Tank of the Month - August 2007

[Skipper]

This month we are featuring Quoc Hoang's (fishcraze2002) beautiful reef aquarium:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-08/totm/images/RChomepage.jpg (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-08/totm/index.php)

More details can be found here (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-08/totm/index.php) or by clicking on the picture above.

Congratulations, Quoc!


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<center><font color="#FFFFFF" size="-1">If you'd like to nominate a tank
for Tank of the Month, click <a href="http://reefcentral.com/forums/newthread.php?s=&action=newthread&forumid=189" target="_blank"><font color="#FFFFFF">here</font></a>
or use the button to the right.</font></center>
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<td bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="27%"><img src="http://reefkeeping.com/images/nominate1.gif" border="0" title="Click here to nominate a Tank of the Month"> (http://reefcentral.com/forums/newthread.php?s=&action=newthread&forumid=189)
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[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Absolutely gorgeous!

In walls are beautiful, but I can imagine the temp. issues you have to deal with have troubled some in the past. It would here in the summer as well.

How old is that orange cap.?

[Double-J]

Very Nice! looks like you are in need for a bigger tank already ;)

[chadhender]

Congrats Quoc.....

[wintercool97]

Beautiful, and so inspiring! Congratulations!

[bigfishman]

Congratulation! Awesome tank!

[baj]

Is there a link to the clam vs angel incident? :)

[Shiang]

congrats Quoc! your tank is just beautiful.

[anothermineral]

Beautiful tank, Congrats!

[michaelaz]

Awesome tank !!!! Congrats !

[littlefish72]

Very nice! I like stories when people go from a small simple 75 to a huge elaborate tank with every bell and whistle :)

[kyle1284]

Amazing tank! I live in houston too!! could not help but think "some day" ... i would be happy to purchase some of those frags from ya... cause i can not find any monti or digtita around anywhere? :)

[GoJo]

Very impressive tank. Just when I thought I was getting somewhere in this hobby, I am reminded how far it can go.;) Did you have any issues getting the zoos to grow on the sidewalls?

[rorchilles]

hot tank

[Absolute Reef]

I've seen a lot of "stuffed" sps dominated tanks in RC every now and then. I personally do not like them that much....because they don't look so natural to me. It bugs me a lot just to look at them...there's no room to breathhhh...argh!

This one, on the other hand, well stuffed, well managed, well decorated, well done !!
Amazing aquascaping..I would say. Truely artistic + aquatic approach at its best !!!

Congrats !! I just love your tank very much :D

[eaglesrx]

Gorgeous tank!! Absolutely amazing!! Love the colors and the growth!

Any problems with your purple bullying your other tangs?

Keep up the good work!

[invincible569]

fischraze, CONGRATULATIONS!! Anytime someone asks about tanks in Houston, yours is the one I tell people to go and see. You've came a long way and am also glad you stuck around. We need to have an after party at your place to celebrate! :) :)

[fishcraze2002]

Thanks everyone for the compliments!!!
This TOTM is an important milestone for my tank... Now I can start planning on the next steps - maybe some major changes:)

[invincible569]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10488555#post10488555 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishcraze2002
Thanks everyone for the compliments!!!
This TOTM is an important milestone for my tank... Now I can start planning on the next steps - maybe some major changes:)

I already know what you're thinking!!! RIMLESS. :)

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10488533#post10488533 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by invincible569
We need to have an after party at your place to celebrate! :) :) sounds like a good idea!:)

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10488575#post10488575 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by invincible569
I already know what you're thinking!!! RIMLESS. :) haha I really want a rimless tank after I see your new tank. but to change out the current tank will be a MAJOR work:D

[invincible569]

Well if you decide to have a party, dont forget to invite me. ;) Honeslty, its so much easier with my rimless. I cant believe all the work I went through with my in wall. You could do it like me and have the tank outside of the wall and keep the sump in the garage. But anyways, we will talk about that more later. Lets enjoy your current setup. :)

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10485413#post10485413 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by E-A-G-L-E-S
How old is that orange cap.?

the cap was started from a $10, 1.5" frag from a local reefer in 2003. I still remember those details since it was one of my first few SPS frags:D

[FUA]

congrats, tank has amazing growth.

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10485773#post10485773 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by baj
Is there a link to the clam vs angel incident? :)
here you go :)
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=189538&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

I'm surprised that people still be able to find that thread after 3 or 4 years and I didn't try to bump it:)

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10487267#post10487267 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kyle1284
Amazing tank! I live in houston too!! could not help but think "some day" ... i would be happy to purchase some of those frags from ya... cause i can not find any monti or digtita around anywhere? :) just stop by when you are in Houston... i have tons of monti caps:)

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10487735#post10487735 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GoJo
Very impressive tank. Just when I thought I was getting somewhere in this hobby, I am reminded how far it can go.;) Did you have any issues getting the zoos to grow on the sidewalls?

yeah, it's harder to grow the zoo on the sidewalls since it's glass. it's easier to glue the zoo frags to the overflow box to start with. Therefore, now I try to grow the zoo to the frag magnets (aquamags) and let them spread on to the glass over time.
Another issue is the smails... When they move on the zoo mat on the glass they tend to tear the mat off!

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10488373#post10488373 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Absolute Reef
I've seen a lot of "stuffed" sps dominated tanks in RC every now and then. I personally do not like them that much....because they don't look so natural to me. It bugs me a lot just to look at them...there's no room to breathhhh...argh!

This one, on the other hand, well stuffed, well managed, well decorated, well done !!
Amazing aquascaping..I would say. Truely artistic + aquatic approach at its best !!!

Congrats !! I just love your tank very much :D
Thanks, I'm flattered w/ your compliment:)

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10488513#post10488513 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by eaglesrx
Gorgeous tank!! Absolutely amazing!! Love the colors and the growth!

Any problems with your purple bullying your other tangs?

Keep up the good work!

Only problem w/ the yellow tang which was almost beaten to death when I first added it to the tank (after the purple tang). It was pushed to stay on one upper corner and couldn't get any food for almost a week since the purple tang kept attacking it.. I was about to take the yellow tang out but then one they it fought back and slowly get along w the purple. they are together for about 2.5 years now.
I had a similar problem when i added my mystery wrasse after I already have 2 sixline wrassed in the tank. These sixline pretty much kept the mystery out of daylight for months... I had to try to target feed the mystery at a corner way on the back. Good thing is the mystery grows very fast and after 8 months it is bigger in size than both of the 6 lines and start to chase the sixline back if they mess w/ him:D

[michaelaz]

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s203/michaelaz_2007/clamkilledangel3.jpg

[michaelaz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10488700#post10488700 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishcraze2002
yeah, it's harder to grow the zoo on the sidewalls since it's glass. it's easier to glue the zoo frags to the overflow box to start with. Therefore, now I try to grow the zoo to the frag magnets (aquamags) and let them spread on to the glass over time.
Another issue is the smails... When they move on the zoo mat on the glass they tend to tear the mat off!

Which glue and how do you do it if theres water in tank ???

