A very large aquarium in a very small condo!

Geraud
Hello Captain, any updates as the tank is closing on its first birthday?

I'm planning a big update in December for the one year anniversary. Lots of time laps photos showing the growth of the system. Don't want to post pic now the changes to the tank have been amazing, corals are growing so fast It's starting to look like a real reef!!!!!

There are a few changes I will share at this time. Just one of the Moorish Idols is still living in the Chinese restaurant's aquarium but it's fat & doing very well. The Ribbon eels are doing well. Just picked up a Blue ribbon eel from my favorite fish supplier NYAquatic which is where I got my Black Ribbon eels from. All my Tile fish have despaired one by one, I'm not going to try these again at least until I can finger out why they did not survive. They where aggressive eaters. Now to some good news, Over the last few month we have add a few new fish an Interruptus Angelfish, Lineatus Fairy Wrasse, Tinker's Butterfly & a pair of Red Sea Regal Angels. All of which are eating and doing well.
Have made some equipment changes. Added an ozone generator which has stabilized the ORP between 400 & 450, It has also made the water a little clear which helps more light get to the coral.
I have also changed the lights on the refugiums. The back part of the refugium has new algae lights from buildmyled.com " These lights use a lot of red light as you can see to help grow algae faster"
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The front part has regular reef lighting. Which I use as a acclimation tank for new fish & a frag tank, these light have a dimmer.
The back part or the algae refugium is growing algae better than any lights I have tried before. The outside refugium under natural light still grows algae faster but the inside refugiums still produce a nice harvest every two weeks.

I'm also planning on replacing one of the Tuneze skimmers with an Octopus 5000sss skimmer.
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Great update captain. As for the eels, they are born black then turn blue, once they turn yellow that's when the eel turns female. Sorry about the MIs. They are still on my list.
 
Newbie Aquarist
Great update captain. As for the eels, they are born black then turn blue, once they turn yellow that's when the eel turns female. Sorry about the MIs. They are still on my list.

Yes all the eels start out as Black & Yellow males then mature into adult Blue & yellow males. Then some continue to turn into Green & Yellow Females.

I've read all the horror story about keeping ribbon eels, but thank God I've never had a problem with them. If you do want one, be sure to get a health fish, Michael@NYAquatic.com can help you out on this part. After that I do not know if it's my large reef system or just plain luck. The only problem I'm having is one of the eels is such an aggressive eater, it almost impossible for the other eels to get any food. They do not seem to ever get full. After a short while of trying to feed the other eels you will see one bulge after another in the ribbion eels body, It's kid of funny. I will have to try and take a move of them eating it's quite entertaining.
 
Latest water test results from www.aquariumwatertesting.com
Not sure why, but since day one I have always had low Potassium (K)
It is the only additive I dose on a regular bases.
I will be upping the dose amount in the future to try and get the (K) up to 350.000 to 450.000 mg/L

Ammonia (NH3-4) Good 0
Nitrite (NO2) Good 0.006
Phosphate (PO4) Good 0.01
Nitrate (NO3) Good 0.6
Silica (Sio2-3) High 0.8
Potassium (K) Low 290
Ionic Calcium (Ca) Good 132
Molybdenum (Mo) High 0.3
Strontium (Sr) Good 8.9
Magnesium (Mg) Good 1363
Iodine (I) High 0.1
Copper (Cu) High 0.04
Alkalinity (meq/L) Good 4.3
Total Calcium (Ca) High 460
 
:bdaysmile: Happy First year Birthday Aquarium :bdaysmile:

Can't believe It :bounce1:

Made it a whole year without a major problem. :dance:

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Great images! Thx for the update. Happy Birthday, tank.

Er... that cake... um... wouldn't happen to be chocolate, would it?

Dave.M
 
very nice, happy birthday! congrats on avoiding major problems, that's not easy to do, especially with your fish/coral selection, beautiful tank! :)
 
Very nice Captain! Happy birthday to the tank, looking great! It looks like your frags are really enjoying the Orphek!

The first new fish you posted, is that a Centropyge interruptus?
 
Dave.M
Great images! Thx for the update. Happy Birthday, tank.

Er... that cake... um... wouldn't happen to be chocolate, would it?

Dave.M

No the cake was Mysis shrimp flavored with a chopped seaweed:lmao:
 
Elliott
very nice, happy birthday! congrats on avoiding major problems, that's not easy to do, especially with your fish/coral selection, beautiful tank!

I do have to keep an eye on the butterfly s & Regal Angle. They do sometime turn on one of the LPS and I have to remove the coral for a while.
But surprisingly the four ribbon ells are nothing like the horror stores you read about. They are ferocious eaters, eating every day & beg for food just like most aquarium fish, they even know who feeds them! I just added a new blue ribbon ell to the three Black ribbon eels four weeks ago. the New Blue ribbon ell took food on the second day. Three of them live together in the same cave complex one pretty much stays on the other end of the tank.

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janey
What did the Tank get as a Gift ???

A new Super Reef Octopus 5000sss Internal Protein Skimmer!!!!
I wanted to try a different skimmer. I have now replaced one of the Tunze skimmers with the Octopus. It's only been operating for a few days but it looks very promising. I think it's going to out skim the Tunze!

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