slief
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:beer:
My 500 + gallon system. Last 13 years to now. Build, Aquascaping & more. Lots of pics
- Thread starter slief
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slief
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That little chiller works damn well! Last night I set the thermostat to 32*.. This moring the jar of food was frozen solid despite the use of slat water. Note to self: Don't set the Thermostat below 37*. A quick thaw by placing the jar in warm water fixed that and todays mid day supplemental feeding went off without a hitch. The fish seem to love it and everybody gets in on the feeding action. Even the Leopard Wrasse who is fattening up nicely.
Speaking of fattening up, my month or so old Borbonius has grown a bunch already. That thing is a pig! Also, much to my surprise, the two dragonface pipe fish seem to be doing well in the main display. They are always hanging out together foraging in the rocks. I wasn't expecting them to last very long but much to my surprise, they seem to be finding enough food in the rocks and what little sand I have in there. The banded pipe fish in my display fuge is also thriving. He's a little pig and eats any frozen food I put in the tank. He even bites off more than he can chew. Yesterday he tried to eat a piece of LRS frozen food that was much bigger than he could fit in his mouth. He swam around with it stuck halfway into his mouth for several minutes before I intervened and helped him dislodge it. I'm kind of tempted to add a few banded pipe fish to my main display given how well this one has done. He has no issue dealing with the flow from my tunzes in the display fuge and competes just fine with the bangai cardinal in the tank with him. Given the amount of food I feed in the big tank, I suspect they would do just fine in there and they are very different or unique which I really like.
Speaking of fattening up, my month or so old Borbonius has grown a bunch already. That thing is a pig! Also, much to my surprise, the two dragonface pipe fish seem to be doing well in the main display. They are always hanging out together foraging in the rocks. I wasn't expecting them to last very long but much to my surprise, they seem to be finding enough food in the rocks and what little sand I have in there. The banded pipe fish in my display fuge is also thriving. He's a little pig and eats any frozen food I put in the tank. He even bites off more than he can chew. Yesterday he tried to eat a piece of LRS frozen food that was much bigger than he could fit in his mouth. He swam around with it stuck halfway into his mouth for several minutes before I intervened and helped him dislodge it. I'm kind of tempted to add a few banded pipe fish to my main display given how well this one has done. He has no issue dealing with the flow from my tunzes in the display fuge and competes just fine with the bangai cardinal in the tank with him. Given the amount of food I feed in the big tank, I suspect they would do just fine in there and they are very different or unique which I really like.
slief
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Interesting... I'm using my iPad with a keyboard. When I tried that, as soon as I hit the Alt key followed by the "0" key, the degree symbol appeared. Thanks for the tip! º_º
Wow, I've spent a solid amount of time (4ish hours) skimming this thread. I do mean skimming. Haha.
It's very nice to see you stick with the tank after the hard times. It would have been far less expensive to just turn that section (tank built in) into something something else or remove it all together. You're very serious when you say that your in it forever and it's definitely a part of your life. You've also done a bang up job in documenting the tank. I know how much time it takes to "just sit down and update your thread". Your wife is very understanding and your a lucky man. My wife is very understanding and she loves our tank but I can spend to much time on it. Haha.
It looks like it's bare bottom in some pics but, in others it just looks like the sand is blown away and there is a thin layer in the tank. Is there sand in the main display?
How long do you keep your salt water in the tank outside before you mix up more? I know your doing daily water changes but, how low do you let the tank get? Have you ever had any need to use all of it so you could clean the tank due to it going stagnant? What about the RO/DI water?
How is the new lighting treating you? I should ask how it's treating your coral.
You seem like a very imaginative guy. One who thinks out of the box. The power head mods are pretty cool. I don't think I would have ever tried to place the mount from a korillia in a piece of lock line. Genius.
I remember seeing the LA fish guys videos of you a couple years ago. For some reason I didn't think you were on the boards. Lucky us, you are. Just curious, What kept you from using a Reef Dynamics skimmer?
I have more running through my head but that's a long enough post.
Thanks for reading.
It's very nice to see you stick with the tank after the hard times. It would have been far less expensive to just turn that section (tank built in) into something something else or remove it all together. You're very serious when you say that your in it forever and it's definitely a part of your life. You've also done a bang up job in documenting the tank. I know how much time it takes to "just sit down and update your thread". Your wife is very understanding and your a lucky man. My wife is very understanding and she loves our tank but I can spend to much time on it. Haha.
