My 65 Gallon Mixed Reef

[Bello]

If I actually indulged in nude reefkeeping, I'm pretty sure I'd scar my kid for life

Then again, a picture of biggles in his mankini...... may be worse

BTW, biggles, isn't it time you put a pic in your avatar? My vote goes for the SSC eating kangaroo :lol:..... a work of art, in my demented opinion

Can't believe its so bloody hot there!! I've never experienced heat like that, and I'm in no hurry to.... either. What's the cost of electric in Aus? Any reason why you prefer to cool via the house A/C over a chiller?

 

[Fail_sh3d]

If I actually indulged in nude reefkeeping, I'm pretty sure I'd scar my kid for life

Then again, a picture of biggles in his mankini...... may be worse

BTW, biggles, isn't it time you put a pic in your avatar? My vote goes for the SSC eating kangaroo :lol:..... a work of art, in my demented opinion

Can't believe its so bloody hot there!! I've never experienced heat like that, and I'm in no hurry to.... either. What's the cost of electric in Aus? Any reason why you prefer to cool via the house A/C over a chiller?

Double true. I live in Florida and I think the hottest I've experienced was 110°

 

[biggles]

Okay i've got a bloody avatar now so that should shut you guys up :wave:

I have no idea what electricity costs, i think it's about 20 cents a kW but i haven't worried about it for a long time as live in a house beside my employers business and the power isn't metered separately to my place so.............. basically there's a hole in the ozone layer directly above my house, it's listed on the charts as the 'biggles anomaly' i believe.............:smokin::spin3:

Two things happened today, i cracked it with two corals on the raft. The sickly yellow/green puke colored monti and the ugly purple acro thing next to the fluoro aculues. Both have now become SSC hosts........ you sit around looking crap long enough in my reef and SSC frags fall on your head......:smokin:

I decided to use the 25 L drum of NSW that's been sitting for months to do a water change. I just siphoned 25L of clean water out and tipped the new stuff in to replace it. I'm going to get more water and do water changes like you guys do to see if things look or grow better. Obviously you can't hold me to this as it's highly likely i'll wake up tomorrow and think ' stuff that for a joke'. :reading: Anyway it's the thought that counts

 

[Bello]

:lol: me likey

You placed the SSC atop the monti and purple acro?? :lol:

Hmmmm, water change....I was gonna go the other way and stop doing them like you do ...well, maybe not stop, but like, once a month

 

[sahin]

Okay i've got a bloody avatar now so that should shut you guys up :wave:

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Me likey the SSC eating Kangaroo! :beer:

Hmmm...is he the one who gets all these SSC frags for you? Lately all I see is LOADS of SSC frags all over your rockwork/tank...I wish I loads of SSC frags to throw around in my tank. :crazy1:

 

[biggles]

Apparently those west aus acro eating roos are becoming endangered due to all the bloody yanks taking their SSC's.............. they tried feeding them green acros but the roos starved rather than eat them......true story.

I didn't so much place the SSC frags on the monti and acro as squish them down with a big blob of white putty and lots of super glue. It's not very delicate lol. Before i 'placed' the SSC frag on the acro i gave it a short back and sides with the side cutters, it was a crew cut. I stuck the main chunk on a disc and if it suddenly colors up beautifully now that it's on a frag disc on the bottom i'll take the bastard out back and smash it with a hammer......... i won't really but that sort of crap happens sometimes and drives me nuts lol.

Let's not get carried away with the water change topic, i've done 3 in 13 months so we're going to eeeaaaasssseee into it............. i'm going with 15-20% once a month but that's purely hypothetical at this stage. Things might change such as i might decide to just lie and say i'm doing them - nothing's set in concrete just yet Bello.
Either way let's just go with one a month and see what happens, i'll report my results even if i have to make them all up. :thumbsup:

 

[biggles]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Me likey the SSC eating Kangaroo! :beer:

Hmmm...is he the one who gets all these SSC frags for you? Lately all I see is LOADS of SSC frags all over your rockwork/tank...I wish I loads of SSC frags to throw around in my tank. :crazy1:

I think i'm going to end up with a reef over run with SSC which will either look really cool or really weird - not sure yet lol. You'd already have some of my stuff if it was possible mate, of course you'd get roos scratching at your door once they got a whiff.......... i'm not lying about this stuff, it's well documented. :reading:

 

[JPMagyar]

Monsieur Biggles,

As an avid reader of this forum for many decades and having recently introduced my daughter to reefing in an attempt to keep her 16 year old prurient mind from any further indecent thoughts I find your discussion of the benefits of nude maintenance to be egregiously salacious and my best instincts tell me I should not support such behaviour by viewing or commenting on your thread . . .

