My 65 Gallon Mixed Reef

[Fishy 1]

My tank is 40" wide by 24" front to back and i ran a single 250W Radium and 4x39W T5's for the first 12 months at 5" off the water. I have the 400W bulb at 8" off the water and it easily covers the full length of the tank with useable SPS light. I'm only using a cheap rectangular reflector.



Thanks mate, legendary screw up is what i am lately lol.


Okay i received the bag of sand i ordered and here it is beside the stuff i took out. What do you guys think because i'm not sure it's big enough and i don't want to try it if it's going to do the same thing. Do you think the larger size is enough to make a big difference. Btw i just ordered a WP-40 to replace one of the WP-25's with. The spare 25 can go in the sump tank.

Since the fluoro aculeus on the tip of the raft has been very sick (dying) the bloody acro that it was holding at bay in the encrusting war has taken the opportunity to over grow its base - no mercy in acro wars....... You can see how bad things are with my glow in the dark blob coral

The smallest anthias who gets put in his place by the middle sized one every now and then hangs out in the raft acro branches when things get too stressful. Most of the time they all hang together so he's not being beaten up or anything bad just reminded he's bottom of the ladder. He sleeps right there alongside the yellow tang at night btw.

Don't be to hard on yourself
As for the sand that's a though one, as the sand is very small I think it will get blown around abit and form sand dunes hehe;-)
But I think if you position the pumps right you should get minimum sand movement.
Just keep tweaking until you get it right :thumbup:

 

[sahin]

I would have thought the smaller sized sand would have been ok...why dont you place a pump in a large vat/plastic container with the sand and water and see how much its being moved?

I've noticed that once sand gets colonised/matured in a tank its less likely to shift around.

The larger stuff is perfect for strong flow...but most likely to trap some crap. If you siphon/clean your sand during water changes it will be ok though.

 

[FastUno]

Quote:
Originally Posted by FastUno View Post
Biggles, with a 400W Radium bulb how much coverage do you think you will get if placed center in a 48" tank? At least 40" from center, 20" on either side? Do you think that is a reasonable estimate?

How high is your MH fixture?
My tank is 40" wide by 24" front to back and i ran a single 250W Radium and 4x39W T5's for the first 12 months at 5" off the water. I have the 400W bulb at 8" off the water and it easily covers the full length of the tank with useable SPS light. I'm only using a cheap rectangular reflector.

So you can grow SPS in every part of your tank, even the corners with NO PROBLEMS?

If so, then it really won't be such a stretch on a 48" tank, since it is only 4" more (8 total) on either side? One can even keep some flubber along the peripheral, eyyyy.

 

[Fail_sh3d]

These koalas are beginning to sound like "drop bears".

You Aussies know anything about those?

 

[dallasg]

we get snakes that drop out trees, and one of the most venomous, luckily not in the city

 

[biggles]

Have to duck out for a bit but i'll answer everyone soon. Just put the sand in.......... mmmmmmmm sand...........

 

[laureef]

Looks pretty! Are you satisfied with sand, pumps are not moving it?

 

[biggles]

Hey there Biggles :wave:

I hope things are on the mend for you now that you're getting to these water changes. It was painful to see that video of the tissue peeling away. But as always, nice of you to share both the ups and downs. :thumbsup:

Hey Troub, sorry mate i meant to reply to you but Bello got me off track and i forgot to reply, bloody Bello...........:deadhorse1:

I'll take a top down of my flubbercan tomorrow for you mate, you guys will love acans so definitely plan on shouting yourselves a couple of colorful ones down the track. :thumbsup:

Cool pics, biggles . Scenes of small anthia/chromis/cardinals hiding among large acro stags are by far my favourite view of the reef. Too bad, I have neither .

I was looking at the grain sizes, I dunno biggles, it seems that the porosity/weight of the grains would be more relevant, as to how much they move with the pumps. As much as I hate seeing your bare bottom, it's gonna be a tough one to call. Have you considered placing a white starboard/acrylic sheet to create a fake bottom? Probably with coral gravel bits, permanently stuck in there? Just a thought.......

