 hrs, using one ballast. I've used and wired IceCap ballasts before, but never tried to do this. I know that other flourescent fixtures with two switches only use one ballast, so I think it's possible. Any help would be much appreciated.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Just out of curiousity matt, howcome you put that yellowhead in the sump and not the main tank?

Hello Bonny,

Well I put him in there for a couple of reasons. First, I wanted him to be happy. I didn't want a DSB, which they need, in the main display. I only wanted an inch or two of sand. Second, the sump would be awful boring if he weren't down there. Since I have the tank on alternate light cycles, there's always something to look at, and I like it that way.

Hope that was a good answer

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Well I got my lights today and set them up and will run tomorrow. I found out that you can't split one ballast onto two timers so I reduced the total duration from 12 to 10 hrs, and put a sheet of screening over to block some of the light. Even with that, these lights are multiple times brighter than my PC's. I will be watching very closely to make sure my corals react well, but unfortunately I have to work all day tomorrow. I'll also take some pics of the whole thing when I get around to it. Things are pretty dead in here anyways, so I'm sure it's no big deal.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I have some pics for ya on the lighting front. All the corals seem to be doing better with the increased lighting. In a few days I plan on increasing the duration to 11hrs, then back to 12. After that I'll remove the sheet of screening. I think that's a pretty descent acclimation. This will all take a couple weeks at least.

Now for the pics:

Just the lights:


Lights on:


Fixture on the tank, night time:


Fixture on the tank, day time:


So far, I am very much enjoying the new lights. I have already noticed a positive reaction in a couple corals in the first couple days. The acan lords is puffy and colorful for the first time since I bought it. The hammer, torch, and galaxia seem to be reaching less, but aren't retracted, so I take that as a positive sign as well.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Absolutely Incredible!! It's amazing what a difference the lights make.

Looks Great!!

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"it's the neck, it creaks under the weight of too much heavy thinking."

Matty, I've just read your log from back to front and your journey has been very interesting. Your tank is so pretty, very colourful and all.

We set up a reef tank in June. Mainly live rock and only a couple of pieces of coral, 2 wild caught clowns & 1 damsel. Still trying to settle the clowns (only got them Thursday last week). They still haven't quite figured out the eating thing for us yet, although we had more success tonight than previously.

Our tank is nowhere near as nice as yours. Good job

Cheers
TW

Thanks so much on the compliments, both of you.

TankWatcher- try feeding some live brine if your LFS carries it. Almost all fish will take to that immediately. You can then get them off the live stuff by mixing frozen in with the live stuff. Good luck, reef tanks take some patience, and time to settle in, but I'm sure you'll do fine.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

ADD A MANDARIN!!!!

Well I'm thinking the light may be too bright. A few of the corals are losing color, they are lps after all. Some, however, are looking better than they did under pc's. I've kept the screen on and I only ended up increasing the lighting cycle to 10.5 hrs. I'm thinking about taking one bulb out and just rewiring for three. Opinions anybody? I'll include some pics at the end here.



Attached Image:

not lookin' as good

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Another not lookin as good:

Attached Image:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Lookin good(lets say better than when I got it):

Attached Image:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Also looking better than it was:


Attached Image:

acan lords

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Matty, I think you will be fine leaving the lights the way that they are. It looks like the corals are still adjusting and just mass produced zooxanthellae which is why they are more brown and not as vibrant. If you want to rewire it and only run 3 bulbs for the time being and then add the 4th bulb later down the road after they have adjusted then you could do that also. I honestly think that if you give them more time they will be fine and color up nicely for you again. Corals can take months to get back to the way they were after a lighting upgrade, been there, done that, freaked out quite a few times

Thanks for the reply DRO, I'll trust you and leave be for another month or so, see if things start improving. That's a pretty good explanation, I didn't think about the mass production of zoox. And now that you mention it they do look more brown than white, I thought they were bleaching out a little, but now I don't think so.

Thanks

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

new lights are always fun lookin' good as always

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

I got meself a new coral yesterday. It's what appears to be an acanthastrea lordhowensis. It's almost totally purple, but these things can change. For size reference it's about 6in X 3 in...or the second larges coral I have.

