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

[slief]

I decided to poke around the tank last night with my flashlight. Much to my happiness, I spotted my Harlequin Shrimp. I thought this guy was a goner for sure. When I got him a few weeks back I was acclimating several frags at the same time. All in little cups. When I was done acclimating the corals, I dumped all the cups out in the kitchen sink and then went about my business. About a half hour later the wife starts screaming for me to come quick. She was washing her hands when she saw something in the sink.. In my haste, apparently I forgot to put the shrimp in the tank and instead dumped it in the sink. When I ran to see what it was, I was shocked and really upset with myself. I grabbed it and tossed it in the tank. As luck would have it, it floated right into my big BTA which immediately started closing up on it thinking it was a meal. I quickly raised my lights, grabbed my stool and reached in to pry it from the anemone. It sat on a rock for a couple hours until the lights went out and then disappeared. I saw it under a rock the next day and that was the last I'd seen of it until last night when I went looking for it. These were taken with the iPhone 7 Plus and a seperate flashlight for illumination.

It looks like it might have an Asterinia starfish in this picture.

One of my two Coral Bandits on a walkabout. This one has a big sack of eggs..Gotta love the cycle of life and food chain..

 

[zachxlutz]

Great news finding the Harlequin Shrimp, sounds like it's been through quite an adventure. Seeing the Coral Banded holding all those eggs really is exciting.

 

[slief]

Great news finding the Harlequin Shrimp, sounds like it's been through quite an adventure. Seeing the Coral Banded holding all those eggs really is exciting.

I was pleasantly surprised to find it. Especially while looking for it. It always seems that when you look for something like that, you never find it. It's only when your not looking for it that you find them. The eggs are cool. It's a shame they won't ever live to see the light of day but it's nice to have a built in food chain as I am sure the fish will enjoy the eggs or babies.

 

[ReefRealEstate]

Wow what a tank! Hope I have similar success. I'm anxious to get going on mine, still cycling on day 32. Having a phosphate issue right now from Pukani dry rock. Was off the charts until I fired up the GFO reactor will see if it can get it down. Hair algae has started to sprout up here and there. Great video too, what is your YouTube channel?

 

[slief]

Wow what a tank! Hope I have similar success. I'm anxious to get going on mine, still cycling on day 32. Having a phosphate issue right now from Pukani dry rock. Was off the charts until I fired up the GFO reactor will see if it can get it down. Hair algae has started to sprout up here and there. Great video too, what is your YouTube channel?

Thank you very much. Hair algae and other algae blooms are pretty typical with a new tank. Just let it run it's course and it should go away but it's one of those things that can take a couple months. I just setup a new 90 gallon tank here and used live rock and it too has a small hair algae bloom after just over a month despite there being no fish in the tank and no feeding. I shut the lights off and am letting it run it's course. My youtube name is slief and here is a link to my channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvWr8KN2BmfBg4D-vJWwLFA

 

[Joe0813]

that's a lot of mushrooms... how are you going to get them all out?

 

[slief]

that's a lot of mushrooms... how are you going to get them all out?

Most of the ones on the office side of the tank where the largest amount of them are happen to be on large easily removable rocks so those will be easy. I will just sell those mushroom rocks when Im ready to pull them which is pretty much any time now.

 

[worm5406]

"Wet fingers still work fine. "

HAHAHA... That is funny.

 

[ravi197699]

I bought my 2 Harlyquin Shrimps and added in my tank to take are of the Astrias, these were taking over my tank. I hope I get to see mine, there are plenty of Astiras in the tank to keep them busy for while "if they are alive"

 

[ADVRESOURCE]

Bizarro Cyphastrea

Bizarro Cyphastrea

All these "looney" designer names they come up with for these corals is insane. I don't think the guy I got it from represented it as a stylo but it certainly looks like it could be one. When I was trying to figure out what it was, stylo was one of the possibilities.

I just purchase on of these WWC specials. Colors as seen in this picture. Awesome piece!

