47G SPS...Revamp
- Thread starter sahin
- Start date
stevedola
Master of my domain
Sahin,
Im starting to plan my next build after years off. Im going to be setting up a peninsula tank in the great room of my new home. Ive been thinking of going bare bottom rather than the couple inches of sand Ive done the last few tanks. What are you thoughts on sandbeds? how much maintenance do you have to keep your bed clean. My last tank I couldnt clean the bed because of the cube dimension and the amount of live rock in my tank with grown out sps. thoughts on BB?
Im starting to plan my next build after years off. Im going to be setting up a peninsula tank in the great room of my new home. Ive been thinking of going bare bottom rather than the couple inches of sand Ive done the last few tanks. What are you thoughts on sandbeds? how much maintenance do you have to keep your bed clean. My last tank I couldnt clean the bed because of the cube dimension and the amount of live rock in my tank with grown out sps. thoughts on BB?
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Thanks all.
Andrew, thanks for the tips. :thumbsup: I need to make some sort of mount so the coral can be placed in very high light for a day or two.
With regards to Zeospur, it is a lethal potion, and I'd advise you get some experience with it before commencing isolated coral treatment. These isolated treatments at high doses will cause the coral to expel zoax very fast and can kill your corals. I have used it before without killing corals; however even a slight overdose or too extended exposure and it will fry your coral. I'd test on a small frag etc before embarking on colouring up an expensive/rare piece.
Hey there. I'm glad you're setting up a tank again. Absolutely loved your last tank.
With regards to BB; it poses its own set of obstacles. You need to ensure that you have multiple pumps to really have a high enough flow so that detritus is lifted and kept in suspension so that it eventually goes into the overflow and picked up by the skimmer.
Some detritus will inevitably settle. This is where careful placement of pumps helps; with my last setup I had the flow and pumps setup so that any detritus that did collect, settled in one of the corners where I could easily siphon out during water changes.
World Wide Corals run BB systems and their 300G and 630G tanks are absolutely amazing.
My last setup was pretty successful and I had good colours. The only other issues was with regards to a lack of pods and not being able to wrasses etc which required sand to rest at night. My tank had a severe lack of pods and little bugs; I enjoy seeing them in the tank and that was an issue. I couldnt even dare keep any mandarin type fish.
Lastly, I used to get remarks from from both reefers and non reefers about the missing sand...:facepalm:
With the latest setup, I have added a very shallow 0.5-1.0inch sandbed. I dont carry out any maintenance. If after a year or two I notice nutrients rising, I can increase nutrient export and or replace sections of the sandbed at a time.
For the aesthetics mainly, I prefer the look of a sanded tank.
Reefvet
New member
That's one thought.
May I suggest this article by Dana Riddle.
One key excerpt from the article. Emphasis is mine:
Role of Fluorescent and Non-fluorescent Proteins: Kawaguti (1944) made remarkable observations and believed coral colors were natural sunscreens. Roth et al. (2010) have confirmed this in a tangential sort of way. The latter scientists subjected Acropora yongei (the Bali Slimer Acropora, if you will) fragments to various light intensities using T5 fluorescent lamps. PAR values were categorized as follows: Low Light (30 µmol·m²·sec), Medium Light (300 µmol·m²·sec) and High Light (900 µmol·m²·sec -a remarkable feat considering the light source). They observed the green fluorescence under all lighting conditions. In low light conditions, the density (number) of zooxanthellae fell to very low levels, as did the level of GFP. This is contrary to what many hobbyists believe - that zooxanthellae numbers would increase under low light (causing a 'browning' of the coral thus masking the GFP). These researchers believe the loss of zooxanthellae might be in an effort to avoid self-shading of the dinoflagellates, or perhaps due to a reduction in volume of coral host tissues. GFP content increased substantially at 300 µmol·m²·sec, and increased by 1.6X at a light level of 900 µmol·m²·sec.
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Interesting info. Many thanks.
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Dont laugh at how shaky the video is...focusing/holding photobox/adjusting settings etc made for a very amateurish video. Colours are pretty representative of what I see in person when looking down at corals. Some corals look slightly better in person, but greens are a touch saturated, but overall, I think I got the white balance OK.
Last week I noticed the alk drop to below 6dKH. I am dosing 60mls of alk a day now and its climbing...Corals lost colour slightly, but are generally ok.
Watch in HD.
Recorded with the Canon 70D with a standard kit lens. Cant afford a dedicated prime/macro lens at the moment.
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rvX_erMGL68?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Photos were all taken today, I've moved corals around today so locations are slightly different than video which was recorded last week:
Last week I noticed the alk drop to below 6dKH. I am dosing 60mls of alk a day now and its climbing...Corals lost colour slightly, but are generally ok.
Watch in HD.
Recorded with the Canon 70D with a standard kit lens. Cant afford a dedicated prime/macro lens at the moment.
<iframe width="853" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rvX_erMGL68?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Photos were all taken today, I've moved corals around today so locations are slightly different than video which was recorded last week:
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
Very impressive Sahin.
westreef
Lost as usual
Very nice video. Your anthia is beautiful and is everywhere. The colors of the corals are very rich. There are plenty of growth tips. Your tank is very very healthy. I just love it.
By the way, that is a very nice camera. In the hands of an experience photographer, it does the gorgeous corals justice. You don't need a macro lens.
By the way, that is a very nice camera. In the hands of an experience photographer, it does the gorgeous corals justice. You don't need a macro lens.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Once again you try to lower expectations before dropping amazing video and pics on us! The video is gorgeous and not shaky in my opinion. Your colors are spectacular- I especially like the purple and blue Acro in pic 3 of post 928...wow. And I love that Cyphastrea, great color combination.
