Jasonanatal's Piece of the Reef (Photographic Intensive)

Jasonanatal

New member
I wanted to keep a digital diary if you may of my most recent aquarium setup. I guess you can say I have been both blessed and cursed with having to move about 5 times within a 7 month span, but it has allowed me to work out issues on different types of Aquatuc Setups. I just moved into a 2nd floor apartment in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx with my wife, puppy and soon to be newborn baby and with the increased room my wife has said I can get whateer size aquarium I choose. :) So please enjoy and feel free to comment or make suggestions.


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Photograph - June 15, 2007 - 135 gallon Reef Aquarium.

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Photograph - June 15, 2007 - 135 gallon Reef Aquarium.
 
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Looks good! Can you give some details on the sump/'fuge set-up? It looks very interesting. Go Yanks!!
 
Trigeek, thank you for the compliments. I will be posting some information about the setup this afternoon since I will be upgrading my Protein Skimmer.
 
Speaking from experience, and I am sure you know this, but "little hands" like to touch things that look cool. I fianlly moved to a house where I could have the show tank in the living room and the sump in the basement. In the past, everything had to be behind locked doors with nothing showing.

Anyways, the system looks very good. What size is that tank setting on the ground next to the show tank?? Come to think of it, I have read about people who use doors with magnets.
 
Looks very nice! I agree with Mr. James about the little hands, but would also be worried about the puppy. I seem to remember a vet on here talking about how saltwater could kill a dog if it drank it. Something about the way its body couldn't get rid of such a high concentration of salt. What are you planning on keeping? I assume SPS from the Vortech and halides.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10479236#post10479236 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mr James
Speaking from experience, and I am sure you know this, but "little hands" like to touch things that look cool. I fianlly moved to a house where I could have the show tank in the living room and the sump in the basement. In the past, everything had to be behind locked doors with nothing showing.

Anyways, the system looks very good. What size is that tank setting on the ground next to the show tank?? Come to think of it, I have read about people who use doors with magnets.

Mr James, thank you for the compliments on my Reef Aquarium setup. I have been thinking about building an enclosure around it but I want to get my hardware setup complete before I even start that project. The sump/refugium is a 45 gallon Aquarium that was from my previous setup.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10479244#post10479244 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by crab0000
Looks very nice! I agree with Mr. James about the little hands, but would also be worried about the puppy. I seem to remember a vet on here talking about how saltwater could kill a dog if it drank it. Something about the way its body couldn't get rid of such a high concentration of salt. What are you planning on keeping? I assume SPS from the Vortech and halides.

Crab0000, thank you for the compliments on my Reef Aquarium. You are absolutely correct in your assumption. I am going for a dominant SPS Reef Aquarium with Clams and Polyps on the Substrate. As for my puppy he is a Yorkshire Terrier Toy Breed and has reached his maximum weight of 4 lbs. I normally place him within his perimeter fence when workong on my Reef Aquarium since he is always so curious. But when I'm just walking around the house all he see's is another wall there and ignores it completely. It also helps that my wife is a Vet should anything ever happen. Knock on wood! ;-)
 
Sump/Refugium Setup

As we all know the larger the volume of saltwater within our Reef Aquariums the better we are to guard ourselves from experiencing fluctuations within our water parameters. That was one of my goals within this setup. Being able to create an environement with stability in mind. My sump/refugium is actually a 45 gallon Aquarium that I had from a previous setup which is tall enough to come up to about my waist. I decided that placing it on the side of the 90 gallon Display Aquarium would be more beneificial then placing a standard Aquarium undernearth as with many Sump/Refugium setups.

The Sump/Refugium is currently housing my newly installed ASM GS-2 Protein Skimmer which is rated for a 180 gallon Reef Aquarium consuming only 35 watts of electricity and running virtually silent with no water gurgling. (I had a Corallife Super Skimmer 65 which was rate for a 65 gallon Reef Aquarium and just wasn't performing as it should.) I have two Marineland Visi-Therm 200 watt Heaters which are awesome and have never failed me in 2 years and keep my water temps within the 75 degrees Fahrenheit to 76 degrees Fahrenheit range. I have one Float switch connected to my Do-it-Yourself automatic RO/DI Freshwater Top-Off Kit. Last but not least one Maxi-Jet 1200 Powerhead which is acting as my return pump into my 90 gallon Display Aquarium. (I will be swapping this pump out most likely tomorrow for a Mag-7 or Rio 3200 in order to increase the Turnover Rate.