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10488792#post10488792 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by michaelaz
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s203/michaelaz_2007/clamkilledangel3.jpg '

LOL:lol:

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10488811#post10488811 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by michaelaz
Which glue and how do you do it if theres water in tank ???

Just superglue gel. but I normally dip the frag w/ the gel in a small cup of water to let the gel thicken up a little bit then stick to the glass. But again I found it's hard to superglue frags to glass and if a snail happens to move in that direction, your frag will sure fall of:) You can try to glue the zoo to a small rock and lay that rock next to the glass and the zoo will eventually spread ot the glass but will take longer time.

[T Man]

Very nice fishcraze ! It's always a pleasure to see such a variety of colors and growth.....congrats!!! T

[tankguy001]

This tank is sweet. What a great job

[Caleb Kruse]

Do like the look of some 14k bulbs, and then some 10k's? I'm thinking about putting 2 10k reeflux on the outsides, and then a 14k reeflux in the middle. What do you think?

[ThaNgBOm321]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10488533#post10488533 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by invincible569
fischraze, CONGRATULATIONS!! Anytime someone asks about tanks in Houston, yours is the one I tell people to go and see. You've came a long way and am also glad you stuck around. We need to have an after party at your place to celebrate! :) :)



count me in !!!!!! lmk

CONGRATS ANH QUOC!!!!

YzGyz

[Eklikewhoa]

Congrats Quoc on the job well done!


Seeing this tank in person I have to say that it is incredible!

[Ebisan]

Congrats. Beautiful tank.

[mxett]

Just amazing, a really great tank. Well done!

[bixbe]

What can I say that was not already said.:rollface:

[Deuce67]

Well deserved! Congrats on being TOTM. Skipper sure knows how to pick em!

[Wazzel]

Good job Quoc. Congrats. I have to say you tank looks much better in person.

[lavith]

Very nice looking tank indeed. Talk about coral garage sale.... couple bucks a frag huh Hoang? I am pretty close to Houston, just about 10 hour drive from Toronto no sweat...

By the way, just wanna say hi to Thằng Bòm. Có cái quạt mo không?

Thinh

[55semireef]

That is absolutely amazing!!!!

[bagedtaco]

Congrats Quoc!! I'be been trying to get by your place to see the tank forever. I'll have to give you a call in the next few days.

TroyPham

[TIMMYE]

This is an awesome tank.....and to think it is limited by heat issues durring the summer. I would love to see what it would look like if you did not have to deal with the heat.

[reef / aholic]

Tank looks awesome!!!

[ThaNgBOm321]

looks like a bunch of MARSHIANS have landed anh QUOC!!!!

YzGYz

[chingchai]

Totally deserved it!
Congrats. Quoc.
All the best.

[i2ik]

Amazing! Your tank looks great! I am having heat problem living in Montreal, Canada... can't imagine how hot it is where you are!

You have great friends surrounding you! :)

[i2ik]

Amazing! Your tank looks great! I am having heat problem living in Montreal, Canada... can't imagine how hot it is where you are!

You have great friends surrounding you! :)

[fishcraze2002]

Thanks everyone for the compliments:D :D

[Gary Majchrzak]

great aquarium and well written TOTM article. congrats! :thumbsup:

[fishcraze2002]

Here are some older threads w/ pics of my tank - hope you like them;)

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1059369&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=905861&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

[fishcraze2002]

another one:
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1130510&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

[fishcraze2002]

and check out pics i took of the Thailand LFS and scuba in Phuket there - enjoy:D

http://www.marshreef.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=12797&highlight=thailand


http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1095004&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

[vessxpress1]

Congratulations! That baby is awesome! WELL deserved indeed.

Just don't let Algore see the article or he'll be calling you tomorrow about your carbon foot print. Wait, forget that, you're leaving a carbon snow angel!! :lol: If everybody decided to have a reef tank like yours, we would need 200 Earths. Who do you think you are anyway? lol

I had to give you some grief on the power consumption. I'm sure there are much worse though. I was just amazed at how much your utility bills run. I imagine the Houston summers are brutal though. It's unbearably hot up here in NW IL today.

Just curious, have you considered running AC out to the garage?

I can't get over how awesome that room looks with the tank there. I love the ships on the wall, the paint color, everything. Very inspirational. The tank is just extraordinary. The lighting is crazy nice. Love the huge monti cap. That's so great that you were able to grow it from a 1.5" frag.
After admiring the pictures the last few days I think I'm going to go back and finally read the full article now. Great work!

[eaglesrx]

Once again amazing tank!!! I can't stop reading about it!!! haha!

Sorry for another husbandry question, but I always like to hear case reports about fish husbandry.

How many lyretails did you start with and was it in the mostly female/1 male ratio? How long did that ratio last?

Thanks! Back to reading one of your older tank threads!!

Phu

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10495768#post10495768 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by vessxpress1
Congratulations! That baby is awesome! WELL deserved indeed.

Just don't let Algore see the article or he'll be calling you tomorrow about your carbon foot print. Wait, forget that, you're leaving a carbon snow angel!! :lol: If everybody decided to have a reef tank like yours, we would need 200 Earths. Who do you think you are anyway? lol

I had to give you some grief on the power consumption. I'm sure there are much worse though. I was just amazed at how much your utility bills run. I imagine the Houston summers are brutal though. It's unbearably hot up here in NW IL today.

Just curious, have you considered running AC out to the garage?

I can't get over how awesome that room looks with the tank there. I love the ships on the wall, the paint color, everything. Very inspirational. The tank is just extraordinary. The lighting is crazy nice. Love the huge monti cap. That's so great that you were able to grow it from a 1.5" frag.
After admiring the pictures the last few days I think I'm going to go back and finally read the full article now. Great work!
you're funny about the Algore thing.. and yeah he will be upset with me if he see I fire about 1500W of lighting on a little reef tank:eek1:

and sorry for the very long article... Once I started writing it, I couldn't stop:o And yet, the original draft was almost twice as long as the final version... and I was tired of it myself so I decided to cut it back to half :D :lol:

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10495915#post10495915 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by eaglesrx
Once again amazing tank!!! I can't stop reading about it!!! haha!

Sorry for another husbandry question, but I always like to hear case reports about fish husbandry.

How many lyretails did you start with and was it in the mostly female/1 male ratio? How long did that ratio last?

Thanks! Back to reading one of your older tank threads!!

Phu

I started with a pair of lyretails from Liveaquaria. Two months later I bought 2 more females at a lfs. Then a month after the new females were added, the original female (from LA) suddenly changed to male and the change happens very quick.. just one weekend I realized the female body color had changed from bright orange to dull pink... a few week later, it becomes more bright pink and the long dorsal fin grew out distinctively. Meanwhile, the original male's dorsal fin got shorter (don't know how??) and turned to duller color. It cool to see this happen.
since then the 3 female/1 male ratio works fine so far.

[brandyrb]

So I take it you got a new emperor? Are there any clams in the frag tank? I have two clams and an emperor angel, but my angel doesn't nip at anything but LPS, gorgonias and sponges.

