finally beginning my 480g 5'x5'x30" SPS Reef Tank

[ReefingBuddha]

Will do when I get back Jonathan, I still haven't received my damn battery charger but I will find one in Stockholm and take some pictures when I get back.

I'm actually going to India for vacation and to see if I would want to work there at some point in the future. There are great business opportunities over there and I'm considering a move a few years down the line if the money is right. Looking forward to exploring the culture, I have studied it in the past and read as much as I can, a fascinating culture that has forgotten more then most civilizations have learned.

So that's that, thanks for the well wishing.

 

[pcostanzo]

careful with the flame angel if your treating with copper. They dont do well with high doses.

 

[ReefingBuddha]

Thanks for the advice Paul. I took care of it with fresh garlic in the food (not sure if that helped but I like to think it does) and cranked up the UV sterilizer and it cleared up overnight. I'm still watching here closed to make sure it doesn't come back, though she is eating again and shows no signs of stress.

I've actually never used copper, I usually use some reef safe product but I can't remember the name right now. Thanks!

 

[jnarowe]

garlic just seems to stimulate the appetite and typically IME pumping lots of food and vitamins will increase the fish's resistance to ich. I thought I was going to lose my PBT from a horrible ich infection, and it was the only fish that would not go in the trap. So I fed 3 times per day using garlic guard, vitamins, and frozen food I made myself (no dry food!) and the PBT healed right up and has been in great health for over a year now.

 

[erics3000]

I am interested to see how you are going to like India. I think it might be ok to visit but not live. I just got back from Lake Tahoe. sweet spot. I really like it.Take some good pics and have fun. I love your pics on your site....

 

[erics3000]

I am interested to see how you are going to like India. I think it might be ok to visit but not live. I just got back from Lake Tahoe. sweet spot. I really like it.Take some good pics and have fun. I love your pics on your site....

 

[ReefingBuddha]

Sooo.... I'm back in the UK and my tank here is doing find. Still no progresson the VISA front, but looking forward to India.

Sweden was nice but I really enjoyed Norway. There is a great respect for artists and a beautiful city.

I have recently lost the battle against ICH and the flame angel died, I also got rid of the clown trigger and have added a six line which will be the only fish for a while. The six line is doing great and doesn't show any signs of infection.

I have added corals and clams as well. I got a chance to go to Bob house (from clamsdirect.co.uk) where he manages his stock. He had a great selection of clams (over 1800 in stock) and a nice selection of acros.

I have added:
-pink birdsnest with purple polpys
-Green cap with purple rim (maybe)
-Neon green stylophora
-Blue Acropora (close branching)
-Green Acropora (wide branching) with light blue tips
-Blue Tipped Acropora (close branching)
-Green/Purple Maze Brain
-Red Chalice with blue eyes
-6" Dursa Clam
-3x 2" Maxima Clams

Pictures to come soon...

 

[ReefingBuddha]

oh... and I also added a Aquatronica controller which I'm very happy with. I have the salinity, ORP, pH, and temp props which were easy to calibrate and setup. This is my first crack at a aquarium controller and I'm very happy with it. My temp, pH, salinity have been much more stable and the ORP is rising. The plug bar is great and I like the fact that the main controller only has one cable running from it.


I have also begun to see this tank as place for me to try out a few things I haven't tried yet before using them on my big setup. Of course the difference in water volume will changes things significantly but at least I feel like i'm accomplishing something.
1) Barebottom instead of a DSB
Pros - I like the fact that I can really blast the tank and get great water movement with no noticeable dead spots.
Cons - I really don't like the way it looks but I will have to wait until I get some more coraline growth before making any more decisions.
2) Running Ozone
Pros - Similar results to using UV. Happy with it so far, will play with it some more.
Cons - Expensive to set up and control compared to UV.
3) Having a Aquarium controller rocks... Wish I had made the investment sooner.
Pros - A lot of control and very flexibility
Cons - Expense
4) Water movement (I have created a gyre which I reverse every 60 seconds and pulse between 3,000l/h and 12,000 l/h every 6 seconds using 2 tunze 6101's on a multicontroller)
Pros - Happy with it but will have to see how the corals respond to growth.
- Can't find an dead spots and not I don't get much settling.
- Very effective
Cons - Hard to find place for clams due to the high flow.
- The fish sometime have problems dealing with the flow close to the glass.


Pictures coming soon...

 

[jnarowe]

great news. I like that aspect of teh Aquatronica...less wires is nice. I wonder how it compares to the AquaController for other features?

I am too toying with the BB deal. I think there is less overall risj with a BB and I actually like the nice clean look. I am planning on propagating zoanthids over the bottom to creat a meat eating carpet!

