Mcjudge

Thats awesome, and that is exactly what my wife thinks! I think I have the bug.

Sorry ya'll, looks like I am going to make the jump...

On order 130G DSA 48x24x27 3/4" extra clear glass, single overflow on the top center, with the return on the sides and a pvc bottom. 2x xr30w pro radions, 2 more mp10s, and a reef octopus extreme xs250. I am going to custom make the stand and the sump and refugium will be in the garage.

If anyone is interested in a used ADA 90P or a euroreef RS80 skimmer please let me know.

Will keep you posted should be 2 weeks or so before the tank is ready and another month or so before I will get everything transfered over.

Need some advice....

Wife saw a 90 Gallon and we have enough room for it. Comes with a stand & a canopy. There is part of me that really needs wants to upgrade to be able to house a tang(responsibly), and also have a canopy where fish can't jump out. There is also part of me that loves my rimless tank. Don't know what to do...

Thoughts anyone please?

Built about 1/3 of the stand this weekend, got most of the framing done. So much easier with a good plan and 2x4's.

Got the Ecotech XR30w PRO in today and alot of schedule 80 plumbing from BRS.

Got my 3x 29 gallon tanks coming in tomorrow.

I need to pick a laminate color to cover the stand in.

Will take some unboxing photos of my new light and post. Thing is pretty sexy!

Looking good man! I made some phone calls and yeah you were right $1000 for that stand... Changed my mind! Would love to see a shot of the fuge.

Update and plans for the future!

Tank is doing great, battling a bit of Cyano at the moment on my sand. I think mainly due to it being completely exposed to the air during the move. Possibly as well from switching to bio balls and turning off GFO. (Phosphates rose) Have since added GFO back & turned up the vortechs. (seems to be dying back)

Anyways I have a major renovation planned and here are the goals.

Biological filtration from 2 different zones of a reef
Pod reproduction and feeding of the display from the refugium without being destroyed by a pump
Increase Lighting
Increase Water Volume, Quality & Stability
Increase Aesthetic
Increase Bioload in Display
Decrease Sound

Decrease Day to day maintenance

Here is the plan to accomplish those goals.

I am going to buy the ADA cabinet that goes with the tank and get rid of my plain metal garden stand. (aesthetis)

Purchasing the new Ecotech XR30w PRO to replace my 175W metal Halide with rigged LEDS & Moon Lights. Hang it from the ceiling. (Mainly Lighting & Aesthetic)

I am going to get rid of my indoor sump and move it out into the garage.

The return will get split between a refugium & a cryptic zone tank, both being 20 Gallon Tall tanks sitting above the display in the garage.(to gravity flow through a wall into the display) The return pump will be an eheim 1262, with the majority of the flow to head into the refugium. The refugium will have chaeto, mangroves & 1” of miracle mud, and be lit by a Kessil 8K.

The cryptic tank will have a front section of live rock and a back section of layers of egg crate to grow sponges & worms. It will be lit by 2 ice cap moonlights I bought a long time ago.

I am going to add the spectrapure dosing system to add carbon & aquavitro Fuel to the tank on regular basis.

I am also going to add a Mixing tub to make my water changes easier and faster.

Overall the total reno should run me about $3000.

I will try to keep it all posted and up to date as I go.

Cheers

What stand did you buy? I am in the process of saving for the ADA cabinet. (Its only $$$ Right)

Most Austin Glass stores sell it. Alamo Glass & Binswanger glass both carry and cut it for you. You can also ask them to flame the edges for you.

I second victs response, Change AT&T's router internal ip address to 192.168.0.1. Restart it, then manually change your computers address to 192.168.0.5. (windows XP log off and log back on, 7 u r ok) you then should be able to see it.

And do whatever you want. There is not harm in leaving the configuartion that way.

The subnet mask 99.9% of the time will be 255.255.255.0. You shouldn't worry about it.

-M

Have to say if there was a battle of the ada tanks, scaping, corals colors... I lose. Hats off my friend well done.