Nice tank!

[khoivo1]

very proud of you Quoc hoan`g,,,i am assume u are vnese,,me too here,,,anyway i am new here,,can i have some advice from you? thanks

[Criminal#58369]

Awesome tank! Would like to have one like yours one day.

[headtreads]

Hello there. Awesome tank. Good plumbing work. Definitely an A on aesthetics. Now all you need is an ozonizer and a Phytoplankton reactor. Question though. I was seeing if you sell frags and if you can sell me a frag of your bonzai. a small piece would suffice. Thanks!

[Elliott]

very nice tank, congrats!
enjoyed reading your article with the behind the scene stories, thanks

[The Shan Man]

Very nice tank... Love the pictures... Corals look very happy... Thank you for sharing your take with all of us.

[ivyvine1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10488555#post10488555 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishcraze2002
Thanks everyone for the compliments!!!
This TOTM is an important milestone for my tank... Now I can start planning on the next steps - maybe some major changes:)

Your piece of the ocean is absolutely "stunning" ...... I just can't imagine what you would change? Although, who am I to say: "Please don't change anything!! "

Beautiful Job!
Irene :)

[botan]

WoW it`s beautiful !!! :eek2:
I just wondering how are you feel when you saw your Emperator angel dead in the calm??Ouch!

[eaglesrx]

Thanks for the info!! Good to hear that about your lyretails. Always like to hear people's experiences on this issue. I hear stories about people having difficulty keeping bartlett's in the 1male/multiple female ratios b/c the females are always turning to males. So, they end up with a bunch of males and no "harem".

Still can't get over how amazing your tank is. Congrats again on TOTM!

[fishcraze2002]

Thanks for all the nice words, everybody. It's always great to hear people praising your tank:D :D

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10496289#post10496289 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by brandyrb
So I take it you got a new emperor? Are there any clams in the frag tank? I have two clams and an emperor angel, but my angel doesn't nip at anything but LPS, gorgonias and sponges.

Nice tank!

yeah I added a new juvenile emperor angel recently after keep him in the frag tank for about a month to test his taste:) so far, he only nip at the zoos once in a while - but not to the point to hurt them at all YET:)
Another reason I decided to let this angel into the main tank since he's quite agressive in swimming up close to me to get food. So I assume I can catch him w/ my trap quite easily if needed.

[Zoom]

As your Emperor angel gets older you may have problems with him eating all the zoos ,clams ,lps. My Emperor is five years old now i had to move him out off the reef tank to a FO tank two months a go , after all this years now he start to nip/eat on my sps to.
Very nice tank you have there congratulation for the TOTM.
Did you ever try to install a A/C unit in your garage? Even if you don't have a window is some units that they have the compressor remotely mounted outdoors and the cooling unit in your garage they only need to have a small hole to run the wires and small copper tubing .
Pictures of the Emperor in my gallery.
Here is some info on A/C units just so you get a idea what i'm talking about.http://www.mrslim.com/UploadedFiles/Resource/MrSlim_catalog.pdf

[meschaefer]

beautifull tank. very timely too, as i am in the middle of installing an in wall tank with the same dimensions.

Thanks for the insperation.

Matt

[normanfine]

Really nice looking tank.

Congratulations

Norman

[RobynT]

Absolutely stunning tank! I was wondering how you can have so many full sized corals so close together without major coral battles and problems. This is a question I've always wanted to ask of those that have nice mature, full reef tanks.

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10506220#post10506220 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Zoom
As your Emperor angel gets older you may have problems with him eating all the zoos ,clams ,lps. My Emperor is five years old now i had to move him out off the reef tank to a FO tank two months a go , after all this years now he start to nip/eat on my sps to.
Very nice tank you have there congratulation for the TOTM.
Did you ever try to install a A/C unit in your garage? Even if you don't have a window is some units that they have the compressor remotely mounted outdoors and the cooling unit in your garage they only need to have a small hole to run the wires and small copper tubing .
Pictures of the Emperor in my gallery.
Here is some info on A/C units just so you get a idea what i'm talking about.http://www.mrslim.com/UploadedFiles/Resource/MrSlim_catalog.pdf

Yeah I do have concern about the emperor may start nipping when it gets older. So i'll watch it closely and remove it if needed.
Thanks for the link on the AC and that seems to be the solution i'm looking for my garage:) Wonder if this type of air conditioning system is reliable? and energy efficient? I saw they mentioned in the EFFICIENCY section that the units "use less energy (than standard units) in MILDER conditions" :confused: That could mean their unit efficiency is about the same or could be worse than the standard units:) But thanks for the idea, I'll do more research into it.

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10509892#post10509892 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RobynT
Absolutely stunning tank! I was wondering how you can have so many full sized corals so close together without major coral battles and problems. This is a question I've always wanted to ask of those that have nice mature, full reef tanks.
if you put new corals into the tank and touching each other.. then they are more likely to kill each other. But if you let them grow out and touching it other eventually, they can handle the 'touching' issue better:) The more agressive species of the two may encrust a little more to the less agressive one which would learn how to either fight back to stop the encrusting or grow out faster in other branches as a way of survival. this is what I observed on my purple slimer and green slimer.
One of my green slimer colony used to grow very slow. Then the purple slimer grew out and encrusted to the green slimer. I thought the green slimer would be a goner in a month or two. But then the green slimer started to burst out in grow in all direction!:eek2:

here is the pic of the purple encrustinng the green:
http://mphan.com/~quoc/photodata//Fish%20Tank%20-%20220%20gal/TOTM/Closeup%20Pics/640/Purple%20slimer%20and%20green%20slimer%20touching%20Feb%2007.JPG

green slimer in Feb 07 (the smaller colony on the right )
http://mphan.com/~quoc/photodata//Fish%20Tank%20-%20220%20gal/Feb%202007/640/DSC05482.JPG

Green slimer in June 07: a closeup on the far right tips - all of which started to grow out in just the last couple months..
http://mphan.com/~quoc/photodata//Fish%20Tank%20-%20220%20gal/June%202007/640/IMG_2804.JPG

[GTriever]

Awesome! Know what you mean about the heat (100 now in Kentucky with heat indices expected from 105 - 110) and my tank is installed the same as yours, into a garage as well. Question... you think maybe air conditioning that garage might do better than adding a chiller?

[Shaun120]

Love the natural look of your reef! In maybe 5yrs or so my 225 will look half as good ;)

Congrats!

[Zoom]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10512231#post10512231 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishcraze2002
Yeah I do have concern about the emperor may start nipping when it gets older. So i'll watch it closely and remove it if needed.
Thanks for the link on the AC and that seems to be the solution i'm looking for my garage:) Wonder if this type of air conditioning system is reliable? and energy efficient? I saw they mentioned in the EFFICIENCY section that the units "use less energy (than standard units) in MILDER conditions" :confused: That could mean their unit efficiency is about the same or could be worse than the standard units:) But thanks for the idea, I'll do more research into it.
This A/C / Heater units are use world wide they been use in Europe for many decades . I know about this units from my parents, they had two A/C/ heater unit in Greece where the temperature is always above 100F in the summer they had this two unit for many years with no problems .

