Tank of the Month - October 2007

[SCIFI_3D_zoo]

I personally bought 3/4 and 1/2 inch not sure what to use. I thought 1/2 would be easier to cover up on the bottom with sand. I flexed the 1/2 at the store too and I think it's personally strong enough to hold up a tower of rocks. It looks like Paul used 3/4 to me... but it would be interesting to hear his take.

 

[pwhitby]

I used 3/4 thick wall pipe. It is quite strong.

Paul.

 

[Reefski's]

what did Sanjay use?

 

[SCIFI_3D_zoo]

So do you strongly recommend using glue? They seemed to fit tight wtih force to me. And if so... did you use superglue or regular plumbing glue is ok? I'm not sure if some glues might be toxic to the tank.

I made a thread about Kelvin/Wattage lighting in the equipment forum. I'd be really interested in your opinion about that. I think your tank and Acropora's TOTM are the best two I've seen ever as far as coral coloration goes.

To save you time here's the link.
LINK

 

[poknsnok]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11197253#post11197253 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by pwhitby
I used 3/4 thick wall pipe. It is quite strong.

Paul.

I agree, just hard to drill a 1" hole in rock without splitting it.

 

[pwhitby]

I chose rock for lightness and porosity, as well as large flatter pieces.

Support the rock on wood while you drill, that helps prevent it from splitting.

Paul.

 

[poknsnok]

I got a 1.25" masonary hole saw. worked like a charm

 

[pwhitby]

the one I used was multipurpose.

Im glad it worked, remember the pictures!

Paul.

 

[SCIFI_3D_zoo]

How long did you quarantine your fish? I'm reading an article saying "1 MONTH" is needed. And what about corals? I was thinking... treat for ich if they have it, get them to calm down from all the moving, get them to start eating your foods, that's it.

Oh.. my question about lighting.. I was wondering if 150W HQI's was enough for my 24" deep 90gal. There's 2 HQI's and 2 96 Actinics. I just bought some new 14K HQI's hoping to get some more color. I'm reading crazy stuff like... 7-10 W/gal for a full reef.

 

[SCIFI_3D_zoo]

I decided after reading so much about QT that I'll just get my stuff from Diver's Den for awhile. They have a good quarantine process. I know there's no way LFS are QT'n stuff for 1-2 months. I'm never gonna let LFS water in my tank again,, not even a little. I've bought a lot of stuff over the past 6-7 years and I've never had any problem except with Tangs(especially blue's of course) and ich. I guess I got lucky I've never had any disease/pest problems.

 

[pwhitby]

I would say that wherever you buy from....a QT is an absolute must. The big thing for QT is to get them eating the food you use!

P.

 

[pwhitby]

I wanted to sahre my latest find:

After many months of searching I finally obtained the anemone I have been looking for.

This is a variant of bubble tip, it is called a Flame Anemone, for obvious reasons.

Here it is being acclimated and not fully opened...

It is absolutely stunning and pictures do not do this justice at all.

Once it is settled I will try and take a few more.

Paul.

 

[reedrodz]

your tank is beautiful and efficient...how thick is the acrylic glass your using. someone quoted me for $3600 same sizt at 3/4 thick acrylic. is this too expensive and is the glass thickness enough to haddle the volume of water? thanks

 

[Skipper]

Dang, Paul! That is sweet!! Where'd you find it?

 

[reefsahoy]

pwhitby, couple questions. 1. what is the depth and width of your tank? 2. from front to back what is the color combo of the lights you are using? 3. how do you plan to introduce the anemone and not be afraid it will move around and burn your corals? 4. can i be 1st in line for frags?:rollface:

 

[pwhitby]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11290199#post11290199 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Skipper
Dang, Paul! That is sweet!! Where'd you find it?

A local online vendor managed to get some in. I have been looking for one for a very long time and had mentioned it to them. They managed to get three at once. I took two and the other they sold online.

www.zoanuts.com was the vendor.

It really is a stunning anemone. The larger of the two has to be 10-12 inches across.

now im hoping she splits frequently,

Paul.

 

[pwhitby]

Reefs...

Tank is 96 wide, 48 front to back and 30 inches tall.

The lights are a mix of 11k and the two actinic T5s (cant remember the name) they are mixed, but generally it runs approix 3:1 blue to white. I couldnt tell you the exact order without pulling the hgoods up and looking.

That anemone will not be introduced until it has split at least once. The trick with bubbles is placing them high enough up and far enough away from other rocks that they can not physically reach anything above them. Find a rock with a pocket sized hole in it that fills that criteria, place the anemone in and it pretty much stays there. ...till it splits.

I actually have 7 RBTA in my big tank from a 12 incher that keeps splitting. The original is still in the same spot as when it was polaced there 15mo ago.

As for frags.......well I always have those on hand. Infact I have to start removing colonies right now due to the excessive growth.

Its a tough life isnt it...lol.

Paul.

 

[SCIFI_3D_zoo]

It's hard to believe that it could possibly look better than the pic. That is for sure the nicest looking rbta I have ever seen.

Where would I start a thread to post pics of my tank rebuild at? I'm not sure which forum is the right one.

Also.. what do you use to attach your sps's? Thick superglue? stuff? I wondered if it died how hard would it be to remove the plug... damn? I fooled around with that epoxy stuff a bit for some rocks but it doesn't work very well. I knew this already but wanted to try it out again on a rock I drilled and broke into two. I salvaged it with some ingenuity. One out of 6 wasn't too bad. But I gotta tell ya.. I never want to do that again. Long story. I'll share it all in a thread.

 

[reefsahoy]

WOW! 28 X 54 watts is 1512 watt total and you have a 600 gallon tank which would equal 2.5 watts per gallon. That's amazing! Usually you hear you need at least 6 watts per gallon to keep SPS.

 

[pwhitby]

Reefs...

Yes, I get that all the time....people just dont believe that you can run an SPS tank on T5s. Even at 30 inch depth my SPS are doing fine.

Paul.