 

[fishguy306]

Hello Scott, after seeing your name on RC for a long time now I finally took a look at your build thread starting this past Monday. It took me the better part of four days but I'm finally through it all. I just wanted to say amazing build and thank you for sharing every bit of it with us. It has been a roller coaster of emotions for sure, from the ich and bleach to the new equipment and seeing the corals and fish growing so quickly and well. As a big tech guy when it comes to tanks (that can afford most of it) your tank is seriously my dream set up. Also all of the help you give on the forum. Your posts on UV have been very helpful in particular, it is all very much appreciated.

To be honest I'm a FW kind of guy, however your build has me at least considering a reef for the large system I'm building. Thanks again for sharing, I can't wait to see how it continues to grow.

 

[slief]

Hello Scott, after seeing your name on RC for a long time now I finally took a look at your build thread starting this past Monday. It took me the better part of four days but I'm finally through it all. I just wanted to say amazing build and thank you for sharing every bit of it with us. It has been a roller coaster of emotions for sure, from the ich and bleach to the new equipment and seeing the corals and fish growing so quickly and well. As a big tech guy when it comes to tanks (that can afford most of it) your tank is seriously my dream set up. Also all of the help you give on the forum. Your posts on UV have been very helpful in particular, it is all very much appreciated.

To be honest I'm a FW kind of guy, however your build has me at least considering a reef for the large system I'm building. Thanks again for sharing, I can't wait to see how it continues to grow.

Wow!! Thank you VERY much! Your kind words are truly appreciated! Spending the time to read through the entire thread and actually read it and not just skim through the pictures... All I can say is wow! That was quite the undertaking and it's truly apprecatiated that you would take the time to do so. As such, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you! It's not often that somebody takes that kind of time to read through an entire thread like that. I will tell you that the reef side of the hobby has been the most rewarding aspect of salt water for me. I've been in it so long and had my share of fish and fish only systems. I've been told years back from my friend Jim that you can't have a "fish tank" and "reef tank" in the same system meaning that lots of fish and a healthy reef don't go well together and I know he has a different perspective now. Seeing the reef grow and enjoying the fish is so rewarding. The one thing though is that it takes time. The most successful reef'ers are the most patient. As an impatient person, I learned that lesson the hard way long ago. I guess at the end of the day, I would encourage you to not rule out doing a reef. Just start out slow and start with easy corals such as soft corals and LPS. Soft corals to begin with then LPS down the line. Once your system is doing really well with those, SPS can follow because then you will know you're on the right path and have a routine that is working.

I hope you have a terrific XMAS and New Years!

P.S. I have a ton of new pictures to upload and some additional updates as well. I just need to put it together and post it so stay tuned! :beer:

 

[fishguy306]

Thanks for the thoughts! It really was a great read, you have so much great information in this thread. I'll be honest, I didn't get to watch the videos as I wouldn't be able to listen to the sound being at work, but even without just the reading and pics were awesome.

As for the reef thing, for years I've been telling myself that I'm going to set one up and as stupid as it sounds I chicken out. I get too nervous and worried I'll mess up. Now the system I'm putting together is about 2000 gal, the main tank will be around 1000 gal. I considered a salt system, especially the last few days reading your post, but I don't think I could pull the trigger on it, mostly due to cost involved with a system that large. That and I'd have to give up my FW rays, not sure I could do that. But that said, you have me seriously thinking I'll set up something like a 40 breeder and get my feet wet finally.

Anyway, thanks again, I look forward to your upcoming post!

 

[slief]

Thanks for the thoughts! It really was a great read, you have so much great information in this thread. I'll be honest, I didn't get to watch the videos as I wouldn't be able to listen to the sound being at work, but even without just the reading and pics were awesome.

As for the reef thing, for years I've been telling myself that I'm going to set one up and as stupid as it sounds I chicken out. I get too nervous and worried I'll mess up. Now the system I'm putting together is about 2000 gal, the main tank will be around 1000 gal. I considered a salt system, especially the last few days reading your post, but I don't think I could pull the trigger on it, mostly due to cost involved with a system that large. That and I'd have to give up my FW rays, not sure I could do that. But that said, you have me seriously thinking I'll set up something like a 40 breeder and get my feet wet finally.

Anyway, thanks again, I look forward to your upcoming post!