However, given the astonishing beauty of your corals, and the vast wealth of invaluable information being shared I must admit I find myself unable to avert my view from your photos even though I live in constant fear of catching a hint of a reflection of your very own nude personage in the glass I will further admit to having just now subscribed to said discussion. . .



But, I must ask that you try to be a little more proper and polite in your future posts now that you know what tender and easily influenced minds may be reading your sagacious posts.


Well, now, having said my peace I am relieved and I feel I can step off my soap box and allow the banter to return to it's proper and natural discourse. So please carry on!

P.S. I think in all fairness I should admit that I am descended from a long and noble line of New England Puritans who thrive on repressed sexuality so there is some chance that my interest in you thread is actually fulfilling a subconscious need for open and honest discussion of ones own desires. Secretly I admire your willingness to explore such maintenance regimens and am even now considering making changes in my own routine as a result of your success.

P.P.S. I have recently started using Sea Swirls attached to my Tunze 6105s and I do believe this is by far the best solution to variable flow I have ever seen. I'm sorry I am late to the party because as a result of introducing the Sea Swirls I no longer use my 7095 Controller and could have donated it to you for experimentation. Anyways, I fear I too am beginning to ramble as folks are wont to do on this thread so I will stop now.

Good-day Monsieur Biggles!

Your Newly Anointed Avid Admirer

J Peck

 

[FastUno]

Damn you are right biggles...Damn you! These LED's may not work out after all, at least not in a fully rock stacked, purple coralline covered back wall with no sand to reflect secondary light tank.

That is why you need the minimalistic, with some sand & clean glass tank like you have.

I tried the lights on my 75g & here are the results:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O7Qq982YRY

Close up of corals:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBSidEOkpI4


Sahin, I checked your thread out. Wow you have a nice tank, but I am not ready to blow 2K on ATI man!

Bello, your next! Gonna hunt down your tank thread.

 

[foundnemo11]

Dope tank

 

[biggles]

Monsieur Biggles,

As an avid reader of this forum for many decades and having recently introduced my daughter to reefing in an attempt to keep her 16 year old prurient mind from any further indecent thoughts I find your discussion of the benefits of nude maintenance to be egregiously salacious and my best instincts tell me I should not support such behaviour by viewing or commenting on your thread . . .

However, given the astonishing beauty of your corals, and the vast wealth of invaluable information being shared I must admit I find myself unable to avert my view from your photos even though I live in constant fear of catching a hint of a reflection of your very own nude personage in the glass I will further admit to having just now subscribed to said discussion. . .



But, I must ask that you try to be a little more proper and polite in your future posts now that you know what tender and easily influenced minds may be reading your sagacious posts.


Well, now, having said my peace I am relieved and I feel I can step off my soap box and allow the banter to return to it's proper and natural discourse. So please carry on!

P.S. I think in all fairness I should admit that I am descended from a long and noble line of New England Puritans who thrive on repressed sexuality so there is some chance that my interest in you thread is actually fulfilling a subconscious need for open and honest discussion of ones own desires. Secretly I admire your willingness to explore such maintenance regimens and am even now considering making changes in my own routine as a result of your success.

P.P.S. I have recently started using Sea Swirls attached to my Tunze 6105s and I do believe this is by far the best solution to variable flow I have ever seen. I'm sorry I am late to the party because as a result of introducing the Sea Swirls I no longer use my 7095 Controller and could have donated it to you for experimentation. Anyways, I fear I too am beginning to ramble as folks are wont to do on this thread so I will stop now.

Good-day Monsieur Biggles!

Your Newly Anointed Avid Admirer

J Peck

You could have just sent me a 'pull your head in' PM Joe lol. I will of course cease the overly colorful tone of my thread mate, my 16 year old son would only be interested in a tank if it was on an iphone or 'i' something....... :beer:

Damn you are right biggles...Damn you! These LED's may not work out after all, at least not in a fully rock stacked, purple coralline covered back wall with no sand to reflect secondary light tank.