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10517715#post10517715 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Zoom
This A/C / Heater units are use world wide they been use in Europe for many decades . I know about this units from my parents, they had two A/C/ heater unit in Greece where the temperature is always above 100F in the summer they had this two unit for many years with no problems .
That's good info! Thanks!

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10513944#post10513944 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Shaun120
Love the natural look of your reef! In maybe 5yrs or so my 225 will look half as good ;)

Congrats!
Thanks. You will be surprised how fast your reeff will grow after it matures.. I don't think you have to wait that long:)

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10513424#post10513424 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GTriever
Awesome! Know what you mean about the heat (100 now in Kentucky with heat indices expected from 105 - 110) and my tank is installed the same as yours, into a garage as well. Question... you think maybe air conditioning that garage might do better than adding a chiller?

So do you have air conditioning in your garage? or use a chiller like mine?
I'm not sure if air condiitioning the garage will be more efficient than a chiller.. Mine is a 3 car garage so it may take a lot BTU to cool that big garage while the chiller only have to remove the heat from your tank only..

[cbui2]

Congrats on TOTM. your mature display is definitely awesome and very clean. what would you say was the hardest part from the beginning of your build? all i can say is wow again

[KEEPERZ]

Fishcraze- great looking tank-congrats man!! I live in Las Vegas,NV so I can understand heat, but I was able to seal off the third car garage and add a split system a/c unit which has worked out great even in 118 degree weather. I use no chiller and still hold 1000g's to 77-80 degrees-here's my tank thread for more info,might help-
Tank thread-scroll down (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=774955&perpage=25&pagenumber=7)

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10520935#post10520935 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cbui2
Congrats on TOTM. your mature display is definitely awesome and very clean. what would you say was the hardest part from the beginning of your build? all i can say is wow again Thanks for the compliment. Did you mean about the construction of the tank system?
I had a local tank builder to build the stand, canopy, driliing the hole as well as all of the acrylic equipment. He also helped me to move The heavy part (in term of labor) is probably the plumbing since I did most of that myself, including the closeloop. However, the hardest part to me is organizing the wiring from all the equipment - it was messy and is still a mess today:D

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10526274#post10526274 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by KEEPERZ
Fishcraze- great looking tank-congrats man!! I live in Las Vegas,NV so I can understand heat, but I was able to seal off the third car garage and add a split system a/c unit which has worked out great even in 118 degree weather. I use no chiller and still hold 1000g's to 77-80 degrees-here's my tank thread for more info,might help-
Tank thread-scroll down (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=774955&perpage=25&pagenumber=7)

Thanks for info about the split chiller. Zoom has mentioned it to me in an earlier thread. Now seeing you are also using it makes me think harder about getting one for my system. The only issue is that I can split the garage like you. If I'm going to get a split chiller, i'll need one that can keep the whole 3 car garage cool. What size that you think I'd need for this?
I read your tank thread - you have a MONSTER tank there:) love the way you organize your fish room too.

[KEEPERZ]

Well-it may be tough to cool the whole garage with efficiency in mind. Sealing off the third car allows the rest of the garage to still be used to park in and unless you insulate+seal off the garage door,your A/C will run more then you'll want it too due to cool air leakage.You would need a larger unit to do the whole garage instead of just a sealed off fish room,remember larger unit=more power=more $$

[BigMOCats]

FINTASTIC TANK!! One of the best I've seen! Love the whole room!!!

[cbui2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10528592#post10528592 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishcraze2002
Thanks for the compliment. Did you mean about the construction of the tank system?
I had a local tank builder to build the stand, canopy, driliing the hole as well as all of the acrylic equipment. He also helped me to move The heavy part (in term of labor) is probably the plumbing since I did most of that myself, including the closeloop. However, the hardest part to me is organizing the wiring from all the equipment - it was messy and is still a mess today:D

thanks, it doesnt matter how messy wires is ran, plumbing and etc. the main dispaly is what counts and you made it on TOTM which states itself. congrats again

[Kkubiak]

I am extremely impressed with the growth in your corals. I am from just outside of houston in a small town and i was wondering which fish stores you use to help you along the way. i am in the process of putting a 380 gallon tank together and wanted a little insight as to some trustworthy shops. Thanks for the help and congratulations once again.

[jfish298]

congrats on a beautiful tank

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10531970#post10531970 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kkubiak
I am extremely impressed with the growth in your corals. I am from just outside of houston in a small town and i was wondering which fish stores you use to help you along the way. i am in the process of putting a 380 gallon tank together and wanted a little insight as to some trustworthy shops. Thanks for the help and congratulations once again.

Honestly, I learned most of my reefkeeping skills from RC and marshreef.com (Houston online club) and some local experienced reefkeepers. I normally would go to these online forums or clubs to ask my peers about how to keep certain species of corals or fishes rather than trusting the sale pitches from the lfs salemen :) However, several LFS in Houston nowadays have stepped up in the past couple years and been quite helpful. Some my favorite LFS for livestocks are CityPets, T&T Fish and Reptile and Fishland.

[fishcraze2002]

BigMOCats, cbui2, Kkubiak, jfish298 - thanks for the compliments!

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10528695#post10528695 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by KEEPERZ
Well-it may be tough to cool the whole garage with efficiency in mind. Sealing off the third car allows the rest of the garage to still be used to park in and unless you insulate+seal off the garage door,your A/C will run more then you'll want it too due to cool air leakage.You would need a larger unit to do the whole garage instead of just a sealed off fish room,remember larger unit=more power=more $$

Thanks for the good advice!

[fishcraze2002]

I forgot to mention in my article that my Blue Carpet is one of my favorites :)

This's the pic when I first got it in Jul 04:
http://mphan.com/~quoc/photodata//Fish%20Tank%20-%20220%20gal/Growth%20Pics/640/blue%20carpet%20Jul%2004.JPG

April 2005 (also notice how tiny the birdnest frag I got from Upscale back then:)
http://mphan.com/~quoc/photo//Fish%20Tank%20-%20220%20gal/Growth%20Pics/Birdnest%202%20Aprl%2005.jpg

in 2007
http://mphan.com/~quoc/photodata//Fish%20Tank%20-%20220%20gal/TOTM/Fishes/640/carpet.jpg

http://mphan.com/~quoc/photodata//Fish%20Tank%20-%20220%20gal/TOTM/Closeup%20Pics/640/carpet%20anemone.jpg

[Zoom]

Do you need a DSB for the Blue Carpet ? it looks like it is anchored under some Live rock . I lost my five years old RBTA after it spawned and kill my tank it was 23" round it never split ,here is a picture .
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/12510Full_tank_shot_10-19-04-1__Large_-med.jpg

[fishcraze2002]

Wow, that's the biggest RBTA I've ever seen! Sorry to hear about the loss. I currently have one myself and it is growing fast. It has never splitted either:(

There is a DSB below the Blue carpet base. It does also try to anchore below the rocks in that corner.

