Coral Tank from Canada (1350gal Display Tank) - split
- Thread starter nineball
- Start date
:thumbsup:
Newbie Aquarist
Reefing is my middle name
Patiently waiting for the updates. Hope all is well with the family. Wishing you and yours the best.
nineball
Active member
Thanks to everyone for your continuing interest and patience. The next update and likely significant return to this forum will take a bit to prepare so hopefully next week should be well worth waiting for. Again thanks for hanging in!!!!!
Peter
ps.
Members who have been around from the beginning will find it particularly fascinating........and if that isn't intriguing enough.....
Peter
ps.
Members who have been around from the beginning will find it particularly fascinating........and if that isn't intriguing enough.....
muttley000
MTS Sufferer!
Looking forward to it Peter, this is one of my all time favorite threads!
Made2Rock
Member
msr224
New member
I am positive that this is going to be a complete WOW for all of us who have been here from the start. If you are saying it's going to be huge then it will most likely be HUGE.
Thanks for keeping us on the edge of our seats Peter and Shawn.
TYSDADI
New member
This thread, along with one other helped me design and build (2) 500+ gallon systems. Since then I have opened my own Aquarium installation and maintenance company. I would like to thank you Peter and Shawn. Your passion and willingness to share your experiences have given me a business that would have never been a possibility if you hadn't given all of us so much of your time.
Thank you more than you will ever know,
James
Thank you more than you will ever know,
James
gcarroll
Active member
Any update yet? We're all waiting to hear the big news.
nineball
Active member
There is a large update coming and you would probably be reading it by now except I just got walloped with a massive cold on the weekend and as soon as I can sit upright for a couple of hours without hallucinating from this cough medicine i will bring the update to the forum. I haven't had a cold in a decade and I guess I'm making up for it in one weekend...........
Peter
PS sincere thanks for the patience.............
Peter - your not hallucinating....your tank really is that beautiful, impressive, and inspiring for all of us. Rest us and keep us posted.
nineball
Active member
Peter's Fish Tank Update (I highly recommend holding comments until its obvious that I have finished the update)......I'm working as fast as I can............
Its good to be back. "¦"¦Sort of.
I'm not sure how to start so I will begin with what's happening at the moment. I'm sitting at my desk in front of a darkened empty aquarium surrounded by the sound of eight industrial strength fans that are creating a cold windstorm which is not far off my emotional state. My feelings at the moment are running the gamut from cold detachment (for preservation), sadness, disappointment, a sense of loss, contrasted with periods of hope and possibility.
To understand how I got here we can go back a couple of months. As most anyone who has been following this thread knows I have been working over the last six months on how to improve the health and growth of my SPS coral. I have been making steady progress in that regard and continuing to learn, as always along the way.
Two months ago one of the long time members of this large tank community decided to close down his tank (600 gal reef display) and asked if I wanted to buy his livestock. I agreed, even though there were larger fish than I was used to. In fact the largest fish I had at the time was a ten year old sohal tang that had originally come from that very same tank, so he was about to be reunited with his former brethren. There turned out to be over a hundred fish added to the tank including unicorn tang, powder blue , blue tang, clown trigger (turned out to be well behaved) an extremely healthy and attractive dwarf golden moray to name but a few.
I know that a majority of members of this community would have offered serious caution about mixing all of those fish with my existing population of fish but it worked and worked beautifully. All the tangs paired up, the unicorn tang that was 18 inches long was very peaceful and everyone in the tank settled down right away. One of my favorite pastimes has become feeding the moray that found a neat home in the cave and would come out to be hand fed. I actually have to go to the other end of the tank and put a lot of flake food into the tank so that I can run back to the other end and feed the moray by hand before the general population figured out what I was doing. If the moray hesitates too long there is always a street gang of marauding fish led by the clown trigger who will show up and steal the shrimp from the eel even if he had to take it from his mouth!
I didn't realize when I agreed to take the additional fish that it would profoundly change my relationship to the tank and the hobby. Having a 25 ft. reef viewable from both sides was always a treat. It was fascinating to see how life actually differed on either side of the tank. Now with the additional fish their behavior became more reef like, more like the esthetic that I observed floating over some of the deeper tidal pools on the Great Barrier Reef off Australia. It's hard to describe but the experience for me changed from that of an aquarium owner to a reef proprietor.
Its good to be back. "¦"¦Sort of.
I'm not sure how to start so I will begin with what's happening at the moment. I'm sitting at my desk in front of a darkened empty aquarium surrounded by the sound of eight industrial strength fans that are creating a cold windstorm which is not far off my emotional state. My feelings at the moment are running the gamut from cold detachment (for preservation), sadness, disappointment, a sense of loss, contrasted with periods of hope and possibility.
To understand how I got here we can go back a couple of months. As most anyone who has been following this thread knows I have been working over the last six months on how to improve the health and growth of my SPS coral. I have been making steady progress in that regard and continuing to learn, as always along the way.
