Mhucasey's SPS obsession

Great write up, glad you decided to start a thread about your tank!

I saw a pic of your tank oh a month or so ago and thought to myself that your tank looked a lot like my new tank (just the actual tank :) ), come to find out they're pretty close - mine's 35x28x20 clear back panel, center overflow, rimless starphire with clear silicone...looks about the same :)

I'm running a 6 bulb ATI fixture with 2 reefbrites - I'm currently running an ATI True Actinic in the mix and have been thinking about swapping out a bulb and throwing in a Giesemann Super Actinic in its place, so I would then be running 2 actinic bulbs... Hopefully this doesn't affect the par too much.

Any chance you can get a shot of your leopard wrasse? Thanks!
 
I love everything about your system mate, especially the beautiful saturated colors on your acros :thumbsup:
I grew up with short haired dachshunds as our family pets - i love your dog too ! :)

Keep doing things the way you are regardless of any water test results........;)
 
Jmason95 said:
Great write up, glad you decided to start a thread about your tank!

I saw a pic of your tank oh a month or so ago and thought to myself that your tank looked a lot like my new tank (just the actual tank :) ), come to find out they're pretty close - mine's 35x28x20 clear back panel, center overflow, rimless starphire with clear silicone...looks about the same :)

I'm running a 6 bulb ATI fixture with 2 reefbrites - I'm currently running an ATI True Actinic in the mix and have been thinking about swapping out a bulb and throwing in a Giesemann Super Actinic in its place, so I would then be running 2 actinic bulbs... Hopefully this doesn't affect the par too much.

Any chance you can get a shot of your leopard wrasse? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Thanks! Its a really nice dimension, but I have run out of room:(
I am starting the planning for a larger tank, maybe 6 feet long by 3 feet wide by 22" tall...
Sorry I don't have a shot of the Leopard Wrasse, he is a shy one. Several of the other fish are photo bombers though, I try to take a picture up close and they mob the glass:lmao: If i can get one Ill post it.
 
biggles said:
I love everything about your system mate, especially the beautiful saturated colors on your acros :thumbsup:
I grew up with short haired dachshunds as our family pets - i love your dog too ! :)

Keep doing things the way you are regardless of any water test results........;)
Click to expand...

I'm glad you like it, I'm doing my best to change out the green acros, I had a hard time at the beginning passing them up and they are taking up valuable real-estate now.

The color on the acros is all real, the shop I buy them from uses 400 watt radiums and they are really pale when I get them but they get really rich color when they spend some time under the T5s. Sometimes they change color so dramatically that they look like a different coral. i had one that was pale white with blue polyps that turned orange, then green. Bloody green acros!

The other obsession in my life is our dogs. We actually have 4 wiener dogs, two pure bred, two mixes. Three of them are rescues. I love to show them off so since you gave me an opening, here is Dinky and Woody...heh heh:

picture.php

and here is Buddy:
picture.php

And here is how I end up when looking at the tank...im a human pillow. The white pup is Lily:
picture.php
 
Last edited:
Some more coral shots, this time from the side...Colors from the top are easy:
picture.php

Garf Bonsai...rescued from near death at one point:
picture.php

German blue polyp(I think):
picture.php

"Pink" planet....keeping this red has been a pain:
picture.php

solitaryensis:
picture.php


The pictures are post processed and desaturated just for you biggles:wavehand:
 
Awesome doggy pics, those guys are too cool for words. :) I'd be happy being a dog pillow again lol.

Trust me mate, i've post processed enough pics to know your pics don't come close to doing your colors justice but i appreciate you not posting non 'mood lighting' pics. :thumbsup:

Anything that looks like a stunning zeo yellow acro at your LFS is to be avoided like the plague - ALL of them are stressed out greeners :hammer:
It has to be a bloody nice shade of green to keep its place in my display so be brutal, greens are a dime a dozen now days - back in 2000 that's all i could buy, bloody green acros :(

Those gorgonians are taking the spot your blue speciosa should be growing in......... :p
 
I am surprised to say this, but man I already love this thread. I say this because I have OCD issues, and unless the equipment room is dang near static room clean, it bugs me. But something about your set up makes me smile, and I think it's the sheer ingenuity of it. I don't think I've ever seen a settling tank before, definitely not like that!

Your tank demonstrates just how well your methodology works, it's truly beautiful, congrats on a job well done. I am subscribed for sure. :)
 
"Fishes, dogs, holes around the house, never mowing your lawn.... Your wife must love you"... that was what my friend said to me when I lived in California...Hahaha


BTW, good SPS color. Cool!!!
 
biggles said:
Anything that looks like a stunning zeo yellow acro at your LFS is to be avoided like the plague - ALL of them are stressed out greeners :hammer:
.
.
Those gorgonians are taking the spot your blue speciosa should be growing in......... :p
Click to expand...