It looks like it's bare bottom in some pics but, in others it just looks like the sand is blown away and there is a thin layer in the tank. Is there sand in the main display?
How long do you keep your salt water in the tank outside before you mix up more? I know your doing daily water changes but, how low do you let the tank get? Have you ever had any need to use all of it so you could clean the tank due to it going stagnant? What about the RO/DI water?
How is the new lighting treating you? I should ask how it's treating your coral.
You seem like a very imaginative guy. One who thinks out of the box. The power head mods are pretty cool. I don't think I would have ever tried to place the mount from a korillia in a piece of lock line. Genius.
I remember seeing the LA fish guys videos of you a couple years ago. For some reason I didn't think you were on the boards. Lucky us, you are. Just curious, What kept you from using a Reef Dynamics skimmer?
I have more running through my head but that's a long enough post.
Thanks for reading.
slief
RC Sponsor
Thank you very much! That's a lot of reading! My wife puts up with it. I had tanks long before she came into the picture so she'd better understand! Fortunately, I don't put that much time into it.You would be surprised.
The bottom of the tank is mostly bare. There are some scattered patches of sand and crushed coral but most of it's been removed. I much prefer the bare bottom but like the patches as long as they stay away from my viewing panes which they do because of my flow.
I add more water and salt to my 100 gallon water tank every 5 days or so. I go through about 35 gallons a week via automated water changes. Every couple months I will do a 30-40 gallon water change but other than that, it's about 35 gallons a week being added. My water is stored in the dark and my mix pump comes on every 3 hours and runs for 10 minutes. It's always fresh though.
The lights are doing great. My corals seem to love them and all are showing increased growth since the change. I've very happy with the results.
Thanks for catching the pump mounts! I thought that was pretty clever myself. Since I had the bulkheads there and didn't want to see the wires coupled with the fact that my acrylic was too thick for the magnets, it occurred to me that I could use those for the my mounts. It worked out especially well when I switched to the Tunze's.
As for Reef Dynamics skimmers.. I use a Euro Reef skimmer on a tank at my office. I've owned several of them over the years on other tanks but this tank has always had big high end skimmers and in the end, I've opted for what I consider to be higher end skimmers and or larger skimmers. No knock on Reef Dynamics but I was after something different.
LA Fish Guy Jim is a good friend of mine. I've known him over 20 years now. I've enjoyed having my tank featured as much as he's enjoyed covering it. He services the tank at my office and is here once or twice a month as well to scrub my glass as I do fall behind on that chore although lately I've been working hard on coraline removal so my glass has been really clean. He's always intimidated by my automation and bird brained ideas which I get a kick out of. There will be another episode in a week or two covering the display refugium upgrade. He's editing that one now. There have been upwards of a half a dozen different episodes and countless parts covering all of my major upgrades over the last 5 years. We are even talking about doing a dedicated LA Fish Guy series on automation among other things in which I would host along with him.
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biecacka
Active member
Slief, you do automated water changes right? Then you also do a manual one every 3-4 months!
"I add more water and salt to my 100 gallon water tank every 5 days or so. I go through about 35 gallons a week via automated water changes. Every couple months I will do a 30-40 gallon water change but other than that, it's about 35 gallons a week being added."
Corey
"I add more water and salt to my 100 gallon water tank every 5 days or so. I go through about 35 gallons a week via automated water changes. Every couple months I will do a 30-40 gallon water change but other than that, it's about 35 gallons a week being added."
Corey
slief
RC Sponsor
Yes. I do 5 gallon daily automated water changes. Every couple months or more, I trigger a larger water change. I do this when I feel like it or when I see something in the tank that tells me it's time for a larger water change. I pay a lot of attention to my corals and algae growth. A subtle change in the corals or a change in the algae color on the viewing panes is enough for me to set the Renew to do a larger water change.
biecacka
Active member
You have been doing the daily water changes for awhile right? Genesis if I recall. Have you noticed any real difference in the method over monthly water changes. Or is it just easier for you? Have you found your softies and lps to preferer the cleaver water or slightly dirtier? I would guess with tanks your size and that many fish the 1% daily water change is a plus but not big enough to keep "perfect" which is ok based on what you keep.
