Viewpoints – A Photographic Journal of my Reef Tank

[reefsahoy]

Urbaneks, time to invest in a video camera!

 

[reeferfulton]

all i can say is wow!!

love your tank..

thanks for sharing

 

[ReefKeeper64]

I had a similar issue one year ago and was able to rid it with Coral Snow

Are you using Coral Snow now? If so, what is your overall zeo regimen?

 

[Singlefin]

Missing in action?

 

[urbaneks]

December 2013 Update

December 2013 Update

It's been a very long time since I've updated my thread. Here are a few photos that were taken tonight. The tank has had a lot of growth since my last update.

Here is a series of photos of my Cali Tort. If you go back to the first pictures in the thread you will see the original frag mounted on top of the large rock.

Cali Tort

Reflection Shot of the Cali Tort


Another View of the Cali Tort that I really like​

One More Shot of the Cali Tort from the other side of the tank


December 2013 FTS​

 

[rodneyri]

nicely grown in there, I still miss my old giesemann

 

[Dillan]

wow! Awesome tank and not to mention the journal!
What do you think about the BM dosing pump? Dont know if mentioned but do you add anything extra except ca, alk and mg?

 

[sahin]

That Cali Tort looks spectacular! Also, it looks quite like the Oregon Tort...in that I cant see much if any green in it. It sure does make for a great centre piece coral! Thanks for the update. :thumbsup:

 

[creefer01]

Fantastic tank!! It's one of my favorites, by far. I love the natural look.

Since it's been some time since you've started bio pellets, I have to ask.....are you still using them? Have they provided you with what you've been looking for? Interested to hear.

 

[urbaneks]

December 18th, 2013 - Response to Feedback

December 18th, 2013 - Response to Feedback

December 18th, 2013 - Response to Feedback

The FTS is golden! Looks great! Colors are rich! Glad the BP's are working out for you

Bello - Many thanks!

Thanks for the response, can you post a picture of your sump area since you added the BP, plus your dosing!

jeffroberts1 - I will get a photo of the BPs and Dosing setup next time I have the camera out.

An incredibly inspiring tank!! What kind of maintenance routine do you have with your sand bed? thanks
Mark

msaba - Thanks for the comment. As for the sand bed, I vacuum 1/3 of the sandbed with each water change. On the 4th water change, I vacuum the sump out.

outstanding work. I only hope that I can achieve similar with my tank. thank you very much for sharing.

Hookup - Thanks much for the kind words.

I apologize if this has already been asked - but how high above the tank do you keep your light? I am utilizing the same fixture and am still in search for that "sweet" spot!

Thanks - Amazing tank btw!

Zstriker - 11" above the top of my glass which is 12" above the top of the water

Updates??

Singlefin - Sorry for the long delay between updates. I wish I could put more time into the thread but it just gets prioritized.

This is my first post on this forum and I would like to say as a newbie I found your build to be most inspiring to me. I can appreciate the detail you put into this.

Thanks,
BS

Bigshowrenfro - I'm honored! Thanks for the kind words.

Time for an update! It has been 6 months already! Last FTS is beautiful.

NeilFox - Sorry for delay, new pics posted last night

I'm in the build process of a 90 gallon rimless leemar starfire and your build has really got me motivated to make it the best it can be!

AZWREEFER - Hope your build is going well. Thanks for the comments.

To what specifically about the BP's do you attribute the improved coloration? Has it ever been established that the increased bacteria amounts in the water column, from the effluent of the BP reactor, is consumed by the corals? Do you have the BP reactor output going to the front of your skimmer? I'm just curious because I did run a BP reactor on a very old tank that miraculously eliminated long standing nitrate and PO4 problems in a short time. I have no doubts they work but I do wonder if a tank already has decent nutrient control if BP's really are necessary. I broke that tank down and set up a new one and have hesitated to use the BP reactor because the new tank's refuge has been doing a great job controlling excess nutrients. If on the other hand the BP's help feed things and or help with coloration there may be reason to use them again for me.

BigKahuna - I wish I could answer your question but I have no idea if the corals feed off of the output of the pellets. I believe the increased color is from better nutrient control which is achieved by the BPs. I do have the output of the BPs running to the intake of my skimmer. My skimmer pulls in most of the output but some does get by the skimmer.

Your tank is my inspiration for my 40 breeder build I am starting. I am wondering why you didnt just rotate the sump around 180 degrees so you didnt have to offset the drain line. also, can you post a picture of your sump that is current. Thanks alot!

Bob

Bob - Rotating the sump would have made access to one of the commonly used chambers difficult. Also, it would have made the return line offset. I will post a new pic of the sump in the near future.

holy moly man! love the build. I am so glad i ordered a cad aquarium!

michael.lemke - hope all is well with your new CAD. Thanks for the kind words.

Any updates?

9thwonder - sorry for the delay.

great tank
how do you keep your sand clean ?

yitman - I vacuum 1/3 of the sandbed with each water change. On the 4th water change, I vacuum the sump out.

Urbaneks, time to invest in a video camera!

reefsahoy - very true. I'm getting a new SLR that will hopefully shoot great video as well.

all i can say is wow!!

love your tank..

thanks for sharing

reeferfulton - Thanks!

Are you using Coral Snow now? If so, what is your overall zeo regimen?