 

[ReefingBuddha]

I'm looking forward to comparing the different controllers as well.

I was thinking about attempting something like the zoo carpet as well. I thought there might be a problem with excessive water movement both in attaching the zoo and keeping them attached to the smooth glass. I would like to try this and I'm more then happy to be the ginny pig for this experiment... any advice for me as I'm sure you've thought about this already? Think it would be a good idea o glue them down to start with?


To everyone else... i know this tread has diverted from the large tank forum but I'm doing my best to get it back on track. I think I'm going to start constructing some things here and ship them over, at least that way I can make some progress.

 

[jnarowe]

Well, I think they will attached to coraline algae fairly well, but I don't have any proof of that. My initial implementation is on small rocks on the bottom in the theory that they will overgrow the rocks and move across the bottom. I have seen them attach to glass before, so I think it's entirely possible. I already have some planted in my tank.

 

[jnarowe]

Hey there, what's happening? Any luck on getting back over here? How are your tanks?

 

[ReefingBuddha]

Good to hear from you Jon... I couldn't find my thread so I have been not been able to provide any updates. I got back from India a week ago, awesome by the way (check out web.mac.com/sbhfl for all the pictures and info). Then headed off to the Bahamas and just got back this morning to England.

On the visa front I have no update, I was following a lead that turned out to be nothing and wasted 3 months of my time... so that really sucks. But I'm actively going in another direction so it should be all good relatively soon though.

So my tanks.... my 120g has been broken down and I had to sell off all of my happy little critters, corals and rocks, so that was really depressing as I have had a lot of the animals and corals since I started this hobby. My "UK nano reef" is doing great. I have some pink zoo's that are taking off over the bottom of the tank (coralline not neccesary, they happily attach directly to the glass). While I was in India I did lose 2 baby clams and 3 small acro colonies but everything else is flourishing and doing great. I'm pretty happy with the way things are shaping up all things considered.

Hope all is well with your tank and things are recovering nicely, I'll have to catch up on my reading and your thread is #1 on my list.

 

[ReefingBuddha]

Here is a taste of the my India pictures... I'm really happy with this one

 

[pcostanzo]

Hey Tom, glad to hear from you. The pictures look great. My neighbor and yoga guru came back from India not to long ago. Lots of history there. I would love to see everest one day.

 

[jnarowe]

excellent pic Tom. My tank has fully recovered from the dinos and is looking really good right now. It set me back but I was able to save frags of many of the doomed colonies.

I have about 15+ colonies of zoanthids that I am ecouraging to grow on the bottom of my tank. You think I could get them to grow into a design like my initials or a flag? :lol:

Something is eating my shrimp though, and at $20/shrimp, I need to solve that problem! I upgraded my skimmer a bit and recently installed a pre-filter floss box. That is helping a lot with clarity and even a bit with ORP.

 

[ReefingBuddha]

First and foremost... no progress on the VISA front and I do realize that my current tank does not belong in this forum but I already have this thread so I'm keeping it alive, though barely... anyway.

I'm finally back again after a week long diving trip in the Red Sea... I highly recommend Hurghada Egypt for diving, truly excellent. I was glad to discover that my preparations for my mini UK reef and worked out and everything was doing very well on my return. I have posted some pictures below.

pcostanzo - thanks for the kind comment on the picture, I was very happy with it. I was lucky to get some good pictures in Egypt as well, perhaps I'll post those later. I highly recommend India, its still a wonderful place to visit but the number of tourists in the popular places is usually a drag... I'm assuming this will only get worse so the sooner the better. I'm looking forward to going back soon and possible visiting Nepal his time.

Jon - I checked your thread and I'm glad your tank is under control but I'm sorry to hear about that Vortec problem you had. I'm have an idea as to how your could grow your initials in zoos. You could create a ridge of rocks in your initials and drop one color zoo on it, while growing a large flat carpet of zoos in another color. Once the initials are overgrown you can place them on top of the flat carpet and with some trimming you could probably keep the initials fairly clear, probably one of the dorkier ideas in modern reef keeping but good luck..... BTW i have way to much time to think about this kind of crap.

 

[ReefingBuddha]

Some before and after shots and closeups
This coral had been badly damaged in shipping and then held in a substandard tank at a store here

The edge was very damaged when I got this chalice and it was blotchy orange

You can see how bland this milli was before and now it has purple tips

This birdsnest was very pale and had a number of dead and dying spots due to the bad water movement it had before... I would say it has improved a significantly and is showing signs of nice growth

 

[ReefingBuddha]

damn ill figure out what's wrong later... sorry

 

[jnarowe]

Good to see you back Tom!