Pics of my 400...
- Thread starter Untamed12
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new_world_disor
Active member
WOW. awesome tank . GET A BUILD THREAD UP. would be interesting to see al the kit and set-up. love the position of thank too. good work ** thumbs up **
Untamed12
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12684866#post12684866 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mcliffy2
Can you explain a little more about the blue throat situation? I had a sargassum (same genus) in my old 125 and it was a model citizen.
Also, how would you keep a parrotfish? I'd think you'd end up with no corals and a much deeper sand bed
I'm really tempted to try again with more of that genus of triggers, because I really liked them.
As they grew toward 6", both my Blue Thoats (male and female) began to swim in repetitive patterns. This kind of repetitive, obsessive behaviour is called "stereotypy". It happens to different animals in captivity. In the case of the male, he would repeat the same swimming pattern across the front of the tank to such an extent that he began to wear a pattern in the acrylic just from the rubbing of his skin!
They would only interrupt the behaviour during feeding time. Clearly, they are not happy well adjusted fish. Both were/are fat and healthy eaters.
So many people keep this genus successfully (in even smaller tanks!), I can't figure out why this happened to me. Both of them were on the larger size when I got them (4" +)... maybe they weren't young enough and could not adapt to captivity?
I think they aren't "reef" fish. They are more open-water type and aren't interested in being near the coral/rockwork. They want to find open water....but that's just my theory.
As for the parrotfish....my understanding is that particular parrotfish is unique in behavior and diet that would enable you to keep it in a reef aquarium. Regular parrotfish...certainly not.
stunreefer
Reef Hugger
Hey Brad,
Something else I wanted to ask was regarding the CL's with the OM's.....
What made you go with TWO Dart pumps, and TWO OM 4-ways, over ONE larger pump, and ONE OM 8-way?
I feel you would save $ on intial cost, electricty, and plumbing (and less cleaning). I ask becasue I'm in the same boat, I have 8 outlets for my CL (4 in bottom of tank, 4 in back wall) and 2 "drains" for the CL. When talking with Paul of OM's he suggests using 2 separate pumps and OM's like you did, but besides redundnacy I dont really understand why? For redundancy there is the return from the sump (on a different GFI in case power goes out), and will probably end up with some Tunze streams down the road ( on a different GFI as well).
There is another build (SeanT's) going on right now, similar size and shape, and he is using ONE pump and ONE OM 8-way. (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1370756)
Anyways, just wondering what your thoughts were behind implementnig the seperate CL's?
TIA!
Something else I wanted to ask was regarding the CL's with the OM's.....
What made you go with TWO Dart pumps, and TWO OM 4-ways, over ONE larger pump, and ONE OM 8-way?
I feel you would save $ on intial cost, electricty, and plumbing (and less cleaning). I ask becasue I'm in the same boat, I have 8 outlets for my CL (4 in bottom of tank, 4 in back wall) and 2 "drains" for the CL. When talking with Paul of OM's he suggests using 2 separate pumps and OM's like you did, but besides redundnacy I dont really understand why? For redundancy there is the return from the sump (on a different GFI in case power goes out), and will probably end up with some Tunze streams down the road ( on a different GFI as well).
There is another build (SeanT's) going on right now, similar size and shape, and he is using ONE pump and ONE OM 8-way. (http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1370756)
Anyways, just wondering what your thoughts were behind implementnig the seperate CL's?
TIA!
Untamed12
New member
Although there are two CLs, they behave as if there were only 1 because they are synchronized to roll the water across the bottom toward the front, then up and toward the back.
At any moment in time, there are 4 outlets flowing. I didn't think about doing it with a single 8 way...maybe you could achieve the same thing...I'm not that familiar with the drum options of the 8way.
I was also designing around a consistent pump. All three pumps are identically connected to the system so I can maintain a spare Dart and swap it for any of the three pumps in service.
new2sw776784
New member
i just want to say that your tank is amazing spent the last 4-5 hours reading your build thread. my wife isn't very happy with me now. lol
stunreefer
Reef Hugger
Yea thats another great point. That had come up before in discussions with Paul as well.
Thanks for the reply, and keep up the great work!
Tangwich
In Memoriam
That is incredible..this is the reason why this thread is one of only three threads (mine included) that I'm subscribed to. Would love to see more pics if you have any updated ones. Also was wondering, you mentioned a while back that if you could do it all over again, you would go 6 feet deep instead of 4, what was the reason again? Asking because I am in the very beginning stages of planning my "last" tank and thinking of going 96"x 48" x 27", but if given a good enough reason, I might go 72" deep instead. Thanks.
Untamed12
New member
Thanks...Gee, this isn't even much of a thread...
I originally limited myself to 4 feet deep because I "envisioned" that I would only be able to reach into the tank from the front or back.
Since the tank is 1" acrylic all around, it turns out that I can easily drop a board on top of the tank and crawl around up there. (I should take a photo of that sometime, people might find that interesting)
Anyway, since it is easy to climb on top of the tank, I can reach straight down to anywhere I like...hence...I could have gone 6 feet wide and it would not be more difficult to maintain that 4 feet.
There is also cost to factor in...another 6 sqft would mean 3 more MH bulbs, another 750W of electricity, another circuit etc. etc. That cost seemed significant when I was building...but now, I wish I had just done it....
