Siptang's 72g bow front.

[Siptang]

Hello everyone, thought I would post my tank here to get some opinions and thoughts about my tank, inhabitants, aquascaping and everything else.

I had a fowlr tank for years then last year I had a devastating tragedy and felt that I needed a change and something to consume almost all of my time.
So I decided to jump in to world of corals and consumed all the time it did... along with all my money.

Well here it is.

Progress shots.



9/2011

11/2011

12/2011

1/2012

End of January 2012

2/2012

Early March 2012

 

[Siptang]

3/18/2012

 

[davidsuli]

Nice progresion

 

[MXracer52]

Very nice tank!

Just out of curiosity...how many lbs of rock do you have in there?

 

[Siptang]

Thanks David. I look forward to seeing yours tonight.
mxracer - I think I have close to 200 pounds in there if I'm not mistaken.

 

[marke]

Great progression! If this keeps up whats it going to look like in a year? Also keep an eye on that zenia it consumes real estate. I once ended up with a zenia tank not by choice.

 

[Siptang]

Thank you good sir.

Your tank is my new inspiration and the direction that I want to take in.
You don't know how much I'm learning by bugging you lol. Sorry for all the troubles and thank you so much for wonderful advices, ideas and great corals.

As you said, I'm already keeping an close eye on the xenia and have actually fragged it twice so that it wouldn't touch my gsp in the back.

I look forward to the growth of my sps now and hopefully it will be able to look somewhat like many of the amazing tanks here.

BTW, almost all of the corals that I have purchased were frags.

 

[traymitch1]

Thank you good sir.

Your tank is my new inspiration and the direction that I want to take in.
You don't know how much I'm learning by bugging you lol. Sorry for all the troubles and thank you so much for wonderful advices, ideas and great corals.

As you said, I'm already keeping an close eye on the xenia and have actually fragged it twice so that it wouldn't touch my gsp in the back.

I look forward to the growth of my sps now and hopefully it will be able to look somewhat like many of the amazing tanks here.

BTW, almost all of the corals that I have purchased were frags.

ahhhh I see some familiar frags up in the mix. The tank looks awesome.

 

[Siptang]

Hey Tray

yea frogspawn head is doing well and so are the red and brown caps and zoas.
Thanks for the kind words. I know it's far from yours and some of the others here. Doing kalk like you suggested. If I can just keep the alk down (sitting at 11), it will be swell. :/

 

[traymitch1]

just stay with the weekly water changes. 11 not bad but I keep mine at 10

 

[Biggar]

Nice!, hope that crab serves the community well.

 

[DRThompson]

Looks great!....Any problems with your angels nipping at the corals?

 

[phishybusiness]

looking good!!

 

[Siptang]

Mike - It went to hiding immediately last night but looks really good in my tank, surprised at the color still and I'm very satisfied. Thanks! Hopefully, I can get a pic of him so I can post here lol. Pleasure meeting you yesterday and once again, your tank is beautiful. I will post my cabinet and the mess that i call wiring lol. I'm planning to do a complete over haul after looking at your cabinet.

Dr.T - no, I usually keep all the fish very well fed but I did have bi color angel nip at the clam mantle little bit but she stopped that now.

phishy - thank you for the kind words!

 

[Siptang]

Update:

After looking at Marke's tank and Bigar's clean setup in person, I felt like I needed to do something about my messy bottom which is concealed by a door.

yea... very fire hazardous. very untidy and very unattractive

Ozone was leaking because my buddy installed it using zip ties.. went to home depot and voila. Didn't even know somethings existed.

After mounting the pumps on the wall of the cabinet, mounting the switch strip, everything looks bit more neater, efficient and no leaks on ozone.

I wasn't lying when I said that I don't have any of Mcguyver genes in my DNA but I decided to do a research on pump + hose water change from my garage, hence a hose hanger was created and I was able to do this with a new friend. Gosh I love home depot. Soon as my pump comes, I will go ahead and buy adapter for the pump and the hose and see how that goes.

I got some of my funds back... now I gotta save and look around for a good deal on apex lite controller or apex jr controller with display...

Any suggestions on improving my tank in cleaning up the bottom bit more or making it bit more efficient?

 

[Siptang]

Edit: I don't know why it posted twice.
any how, I look forward to everyone's input.

 

[ek9vboi]

Hey Richard, sorry about not replying to your text. Got stupid busy at work and I forgot completely till now.

As for controller, I would pick up whatever can control the basics. It's nice to have internet access or a nice display but it's something that you will move past after a few days worth of play.

I have the older model Neptune System Aquacontroller Jr. and it does the job perfectly. Turns my lights on and off, heater, fans, etc. Took some learning to program but it's nothing out of this world. I have yet to learn about the aquanotes, but will eventually get around to it so I can monitor my pH and whatever else it can do. I always have the option to sell it once and if I decide to upgrade, but for now it does the job.

I would skip the APEX Jr. because it comes with a 4 port outlet, which IMO is ok but not enough for all your stuff. Given the DJ switch can control a majority of the stuff in the tank but it's nice to hit feed mode via the controller and shut off the return pump/skimmer, etc. and then turn whatever on at a time. For example, when I shut off my return and my skimmer stays on, it overflows due to the water level that the skimmer sits in. With the Aquacontroller Jr. It can delay the skimmer till the return/sump goes back to normal, thus no causing the skimmer to overflow.

You can find the older models for around 150-200 and they come with the 8 outlet, pH & temp probes. Well worth it and the resale value stays about the same, given over time technology changes and things lose value but it wouldn't be much considering how much you paid for it used. APEX Lite use still goes for $300-350, for that I would buy new and spend the money on a pH sensor.

 

[Siptang]

Eric - no worries lol. Also thank you for very indepth and thorough review. I will look into it and give it some thought.

 

[ek9vboi]

Your money is better invested into a chiller and a decent controller, the latest and greatest will always get old.

BTW, nice progression. I only wish I did the same. My last tank I did but it was a noobie stage. This time I knew what to do but I guess we all go through it.

 

[Siptang]

Your money is better invested into a chiller and a decent controller, the latest and greatest will always get old.

True, but who doesn't want biggest and baddest new toy? lol.

BTW, nice progression. I only wish I did the same. My last tank I did but it was a noobie stage. This time I knew what to do but I guess we all go through it.

I have been in this hobby for about 10 yrs now and I have my moments of noobness and noob mistakes and I have stayed away from coral due to all the work, care and money that goes inside and I thought i was smart by staying away and not worrying about all the parameters, additives, equipments, head aches and draining wallet syndrome.

Last year I had a huge problem where everything crashed when allpets from pines sold me jugs of contaminated, unfiltered water as RO. (Detected level of chlorine in my tank and TDS meter was reading 130 something I don't know if I remember correctly maybe it was more.. [my next door neighbor works for swimming pool company]) I was already dealing with alot of personal problems (I won't bore you with details) and I needed something to occupy my mind and one thing fell to another and I started reef and I'm an addict now..

It was a quick progress, hopefully it will be even better in time to come.