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

[slief]

It's nice when all the coral comes from the same system. Things are opening up nicely considering it's been less than a day since the swap. The updated larger display fuge is looking pretty natural. I ran to my buddies shop and grabbed a few fish. I got two little Bangai's which will hopefully pair up with my existing Bangai. I also got a lawnmower blenny, and a dragon face pipefish. They are still acclimating but here are a few more pictures of the larger display fuge.

The cave at the base of the rocks.

The peak.

A shot of the rock structure and the surrounding bottom.

A side shot showing the mangrove root canopy.

Another shot of the root canopy looking from the front.

The other side and my little banded pipe fish.

 

[slief]

The new recruits are in. Much to my surprise, the two new Bangai's started eating pods within minutes of being released. A good sign for the Bangai's. Hopefully they get along with the other Bangai in this tank. So far no issues.

Lawnmower

Dragonface pipe fish.. Slinkey!

 

[slief]

i downloaded some photo app called VSCO cam. I'm pleasantly surprised how good the ppictures are with this app. You can make color adjustments before you take a picture which is much better than making them after the fact.

 

[reefermad619]

Looks great! I also noticed the razor front tire when you were painting the standpipe. So... Whats that go on?!?!

 

[slief]

Looks great! I also noticed the razor front tire when you were painting the standpipe. So... Whats that go on?!?!

Thanks!! That tire was from my LTR450 which I sold early this year along with the rest of our sand toys. I had an extra set of razor backs for it that I hung onto to sell seperately and just haven't gotten around to selling it yet..

 

[slief]

Here are some pictures of the main display and the fish from last night. I really need to do some coraline removal.. Got to make that a priority!

 

[anbosu]

How big is your Vlamingii?

 

[slief]

How big is your Vlamingii?

He's about 7" long. I haven't measured him though and he doesn't sit still long enough.

 

[jfourn]

Your tank is acrylic right? How do you go about the coraline removal?

 

[slief]

Your tank is acrylic right? How do you go about the coraline removal?

Yes, it is acrylic. I have a big Mighty Magnet algae scrubber and use their Algae Dozer pads that have a carbon wedge piece adhered to them.
http://mightymagnets.com/algaeDozerScraperPads.html
They work pretty well on coraline but I've obviously neglected that chore. I just recently got several of the Dozer pads and need to make a point of doing some work on it to knock it back to manageable levels. The carbon wedge will loose it's edge after a bit of work so I will need to swap them a few times to get it really knocked down but they do work and really work well if you don't let it get out of control like I have.

 

[jfourn]

After 13 years how do you feel about acrylic tanks? I'm looking for a larger tank and can't decide glass or acrylic

 

[albano]

A small piece of acrylic will remove coralline without scratching the tank... You can 'snap off' a piece to continue using it, with a new edge... I also use a small plane from my X-acto blade set to put a straight edge back on plastic Kent scraper blades, to make them last much longer.

 

[slief]

After 13 years how do you feel about acrylic tanks? I'm looking for a larger tank and can't decide glass or acrylic

I've had this tank 20 years now and it's been in it's present location over 17 years. I still prefer acrylic. I guess I should ask the mods to change the title as this thread was started nearly 5 years ago.

If you do get a scratch, it can be polished out. The couple times that I have broken this tank down in the last 20 years, we polished out all the scratches making it look near new. You can even remove most scratches in the water with the correct sand paper. Overall, I like the acrylic. I'm pretty much bare bottom in the display so I have very few scratches despite the fact that the last polishing was over 10 years ago. If I had a lot of fine sand, I might feel differently but overall, I think I prefer acrylic for a large tank like this over glass. Also, given that earthquakes are very common here in So. Cal, acrylic is safer from that standpoint IMO.

 

[FDAWG]

How old is your oldest fish?

 

[albano]

How old is your oldest fish?

Just graduated high shoal!

 

[slief]

How old is your oldest fish?

I've got an Engineer Goby that I'e had for several years. About 15 month ago, I had an incident with my son and a 1/2 gallon of bleach that took out all but that one fish. Most of those fish I had for several years and a number of them were regular spawners. It was beyond devastating and I covered it in depth both in this thread as well as another one I started. Fortunately I was well prepared with lot's of water and quick action and was able to save all my corals and my anemones and the tank rebounded very quickly.

At this point, my Vlamingi Tang, Naso Tang, Lieutenant Tang, Unicorn tang, a couple of the clowns, a Mandarin Goby, Lemon Peel Angel, Flame Angel, Cardinals and some other fish have been in the tank for 13-14 months now.

Just graduated high shoal!

LOL!!! Good one!

 

[woodnaquanut]

I really need to do some coraline removal.. Got to make that a priority!

Your tank is beautiful. It would be even more so with the coraline gone.

I believe you know a maintenance guy.
Have him do it and you get behind the camera!

 

[slief]

Your tank is beautiful. It would be even more so with the coraline gone.

I believe you know a maintenance guy.
Have him do it and you get behind the camera!

:lolspin: I'm sure Jim would love that! I really do need to work on that! I'm so damn lazy though and it's going to takes hours if not days to get it knocked all the way back. If only I could automate coraline removal like I've done with most of the other laborious chores on the tank!

Now I feel like I need to go home and bust out the Algae dozer pads.. I will put some effort in to it tomorrow and over the weekend and update you on the progress! :thumbsup:

 

[Rmiles54]

I have really enjoyed reading through this journey! I look forward to starting another large tank of my own over the next couple years. Truly amazing! Thanks for sharing!

 

[slief]

:wavehand:

I have really enjoyed reading through this journey! I look forward to starting another large tank of my own over the next couple years. Truly amazing! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed reading it!