Benefits of a 45 gallon Tall Aquarium as a Sump/Refugium:

1. Increased 45 gallons saltwater capacity from 90 gallons within the Display Aquarium to 135 gallons for the total system.

2. Ability to place all equipment such as Heaters, Protein Skimmers, etc. within the Sump/Refugium to allow for a more natural looking Reef Aquarium.

3. Water changes are a not difficult being able to syphon water out from the Sump/Refugium and Just lifting a bucket waist high as oppossed to over your head to refill with new Saltwater.

4. Perfect area for dosing chemicals & supplements so that they mix appropriately and are distributed among the Reef Aquarium evenly.

5. Just looks awesome to step away from the normal procedures of a Reef Aquarium and try something new.


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Photograph - August 04, 2007 - Size comparison of my new AS GS-2 Protein Skimmer to my 1 year old Yorkshire Terrier Dusty. It's okay little boy..... Daddy is not going to put you inside the Skimmer!

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Photograph - August 04, 2007 - 45 gallon Sump/Refugium Setup for my 135 gallon Reef Aquarium.

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Photograph - August 04, 2007 - ASM GS-2 Protein Skimmer in action. Performance is that of a Euro-Reef Protein Skimmer just different material construction.

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Photograph - August 04, 2007 - ASM GS-2 Protein Skimmer foaming away with virtually zero noise or water gurgling.

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Photograph - August 04, 2007 - ASM GS-2 Protein Skimmer foaming away with virtually zero noise or water gurgling.

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Photograph - August 04, 2007 - ASM GS-2 Protein Skimmer Collection Cup.
 
I wonder if you could put your fuge at the bottom of that deep tank. You could place your fuge light on the floor next to the tank illuminating from the side instead of top down. Light is going to affect the inside of that skimmer if you don't hide it some how. I bet you could get algae's growing on the inside of the skimmer body.

Also, you may want to look into the recirculating mod for that ASM. I did it with an ASM G-3 that I tried out a while back. I also did the gate valve mod.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10482928#post10482928 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mr James
I wonder if you could put your fuge at the bottom of that deep tank. You could place your fuge light on the floor next to the tank illuminating from the side instead of top down. Light is going to affect the inside of that skimmer if you don't hide it some how. I bet you could get algae's growing on the inside of the skimmer body.

Also, you may want to look into the recirculating mod for that ASM. I did it with an ASM G-3 that I tried out a while back. I also did the gate valve mod.

Lighting from the side is definitely something that I have considered when I eventually start stocking Macro-Algea within my Sump/Refugium. When you say that light is going to effect the Protein Skimmer are you reffering to the Light from my Reef Aquarium or if I were to install a light above my Sump/Refugium? Also would you have any documentation on the modification of the ASM GS-2 Protein Skimmer to a Recirculating Protein Skimmer? That sounds interesting but I'm not entirely sure that I want to start messing around with a $300.00 piece of equipment that I just purchased. Maybe somewhere down the line.
 
The gate valve mod may be a better start. Check the ASM forum or Iknow they have the info with very detailed pics on the ASM website.

You could make a very interesting 'fuge there. What do you have now on the bottom? Are you using that 10g for anything?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10483123#post10483123 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Trigeek
The gate valve mod may be a better start. Check the ASM forum or Iknow they have the info with very detailed pics on the ASM website.

You could make a very interesting 'fuge there. What do you have now on the bottom? Are you using that 10g for anything?

Would you happen to have the URL to the ASM Website? I'm acutally going to use the 10 gallon as a Quarentine Tank. I have some other additions that I'm looking to make to the Sump/Refugium including a Phosphate Reactor, Maybe a Reactor to Run Reef Carbon through for water polishing and definitely a Calcium Reactor down the line.
 
