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450 Gallon Reef, 855 Gallon System


oxx155

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Sure beats pumping out 30 gals, shocking my coral and fish, dumping saltwater in the backyard generally disrupting everything(wife). I will still do some vacumning once in a while but that wil be just adding 5 gal or so of saltwater from the barrel to the fuge then sucking it back out with the vac

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Just courious did you get the auto water change set up.

 

I haven't had a free weekend yet. I hope to put some more work into it this weekend. So far I have the shed setup and the tank inside, thats as far as I have made it.

I will definitely take pics and let everyone know how it goes.

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More work done

 

Sheds are both up (one for water change tank and the other for all my lawn equipment)

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My mated pair of clowns (they have a RBA, but its in a place I can't get a picture of)

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My Saddle Back Clown with an 18" Carpet Anenome

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I have been trying to calibrate my darn Pinpoint Salinity Monitor and my Refractometer, but neither seem to match! Does anyone have any ideas? Is anyone good at calibrating and can help?

I can only hope right now that my salinity is correct, I think its between 1.024 and 1.026, but not 100% sure.

 

I got my Litermeter III and extra pump, but haven't had a chance to hook them up yet and get the water change system going. Right now I am waiting for the 300 gallon stock tank to fill up and the salt to start mixing. I hope to have the water change system running when I get back from my vacation.

 

I wish I could more time into my tank right now, but with how busy I am with house work and with moving the family business to a new building I only get a couple of hours a weekend lately. I am hoping that will change soon since I have a big fish/coral delivery coming April 9th.

Here are pics of my master bathroom (not done yet, hopefully in a few weeks)

His and Her glass bowl sinks and nice wall size mirror (I like how mirrors make the room feel bigger)

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Roman style walk-in shower with river rock as the floor (covered right now because of tile work)(can fit about 5 people, will have a 12" waterfall style showerhead, 8" wall mounted showerhead, and 6" handheld massaging showerhead)(has a bench for two so the wife and I can enjoy a nice steam shower also)

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I will hopefully have more pics after my fish/coral order comes in. Should be some nice stuff to show everyone.

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That's gonna be quite the housewarming party.

 

I like the Smilie! LOL

 

sweet pic's.

 

Thanks, need a better camera though

 

That was a good read, thank you for taking me along for the ride.

 

If I could request a day for you to host a meeting it would be Sunday, as thats the only day off I have.

 

Sunday's are good.

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Get busy slacker!! I want to see more pictures!! (popcorn)

I have enjoyed following this thread. Keep up the good work!!!

 

Just got back from my vacation to the Bahamas (Atlantis Resort). Snorkeled at several different reefs. Actually swam with Sharks, Barracudas, Stingrays, all sorts of reef fish. I will post some pics as soon as I get them on my computer.

 

I get an order of Fish and Corals in on Thursday and hopefully will have pics soon after.

 

Later

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  • 2 weeks later...

Unfortunately while on my vacation I got some saltwater on my camera. It took 2 days next to a hair dryer to get it back to somewhat functioning. So, I apologize in advance for the picture quality, I will have to get a new camera.

 

I am also still fighting a hair algae outbreak (started when I started to add fish and corals to the tank). I am working on some water changes (since the water change system still isn't running yet) to lower the nutrients in the water.

 

I am placing most of my zoas, green star polyps, and mushrooms over on the "island" so that they can't overgrow any of the other rock.

 

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Other coral pics (all frags or small corals right now, hopefully plenty of room to grow)

 

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My two carpet anenomes (on either side of the tank)

 

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I have about 8 Maxima Clams and 1 Squamosa Clam

 

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I tried to get a pic of my Mystery Wrasse, but this is the best I could get.

 

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I currently have in the tank;

 

Fish -

6 - Yellow Tangs

2 - Blue Tangs

1 - Desjardini Sailfin Tang

7 - Female Anthias

1 - Male Anthias

1 - Mystery Wrasse

1 - Six Line Wrasse

1 - Scott's Fairy Wrasse

1 - Yellow Banana Wrasse

5 - Pajama Cardinals

5 - Kauderns Cardinals

2 - Yellow Watchmen Gobies

2 - Blue Spotted Watchmen Gobies

2 - Scooter Blennies

1 - Red Scooter Blenny

1 - Saddleback Clownfish

1 - Black/White Clownfish

2 - Percula Clownfish (mated pair)