[Zoom]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10539387#post10539387 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishcraze2002
Wow, that's the biggest RBTA I've ever seen! Sorry to hear about the loss. I currently have one myself and it is growing fast. It has never splitted either:(

There is a DSB below the Blue carpet base. It does also try to anchore below the rocks in that corner.
It was very small when i first got it, it was 100% wild RBTA none splitter .
Ye i lost everything when it spawn in the tank.
You can look at the pictures of the tank in my gallery when the RBTA spawn.

[jnarowe]

belated congrats! :) LOVE your coral collection, frag tank too. Sweet corals. I also enjoyed your commentary on various issues you have faced.

I am wondering why more of you Southern reef keepers don't use ground loops to cool your tanks. Seems like it would save a LOT of money and require a lot less maintainance than all the fans, chillers, etc.

Also, I have a husbandry question: Do you find with your experience, that the zoanthids and palys will grow on the tank bottom itself? I am seriously considering going BB and trying to get a multi-colored wall-to-wall carpet going. Any thoughts on this?

[clsanchez77]

Two ideas come to mind...

1. I second the A/C in the garage. No it wont be the most efficient setup as garages are not insulated well, just look at the garage door. But if you can maintain and ambiet temperature just 5-10 degrees less than outside, that will make a significant difference for your aquarium. That is it will be a lot easier to maintain 80F in the tank if the ambient temp is 90F as oppose to 100F.

2. I have seen where some people have installed tank chillers outside. You may have to replace your chiller with one that will operate outdoors our buy a small shed with ventillation to place it in. This would address with venting your garage however.

3. I know I said two but what the hell. I would highly recommend a second chiller to operate in tandem. Yes it is extra money on initial investment and yes it will double the operating cost but it should reduce the operating time by almost half. Some may argue that it will drop the temp too fast (and that could easily be resolved with an Aqua Controller programmable type controller using a Max statement) and that may be true but it will also maintaint the temp better and minimize the temp movement. When I read that your are looking at near 100% cycle on the chiller, I paniced for you because you should too. I do not believe that the aquarium chillers are intended for that sort of duty cycle and also, if that chiller fails, your tank is toasted.

Anyway, I am inspired by your tank and if I ever have to evacuate to Houston, I hope to be able to come by and see it. Any one of my ideas should be very helpful...all three of them may be expensive but will give you a much more reliable, robust and redundant system.

Just some estimated pricing...
1.5 ton split A/C unit: $2,500
Second 3/4hp chiller: $350
Extra pump: $90
Rubbermaid low profile shed: $150
Electrical work: $350
Plumbing: $150
All of this can be DIY installed

Chris Sanchez
New Orleans

[jnarowe]

Chris, won't placing the chiller outside in the high ambient temp. make it work much harder to get the same results?

[KEEPERZ]

The best part of having A/C in the fishroom when it is 117 degrees outside, is when you have to actually work on the tank-fixing leaks or scraping the tank would stink in a sweltering hot garage.Fishcraze-do you dose aminos,iodine or anything in your tank?

[jnarowe]

I just get into my swim trunks and pretend I am in North Carolina...Just got to be careful about standing in water and screwing with electrical. :)

[Scissorhand]

Congratulations anh Quoc.

Beautiful tank my man.

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10539448#post10539448 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Zoom
It was very small when i first got it, it was 100% wild RBTA none splitter .
Ye i lost everything when it spawn in the tank.
You can look at the pictures of the tank in my gallery when the RBTA spawn.

wow I saw it. That's crazy! never thought the RBTA could spawn like that. Did you fishes go crazy for the sperms? and did you get a bunch of little anemone as a result of that? I notice some thing spawns in my tank periodically since once in a while I saw all the fishes, especially the anthias, went crazy for something in the water. I suspected my RBTA did it since it usually happened close by to that anemone.

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10539548#post10539548 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
belated congrats! :) LOVE your coral collection, frag tank too. Sweet corals. I also enjoyed your commentary on various issues you have faced.

I am wondering why more of you Southern reef keepers don't use ground loops to cool your tanks. Seems like it would save a LOT of money and require a lot less maintainance than all the fans, chillers, etc.

Also, I have a husbandry question: Do you find with your experience, that the zoanthids and palys will grow on the tank bottom itself? I am seriously considering going BB and trying to get a multi-colored wall-to-wall carpet going. Any thoughts on this?
Glad you like the tank. I read some threads about the ground loops before but it seems to be too much work (like have to dig deep, etc..) and lots of initial costs to do that too. And not very appealing to dig a hole in a new house/garage - espically to my family members:)
I have lots of zoo and palys on my sandbed and they spread well on the sandbed. I also see zoos growing well on my friends bare bottom tank. One advice for you, some zoo (esp. the palys) are more aggressive and grow faster than others and could take over the weaker species. So makesure to give them some space in between or keep the slower/weaker species in one group and the others in another group.

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10541681#post10541681 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by clsanchez77
Two ideas come to mind...

1. I second the A/C in the garage. No it wont be the most efficient setup as garages are not insulated well, just look at the garage door. But if you can maintain and ambiet temperature just 5-10 degrees less than outside, that will make a significant difference for your aquarium. That is it will be a lot easier to maintain 80F in the tank if the ambient temp is 90F as oppose to 100F.

2. I have seen where some people have installed tank chillers outside. You may have to replace your chiller with one that will operate outdoors our buy a small shed with ventillation to place it in. This would address with venting your garage however.

3. I know I said two but what the hell. I would highly recommend a second chiller to operate in tandem. Yes it is extra money on initial investment and yes it will double the operating cost but it should reduce the operating time by almost half. Some may argue that it will drop the temp too fast (and that could easily be resolved with an Aqua Controller programmable type controller using a Max statement) and that may be true but it will also maintaint the temp better and minimize the temp movement. When I read that your are looking at near 100% cycle on the chiller, I paniced for you because you should too. I do not believe that the aquarium chillers are intended for that sort of duty cycle and also, if that chiller fails, your tank is toasted.

Anyway, I am inspired by your tank and if I ever have to evacuate to Houston, I hope to be able to come by and see it. Any one of my ideas should be very helpful...all three of them may be expensive but will give you a much more reliable, robust and redundant system.

Just some estimated pricing...
1.5 ton split A/C unit: $2,500
Second 3/4hp chiller: $350
Extra pump: $90
Rubbermaid low profile shed: $150
Electrical work: $350
Plumbing: $150
All of this can be DIY installed

Chris Sanchez
New Orleans

Chris, Thanks for the helpful and detail inputs. I'm thinking hard about the AC option now after I saw that system on KEEPERZ's tank. Also like the idea about the 2nd or tandem chiller. I have a backup chiller but not hook up. Maybe I could hook it up and set it to kick on at 1 degree higher than the existing setpoint - just in case the main chiller fails. Moving the chiller outside is not easy or possible for my case since that means I have to run a very long line across my 3 car garage. The garage itself may be ~20-30 ft wide,and I would have to run it around the corners to the other side,making the total pipe length to go up to 40-50ft.. Running a pump just for that long distance would not be economical.
And yeah stop by when you are in Houston.. but I hope the reason you are in Houston not due to evacuation from a hurrican like Katrina :D

[jnarowe]

Thanks for the tips. Do you know of a good resource that would define the weaker/stronger species?