Amano himself needs to put your tank in his display.

For anyone who is not suscribed and wants to know what true aquascaping is about...

http://www.youtube.com/user/aquadesignamano

Take a look!

-M

True that Sir! And then the 400G... Someday when my wife is okay with losing a wall and half the garage. And yes I do know we ended up talking nothing about lighting... I hijacked my own thread, but really just let my own newbsness out.

Cheers to all ARC and enjoy your moonlight time!

-M

Here is the thread I was reading about the guy dosing nitrate....

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/just-starting-out-sw-beginners/74356-gfo-vs-biopellets.html

Because I thought about adding my gfo back tonight. interesting reading.

-M

Thank you Tim and Jes, great stuff there!

Tim I do need the mentoring really or maybe just a good guideline reading on the ultra low nutrient system. I will search that out for some new home work... Does it work with a DSB and yes I already have one, and no I don't plan on switching... in case those other guys from the other DSB thread feel like Hijacking... Got a few good laughs out of it though!

Jes interesting you mentioned the "balance" of nitrate & phosphate I was reading earlier about a guy who was actually dosing nitrate with biopellets to bring his phosphate down... Thought that was interesting. He used seachem flourish... Scares me! Could work though I guess, makes sense.

And didn't know that about the temperature.. I just got a chiller (mainly because I ran my extra stuff into the garage) so I know digitally now that the temp never goes above 79. I did notice that my glass little old school thermometer really didn't seem very exact and the tank was probably getting pretty hot during the day.

I will keep it all going I am just really wanting that nice crisp sky blue coral in my tank one day. Something to match my chromis, he will have to do for now. Chasing that and maybe an end to the bubble algea in my tank, need to pick me up another emerald crab or 2.

Ran Nitrate & phosphate, nitrate was 0 but phosphate is at .75 mg/l. So thats not good. I quit running GFO and switched to bio pellets after the move. That explains my macro algae going crazy recently. I have also been feeding more so that could have played into it. 20ml of phyto every other day with 5 ml of oyster feast. 1 cube of mysis and some swooshes of cyclopese & some pellets every day. The color change was prior to the move and I had the frag maybe 2 months before we moved.

Over feeding?

Here's all I know on the subject which is based solely on my anecdotal experience. I have a Reef Octopus cone skimmer that skims beautifully for about 3 to 4 days then the amount of skimmate drops off dramitically until I clean the neck. I bought an automatic neck cleaner which has only been running about a month. It seems to have only added a couple of extra days. The cleaner paddles can only clean the cylinder part of the neck so the cone doesn't get cleaned which I think minimizes its cleaning potential.

I just wanted to second this and say that is what I understand to be true, (owner of reef dynamics explains it). He doesn't recommend the neck cleaner because he wants you to clean it... like every day. I am not that ambitious, but yes they function so much better if cleaned properly and regularly. I would say that is something to note about skimmers is yes they are another thing to take care of.

BTW microwaved hot RO water down the venturi air tube clears out salt creep awesomely, I do it once every 2 weeks.

Then you have to run the pump in vinegar water every 6 months or so.

Ahh the joys.....

1 other thing I have just been wondering about recently... Temperature. So live aquaria says on all fish to run 72-78. I see where most people seem to be running there systems a bit warmer than that 80-81. I am running mine between 78-79. I guess I just curious why the discrepancy?

jestep, I bought frag from the dome that was lets just say sky blue, the color of vict's signature. Within 1 month the entire frag turned green, like forest green. Now it seems to be browning out a bit I think due to location after I moved (all corals got new homes). There was a tank move in there however all my other sps are doing great. 2 kinds of birdsnest, and 2 other acropora look great.

Vict, setup 2 mp 10's running about 50% on tidal mode. An eheim 1260 return.

In Sump

2 cobalt aquatics mj1200's 1 for carbon the other for biopellets. 1 eheim 1250 feeding refugium & calcium reactor.

