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

[slief]

Since my photo taking skills are not the greatest, I figured I would do a short video of the tank. This was shot a few days ago with my iPhone. The LED lighting kind of plays havoc on the camera and the coralline which is everywhere looks a bit washed out. None the less, I figured I would post this as an update. The tank is doing very well!

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[slief]

Figured I would add a bit of an update. The tank is doing really well. Since my RBTA split, one of the RBTA's has been getting ridiculously huge.. Over 2' wide and 12" across. What I find amazing is how long it stretches from the foot where it's attached to the rocks. It's extending close to 20" from it's foot to the under side of the anemone..

Jim brought his new GoPro Hero 3 over last night. Man, that camera is something! We did a 5 minute test video with that camera inside the tank and short of my lack of smoothness, it takes some pretty spectacular HD footage. I've never shot video inside the tank and I must admit, I am pretty impressed with the quality of that thing. Hopefully he will bring it back again so I can try to get a smoother video. In the mean time, I hope you enjoy.

Here are some pictures.

And the GoPro tank tour from inside the tank... Be sure to select HD.. You can view it up to 1080 resolution.
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[aquaenthusiast]

Hi slief , how is your Genesis renew system doing , could you maybe post pictures?

 

[slief]

Hi slief , how is your Genesis renew system doing , could you maybe post pictures?

Funny you mention that! I've been using the Genesis for 3 gallon per day water changes since installing it and it's worked like a charm. Today I decided to do a 40 gallon water change with the Genesis. It was the first time I've used it for a bulk water change and I couldn't help but chuckle at how easy it was to do. I sent a text a couple hours ago to my friend Jim that it was the easiest large water change I've ever done. Push a couple buttons and enjoy my beer on the couch. I really like it. I could have built my own setup and controlled it with the Apex but you can't beat the ease of use, simplicity and accuracy of the Renew system.

Jim will be here this coming Thursday shooting a new LA Fish Guys episode on my tank. The Renew will be one of the topics covered. Given that I have one of the metering buckets in my water storage shed outside with the Renew controller and the other metering bucket under the tank several feet away by the sumps, my Renew installation is not the norm.

Here is a shot of the install in the shed. You can see the metering bucket above the 100 gallon storage tanks. There is a pump in the salt water holding tank on the right that pumps water to the metering bucket. There is also an overflow line coming from the metering bucket returning back to the 100 gallon holding tank. The overflow line insures that the bucket is perfectly full. Then there is the line from the metering bucket running through the house wall to the sump. If you look close, you can see the Renew controller between the two tanks.

This is the metering bucket under the tank. There is a pump in the refugium near where the return pump draws from. This pump sends water to the metering bucket under the tank. There is also an overflow line that returns to the refugium. There is a line from the metering bucket that is routed back through the walls and into the shed where I have a drain line that is routed to an underground drain leading to the street in front of the house.

 

[li_newb]

Great Video. Jims faces are priceless. Has going bare bottom helped your params

 

[slief]

Great Video. Jims faces are priceless. Has going bare bottom helped your params

My parameters have always been great regardless of the bare bottom. I had been slowly eliminating the crushed coral and sand on the bottom of the tank but when I had the red slime outbreak, I finially eliminated 95% if what was left of my substrate. There are still a couple little patches of sand in there but it's definately much cleaner now and not having the sand makes it more difficult for stuff to settle on the bottom of my tank. Especially given all the flow I have in the tank. So while I may not have seen much if any change on my water quality as the test kits might read, there is noticeably less detritus and no more red slime. Also, my maintenance dropped substantially. Since there isn't a bunch of sand on the bottom of the tank, I really don't need to vacuum much if any. I can blast the bottom of the tank on occasion with a powerhead to suspend anything that has settled and my filter socks will do the rest of the work when the stuff makes it's way over the overflow.

 

[slief]

Jim was over last night and we filmed a new LA Fish Guys episode as an update on my tank. Stay tuned. I would expect it to be uploaded within the week if not sooner.

 

[Drae]

Are you still running the reef tech led's?

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

Can't wait for that episode. I loved watching the last series on your tank.

 

[biecacka]

Post here the date please!

Corey

 

[slief]

Are you still running the reef tech led's?

Yes, still running my Reeftech fixtures. They have been working great but I will admit that feature creep gets me thinking about switching out to some newer fixtures. Fortunately, money is short right now so I don't anticipate any lighting changes in the near future and my tank is thriving so it's probably just as well.

It will probably be a week before the new episode is up. It should be a pretty good one as we covered most of my system inside and out from the tank to the shed, the Genesis Renew to the sumps and filters. Pretty much everything was covered with exception of my Apex, which could cover an entire episode by itself due to the complexity of my Apex implementation. Jim has most of it edited already but he's undecided as to whether it will be the next episode or one to follow his next one.

I took a bunch of new pictures last night. I was playing with my iPhone while the room was dark and the tank lit up just before and during the sunset phase of the lights. These may just be some of my best pictures yet! I'm surprised how much of a difference a tap of the iPhones screen to change the focal point made with the picture quality.

Hope you enjoy the new pictures!

 

[slief]

 

[slief]

 

[slief]

 

[slief]

 

[biecacka]

What day and time and channel does the show come on?

Corey

 

[slief]

What day and time and channel does the show come on?

Corey

I will post the link here when it's uploaded. Or you can subsribe to LA Fish Guys on Youtube.

www.youtube.com/user/lafishguy

Not sure what day it will be uploaded but it should be sometime next week.

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

I'd have to agree that those are one of the best iPhone photo shots I have seen.

 

[rpjaws74]

looks very good man

 

[slief]

I'd have to agree that those are one of the best iPhone photo shots I have seen.

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality!

looks very good man

Thank you very much!