oxx155

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. 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.

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).

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. Other coral pics (all frags or small corals right now, hopefully plenty of room to grow) My two carpet anenomes (on either side of the tank) I have about 8 Maxima Clams and 1 Squamosa Clam I tried to get a pic of my Mystery Wrasse, but this is the best I could get.

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

I like the Smilie! LOL Thanks, need a better camera though Sunday's are good.

I would love a piece, but I can't take it for about 3 weeks.

More work done Sheds are both up (one for water change tank and the other for all my lawn equipment) My mated pair of clowns (they have a RBA, but its in a place I can't get a picture of) My Saddle Back Clown with an 18" Carpet Anenome 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) 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) I will hopefully have more pics after my fish/coral order comes in. Should be some nice stuff to show everyone.

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.

I didn't. But, from all my research I found that larger necks and cups definitely help because you want to increase the time the bubbles have to work. The longer it takes for the bubbles to get from the bottom to the top (through water) the more crap they collect. If you don't have a problem then its probably not worth it. Tangs are good for handling algae. LOL, it wasn't easy thats for sure. Thankfully I was able to sell all my livestock before the move and that made things much easier. The only downside is that I had a lot of great fish and corals and now I have to start over, but I guess that leaves room for many other great fish and corals. More pics to come soon

Its like looking in a mirror! LOL Very nice tank, I hope mine gets some color like yours soon, but you have a couple of months lead on me. Its funny to see that we are using similar equipment, I guess we both found what works best for this size of tank. I wish you the best of luck and hopefully we can help each other grow with new ideas as the years go by.

I just purchased a 12" Green Carpet Anenome (with host saddle clownfish thats been with it for almost 2 years) and a 5" Bubble Anenome with a mated pair of Oscellaris. I am getting a shipment of corals and fish in about April 9th and will take pics as soon as I can. I might post pics of some of my progress next week. Tank parameters are all right and the brown algae bloom is almost all gone. The cleaner crew kicked butt.

Wish I could rationalize shelling out a $1,000 for a camera that I would really only use to shoot my tank (my travel camera is wallet size, waterproof, and shock proof, so I am not replacing it). Hopefully when I eventually have a group get-together at my place someone can bring a nice camera for some good pics.

Do you have a tank thread anywhere? I was just thinking about using a pond pump to circulate the water (have the power cord come out the top). I have only heard great things about the Litermeter so I am excited. Hopefully one day I can make it up.

I haven't seen Madmike's system, I will have to check it out. I like my Calcium Reactor and it works well, so I will probably keep it. The problem with an overflow system is that as water evaporates it leaves the salt in the system elevating the salinity, so you need to replace the evaporation with fresh water. If the litermeter put more saltwater in than was taken out than it would inevitebly raise the salinity. I already have an automatic top-off system that works great and will stick with that. I think have the Litermeter control the exact amount going out as coming in should keep the system very stable. I have purchased a 300 Gallon Storage Tank, this should give me 37 days of water change at 8 gallons a day, before I have to refill the storage tank with RODI water and more salt. I Recently purchased enough salt to do 1,500 gallons, so it should last me about 5-6 months. My goal with this tank this time is to make it as automated and stable as possible. Obviously I will be doing work on the tank regularly, but I want to make it so that if I go on vacation for a week I should feel ok to only have a friend feed the fish once or twice, but the tank should run itself.

In case someone asks - I will have a circulation pump in the storage tank to keep the salt dissolved, but will not have a heater in there because it will probably become overworked. Even with weather getting down below freezing (during winter) and possibly over 100 (during summer), I am sure the heaters and chiller should be able to easily compensate for the small amount of water going in each day.

Was reading some threads recently about automated water change systems and it really sounds like a great idea if done correctly. Here is what I was thinking: I don't have any more room in my fish-room, so I was going to add a plastic shed to the side of my house then put a 250 gallon poly water storage tank in the shed full of RODI water and the proper salt hook up a Litermeter III to draw 8 gallons out of my sump tank into a drain and 8 gallons from the 250 gallon water storage tank back into the sump over a 24 hour period. So, in a 30 day month it would change 240 gallons, which is about 25% of my system over the month. I think this will make my life much easier, and will make the system much more stable. The only thing I possibly have to worry about is making sure the water doesn't freeze outside in the shed. But, its already a plastic insulated shed and I can always add more insulation. I think this will also make the wife happy because I will still have room in the shed for tools and our lawn mower, allowing me to turn the larger shed into a nice art studio for her. LOL, isn't it funny that we always find a positive way to spin things so that our significant others go along with the idea. Anyway, what does everyone think?

