Tank of the Month - August '06

Ralf, well deserved TOTM. I am sure it is breathless in person. Can you help me please. I want to possibly try anthias for my 450 gallon. I have an autofeeder, but how do you prevent the food from going in the overflows. Do you have any tricks? What food would you recommend that I could try here in the states in the auto-feeder that wouldnt just float away. Thanks.
 
hi cweeder

I am not Ralf, but I had to find a solution for basically the same problem. Now I dose the food into the last chamber of the filter sump, where the return pump sits. As the food slowly takes up water and sinks it is sucked into the pump and spread out into the tank. This way I can ensure that all fishes have a chance to catch some food, not just the quick ones.

@ RalfP: Hey, echt geiles Becken! Gratulation

Jens
 
Thanks Jens, that is too easy! Come to think about it, I have heard of people doing all there feeding from the sump. When I feed from the top my blue throat trigger and naso tang get first crack, just waiting to pounce as soon as the food hits the water. This would let the less aggresive fish get a better chance to feed. Do you think flakes could be dosed too or just pellets? I would be concerned flakes might just be missed and turn into pollution. I have lots of quality flake food I'd love to put to use. I have ocean nutrition, spectrum and cyclopeeze wafer flakes ready to be loaded in the auto feeder.

Ralf, thanks for the inspiration. Keeping anthias is to me like keeping sps. It shows how far this "hobby" has come.
 
Thanks all,

cweeder,
Jens' method will certainly work, but as it is with our passion, there is always more than one way to do it ;-).
One of my water movement pumps has its outlet near the surface, the water is somewhat turbulent there. Most of the food is caught by the moving water.

NanoCube-boy,
oops, I forgot to answer on the NO3 question,
I feed 5 times a day, but not that hughe amount of food. With lots of LR and an overall
moderate fishcount, I have no NO3 detectable in the system (< 1 ppm with TropicMarin Test). There certainly is NO3 around, else coral and algae (in filter) would not grow.
It seems that they're fast enough in catching it ;-)

Ralf
 
cweder,
yes, it works also with flakes for me.
The mentioned water outlet is near the overflow and blowing away from it.
If flakes are not caught directly by the water, they cycle around on the surface and get
caught later, if well soaked. Some few get into the sump, but really only a few.
Ralf
 
Congrats on the tank of the month, it is incredible!!

How does you Magnificent Foxface interact with coral/fish in your tank. I'm in the process of getting one and have read they are incredible fish buy may nip at inverts and sps/lps/softies occasionally. Do you experience any of this behavior?
 
Hi there, Ralf

One thing I haven´t asked you before...has to do with your UV system, as I´m considering adding one.

- You run your 4x34w at 24/7, only a few hours a day or only sometimes (new fish, etc) ?

- What flow are you using (I know its a bypass from a circulation pump. But do you have an ideia) ?

- Your choice for 4x34w was based on some accurate calculations ? (my system is around 280 g: 210g display + around 50g used in sump + 24 g refugium) ?

- Have you always used it or added it later ?

- Is your A. leucosternon (PBT) - one of the better "ich detectors" - totally free of ich (cryptocarion irritans) or it appears sometimes ? If its free, what role (with the good water quality, good food, etc) do you attribute to the UV ?

- Do you also consider that UV prevents/attacks velvet (Amyloodinium), at least when its not hosted ?

Sorry for all this queries, but the use of UV in a reef is a bit controversial, with pros and cons, and I haven´t decided yet.
But...the health of your system is an excelent pro for the use.

Regards,
Joao
 
Thank you so much again and again :-)...

jamal,
regarding the Foxface, I never ever saw it in interaction with a coral.
Its eating all kind of algae and all kind of food I throw in.
As I was told (and for this one its true) its a very friedly fish, there was no problem adding surgeons later.
In the beginning, it loved eating also long hairalgae (edit: now, there are no HA).
If the powderblue tries to scare it (happens very seldom), it shows its fins (poisonous) and its peace again. I guess, you'll be happy with this fish (its taking food(algae) from my hand).

joao,
well, I thought long time about using UV or not.
In my former systems, I did not use UV nor ozone. All fish where healthy too.
In "good" running mainly coral systems, I think it's less important, than in fish-only systems.
Having a larger system (not being able to catch ill fishes) and willing to keep that powerderblue, I decided to use UV. All fish are "spot"-free.
I wanted to reduce the germinal pressure in the tank from day 1.
Its running 24/7, because it takes days if not weeks, untill the germs are significantly reduced in the tankwater. As most of the germs are still at/in the stones and therefore not affected by the UV (only killing germs, released to freewater), the germ-count will quickly raise again if switching UV off.
Attaching the UV to the water movement pump and not somewhere in the sump should be more effective, regarding the germ-count in the tanks water.
I've choosen the wattage according to deltec/shop information.
Don't know if thats true, but I was told that most of the UVs around are made of normal glass (the part keeping the UV-bulb away from water), which is filtering UV-light;
the Deltec seems to be made of quarz-glas, which lets UV nearly fully through.
(More effective, needing lower wattage (only 1/2 than normal).
The flow is maybe 1/4 of the pump, which has 12000 liters/h.
Well, overall I think it helps reducing germinal pressure to the fish and therefore will help
fishes to resist all kind of germs.
It will not do alone, healthy food, good water etc. will maybe do the bigger part.

green111,
don't have any brand names, I use pure chemicals for pharma-use.
Randy's method, which is more often used in the US, has only little differences and
is described here: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php .
There are also Brandnames mentioned.
Btw. welcome to RC ;-)

Ralf
 
This is the first tank/setup I have ever seen that even comes close to the famous www.oregonreef.com tank.

It's so rare to find a clean, well-planned setup like these. And it's even harder to find a well-designed aquascape. Congratulations on your TOTM.

For your next upgrade, you might consider getting away from the traditional long-shallow shape and go deeper from front-to-back if you have the room. The oregonreef.com tank is actually 9 feet from front to back.

Nice job as well on the website.
 
Thank you very much ReefBuddha,

I really admire the oregonreef setup, its a great inspiration.
Unfortunately I have no more room in the tankroom to go deeper.
Due to the angular roof there would be no room for placing the lighthood, so my about 4.3 feet is all I can achive.
I agree that going as deep as possible is very important for look and aquascaping.

The oregonreef way of having an "oversized" stand to still be able to reach all places in the tank is great(but I haven't room for that also :-).
With my stand being as big as the tank, I have to use a ladder (or better two if I don't want to carry it continuously from front to back).

Ralf
 
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