I'm curious because your tank is twice the size of mine but I have about 24 fish in mine and that's a lot of food to feed them plus the servant stars and when I move I would love to entertain the idea of auto water change to allow a good feeding regime and not worry as much about monthly water changes or rely solely on our skimmers to remove organics from our tanks.
Corey
I'm curious because your tank is twice the size of mine but I have about 24 fish in mine and that's a lot of food to feed them plus the servant stars and when I move I would love to entertain the idea of auto water change to allow a good feeding regime and not worry as much about monthly water changes or rely solely on our skimmers to remove organics from our tanks.
Corey
slief
RC Sponsor
I've been doing automated water changes for almost 5 years now. Prior to doing the automated water changes, I was doing weekly or bi-weekly water changes. I can't say I recall my corals ever doing any better than they are now but it's been a long time since I was doing them manually. I've been using the Genesis Renew for well over a year and used a Litermeter III prior to the Renew.
I think the 25-30% monthly water changes are more than enough despite my reasonably heavy load and heavy daily feedings. My water quality is pristine. I never have detectable nitrates. I don't dose anything and my Ca stays in the mid 400's. All other parameters are within acceptable ranges too and I credit my water changes for playing a big role in the stability of my parameters. Between the water changes and the refugiums/macro, my nutrient levels are well within check. Po4 is the only thing that I have to stay on top of but I attribute that to the fact that most of my live rock has been with me for about 20 years and probably has a fair amount of Po4 embedded in them from the years of not monitoring. I address that every 4-6 months by treating with LaCl as I've documented earlier in this thread.
slief
RC Sponsor
Got some interesting new fish for the main tank yesterday. Picked up 3 Yellow multi banded pipe fish and a regular banded pipefish. Since the two dragon face pipefish are doing well in the main tank and the banded pipefish is doing well in the display fuge, I figured I would add some more to the main display.
The regular banded pipefish has been prowling around under the rocks while the other three multibanded pipefish have been out and about.
The regular banded pipefish has been prowling around under the rocks while the other three multibanded pipefish have been out and about.
slief
RC Sponsor
Very nice. Still amazing how a soft coral tank can look so epic
I know you host a variety of corals but some of them seem to go hand in hand with your fish (soft & pipe for example). Fit, match, align, something.
I really like the pipefish too! Unfortunately, I think I lost two of the new Multibanded ones. I noticed the other day that one of them was missing his tail and a second one seemed to be missing the tip of it's nose. I suspect a fish or coral bandit mistook them for food. I haven't seen either of those two since yesterday but the 3rd one is out and about and just fine. The regular banded pipefish is doing fine as well although he tends to stay on one side of the tank and is rarely out in the open. Hopefully that changes.
My two Dragonface Pipefish in the main display are doing remarkably well. They have been in there for over a month now and have grown quite a bit and are always foraging in the rocks. They are pretty fat now. The other banded pipefish in my display fuge is fat and happy too. He eats like pig. We will see how this last multiband does but I don't have high hopes given what appears to have happened to his two friends. Then again, I didn't have high hopes for my other pipefish but I have been pleasantly surprised so who knows. I'd like to have more in the tank so if the ones that I have now continue to do well, I will likely add another banded pipefish and perhaps some more Dragonface Pipefish down the line. I'd also consider more multibanded ones if I could find bigger ones. Unfortunately the three multibanded pipes were smaller than I would have preferred.
Time will tell though and the rest of the tanks inhabitants are doing really well. As a side note, I lost two of the 3 little SPS frags. The green one is doing great but those other two little frags didn't last. This comes as no surprise to me though. Given my feeding, tank make up, inhabitants and lack of dosing, I wasn't expecting them to last. It was an experiment with results that I was expecting. I'm actually surprised that the green one is still doing well. Time will tell for it. I like the soft corals anyway which is why I have stuck with those as long as I have. I did the SPS thing years back and have come to prefer the ease of keeping the soft coral and really like the movement anyway so I'm not missing the SPS anyway.
slief
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For those of you that have been following this thread or read through it all may remember my big 5' green moray Gorby who loved to be handled. I have pictures of him early on in this thread. I had him over 20 years ago. I love that eel but when I was migrating to reef tank, I gave him to my LFS who found him a new home. I've missed that eel ever since and the topic of trying to find out what happened to it came up more than once.