Test results last night

PH 8.1

Alk 3.7

calc 420

mag 1360

Didn't test the phosphates & nitrates last night... I know I am bad so I will run those tonight and respond.

Currently I have a 175W MH 15k (mini stealth reflector) lit 5 hours a day, and 2 12" half 12k, half actinic Current USA True Pro LED Strips that run 10 hours a day.

All of my water parameters are good, but for some reason keeping nice good looking blues in sps corals has eluded me. A more knowledgeable person than myself told me I might not have enough light. I wanted to get thoughts on that.

No matter how I slice it I really love the metal halide. My thought is to just buy a new ballast use my current reflector and go with a 250W 15k bulb on the same photo period. I am so torn because for about twice the price I could probably switch to a say an AQ Vega. I am just worried it might not be enough for the sps. Does anyone grow sps with leds and is it easy?

Any general advice is welcome.

I have an older euroreef/ (reef dynamics now) skimmer that I have been using for over a year. The guy who runs that shop seems wicked smart and supports his stuff with alot of upgrades and options. I also really like how he rates his skimmers based on what you are planning to have in your tank. If you are interested as well, LA fish guy interviewed him on youtube in like a 4 part series where you can really get to know the intimate details about skimming.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXuEebGU9zA

I have no experience with any other skimmers or not running one but I have good results. It worked for me!

Thanks Vict!

speaking of with a person that has the same tank... I have and am guessing a total water volume of about 60-70 Gallons & just started up the biopellets. I overskim, and have a refugium lit 24/7. Also use carbon. Sooo I just recently added all of those fish... at the same time... I know I know, but really got lucky and the dome has some good stock.

So that being said, being responsible...

6 line wrasse max 3 inches

Occelaris clown max 3.5 inches

Chromis max 3 inches

Orange stripe prawn goby max 4.5 inches

Total 14 fish inches...

5 gallons per fish inch = 70 Gallons needed (on the conservative side)

3 gallons per fish inch = 70 gallons would equal 23 fish inches.

i.e. I could add 9 more...

I was thinking a dwarf lemonpeel angel, but i was going to wait until everyone gets settled.

Thoughts?

Happy 1 year be-lated-ish birthday... Its so hard to keep track of these things. Many amazing things have happened with the tank and I have learned so much. Changes in hardware, Livestock and even location. The tank is doing better than it ever has been. The corals, fish and all the other live stuff are really moving into full gear and I notice daily changes in the tank.

Everything started off seemingly pretty slow. Adding sand & rock, letting it "cure" and stabilize the tank, adding a few corals here and there. Getting my first pair of fish a pair of domino clowns. Trying to keep up with water maintenance and flooding my house a few times. Thanking my wife for putting up with my addiction and I think if she hears the words "making water" one more time she will FLIP! Adding a anemone, maxima clam and sps corals are so exciting.(having them live and flourish is even better)

For those interested in the hobby here are my 4 lessons I learned.

1. When they say its all about keeping your water parameters consistent, they aren't joking. EVERYTHING in the tank benefits from it in a visual and almost seemingly instantaneous way. To add to that the smaller the tank the harder keeping those parameters in check is. I will say I think I have finally come up with a system that fully supplies the tank with everything it needs for success, and my method for doing so unfortunately is to incorporate lots of hardware. 4 items that have helped in my success here lately are chiller, calcium reactor, kalk reactor and biopellet reactor. The combination of all 4 of those has made the tank so much happier. All of those enable me to do less day to day task and sit back more and enjoy.

2. The amount of "energy" that goes into the display tank to make things thrive is truly amazing. I don't mean my energy I am referring to the food & minerals that all of those things in the tank need to flourish. It gives me a whole new perspective on our oceans and how much of an energy producing/consuming engine it is. Alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium, Phytoplankton, Zooplankton, Amino Acids, Carbon, Bacteria, the list goes on about what you need to add almost on a daily basis, not just to be successful but to create a similar habitat to what these animals have in our oceans. They all need to be in balance.