WP-40? So that makes it 2 x 6095, 1 x WP-25 and a WP-40??? That's INSANE FLOW!! :thumbsup:

I want to add 5-7 more anthias Bello - i have the schooling fish bug now..... can you mix anthias, could i add a group of different sp. anthias or would they kill each other. At worst i will add more of the ones i have now i guess.
As per rollercoaster reefing i read your reply and thought screw it it's going in....... btw mate, the bloody porosity of my sand grains........... you really worry me at times Bello.........

I have one 6095 and two WP-25's atm, going to try swapping out a WP-25 for the 40 so i can have a big surge from one end to the other.

Don't be to hard on yourself
As for the sand that's a though one, as the sand is very small I think it will get blown around abit and form sand dunes hehe;-)
But I think if you position the pumps right you should get minimum sand movement.
Just keep tweaking until you get it right :thumbup:

Thanks mate, already moved a pump down lower so i can point it away from the bottom.

I would have thought the smaller sized sand would have been ok...why dont you place a pump in a large vat/plastic container with the sand and water and see how much its being moved?

I've noticed that once sand gets colonised/matured in a tank its less likely to shift around.

The larger stuff is perfect for strong flow...but most likely to trap some crap. If you siphon/clean your sand during water changes it will be ok though.

Hi mate, if i get a small bare spot now i won't be too concerned as the sand does indeed settle and 'bed in' once bacteria etc colonize the grains. It's already doing a lot better brand new so fingers crossed it doesn't end up being removed for yet another bloody sand change.

So you can grow SPS in every part of your tank, even the corners with NO PROBLEMS?

If so, then it really won't be such a stretch on a 48" tank, since it is only 4" more (8 total) on either side? One can even keep some flubber along the peripheral, eyyyy.

You can see what i grow and where in the FTS. The more experience you have with SPS the more you realise that they don't require the silly high PAR we were all giving them years ago. The majority of acros collected now actually prefer medium to lowish light to look their best i'm finding.

These koalas are beginning to sound like "drop bears".

You Aussies know anything about those?

Kevin is a koala and drop bear cross. I chain him to the tree when a full moon is approaching, most people don't realise that walking in the Aus bush at night during a full moon is just asking for a drop bear to pounce on you from above. When a tourist gets taken by a drop bear we always say it was a croc, tourists wouldn't visit if they knew about drop bears........
A tourist walks through the Aus bush looking down for brown snakes etc, we all walk through the bush looking up - and we ain't watching for bloody birds i can tell you.

we get snakes that drop out trees, and one of the most venomous, luckily not in the city

You can get antivenom for a drop snake bite Dallas, see how you go having limbs reattached after a run in with a drop bear.......... i've had run ins with browns, tigers and red belly black snakes when i was a mad keen fly fisherman in my 20's. Tigers are the scariest because they'll chase you for a few yards and keep biting you if they're really agro. A king brown just goes whack - cop that and slithers away.

Looks pretty! Are you satisfied with sand, pumps are not moving it?

So far the sand is looking good, might need to make a pump adjustment but i'll leave things and see how they are in the morning. I washed the sand a few more times but you can see the slight cloud in the water from adding the sand.

 

[cpllongjk]

Biggles,

How long did you allow the sand to set in order to release phosphates? Did you add any gfo, can you explain the process you took? I would love to switch out my sand as the stuff I currently have is too small for a high flow tank.

Did you add a little sand over time or all at once? What grain size sand did you get? I haven't been able to find larger sand locally, just crushed coral.

 

[Bello]

I want to add 5-7 more anthias Bello - i have the schooling fish bug now..... can you mix anthias, could i add a group of different sp. anthias or would they kill each other. At worst i will add more of the ones i have now i guess.
As per rollercoaster reefing i read your reply and thought screw it it's going in....... btw mate, the bloody porosity of my sand grains........... you really worry me at times Bello.........

I have one 6095 and two WP-25's atm, going to try swapping out a WP-25 for the 40 so i can have a big surge from one end to the other.

Thanks mate, already moved a pump down lower so i can point it away from the bottom.

Did I read that right?? Mr. I Hate Stupid Fish, is now proposing to add 5-7 anthias? Hahahaha, but they do look spectacular. Not sure about adding different species of anthias, but I'd just keep the same sets if I were you. They seem hardy and far less picky than the delicate ones you had earlier.

Lol, the porosity thing came about, since I had 2 diff media/sand (yes I used calcium reactor media as a substrate ), that looked virtually identical, just that one type insisted on flying all over, and the other didn't. Ergo......

