Thanks everyone.
I saw someone using square titles to create some kind os columns/ pedestals to place coral, I have never seen the use of figurines on the sps tank yours is to small to house tangs,
Yes, I believe his username is Pallobi, his tank was part of what got me thinking. I have plans for the tangs, they are still small.
Tim I will vote for TOTM on your tank!!
Haha! Robert Thanks! Hope your tank is coming along. Anand called me the other day and said it was doing good.
Definately unique....an Abstract Reef
Very Eco friendly too.
And you are able to sustain SPS which is no easy task. So job well done.
I have a question...the flower pot are they made of clay? Does it affect the pH or the water chemistry? Using them does give a new insight into aquascaping.
The pots are plain old terra cotta clay pots from home depot. I bought a bunch thinking I would just have rows of them, but I didn't want dead spots to create within them, so I broke them and it has turned out to be a good hiding spot for the fish. The Liopropoma love to lurk under the left and middle one.
To answer your original question though, no it doesn't affect my water chemistry as far as I know. The pH is monitored through the APEX and it is good 8.15-8.35. And Ca and Alk don't seem to be affected. I have been testing everyday now for about 2 months trying to get them back inline and they don't seem to be affected.
Been following your clam-o-holic addiction and you defo needs to put some clam pics on here with your sps pics.
Cannot wait to see this develop.. very well done.
I was trying to keep these posts pertinent to the SPS forum, but I could put some of the clam pics up here if people want.
Your missing two things, flowers and grout.
No but why did you set it up like that?
Like, I said in the first response, I got some inspiration from Pallobi, and in the beginning I was just trying to find some stuff to mount coral to, and this is what it turned out to be. It has made coral placement easier IMO, because if I need to rearrange in order to meet everyone's needs better I can easily put the tile in a new location.
I will try and get updated shots about once a Month, and maybe throw in some teaser close up shots here and there to keep everyone interested.
Some of the problems I have had so others can learn:
1) In the beginning I was using an Auto-Top Off system with a Kalk Reactor, but I was also using a huge fan to cool the tank because I have a lot of light over the tank. Well I was evaporating more than normal, and in addition adding way too much kalk. My calcium got up to 560, and was precipitating on my pumps. I burned out a mag drive pump in a month. Oddly enough my Alk was 8.0 so I also think there was an imbalance with my new saltwater. At the time I was using Red Sea Coral Pro, and have since switched to Instant Ocean and had better success.
2) With all the light (400 watt halide, 250 watt halide, and Par38 LED Spotlight) the tank can get hot. I ordered 1/3 HP chilled from JBJ, but didn't have enough power to plug it in... FAIL! So I got the 1/10th thinking it would be undersized, but it actually cools the tank very well (I think in part to the large fan) and the temp is now rock solid with the lights on around 9.5 hours.
3) I took the kalk off the ATO. After I tested my water and found out how bad it was, I got an idea. I hooked up the ATO separate, so when the water level gets low pure RO/DI is added. I then had a masterflex peristaltic pump I had intended for a calcium reactor, but realized I could use it to add my kalk. Well at the time my calcium was way high, but alk was okay, so I hooked it up to periodically add some alk supplement throughout the day. I took me almost 2 months to bring the calcium down. I think at the time I had a pretty small demand. Now I use the peristaltic to drip in kalk at small intervals throughout the day. I am still dialing this in and fine tuning the parameters.
4) Biggest lesson I have learned so far, TEST THE WATER! I have been testing everyday for about 2.5 months and don't plan on stopping.