Update: Finally got the lights up The lights have definitely help get the cycle moving along. I am starting to get a brown algae bloom, once it gets heavy enough I will shut off the lights for a week and add some cleaner crew to eat it all up. Got my two carbon reactors running and added a new phosban reactor. All are located in the refugium. The chiller is finally hooked up outside. I bought a Dog House from petsmart and it fit perfectly. I drilled some exhaust holes so that it plenty of airflow without letting rain in. I am not sure yet when I will start adding fish and corals. One thing thats holding me back is that I just booked my 1st year anniversary for the end of march (a month early) at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas. The reason for the earliness is that the resort has a special during that week and it saves me $1,000 (which my wife surely agrees with). Anyway, I think it would be easier to add fish and corals when I get back and can devote 100% attention (at least till November when I have a family thanksgiving in Hawaii). 2009 is surely becoming a huge year for me - Two fabulous vacations, going to try and start to have children, my family business is getting a brand new building and booming, my sister-in-law is going to get married, and lastly I have the chance to do my tank exactly the way I want it! I am truly blessed. I hope everyone else has a great 2009 also!

Best of luck This is pretty much how I got started.

I have lost probably two leathers in my time (and seen others lose them). Almost every time they seem to almost fall apart, deflate, and just crumple on the ground. I have seen that if you move them into a little more flow they seem to perk up a little. Even though its hard to get him out of the hole, I really do recommend changing his spot, it might help. Just my two cents

If you have a patent like this unfortunately the government forces you to defend it. If you don't threaten and/or sue the companies that use your patented product without paying royalties, then the government will void your patent. Its true and very sad. Its unfortunately that PFO couldn't come up with a compromise.

Thanks. Learned a lot from the previous setup, finally getting it done the way I want it and the way it should be done, just wish I had a little more room! You and me both, I hate cycling, but I want this done right so its time to tweak on a few things (or my wife says organize, LOL) Thanks. Hopefully it will turn out real nice. I want to enjoy my little slice of the ocean. Update: Tank temperature is now up to 69.4 degrees, LOL

I had 3 green brittle stars and found them attacking my acros (eating more than attacking). I will never have them again in a reef. I have heard other brittle stars are alright. I have always been a fan of Linkia Stars, but they are not easy.

Put up some cabinets in the fish room for organization. Got the U.V.'s installed on the wall (114 watts) AATOC Top off controllers (the best available). I connect city water directly to these, as water evaporates these are triggered and allow water through to the RODI units and into the tank to replace evaporated water. I really don't know what I would do without these. One runs the fillup on the "refill tank" (75 gallon tank I use to do my water changes), and the other keeps the level on the Sump at the optimum level (after running through a Kalk system). They have a normal sensor and an emergency sensor just in case the first one dies. Water RODI units Finally got the new neck and head for my Reeflo Skimmer, it really looks like a monster now. Can't wait till the salt in the tank is correct and I can kick it on. Tank filling with water Refugium filling with water New Work Sink Brand new Oregon Scientific weather monitor. It monitors Outdoor temp/humidity, Downstairs temp/humidity, Upstairs temp/humidity, Aquarium Lights area temp/humidity, and the actual temperature of the aquarium water. It displays all these on one display that I have put on my computer desk (where I spend most of my time). This way I can know immediately if there is an issue, which is very important to me. You can see the floating temp sensor in the pic of the refugium above. I think it cost something like $90 or so. More updates in the future.

Finally got plumbing finished and everything in place. Got water in the tank this weekend and ended up using 12 bags of salt! Each bag was rated for 50 gallons, so I used enough for 600 gallons. I hope that is enough, but I can't exactly figure out how many gallons are in the system right now (the system can handle 875 gallons). Thankfully when you have a tank this big you buy in bulk and I had 14 bags of salt left, guess I will have to buy more again soon. Unfortunately when filling the tank I found that everything was level EXCEPT for the back right corner which ended up being 3/8" short! Thankfully my contactor is still working on the house and he was able to jack up the tank and slip in metal shims to level everything off. Also, to handle more water flow I cut off every other tooth on both of my overflows and have installed "gutter guard" to keep fish and inverts from getting sucked over, it looks really nice and I can handle a ton of flow now. I found out that one of my 800 watt heaters has died, so I had to order another one, so for the time being the tank temperature is going up very slowly. I will hopefully have the chiller hooked up soon (needs power outside) and it has a 1,000 watt heater that will help. And once my new heater gets in I will have 2,600 watts of heating power. Most likely though when the lights are going full blast I won't be depending on the heaters hardly at all and mostly will be chilling the water to keep it at 78-80 degrees. I recently glued two of my Tunze Powerheads to their magnets with aquarium sealant. This allows the flow to go straight across the tank instead of down at an angle (unfortunately the connector for the tunze to the magnet isn't tight and allows the pump to dip slightly). But, I don't know why, the magnets seemed to lose some of the grip power and I ended up getting another magnet that goes between the one inside and outside and it holds like a champ. I still have some things to work on, but at least the tank is cycling and I am that much closer to restocking my tank.