ReefKeeper64 - I do use coral snow from time to time but not consistently. I do use Phol's Extra, Bac and Vitalizer per the directions on the bottle.

Missing in action?

Singlefin - MIA no longer.

nicely grown in there, I still miss my old giesemann

rodneyri - thanks for the comment. I do love my light. Never regretted that purchase. I've thought about LEDs several times but I get to many comments like yours, that says people miss their old fixture.

wow! Awesome tank and not to mention the journal!
What do you think about the BM dosing pump? Dont know if mentioned but do you add anything extra except ca, alk and mg?

Dillan - Thanks for the comments on the tank and journal. I really like my BM dosing pump. I've had it running for over a year now without any issues. I do not add any other additives, however I do weekly water changes which does help replenish Ca, Alk and Mag.

That Cali Tort looks spectacular! Also, it looks quite like the Oregon Tort...in that I cant see much if any green in it. It sure does make for a great centre piece coral! Thanks for the update. :thumbsup:

sahin - Thanks for the comment. I have a couple other pieces of the same coral low in my tank and it has lots of green. It seems to be the more light it gets the more blue it gets. I'm curious to see what is going to happen over the next month or so. The coral is about 1/2 inch from the surface of the water.

Fantastic tank!! It's one of my favorites, by far. I love the natural look.

Since it's been some time since you've started bio pellets, I have to ask.....are you still using them? Have they provided you with what you've been looking for? Interested to hear.

creefer01 - Thanks so much! I still have the BPs running on the tank. My phosphates are always at 0 but I also run phosban and do weekly water changes. The BP's did drive my nitrates down from ~10 to ~2 which is where they hover.

 

[aqua80]

Marvelous tank !
But, your fts is too small ;-)
gotta have a bigger size pic to see other corals !

 

[dtum]

Can we get an FTS from straight on position?

You used to have two distinct islands with a bit of a passage in between, but now it is getting grown in. Can you elaborate on its status and your vision/opinion of it?

 

[stlbballer33]

Amazing - just read through the whole thread here and truly inspired. Looking at getting a 125gal setup in my home office, and this tank is going to be what I base it off of. If I can get anything near this look I'll be thrilled. Thanks again for posting this and offering up so much great info and beautiful pictures!!

 

[urbaneks]

December 19, 2013 - Response to Feedback

December 19, 2013 - Response to Feedback

December 19, 2013 - Response to Feedback

Marvelous tank !
But, your fts is too small ;-)
gotta have a bigger size pic to see other corals !

aqua80 - Thanks for the reply and compliment on the tank. I stitched together 2 photos into one larger pano, I will post that shortly.

Can we get an FTS from straight on position?

You used to have two distinct islands with a bit of a passage in between, but now it is getting grown in. Can you elaborate on its status and your vision/opinion of it?

dtum - I will post a couple new photos in a few minutes that show the scape better. A few of the recent photos I posted had a rock (with the Setosa) moved from the left side to the center of the tank. This was done because the Setosa was getting too close to the glass and I couldn't clean the glass in that location.

I have since moved things around just a bit where I still have my center trench. Again, I will post a few new shots here in a few minutes.

Amazing - just read through the whole thread here and truly inspired. Looking at getting a 125gal setup in my home office, and this tank is going to be what I base it off of. If I can get anything near this look I'll be thrilled. Thanks again for posting this and offering up so much great info and beautiful pictures!!

stlbballer33 - A 125 will be really nice. I'm glad that my journal has given you a few ideas to work with. Feel free to PM me here on RC if you have any questions along the way.

 

[urbaneks]

December 19, 2013 - Photo Update

December 19, 2013 - Photo Update

December 19, 2013 - Photo Update

Here is a larger FTS that came from 2 smaller photos that were stitched together. Not the best photo but you can get a pretty good idea of what the aqua scape looks like.​

This photo shows the center trench which was my original scape idea. Over the past two years, I've had to narrow it down to accommodate the growth. I like the texture provided by the Gorgonians in the trench. The LeMark Angel swimming through is a nice addition.

Ultimately, I'd love to have a tank that would accommodate about 12" trench. The main driver for my scape was Oregon Reef. If you have not seen it before, I recommend you Google it.




One of two new fish that I added in the past 6 months. This is a Twin Spot Hogfish also called a Candy Striped Hogfish. What drew me to this fish was the personality. He always comes right to the glass to check out the humans.




My other newer fish, a Sail-fin Blenny. You have to love the eye lashes!​

 

[dtum]

Thank you for the update, we really missed those. Looks like the tank is doing spectacular.

 

[tripdad]

Are the Gorg's photo synthetic? If not, did you bump feeding for them at all? Tank is looking great by the way.

 

[Rogerh]

I have been following this thread from the start, and it looks great.
Nice pictures, and interesting reading all the way.

Thumbs up!

 

[Tradewinds]

Glad to see the update and that all is well. This is one of my favorite threads.

 

[urbaneks]

December 22nd, 2013 - Reflection Photos

December 22nd, 2013 - Reflection Photos

December 22nd, 2013 - Reflection Photos

I took a series of photos that shows a few different angles looking upward towards the surface of the water. The first one is my favorite with the wide view of the aquarium and the contrasting colors. The second photo is kind of neat with the LeMark Angel looking down and the camera.

​