1 - Spotted Mandarinfish

 

Inverts -

3 - Cleaner Shrimp

2 - Coral Banded Shrimp

50 - Red Leg Reef Hermits

100 - Blue Leg Reef Hermits

20 - Cerith Snails

15 - Turbo Snails

30 - Nassarius Snails

3 - Fighting Conchs

3 - Sand Sifting Starfish

1 - Blue Linkia Starfish

1 - Red Linkia Starfish

2 - Carpet Anenomes

1 - Green Bulb Anenome

8 - Maxima Clams

1 - Squamosa Clam

 

Corals -

10 - Various Acropora

2 - Hydnophora

2 - Montipora Branched

4 - Montipora Encrusting

4 - Montipora Leaf Plate/Cup

12 - Various Zooanthids

4 - Various Mushrooms

1 - Green Star Polyps

1 - Yellow Fiji Leather

1 - Toadstool Leather

1 - Pink Birdsnest

1 - Frogspawn

 

Everything seems to have pretty good room to grow. I will give it all a few months before deciding if I want to add more or not (although I will probably add more zooanthids in the future, I like to collect lots of colors).

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More pictures please!!! Full tank shot best!

 

You do realize the tank is 10 feet long, how do you recommend I take a full tank shot? Keep in mind I don't have a good camera.

LOL

I could probably use some help.

 

What a tank and filtration system can't wait to see some pics!!!

 

Any specific pics you would like to see? This invitation is open to anyone, if there is a specific pic you would like to see let me know and I will try my best to take it and post it.

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I just bought a new camera

IOMST8000B.jpg

 

Olympus Stylus Tough-8000

12 MP, Waterproof (up to 33 feet down), Shockproof, FreezeProof, Dual-Image Stabilization, AVI Movie, etc.

Hopefully this will allow me to take better pictures and even put the camera in the tank for some real closeups!

It also has a panoramic mode which will allow me to take a nice full tank shot without fiddling with photoshop (it takes 3 pics and automatically stitches them together).

It will take a week to arrive, then I will have some nice new pics for everyone.

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Take two pictures one of the first 5 feet and the other of the next 5 feet.

 

Hopefully the new camera will solve this problem.

 

I used to own a modeling company and you would think I would be better at taking pictures, but I find taking pictures of women is easier than fish, LOL.

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Took about 45 minutes to do a 250 Gallon Water Change. I really need to get my auto-water change system up and running.

Anyway, my new camera comes in soon and I should have new pics.

Unfortunately I don't have time this weekend as I am moving the business to our brand new building, but once things settle down I will give full attention to the tank again.

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I just bought an amazing product

 

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Eheim Sludge Extractor (battery operated gravel cleaner).

It doesn't take any water out of the tank and works just as well in saltwater as freshwater.

I just used it tonight on my tank and even though I had to clean out the "crap container" often it worked very well at cleaning debris out of my sand.

 

I was skeptical about this product when I first read about it, thinking it wouldn't have strong enough suction, it couldn't possibly really go submersible, and that it couldn't work in sand, but I was proven wrong on all counts.

 

I know that most problems with tank crashes occur because people don't do water changes and/or they don't keep the debris (dead fish, extra food, other debris) from accumulating on the bottom. I just thought you should all know of a product that seems to work real well at helping clean debris without the crazy mess, tubing everywhere, and loads of buckets.

 

Now I have heard a few bad reviews (most good) so I recommend anyone interested in this product read more information before taking my word wholly.

 

I am a firm believer in investing in the proper equipment to keep your tank working its best, so the $60 for this product was worth every penny to me.

 

Its funny, when I first started this hobby I had very little "tech" equipment and now it seems I have techy tools everywhere to make my job easier and make the tank run smoother, LOL.

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Thats pretty cool' date=' where does the water or debris go?[/quote']

 

The grid near the top of the device lets water out but keeps the crap in. The only thing that sucks is that the device can loose suction power when getting full, so cleaning the screen often is needed. But, I would take that over buckets, messes, and having to refill the tank with more water.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got my new camera in and I am still trying to learn its nuances, but here is what I got so far.

 

I used the "panoramic" feature to get a full tank shot

It takes 3 photos and automatically stitches them together, its not perfect but I think thats more my fault.

 

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Some other pics that turned out better than others

 

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I will keep tweaking with the camera till I figure out how to take the best pics, then I will post more.

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