The_Rider - Zen Garden (~250g system)

I took some picture with actinics on and the effect is really nice ... On picture, it looks like it's endless :P

I need some help, I cannot complete the top of my big island, I tried a couple of piece but it doesnt seems right ... I cannot picture what it would take but to my eyes it doesn't seems right. Any thoughts ?

Left Side

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Center Side

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Right Side

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I would like what you think about my aquaspace ?

Thanks

Alex B
 
I need some help, I cannot complete the top of my big island, I tried a couple of piece but it doesnt seems right ... I cannot picture what it would take but to my eyes it doesn't seems right. Any thoughts ?
Looks great Alex!

I think once corals grow in you'll be very happy with that aquascape, don't worry about it much... think coralscape over aquascape :thumbsup:
 
Hello Alex,

Thank You André

I didn't want my answer to sound negative ... I did understand what you meant and I didn't take it negative at all :)

It didn´t. :)

It's weird for the fans though, on my fixture it's incredibly quiet ... So quiet that at first, I though they didn't work lol maybe they change something for the 110V fixture ? For the tubes, only time will tell :)

Do you have any updates on your SW tanks ??

Yeah, you may be right on the fact that yours run at 110V and we run it at 220V. I really hope you feel good with the new fixture and the bulbs. Nothing like our own experience to see if things serve our purpose. ;)

I have updated my threads ( today the 300L and last week the 112L).

Regarding the aquascape, are you referring to the left island of the " left side"? If so, have you tried to break some pieces of rock to puzzle them and make the top more " eye catching"?

As to the overall composition, imho, it´s not bad though I think you could arrange the rocks in a way they would be un-aligned with each others, creating some irregular lines from one rock to another. Perhaps assembling the small Montipora rock and the vertical rock together and transfer them to the middle of the tank without hiding the other islands when seeing the tank from the " left and right side". This would create irregularity and would give a more tridimensional feeling, I think. Just my two cents. :)


Regards,
André
 
Very nice! I like your aquascaping.

Regarding the left island, if i were you id remove that bright piece on the top. Not only for appearance but also for the ease of placing corals.

However you decide to do it, the structure is looking great!
 
Thank you Austin, Andre and adddo

I will try to change the white piece, I didn't want to stress the fishes, especially my foxface that is hiding in that area, but in the following day, I will try to find a piece that would fit :P

I'm also thinking about moving my RBTA rock to the frag tank, which would create a nice open space but for the moment all my coral are in the frag tank so there's no place to put that rock yet :P

A badluck happen yesterday :( ... I installed 2 koralia 4 that I had, they appears to stick but after around 1 hour, they both felt off and pushed my sand ... F^%^%W$ koralia lol I'm gonna save money for 2 Tunze 6105 but it would take a couple off weeks for sure to save 800$ lol

On a brigther note, this morning I had time to watch the tank a bit before leaving for school and I never saw that much polyps extension on my Purple Monticap, I really like my BLAU fixture :P I will take some time tonight to study my coral placement

Thanks
Alex B
 
I had a little bit of time to snap a pic of my frag :) My two tanks are becoming clearer, tomorrow it should be good :) I'm trying to study my coralspace. I never had my purple monti that purple before :D

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Thank
... to be continued tomorrow :P lol
Alex B
 
A little update :D

I add an analogue powerbar to control my frag lights, 2 min and it was ready to work :) I was barebottom in my frag tank, I said I would try it ... but man that I hate that lol sand will be in probably tonigth :P I also add 2 turbo snails in the FT, forgot that they were so efficient lol

I need some input, I was thinking about removing the rock with my RBTA to put it in my FT ... I would have a nice open space in the DT ... The RBTA should not move in the FT since it would still be on his rock. What do you guys think ? I'm in a huge dilemma.

Also, next week, I was thinking to add either a duo or trio of royal gramma, do you have any tips so that I have less agression. The first idea was to add a duo (M and F) but since I'm don't know if they are hermaphrodite or not and how to create a couple or differenciate M and F, i though adding 3 will spread the aggression if it occurs ... Any tips ?

Thank you
Alex B
 
I just add a Koralia 4 to my FT, I already had an old seoi that I use for my salt mix. Lot of movement :D But I'm not sure sand will be able to stay at the bottom, will have to do some more test or find a bigger grain size ...

Here's a picture of my table with my aquarium supplies, I didn't clean all the cables yet :spin2:

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And here some picture I though were funny lol

Foxface thinking he's a murray

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Sleeper Gold Head Goby smoking

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And here's my RBTA waiting for a couple of semi or full picasso :beer:

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I'm still looking to add a duo or trio of royal gramma if someone has any input/tip/experiences :)

Thank you
Alex B
 
Looks great Alex!

Don't worry about the sand too much yet - it will start to "weigh" more once your bacteria population grows out and creates a "film" of sorts over the top layer. I don't worry about the sand moving around too much in a new tank for three + months after it's been set up ;)

Amazing pictures too!
 
Nice photo's Alex. I like your fragtank too. Any changes in the aquascape of the other tank? Now clean up that cords! :D ;)

Leonardo
 
Sometimes I feel like the cords never get organized. Ha ha.
Can I see more pics of the aquascape and maybe more angles. I'm trying to get ideas for my new one since it's the same width.

