new "canvas"

[drtango]

Looks great Gary--seems like the hairy green milli is well on it's way to taking over your tank! Is that a Chips under the milli? Once it gets a foothold, it will take off as well.

John

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

yes and yes- very nice corals, John

 

[Kent E]

Outstanding Gary! I love the whole tank.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

 

[Henry Colf]

VERY NICE GARY...TANK IS SWEET.........How do those mixing eductors work for you?Do they make alot of current in the tank?I am thinking of getting 2 of the 3/4 in. ones.I am going to be upgrading to a 90 or a 100 gal. in a few weeks.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

thanx, Henry. The mixing eductors work super great. When I first added them I had some problems with certain LPS corals due to the increase in water flow, but it's something I can deal with. I'm still trying to come up with something that can provide adequate water flow in the opposite direction. An 'Oceans Motions' device would probably be the ultimate solution.
You can't tell from my pics, but I'm still battling a lot of Aiptasia. They aren't doing any serious damage to anything, but it's difficult to get over my feelings about them.

 

[drtango]

Tank is gorgeous Gary.

An observation--I have mats of aiptasia in my overflows, a few in the sump (easy to nuke 'em in there) but zero in the display. I've never seen it written, but I strongly suspect the Imperator angelfish has a taste for these things. Given their known tastes (sponges, LPS) it sort of makes sense. Someday I'll drop a fat one in the display and see who goes for it....

John

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

John- I haven't posted publicly on this yet, but I've researched the heck out of it: many larger Angelfish species will eat Aiptasia.
I have a list here, and the Emperor is on it.
My Majestic/Navarchus ate aips. There are others.

Now before anybody reading this wants to run out and get an Angelfish for their Aiptasia problem, they better do some more research- a lot of Angelfish species won't stop at eating just Aiptasia. If I were to add an Angel I'd need to get rid of a lot of my LPS.
I haven't decided if it's worth the price.

 

[drtango]

Thanks Gary--suspicion confirmed!

John

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

 

[magdelan]

The colors in your corals are great!! I'm sure you have posted this somewhere but, what bulbs are you using?

Mike

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Right now I'm running one 400w SE Hamilton 14k flanked by two 250w 6500k Iwasakis. I also have two 72" long VHO actinics by URI.
A lot of things affect color. The foods that I feed also play a part.

 

[thriceanangel]

What food is that Gary?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I feed Cyclopeeze, frozen HUFA enriched mysids, VibraGro (now called ORA glow), HBH super soft spirulina pellets and fresh meaty type seafoods. I've also been using Omega One super color pellets, but it's tough to feed a floating pellet- they need to re-formulate these so they sink.

 

[magdelan]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9605827#post9605827 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gary Majchrzak
Right now I'm running one 400w SE Hamilton 14k flanked by two 250w 6500k Iwasakis. I also have two 72" long VHO actinics by URI.
A lot of things affect color. The foods that I feed also play a part.

Instead of a 14k and two 6500k, why don't you use three 10k? What are the advantages of what you are doing?

Just picking your brain

Mike

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Iwasaki 6500k's put out more PAR than any 10k with my ballasts.
Iwasaki 6500k's have a longer useful life than any 10k lamp.
Iwsaki 6500k's are less expensive than the 10k's I would use.
Iwasaki 6500k's are very consistent in quality and reliability.

I tried three 10k's a long time ago and I really didn't care for the results at the price it cost me.

 

[bjromaine]

Gary,
Your tank is simply awesome......certainly shows what good planning and research and knowledge can lead to....

Maybe in about 12 more years I will have something that looks even close to yours.....

Bryan

 

[magdelan]

Gary- In your opinion, would you always recomend flanking a larger K center bulb with two smaller k bulbs? Even if you did three 400w but with the middle being 14k and the outer being 6500k? How many wpg would you considder overkill for keeping sps?

It was nice to meet you yesterday. I was hoping to have more of an opportunity to meet some of the others from here but, everyone was busy "doing their thing". Despite that, I was in heaven

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Lighting is a very subjective subject. There are a lot of different choices and strategies. Information and opinions on the subject are almost infinite. My lighting arrangement "works" for me. I like the fact that my actinics go on first, then the center 14k and (finally) the 6500k's. It sort of simuates the sun rising. Another reason I use 6500k's in the two 250w positions is because the "EYES" put out a lot of PAR.
I've seen SPS grown under NO fluorescents as well as 1,000 watt halides. Every type of SPS has different preferences.
I think it's easy to avoid placing a coral in an "overkill" situation if you know how to do it. (Place it low and/or shaded by something else.)
The only thing that I can recommend is finding out what lighting you like and see if it will accomplish what you want it to without burning down the house.

 

[zanclus]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9505226#post9505226 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by zanclus
congrats Gary!!! Looks great as always.. It hardly seems like a year has pased. Here is a pic of mine the day I filled it 4/09/06

ill get a FTS on the 4/09/07 for comparison

Well it is just about a year so here is a FTS of my one year later:

I hope that the next year is as good as this one has been...