New Reef, any comments/criticisms?

[Meisen]

Bridge detail shot

Bridge detail shot

As you can see here, the bridge is nearly complete here. I tied a bunch more rock to it. This was rock from my unlit sump so it will be a while before I get a uniform look between the bridge and the rest of the live rock. I think it needs 1-2 more trim pieces where you can still see a lot of PVC. I dont mind that you can see some as it will cover with coraline but I think it just needs a little more. You can probably guess where I am going to put them too....just need to get downstairs and break some liverock for the last two pieces.

 

[Meisen]

I am psyched, it is really starting to look like a reef (albeit an empty one). You can barely see the powerhead cords on the left side (they are in one of those wire-sheath things)...going to do the same on the right side too. That was the girlfriend's idea....great to have her on board as aesthics director. I have to add another powerhead to the left side as the flow is still too sluggish in the right front. 7 maxi 1200s......man I wish I had a couple of streams.

 

[Meisen]

Its killing me not to have any fish in here!

Just ordered a detritivore kit from Inland Aquatics. I have ordered them before and was very pleased. I am going to try really hard to just let the plankton/detritivore population grow on its own without lots of corals and fish predators to eat it before the numbers get up. I am feeding the tank very sparingly (for the hermits, anemones and whatever else is living in the live rock).

 

[BlindRI]

Well done! Gives the tank a very unique look. I have all ways thought the tanks at Monterey Bay Aquariums were among some of the best I have every seen. Yours could blend right in there with them.

One question for anyone out there, how permenant are zip ties? Will they wear out eventually and need to be changed?

tt

 

[Meisen]

Thanks for the compliment! I haven't seen their reefs but seeing several dozen other high end displays (my old job used to send me around to aquariums all over the country....) was my inspiration. Not that mine looks anything like either one but the Henry Doorly Zoo's lagoon reef and the Riverhead Aquarium's monster reef are my all time favorites!!!

As far as the zip ties go, I looked into this before building it. Apparently, UV breaks them down rather fast. They do sell special UV resistant ties (at a huge premium of course) and I went with those. I dont know how UV resistant they are however, my hope is that they will be covered with coraline before we have a chance to find out.

 

[Meisen]

Yay! New lights just got here.....
Huge difference between the old bulbs and the new. Hope that will help dissuade the cyano that has been creeping onto the sand and some of the rocks...
Too bad I have been stirring up the tank all day working on it or I would take another pic.

 

[onefin]

Looks great.

 

[Meisen]

^

 

[Meisen]

Tank is cloudy again....otherwise I would show what the new lamps look like. I added a couple more powerheads today for a grand total of 8. I will take some pics tomorrow when the lights come back on and the Inland Aquatics stuff arrives.

 

[Meisen]

Ok its been a long time since I updated this thread. Here are a few things that have been done:

Added 2 X 175 pendants with Ushio 10Ks running in both. 11/29

Added a second 250 watt heater in reaction to the 4 degree temperature dips at night. Night temp is now 81 and day is 83. Going to add a fan to try and keep daytime temps at 81 as well.

11/26 & 30 Added first few coral frags (thanks Eric and C.O.R.S)

12/8 Added some plants and a large clean-up crew to keep the algae down.

12/12 not much algae left

12/31 Added several more corals

1/2 Added the first fishes to the tank, a school of 6 green chromis.

 

[Meisen]

Recent Pics of tank

Recent Pics of tank

Here are some shots with the initial influx of plants and stuff. I traded and sold off some of the extra stuff so it no longer looks so crowded.

 

[NexDog]

Yah, I like it.

 

[Meisen]

Another pic

Another pic

Here is the upper side view....see the new halides blazing in the back? . Well they are new to this tank anyway. Next step is to go to horizontally mounted bulbs so I actually get some light in there.

 

[Meisen]

Pics of New Reef Today- 3 mos old

Pics of New Reef Today- 3 mos old

Here are a couple of new shots. Rearranged some things and got pics of the new fish:

Full tank shot:

Here is another full tank shot:

Top angle shot showing the turbulence and a star-shell snail:

And a side angle shot:

 

[eidillitih]

nice

 

[Meisen]

Thanks!

It is coming along. I am really psyched by how far its come considering how new it is. The water parameters leveled off rather quickly. I have to say that upgrading to a larger tank was totally worth it just for the stability factor alone. Trying to micromanage things in a 40 gallon tank took a whole lot longer to reach some semblage of stasis. Makes me doubly respect folks who really suceed with nanos, thats for sure!

 

[Meisen]

Some new additions to the tank

Some new additions to the tank

Here are a couple of the new animals added to the tank:

Coco Worm 1/05:

Starburst Zoas 12/05:

More zoanthids:

 

[Meisen]

Some more Zoanthids added to the tank:

Frag from LFS w/encrusting green acro visible in the back (I'm just going to let them sort things out between the two of them....)

And last zoanthid shot:

Interesting Orange ones with slate-blue rings:

 

[Meisen]

Other denizens of the tank....

Other denizens of the tank....

Here is a pic showing some of the reef as it grows. You can see one of the green chromis jumped in here as I took the shot. Also visible clockwise from the top center are: Pink Ricordea yumas, green zoanthids, green center organ pipe coral, pink polyp ORA Montipora digi and two species of branching coraline algae.

 

[Meisen]

Probably a big mistake....

Probably a big mistake....

Here is a pic of one of the fishes in my new reef. Its a bicolor blenny. And yes, I know their reputation......I dont doubt that he will turn to the darkside sooner or later. The fiance really really likes him so I caved to reason. Dang its great when a girl makes you do that......

I have already caught him picking at one of the sps (to be fair, it had a little algae encroaching the base of its skeleton). Right now he is like a suspected terrorist that we have no evidence on....he gets a long hard look whenever his attention turns to the frags. He has a lot of personality so it would be a major bummer to lose him. He also eats the crap that peels off the sea whips every few weeks so he has that going for him.

You can also see a really nice Caulastrea I got from MiddletonMark (thanks again Mark!!!). It and the other half of the frag (!!!) I put in the tank have both gone from 2 mouths to 6 in a little over a month and a half. MMMmmmmm Mysis.....