That is why you need the minimalistic, with some sand & clean glass tank like you have.

I tried the lights on my 75g & here are the results:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O7Qq982YRY

Close up of corals:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBSidEOkpI4


Sahin, I checked your thread out. Wow you have a nice tank, but I am not ready to blow 2K on ATI man!

Bello, your next! Gonna hunt down your tank thread.

Those colors you're getting are way way better than i can manage under my blue/white unit mate. Do you think two of those units run side by side but higher and at lower intensity would do a better job of distributing the spectral blend than your single unit. I can't see how a couple of say reds in the unit will be hitting many of the corals not under it.

Dope tank

Thanks mate.

 

[FastUno]

Funny, that 29g I made for my 14 year old son. I am teaching him about aquatic life & responsibility and he has taken a real interest. He now has the reefing bug & gets excited when new corals & equipment is introduced. He just asked me about upgrades this AM.


That LED test run is for my upgrade, to determine if I really should go this route or simply plow down $160 in 2x new Phoenix light bulbs. I can't believe 2 bulbs cost more than a fixture, that is SICK! My MH is over a year old & some of the SPS colors are fading now. Two fixtures alone would make a great tank for a mostly softies & LPS tank, with some SPS, but I think I am getting the SPS hunger. More & more I feel like swapping more of my corals out for SPS's.

I don't think just two of these puppies is sufficient enough for a tank full of SPS's, you will definitely need 2x T5's & most likely 4x T5's. This then almost defeats the purpose 240W LED + 216W of T5's (456W), then might as well stick with 2x 250W on mostly w/ 108W T5 dawn/dusk. It is just the bulb costs that are irritating me.

 

[troubadour11]

I see you got a new avatar. You know Biggles... if you don't set some traps or something to keep those SSC eating Roos out of your DT, you'll end up with an all green reef in the end. :bounce3:

I see your avatar already snagged what looks like... yeah, is that one of your new magnet mounted floating shelf pieces :angryfire: I think Lefty has a new recruit ready to decimate your prized SCC garden! :worried:

Next thing you'll probably be showing us wild king parrots sticking you up for some yummy SCC. Hold it right there, this is an SCC Stick Up! :uzi: Hahaha.

And I love the color of that purple/blue w/ greenish polyps you posted recently. The one in the bottom front below all the SCC. Any idea of the specific ID on that piece? It seems to be encrusting at warp speed down there. Here's a random question from a newbie to sticks. Do you tend to see more encrusting growth in the lower light areas and more branching growth in higher light? I have no clue if that's a thing or not. But I thought I'd ask for some experience.

Now I'm off to read through that AEFW article that bello shared on his thread. Until next time good sir! :beer:

 

[biggles]

It's good that your son is taking an interest in the hobby FastUno, hope to see both your tanks on here thriving down the track :thumbsup:
I have to pay $150- to get a Radium bulb - when it comes to halide bulbs i'll pay whatever it costs for something i know is guaranteed to work great for SPS colors. I think you should try everything you're comfortable running cost wise etc mate. If you'd drop $150- on a great colored acro - we all would, then why wouldn't you spend as much on something you KNOW works. I'm interested to see what you end up running with the LED's - Sahin will be a good source of info with his ATI hybrid doing a great job over his reef.
Btw i only use the 400W bulb for 6 months so it costs me $300- a year for the halide.

Hey Troubster
In regards to your growth question i see no difference. Some acros encrust for ages (6-12 months) whereas others might encrust hardly at all before commencing branch growth. The effect that light intensity has on the growth rate is purely down to what that acro prefers. If it likes low light to look both healthy and colorful it will encrust and or branch quickest in low light. High light would stress it generally speaking causing poor growth. Same applies with a high light acro placed too low, it will shut down or go to sleep in the dark lol.
No idea what that acro is but it's very pastel colored when happy so i'll be glad when it recovers from the poops. Lefty has been hiding for a few weeks and just when i thought he was gone i found him munching on a stylo this morning when i turned the lights on :hammer: He just sat there looking at me and then bolted when i moved to get the 'crab javelin' - i swear he knows he's up to no good........:mad2:

 

[Bello]

You know i love the SSC, right? But this blue stag is just awesome :inlove:

I was sold an "Aussie" acro a few months ago. Didn't really believe the seller as they tend to lie a lot hereabouts. But looking at your blue stag, the corallite structure seems very similar to mine. What do you think? Let's not even compare colors :lol:.....

