Viewpoints – A Photographic Journal of my Reef Tank

[jroovers]

wow ! I have never seen a sump that clean ! lol not even my old freshwater sumps looked that clean. very well done

My thoughts exactly. The underside of my tank in the sump area looks like a saline war has been waged down there. Yours actually looks inviting! Nice job on the tank, the corals, and the pics.

 

[urbaneks]

December 3rd, 2012 - Response to Feedback

December 3rd, 2012 - Response to Feedback

December 3rd, 2012 - Response to Feedback

Beautiful pictures.
I'm sure you are a top contender and will will for sure.
Wish ya all the best

Reef_Noob - Thanks for the view, comment and good luck towards the contest.

Good luck with the contest, your tank will be hard to beat...

reefSTC - Thanks for the good luck granted my way. It would be nice to win but it was fun just getting the shots together for it. The top prize is a skimmer which I don't need, would love one of their small 8g Nano Tanks.

Yeah, your tank is pretty top-notch. I can only imagine the satisfaction of looking into that box of glass!

Are you at all apprehensive of putting the biopellets on line? I ask this because things are going so well for you now. :hmm1:

iwishtofish - Thanks for the kind words. It is very satisfying sitting and staring into the tank.

As for the bio pellets, I'm definitely apprehensive to to put them on the tank. It's something I've considered for a very long time and I've done a fair amount of research on it. The reactor I purchased is a recirculating reactor which allows you to control the flow through the pellets and the flow out of the reactor separately. My plan is to start with 1/2 of the recommended pellets and significantly restrict the flow coming out of the reactor. In addition, I will be running the output of the reactor directly to my skimmer. Unless there is a visible problem with the tank/tests, I will leave it this way for a good 8 weeks before making any adjustments.

Urbaneks, Your tank has a very modern look to it and you've done a fantastic job of documenting everything you've done along the way. Thanks for sharing!

ReefKeeper64 - Many thanks for your kind words. I'm glad that you have an appreciation for the documentation. It does take extra time so when someone appreciates it, it makes it worth the while.

nice update! That Setosa is awesome. After viewing this, I'm even more motivated to up my husbandry. Great stuff urbaneks

cFloor - Thanks for the comments. I love the Setosa as well, it's really unlike any other coral in terms of it's coloration. Best of luck as you up your husbandry.

Looking very clean!!

110galreef - Thanks! I take pride in having a clean tank so that means a lot.

Urbaneks. Seriously reconsider the biopellets addition ...

A slightly elevated NO3 level is something you dont need to be concerned about, unless it continues to increase above 10-15ppm, in fact it can/will help you more efficiently lower PO4 levels naturally through small carbon doses.

*Redfield Ratio

Ill take some of those NO3s, versus having the added work/risk of dosing KNO3/NaNO3 in order to further bring down PO4 in the bacterioplankton based filtration utilized on my systems ...

Nitrates at 1-3, even upwards of 10 isnt anything to be concerned about. Itd be the equivalent of taking out all of your substrate and inserting Starboard because you're getting a slight SiO2 reading. You'll be assuming a great deal of risk to 'fix' something that isn't broken ...

I'd highly suggest, instead of biopellets, to initiate a non-aggressive carbon dosing (vinegar/vodka solution, not just vodka) regimen. Also, consider slightly decreasing your GFO amounts, as severely limited PO4s may very well be inhibiting the consumption of NO3s regarding the bacteria you are dosing !

Shouldn't mess with a product that has many negative attributes, including the ability to drastically/rapidly change your chemistry, relatively uncontrollably, when there's really no need whatsoever.

"Drops" of vinegar will undoubtedly take care of your supposed problem, barring an extreme lack of PO4.

coralreefdoc - Thanks for the warning on the bio pellets. I realize that the reward does not come without risk. As I mentioned in my response above, I have a very conservative plan for the implementation of the pellets. In my research, I've found a few common themes with those that have had success and failures. The most common failing theme, is that people have to run a strong flow to keep the pellets tumbling without being able to control the output. This in turn overdoses their tanks. It would be like starting vinegar/vodka dosing blindly with very strong dosages. In my case I will be restricting both the number of pellets and the output from my reactor. With a recirculating reactor, I am able to under dose which I will do for 8 weeks and then slowly increase week over week.

wow ! I have never seen a sump that clean ! lol not even my old freshwater sumps looked that clean. very well done

Allmost - Thanks for the view and comment. That's actually an older picture when I use to run carbon in a mesh bag. I've since moved both my carbon and GFO to reactors which are installed outside the sump. In other words, the sump looks even cleaner now.