Biggles, any tips on finding a true yellow? You are right about green being a dime a dozen. The other one for me is Purple Stylophora. I wanted one of these based on looks when I got the tank so I got two frags of it and I've probably thrown away a gallon of it straight to the trash while trimming it. I finally chopped a large colony of it that was up front off at the base and gave it to my fish store. I kalk pasted the base and its grown right back:angryfire:. Its a damn weed! I have another colony in the back corner the size of a basketball.

The Gorgonian is another weed. I very much like the idea of a speciosa there, but I haven't seen much of those type acros in the local stores lately...

"Fishes, dogs, holes around the house, never mowing your lawn.... Your wife must love you"... that was what my friend said to me when I lived in California...Hahaha
BTW, good SPS color. Cool!!!
Click to expand...
California Living is pretty darn good, as long as you can pay...Hopefully getting solar on my house this year to make our tanks use of electricity irrelevant. Thanks for the kind words!

I am surprised to say this, but man I already love this thread. I say this because I have OCD issues, and unless the equipment room is dang near static room clean, it bugs me. But something about your set up makes me smile, and I think it's the sheer ingenuity of it. I don't think I've ever seen a settling tank before, definitely not like that!

Your tank demonstrates just how well your methodology works, it's truly beautiful, congrats on a job well done. I am subscribed for sure.
Click to expand...
Well for a while it was pretty organized out there, and looked good:wave:
Under the tank was really well laid out for example too:
picture.php

I have been truly blessed to have the means to try different methodologies and approaches on the system, and now, after all I tried, its working the best with just a simple Skimmer and Biopellet setup. Sure, the water flows all over the system like a water park, but really thats all it is. I will have a very clean and organized sump under the tank when I upgrade - all the parts will have to fit under there. Thanks for following along with my madness!

Love the tank and the dogs!
Dinky.
Click to expand...
Thanks!
The best part about wiener dogs is you can use "wiener" constantly in daily speech. Add to that that we have a wiener named Woody and the comedy writes itself:fun2:
 
Great tank, great corals and colors, great set up, great post...great everything. Subscribed!

Congratulations and many thanks for sharing!
 
I can't say i've ever seen a real yellow acro mate, everything i've seen is really a very 'yellow' shade of fluoro lime pigmentation. I love using small stylo frags as buffers between acros to slow down their encrusting. They have to go up and over the sacrificial stylo to keep moving forward.
Your wiring is nowhere near as much fun as my dining chair wiring setup. I bet anyone could work out how to turn off the return pump within a minute, it would take you a good ten minutes to solve my reef wiring puzzle....:smokin:

Do you have any pink milli - if not i think you should make that a priority acro to add to your yummy collection - i have your back on the greeners :beer:
 
biggles said:
I can't say i've ever seen a real yellow acro mate, everything i've seen is really a very 'yellow' shade of fluoro lime pigmentation. I love using small stylo frags as buffers between acros to slow down their encrusting. They have to go up and over the sacrificial stylo to keep moving forward.
Your wiring is nowhere near as much fun as my dining chair wiring setup. I bet anyone could work out how to turn off the return pump within a minute, it would take you a good ten minutes to solve my reef wiring puzzle....:smokin:

Do you have any pink milli - if not i think you should make that a priority acro to add to your yummy collection - i have your back on the greeners :beer:
Click to expand...

I know there are some that are pretty close, but they are rare. Krzysztof(lunar) has one that is just ridiculous, and there is one in this video at 3:46:
http://youtu.be/CKyGKVuO97s

I've been training encrusting montipora onto the rocks between frags for the same reason, plus it looks better than rock. Once I figured out Acro beats monti I planted it all over. If the monti gets too close, the acro gets a snack and trims it back:)

I have a red milli, but I think its going to be more of a dark red rather than pink. There was a piece that came in to my local store a while back that was off the charts pink...for 500 bucks...it was so intense I actually considered it:lol: A pink coral is on my short list, just waiting for the right one:)
 
I recently rebooted my system because of M. Confusa over taking my acros. It only took two years to get out of control. Tried to keep it at bay with epoxy but it grows extremely fast, you can almost see it growing daily. Going forward, I will never add encrusting monti, unless it is well isolated. I made the mistake of letting it bridge the gap. When I say reboot, I mean total tear down and acid bath 100% of the rock. I could not take it anymore. Roughly 50% of my rocks were covered with it.

I am currently cooking my rocks. Beware of the run-away corals.
 
Interesting. I have a Confusa as well as purple haze, Bloody Mary, and rainbow montis growing right up to acros and they get beaten back pretty well by the acros. Sometimes I give them a trim with the agave vac mower to give them some extra room. I'll keep an eye on them with your advice in mind.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

K
Help: SPS peeling strangely.
Replies
5
Views
145
griss
griss
Itchy Trigger
Heaters for Sump and for Storage Tanks
Replies
2
Views
88
aquaman67
aquaman67
S
New tank inhabitants introduction order?
Replies
15
Views
176
Sermanley
S
Lebowski_
Why do SPS need "aged" tanks?
Replies
5
Views
394
shred5
shred5
Brian60077
Be patient, wait, and do not rush to add things ???
Replies
11
Views
223
Brian60077
Brian60077
Back
Top