Two months ago one of the long time members of this large tank community decided to close down his tank (600 gal reef display) and asked if I wanted to buy his livestock. I agreed, even though there were larger fish than I was used to. In fact the largest fish I had at the time was a ten year old sohal tang that had originally come from that very same tank, so he was about to be reunited with his former brethren. There turned out to be over a hundred fish added to the tank including unicorn tang, powder blue , blue tang, clown trigger (turned out to be well behaved) an extremely healthy and attractive dwarf golden moray to name but a few.
I know that a majority of members of this community would have offered serious caution about mixing all of those fish with my existing population of fish but it worked and worked beautifully. All the tangs paired up, the unicorn tang that was 18 inches long was very peaceful and everyone in the tank settled down right away. One of my favorite pastimes has become feeding the moray that found a neat home in the cave and would come out to be hand fed. I actually have to go to the other end of the tank and put a lot of flake food into the tank so that I can run back to the other end and feed the moray by hand before the general population figured out what I was doing. If the moray hesitates too long there is always a street gang of marauding fish led by the clown trigger who will show up and steal the shrimp from the eel even if he had to take it from his mouth!
I didn't realize when I agreed to take the additional fish that it would profoundly change my relationship to the tank and the hobby. Having a 25 ft. reef viewable from both sides was always a treat. It was fascinating to see how life actually differed on either side of the tank. Now with the additional fish their behavior became more reef like, more like the esthetic that I observed floating over some of the deeper tidal pools on the Great Barrier Reef off Australia. It's hard to describe but the experience for me changed from that of an aquarium owner to a reef proprietor.
nineball
Active member
I was amazed with how fast even the big fish navigated from one end of the tank to the other. To successfully navigate 24 feet of coral and rock with always a few random fish in the way in less than 4 seconds with no physical contact was a miracle to observe, especially without a shark in tow. Yet there were cases of some fish staying in one area while accomodating others who were more nomadic, like the Moray eel trading lairs. These behaviours in the wild would be natural, but to experience this in a large captive environment was a privilege I have never taken for granted.
I am beginning to see coral propagate naturally (sexual reproduction, rather than just clones broken off) without my help or intervention. It is increasingly clear that domestically grown coral is a far superior strategy to follow than wild caught or imported coral. I am starting to see coral that has started in the tank. It is more resilient, more tolerant and colour that is far superior to imported of the same type and species. The downside of this approach is the time it takes to get there. It is true that geologic time is very very different than human time. I have had experience seeding the reef with large colonies as well as compact frags and although full colonies fill in the reef more quickly I learned that there was a percentage algorithm that would inevitably involve a certain amount of turnover with big holes to refill. Also each reef is different and it takes a while, in most cases a long while to see which varieties thrive best.
Discoveries keep piling up with time. Six months ago the plasma lights over the mangrove trees in the fish room started to fail. So much for the longevity claims for plasma as a technology. As some of you will recall I was really not enthusiastic with plasma technology over the display tank right from the start but thought that the mangrove trees in the fish room would certainly not mind. The mangroves survived and provided a seemingly reasonable amount of nutrient uptake. When I had to swap them for something that worked I turned to Mr. Wilson and asked for a custom LED substitute. The two plasmas were 290 watts each and he replaced them with a single 500 watt LED. Within a week we couldn’t believe the difference. The leaves were greener, thicker and there was an obvious increase in growth rate. Today, the mangroves are flowering and producing seedpods. I want to experiment to see if we can actually grow new trees from the new seedpods… but that is for another discussion.
I am beginning to see coral propagate naturally (sexual reproduction, rather than just clones broken off) without my help or intervention. It is increasingly clear that domestically grown coral is a far superior strategy to follow than wild caught or imported coral. I am starting to see coral that has started in the tank. It is more resilient, more tolerant and colour that is far superior to imported of the same type and species. The downside of this approach is the time it takes to get there. It is true that geologic time is very very different than human time. I have had experience seeding the reef with large colonies as well as compact frags and although full colonies fill in the reef more quickly I learned that there was a percentage algorithm that would inevitably involve a certain amount of turnover with big holes to refill. Also each reef is different and it takes a while, in most cases a long while to see which varieties thrive best.
Discoveries keep piling up with time. Six months ago the plasma lights over the mangrove trees in the fish room started to fail. So much for the longevity claims for plasma as a technology. As some of you will recall I was really not enthusiastic with plasma technology over the display tank right from the start but thought that the mangrove trees in the fish room would certainly not mind. The mangroves survived and provided a seemingly reasonable amount of nutrient uptake. When I had to swap them for something that worked I turned to Mr. Wilson and asked for a custom LED substitute. The two plasmas were 290 watts each and he replaced them with a single 500 watt LED. Within a week we couldn’t believe the difference. The leaves were greener, thicker and there was an obvious increase in growth rate. Today, the mangroves are flowering and producing seedpods. I want to experiment to see if we can actually grow new trees from the new seedpods… but that is for another discussion.
nineball
Active member
I also recently discovered that I have a method of actually triggering the spawning of our tank bred Banggai Cardinals. I am now raising offspring scooped from the filter bags…or at least I was until last Monday at 11:00 pm.
