madweazl
Member
A bit about myself: I've been in the saltwater hobby since '94 or '95. My first tank was a 55g long that started as fish only and morphed into a epic fail of a reef due to inadequate lighting. Thankfully I had very little money at the time and only killed a couple inverts vice what could have been a massacre of incredible proportions. The 55g turned into an aggressive tank and I picked up a 25g tank that became my second attempt at a reef. My lighting was still bad (standard output florescent) but I at least had a little clue of how things worked and went with low light critters. Both tanks did quite well but I made a career change and had to tear both of them down. Fast forward about a year and I find myself setting up a 40g reef. I was much wiser, had a better budget, and went with VHO lighting this time around driven by an Icecap 660 that I just loved. This time I had things rocking when work demanded that I relocate once again (gotta love military life). I refused to give up on this tank and decided it was coming with me! I drained all the water into buckets along with the rocks, inverts and fish. I took the tank, stand, and canopy and set them up in the back of a moving truck where I took everything out of the buckets and placed them back in the tank. Relying on a battery operated air pump and "good" weather, I packed up the rest of our belongings and took to the road! We arrived at the new house roughly 24 hours after moving the tank and I went to work setting it back up. All said and done, I lost one fish and a derasa clam (the crocea made it just fine). This tank ran for roughly 10 years undisturbed. Sometimes it was doing superb and other times, just, OK. I was out of town and country many times during this period including thirteen months that required my wife who knew absolutely nothing about the tank to care for it with no help. I put my faith in Sealab 28 blocks and did a dance to the reef gods. Upon return, nothing had died! It wasnt doing great but everything was fairly healthy (pretty incredible considering there wasnt single water change during that entire period!). It was at this moment that I really understood just how forgiving salt water could be and just how bad conditions had to be before things actually died. This totally changed my outlook on what was truly "needed" and what was preferred or convenient.
The next few years looked to be full uncertainty as to where we'd be going so we decided to sell everything we had and move into our RV full time until the dust settled. After about a year and a half, I once again got the itch and decided it was time to setup another reef. This time I had some unique constraints since the RV didnt have a ton of room and the area I wanted to place the tank was on one of the slide out walls. I wasnt able to track down any weight limits for the slides so I went to the only proven method I could think of, to jump up and down in the area I was going to place it! My highly scientific test results determined that I must go as light as possible but it had to be three feet long or I just wouldnt be happy. I decided that a 26g flat back hex would be the way forward. It was long enough to keep me happy and I didnt think it would be to heavy. This tank was setup with four T5 HOs and a refugium with chaeto. Things were going really well in the first six months but I decided to change the lighting so I could get some shimmer. I slowly converted over to Ecoxotic Panarama Pros. Initially I purchased two white and two blue strips but the lighting was way to spotty so I switched up to four 50/50s and two blue/magenta strips. The pop the magentas added was amazing and the even spread of the spectrums was much more pleasing to the eye (and inhabitants I'm sure). It took about three months before the corals really adapted the LEDS that ended up being way more lighting than I had anticipated and actually hurt a few things (the mushrooms were not happy!)
Taken shortly after swapping out the T5s to LEDs (tank had been up roughly six months at this point)
26g reef by Tarantula Foto, on Flickr
Things were going way to good in the tank and the powers that be decided it was once again time for a move but this time, it would be to a small island off the coast of Japan in Okinawa. I decided to give everything away with the exception of the lighting. It broke my heart!
I know we wont be here for more than a few years but I just couldnt resist and started looking at aquariums again. I really wanted to use a 900 but I couldnt find a bare tank for sale anywhere. A friend of mine is from the area and I decided to ask him if he knew a place I could find one. As luck would have it, he had purchased one last year for a tank swap but ended up not using it (truth be told, his son conned him into letting him use it for a turtle habitat). I hadnt planned on things moving along quite so quick but yesterday I wandered over to the local pet shop (more like a miniature Petco with a little bit of everything) and purchased a stand for it. After a little wrenching to put the stand together, it was time for a leak test!