I'm beginning to realize what you say about lower light levels. Since I reduced my light levels, a few pieces have turned rather interesting. Unfortunately, some brown ones probably still need to be light blasted. All the more reason to keep dedicated deep and shallow tanks, what do you think?

Hopefully the sand stays down this time around :thumbsup:

 

[sahin]

Biggles,

How long did you allow the sand to set in order to release phosphates? Did you add any gfo, can you explain the process you took? I would love to switch out my sand as the stuff I currently have is too small for a high flow tank.

Did you add a little sand over time or all at once? What grain size sand did you get? I haven't been able to find larger sand locally, just crushed coral.

Jared do you notice Biggles's avatar with the Kangaroo stealing the Acro? Well, Kevin is Biggles's pet Koala. Hope that answers why there is reference to Koala's and Koala pics in my thread.

PS, Biggles, I received a message from Kevin telling me that he is going into some kind of business venture now that he has a mobile phone...which he stole...

 

[Fishy 1]

Have to duck out for a bit but i'll answer everyone soon. Just put the sand in.......... mmmmmmmm sand...........

Looking good there Biggles :thumbup:
You should sit down and enjoy it now and a few of these :beer::beer:

 

[Fishy 1]

Looking good there Biggles :thumbup:
You should sit down and enjoy it now and a few of these :beer::beer:

They were ment to be :beer:

 

[Fishy 1]

They were ment to be :beer:

Sorry my beer smiles aren't working but enjoy a few of them

 

[sahin]

Sorry my beer smiles aren't working but enjoy a few of them

Dont worry mate, Kevin has Biggles drinking these at the moment...Kevin has a few business ventures...Koala Beer is one of them:

 

[Fishy 1]

Dont worry mate, Kevin has Biggles drinking these at the moment...Kevin has a few business ventures...Koala Beer is one of them:

Haha:thumbup:

 

[biggles]

Biggles,

How long did you allow the sand to set in order to release phosphates? Did you add any gfo, can you explain the process you took? I would love to switch out my sand as the stuff I currently have is too small for a high flow tank.

Did you add a little sand over time or all at once? What grain size sand did you get? I haven't been able to find larger sand locally, just crushed coral.

Hey mate, i just washed it with tapwater in a 20L bucket and let it dry for a day. If it leaches some phos the tank and i will soon adjust to allow for it.
The grain was described as 3-5mm which is pretty close to what i got. I added 8 x 1L plastic jugs to cover the bottom with 1/2 - 3/4" of sand and only used about 75% of the 10kg bag i bought - the less depth the better for lessening the detritus trap. Did it all in about 30 mins, the only adverse reaction i saw was the yellow tang freaking out for a few hours lol. He hid in his cave and every time he ventured out the white glaring sand scared him back to his cave. I turned the halide off eventually and he chilled out.

Did I read that right?? Mr. I Hate Stupid Fish, is now proposing to add 5-7 anthias? Hahahaha, but they do look spectacular. Not sure about adding different species of anthias, but I'd just keep the same sets if I were you. They seem hardy and far less picky than the delicate ones you had earlier.

Lol, the porosity thing came about, since I had 2 diff media/sand (yes I used calcium reactor media as a substrate ), that looked virtually identical, just that one type insisted on flying all over, and the other didn't. Ergo......

I'm beginning to realize what you say about lower light levels. Since I reduced my light levels, a few pieces have turned rather interesting. Unfortunately, some brown ones probably still need to be light blasted. All the more reason to keep dedicated deep and shallow tanks, what do you think?

Hopefully the sand stays down this time around :thumbsup:

Lol i knew i'd cop it from you about the fish Bello I've gone fish mad since the acros are all sulky with me. Ok sounds like i need to get 4-6 more of the anthias i have now - they're tough and feisty little buggers.
My previous tanks were 2ft deep ones and i love the ease of working in this 18" deep display and don't think i'd ever go deeper than 20" again. The less depth the less intense lighting needed to keep great colors so it's a win win situation for me. I should have made this display 30" front to back instead of 24" but i've put a lot of thought into overlapping branches from the front to the back to increase the depth of field your eyes perceive. The two peaks with the valley between them that's only visible from the end or an angle also trick the eye into seeing more than is really there.

