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

Thanks... I have.

The Monte Carlo aquarium is awesome. It is apparently the first public aquarium in the world as it opened in 1911 and I must say that the aquariums are truelly amazing. I have not seen many (if any) truelly nice reef aquariums in public aquariums and this place had a couple. The quality of the specimens and the size of the fish was also impressive. I have never seen angelfish that big and I have had a chance to go scuba diving in some amazing places. For example, there was a annularis angel there that was a good 12" to 14" hell of a specifimen.

Will post pictures of the aquarium as soon as I can, it was very impressive.

edwinn - hahaha, getting a little creepy.. just kidding, thank you for your continued interest.
 
Thanks... I have.

The Monte Carlo aquarium is awesome. It is apparently the first public aquarium in the world as it opened in 1911 and I must say that the aquariums are truelly amazing. I have not seen many (if any) truelly nice reef aquariums in public aquariums and this place had a couple. The quality of the specimens and the size of the fish was also impressive. I have never seen angelfish that big and I have had a chance to go scuba diving in some amazing places. For example, there was a annularis angel there that was a good 12" to 14" hell of a specifimen.

Will post pictures of the aquarium as soon as I can, it was very impressive.

edwinn - hahaha, getting a little creepy.. just kidding, thank you for your continued interest.
 
Well I'm still stuck in Europe, having some immigration issues in the US that will hopefully be resolved soon. Should be back on track the second week of august. Here are some pictures, as promised, of the Monaco Public Aquarium. I will post some more FTS when I get a chance to upload them. Enjoy.

Main Aquarium when you first walk in. One side is all reef fish, the other is a shark, sea turtle, and sting ray tank. The two are seperated by a huge piece of glass and is viewable from 4 sides and from the top. Very nice but no significant corals to speak of, a lot of anenomies though.
http://web.mac.com/thomashirschmann/iWeb/Thomas%20Michael%20Hirschmann%20jr./Reefcentral%20pics%20equipemtn_files/IMGP3304.jpg[IMG/]

Close up of one of the great fish, some are huge.
[IMG]http://web.mac.com/thomashirschmann/iWeb/Thomas%20Michael%20Hirschmann%20jr./Reefcentral%20pics%20equipemtn_files/IMGP3332.jpg[IMG/]

Large view of the reef side
[IMG]http://web.mac.com/thomashirschmann/iWeb/Thomas%20Michael%20Hirschmann%20jr./Reefcentral%20pics%20equipemtn_files/IMGP3550.jpg[IMG/]

The awesome 8 sided anenome, clown fish, and cardinal tank. Very cool rockwork.
[IMG]http://web.mac.com/thomashirschmann/iWeb/Thomas%20Michael%20Hirschmann%20jr./Reefcentral%20pics%20equipemtn_files/IMGP3343.jpg[IMG/]

Close up. The fish and other life stock in this tank are naturally reproducing and are estimated to be 20th generation fish. You can see cardinal babies in sea urchins in the tank.
[IMG]http://web.mac.com/thomashirschmann/iWeb/Thomas%20Michael%20Hirschmann%20jr./Reefcentral%20pics%20equipemtn_files/IMGP3347.jpg[IMG/]

Eel tank just because its cool. Each one was approximately 5' - 6' long and about 2' wide. Absolute monsters.
[IMG]http://web.mac.com/thomashirschmann/iWeb/Thomas%20Michael%20Hirschmann%20jr./Reefcentral%20pics%20equipemtn_files/IMGP3466.jpg[IMG/]

One of the larger reef tanks, not a great picture but I will post better ones later. Very impressive setups that were well thought out and each tank and unique rockwork. I'm starting to rethink my own.
[IMG]http://web.mac.com/thomashirschmann/iWeb/Thomas%20Michael%20Hirschmann%20jr./Reefcentral%20pics%20equipemtn_files/IMGP3383.jpg[IMG/]

And finally a cuttle fish. Awesome little creatures, wish I could keep a tank of these.
[IMG]http://web.mac.com/thomashirschmann/iWeb/Thomas%20Michael%20Hirschmann%20jr./Reefcentral%20pics%20equipemtn_files/IMGP3416.jpg[IMG/]
 
Oops, Sorry. Hope this works.


Main Aquarium when you first walk in. One side is all reef fish, the other is a shark, sea turtle, and sting ray tank. The two are seperated by a huge piece of glass and is viewable from 4 sides and from the top. Very nice but no significant corals to speak of, a lot of anenomies though.
IMGP3304.jpg


Close up of one of the great fish, some are huge.
IMGP3332.jpg


Large view of the reef side
IMGP3550.jpg


The awesome 8 sided anenome, clown fish, and cardinal tank. Very cool rockwork.
IMGP3343.jpg


Close up. The fish and other life stock in this tank are naturally reproducing and are estimated to be 20th generation fish. You can see cardinal babies in sea urchins in the tank.
IMGP3347.jpg


Eel tank just because its cool. Each one was approximately 5' - 6' long and about 2' wide. Absolute monsters.
IMGP3466.jpg


One of the larger reef tanks, not a great picture but I will post better ones later. Very impressive setups that were well thought out and each tank and unique rockwork. I'm starting to rethink my own.
IMGP3383.jpg


And finally a cuttle fish. Awesome little creatures, wish I could keep a tank of these.
IMGP3416.jpg
 
Nice pictures. Sorry to hear you're having immigration troubles!

