Tank of the Month - August 2009
- Thread starter Skipper
- Start date
stumpovrtyme
Reef Junkie
Awsome tank!
Hats off to you skipper. A very beautiful tank you have there.
I find it interesting that you only keep you sand depth at 1 1/2". I used to and have since went bare bottom. I don't like the look of bare bottom and am contemplating whether or not I should go back to approx 2" that I had before or go real DSB about 5".
Do you change the sand in your tank at all or do you find your clean up crew is sufficient to keep it healthy?
I find it interesting that you only keep you sand depth at 1 1/2". I used to and have since went bare bottom. I don't like the look of bare bottom and am contemplating whether or not I should go back to approx 2" that I had before or go real DSB about 5".
Do you change the sand in your tank at all or do you find your clean up crew is sufficient to keep it healthy?
johns
Premium Member
You said that you use superglue to attach your corals, what kind do you use and do you do it underwater
I use the IC-gel that is being carried by many reef shops these days. Main reason is it is thick and comes in the larger tubes. As I mentioned a few times, I use a lot of it. So working with so many of those little tubes is kind of a hassle.
I usually take the coral out of the tank and add the glue to the coral outside the tank. Then immediately dunk it back underwater and try to work it in place. Sometimes takes me a couple tries before I get it right.
Do you change the sand in your tank at all or do you find your clean up crew is sufficient to keep it healthy?
I dont change out the sand. But I have occasionally added a few news cups to the sand bed. I find that I slowly lose a little sand over time.
I use the IC-gel that is being carried by many reef shops these days. Main reason is it is thick and comes in the larger tubes. As I mentioned a few times, I use a lot of it. So working with so many of those little tubes is kind of a hassle.
I usually take the coral out of the tank and add the glue to the coral outside the tank. Then immediately dunk it back underwater and try to work it in place. Sometimes takes me a couple tries before I get it right.
Do you change the sand in your tank at all or do you find your clean up crew is sufficient to keep it healthy?
I dont change out the sand. But I have occasionally added a few news cups to the sand bed. I find that I slowly lose a little sand over time.
jason darr
New member
fantastic tank!
ReddingReef
New member
Inspirational, very well done. Congratulations!
johns
Premium Member
just wonder why you turn on mh from noon to 3pm and from 5pm to 8pm?? why turn off two hrs and on again?
In the article I explain that the idea was to decrease the amount of heat entering the system. Giving the tank a couple hours 'cool down' period with no MH rather than having MH on constantly for 6 hours seemed to help limit the heat. T5s are on while the MH are off for that interim time, so it's not like the tank is going dark in between. It's still plenty bright.
also do you run GFO> if you do,,how much and how do you run it?
I do run GFO and carbon 24/7. I have been running them together in a reactor. Because they were mixed together and because the carbon really needs to be replaced more often, I decreased the amount of GFO being added proportionally so that I could just toss it away with the carbon every month. Since I replace the carbon monthly, I just took the amount of GFO you might run normally and divided by 4 or 6 (I guess GFO is generally ok to use for up to 4 or 6 months) and added that to the reactor.
In the article I explain that the idea was to decrease the amount of heat entering the system. Giving the tank a couple hours 'cool down' period with no MH rather than having MH on constantly for 6 hours seemed to help limit the heat. T5s are on while the MH are off for that interim time, so it's not like the tank is going dark in between. It's still plenty bright.
also do you run GFO> if you do,,how much and how do you run it?
I do run GFO and carbon 24/7. I have been running them together in a reactor. Because they were mixed together and because the carbon really needs to be replaced more often, I decreased the amount of GFO being added proportionally so that I could just toss it away with the carbon every month. Since I replace the carbon monthly, I just took the amount of GFO you might run normally and divided by 4 or 6 (I guess GFO is generally ok to use for up to 4 or 6 months) and added that to the reactor.
dodgerblew
Team RC
outstanding!!
johns
Premium Member
We didnt see pics of ur growout tank though u say it is tied to the main tank, can you please share some pics and explain how it is tied together !!
Actually there are just a couple of pictures of the growout tank in the article. But it may not be completely clear which ones they are, because the growout tank is not just set up with racks and frags like you might expect, but it's actually another shallow look-down tank with it's own rockwork, etc. Some (most) of the coral frags I had in there have grown into full colonies by now as well.
If you look down the article, a couple top-down shots of the growout tank are the 4th set of pics from the top, immediately below the pics of the full tank showing the cabinetry.
Gary Parr did take a few other shots of the growout tank. A few of them can be seen here:
The way it was plumbed together is like this:
The sump tank sits behind and below the main display inside the back cabinet. The external overflow from the display drains directly down into this sump. The growout tank sits directly below the main display inside the stand. The sump and the growout tank were both drilled through their sides. They are connected together using 2-inch spa flex tubing, through a hole drilled into the cabinetry. There is an overflow box in the growout tank with a return pump placed inside of it to return water to the main display.
A couple more pics from when this tank was first put togther might help explain it:
Here is a shot of the sump which sits behind the main display. In the lower right of this pic you'll see the 2-inch spa flex line going through the cabinet (there are a few pvc pieces lying on top of it, for no good reason):
Here is the growout tank sitting below the main display. You can see the black overflow box and the spa flex line coming out of that. There is an eheim return pump inside of that overflow box that returns water back to the main display.
And a couple more views:
Actually there are just a couple of pictures of the growout tank in the article. But it may not be completely clear which ones they are, because the growout tank is not just set up with racks and frags like you might expect, but it's actually another shallow look-down tank with it's own rockwork, etc. Some (most) of the coral frags I had in there have grown into full colonies by now as well.
If you look down the article, a couple top-down shots of the growout tank are the 4th set of pics from the top, immediately below the pics of the full tank showing the cabinetry.
Gary Parr did take a few other shots of the growout tank. A few of them can be seen here:
The way it was plumbed together is like this:
The sump tank sits behind and below the main display inside the back cabinet. The external overflow from the display drains directly down into this sump. The growout tank sits directly below the main display inside the stand. The sump and the growout tank were both drilled through their sides. They are connected together using 2-inch spa flex tubing, through a hole drilled into the cabinetry. There is an overflow box in the growout tank with a return pump placed inside of it to return water to the main display.
A couple more pics from when this tank was first put togther might help explain it:
Here is a shot of the sump which sits behind the main display. In the lower right of this pic you'll see the 2-inch spa flex line going through the cabinet (there are a few pvc pieces lying on top of it, for no good reason):
Here is the growout tank sitting below the main display. You can see the black overflow box and the spa flex line coming out of that. There is an eheim return pump inside of that overflow box that returns water back to the main display.
And a couple more views:
johns
Premium Member
Well prugs - you deserve some recognition yourself. There were 2 or 3 reefers that were really instrumental in helping with the design. And of course you know you were one of them! A lot of the ideas for the setup came while we were shooting the breeze over beverages.
:beer:
And of course thanks for helping to carry the tank downstairs and for drilling the sump and grow-out tanks for me.
:beer:
Hope AZ treats you and Sue well!!
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