Step-by-step account of my first reef (with lots of pics)

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I had the pleasure of checking out this tank today and all I have to say is WOW.

As this tank is nearing its one year anniversery I can honestly say, it by far the prettiest nano tank I have ever seen in person. Within the past 2 months, Mike has turned this tank into a true piece of art. The corals are thriving, the fish are thriving, the tank looks GOOD. This tank has finally matured to a state of enjoyment and pruning and I cannot WAIT to see what the next year will bring.

John

The apprentice's tank has most surely eclipsed the master's. None of my tanks has ever looked this good!
 
That sounds awesome. What a huge compliment.

needpics.gif
 
450G tank w/ 180G SUMP???? Good God!!!

Dudester, looks like you have become a bone fide RC guru now. Congrats on the great tank and your generous outflow of knowledge. You're a great member of the group.

Re: my closed loop, thanks for the compliment. The only issue I have with it is that, although I have zero leaks in any of my other PVC plumbing, when I crank that Sequence Marlin pump up to 100% flow, it somehow periodically sucks microbubbles into the system, which then get expelled into my display. Grrr. And I thought I was a PVC guru... I twisted every connection when gluing it up. The most likely problem spots are the threaded connectors leading into the pump. I siliconed them in, but because one of them involves a 90 turn, in order to keep the connector pointing perpendicular to the floor, I don't think that I tightened it down quite enough, and air can enter the system when it's on full throttle. I'm kinda perplexed as to how to fix this problem. Add more silicone around the threaded connectors maybe? Maybe if it's thick enough, it will prevent air entering?

Can't wait for current pics of your setup! :)
 
The apprentice is humbled. Of course John's words are meaningless since I HAVE NO PHOTOS TO BACK THEM UP. If I was bad about posting pics in the past couple of months, now I'm really going to be reluctant since there's no way I'll be able to live up to the expectations that John has set. But I will try, I promise, and I am so sorry that I've let my responsibilities as a thread host fall asunder. I won't bore you with excuses and trust me, the person who is harmed the most by my lack of pictures is me. It's been just over a month since I mounted the 8 acro frags I got from fishypets and all but 1 have changed dramatically since their introduction into my tank. Most have put down a nice base, and some have even grown already. A couple (the Cali tort and Tyree purple acro) have lost a lot of color, and the ORA millepora continues to be bare-bottom (no base) even after I evicted the worm that was taunting it with slime. Otherwise those corals, and my more recent additions, have done quite well. It's maddening that I don't have photos of them when they were first placed into the tank.

Everyone - Sorry, sorry, SORRY! Pictures will come.

fishypets - I love the car, but I think your tank is prettier and you should change your avatar.

melev - Word.

John - Thanks so much for the overly kind and clearly exaggerated compliment. Of course the tank would be nowhere near as nice if it wasn't for all of your expertise and assistance. I remain a mere grasshopper in your presence. Now that you've seen the tank again, I'd love to get some constructive criticism on topics such as how you think I could get more color out of my corals, whether or not I've placed the corals in good locations (would a change here improve some coloration?), your thoughts on my proposed rock island in the front-right portion of the tank, and anything else you can think of.

techreef - I don't deserve those comments but thanks, all the same. I don't have any experience with using silicone around threaded connectors, so I can't comment directly on its efficacy. Do you use teflon tape at your threaded joints? Maybe if you added a few wraps of the tape then your microbubbles would resolve. Most people recommend about 4 wraps with the tape, but I probably add about 20 wraps, and I've not had any microbubble problems. If you do this, just be careful that you don't overtighten the connection as this could crack the PVC. Let us know how it goes.
 
Mike,

Off topic a little but make sure your next post is a double...Right now you are on #665.

