A Reef Tank in the Desert - +/- 1,400 gallon system

I believe I should test drive those Achilles before you place them in your DT to make sure they are durable.

But once their in your tank you will never be able to catch em again.


Exactly my point.

Wayne, Wayne, Wayne...

Do I need to now change your name once again from Wayne, Reefing is my Middle Name, Leroy to Clepto??

Nobody is touching my Achilles or taking anyone on a test drive.
 
My past experience with Achilles
If they survive acclimation they are durable unless someone bully them
Like the powder blue so social acclimation is a must.

Catching Achilles or any tangs are very,very easy at night few hours after total darkness and less stress on the fish

Lawrence, I think all fish need to be socially acclimated.

I disagree with you about catching any tangs at night being easy. You haven't seen my tank. It doesn't matter if a fish is half dead. It's never easy with all of the rocks and sps sticking out. I think my daughter is more talented at it than I am. Perhaps she is just more agile and patient.

The fish in my top QT, including my Achilles are now on the same system water as my display and sump. I will put them in the acclimation boxes in the main display early next week. They will reside their at least a week and I will evaluate their conditions before setting them loose one night.
 
Wayne, Wayne, Wayne...

Do I need to now change your name once again from Wayne, Reefing is my Middle Name, Leroy to Clepto??

Nobody is touching my Achilles or taking anyone on a test drive.

I was just looking out for you while in Vegas. Where is the clepto love?
 
this vid is just nastyyyyy lol..amazing technology there..everytime i see it, i fall in love everytime... i would only dream to have 3 of theses and 2xmp40s synched on a laptop together.pffffff wake up wake up lol

Thanks Brian.

It is pretty cool. Surprisingly, it doesn't seem to bother my fish or corals in the slightest. I really wish I could time a video with cloud coverage coming in too. It's fun to watch.

I am planning on having Griffin come shoot some tank pictures for me as soon as he is available. I am going to ask if he can shoot some video too to upload to Sam. I am due fore some video updates. I also purchased a Hero3 GoPro camera that will shoot underwater. I just haven't had time to fool with it. Sam is away at college, but, he is always happy to edit and put things together for me.

How is your build going?
 
Does anyone know what type of fish Dmorty's avatar is? It looks like a sailfin tang, but the colors are way more varied and vibrant than what i've seen... thanks for any insights on this one...

It is a Desjardini Tang, and she is beautiful. I don't know if the blue is from actinic lights or if she is from a different area. Beautiful fish!
 
Lawrence, I think all fish need to be socially acclimated.

I disagree with you about catching any tangs at night being easy. You haven't seen my tank. It doesn't matter if a fish is half dead. It's never easy with all of the rocks and sps sticking out. I think my daughter is more talented at it than I am. Perhaps she is just more agile and patient.

The fish in my top QT, including my Achilles are now on the same system water as my display and sump. I will put them in the acclimation boxes in the main display early next week. They will reside their at least a week and I will evaluate their conditions before setting them loose one night.

That's what I thought before too, that fish are impossible to catch on a big sps tank but this is not true even on a full SPS tank .if you wait 2-3 hours of total darkness in your tank at night all of the fish are easy to catch. This week I sold most of my 100+ fish so I can rebuild properly and the only fish that I can't catch are 1 yellow coris wrasse ( sand dwelling ) and red stripe anthias that don't sleep everything else are between very easy to Relatively easy ( sand dwelling wrasse). Big fish tangs and angels are in dazed up to 5 minutes after the lights turns on. Very very easy to catch. I sold, trade and gave away a lot of fish in this hobby ( hundreds) and only a handful give me any problem. Most of the tangs I will say I can catch in 30 seconds or less if I know where they sleep.
Your aquascape are so open which make it more easy to catch even if its 42" tall
 
That's what I thought before too, that fish are impossible to catch on a big sps tank but this is not true even on a full SPS tank .if you wait 2-3 hours of total darkness in your tank at night all of the fish are easy to catch. This week I sold most of my 100+ fish so I can rebuild properly and the only fish that I can't catch are 1 yellow coris wrasse ( sand dwelling ) and red stripe anthias that don't sleep everything else are between very easy to Relatively easy ( sand dwelling wrasse). Big fish tangs and angels are in dazed up to 5 minutes after the lights turns on. Very very easy to catch. I sold, trade and gave away a lot of fish in this hobby ( hundreds) and only a handful give me any problem. Most of the tangs I will say I can catch in 30 seconds or less if I know where they sleep.
Your aquascape are so open which make it more easy to catch even if its 42" tall

Lawrence,

I won't argue with you, but I have trouble getting a net in my tank with or without lights.

My fish all sleep down low in caves, under or behind rocks and sps.

While I do believe tangs are easier to catch after the lights have been out, it is virtually impossible for me to catch and remove fish in my system without using a trap.
 
Dan,

Lawrence is a true fish whisperer, he catches fish in his tank as if they were living in a betta bowl.

I challenge him to pull some unwanted fish out of my tank. Cause I know once they go into mine they ain't coming back out.

Come on Lawrence, I got a Multicolor Angel, and a flame angel with your name on it!

Dave B
 
Dan,

Lawrence is a true fish whisperer, he catches fish in his tank as if they were living in a betta bowl.

I challenge him to pull some unwanted fish out of my tank. Cause I know once they go into mine they ain't coming back out.

Come on Lawrence, I got a Multicolor Angel, and a flame angel with your name on it!

Dave B

3 hours after the lights are off is really late for me to be in someone home.
But please try it,just find where they sleep and use a stick to drive them out of the rocks and very easy, you won't even break a single frags since angels are dazed longer than anthias.
 
THAT IS AWESOME! Nothing beats the feeling when you see the look on his face. Even if LA sent you 5K worth of corals for free tomorrow. Like that would ever happen! lol

I can't wait until my 2 boys get older so we can go to games together. A few weeks ago my wife was telling me to come up stairs quick! She was shouting "this is your proudest moment". So I go upstairs and my oldest son (turned 2 this past Sunday) was fighting with his big sister over the TV. She wanted Yo Gabba Gabba and he was crying and throwing a fit, he kept saying basket ball basket ball. So I took him down to watch the rest of the Knick game with me. He was glued for an entire 4th quarter. He's got a Stoudemire Jersey and she rocks a Melo jersey just because she needs to get something every time he does!

That trip will be awesome, I love march madness!
Love your fish selection and the QT setup with MI being fed by live brine etc is a dream.
Have you looked into setting up your apex to perform automatic water changes?
All you need is a couple of float switches, pumps, a container to hold salt water and a place to get rid of the old water. I've read about a few profilux owners doing this, and I'm almost certain Apex should have the same capability. The benefit of being integrated into your controller is warnings, control through apps, etc...

Wishing you and your son a very safe trip. Cant wait for you to return and update us with the game(although i will know the results from ESPN). But ESPN cant update your tank for us either.

Thanks guys! It's been a fun trip. Even though we lost, the basketball games were great and we've had a great time! Because we were on the floor behind the UCLA bench, we were able to harass them NON-STOP! Even Coach Howland gave me some great looks when we would yell at him to Sit Down!

We spent the day at Carnegie's Deli, going on the Roller Coaster at NY-NY, rides at the Stratosphere and checking out several casinos. Tomorrow we are going to a Shark & Aquarium Exhibit at Mandalay Bay and hitting a few LFS's here in Vegas if we have time.

Here are a few pictures. I know they are "non-build" related, but, fun none the less:

U of A Football Coach, Rich Rodriguez before going to a preparty.

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Bradley and I before the game...

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A couple Oregon Duck Cheerleaders that will wait for him if he goes there in 4 years

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Former NBA Great Bill Walton...

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Former 12 year NBA Star Tracy Murray... I used to heckle him when he played for UCLA.

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This is a future star in the NBA. Jordan Adams. He was a Wildcat Killer this year and unfortunately, he broke his foot on the last play of the Arizona game. Bradley and I were yelling at him and Shabazz Muhammad, whenever they were on the UCLA bench. Tonight before the UCLA & Oregon game, he spent some time talking to Bradley while UCLA was warming up. A real nice guy! Too bad he is a Bruin, but, better than being a Sun Devil!

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Water Changing Device

Water Changing Device

?.....Have you looked into setting up your apex to perform automatic water changes?
All you need is a couple of float switches, pumps, a container to hold salt water and a place to get rid of the old water. I've read about a few profilux owners doing this, and I'm almost certain Apex should have the same capability. The benefit of being integrated into your controller is warnings, control through apps, etc...

I did look into it and spent a lot of time on the Neptune Systems forum researching the topic. A number of reefers used different metering pumps to perform their water exchanges. I have a difficult time trusting those pumps without a specific metered reservoir that both fills freshly made SW and removes old water. Same with putting too much trust in float switches.

After much research, I have decided to go with the Genesis Renew system.

The Genesis System will still be plugged into one of my EB8's. If a float switch is activated in either my sumps or freshly made SW storage tank, it will not turn on. I will be placing the order tomorrow!
 
Did you find any good stores while in Vegas? I have just moved out here and haven't had the time to look around yet, I am going to start setting up another tank in the next month or so. Just 180 gallon for now.
 
Was just in Vegas last week. Desert Reef Co. Was the best one I found. All their livestock is very healthy. Everything I bought from them is doing very well.
 
Dan,

Lawrence is a true fish whisperer, he catches fish in his tank as if they were living in a betta bowl.

I challenge him to pull some unwanted fish out of my tank. Cause I know once they go into mine they ain't coming back out.

Come on Lawrence, I got a Multicolor Angel, and a flame angel with your name on it!

Dave B

LOL,

Dave, everyones tanks are different. I believe that Lawrence has been able to get all his fish out and night once the lights go out. I just can't easily maneuver a net around my tank with or without lights on or off. Too deep and too many acros branching about.
 
Dan,

I heeded Lawrence's advice the other night and went downstairs a few hours after lights out and went poking around in the tank. With a 100+ fish in the tank the only ones not buried in the rock were the Bangai cardinals.

Tangs, Angels, Wrasses were nowhere to be seen (Which is 30+ fish)

I may order a fish trap this month and try to catch a couple of my least favorite fish.


Glad to see you had a great weekend with your son.

Dave B
 
Did you find any good stores while in Vegas? I have just moved out here and haven't had the time to look around yet, I am going to start setting up another tank in the next month or so. Just 180 gallon for now.

Was just in Vegas last week. Desert Reef Co. Was the best one I found. All their livestock is very healthy. Everything I bought from them is doing very well.

Guys, unfortunately we weren't able to hit the LFS after all. We decided after breakfast (the big buffet) to go down to the Shark Exhibit at Mandalay Bay and then back to the Mirage for their Dolphin Exhibit. By the time we were done, we had just enough time to grab a quick bite and head to the airport.
 
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