My thoughts exactly. The underside of my tank in the sump area looks like a saline war has been waged down there. Yours actually looks inviting! Nice job on the tank, the corals, and the pics.

jroovers - thanks for checking out the tank, corals and the pics in general. I'm a firm believe that a clean setup leads to a clean tank. Keeping everything organized makes it easier to maintain.

 

[Balletomane]

Wow, simply gorgeous, and an inspirational thread. I hadn't seen much since the disasterous delivery of the first tank. The results have been worth the wait. Your tank is fefinitely a work of art. And the sump area is now cleaner??? The picture posted looks more like a surgical suite. I look forward to more updates!

 

[venom550pm]

I have a question regarding your sump, what is in the bag in the middle chamber? Also where are your reactors? Is this pic taken before the reactors and using bags for the GFO and GAC?

 

[urbaneks]

December 5th, 2012 - Response to Feedback

December 5th, 2012 - Response to Feedback

December 5th, 2012 - Response to Feedback

Wow, simply gorgeous, and an inspirational thread. I hadn't seen much since the disasterous delivery of the first tank. The results have been worth the wait. Your tank is fefinitely a work of art. And the sump area is now cleaner??? The picture posted looks more like a surgical suite. I look forward to more updates!

Balletomane - It has been some time since you've seen the journal if it goes back to the broken tank. That was many moons ago. Thanks for checking things out and making comments on the journal.

I have a question regarding your sump, what is in the bag in the middle chamber? Also where are your reactors? Is this pic taken before the reactors and using bags for the GFO and GAC?

venom550pm - The picture of the cabinet/sump is old and was taken before I moved to two different reactors. In the photo, the bag you see has carbon in it. In that same chamber you will see one reactor which at that time housed my GFO. I've since moved the carbon into a reactor and both of my reactors now hang on the far right side of my sump. I will take a photo the next time I have the camera out.

 

[urbaneks]

December 5th - Photo Update

December 5th - Photo Update

December 5th - Photo Update

Here are a few photos that I took in the last week.

This first photograph is of my Bennett Tort. This coral is very similar in appearance to the Cali Tort but has the soft green interior with the blue tips. I captured this photo when taking the pictures for the CADLights photo contest but chose not to upload it. The more I look at this photo, the more it becomes my favorite coral photo that I've ever taken. The bright green background is actually the polyps from a Poker Star Monti which is encrusting up against the base of the Tort. The tip on the Tort seems to be glowing under the 20K MH's.

My new favorite coral photo of all time - Bennett Tort​

This next photo is of an X-Factor Cap, a coral that I've posted before. This is a piece which I fragged from the main colony and mounted on a flat spire across the tank. You can see from the edges that it's starting to heal from the fragging. I absolutely love the contrast between green and blue on this coral. The next time I photograph this coral, I will increase the aperture so that more of the polyps are in focus.

X-Factor Monti Cap​

I was trying to get a good shot of the YWG with the Pistol when the Blue Tang happened to swim by. You can see from the flared gils and open mouth that the Goby took exception to the Tang being too close to home. I've mentioned it several times in my journal but if I could keep just 2 animals in my tank it would be the Shrimp and Goby. We get hours upon hours of entertainment watching these guys.

Yellow Watchman defending his shrimp, even against the biggest fish in the tank​

This is the same FTS that I posted on the previous page but I try to keep a current FTS on each page of the journal.