Recreating Sunlight for My Reef Aquarium

My lighting setup is composed of a modified 480 watt Current USA Nova Extreme T5 VHO Lighting System with two 150 watt Hello Lights Electronic Metal Halide Retro-Fit Kits. I originally was going to stay only with Metal Halides but I had this 48 inch lighting system in storage so I decided to take advantage of it. I removed 4 of the center T5 VHO bulbs from the Nova Extreme lighting system. (This was not by choice, I acutally broke 4 bulbs while transporting it from storage to my home.) Then mounted the two Metal Halides within the Nova Extreme fixture. Resulting in a hybrid Metal Halide/T5 VHO Lighting System with Moonlights for a 24 hour lighting system capable of emitting 516 watts of Reef Aquarium lighting. I am currently running two 150 watt XM 10,000K Metal Halide bulbs, two T5 VHO Current USA 10,000K bulbs and two T5 VHO Current USA 460NM Actinic bulbs.


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Photograph - June 15, 2007 - Modified Current USA Nova Extreme lighting system combining T5 VHO and Hello Lights Electronic Metal Halides.

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Photograph - June 15, 2007 - Modified Current USA Nova Extreme lighting system combining T5 VHO and Hello Lights Electronic Metal Halides Daul Exhaust Fans.

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Photograph - June 15, 2007 - Modified Current USA Nova Extreme lighting system combining T5 VHO and Hello Lights Electronic Metal Halides Ballast.
 
The Inhabitants of the Reef.

I just though I would show you all some photographs of the little aquatic buddies that live in my Reef Aquarium. I hope you enjoy.


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Photograph - July 20, 2007 - Gold Stripped Maroon Clownfish.

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Photograph - July 20, 2007 - Powder Brown Tang.

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Photograph July 25, 2007 - Horshoe Crab, now a perminent resident of my Sump/Refugium.

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Photograph - July 15, 2007 - Bali Green Slimer Staghorn Acropora Coral.

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Photograph - July 17, 2007 - Purple Torusa Acropora Coral.

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Photograph - July 17, 2007 - Green Montipora Capricornus Coral.
 
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Very nice setup.I think you have more than enough light to keep sps,clams,and anything else you want.You can also go with Randy"s 2 part for calcium and alkilinity.I used this method along with a reef doser for my 150 gal tank.It worked great.My levels were always stable.I will use this method on my 300 gal tank that I am starting up.
 
I had a maroon clown for over 7 years nice fish but the fish loved to dig and move things around.I think you will have a problem with the crab.If I am not mistaken they grow very large and pretty fast so I don't know how long before he outgrows the tank.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10484596#post10484596 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by steve the plumb
I had a maroon clown for over 7 years nice fish but the fish loved to dig and move things around.I think you will have a problem with the crab.If I am not mistaken they grow very large and pretty fast so I don't know how long before he outgrows the tank.

Steve The Plumb, thank you very much for the compliments on my Reef Aquarium. I am currently using Kent Marine Tech CB part A and Kent Marine Tech CB part B Calcium Supplements on my Reef Aquarium and I'm pretty happy with the results so far. As for the Horshoe Crab he is only going to stay in my Sump/Refugium until he is to large to really be housed in it the my Wife and I are donating them to the New York Aquarium. As for my lighting I'm pretty sure I'm going to upgrade to two Hello Lights 250 watt Electronic Metal Halides very soon. Even though I have seen some awesome growth already.
 
Looks good! But I'm curious....a few of your pictures are dated August 15 and August 17....but it's only August 5 :D

Keep on updating!
 
You can look into Randy' 2 part its much cheaper than buying the bottles(been there done that) very easy to make and the cost is a joke.It becomes costly to use the store bought once the tank becomes loaded with corals.I use to go threw a bottle of calcium per month till I learned about how to make your own.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10484635#post10484635 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Der_Iron_Chef
Looks good! But I'm curious....a few of your pictures are dated August 15 and August 17....but it's only August 5 :D

Keep on updating!

Der_Ion_Chef, sorry tyypographical error. I have been at work for about 3 days straight now with little or no sleep. Thank you for the compliments on my Reef Aquarium.
 
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