This last week I contacted the owner of the LFS who gave me a lead. All he was able to tell me was that it went to a cel phone/pager shop not far from here that had gone out of business some years back. No name or anything else. Just a location. I did some digging and called some cel stores around and one guy remembered the store and gave me a store name and the owners first name. From that, I was able to research and get the last name. That gave me enough info to find a number for what I think was the owners mother. I spoke with here a few days ago and left my contact info. Yesterday I got a call that I subsequently missed. I called back but got no answer. This morning the guy called me back and we had a nice conversation.
Apparently the store was bought from him but before he sold the business, the eel was given to one of his customers. Unfortunately he doesn't remember the name but he's putting some thought into it. With a bit of luck, he will remember and give me that info. He was very surprised that I was able to track him down. He was even more surprised to see the pictures of me handling the eel. I know nobody even handled that eel again. Goby was named as Russian president Gorbachev because Gorby had a big black birthmark on his head much like Gorbachev. None the less, Gorby was like a puppy and loved being pet and having his chin and belly scratch and rubbed. He was totally tame and would let me pick him up completely out of the water. While I am sure he has long since passed away because they live 20 or so years, if he was still alive, I would be compelled to setup another tank just for him. I've always regretted giving him up but it was the right thing to do back then given my new direction. If I find out anything more on him, I will update you guys.
In the mean time, here are some pictures of Gorby from back in 1992.
Chin Rub.
Head scratch.
Neck rub.
Picking him up.
This last week I contacted the owner of the LFS who gave me a lead. All he was able to tell me was that it went to a cel phone/pager shop not far from here that had gone out of business some years back. No name or anything else. Just a location. I did some digging and called some cel stores around and one guy remembered the store and gave me a store name and the owners first name. From that, I was able to research and get the last name. That gave me enough info to find a number for what I think was the owners mother. I spoke with here a few days ago and left my contact info. Yesterday I got a call that I subsequently missed. I called back but got no answer. This morning the guy called me back and we had a nice conversation.
Apparently the store was bought from him but before he sold the business, the eel was given to one of his customers. Unfortunately he doesn't remember the name but he's putting some thought into it. With a bit of luck, he will remember and give me that info. He was very surprised that I was able to track him down. He was even more surprised to see the pictures of me handling the eel. I know nobody even handled that eel again. Goby was named as Russian president Gorbachev because Gorby had a big black birthmark on his head much like Gorbachev. None the less, Gorby was like a puppy and loved being pet and having his chin and belly scratch and rubbed. He was totally tame and would let me pick him up completely out of the water. While I am sure he has long since passed away because they live 20 or so years, if he was still alive, I would be compelled to setup another tank just for him. I've always regretted giving him up but it was the right thing to do back then given my new direction. If I find out anything more on him, I will update you guys.
In the mean time, here are some pictures of Gorby from back in 1992.
Chin Rub.
Head scratch.
Neck rub.
Picking him up.
slief
RC Sponsor
I was importing them from a collector in Hawaii at the time and reselling them. He was getting them from a lobster fisherman who was catching them in his traps on some remote hawaiian islands. The last of my White Tips, one of which in the pictures was sold to the Mirage Hotel Casino in Vegas and wound up in the big display behind the registration desks.
They were fun but in hind site, it was kind of a pain. Between the sharks and the eels (I had other tanks not shown as well as kiddy pools in the garage), I was going through pounds of raw fish and squid every day. I hated cleaning the squid. There were no vacations.. The fish needed to eat every day multiple times. It was a labor of love. I was running down to LAX airport (a 45 mile drive) every week or two to pick up crates of sharks from Hawaii & Florida. I was handling White Tips, Lemons and Black Tips. The Lemons and Black Tips were coming to me by way of Florida. The white tips were the easiest, the black tips needed to eat constantly and the lemons were a nightmare.
I'm glad I don't deal with any of them anymore. Back then it was easy but now you need an Exotic Species license to import them and keep them. It's the same license and process to keep a tiger at home which is a nightmare. Things were much different back then.