Jared do you notice Biggles's avatar with the Kangaroo stealing the Acro? Well, Kevin is Biggles's pet Koala. Hope that answers why there is reference to Koala's and Koala pics in my thread.

PS, Biggles, I received a message from Kevin telling me that he is going into some kind of business venture now that he has a mobile phone...which he stole...

All i know is Kevin was looking up air fares to the UK yesterday and mumbling about ' tying up loose ends ' - he has his own frequent flyer points card (prob stolen)........

Sorry my beer smiles aren't working but enjoy a few of them

It's the thought that counts lol.

Dont worry mate, Kevin has Biggles drinking these at the moment...Kevin has a few business ventures...Koala Beer is one of them:

No way would i touch anything Kevin brewed up lol.........

It's the weekend so that means gratuitous top down piccy time........

Fluubercan for Troub

If you look closely you can just see the beginnings of fluoro pigments beginning to develop on the new table's tips. It has a long way to go to look anything like the aculeus i had almost glowing. The bleached one above the echi is getting a light sickly tan look as the zoa return but i still have no idea what it looks like when colored up. The echi branches continue to pale which makes the blue tips pop out like crazy against the white sand.

 

[Fail_sh3d]

Hey mate, i just washed it with tapwater in a 20L bucket and let it dry for a day. If it leaches some phos the tank and i will soon adjust to allow for it.
The grain was described as 3-5mm which is pretty close to what i got. I added 8 x 1L plastic jugs to cover the bottom with 1/2 - 3/4" of sand and only used about 75% of the 10kg bag i bought - the less depth the better for lessening the detritus trap. Did it all in about 30 mins, the only adverse reaction i saw was the yellow tang freaking out for a few hours lol. He hid in his cave and every time he ventured out the white glaring sand scared him back to his cave. I turned the halide off eventually and he chilled out.



Lol i knew i'd cop it from you about the fish Bello I've gone fish mad since the acros are all sulky with me. Ok sounds like i need to get 4-6 more of the anthias i have now - they're tough and feisty little buggers.
My previous tanks were 2ft deep ones and i love the ease of working in this 18" deep display and don't think i'd ever go deeper than 20" again. The less depth the less intense lighting needed to keep great colors so it's a win win situation for me. I should have made this display 30" front to back instead of 24" but i've put a lot of thought into overlapping branches from the front to the back to increase the depth of field your eyes perceive. The two peaks with the valley between them that's only visible from the end or an angle also trick the eye into seeing more than is really there.



All i know is Kevin was looking up air fares to the UK yesterday and mumbling about ' tying up loose ends ' - he has his own frequent flyer points card (prob stolen)........



It's the thought that counts lol.



No way would i touch anything Kevin brewed up lol.........

It's the weekend so that means gratuitous top down piccy time........

Fluubercan for Troub

If you look closely you can just see the beginnings of fluoro pigments beginning to develop on the new table's tips. It has a long way to go to look anything like the aculeus i had almost glowing. The bleached one above the echi is getting a light sickly tan look as the zoa return but i still have no idea what it looks like when colored up. The echi branches continue to pale which makes the blue tips pop out like crazy against the white sand.

Ugh! That enchinata's tips are unreal. I'd kill for a even a frag like that.

I also can't believe Biggles is a fish guy now.

 

[sahin]

The intense blue of the Echinata hurts my eyes! :rollface:

Nice LPS...Whats happening to you lately Biggles? Green Acros, LPS corals and fishes too...:lol:

Edited this image to remove some of the yellow cast...Anyway, your display is looking amazing despite the STN issues. :thumbsup:

 

[biggles]

Yeah the echi loves the Radium lol. All my SSC are shut down and have very poor PE. Here's a couple of pieces looking more mauve than pink. All have turned deep green (terrific :mad2 and lost the pink pop they had - zero growth anywhere for over a month but at least they're not losing tissue except for the occasional burnt tip. You can see the dull powdery look to the tissue especially in the bottom pic.

Thanks for the photo work Sahin. Yes despite nothing growing and most stuff being very gloomy looking health wise the colors have deepened - not in a good way as the SSC pics show Adding the sand has made the colors show brighter due to the contrast with such a white bottom. Over time that harsh reflective whiteness will fade once the grains are coated with goop.