Kotobuki 900 glass tank and stand
tank by Tarantula Foto, on Flickr
Late last night after a number of hours of research on wave makers (used a JBJ Ocean Pulse on the 26g and was pretty happy with it), I placed an order for the Jebao WP25. The price was right but there was no shipping option for Priority Mail so it could take four to six weeks to arrive (hopefully I get lucky and it makes it way on to a plane vice the boat).
Just watching the paint dry now...
black by Tarantula Foto, on Flickr
Paint is dry, time to test the LEDs. This combination consists of 32 whites, 32 blues, and 8 magenta LEDs and is very pleasing to the eye (mine at least).
painted by Tarantula Foto, on Flickr
The next few years looked to be full uncertainty as to where we'd be going so we decided to sell everything we had and move into our RV full time until the dust settled. After about a year and a half, I once again got the itch and decided it was time to setup another reef. This time I had some unique constraints since the RV didnt have a ton of room and the area I wanted to place the tank was on one of the slide out walls. I wasnt able to track down any weight limits for the slides so I went to the only proven method I could think of, to jump up and down in the area I was going to place it! My highly scientific test results determined that I must go as light as possible but it had to be three feet long or I just wouldnt be happy. I decided that a 26g flat back hex would be the way forward. It was long enough to keep me happy and I didnt think it would be to heavy. This tank was setup with four T5 HOs and a refugium with chaeto. Things were going really well in the first six months but I decided to change the lighting so I could get some shimmer. I slowly converted over to Ecoxotic Panarama Pros. Initially I purchased two white and two blue strips but the lighting was way to spotty so I switched up to four 50/50s and two blue/magenta strips. The pop the magentas added was amazing and the even spread of the spectrums was much more pleasing to the eye (and inhabitants I'm sure). It took about three months before the corals really adapted the LEDS that ended up being way more lighting than I had anticipated and actually hurt a few things (the mushrooms were not happy!)
Taken shortly after swapping out the T5s to LEDs (tank had been up roughly six months at this point)
26g reef by Tarantula Foto, on Flickr
Things were going way to good in the tank and the powers that be decided it was once again time for a move but this time, it would be to a small island off the coast of Japan in Okinawa. I decided to give everything away with the exception of the lighting. It broke my heart!
I know we wont be here for more than a few years but I just couldnt resist and started looking at aquariums again. I really wanted to use a 900 but I couldnt find a bare tank for sale anywhere. A friend of mine is from the area and I decided to ask him if he knew a place I could find one. As luck would have it, he had purchased one last year for a tank swap but ended up not using it (truth be told, his son conned him into letting him use it for a turtle habitat). I hadnt planned on things moving along quite so quick but yesterday I wandered over to the local pet shop (more like a miniature Petco with a little bit of everything) and purchased a stand for it. After a little wrenching to put the stand together, it was time for a leak test!
Kotobuki 900 glass tank and stand
tank by Tarantula Foto, on Flickr
Late last night after a number of hours of research on wave makers (used a JBJ Ocean Pulse on the 26g and was pretty happy with it), I placed an order for the Jebao WP25. The price was right but there was no shipping option for Priority Mail so it could take four to six weeks to arrive (hopefully I get lucky and it makes it way on to a plane vice the boat).
Just watching the paint dry now...
black by Tarantula Foto, on Flickr
Paint is dry, time to test the LEDs. This combination consists of 32 whites, 32 blues, and 8 magenta LEDs and is very pleasing to the eye (mine at least).
painted by Tarantula Foto, on Flickr
Was a bit challenging since the bulkhead in the overflow and outlet on the temporary return pump (Rio 2100 while I wait for the Quiet One 2200 to arrive) are US standard and I only have access to metric PVC. 
I've seen at least two in this rock. I've since moved the rock down to the sump but and I'm hoping they havent moved to another area. I want to get the rock back into the main tank without destroying it but I dont particularly want these guys in the DT either. I suppose they'll eventually starve in the sump (provided they hadnt jumped ship to another rock already). 