As far as the ground loop goes, It really doesn't matter how much work it takes if you can operate your system without a chiller. Seems like a lot of work but renting a mini-digger at HD wouldn't be such a big deal. I know it's work to set up, but imagine how much simpler and easier it would be to run and maintain. Nothing to break down. Just cleaning out the heat exchanger once per year would probably be it, and a heat exchanger can't be damage by electrical spikes etc.

No lecture from me of course, I just am a big fan of the idea and left room on my manifold to add a ground loop if needed. Currently I can run my system with just evap cooling, but sometime in the future that may not be the case.

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10545906#post10545906 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by KEEPERZ
The best part of having A/C in the fishroom when it is 117 degrees outside, is when you have to actually work on the tank-fixing leaks or scraping the tank would stink in a sweltering hot garage.Fishcraze-do you dose aminos,iodine or anything in your tank?

I absolutely agree w/ you about the advantage of a cool garage in the summer. I hate to walk out to my garage in the evening for just 5 mins to feed my fishes since my shirt and body will be stink as hell eventho I just stay in the garge for just 5 mins!:D

No I have never dosed aminos in my tank. A friend of mine tried it in the past and said he had bad results w/ it so I stayed away from that. I don't dose iodine either. As I mentioned in the article, my tank supplement comes from weekly water changes. recently i had issue w/ low Magnesium in thetank and tried to use Kent Mg to bring it up. I do dose kalkwasser to keep the pH >8.0.

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10547694#post10547694 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
Thanks for the tips. Do you know of a good resource that would define the weaker/stronger species?

I don't know of such source. Just learn it from experience - the hard way:) - some of the nicer slower growth zoos on my overflow boxes were taken over by the pink palys that are also on the boxes. I also saw my solid bright orange zoo overwhelmed by the bright green zoo on the same rocks... I guess you may have just grow them out first, and re-locate them once they start touching/ killing each other:)

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10546151#post10546151 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
I just get into my swim trunks and pretend I am in North Carolina...Just got to be careful about standing in water and screwing with electrical. :)

Just saw your 1000 gal tank on your webpage. Very nice. so that how you do cleaning on your tank huh - diving in your own tank:) It sounds very cool to me but not sure if I want to do that every week:D And yeah it's a scary thought about diving in an enclosed water space w/ electrical sources:eek2: At least I saw you use Vortech powerheads only - so less source for electrical failures:)

I wonder how those with large reef tanks (like yours and KEEPERZ's) can maintain such large system. I feel like I have too much work on my 220gal tank already and can't imagine how much time you guys spend on the tank?:D Also have you ever calculated the monthly costs for the tank (like electricity, additives, water changes, etc...) for such a humongous tank?

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10546962#post10546962 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Scissorhand
Congratulations anh Quoc.

Beautiful tank my man.

Thanks. I notice your location as 'pho 54'. I passed by that store when I was in OC earlier this year and wanted to try it out. How is the 'pho' there? is it as good as pho 79 (which i think verygood:)

[jnarowe]

It does take time but when you build a larger system, you build in conveniences. Like I never deal with buckets of water because I have a water change system.

Keeping the display clean is about the worst of it. I have to lay a large plank on top of the tank to get access to the viewing pane. I lay on the plank and scrape the glass clean.

As far as monthly costs, I really haven't figured it out. I am guessing with electrical, salt etc. about $200/month, plus incidentals, livestock etc. I would guess total spent per month including all aspects to be between $300 - $400. But that is just a guess.

[cbui2]

Jonathan please do not leave any details out :D ? don't forget to tell them about your snorkel gear before fallen into the ocean :lol: .

[Zoom]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10547458#post10547458 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishcraze2002
wow I saw it. That's crazy! never thought the RBTA could spawn like that. Did you fishes go crazy for the sperms? and did you get a bunch of little anemone as a result of that? I notice some thing spawns in my tank periodically since once in a while I saw all the fishes, especially the anthias, went crazy for something in the water. I suspected my RBTA did it since it usually happened close by to that anemone.
No baby anemones at all the milk from the anemone spawming kill the skimmer. When i got home from work the whole tank was a disaster i did 400 gallons of water changes in two days but i lost all my sps anemone from Oxygen depletion most of the fish/LPS made it after that incident the tank when down hill after that , i still can't get any sps to grow/live for more than a month i thing what ever the anemone release in the tank got in the LR .
I start the tank over but so far no luck . :(

[skeeter-doc]

Quoc, do you sell frags locally? If so, can you PM me with pricing and availablility you have?

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10549252#post10549252 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Zoom
No baby anemones at all the milk from the anemone spawming kill the skimmer. When i got home from work the whole tank was a disaster i did 400 gallons of water changes in two days but i lost all my sps anemone from Oxygen depletion most of the fish/LPS made it after that incident the tank when down hill after that , i still can't get any sps to grow/live for more than a month i thing what ever the anemone release in the tank got in the LR .
I start the tank over but so far no luck . :(

that's scary.. I hope yours was a very rare situation and that my RBTA would never spawn ( it's growing fast lately).

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10549901#post10549901 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by skeeter-doc
Quoc, do you sell frags locally? If so, can you PM me with pricing and availablility you have?
I do sell frags locally and usu post the frags for sale in the Marshreef sale/buy forum.. I have quite a bit of frags in my frags tank right now but the more sensitive/high end frags are not doing very well in the frag tank since the temp in that tank in the past couple weeks has been ~84-86F (just found out this after I installed a temp sensor on the frag tank and recorded to my Aquacontroller unit). I was shocked to see that temp; I thought it was ~82-83F as in my main tank since it was connected to my main system. But that explained why somee of the frags looked stressed lately.

[Scissorhand]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10547864#post10547864 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishcraze2002
Thanks. I notice your location as 'pho 54'. I passed by that store when I was in OC earlier this year and wanted to try it out. How is the 'pho' there? is it as good as pho 79 (which i think verygood:)

Depends which kind of Pho you like to try.

The best pho (according to my friends with more discerning taste) is Pho 54 on (Brookhurst/Hazard) for Beef. Pho Nguyen Hue (Bolsa/Ward) for chicken. I just eat whatever's available.

Sorry for getting OT. Back to your beautiful tank Quoc. Congrats. Perhaps someday I could come check out your tank if I ever happen to be in the area.

[skeeter-doc]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10555550#post10555550 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishcraze2002
that's scary.. I hope yours was a very rare situation and that my RBTA would never spawn ( it's growing fast lately).

maybe take a razor to it and slice it in two since it is doing so well, ...