Here's a pic:

Attached Image:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

That's a nice one, way better than mine. If you don't mind me asking, how much did it set you back? Whenever I see them for sale, stores are asking for really high prices. And for a coral that websites don't seem to have any info on.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Thanks Books, it's purdy . A pretty good find. I don't mind telling what I paid, it cost me $80. I get things at cost, and I don't buy big stuff very often. Most everything I buy is frags, and mostly covered by the xenia I supply the store with. I've only treated myself to a nice colony twice, the other wasn't as expensive.

BTW, yours is very nice too. I haven't seen an acan lords that I didn't like, or want a frag of.

And for a coral that websites don't seem to have any info on.

What would you like to know?

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Nah, not me, it just seems like some people (like in posts on RC) just buy it because it's an "in" thing but don't know anything about it. One of the recent TFH issues even had an article that talked about must-have marine livestock, and included Acan. lords.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Gotcha.

It's unfortunate, but entirely understandable, that they are an "in" coral. They are some of the most colorful corals, intensity and range of colors as well. Orange, red, green, blue, pink, yellow, (purple), white, grey, and in all combinations of those. They are definitely marked up in some places. I can think of an RC member who is selling them and micromussa for $200 PER POLYP. People have bought those too. Ah well, that's reefin' *shrugs*.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

*posting in attempt to read the last page*

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

The Acan craze is still going? Its been over and done with here for 6 months now. Everyone has them and is trading/fragging for everyone that doesnt so the demand isnt high here.

I don't think we ever really got a craze locally. There's only one store that sells them. The price is high, but that's normal they charge a lot for everything. Mine were free.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

From what I can tell the acan craze is still going on everywhere, even the left coast. I dunno though, there are micromussa and zoanthids in the mix now. Those PPE, RPE, OPE....blabla etc. are the talk of the town. gotta catchy name for every color morph out there. All I can say is that if it's not brown I like it. I dunno what all the fuss is about.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

it told me there was a pg. 14 but wouldn't let me look at it, not important. lol.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

haha corals are cheaper over hear (way cheaper considering the Australian and US dollars). I new it would be cheaper but not by this much...
http://shop.australiancoralfarms.com.au/cat/19761.html

i suppose it makes up for how expensive our equipment is...

EDIT: the acans craze is begining in Australia too...

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''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

I'd quick buy that one for 0 dollars.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Not a bad price at all.

How about an update?

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''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

Not much to update. I did reduce the lighting down to 3 bulbs because things were continuing to look bad. Things are looking a bit better than they were. Some things are still brown though. I traded a ton of xenia to a fellow reefer for another frag of acan lords. It's green and red. One of the polyps got eaten/attacked by a frag of echinopora that I guess I had too close. They were about 4 inches away from each other. I finally gave up on the sun polyps. I've been feeding them every other day for 6 months or something and they continued to recede slowly so I think there was something else going on there. I also got a tiny little sarco frag for a pittance from work. It's hangin' out in the sump. That's all really. I don't have any pics of anything. I may try to grab some after the lights come on today.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Well I thought I'd update with pictures. Things are slowly coloring up with the three bulbs on there. I really think I messed up putting all four on at once. More a shock to the corals than too much light for them.

So I caught my stomatella cruisin' around the overflow box....check 'im out:



My new echinopora, pretty sleek if you ask me....:


...but mean too, he attacked and killed a whole polyp offa this guy his first night:


A candy cane and some nice zoas:


Clown goby and monty cap, which has regained color nicely after bleaching from the lights:


Red and green blasto which is throwing out a few more heads:


Finally, the best pic I've taken in a while:


Hope that was enjoyable

Oh yeah...and happy 1yr anniversary to this tank 12 days ago, counting from when I put the first LR in.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I got a new camera very recently, so I've been taking a bunch of pictures trying to get a hang of all the new functions and settings and whatnot. I'm not really sure why I bother posting stuff up here anymore....but here we go:

Some zoas:


Peppermint Shrimp:


Somewhat new merletti:


Purple lords doing some color rearranging:


Closeup of the hammer:


Green and purple and brown zoas:


Another shot of the clown goby:


Little blue legg:


Macro of my blasto wellsi:


Other than that, my corals are continueing to get more comfortable and coloring up more every week. I currently have 1 10K 1actinic and 1 6500K bulb for lights and I'm thinking of switching out one of the daylights for maybe a 20,000K or 50/50 if they make them for T5s so maybe I see a bit more color from the corals. I dunno, lemme know if you guys have any opinions on that.

