A Reef in the Sky

[sps aquaria]

awesome pictures man looks great

 

[afernandez]

Great looking tank...planning on somthing along your dimensions I love the depth...question how far is the pm from the top?

 

[v1...rotate]

i doubt that tiny hitchhiker coral is a red planet but when my tank crashed a 2 polpy sliver of skin survived on the rock and kinda looks exactly like that now sept yours has a bit more color then mine. what ever it is free sps are sweet thats where LE come from

Yep, I didn't even notice until a few weeks later when the two little corals starting appearing. I always try to keep an eye out for similar situations.

Told you those clams are addicting

They come in so many different colors and patterns... I've got 4 right now, but I'm keeping an eye out for a really nice looking "tear-drop" patterned Maxima right now...

lol... very true. I'll be keeping a look out for some more too. Thanks for all your input, it has been very helpful.

Forgive me one more thing not clear to me ..... ATI 8x80w dimmable, has only a
power cord?
then you connected with the 'HIC EVG-AP-PL-0556?
Thanks!

No problem. It comes with x2 power cords/plugs and a power plug for the fans. You only need one power to connect to the HIC EVG. Therefore remove the other one completely.
See these pictures

This is how it arrived. You must undo all the connections. All the black wires are numbered.

This is how to install the wires to the HIC EVG

Once it is all completed.

I had to e-mail ATI in Germany to find out all this info. They were very helpful.

Hope that helps Andrea. :beer:

That is one sexy hitchiker Andrew!

I agree Clint... it is a slow grower though.

awesome pictures man looks great

Thank you.

Great looking tank...planning on something along your dimensions I love the depth...question how far is the pm from the top?

Thanks... If you can, try to design the tank a little deeper. Mine is 26" but I would really like to have it 30". It will give you more room for aqua-scaping.
The PM is around 5-6" above the water surface.


Update

Water tests conducted today..


Temp 27 - 27.5°C (GHL)
SG 1.025 / ppt 33 (Hanna)
PH 7.8 - 8.1 (GHL)
No3 0 (Salifert)
No3 undectable (La Motte)
Alk 120ppm (La Motte)
Po4 0.04 (Hanna)
Mg 1260 (Salifert)
Ca 420 (Salifert)
K+ 375 (KZ)

I will start to dose B-Balance, Coral Snow, Iron and PotassiumIodide Fluoride very shortly. Finalizing dosing schedule.

I will provide pics of the sand bed soon Vic.

Looking at the pink bird nest today, I noticed this crab. Is it good or bad? It doesn't appear to have the same appearance as the other crabs in the other SPS corals. I don't want anything damaging this little beauty.

Couldn't get a clearer pic.

Thanks to all those that voted for this thread as TOTM :beer:

 

[gofor100]

Crab looks fine to me... but a crab expert I am not

 

[john90009]

kinda looks like the emerald crabs claws

 

[afernandez]

thanks, your tank is a true insparation..my planned dimensions are 60*30*20 = 156g
those dimensions are for sure. im still planning the plumming and talkiing to a local builder for a sump and stand , oh and gathering $$

 

[tntneon]

...
Couldn't get a clearer pic.

...

-I have them too , it isn't a symbiont crab , i've already seen them nipping on my acro.
I try to catch them , in the evening with only 1 light group on , they tend to get more in the open then (they comming out...).
But it isn't easy , they don't do much harm on corals that i've whitnessed , but i don't thrust them.

greetingzz tntneon

 

[fishypets]

If you want to remove the crab you should dip in a Iodine dip for a few minutes. I'm surprised your initial dip of the coral didn't knock this sucker off. You are dipping all of your new corals Andrew?

 

[Ricardo Santos]

Hi Andrew,

I just know two types of species of simbiotic crabs. They are Tetralia sp. (aka Acropora crab) and Trapezia sp. (normally found in Pocillopora corals).

The problem is that this one is not like any of them imo.:hammer:

 

[Mantra Ray]

Awesome !

Awesome !

I have just spent the whole evening reading this post -awesome !

I love the clean uncluttered look of this tank. I wish to re-create this in the design of my new (first) tank. It seems that the key to this is limiting the live rock and sand and using space as part of the design-is this the case ?
If so do you need to go down the zeo reactor route to get this look, as I guess there wouln't be enough liverock/sand for more conventional methods?
Also is the background printed on vinyl and stuck to the outside of the tank?
Thanks again for this post and inspiring us newbies.

