My 500 + gallon system. Last 13 years to now. Build, Aquascaping & more. Lots of pics

[slief]

Here is a video update (best viewed in HD) on my main display as well as the other tanks. The main display is looking better than ever and corals are all doing great! I also took a bunch of pictures and will post those later this evening if not tomorrow.
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[chamjack]

I've been following your tank for years. You seem to really have things dialed in now and it looks awesome! I've learned a lot from all your sharing. Keep it coming:thumbsup:

 

[slief]

I've been following your tank for years. You seem to really have things dialed in now and it looks awesome! I've learned a lot from all your sharing. Keep it coming:thumbsup:

Thank you very much for the kind words! In all honesty, the fact that the tank takes care of itself is probably the biggest reason for it's health and current state. I am not a maintenance person. In fact, my laziness would be the biggest detriment to the tank if not for the automation. It also makes this tank much more enjoyable. I'm kind of torn with the new tank because it's not connected to the main system unlike the frag tank. That means I will actually have to work to keep it up which is discouraging. If I had the space, it would be in the room next to the tank and plumbed into the main system with the rest of the stuff. Hopefully I can stay on top of the new tank and not burn myself out on it.

 

[slief]

For some odd reason that video I uploaded last night was cut substantially short. I believe I corrected the issue with my youtube account and am uploading it again.

 

[slief]

The new video is uploading. In the mean time, here are some pictures I took last night.

 

[slief]

My Strawberry Shortcake Colony under the Kessils. Frags from this colony under the GHL Mitras LX7206 look completely different.

Garf Bonsai on the right and Tri Color to the left of it.

 

[slief]

Some shots from the frag tank

Strawberry Short Cake frag from the big colong under the Mitras LX7206. The coloration under the Mitras is night and day difference.

 

[slief]

 

[slief]

I had to re-upload the last video because it got cut short on Youtube. Hopefully the issue is resolved.
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[McPuff]

Your SPS appear to be growing quite well! Where are you going to put the additional frags?? :0)

When you do put those in, I suggest using DD Aquascape putty as it is pink and sticks better than Water Weld (which I assume you used). Anyway, that's been my experience with it. Worth a shot for you.

 

[slief]

Your SPS appear to be growing quite well! Where are you going to put the additional frags?? :0)

When you do put those in, I suggest using DD Aquascape putty as it is pink and sticks better than Water Weld (which I assume you used). Anyway, that's been my experience with it. Worth a shot for you.

I usually use the pink or purple epoxy. I had a stick of the white epoxy that I used for one piece and wish I hadn't. It's an eye sore. LOL. I also have the Fauna Marin Aquascape fix which is actually really cool stuff. They are plastic like pellets that you place in hot water. They melt and form an adhesive that doesn't make a mess. It works really well and you can flatten out what you don't use and reheat it for future use.

As for the stuff in the frag tanks.. LOL is about all I can say. Finding places for some of that stuff is going to be tough. I did remove one of the big birdsnests which freed up some space for frags but beyond that, I will have to either kill some hairy mushrooms, remove some of the bigger rocks of hairy mushrooms and make some new rocks structures or start removing softies which I'd prefer not to do as I do like my soft corals. I will tell you though. I am quite surprised by the growth rates of the SPS. I've never been a huge SPS fan. I always loved the tranquility from the movement of the soft corals. When I put the first few pieces/frags of SPS in a year ago I was reluctant to even take them from my friends because I thought I'd kill them. Much to my misfortune, they took off and now I have that "bug". LOL

What's worse is that since I figured they wouldn't do well, I didn't plan their placement well and as luck would have it, they started growing fast and proved my placement wrong. The one thing I do like about the current status quo is that I really don't do anything differently than I have for the past decade. Granted I've been running a calcium reactor for the last couple years but beyond that, I don't do a darn thing other than keep my mixing tank full, feed the fish, add some iodine on occasion and clean the glass.

Not sure if you caught it in the video or if I mentioned it in a previous post but sometime before years end, I will likely be upgrading the lighting over my main display to the new GHL Mitras 7206's. I really love those lights and the colors of the corals under them. My plan is to start with 6 of them along with some of my Kessils so I can at least acclimate the corals to the new light and maintain some of the Kessil shimmer which I absolutely love.

 

[iced98lx]

Tank looks awesome as always slief.

Do you have a particular attachment to the Hairy Mushrooms?

BTW, what I always tell people who love softies and can't understand the love of SPS: the polyps still sway in the flow!

 

[slief]

Tank looks awesome as always slief.

Do you have a particular attachment to the Hairy Mushrooms?

BTW, what I always tell people who love softies and can't understand the love of SPS: the polyps still sway in the flow!

No attachment to the mushrooms. They are taking up so much space in my tank that could be used for other stuff. I won't be getting rid of the softies. I still love them and always will. I do love the colors of the SPS. I just got back from RAP and came back with WAY too much stuff! LOL. My frag tank is filled to the rim and I even got a few nice SPS colones which I need to find places for in the main display. Right now they are packed into the frag tank and I already wish I had gone with a bigger frag tank... Story of most of us in the hobby. Bigger is never big enough. LOL

 

[iced98lx]

I look forward to the hairy mushroom removal and some of that awesome stuff you've picked up being added.

