The inwall 380 starfire reborn

[Sparkss]

here are a few taken after main lights out.. poartly becuase the fish are shy and don't come out until then (like the geometric hawk in the first picture) or I jsut didn't get good shots of the family units on my first attemtps when the main lights were on (like the 2 different clown families in our tank)


First pict is an attempt at a closeup of our geometric hawkfish

This one is of a 3 clown fish family group that is hosting in a large tan frogspawn (that has shrunk down due to it being main lights out). The female is a Treu Perc, the other two are Ocellaris.

Here is actually the first family unit and the main male and female have been spawning regularly for several months now. They adopted the smaller clown less than a day after we added the additional clowns back the middle of last year. All 3 of these are Ocellaris

 

[Sparkss]

Here are a couple of quick shots from this morning, at feeding time. First two are the anthias group (11 Bartletts and 3 Dispars, although not all are awake and out swimming yet). The last one is our Golden Angel.

 

[Sparkss]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11621679#post11621679 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
Hey, I figured so, but what about aluminum rivets? That's what I use. It's very easy to do and inexpensive. Corals look great.

I thought about rivets, and even have two riviet guns and a bag of rivets (somewhere ). But the bolts were easier and more flexible at the time when I was still working out the whole design aspect of it. I may re-do it with rivets at a later date, if time permits.

Thanks for the compliment on our corals, etc. Bear in mind that many of them are 3' + from the front glass (4' deep tank) and 4'+ from the front of the camera lens. That plus my picture taking skills usually leave alot to be desired

 

[jnarowe]

yeah, it's tough to take pics in a deep tank for sure. The Magnificent is looking good and I see your orange shoulder is showing some good adult coloration. Mine has yet to turn and I have had it for what, about 2 years?

 

[GreshamH]

Tom, invest in a bag for the camera so you can take UW shots

 

[mpoletti]

Tom- Great photo update. I love the school of anthias. I can not wait for my new tank so I can let the corals spread out and grow.
How many wrasses do you have in there?

 

[Sparkss]

Thanks for the compliment

not so many wrasses. Ornate, yellow, cleaner and a trio of blue side fairies (1 male, 2 females). There are some pictures further back of the blue sides. When we bought them from Exotic (up your way) they all looked alike (general female colors). In our pictures you can definitely see the male colors that have come out on one of them. I will try to take some more pictures of those three, as they are really neat to watch. They also interact with the Anthias.. sometimes I think that the larger Anthias try to integrate themselves into the wrasse harem (which typically gets them chased off by the male blue side).

The Anthias are cool, and a definite splash of color and motion. The Dispars are beautiful, I just wish they were as hardy as the Bartletts are known to be. I would rather have 11 Dispars and 3 Bartletts, but that is just not realistic .

 

[raddogz]

Tom - how's the aiptasia control going?

 

[Sparkss]

I did a pretty massive manual sweep of the tank using a mixture of blue life aiptasia control and joe's juice. That was over a month ago, or more, and it seemed to really knock them down. There was at least one larger one that I know I missed, but when I went back a couple of weeks later for "round two", it was gone, and I had trouble finding any to "inject". We now have two or three small to medium aips in the tank, one even visible in the bottom corner of one of the coral shots. But things currently are not to a point where I plan to take up the syringe again to attack the aips . I cannot say if the pyramid butterflies are responsible for helping to get the aiptasias under control or not. I have not personally witnessed them eating any aips, but I do know that something in the tank is taking them out, albeit slowly.

 

[jnarowe]

That miniature CBB I have took out hundreds in less than two weeks.

 

[Bax]

Tom

The tank, corals and fish look great!

Very nice!!!

 

[Sparkss]

I realized that I had neglected to post one of hte pictures I had taken the night before last. While I was taking the pictures of the tank I had an observer.. and one that sincerely wanted to be a participant. She was behind me, so I was between her and the tank. She started getting fussy and crying until I turned around and pointed the camera at her. This is the reaction I got when I took her picture (yea.. only 6 months and she already loves being a "star" *sigh* )

It's a little dark because I had the lights turned down in the livingroom for better tank shots (reduce any glare on the tank glass, etc)

 

[jnarowe]

You are in so much trouble.

 

[mrcrab]

I see a shotgun in your future.

Thank God she looks like her mother!

Just so there's no misunderstanding, the shotgun's for the line of boys that will be showing up.

 

[jnarowe]

ouch.

 

[Sparkss]

shotgun already owned.. just need to stock up on the rocksalt shells (or 00 buck for those super pesky boys !!)

And I wholeheartedly agree that "Thank Goodness she looks like her mother"

 

[Sparkss]

well, so far I have not been overwhelmed by the Tunze 6200s. They are a bit noisier than I had hoped for (new bearings are on order), the flow pattern leaves much to be desired (too focused, even with the larger hozzle) and the mounting bracket on the magnets is so "sloppy" that the powerheads are permanently pointed at a 10 to 15 degree down angle (which is not very optimal for a snad bottomed tank). All told I am looking into other options. Even throttling back the output hasn't seemed to make much difference as bucause of how the magnets are designed I can't get the nozzle outputs anywhere near what I want them to be, so they are either blowing off to where they do little to no good, or they are blasting a coral to where it's polyps never come out (already had to completely relocate one due to almost losing a coral to it's battering flow.. a coral that the VTs with all their noise and headaches never bothered).

So aside from trying a few more things I am almost ready to give up and put the VTs back into play (just glad I didn't sell them yet) and wait for a better, much more quiet, solution to come along. Right now I am not feeling that Tunze will be the answer, but I will withhold judgement until I have exhausted all configuration options.

 

[erics3000]

You might want to get a pitbull too. heheheh.. I love your tank!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Sparkss]

We have a part pit part lab dog that is her favorite (really big and furry) and another smaller one that is a boxer and sharpei mix. The smaller dog is a much more protective dog of the house, etc.. but both are protective of the little girl

Thanks for the compliment on the tank... it is still a work in progress... but aren't they always ?

 

[GreshamH]

Tom, we can custom build you some brackets, design em and I'll get them milled for you if they're not to complex. I assume you still want my Tunzes?