[TheReefer84]

very nice tank

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10557661#post10557661 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by skeeter-doc
maybe take a razor to it and slice it in two since it is doing so well, ...
i'm sure that will make it split just fine.. but it may be upset and starts moving around- which is the last thing i would do to this RBTA since it has stayed on the same location I first put it in my tank 3 yrs ago!

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10562860#post10562860 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TheReefer84
very nice tank
Thanks:)

[Zoom]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10563052#post10563052 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishcraze2002
i'm sure that will make it split just fine.. but it may be upset and starts moving around- which is the last thing i would do to this RBTA since it has stayed on the same location I first put it in my tank 3 yrs ago!
How big is that RBTA ?

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10563124#post10563124 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Zoom
How big is that RBTA ?
it's around 7-8" when fully expanded.

[dbui]

Hi Hoang,

Congrat! on your TOTM! I have some questions which you had mention about on your forums.
mysterious RTNs, crazy algae blooms, stubbornly browned-out SPS, if you have any solution to these problem can you send it to me dungbui1@yahoo.com. I think I have these problem in my tank specially the crazy red algae blooms and Stubbornly browned-out.

Thanks

[theROYSKIE]

wow, that is a kick *** setup, congrats!
i was wondering, what is the concoction of different foods you use to feed your diverse population of coral?

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10566788#post10566788 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dbui
Hi Hoang,

Congrat! on your TOTM! I have some questions which you had mention about on your forums.
mysterious RTNs, crazy algae blooms, stubbornly browned-out SPS, if you have any solution to these problem can you send it to me dungbui1@yahoo.com. I think I have these problem in my tank specially the crazy red algae blooms and Stubbornly browned-out.

Thanks

dbui,
honestly, when facing with those problems, I often tried a bunches of things to try to resolve them... And many times i don't have the patient to try one 'solution' at a time; so when the problems were fixed I wasn't really sure which one fixed it.. could be one of the changes, or a combination of them, or just lucky, or sometimes the problems just disappear themselves that I had no clue why:D
However, I'll try to give you some of my 2cents on some potential 'solution' or causes of those problems:
1/ Red algea blooms: may be due to high nutrient or feeding in your tank. However I once time had a wierd red algea from the Bali culture that would grow like crazy even when i cut way back on feeding and do lot of water changes.. In this case, I found the best solution is to find the right grazers for that algea. The best grazers are the tangs.
- In my experience, purple tang and yellow tang are good for those red algea, turf green algea, brown algea...
- Naso tang: is excellent for a weird type of algea that no other tangs would eat like dictyota and another type of brown algea that grow like waffles that i don't rememeber the name.
- sailfin tang is good for hair algea.
- and Mexican turbo snails are good the most of the above algea!

So you may want to try a combination of these grazers to keep your algea in check (and you may have to do trial and error to find out the right grazer for specific algea)

2/ Stuborn brown SPS: as the name said - this a really stuborn problem:D However, I found that when the tank is still new (less than 1 year), the biological system of the tank is not stable so it's hard to get the more delicate sps to color up. But once your tank mature and the tank parameters are stable, most of the SPS will color up. There willl be some really stuborn ones that may never color up in your tank :(.. In this case, the solution may be just get rid of it:D
IMO, first requirement for SPS tank is nitrate level to be zero (non detectable) and low phosphate. (When you tank is mature, these two parameters are pretty much taken care of - not much effort needed to keep them in check)
Next is to make sure the other tank parameters (mainly dKH, Calc and Mg) stable by regular dosing (manually or by calc rxtr, kalk rxtr).
Then, frequent water change (preferred weekly) is another helpful practice to export the extra nutrient and replenish the trace elements for the tank.

Again, these are just suggestions based on my experience. you will find lots of different methods from other people that will also work. Hope this help
:)

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10569294#post10569294 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by theROYSKIE
wow, that is a kick *** setup, congrats!
i was wondering, what is the concoction of different foods you use to feed your diverse population of coral?

Currently, I feed the fishes frozen mysis and dry flakes everday and I guess the corals also get some of those food.

Every other day I add (to the fish food above) some special food for the corals: either cyclopeze, or golden pearl or oyster eggs. I noticed that corals seem to repond most to the oystereggs since i see most of the coral in the tank will have crazy polyp extension when i feed oyster eggs.

[dbui]

Thank for your info Hoang it will be great help! Awsome tank!

[patej]

wow,,, hope one day mines looks as good

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10572929#post10572929 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by patej
wow,,, hope one day mines looks as good
it will.. just need a little time and patient - believe me:)

[perc]

wow. now that is a true masterpiece.

[kev apsley]

Beautiful tank! awesome Mystery Wrasse!

[McLovin]

Congrat! on your TOTM!

[fishcraze2002]

perc, kev apsley, McLovin - thanks for the nice words.

Kev apsley, the mystery wrasse is my favorite wrasse now. It was small when I got it 9-10 months ago and the color was just a little pink. However, when it gets bigger, the pink color has brighten up and the marks on its head become more vivid - love that fish!

[kev apsley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10578762#post10578762 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishcraze2002
perc, kev apsley, McLovin - thanks for the nice words.

Kev apsley, the mystery wrasse is my favorite wrasse now. It was small when I got it 9-10 months ago and the color was just a little pink. However, when it gets bigger, the pink color has brighten up and the marks on its head become more vivid - love that fish!

Awesome! I'm getting one next week...what is yours eating? Have you seen him eat any flatworms?

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10579876#post10579876 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kev apsley
Awesome! I'm getting one next week...what is yours eating? Have you seen him eat any flatworms?
He'll eat anything - meat, dry food.. if i have flatworms he may not get a chance to eat them since i have 2 sixline wrasses and a yellow wrasse that are very active:)

[fishcraze2002]

I got a little scare this morning... I just woke up and looked at my tank parameter trends on the AquaNote that's always on on my desktop. and the main tank pH show 7.43!! Then I saw a bunches of email alarms (from AquaNotes) showing pH 7.2- 7.6! But the pH trend on the frag tank (which is connected to my maintank) looked normal ~ 8.1.. So I ran downstair to check out the tank and everything looks normal. The pH readout for the main tk on the AquaController ProIII showed 8.15 (same as on the frag tk). So I went back up to check the readout on the AquaNotes again, and it showed 8.15, and the pH trend on the graph never showed the dips to below 8.0:confused: I thought may be it was because I was still asleep when I looked at it earlier.. But I checked the email alarms (5 of them!) and they was sent to me around that time.. and I just got another email alarms 10 mins ago! If I didn't get the email alarms as proof, Id had thought there was a ghost in my room:D
I'm going to post this question in the Neptune forum to findout what's going on.. maybe the pH probe is bad and need replacement. but I bought this brandnew 9 months ago (normally they would run well at least 15 months or 2 yrs..)

[kev apsley]

maybe time to recalibrate that probe??

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10581502#post10581502 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kev apsley
maybe time to recalibrate that probe??

i actually replaced it with a new one and it works ok now.. still have some issues w/ the AC3P that i'll need to contact Curt for help.

