A very large aquarium in a very small condo!

[Elliott]

Elliott


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.

interesting, the eels make a great addition to the reef, you've done a great job balancing everything, beautiful

 

[captngreg]

Rogue sub

Looks amazing

lluv24

Looks great my friend

Cyclist

Your mini ocean looks great!

atreis

I like the view of the harbor. The tank is really nice too.

robert s b.

Your aquarium is so awesome, love it!

Thanks for the encouraging words, It is a labor of love and gives me a reason not to retire:uhoh3:

 

[dave.m]

Reviewing your progress images I couldn't help but notice that along with the new aquarium your liquor cabinet in the opposite corner also grew appreciably.

Dave.M

 

[captngreg]

Reviewing your progress images I couldn't help but notice that along with the new aquarium your liquor cabinet in the opposite corner also grew appreciably.

Dave.M

The bigger the tank the bigger the need for liquor. A sober person in his right mind would never spend the time & money to keep a large reef aquarium. :lolspin:

 

[dave.m]

Amen, brother! :beer:

Dave.M

 

[captngreg]

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?

Yes I am extremely pleased with the Orphek lights. In my opinion, my coral growth & color are exceptional. I have seen other tanks lite by other LED makers and do not believe they hold a candle to the Orphek's light.
I'm not a very good photographer, my photos do not due the corals or fish justice.
Yes that is an Interruptus angle. She is a great little fish. I also add a black Tang but have not been able to get a good photo of him since the Achilles keep him herded up behind a large rock and won't let him swim about.

Here is the best photo so far;

 

[Diane865]

It is a beautiful tank you have there captngreg!

 

[captngreg]

:worried: I have to make a bid decision on the future course of the tank. :thumbdown :thumbsup:
I would appreciate your thoughts pro & con.
The problem; My Red Sea Regal Angle & the Mitratus Butterfly have started to eat my fleshy LPS.
I have two options;
Option A --- I can remove the Red Sea Regal Angle, Mitratus Butterfly, and most likely the Declivis Butterflyfish & keep my mixed reef.
Option B --- I can remove the LPS’s & replace them with deepwater Acropora, Montiporas, Echinopora & Zoanthus. I would also be able to reintroduce a trio of Moorish Idols

Pros Option A --- I really love my meat coral collection & think the LPS add a lot of verity to the reef.
Pros Option B --- The Regal Angle has to be one of my all-time favorite fish & I like the looks and verity the addition of the butterfly’s & Moorish Idols add, plus it is a departure from the typical reef tank.

 

[Brother D]

Option B.I couldn't catch my 2 butterfly fish so that's what I ended up doing.And may I say that your choice to go with Orphek directly influenced my decision to go with them as well.Cheers!

 

[dave.m]

Keep the fish. Dump the meat. Or better yet, let the fish finish off the LPS if that is their desire. The real trick will be to see if you can still keep the fish after the LPS is all gone.

Dave.M

 

[Hudds]

First of all congrats for your build Captain! Your condo wall definitely looks better than before!
There is only one option, B that is.:fish2:

 

[captngreg]

dave.m

Keep the fish. Dump the meat. Or better yet, let the fish finish off the LPS if that is their desire. The real trick will be to see if you can still keep the fish after the LPS is all gone.

Keeping the fish should be no problem.
The Regal Angle, Mitratus Butterfly, and the Declivis Butterflyfish are all eating like pigs & both the The Regal Angle, and the Declivis Butterflyfish have been in the tank for over six months now and are quite fat.
One of my Moorish Idiots I banished to an aquarium in a Chinese restaurant is still alive and doing well after 7 months!!!!

The secret to keeping Moorish Idols, get fish that are not completely starved, this is the hard part since they have such a high matablisium
Next for the first two month you need to feed around the clock every three to four hours with a verity of chopped seafood, Mysis shrimp & a good quality pellet. Once you get them fat and the assuming the damage from starvation during there transport was not lethal, you should have a fish that can live nicely on three feeding a day.

 

[captngreg]

fishcatdog66

Option B.I couldn't catch my 2 butterfly fish so that's what I ended up doing.And may I say that your choice to go with Orphek directly influenced my decision to go with them as well.Cheers!

I hope after installing your lights you are as happy with them as I am with mine.
A matter of fact, I'm thinking of upgrading to the new Orphek Atlantik V2. Wireless controlled, Four channel and a much brighter blue/white light at least as precised by your eye.
I'm lucky, living In Peru I should be able to sell my old light for what I paid for them.

 

[Geraud]

Keep the fish indeed! (But I am an SPS fan so... ;-) )

 

[Brother D]

I have 2 Atlantik v1 over my 180 and am very happy with them.I checked out the v2 and it's tempting but I've only been running mine for 5 months.I'm told by Orphek that an upgrade kit may be available to make the v1 model wireless.

 

[captngreg]

I would like to thank everyone for their vote on whether to keep the fish or keep the LPS.
I think they need to rename this site “Fish Central not Reef Central”
The vote was 100% in favor of the fish :celeb1:
I cannot bear the thought of losing my collection of meat corals so I’m going to add a 22” x 22” x 16” nano cube to the system to house the best of my LPS and keep the Butterfly’s & Regal Angle.

 

[dave.m]

I would like to thank everyone for their vote on whether to keep the fish or keep the LPS.
I think they need to rename this site "œFish Central not Reef Central"
The vote was 100% in favor of the fish

I'm not so sure it is as cut and dried as that. I suspect it depends more on which fish versus which corals, and you do have some very nice fish. Glad you were able to find a way to have your fish and softies too.

Dave.M

 

[naldopr]

subscribing nice set up

 

[Ldagger]

Hey Captain, looking good.
Can we get a few shots of your outdoor mangrove tank please?
It looks like they have grown some... in that one pic.

 

[captngreg]

Ldagger

Hey Captain, looking good.
Can we get a few shots of your outdoor mangrove tank please?
It looks like they have grown some... in that one pic.

Here is a photo from a few months ago.
One thing I have noticed is that the mangroves grown in natural sunlight branch a lot and the stems stay very short and the leaves are very close to one another. In the past when I have grown mangrove under artificial light the stem grew very long & you had to pinch the leaf bud to get them to branch plus the spacing between leaf could be as much as two inches apart.
What has grow the most is the root system!!!