A system that size would be insanely stable with salt water and easy to maintain. Bigger is always better with salt water and easier to maintain. The costs while expensive wouldn't be that bad. I guess bad is a relative term though. I think the biggest hardware expense would be the lights and of course stocking it but you just go slow. You could always start off with used equipment. You're already going to have to invest in a good pump for a system that size. You'd need to add a protein skimmer which wouldn't be terribly expensive if you bought a decent used one. Live rock could be had cheap enough or you could go with dead rock and save some money. Man, if you went salt, I think you'd be a happy camper a year down the line.

 

[slief]

A teaser of things to come first of the year.. There is a lighting upgrade on the horizon. 6 GHL Mitras LX7206's. I mentioned in a previous post that the same corals under the LX7206 in my frag tank take on a whole new look compared to under the Kessils.. As such, I am pretty excited about this. I will run both the Mitras and Kessils together so I can acclimate the corals to the new lighting slowly and it will also give me the opportunity to see if the 6 LX7206's will give me the coverage I need.

These should arrive at my office Jan 3. I already have the articulating light mounts for them which will allow me to aim these lights where I need the light instead of just having them hang straight down. I just need to get some additional aluminum plates for my light rack so I good attachment points for the new fixtures on my light rack. I will slot the aluminum plates so I can slide the mounts forward and back that way I can position the lights for best coverage. I will figure out what I need for those aluminum plates later today if not this weekend. :thumbsup:

 

[fishguy306]

A system that size would be insanely stable with salt water and easy to maintain. Bigger is always better with salt water and easier to maintain. The costs while expensive wouldn't be that bad. I guess bad is a relative term though. I think the biggest hardware expense would be the lights and of course stocking it but you just go slow. You could always start off with used equipment. You're already going to have to invest in a good pump for a system that size. You'd need to add a protein skimmer which wouldn't be terribly expensive if you bought a decent used one. Live rock could be had cheap enough or you could go with dead rock and save some money. Man, if you went salt, I think you'd be a happy camper a year down the line.

Honestly lighting on the system alone would put it out of my budget I suspect. That said I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about it as the gf and I will likely be moving in a few years. I'm not sure it is worth it to build this tank that I will have to cut apart and rebuild after moving. So I'm considering cutting back on the FW side as well.

I've been looking at tanks in the 180 gal range to go on that wall instead that would be suitable for a reef. It would likely be a very slow build but I am thinking it is time for me to finally get my feet wet on the salt side. I'm not certain as the price tag on everything has me holding off a bit, but I'm really thinking I will give it a go.


Edit- Awesome about the lights! I'm looking forward to the update!

 

[slief]

My brother got me a camera for XMAS. It's my first real camera and it's been an interesting learning experience. I've been doing a lot of reading and watching of videos so I could get a grasp on different settings and such. The camera is a Sony A6500. Thus far I have a Sigma 60mm lens which is basically a portrait lens. I thought it would work for marco but it's focal point isn't good for that. I have a Sony 18-200 lens and a Tamron 16-300. I will likely return the Tamron and get a decent macro lens. I rented a Tamron 60mm Macro for a day and managed to get some pretty good shots. I shot the macro pictures below in manual mode. I messed with the F Stop but didn't play with ISO on any of the pictures. The next pictures I take, I will start playing with the ISO settings. These were all shot in RAW and processed in Light Room. I shot close to 600 pictures to come up with around 100 or so that were pretty good but I know I can do much better once get get at the setting combinations dialed in. I need to get a good white object that i can place in the tank for white balancing to see if I can improve on white balance to reduce processing time in Light Room. All the processing quickly exploited the weakness in my computer at home. That will get a severe makeover/upgrade next week once I get back to my office. A new X99 motherboard and i7 CPU and an Nvidia GTX1070 GPU along with an SSD OS drive and internal raid set for the media drive will suffice. Anyhow, here are some pictures.

 

[slief]

 

[slief]

A few fish pics. I'm not good at the fish. Since they are always moving and don't sit still long enough, I probably need to learn more to get better pictures and likely need a better lens for them. I think different ISO settings will help with that.

 

[slief]