I couldn't agree more on bigger is never big enough, but working within the confines adds a nice additional challenge!

 

[slief]

Saturday was Reefapalooza and I spent way too much! LOL Fortunately I had some extra cash from my Hammer frag sales. Some of which were delivered at RAP. I got a few nice SPS colonies and a bunch SPS of frags.. The colonies went into the main display yesterday and the frags are in the frag tank. The ATM guys were there and I decided to do an obligatory photo with them. I actually felt weird asking to do a photo with them. Not something I would normally do but I figured I had nothing to loose and the photo would be fun. As much as I don't like the message the Show Tanked sends to the hobbyists and new comers, I must confess that I do watch the show and even enjoy it. Wade did a double take when he saw me which led me to wonder if he's seem me on youtube via LA Fish Guys.. I didn't ask nor did he.

Yesterday I was looking at the tank when I realized my damn BTA split much to my dismay. There has been a part of me that wanted to remove it entirely so I can use that space for coral though I have been seriously torn since I've had it for about 10 years now. It's a huge BTA at about 24" across and now I was faced with two of them. Fortunately I was able to get it's twin out and I relocated it to the display refugium for the time being.
Double Vision.

BTA in the display fuge... First time I've seen bubble tips in a long time. It's amazing what happens when you have a lot of flow (main display) vs much lower flow (Display Fuge) with these guys.

Here are some pictures of the 3 new SPS colonies. I need to upload pictures of the new frags that I got but haven't gotten around to doing that yet.

Same coral different lighting time.

Another colony from RAP.

The 3rd colony from RAP

 

[saf1]

Hi Slief - May not be related but I was going to say that in one of the videos you recently posted I didn't noticed the RBTA. Was going to ask. Anyway - maybe this is why I didn't see it.

I have 6 of them with the oldest being a little over 6 years old. No idea why they do what they do. Some say stress, others say feeding. Tank is fine so unless the stress is from the mated clowns fighting all the time I couldn't say. Mine also do not have bubble tips. Some say flow, others thing otherwise. No idea and I do not directly feed.

I will say that mine originally started in a 29 gallon bio-cube. Split, and 29 gallons didn't seem like enough. On the third split I felt I was definitely out of room so moved one to another 29 gallon. Mistake. That one split Later during a move merged the two tanks into a 40 breeder and it wasn't too bad. More splits so it is upgrade time again. This time 240 gallons and that is it. If they decide to split anymore I'm going to start giving them away because I can't upgrade past this

Looks good in the 'fuge though. Nice photos and overall tank/job

 

[dave.m]

Why give them (RBTAs) away when you can sell them or trade them at your LFS for food and other goods?

Dave.M

 

[slief]

Hi Slief - May not be related but I was going to say that in one of the videos you recently posted I didn't noticed the RBTA. Was going to ask. Anyway - maybe this is why I didn't see it.

I have 6 of them with the oldest being a little over 6 years old. No idea why they do what they do. Some say stress, others say feeding. Tank is fine so unless the stress is from the mated clowns fighting all the time I couldn't say. Mine also do not have bubble tips. Some say flow, others thing otherwise. No idea and I do not directly feed.

I will say that mine originally started in a 29 gallon bio-cube. Split, and 29 gallons didn't seem like enough. On the third split I felt I was definitely out of room so moved one to another 29 gallon. Mistake. That one split Later during a move merged the two tanks into a 40 breeder and it wasn't too bad. More splits so it is upgrade time again. This time 240 gallons and that is it. If they decide to split anymore I'm going to start giving them away because I can't upgrade past this

Looks good in the 'fuge though. Nice photos and overall tank/job

Thank you very much. I've always felt they split when stressed but that's not always the case. My BTA's been in pretty much every video I've uploaded including the one I uploaded a few days ago before it split.

 

[fixmgood]

Scott your tank looks great. Thanks for the hammer, it has opened up and looks happy.I am pleased that I was able to support your addiction. I actually was looking at that blue colony that you got,and was toying with the idea of should I or have I spent enough,I guess you were the deciding factor,it is a nice piece.Great to meet you.

 

[slief]

Scott your tank looks great. Thanks for the hammer, it has opened up and looks happy.I am pleased that I was able to support your addiction. I actually was looking at that blue colony that you got,and was toying with the idea of should I or have I spent enough,I guess you were the deciding factor,it is a nice piece.Great to meet you.

Glad it's doing well! I'd bet that thing grows like a weed for you as that colony did for me! I've had a lot of coral over the years and many different hammers but that particular hammer colony has been the most prolific hammer coral I have ever seen and rivals pretty much all the other corals I've kept since I got into this hobby. Especially given the teeny tiny little head it grew from in just a few years. It likes light too so if you place it up high in your tank, I'd expect it's growth to be much quicker in terms of number of heads than down low but the heads will be smaller and tighter up high.

Hopefully those colonies do well. From what I gather, they were wild ones and I normally avoid those. The price was right and I figured I would take a gamble since I was feeling impulsive and the seller was willing to negotiate based on qty.

It was a pleasure meeting you as well! Please take pictures of it and keep me posted on it's growth. For me, my pictures seem to be the best way for me to judge the growth of my corals over time.