 

[BrianCash]

Biggles - your tank is absolutely beautiful and thanks for all the information you have provided.

I'm just now getting back into the hobby after taking a 2 year break to focus on my career. I had a 75g reef mostly LPS and a nice zoa garden. This time around I've picked up a new 90g that I plan to make dominantly SPS. Still waiting for a few parts to come in the mail so hoping to have water in the tank by end of next week.

I'm still undecided on the lighting, right now I'm leaning towards a 48" ATI Sunpower 6x54 T5 but not sure if that will be enough for SPS and wanted your thoughts?

I'd like to go metal halide but does anyone know of a good fixture that is hybrid w/ T5s?

 

[biggles]

Hey Bello, yes that stag is pretty cool. i actually think your stag is the same species as the other blue stag i have in this pic. It's a common type supplied by west Aus collectors. Hates direct flow and needs medium to high light to grow. The piece on the raft is in low flow and light and is pretty much shut down like your piece. I've seen them in rich teal green color too but i ignore those lol.

Btw that spotty thing was stinging the monti today with 3/4" long sweepers :love1: - he's a nasty piece of work.

 

[sahin]

Biggles - your tank is absolutely beautiful and thanks for all the information you have provided.

I'm just now getting back into the hobby after taking a 2 year break to focus on my career. I had a 75g reef mostly LPS and a nice zoa garden. This time around I've picked up a new 90g that I plan to make dominantly SPS. Still waiting for a few parts to come in the mail so hoping to have water in the tank by end of next week.

I'm still undecided on the lighting, right now I'm leaning towards a 48" ATI Sunpower 6x54 T5 but not sure if that will be enough for SPS and wanted your thoughts?

I'd like to go metal halide but does anyone know of a good fixture that is hybrid w/ T5s?

Honestly, if you could go MH, and running/bulb replacement costs isnt an issue for you, then GO FOR IT! I would love to have MH with T5 (ATI BLUE+), but running costs and the fact my living room is like 26'C all year round brings in heat issues etc.

So, I've stuck with T5's for the time being which in terms of SPS colours is just fine. Just miss the shimmer.

What are the dimensions of the 90G? A 6x54watt Sunpower is fine as long as you dont have like really deep front to back. Add a couple of Reerbrite LED's on the front and back...and you have an awesome light, I promise you.

 

[JPMagyar]

You could have just sent me a 'pull your head in' PM Joe lol. I will of course cease the overly colorful tone of my thread mate, my 16 year old son would only be interested in a tank if it was on an iphone or 'i' something....... :beer:

I am so bad at internet "tone". Seriously mate I was trying for tongue in cheek hilarity and if I made it sound at all serious I am soooo . . . . sorry

On another note maybe if your 16 year old knew that my 16 year old is interested in tanks he might change his mind (that's mine on the left. . . daughter I mean not tank :clown

Mine is just hitting those moody teen years . . . maybe we could do an exchange . . you get to beat some sense into my daughter and I get your son to shovel the snow in my driveway. Hah JK!

Anyways I'm REALLY sorry if my post sounded serious. I was just tryin' to keep up with the "dry" Aussie and British humour I love so much. Truth be told I've done tank maintenance in my skivies more than I should admit

Cheers Mate!

 

[BrianCash]

Honestly, if you could go MH, and running/bulb replacement costs isnt an issue for you, then GO FOR IT! I would love to have MH with T5 (ATI BLUE+), but running costs and the fact my living room is like 26'C all year round brings in heat issues etc.

So, I've stuck with T5's for the time being which in terms of SPS colours is just fine. Just miss the shimmer.

What are the dimensions of the 90G? A 6x54watt Sunpower is fine as long as you dont have like really deep front to back. Add a couple of Reerbrite LED's on the front and back...and you have an awesome light, I promise you.

Thanks for the reply Sahin,

Dimensions are 48 x 18 x 25, do you think the 8x54 would be better? I really wouldn't mind MH but I just cant find a good all in one fixture.