I also modded the overflow with a bit of eggcrate and some extra filter material that I can clean weekly. This has actually cut down on the waterfall noise considerably, and I wish I'd thought of it sooner. Just thought I'd share.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I also got a good pic of my clowns:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Well you know how most of us in the Planted side feel about this Dark side stuff but I figured I would check it out. I checked out your full tank shot a page back and I really like your rock work. It has a nice flow to it.



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Nice shots matty! And keep posting pics

Some of them have simple camera'shake blur caused by unsetady hands. Mount that sucker on a tripod and shut off the IS. Difference in shutter speed is already evident.

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Back in the saddle!

Thanks guys,

I'll try and get a full tank shot up of this too nowher.

Thanks for the comment on the rocks wings, I really wish I had more room fron to back to work with, it would help create a look of depth.

Nowher- even if I got a tripod(which I don't have yet ), why would I turn the IS off? Does that have an effect on shutter speed and what not?

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Matt, I may not respond, but I check this thread out pretty regularly looking for new photos. You're getting really good a shooting and your new camera helps a lot, too.

Keep it up!

"Shut off the IS" ... this one puzzles me. IS???

One aspect of digital cameras that I know has a bad effect on aquarium photography is autofocus. Unless your camera's autofocus mechanism is a sophisticated one (and has a fast response time), what can happen is this. You fire the shutter, the camera then sets about 'hunting' for the correct focus, and by the time it's decided to lock on to a target, your fish has moved. Stick it on manual focus and the shutter fires the instant you press the button. In the case of my Fuji, the autofocus mechanism can take two seconds to lock on, by which time a fish was well and truly shot out of the frame.

Of course this matters less with sessile invertebrates, but even so, your corals might decide to open their polyps spectacularly whily you're peeking through the viewfinder, and you might want to capture that ... which if the autofocus mechanism 'hunts' as mine does, ruins the shot.

If your camnera supports the requisite features, I'd use them:

[1] Manual focus (along with a focus locking button to preset the focus beforehand, along with fine adjustment by turning the lens barrel);

[2] Fully manual selection of shutter speed and aperture;

[3] Ability to use an external flashgun.

Select manual focus, full manual operation, and dial in the requisite shutter speed and aperture values. With an external flashgun, you will be able to have the best of both worlds - a narrow aperture (which increases depth of field) AND a high shutter speed to avoid camera shake. Mine will let me take shots at 1/500 sec at an aperture setting of f11 with an external flash bolted on, because the flash I use carpet bombs the target with enough light for the resulting image to be exposed properly. If you can buy (or borrow) a flashgun with a guide number of 20 or upwards, then this will give you the same luxury - the narrowest aperture setting PLUS a fast shutter speed so that camera shake isn't a problem. If you're shooting at 1/500 sec, then you'll be able to capture even the fastest moving of your aquarium occupants strutting their stuff and be confident that the result will be in focus and properly exposed. Of course, the beauty of digital cameras is that you can test out the settings beforehand - run with something like 1/250 second at f5.6 to start with, and if that is massively overexposed, start shrinking the aperture first, THEN bump up the shutter speed. Sometimes, if I'm using the macro setting, I can shoot at 1/1000 sec at f11 and still come away with a properly exposed image.

It'll take some practise, but wait until you see the end results. You'll be discarding fewer 'bad' shots and keeping a LOT more top quality ones that show off your corals and your fishes the way they look to your eyes - which is what you want after all!

Oh, and congratulations on some fine corals and fishes, by the way.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Thanks for the comments nate it's good to know people actually do read the posts I put up here. I was starting to think I should keep the pictures of my salt stuff to myself.

Cali - Thanks for the nice comments, and camera advice. BTW, how come we don't see more shots of your panda cories in action? My new camera is a canon A710 IS. The IS stands for Image Stabilizer. It's basically a cool dealie built into the lens that reduces the hand shake noise in the picture.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Just lately I've been holding back on Panda frolics, for several reasons ...

[1] Recent trips to hospital to sort out the kidney stone issue;

[2] My Fuji has one BIG disadvantage, being that it eats battery power at a rate of knots (use the built in flash and my battery lasts about 25 minutes);

[3] I've already littered the web with enough Panda spawning shots to last for some time to come

I'm hoping to have something else to point the camera at soon - a litle Christmas present to myself of some Anomalochromis thomasi Cichlids.