Since you will obviously never post pics I guess I need to head over to your house to see this beauty in person. One thing though.....If your tank looks better than mine no more frags for you!:D J/K
 
Clint (fishypets) - Thanks for the "heads-up" regarding my post count. I hate double posts (I've not had one yet) so I'll post twice quickly in order to avoid the dreaded number. Of course you're welcome to come over any time to see my tank, although it's an embarrassment compared to yours. I just looked at the picture of your tank that Melev linked, and I feel like I just got punched in the stomach. The beautiful blue California tort frag that I got from you looks light blue at best in my tank, compared to the brilliant dark blue colony that's perched atop your aquascape. It (and most of the others) has definitely grown since placing it in my tank 2 months ago, but the color is disappointing. I'll continue to feed DT oyster eggs and hope that my colors improve. By the way, I gave John about 10 tubes of superglue gel and a bottle of the accelerator to give to you - did you get them?

I actually had an interesting finding. The very first SPS frag I got was a tricolor acro (a. valida) on 11/18/05. Immediately the frag changed from light purple with green tips to a light brown. It based out reasonably well but failed to grow at all thereafter. Over the next 7 months this frag taunted me with absolutely no growth and little color. On several occasions I considered either removing it altogether and giving it away vs. moving it to a different location in my tank, but ultimately I did nothing and chose to just watch it and see what happened, since it clearly was not dying. Well, over the past 6-8 weeks this coral has literally taken off. It has developed several branches and the purple color has returned, as well as the bright green tips. Maybe some of these SPS just need a long time to adapt before they are ready to "blossom," and we should just leave them alone before abandoning them? That's the lesson I learned, and once again patience has paid off. It's now one of my favorite corals. Of course all of this jibberish is useless without a follow-up photo, and like I've said before (broken record clicking in background) I'm working on it, trust me!

The other recent change is that my calcium and alkalinity are much more stable than in the past. I used to dose an absurd amount of B-Ionic and would supplement weekly with both TurboCalcium and baking soda. Ever since I added Magnesium to an appropriate level, I've not had to supplement with TurboCalcium, and my alkalinity has improved as well. This surprises me since there are more calcium-consuming animals in my tank now than ever before. Oh well, I'm not going to complain about this good news.

melev - Clint's tank is stunning! I've been to his house twice and both times I was awestruck. It's just over a year old and his corals grow like they're on steroids. I can't wait to see it again.
 
Mike,

I did get the gel THANKS! Send me your paypal and I will send some funds. When you are not super slammed with work I will stop by and admire your tank.

BTW I have a new project in the works that will be a sps only tank set up at my buddys house. Look for a thread to kick it all off!
 
Great tank!

I love the Cube. That is what I wanted when decided to move from a 55g to a 180g. My LFS would have had to special order it and I did want to wait and spend the extra $$.
 
Clint - What, are you kidding? The gel's on me, bud. Looks like you're going to need it, too, since you'll probably be stocking your friend's tank with frags from your reef. Just let me know if you run out of gel ... I have more. And please post a link to that thread. If his tank is half as nice as yours, it will be SWEEEEEET.

chopsuey - Glad you like my setup. I like the cube, too. It's a great shape and lends itself to a lot of aquascaping variations for such a small tank. The larger cubes are REALLY nice. I'm sure you've seen this tank but if not, then definitely check it out. Amazingly, he's planning an even larger cube ... I can't wait to see that!
 
Dudster

It "sounds" like your tank is coming along just great......

.... where's the pics? :)
 
What's that sound? It most certainly isn't a camera shutter... it might be the legion of Dudester fans slowly filing out of the theater.

TAKE SOME PICTURES
 
Guilty as charged. Please don't jump ship, everyone. I know how intolerable it must be to read lists of livestock without any accompanying photos, but I need everyone's help to keep my tank successful. So please stick with me and I'll have a monster post sooner than you think. Hopefully this thread will continue to educate both myself and the reefing community. Now where is that camera anyway ...
 
Too bad you won't be at the Austin Reef Club meeting today, Clint, or I'd take you up on that offer. Your camera takes some awesome photographs. I'm sure the photographer has a little something to do with that as well.

Just something neat to report - last night my chocolate tang parked in front of an emerald crab as if it wanted a cleaning. It stayed there motionless for nearly a minute. Aside from at night, I've never seen this tang stop swimming. I think I'm going to get a cleaner shrimp.
 
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