FTS - December of 2012​

 

[Sps Dream]

What a beautiful,clean,tidy set up, good photos. Bravo

 

[reefmutt]

wow! fantastic thread. amazing detail.
very inspiring!
so clean and the photography is also stunning!
since you treated the tank for red bugs, do you now have a system in place to prevent the introduction of new pests?
thanks for sharing

 

[johntran216]

ur livestock choices are perfect. the only difference is that i would add an anemone to mine, but amazing tank and setup! keep it up

 

[110galreef]

What bulbs are you running currently?

 

[urbaneks]

December 7th, 2012 - Response to Feedback

December 7th, 2012 - Response to Feedback

December 7th, 2012 - Response to Feedback

What a beautiful,clean,tidy set up, good photos. Bravo

Sps Dream - Very much appreciate your kind words. Thanks so much!

wow! fantastic thread. amazing detail.
very inspiring!
so clean and the photography is also stunning!
since you treated the tank for red bugs, do you now have a system in place to prevent the introduction of new pests?
thanks for sharing

reefmutt - Thanks for your view and comments. Since treating the tank with Interceptor, I've only added one coral which was a small colony of Red Planet. I used the Bayer dip treatment that has been discussed extensively here on RC. The coral seemed to go a bit off color for a few days but seems to be coloring right back up. I will use this product from this point forward as it's a known good treatment for Red Bugs and AEFW.

ur livestock choices are perfect. the only difference is that i would add an anemone to mine, but amazing tank and setup! keep it up

johntran216 - Thanks for your views and comments. I've had an anemone in the past and they are not all they are cracked up to be. Imagine a snail that can run around and kill your coral, that's essentially what you have. The one that I had would stay put for a couple months then decide one night it was time to move. Beautiful animal but not practical in a tank with lots of delicate SPS.

What bulbs are you running currently?

110galreef - For my metal halides, I'm running two 250W DE 20K Radiums. For my T5's I'm running two ATI Blue + and two ATI Purple +. This is a new combo for me in the last couple weeks, but all of the photos posted recently were shot under these lights.

Prior to this I was running one ATI Purple + and three ATI Blue +. I really loved the look of my tank when the one bank of T5's with the Purple/Blue was running which is why I decided to go this route with both T5 Banks. I don't regret it! I'm sure I'm giving up some growth with two Purple + but what I gain in color is worth it in my opinion.

On a side note, I was using EVC's 20K Metal Halide bulbs before the XMs. I absolutely loved the color of their bulbs. They are a touch bluer than the XMs. Now, with that said, the reason I switched is they were having a quality issue with one of their batches. I had 3-4 bulbs burn out in a 2 month period. The mfg kept replacing them free of charge but it got old. Prior to these issues, I had the EVC's working great for about 1 year. If I knew their quality issues were over, I would switch back.

 

[asonitez]

do you have any plans to try leds in the future? I made the switch myself and so far i am liking it immensely. I will be supplementing mine with T-5's though in the future.

 

[urbaneks]

December 9th, 2012 - Photo Update

December 9th, 2012 - Photo Update

December 9th, 2012 - Photo Update

I liked the "View looking up so much from the CADLights photo contest shot that I decided to get one from the other side of the tank. The first shot was taken from the left side and the second shot was taken from the right. Thanks for looking.

Left Side - Looking up

Right Side - Looking up​

 

[iwishtofish]

Yeah, those pictures have really neat reflective effects - almost like a painting. The bottom one is my favorite.

Side question: If you were starting over at this point, would you still go with MH lighting?

 

[urbaneks]

December 9th, 2012 - Response to Feedback

December 9th, 2012 - Response to Feedback

December 9th, 2012 - Response to Feedback

do you have any plans to try leds in the future? I made the switch myself and so far i am liking it immensely. I will be supplementing mine with T-5's though in the future.

asonitez - I do not have any plans to switch to LEDs as I am very happy with my light. When I was shopping for lights, I found 5 tanks here on RC that I loved and they all had one thing in common; Giesemann Infinity. I've also found to many threads on here of previous MH owners that have switched to LEDs only to regret it down the road. There are pro/cons to both, just seems for SPS that MH's still have the edge.

Yeah, those pictures have really neat reflective effects - almost like a painting. The bottom one is my favorite.