Ah, image stabilisation. Not sure how it works, but I suspect it could have an effect upon shutter speed. I'll have to look this up.

The basic rule of thumb I was taught way back in the days of manual SLRs is that 1/60 second is the slowest shutter speed you can use that eliminates camera shake. Which is why many manual SLRs of old are designed to synchronise with a flashgun at that speed if they have focal plane shutters such as my old Olympus OM30. (It's one of the less happy aspects of the focal plane shutter that flash synchronisation takes place at lower speeds than with a leaf shutter, which can synchronise at any speed you like).

As to how digital cameras mimic the 'shutter' function, this is something I'm going to have to look up. Should prove interesting.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

[3] I've already littered the web with enough Panda spawning shots to last for some time to come

Any links? I'd like to see

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

First, go here. Then, select "next picture" to see the follow on shots (there's about 10 of them there).

Then go here for some fry shots. You'll have to squint hard to see some of them though, they're next to invisible next to the gravel when they're small! There's 6-7 pics in that set.

Three more fry pics can be found here.

More fry pics here - again, click on "next picture" to see the others, there's 4 in that series ...

Eggs

Baby Panda!

Teensy weensy fry!

That should keep you busy for a while ...

Oh, there's also a brace of Panda Cory pics on my website. Go to the Pets section and hunt them down. Yo'll also find, if you browse my Webshots album and my big website, that I've a few marine fish pics in circulation too.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Hey Matty

great pics with the new camera. Everything looks very nice. BTW, your clowns are so nice - lovely bright colouring.

Cheers
TW

Cali those were some great shots of panda breeding. That's outstanding. No wonder you call it the panda fun place (tm thingy).

Thanks Robyn for the comments. Yep I love those clowns, I didn't think I wanted clowns when I first was thinking about setting up the tank, but I sure don't regret getting them. They are easy to take care of, colorful, and entertaining. You can't ask for much more.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Just took another peek at the pics. The one with labelled Clown goby and monty cap. That yellow clown goby looks like he has a very cheeky grin pointed straight at the camera. Very cute.

I agree clowns are entertaining. Ours play all day in a coral they have adopted as a substitute anenome.

Cheers
TW

Finally got finished looking through all the pages of this thread! WOW! Now this is something for me to aspire to do with my 46 bowfront. So far, I've got 4 green chromis, not nearly enough live rock, a skunk cleaner shrimp and some snails. Had a small LFS damsel in there but had to get rid of it as it was killing the chromis.

Awsome job and definitely Thanks for putting up the pics

Well I snapped some shots of the sump/fuge life tonight after the lights came on. Not too much to say here, except I need a new bulb, and this is the nutrient dump, so you see a lot of algae and whatnot, but there's also some cool stuff worth lookin' at IMO. So here's some pics:

Obligatory Yellowhead jawfish shots:




Multiple Xenia shots:




A couple shots of the gsp:
From above:

From the front:
gsp.jpg" border="0">

Mushroom leather:


Finger leathers:


Ricordia:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

wow you have soo much life in your fuge. Most fuges i see have a lot of rock and serious algea, you have fish and corals (on par with some main tanks i've seen). I love the finger leather.

_________________________________________
I'm the classic newb. I went out and bought the smallest tank and a fish at the same time. Now I'm kicking myself wondering how could I have been so stupid. But I'm hooked.

Thanks rican boy, I decided it's a waste of space to just use that for a DSB, rock, and algae. It's more fun this way.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Well I did a bit of fragging over thanksgiving break and have some pictures of the results. I also got a new little sps frag. I'm not sure exactly what it is, cause I'm more of a lps guy, but it's kinda fuzzy and purple, so I like it. I'll slowly be moving it upwards in the tank. I've decided to get some sps to fill the upper portions of the tank that seem a bit too bright for the lps I have now. I'll just be going for the easy stuff. I recognised the name of this bugger at the store and knew it for one of the easier types, but the name escapes me right now.

On to the pics.