I can't wait to get some patience!:dance:

 

[Dejavu]

September 2010 Thread of the Month

September 2010 Thread of the Month

Congrats on being voted September 2010 Thread of the Month! this thread will not only be a sticky in this forum, but it also will be added to the blog. :beer:

 

[Leonardo_]

Congrats Andrew

Leonardo

 

[M007]

-I have them too , it isn't a symbiont crab , i've already seen them nipping on my acro.
I try to catch them , in the evening with only 1 light group on , they tend to get more in the open then (they comming out...).
But it isn't easy , they don't do much harm on corals that i've whitnessed , but i don't thrust them.

greetingzz tntneon

You seriously want to lose this crab. They grow very large, are very fast, and love to dump anything that isn't glued down or encrusted.

 

[v1...rotate]

Crab looks fine to me... but a crab expert I am not

kinda looks like the emerald crabs claws

-I have them too , it isn't a symbiont crab , i've already seen them nipping on my acro.
I try to catch them , in the evening with only 1 light group on , they tend to get more in the open then (they coming out...).
But it isn't easy , they don't do much harm on corals that i've whitnessed , but i don't thrust them.

greetingzz tntneon

Hi Andrew,

I just know two types of species of simbiotic crabs. They are Tetralia sp. (aka Acropora crab) and Trapezia sp. (normally found in Pocillopora corals).

The problem is that this one is not like any of them imo.:hammer:

You seriously want to lose this crab. They grow very large, are very fast, and love to dump anything that isn't glued down or encrusted.

Thanks for all the info and advise guys. Really appreciate it.
I successfully removed the crab yesterday with no damage to the coral. Unfortunately didn't take a picture of it for identity purposes.

Next objective is to catch a really large crab I have been seeing at night after switching the lights on. Maybe the other ones parent??

An old stocking and some food in it should do the trick... right?

thanks, your tank is a true inspiration..my planned dimensions are 60*30*20 = 156g
those dimensions are for sure. i'm still planning the plumbing and talking to a local builder for a sump and stand , oh and gathering $$

Glad to hear. Try for an external overflow if you can... more room to aqua-scape

If you want to remove the crab you should dip in a Iodine dip for a few minutes. I'm surprised your initial dip of the coral didn't knock this sucker off. You are dipping all of your new corals Andrew?

Very much Clint... I use CoralRX before placing any coral in the tank. This one in particular had no crab on it before placing it in the tank therefore the little sucker must have appeared from the rock work and tried to make this coral it's new home.
I pulled the coral out and used some plastic tweezers to remove it.

I have just spent the whole evening reading this post -awesome !

I love the clean uncluttered look of this tank. I wish to re-create this in the design of my new (first) tank. It seems that the key to this is limiting the live rock and sand and using space as part of the design-is this the case ?
If so do you need to go down the zeo reactor route to get this look, as I guess there wouln't be enough liverock/sand for more conventional methods?
Also is the background printed on vinyl and stuck to the outside of the tank?
Thanks again for this post and inspiring us newbies.

I can't wait to get some patience!:dance:

Hi Mantra Ray, thanks and welcome to RC.
Yes, the open scape was inspired my the likes of Sunny, invincible 569's and Chingchai's tanks. I also want to keeping things open to allow room for the corals to grow.
No need for the zeo reactor route to achieve this. Just my preference. Other methods are an option but if you wanted more rock (for piece of mind) it could be placed in the sump.
Yes, the background is a printed sticker which is placed on the outside of the back glass.
Thanks again for the kind words.

Congrats on being voted September 2010 Thread of the Month! this thread will not only be a sticky in this forum, but it also will be added to the blog. :beer:

Thanks Brian

Congrats Andrew

Leonardo

Thanks Leonardo, sorry we didn't get to catch up during your visit. Hope all is well.

 

[flying_dutchman]

Congrats for the pictures of your tank in CORAL magazine

 

[Leonardo_]

Thanks Leonardo, sorry we didn't get to catch up during your visit. Hope all is well.

No Problem Andrew, I'm in HK again in February, so maybe we'll meet then

Leonardo

 

[adddo]

Grats on Thread of the month! Well deserved.

 

[gofor100]

So when is the TANK of the month award coming???

 

[Jimbo7]

It's a good thing there isn't a "Coral Colony" of the month or you would sweep it for the next year. I love that green acro with the blue tips. Congrats on your win!

 

[Lynnmw1208]

Hey guys, just been letting the tank develop and the last few weeks have been busy. My folks are up visiting so these are the only recent pics of the tank...

We had our first jumper the other day, while we were all away!!! Luckily the cat showed no interest in eating him! Carried out some heavy maintenance the other day and picked up a new replacement fish. :fish1:

First of all awesome tank! I read the whole thing and love what you have done!

Second, how do you keep your cat from not jumping on the tank? lol mine won't stay away from the fish tank even if the lid is off! :lol: