Tank update

[MadTownMax]

It's been a few months since I last posted some pictures of my 120 gallon. Sorry it took so long firecrackerbob - here they are

Since then I have upgraded the lighting from 2X 3-foot VHO bulbs to 2X 4-foot VHO bulbs closer to the water. I also swapped-out my generic parabolic reflector for a lumenarc - this eliminated the dark spot I had in the middle of my tank due to only using one 250 watt halide directly above the center brace - now i can barely tell that it is there .

I still have a bit of algae sticking around, but it is slowly going away due to the addition of a bunch of snails and a few emerald crabs - I also added a orange spotted rabbit fish to help with the algae too.

The sand is nice and white because it's brand new - let's see if it stays that way - my old shallow sand bed was filled with detritus and growing algae like crazy - it also held a lot of loose valonia (bubble algae) so I siphoned it out and replaced it with a mix of reef floor grade and crushed coral which I hope will make a more dense substrate for this reef.

If anyone has any questions, ask away.

 

[prugs]

Where did you find the orange spotted rabbit fish?
I looked all over for them. I ended up getting a tiny twin bar varigated rabbit fish. After a few months it's not so tiny anymore.

 

[cschwaj]

That is really a nice look with the two distinct towers of rock. 120s are a lighting challenge and it seems as though you you have done a nice job.

That rabbit is sweet; good find.

 

[MadTownMax]

Thanks guys - I picked up the rabbit at aqua exhibits - I was looking for an algae eater and I spotted it when I stopped-in one day.

I haven't seen them around too much either. It changes colors quite often betwen the pictures above and it's "camo" coloration - so it is pretty fun to watch.

I really need to work on my picture taking skills b/c the pictures above are much darker than it is in person....

 

[steve414]

I still love that rock work. You have so much room on the sand for stuff and lots of room for the fish to swim around.

 

[spider86]

Looks awesome! How did you get the rock to stack like that?

 

[MadTownMax]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9711302#post9711302 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by spider86
Looks awesome! How did you get the rock to stack like that?

Patience and about 6 months of trying out new stuff - it's frustrating at times, but I kept trying until I found something I liked. I really wanted to just put the rock against the overflows and let the corals fill in the empty space until all you can see is the natural shape of the corals - we'll see how that goes

- I'd still like a little more of a gap under the rock on the left side for flow, but the engineer gobys needs rock/sand to dig in between

 

[Marcus71]

noice.