I was on my way home (ten minutes away) from a successful eight ball tournament when the Bentley car phone woke me from my reverie. Hearing my wife’s voice sent a shudder through my spine. Her first word was “Peter”. For most of you enjoying a marriage for 33 years, a call from your wife using your first name would spell trouble but in Judy’s case she has only ever called me but 3 times in the last 33 years so I knew there was trouble in the wings! She told me she was calling because she was afraid someone had broken into the house and they were still inside. She said Molly, our sheltie was panicked and she was hearing noises downstairs. By then I was five minutes out and I told her I was almost home so just stay where she was and not to worry. It was then that she added that she thought she could hear water running that my panic started to sink in.
As soon as I got home I went down stairs and saw water covering the landing at the base of the basement stairs. I could see the rear of the tank and it had about 5 inches of water left. I quickly turned the corner to the front side and saw water cascading out of the tank through the bottom seam. My heart fell through the floor when I realized what happened. For ten seconds I couldn’t move. It was impossible to process what was happening. I realized at once there wasn’t anything I could do to stop or reverse this. I had about 6,000 liters (1500 Gals) on the floor and a tank with more than 300 dead or flopping fish and a mess of coral exposed to air.
The pumps in the fish room were all alarmed and screaming full tilt. Then in quick succession: check the floor for anything electric or electronic. Thank God for the first time in a long time nothing was on the ground. Get into the fish room quick but check the floor first. Thanks to the intentional raised lip at the door to keep a flood contained in the fish room only this one acted in reverse to keep water out. Then I remember that there is a four-inch drain under the tank so I open the door to the closet under the tank and see water going down the four-inch drain. Again check for electrical exposure, there is none so back to the fish room and all the pump alarms. I start to pull all the plugs to the five system pumps to keep the now ¼ full sump with some water.
In the middle of all this the house alarms are sounding and the phone is ringing. It’s the alarm company telling me that the house is flooding and demanding a password! Climbing a mountain of growing senility I finally recall my password briefly explain the situation so that the alarm people can go back to bed and leave me alone. I continue to unplug various pumps and devices to avoid deepening the building catastrophe.
I realize I can’t manage this disaster on my own so I call the brothers Grim for help. In ten minutes Jamie is standing in bare feet with an armload of towels in one arm and a mop and bucket in the other. With very few words we both start to organize priorities. By now the main body of water has left the tank but there is still residual coming out through the cracked acrylic panel. We jerry-rig some buckets to catch that and then set our sights on trying to save fish.
I was on my way home (ten minutes away) from a successful eight ball tournament when the Bentley car phone woke me from my reverie. Hearing my wife’s voice sent a shudder through my spine. Her first word was “Peter”. For most of you enjoying a marriage for 33 years, a call from your wife using your first name would spell trouble but in Judy’s case she has only ever called me but 3 times in the last 33 years so I knew there was trouble in the wings! She told me she was calling because she was afraid someone had broken into the house and they were still inside. She said Molly, our sheltie was panicked and she was hearing noises downstairs. By then I was five minutes out and I told her I was almost home so just stay where she was and not to worry. It was then that she added that she thought she could hear water running that my panic started to sink in.
As soon as I got home I went down stairs and saw water covering the landing at the base of the basement stairs. I could see the rear of the tank and it had about 5 inches of water left. I quickly turned the corner to the front side and saw water cascading out of the tank through the bottom seam. My heart fell through the floor when I realized what happened. For ten seconds I couldn’t move. It was impossible to process what was happening. I realized at once there wasn’t anything I could do to stop or reverse this. I had about 6,000 liters (1500 Gals) on the floor and a tank with more than 300 dead or flopping fish and a mess of coral exposed to air.
The pumps in the fish room were all alarmed and screaming full tilt. Then in quick succession: check the floor for anything electric or electronic. Thank God for the first time in a long time nothing was on the ground. Get into the fish room quick but check the floor first. Thanks to the intentional raised lip at the door to keep a flood contained in the fish room only this one acted in reverse to keep water out. Then I remember that there is a four-inch drain under the tank so I open the door to the closet under the tank and see water going down the four-inch drain. Again check for electrical exposure, there is none so back to the fish room and all the pump alarms. I start to pull all the plugs to the five system pumps to keep the now ¼ full sump with some water.
In the middle of all this the house alarms are sounding and the phone is ringing. It’s the alarm company telling me that the house is flooding and demanding a password! Climbing a mountain of growing senility I finally recall my password briefly explain the situation so that the alarm people can go back to bed and leave me alone. I continue to unplug various pumps and devices to avoid deepening the building catastrophe.
I realize I can’t manage this disaster on my own so I call the brothers Grim for help. In ten minutes Jamie is standing in bare feet with an armload of towels in one arm and a mop and bucket in the other. With very few words we both start to organize priorities. By now the main body of water has left the tank but there is still residual coming out through the cracked acrylic panel. We jerry-rig some buckets to catch that and then set our sights on trying to save fish.
Similar threads
