Upgrade Build- Dowtish's 120 gal Oceanic Tech Tank DSPS

[dowtish]

Crazy how much junk is on dry rock when there's nothing living on it!

There is about 15lbs of older dry rock in there to seed it. So that may be where some of it is coming from.

Try and get as much phosphate out of those rocks as possible. I know it will cost some $$$ but if you can put a reactor in there stuffed with GFO, and measure the PO4 level every few days.

When my wife visited her relative in the states I got her to bring back Marco rocks to the UK. I treated the stuff with Muriatic Acid to clean the PO4 off the rock.

You wouldnt believe the disgusting foam that was produced. Goes for all dead/mined rocks to be honest. The rock was pretty clean of PO4 afterwards.

I am running it in the tub for this very reason. I have been running GFO in there as well. I did however get the dry marco rock from a friend that had it leftover when he scaped his new setup. He has been running his tank now for almost a year and has had no algae or phosphate issues at all and he doesnt even have a CUC in the tank. So obviously it was a good batch of clean rock considering.

 

[dowtish]

I got stupid with youtube today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxtrwfSuTGQ&feature=c4-overview&list=UUiIrju8joSfDCWLj6TKGFng

 

[sahin]

Looking great! Lots of lovely fishes...and those Chromis are BIG LOL. What are you feeding them?

 

[dowtish]

Looking great! Lots of lovely fishes...and those Chromis are BIG LOL. What are you feeding them?

Thanks sahin!

They get fed lots of cyclopeze and fish roe along with pellets and Rod's Food and PE Mysis.

 

[dowtish]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C4y-rFW6YM&feature=c4-overview&list=UUiIrju8joSfDCWLj6TKGFng

 

[sahin]

Nice video. May be early days yet, but since you moved over to the DARK side side of lighting, how is the Metal Halides? Do you notice any difference in the lighting, as opposed to pure T5's?

 

[dowtish]

Nice video. May be early days yet, but since you moved over to the DARK side side of lighting, how is the Metal Halides? Do you notice any difference in the lighting, as opposed to pure T5's?

I have seen considerable growth already on a few acros. Even with some bad swings since the move. The Red Planet and Hawkins are getting some serious color back as well. I am still only running them for 4 hours as I just replaced the bulbs because the bulbs that I had were hitting the 9 month mark. I will go up 30 minutes next week and then up to 5 a week after that. I absolutely love the color and shimmer. Very happy with my decision to go to the Dark side.

 

[dowtish]

A couple of pics with the cell phone.

 

[sahin]

Looking good! Those acros look happy! That Hawkins looks sweeet! Is that a Red Planet next to the Hawkins?

 

[dowtish]

Looking good! Those acros look happy! That Hawkins looks sweeet! Is that a Red Planet next to the Hawkins?

Hawkins is super nice. I love its growth structure. Yes, that is red planet and beside that is Tubbs pink jade. Also the little frag behind the Hawkins is Pearlberry and its sprouting from the base now.

 

[reef_of_flames]

Nice! Love the Hawkins and Red Planet! Corals look really healthy

 

[dowtish]

Nice! Love the Hawkins and Red Planet! Corals look really healthy

Thank you sir. Its starting to get happy, but still has a long way to go.

took this yesterday while I was tanning:bigeyes:

 

[sahin]

That looks awesome my friend. I am so jealous of your setup, especially your light. That thing should colour up any SPS. No SPS has the chance to stay brown under that light.

Really like your rockwork. Can you post a side shot of the tank so that we can see the depth of how the rocks are stacked front to back on the tank?

Just asking because with photos you lose the 3 dimensional view. Or even better would be a walk around the tank with as much of the tank in view as possible? - Just checked the video you posted earlier and the camera is too high so can only see top half of corals and the fishes etc.

Also, how are your parameters: NO3 and PO4 doing since the transfer?

 

[dowtish]

I can totally do that, but the thing is, I literally just tossed the rocks in when I transferred everything over without a single thought to actually scaping it. I have a bunch of new marco rock and some ceramic pieces that are eventually going to go in.

I appreciate the comments, and will do a video and take some pics of the sides and a walk around.

N03 and P04 are non existent.

 

[sahin]

I can totally do that, but the thing is, I literally just tossed the rocks in when I transferred everything over without a single thought to actually scaping it. I have a bunch of new marco rock and some ceramic pieces that are eventually going to go in.

I appreciate the comments, and will do a video and take some pics of the sides and a walk around.

N03 and P04 are non existent.

When your done scaping would be nice to see a video recorded in the manner I described. But no rush. :thumbsup:

 

[reef_of_flames]

Excuse me, but that is NOT a frag on that frag rack That acro is more like a mini colony!

 

[dowtish]

Excuse me, but that is NOT a frag on that frag rack That acro is more like a mini colony!

Exactly! I have a few of those waiting for the new scape.

 

[jroovers]

Looks like things are coming along nicely! Great job.

 

[dowtish]

Looks like things are coming along nicely! Great job.

Thanks j. I appreciate that coming from you.

 

[dowtish]

I pulled some rock out this weekend and put in the cerameco pieces finally. I still have some dipping to do before I mount things, but this video gives you and idea of the scape I envisioned. I am still going to tweak things a bit, but overall I'm happy with the look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbl_Wo4HOxA&feature=c4-overview&list=UUiIrju8joSfDCWLj6TKGFng