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

Great vid and thx for emphasizing all the caveats. I'm sure that will help a lot in many people's understanding of the process.

Dave.M
 
Some of you may appreciate this. I often get asked how I deal with phosphates. I decided to do a video showing my process.
<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pg01FIN4n-w?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>



Thanks for the info.
 
I haven't seen your little box fish in the past few videos. Is he still in there?

Dave.M

I "Exported" that sucker. Caught it nipping at some softies. No sooner did I see that that I reached in and grabbed it. I ended up giving it to Jim who found it a new home.I always loved them. For the most part, I did't have issues with them and corals but the last one was different. That was close to a year ago. I haven't bothered to get another since.
 
slief said:
I "Exported" that sucker. Caught it nipping at some softies.
Bummer. Normally I'd agree with you on fish over corals, but I thought that little guy had so much character, I think I would have made an exception over a bunch of softies.

Oh well...

Dave.M
 
Bummer. Normally I'd agree with you on fish over corals, but I thought that little guy had so much character, I think I would have made an exception over a bunch of softies.

Oh well...

Dave.M

Cowfish definitely have character and I'd definitely try my luck with another one. It's hard though since there are so many aggressive feeders in my tank which would make it hard for the cowfish to get enough food. I think that prompts them to turn to corals as a source of food. With around 70 fish in my tank now, there is a lot of competition which inevitably would make it tough for the slow and dare I say dumb cowfish. Kind of a bummer too because I absolutely love them!
 
Resurrecting an older topic...

Around post 1450 or so, you wet sanded your acrylic tank to remove scratches and coralline algae. Did you not worry about all the acrylic "fines" left behind in the process irritating your livestock? I have a small acrylic tank that has been chewed up by hungry urchins, and looking to use the same process you did since it came out so great.
 
Resurrecting an older topic...

Around post 1450 or so, you wet sanded your acrylic tank to remove scratches and coralline algae. Did you not worry about all the acrylic "fines" left behind in the process irritating your livestock? I have a small acrylic tank that has been chewed up by hungry urchins, and looking to use the same process you did since it came out so great.

Nope. The plastic or acrylic dust is harmless. Plus, I have really good flow in the tank. The small amount removed for the viewing panes during the process is barely noticeable in the water column and the corals and fish didn't seem to be bothered at all. For coraline, I use metal blade scrapers that are typically used for removing coraline on glass tanks. I removed the coraline before I began the scratch removal process. I would strongly suggest removing coraline before sanding as you are likely to create more scratches trying to remove coraline by sanding it off.

Here is a thread I started some time back that documents the entire scratch removal process and includes pictures and videos showing each step.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2538092
 
Nope. The plastic or acrylic dust is harmless. Plus, I have really good flow in the tank. The small amount removed for the viewing panes during the process is barely noticeable in the water column and the corals and fish didn't seem to be bothered at all. For coraline, I use metal blade scrapers that are typically used for removing coraline on glass tanks. I removed the coraline before I began the scratch removal process. I would strongly suggest removing coraline before sanding as you are likely to create more scratches trying to remove coraline by sanding it off.



Here is a thread I started some time back that documents the entire scratch removal process and includes pictures and videos showing each step.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2538092



They probably easily float and get skimmer out quickly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I'm on the boarder of glass and acrylic, as an acrylic owner would you recommend one? My concern is with having kids in the house. Would you recommend staying with glass until they are older or just sand out imperfections later on....
 
I'm on the boarder of glass and acrylic, as an acrylic owner would you recommend one? My concern is with having kids in the house. Would you recommend staying with glass until they are older or just sand out imperfections later on....

Catch 22.. As a kid, I swung a small bat in my bedroom. When it slipped out of my hand, it flew into my 20 gallon tank.. That was all she wrote for that tank. I like the fact that scratches can be removed from acrylic and the longevity of a properly made quality acrylic tank. I've had my current tank for over 24 years now and it's still in absolutely amazing shape. As a big tank owner, I would never own a tank this size in glass. That said, my display fuge, frag tank and another 100 gallon and I have here are glass so it's really dependant on the tank and long term plans as well as cost.
 
Well thank you! I'll have to look into an acrylic tank now! Your tank is just beautiful! I love the fact it's been running for 24 years!!
 
Well thank you! I'll have to look into an acrylic tank now! Your tank is just beautiful! I love the fact it's been running for 24 years!!

Thanks! Technically the tank has been up and running at this house non stop since 1997 though I did break it down for 24 hours in order to do some scratch removal and redo the aquascape back around 1999. Prior to that, it was setup at my other house. When I bought my new house in 1997, I broke it down on a Sunday and had it back up and running Tuesday night after moving it to the new house. I reused most of my old live rock too.
 
Figured I would do a quick update. The tank is doing great. One of these days I need to take some growth pictures. That said, I had been wanting some Multibar Angelfish for nearly a year. Yesterday I was finally was able to get my hands on a couple. Also picked up a yellow coris wrasse. He's a tiny one. Smaller than I would have preferred. Hopefully it stays out of my overflow. Fortunately I have filter socks to catch it should it decide to take a ride. I spent 8 hours acclimating these fish to my water and finally got them in the system around 12:30am last night. They can in at pretty low salinity which I was expecting. Now I am waiting for the lights to come on in hopes that they come out.


FullSizeRender_zpsxzhl5alk.jpg
 
Back
Top