Side question: If you were starting over at this point, would you still go with MH lighting?

iwishtofish - Thanks for the views and comments on the last photos. I agree that they look like water color paintings. As for the light, if I were starting over, I would not change a thing with the light. I loved it then and love it even more now. Over the last 1.5 years, I've played around with different T5 combinations and really like what I have going now.

 

[Reef_Noob]

Beautiful reflection shots. Very artistic.

 

[asonitez]

Yeah I was running the SFLIGOI XR6 II myself and definately loved the color and the growth that I got from them. The only thing that killed me was the heat. I got a great chiller though but then the bills started creeping up significantly and I didn't like that part at all. I am running the LED's now and its my first real attempt with them.

I am finding that while immensely powerful their color representation is not warm like that of halides. Its kind of cold and shadowy. I added 2 Stunner Strips with wide optics to see how that worked out for me and it definitely helped a bunch. I was thinking of introducing 2 T5's from ATI. I am afraid that adding back just 2 T5's will give me heat issues. Since removing my halides and T5's i have not had even the remote-est problem with heat. Definitely love the space I get above my tank to work inside the tank as well.

Eventually when my situation improves I might find myself going back to halides. At least at that point I know i would be able to trade just 1/2 of my led setup for a kickazz halide setup.





Question: your sand looks great. I saw in one of your pics you had a gold looking jawfish. Does he kick a lot of sand into the water? I have a diamond spotted goby and while my sand is spotless that fool makes quite the mess. It is calmed down greatly now though but from time to time he can make a great mess.

 

[urbaneks]

December 10th, 2012 - Response to Feedback

December 10th, 2012 - Response to Feedback

December 10th, 2012 - Response to Feedback

Beautiful reflection shots. Very artistic.

Reef_Noob - Much appreciated. Thanks for the view and comment.

Yeah I was running the SFLIGOI XR6 II myself and definately loved the color and the growth that I got from them. The only thing that killed me was the heat. I got a great chiller though but then the bills started creeping up significantly and I didn't like that part at all. I am running the LED's now and its my first real attempt with them.

I am finding that while immensely powerful their color representation is not warm like that of halides. Its kind of cold and shadowy. I added 2 Stunner Strips with wide optics to see how that worked out for me and it definitely helped a bunch. I was thinking of introducing 2 T5's from ATI. I am afraid that adding back just 2 T5's will give me heat issues. Since removing my halides and T5's i have not had even the remote-est problem with heat. Definitely love the space I get above my tank to work inside the tank as well.

Question: your sand looks great. I saw in one of your pics you had a gold looking jawfish. Does he kick a lot of sand into the water? I have a diamond spotted goby and while my sand is spotless that fool makes quite the mess. It is calmed down greatly now though but from time to time he can make a great mess.

asonitez - I've been able to run my light for over 1.5 years now without a chiller. I will also add that I live in Phx AZ where are avg highs in the summer are 110 degrees. I installed a ceiling fan in the room which has a $10 timer installed to it. The fan turns on 30 minutes before my halides and runs an extra 30 minutes after the halides go off. I've found that in the summer, my tank ranges between 79 and 80, we keep our house AC on 78. In the cooler months, I have to turn the fan from high to medium otherwise the heater kicks on about once every other hour. This may be an option for you or anyone else that may be having heat issues.

As for your observations on LEDs, I found several people who shared your sentiment. There is actually a thread here on RC that is dedicated to people who went from MH to LEDs and have then switched back. For me there was just to many data points to support going to LEDs at this time.

The yellow fish you mentioned is a Yellow Watchman Goby, he is paired with a Pistol Shrimp. The shrimp will move some gravel around but the Goby does not. The two of them are one of my favorites and well worth the small amount of gravel that moves.

 

[sahin]

All looks so beautiful. I had no doubt from the start that this tank would look awesome. Keep the good work going. This is a tank that is easily a candidate for an upcoming TOTM.

 

[fortress]

beautifully done! A search for Melanuras wrasse brought me to this thread and I've had to read every post. Thank you for sharing. I must ask about the flatworms and wrasse. Unfortunately I found my wrasse 3 days after terminating the worms chemically. In your experience is the wrasse even actually eating flatworms?