3. Patience... I wish I had more... nough said.

4. Moving a reef tank is scary and something I don't wish for anyone. You need experience because it is unlike anything as far as just building it. Hire a professional, I did. Mason the Fish Whisperer is the man. I had zero fatalities.

I have 4 fish now which I so love. For a while there I had none, as the 3 I had over time had jumped out. I really think in hindsight that my water quality was bad and I was making some rookie mistakes. Don't by an expensive pair of fish when you are just starting out. Start small and buy the expensive ones later.

Anyways I have the ubiquitous clown fish,

chromis,

6 line wrasse

orange stripe prawn goby

Maxima clam

Rose bubble tip anemone

Poreclain Crab

2 Peppermint Shrimp

1 Fighting Conch

All different kinds of snails

A few hermit crabs

& SPS LPS & Softies...

Just wanted everyone who hadn't had a chance to see it to have a look and enjoy.

Also give a shout out to the peeps at Aquadome. Thank you!!!

Cheers

-M

I love the sketchup work and the rendering. The idea is fantastic as it is very unique and allows for a wide range of creatures... The only thing I might bring up and please don't take this as a criticism, is the tanks orientation in the room. I would venture to say the original tank shown in the picture, works best as a peninsula. I would just have a hard time looking at that tank from the sofa... I would feel like I was always looking at the system from the side. 2 ways to correct it for me would be switch the orientation of the shelf/ and or drop the front side of the 1st shelf down. Its hard to describe but you would in essence be making a side shelf and a front shelf. If that is the goal of the entire tank, then my apologies as I just missed it but I thought I would throw it out there. Our tanks are our centerpieces.

Cheers

Update video have since picked up some corals and a clam. I have a midas blenny in a quarantine tank at the moment. The 2 MP10W's are new as well as the LED light strips. Hope you all like the video was taken with my phone so apologies for the quality. I did a bit of editing through youtube... the effects I thought were funny, kinda feels like the camera got wet. Any questions welcome.

Cheers!!!

Here is a problem I ran into. I bought live rock that came from Florida via Aquadome. I spent so much on the rock budget wise i had to wait to buy sand. All of my rock was in the display. When I started adding sand (a month later) I noticed there was substantial more worms and live stuff happenging in my display than in my DSB in my refugium(because I didn't add any rock to the refugium). You can seed it yourself by transfering sand to and from your display but you run the risk of disturbing your dsb and releasing bad things into the water. I really think you need Live Rock just for the worms and other flora/fauna to seed your dsb in your refugium. I have been up and running since august with zero algae problems and no cyano issues. I bought a mix of dead argonite and live bacteria sand. (not live sand from someones tank) You can also seed your sand/refugium with an order from http://www.ipsf.com/. Make sure you get the mama mia worms because they are so cool looking. I would also recommend having them all up and running together, in fact I would even say it might be smart to have your refugium running before your display. The die-off will give your macro algae the nutrients it needs to get a good start.

So there are a few things to take into account for flow. A rule of thumb is you want to match your return pump's GPH to your skimmer pump GPH. If you are running alot more water through your sump than your skimmer pump can handle then your skimmer never gets a chance to filter your water. Depending on the Head the distance between your return pump, and your outflow, I would also agree with the LFS as it seems like your return pump is over sized. 4-5 turnover through your sump is also what I remember is as the rule of thumb.

Then you get to the corals you are keeping, 10-20x turn over is a good goal to hit within your display. If you have a bunch of SPS there are alot of people that run 40-50X.

Not that I am the most experienced in the world but, me 50G tank, eheim 1250 300 GPH as my return, with 2x Koralia 2's 600 GPH each in the display. My return splits into my refugium and minus the head gives me probably 150-200 GPH return.(3x-4x) The 1200 GPH in the display is 25x..

Thats my 2 cents.

Cheers and Best of Luck!