New frag:


Frags and mother echino:


Frag of (what used to be) a blue oxypora:


From whence it came:


What the oxy looked like when I bought it and before I switched lights. BTW things are still slowly coloring up, so I think they are getting used to it now. Still might be months before I see the old colors.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Nice Jawfish, they have to be one of my favorite SW fish. I also really like the Long Nose Hawkfish.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Thanks for dropping in wings. I'm partial to the jawfish as well. They are one of the more entertaining fish to watch. Another entertaining pair I've been looking into getting is actually a fish and a shrimp. Some type of prawn goby and a pistol shrimp pair would be entirely too much fun to have. I'm well understocked for what my system can handle at this point. (shh don't tell anyone) I haven't done a water change in months and I have no NH4 NO2 NO3 PO4...My calcium is at 430pm pH 8.3 or 4, and KH is at 3.5 meq/l. I'm probably going to do several over break to replace the trace minerals and whatnot to help coral growth.

Oh yeah, and I remembered the new coral's name....pocillopora.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Could the lack of trace minerals be why some of your corals are not coloring up? I am not by any standars a coral person but don't they need that stuff to do well.

It is kind of nice being understocked with a tank. I think thats why I get away with so much with my tank. 17 small fish, light feedings and a few shrimp = no problems.

Are the Xenia shots the pulsating xenia? I put a small frag in our 9G salt tank at work and its huge now. I guess it likes the tank. Probably one of my favorite coarls along with star polops and mushrooms.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Could the lack of trace minerals be why some of your corals are not coloring up? I am not by any standars a coral person but don't they need that stuff to do well.

I s'pose it could be why they are coloring up slowly. Light and major stuff (calcium, KH, strontium, magnesium) play the largest part with light being most important. I'm sure that the trace minerals do have an effect though. So maybe they'll color up more after I get around to a water change.

It is kind of nice being understocked with a tank

Yeah, and that's kinda why I'm tossing the idea of getting/not getting another fish for the tank. More fish =more work.

Are the Xenia shots the pulsating xenia? I put a small frag in our 9G salt tank at work and its huge now. I guess it likes the tank. Probably one of my favorite coarls along with star polops and mushrooms.

Yep, red sea pulsing xenia. Fun, fast growing coral. I've fragged that stuff numerous times.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Yep, red sea pulsing xenia. Fun, fast growing coral. I've fragged that stuff numerous times.

I guess I probably know more about Reef than some of our other plant friends! I am still not very good with it. I normaly hand off questions about that stuff to my bosses or other coworkers. For some reason the plan questions tend to come to me....

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

You definitely seem to know more than LF at least . I'm sure tetratech has been reading up as he is soon to join me on the dark side...muwahaha.

You should start handling those questions. That's how I learned a lot of what I know. I'd get questions about specific fish/invert and I'd say "hey let's find out" and I'd go grab a book and figure it out with them. That's only if it's not too busy though.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

You should start handling those questions.

Yeah I know I should. It is not like I pass it off everytime. It really depends on how much info the customer is looking for. I often talk to people about their SW tanks but I would way rather be talking FW plants.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

update?

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''All the clown fish and yellow tangs in the world cant save you now!''

Matty, i feel like you've earned yourself the title of the official FP SW guru...

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

only because you and DRO don't post anymore. I surely don't have the experience to be called a guru, But thanks. You guys sure helped me out in the beginning. I just try to pass it along.

As for update...the frags all did well, and I still have them. I dunno why though, I just haven't had time to try to get rid of them. I also have some news on my lights. I suppose the T5's were a bit too bright . I talked to the T5 guru on RC and he said with the three I had on there it would be like a 400w halide. So I took another bulb off and only have 2 bulbs up there. His specific advice for the setup was to get a ballast that wouldn't overdrive the bulbs like the icecap does and run all 4 bulbs. I didn't much feel like going through the hassle and $$ to get a couple new ballasts though.

And beside that, I'm thinking of downgrading to a 20G long. I'd use the light in my sump (2X65w pc) and the return pump for a closed loop. I've been really pressed to get a water change on this one every once in a while and things are starting to show it. I figured that It would be tons easier on me with a smaller tank. I'm also going to have to move again, and a small tank will be a lot easier to move than the two 30's were. Still tossing it around in my head though.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Corals don't seem to be adjusting to the 2 bulb routine. I may have to buy those ballasts and use them. I've decided against downgrading for the time being, and instead I'm going to be doing a little makeover. I'm probably going to take out most of the sand and a couple peices of live rock and give it a new scape. I have new plans for the sump as well. I'm going to remove the DSB, keep a small layer of sand and rubble, keep the cheato and add some frag racks. Dunno when I'll have time for it though. I'll work on that later .

So I also took some shots of my clown dancing around. Here ya go:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients