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

Yes, I agree, to think this was done in 6 months is stunning. Terrific tank.

This tank is really coming together quickly! Thanks for sharing the pictures. Two-thumbs up!!

Great round of shots Dan, love all the fish you have in there.

Love your fish and good shots for the tank. Wish I can see more pics for the setup.

Thanks guys. I appreciate all of the compliments!!!

Things are definitely coming along.

Salali, I will try to post some more pics of the fish room and set up behind the scenes.
 
Beautiful tank, great pics, wonderful build.

How are your pared tangs and other "couples" doing after 6 months? Would you recommend your stocking plan to a similar size build?

Thanks Lavoisier!

I have had great success with all of the paired tangs with one exception. I lost one Blonde Naso (got stuck to one of my MP60's and never recovered) and its former friend/mate has terrorized any other Blonde Naso that I placed into the tank. I have been trying to capture it so that I can acclimate another pair of Blonde Naso's into the tank and then re-introduce it.

All my others tangs are doing very well together!
 
Some New Corals...

Some New Corals...

Attached are pics of some new corals that I picked up recently. The pics are not of great quality. I need to have Griffin come out and shoot some new photos. I took these with a little Panasonic that I have and didn't have the ability to shoot any macros...

The first two pics are of a couple Symphillias that I received from Unique Corals. The first is huge...it is about 7" x 6". The second is smaller but it's colors are incredibly unique.

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When I was over at Simply Elegant Aquatics last Friday, I came home with a new Heliofungia and a beautiful Tahitian Clam. I really wish that the photo did a better job of capturing the clams colors. I am hoping for a new camera for Hanukah (Cynthia if you are reading this... hint. hint.).

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Last week I had also received from Scott over at Unique the attached Euphillia/Hammer. It took a good week to really start opening up. Again, the photo doesn't give it justice. It is a lot more pink to the eye...

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Stunning pieces, having seen them in person, I agree you need a new camera. Have the Mrs' call me and I'll tell her all about my new one.

Dave B
 
Stunning pieces, having seen them in person, I agree you need a new camera. Have the Mrs' call me and I'll tell her all about my new one.

Dave B
 
So amazing! I love seeing the full shots of this tank, but this is just me seeing it from a screen, seeing it in person would be jaw-dropping! Very nice work Dan.

Pushwood. Thank you!

If you are ever in the Southwest, send me a message. You are more than welcome to come by and see the tank.

Regards,

Dan
 
A couple more coral and fish shots...

A couple more coral and fish shots...

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How about an update on cleaning a tank that deep...I am about to go down this road and was planning on stopping at 30" but I am SOOOOOOO tempted to go deeper....

It is not as hard as you might think. I wipe down the glass on the front panel probably 3-4 times each week. I don't touch the sides or rear panel. I let those get covered with algae and my tangs are constantly eating off the sides.

I take out 50-100 gallons weekly. I have been looking at auto-water changing systems like the Genesis System. I would love to automate 5-7 gallons changes daily.

Every 10 days or so I will do a light gravel vac. I don't have a deep sand bed so it is primarily for cosmetic purposes. I also vacuum up the sand at the front of the tank to move it away from the glass. I hate getting sand in between my magnetic glass cleaners. I have a 48" gravel van tube. I will also lightly "power wash" any debris off my towers once a month. I have a piece of PVC that I attached an old power-head too. I also sometime will rake the gravel using a 60" piece of pvc with a plastic rake attached to it.

My other big regular maintenance job is changing out my filter socks which I do twice weekly.
 
Well, no pics were sent to me of the water on the floor of the fish room, but they did send me some pics of the mini-split A/C unit and one of the tank.

The cost of the A/C unit really surprised me.

Initially I was quoted $2,900 installed. The fish room is only +/- 250 sq. ft. After discussions with my a/c contractors, we found a solution. We had the same a/c unit bought down in Puerto Penasco, Mexico (Rocky Point) and I ended up saving $1,400!!! Rocky Point is a four and a half hour drive from Tucson and we always seem to have friends going back and forth.

It is the same identical unit, however, the temperature setting is in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit. Big deal. And the instruction manual is in Spanish vs. English. I am sure that i will be able to download the manual in English. Apparently in Mexico, there are no tariffs on shipments from Japan. I wonder if I can't buy other marine equipment in the future at such a savings.

After seeing the attached picture, I see that I need to have the A/C contractor return to the house...

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Dan, what size mini split is it? Im considering for my 350g fishroom (52 sq2) a Samsung 9,000 BTU mini split or a Daewoo or LG 6,000 BTU



THX
 
Dan,
Any issue with the powder blue tangs?? Territorial fights??

thanks and congratulations!

Hi Luis.

My Powder Blue's are getting along well. They really don't pay that much attention to one another. The only time that they seem to be together is when I drop a rock into the tank wrapped in Nori.

How is your tank going? I haven't seen any updates in quite a while.

Ciao.
 
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