[ExoticReefer99]

To solve the temp and bug problem you could build a small sheetrock
room around the tank with enough access for you to walk around.
Then put an window unit a/c on the small sheetrocked in room. Just a thought if you have enough room. I live in Houston too and know about the temp problems even on a tank with pc's indoors with a closed top.


BTW.... sick tank and congrats

[jtesdall]

I dream to one day have a tank as beautiful as yours! WOW! Congratulations!

You mention a nitrate reactor. I know you said you don't need it anymore, but what kind is it and did it work well when you did need it?

[NanoCube-boy]

The tank is outstandly clean look inside the house. Con graduation being TOTM. Your name sounds like Vietnamese, are you?

Anyways I have some question, it's probably some noob questions, but hey, at least I ask.
What is a close loop?
What do you mean by RTN?
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-08/totm/images/tn_fragtkandbackofmaintank_jpg.jpg
Why did you need to tide the frag tank down?
How do you trim the zoanthids on your tank wall?

I heard you on temp. control. I experience the same thing on my nano, my two fan blew off, but my tank never been running on a heater, they tank constantly at 84s-86s degree.

[Oldude]

Congratulations, that is a sweet reef! Looks great, very nicely done.

[josephatmbibank]

That is an impressive tank and glad a fellow vietname reef addict doing it big!

-Joseph Le

[fishcraze2002]

Thanks for all the nice compliments guys. Glad you like my tank:)

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10619258#post10619258 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ExoticReefer99
To solve the temp and bug problem you could build a small sheetrock
room around the tank with enough access for you to walk around.
Then put an window unit a/c on the small sheetrocked in room. Just a thought if you have enough room. I live in Houston too and know about the temp problems even on a tank with pc's indoors with a closed top.


BTW.... sick tank and congrats

I would have done that if there is enough room around the tank to do that. however, there are only ~2" clearance b/t my garage door and top of my hood (which is not very high either). thanks for the idea though.

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10619838#post10619838 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jtesdall
I dream to one day have a tank as beautiful as yours! WOW! Congratulations!

You mention a nitrate reactor. I know you said you don't need it anymore, but what kind is it and did it work well when you did need it?

The nitrate reactor has a very long 1/5" tube that was rolled into a coil inside the 4" reactor chamber. The long tube helps prevent air to get into it and providing the anaerobic conditions for the nitrate eating bacteria..
It works well. At the early stages of my tank, i have mearsurable nitrate content in the tank water (~1-5ppm), but the outlet from nitrate reactor would have 0ppm nitrate. Nowadays, my tank is mature so both outlet and inlet have 0 ppm NO3.

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10630134#post10630134 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NanoCube-boy
The tank is outstandly clean look inside the house. Con graduation being TOTM. Your name sounds like Vietnamese, are you?

Anyways I have some question, it's probably some noob questions, but hey, at least I ask.
What is a close loop?
What do you mean by RTN?
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-08/totm/images/tn_fragtkandbackofmaintank_jpg.jpg
Why did you need to tide the frag tank down?
How do you trim the zoanthids on your tank wall?

I heard you on temp. control. I experience the same thing on my nano, my two fan blew off, but my tank never been running on a heater, they tank constantly at 84s-86s degree.

Answers to your questions:
1/ A close loop: Not sure how to decribe it clearly:) generally, water from the main display tank flows through a outlet nozzle to the pump (call the closeloop pump) and pump right back to the main tank. So the differential pressure head between the outlet and inlet of your pump is essentially the height difference (or static head) between those two nozzles in your main tank. So the static head is very low (normally less than 2 ft) or even zero if the outlet and inlet nozzles are at the same height) for the closeloop system; hence you get more flow out of the pump.
In contrast, the sump return pump system can be considered as an 'open' loop system since you pump from one reservoir(the sump) to another reservoir (the main display tank). The static head in this case is the diff b/t the sump level and the display tk level - which normally > 4ft; so you get less flow out of the same pump. You can do a search on this forum for 'closeloop' you may find a lot of thread and pics of the closeloop system:)

2/ RTN = rapid tissue necrosis. = quick dead (or loosing meat) of SPS corals:) It's a disease - I think:)

3/ There used to be a center brace for that thin wall frag tank but the center brace broke when i got the tank. So this acrylic tank does not have any brace at all (or rimless), and it was a little bulged out. So I have to tie it up w/ that rachet:) (sp?)

4/ To trim the zoanthis on the tank wall => just use a razor blade to scrape it off. Or you can buy the blueline rabbit fish like the one I got and it'll eat all those zoos up :D

[animaldoc1]

Quoc, beautiful tank, and I can not think of a more deserving tank for TOTM. Keep up the good work.

Jen

[FroMan]

Very nice tank. The monti growth upfront is very impressive.


Hypothetical question..... (and I realize that it is vague)

If you had a blank slate to start over, how would you change your setup to improve an aspect or to correct an issue that you have??

[fishcraze2002]

Thanks Jen and Froman for the compliments.

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10659972#post10659972 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by FroMan
Very nice tank. The monti growth upfront is very impressive.


Hypothetical question..... (and I realize that it is vague)

If you had a blank slate to start over, how would you change your setup to improve an aspect or to correct an issue that you have??

Something I would like to change if I start over:

- I would build an enclosing room around the tank in the garage with a window unit if possible so that I can keep my tank temperature stable all year round. Or I can setup the tank like a friend (Invincible) did: install the main tank inside the house and keep most equipment (chiller, pumps...) and the sump in the garage. The tank would be a rimless with starfire glasses as Invincible's since these tanks are just awesome by themselves already!

- I may change my aquascape a little bit to create some low flow region so I can keep certain LPS like blasto, ricordia, etc.. that don't like high flow.

- I'd incorporate more T5 lighting and keep MH at the minimum (maybe just for shimmer effect only).

Otherr thhan those, I'm sastified w/ my current setup:D

[gimmito]

Quoc, Beautiful tank...I love the various anthias you keep. How did you choose them ? How long did you quarantine them ? In what order did you introduce them ? Have you had any fighting ? What is your feeding schedule for them ? Jim

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10665582#post10665582 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gimmito
Quoc, Beautiful tank...I love the various anthias you keep. How did you choose them ? How long did you quarantine them ? In what order did you introduce them ? Have you had any fighting ? What is your feeding schedule for them ? Jim
sorry for this late response:) Two of them (a pair) were ordered from L.A so I didn't get to choose them. The others I got from LFS and picked them based on their appearance only (bright color, no scratch, itches...).
I didn't quarantine them either, just acclimate before putting in the tank. The ones I have are pretty hardy anthias. I bought them at different times as i saw them at LFS or online. No major fighting at all.
Feeding is everyday with frozen brine shrimps/ mysis.. now they also eat dried food!

[DaMonkey]

Beautiful tank - great work! Tank looks amazing.

[fishcraze2002]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10804333#post10804333 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DaMonkey
Beautiful tank - great work! Tank looks amazing.
Thanks for the nice words:D