Tank of the Month - April '05

[blstravler]

Very Nice tank well deserving of the TOTM!!!

I also have just moved to the hamilton 14k's (from XM 20k's) and agree some of my corals are not as colorful as they used to be but others have colored up very nicely. I will say that it is nice to have the tank not looks so blue any more (XM 20k's where very blue) I do have the 400 watt bulbs and I know you are thinking about them if you have any questions PM any time.

I have the same size tank and also have a large fish population with a big refugium and am glad to see that I am not the only one with success the, buy the way the Jewel tang is very, very nice.

I have one question, how far off the water are your MH bulbs? I ask b/c many of your corals are growing, very well near the bottom of the tank. I do have some in the lower areas of my tank but I think they might not be getting enough light so I am wondering if my bulbs are to far off the water?

TIA and again, great tank.

Keith

 

[InsaneClownFish]

Beautiful Reef.

 

[sschafer]

I really think carbon cleans the water up nicely. I can see a big difference in water clarity when I use carbon.

-Steve

sorry, but I gotta ask again.

Can you go into a little more detail on why you run Carbon in your system? Is it preventitive, or do you feel that you can never have to much filtration?

I have been trying to decide whether or not I like carbon in my system.
I have it in, I pull it out, put it back, pull it out, etc.

 

[sschafer]

Hi Wolfgang,

It's really hard to judge colors without having the bulbs running next to each other. I believe I had better blues with the AB bulbs. I think I'm getting more vivid reds with the Hamilton bulbs. Lighting has always been an enigma for me.

-Steve

Greetings:
In your Opinion, which bulbs did a better job at keeping the Blue Acro colors? The Hamiltons or the AB's?
I have a 120 gal tank as well, and find it difficult to maintain any Blues, I buy them Blue, but they don't stay that way!!!
I have tried XM 20 K, Sunaquatic 14K's, Radiums 250W SE bulbs.
With URI Actinic whites, Actinics, and Corallife 10K VHO's in all combinations!
I was ready to switch to a Won Brothers 250W DE hood!
Thanks!
-Wolfgang

On the Quest for BLUE!!!!!!!

 

[sschafer]

Thanks Keith,

Yup, that Jewel tang is a great fish. He's got personality too! As for the MH lights . . . they are approximately 8" above the water. I do not have any kind of glass/acrylic between them and the water. I don't think I would go much closer then that since a couple of my fish splash.

-Steve

buy the way the Jewel tang is very, very nice.

I have one question, how far off the water are your MH bulbs? I ask b/c many of your corals are growing, very well near the bottom of the tank. I do have some in the lower areas of my tank but I think they might not be getting enough light so I am wondering if my bulbs are to far off the water?

TIA and again, great tank.

Keith

 

[sschafer]

Thanks again all for the nice comments.

-Steve

 

[oraclenick]

Great Tank

Great Tank

I agree that having fish is just as important as having the corals! Wish I had gotten a larger tank than my 55
Hoping to migrate to a 120 in the near future if I can convince the wife.

 

[TheBimbo]

What a pretty tank... I will be showing the hubby tomorrow... Congrats on the wonderful honor of Tank Of The Month!!!



<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZNxdm414BKUS' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_1_114.gif' alt='Clapping' border=0></a> TheBimbo <a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZNxdm414BKUS' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_1_114.gif' alt='Clapping' border=0></a>

 

[poknsnok]

sschafer

ever have any problems with nuisance algea?? you have the nicest tank. im battling dictyota and i could use some advice

 

[aquaria_rn]

Awosome Tank!!

Awosome Tank!!

SSchaffer, That is an incredible accomplishment. I have been running my reef for 1.5 years. ( Struggling to be exact). I have spent much money mostly replacing corals. Approxamitely, 4-6K the first year( impulse buying) and about 2k this year. Learning the hard way. I now noticed that the tank looks , seems to be okay when left alone. IE; moving corals around .Because i was purchasing too many to soon. Frequent H20 changes, which let to too fast decrease of SG, causing some problems with leathers as well as polyps closing and the dying. I keep checking parameters and can't seem to keep my Ca++ over 200-30O. Im now using Reef complete and Reef Ca+ made by seachem. Last checked it was 280. Had an algae problem slowly going away Phos was high +5, did water changes watching SG and it is now trace. Anyway, I can wait until I too can have a tank that is worthy of praise by RC, look forward of seeing more of tank.

Fellow reefer!!

 

[zoocrazy]

BEAUTIFUL TANK!!!!!

 

[sschafer]

I have an issue with Bryopsis now and then. Entirely my fault. I introduced it on a colony and never did anything to remove it originally. What a horrible mistake. Never ever knowingly put anything with Bryopsis in your tank. When I moved a number of years ago I went from a 54g corner tank to the 120g tank I have now. For a little while after the new tank was setup I had this very odd algae issue. This was before I have all the fish in the tank. I'm not sure what kind of algae it was, but it was a dark brown, had very small fibers, and was impossible to remove. Scrubbing the rocks with a metal brush did almost nothing to it. Eventually it just went away. I've never had to deal with Dictyota so I'm not familiar with any specific ways to combat it.

-Steve

sschafer

ever have any problems with nuisance algea?? you have the nicest tank. im battling dictyota and i could use some advice

 

[POMPANO]

Very nice set up !!!!!

 

[MikeG]

Nice job!

Question though. What are you going to do with those wrasses once you go BB? I'm asking because i plan on doing the same, but also have a leopard who sleeps in the sandbed. Thanks

 

[sschafer]

Thanks. Well, none of the other wrasses sleep in the sand. With the leopard . . . I really want to keep her so I'm trying to work something out. I have a 35 pound rock that is hollow. I was thinking of placing an inch or two of sand in the rock (like a bowl) and building rock work around it so you don't see any of the sand. That's my idea at the moment. I'll let you know if I think of anything better.

-Steve

Nice job!

Question though. What are you going to do with those wrasses once you go BB? I'm asking because i plan on doing the same, but also have a leopard who sleeps in the sandbed. Thanks

 

[MikeG]

I Hope you figure something out for the both of us! The only thing i could come up with is somesort of sand box in the back of the tank. My real consern is that the wrasse will have trouble finding it, and hurt itself on the sanstone bottom (I was going to place tiles on the bottom instead of that bright white plastic.) Lol

 

[SRA4031]

Nice Tank Steve. Do have a question, Why do you want the pistol shrimp to be eaten?

 

[Gen21]

Hi everybody...

sschafer... great, awesome, beautiful and excellent tank!!!! :eek2:

Could you show some pics from your lighting distribution please?Ã"šÃ‚¿ I want to see it... because I seen in "tank of the mont" that your Acros have a beautiful colors!!! and I seen that you only have 2 MHÃ"šÃ‚´s Hamilton 14K and VHOÃ"šÃ‚´s...

Really is amazing...

Greetings from Mexico

 

[Just Jim]

I don't know if this thread is too old to be looked at, but I'm trying to find out any info I can on mustard/jewel tangs. I've been trying to get one for a while, and was hoping I could get pointed in the right direction. Any additional information would also be appreciated. Oh yeah, the tank looks great!

 

[melev]

Goldenboy,

[welcome]