The nem and clown tank has been thinned out a little! This was it last year...

chriscarlton_monaco_2006_7.jpg


chriscarlton_monaco_2006_8.jpg
 
alright some updates finally... been long enough

I am going with a Sequence hammerhead for my main return and manifold for the filtration system alongside a dart to help it out. The closed loops are still planned to be run by darts.

I am using the 210 as a refugium now, that should do the job, and the 180 for my main sump.

Furthermore, I am not using my tunze deco rocks anymore, I think I am going to attach the tunze's to my wazyseas and let that add to the random water flow. Have to see how happy I will be with this. If anyone has any experience with these your input would be greatly appreciated.

I have also been leaning towards a BB tank lately. I have room for a remote DSB in my refugium so I might go that route. If anyone has gone BB and has regretted it please let me know, any opinion is worth hearing.

I am still stuck in Europe and can't wait to get back to get to work on my tank, I am currently in Lausanne staying with my brother and will check out some of the "local" saltwater fish stores tomorrow. My stands should be delivered soon and I will hopefully be able to put together my filtration system in one months time when I get back.

And finally an update on my tank production; the large bottom panel made it through drilling the 8 returns but cracked during tempering, so its time for an other attempt. I've asked for some pictures so I hope I can post those soon.
 
Here is my artist webpage if anyone is interested. It consists of my senior art show as well as some travel pictures I've taken over the years. Here's a little secret, I also use it to host my pictures for posting on reef central, a free frag for the first person to find the buttons leading to those pictures.

PS. I have no idea how to post those little smiley faces in my text otherwise I would, wanna let me in on it?

http://web.mac.com/thomashirschmann
 
I know of a few people with the wavy seas attached to tunze's 6100's and 6200 and are very pleased with them. go for itbest of both worlds.

oh ya by that wasy can't wait to see this monster. good luck:bum:
 
This will sure be beautiful. I have to ask a question of you guys....I've been talking it over with my family....Do you all win the Lottery? ;-) What do you do for a living? Do you need an assistant? =) I just don't see how these tanks are possible! They are amazingly beautiful....please let me know.
 
asmodeus - thanks, do you think its necessary for me to get the wavyseas + to handle the pressure of a 6200 attached to the bottom of it. I just don't want to destroy my brand new wavemaker by putting so much pressure on it that far down.

jnarowe - Ding Ding Ding, you win. Thought that might spark some inerest. I have a very nice brown zoo rock for you if you like ;-). Just let me know where to send this jem of a coral. That or a orange cap, I know how sought after these corals are.. I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures, sorry if my IDs on some of those corals were incorrect.

erics3000 + rarelyseen - I am a card carrying member of Orca but I have only had a chance to go to a few meetings since I signed up about 6 months ago. Its been a lot of fun and I can't wait to share my tank with the club. I have posted on the Orca forum but only got some limited responses, guess I need to get this thing moving to spark some interest.

Marinegirl411 - Wish I had won the lottery. I'm just lucky that a investment of mine paid off well enough for me to move forward with this tank. Sometimes taking a risk is worth it. One of the first things I knew I wanted was a bigger tank. It started with a 210g display with a 120g system but quickly snowballed into this. If I didn't get a bigger tank now i know that I would upgrade within a few years. Good luck with the lottery.
 
Well some questions on the sand bed to keep me thinking and you all interested. So here was my plan, I wanted to use acrylic risers for the rocks. The area in the canyon and about 2 - 3" around the rock structure would be covered in a 1" to 2" layer of foam at different heights to make it less obvious. I was then planning on filling in the rest of the viewable area (the space around the central rock structure) with a 1" to 2" layer of sand and rubble. 3 of the closed loop returns would point directly into the canyon to keep sand and detritus from building up.

Does this sound like a good idea? Don't like the look of a completely BB tank and wouldn't want to do it as the main reason I have a tank is to enjoy the way it looks. Does anyone have any experience with foam coming apart with to much water movement on it? Obviously that would really suck. Also I am assuming the acrylic rock supports and rock will keep the foam layer from floating up, hope I'm right with this as well. Please let me know if anyone has tried this or has seen this done.

Thank you ;-)
 
I did some experiments with foam and pop and milk crates and it didn't turn out well. The foam was so boyant that no matter how much weight I tried to attach to the crates, I could not get them to reliably stay down. I ended up giving up. I had foamed the crates and sprinkled on various sand, rosk, etc. in an attempt to give some elevation to my rock structure, moslty to allow flow under it. Total disaster. I had asked energy about how he did his, and it turns out he used adhesive to anchor his foam pillars to the tank bottom.

I would definitely ask him for advice before you get too far along!
 
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