Thanks
kc3
 
Looks great Alex!

Don't worry about the sand too much yet - it will start to "weigh" more once your bacteria population grows out and creates a "film" of sorts over the top layer. I don't worry about the sand moving around too much in a new tank for three + months after it's been set up ;)

Amazing pictures too!

Thank you Austin,

I'm moving coral slowly to the DT, as soon as all my big piece are place and algea gonne from the bottom, I will add sand :) probably at the end of the week.
 
Nice photo's Alex. I like your fragtank too. Any changes in the aquascape of the other tank? Now clean up that cords! :D ;)

Leonardo

Thank you Leonardo

I didn't change nothing huge lol, I did turn the white piece of rock around which doesn't stand out as much, but it still does. I think that I have a nice base for a Coralsape with hopefully a lot of plate acro. I decide that I will leave the RBTA rock in the DT because with the koralia 4 in the FT, it's big and I'm scare that the RBTA get shred by the pump. I would be easy for it to get stuck in the intake.

I will try to go by some double sided velcro to clean up this mess ... I want it to be clean !!! lol
 
Sometimes I feel like the cords never get organized. Ha ha.
Can I see more pics of the aquascape and maybe more angles. I'm trying to get ideas for my new one since it's the same width.

Thanks
kc3

Hahaha hopefully it won't happen ... In my 110g that I just dismantle, I had a bookshelf type of thing connected to my tank and ooo boy that was a mess of cord in there ... I swear to myself that it won't happen again lol

I will take new picture of the aquaspace tomorrow :)
 
So a little update,

I went to my LFS today and pick up 3 royal grammas :) I pick a big one and two smaller one. I'm not sure if it's always the case, but my theory was that male have longer pelvic fins than female ... The big one has longer pelvic fin and the 2 smaller one are shorter. I did acclimate then 3 in the same bucket without any aggression.

Once I put them in, the two "females" went directly to the same cave and are already haging out in the same place but I don't know where the "male" went, I lost track of him when he went into the rock structure :( Hopefully I will have time to watch my tank tomorrow before my classes :P

Is my theory correct ? Is it applicable to all the species or a majority of them ?

Other than the trio, a friend of mine had a crocea clam that didn't have enough place in her tank due to two HUMONGOUES squamosa lol so she gave it to me :) (Thank Cath)

Will take picture tomorrow :)

Thanks guys
Alex B
 
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Regarding Blau, it is a brand that is sold here in Portugal very often to serve as a midbrand between cheap non-quality lighting material and expensive but quality material. The problem is that LFS sell the lighting fixtures and bulbs even more expensive than good, well-known brands such as ATI and the quality, comparing to that brand is very poor. The lighting fixtures are deficient in performance and active cooling; reflectors are made of cheap material and very narrow, the distance between lamp sockets are superior to the lenght of the bulbs, contributing to bad contact between the sockets and bulbs, the fans responsible for the active cooling are too noisy because of vibration between the fan itself and the aluminium exterior case and do not make any difference in cooling the bulbs since there isn´t a cooling circuit that forces the cool/hot air circulate through the bulbs to the exterior of the fixture like there is in ATI or Giesemann fixtures, for example. The bulbs are also very poor when it comes to color and burn very quickly ( in 6 months, the difference of the color and brightness of the bulbs is well noticeable to the eye). ;)

Regards,
André

P.S.: sorry for the long text

Hi André,

I have to be honest, your response on BLAU really get me thinking. I was and still am really happy about my fixture and bulbs, but it put some doubt on my first impression. I told myself that time and test will show me the difference between the two lines that are really good.

Thanks to Reefconcept :beer:, they lent me the BLAU bulbs line so I could test them and compare them to the ATI I already have. I also had time to speak with the distributor about the quality issues that you point to me. He said that they were actually two line of product, a Standard and a high-end line and that it is true that the standard line, that was for a budget market had color change in time but that I could not compare apple to oranges :P

The bulbs that I have are from the High End line and I have to say, I really love them. The color mix that I have using 2 High Blue, 1 Color Extreme and 1 15 000K is awesome. Maybe it the 110 volts that's make a difference ?

It's sure that the company is new in the North America Market, but I see a great future for this company here. I took a chance by buying this fixture but I have no regret :P Awesome look to fit with my setup and quality to back it up, perfect combination :P

If you have a chance, maybe you could try the PRO line. I see no difference between my BLAU high blue and ATI, I even like my BLAU more. I don't know how to describe it, but the BLAUs give me more definition in my coral color, I still like the ATI but the BLAU give me a pop that I like even more ... I will eventually change my bulbs for BLAU :)

On another note, my trio's is doing well :D they began to go in the open a lot more and they are always together. It's interesting to watch they behavior in a trio vs alone :D I cannot wait to add other pairs of fish and watch how they interac :)

Here's a picture of my trio

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Thanks
Alex B
 
thank you akbuuur and Last Version :)

I'm using a D200 and a 50mm f1.8 ... waiting to buy a 105 micro but I have a couple of item to buy for my tank before that lens so it will probably go to the summer ... :P
 
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