Naka's 180 Starphire tank!!!

[JeffReef]

Naka,
Great looking tank you got there! This is the best starphire tank I've seen so far.

-Jeff

[qwuintus]

What did you do to secure the lighting to the roof? I plan to screw in some anchors with a eye at the end and hand some chains.

[corwando]

Naka/James,

So I've tried to contact the person from the company who built your tank, but no reply. Any thoughts or suggestions for contacting them? I guess I could call... I love your tank! With some slight changes and a bit less volume (I want a 120) that's the tank I want to upgrade to!

[DaveWC]

Originally posted by qwuintus
What did you do to secure the lighting to the roof? I plan to screw in some anchors with a eye at the end and hand some chains.

I secured mine with simple ring hooks into the joists above the ceiling tiles. The Sfiligoi lights come with aircraft cable, connectors for the hooks & the light and the round caps you see at the ceiling level to hide the join to the roof. It's a really easy kit to use too. You sit the light on the tank, or on some 2x4s, run the wire through the connector at celing hook and drop it down to the fixture. It slides through the connector on the light and you can push the pin on the connector to raise the light and it will stay at that position. So you move around the light raising each wire until it's at the desired height. I ran my wires through a pinhole in the ceiling tile & replaced the tile. Very easy to use and easy to adjust the height at a later date (like when you're putting big pieces of rock into your tank). I've had these lights running for a week now & love them. btw, James' tank looks awesome!

[naka]

Thanks everyone for your kind words. Garibaldi damesel is out now b/c he started to pick at my clam. I took him back to LFS.

Livestock so far:

Yellow, Tomini, and Purple Tang
Liopropoma swalesi and rubre
Royal Gramma
Sixline wrasse
Neon goby
Pipe fish
C. Joculator
Regal Angel
Blue Chromis x 6
A. Percula pair
Pepermint Hog
Watchman goby x 2
Madarin Goby

[naka]

Thanks Dave, I couldn't have explained it any better. I've been following your tank also. Edward brought it up to my attention. I love you setup as well. Super clean!

James

[hulley]

How do your tangs get along? I have a yellow and a purple now and would love to add a tomini but not sure how they will react to the new tang! What order did you add the tangs? Beautiful tank BTW!

[naka]

Originally posted by hulley
How do your tangs get along? I have a yellow and a purple now and would love to add a tomini but not sure how they will react to the new tang! What order did you add the tangs? Beautiful tank BTW!

Thanks hulley, I've add the tangs in following order. Tomini... Yellow... then purple tang. They all get along fine right now.


James

[rdmpe]

I have a sailfin, a powder brown and a yellow eye kole and they all get along really well. However, my kole will not leave my snowflake blenny alone. Whenever the kole sees the snowflake, he immediately goes after it and chases it into the rock. No other agression toward any other fish, just that blenny.

They have somewhat similar coloration but such different body shapes that I never would have thought there would be any problem between them. Also, an LFS owner is having the exact same issue in one of her tanks at home!

[rdmpe]

Hey Naka - are you constantly having to scrape calcium deposits off the glass at the waterline? I do it and it seems to be back in one day...

[Snook65]

Beautiful tank and great photos!

[theaquariumpro]

do your angels nip at your lps or clams?

[EleutheraRox]

Awesome tank! Very nicely done. Can you show a picture of the CL setup? I'm interested in that, as well as your thoughts on adding sand to a tank like this...

Mike

[naka]

Originally posted by rdmpe
Hey Naka - are you constantly having to scrape calcium deposits off the glass at the waterline? I do it and it seems to be back in one day...

Nah, not really. I just use my magnet to go over the waterline. I don't have any calcium deposits at the waterline.

Originally posted by theaquariumpro
do your angels nip at your lps or clams?

I'm very fortunate that my angels neve nip at my corals. I was worried about my Japanese brain the most, but they don't seem to have any interest at this time.

My CL is pretty simmple. If look at the first page of this thread, you'll notice that I have 5 holes drilled at the bottom. The 3 outlets have 90 deg. elbows pointing towards the back glass. All the detrius comes over the rock and the vortech moves it across my tank left to right.

Thanks,

James

[bitis316]

Doesn't Garibaldi have to be kept cool. Also they get very VERY large .Are you not concerned for your system in the future? ..What are you running your temp at?....By the way nice system. Talking to them does help doesn''t it......You have a talent...I appriciate that...It's also my passion...

[naka]

Garibaldi is already out of my system. I was going to take him out eventually, but started to pick on my clams. Didn't bother any fish, but didn't want to take a chance down the line.

James

[Ccondo]

Naka, question about maintenance... Do you find the braceless design forces you to alter how to work on the tank? Do have to avoid putting any weight on the panes to prevent breakage?

[JGross4]

Rimless looks great, your a lucky man!

[naka]

Originally posted by Ccondo
Naka, question about maintenance... Do you find the braceless design forces you to alter how to work on the tank? Do have to avoid putting any weight on the panes to prevent breakage?

NO, not at all. I find it easier b/c I can access my tank from anywhere on top. I do lean on my tank, but I'm confident that the glass won't give.

James

[naka]

Originally posted by Ccondo
Naka, question about maintenance... Do you find the braceless design forces you to alter how to work on the tank? Do have to avoid putting any weight on the panes to prevent breakage?

NO, not at all. I find it easier b/c I can access my tank from anywhere on top. I do lean on my tank, but I'm confident that the glass won't give.

James

[hatfielj]

Hey Naka, just wanted to say great looking tank! My wife and I really like the look of open top tanks and we are planning a 120g that will look very similar to your tank in terms of stand design and so forth. I wanted to get that same light fixture, but I'm not sure I'm willing to spend quite that much. I think I might just go with the maristar fixture instead. Keep up the nice work!

[rayman45]

THATS THE WAY A REEF SHOULD LOOK...

all i can say is wow..... beautiful .....

[sivert55]

Tagging along on this one. Nice aquascaping Naka! Do you really order frags from Japan?

[rdmpe]

Originally posted by hatfielj
Hey Naka, just wanted to say great looking tank! My wife and I really like the look of open top tanks and we are planning a 120g that will look very similar to your tank in terms of stand design and so forth. I wanted to get that same light fixture, but I'm not sure I'm willing to spend quite that much. I think I might just go with the maristar fixture instead. Keep up the nice work!

I have a 6' maristar. I like it but there are some issues IMO. I don't want to hijack but we can discuss it in my thread if you like (red house). Check out their forum, I think there is a new version of the maristar line coming out but I don't know about the timing.

[naka]

Thanks guys for the compliments.

Originally posted by sivert55
Tagging along on this one. Nice aquascaping Naka! Do you really order frags from Japan?

No, all the Japanese corals are from Mike --- thecaptivereef.com

Thanks,

James