Not a typical doctor's waiting room... 450 gallon reef

[thedude15810]

The chicago chalice is DEFINITELY not in my home tank as my home tank is home to only valonia, a low water level, and a mystery wrasse that continues to elude capture. I have no idea why he would want to elude capture as the tank is disgusting.

It's the red, green, and pink chalice next to the watermelon Mike.

Thanks for posting those pictures Clint and keep looking at them, we need you back in the hobby!

John

[fishypets]

Hey you know this one looks like the Roland Balmes batunai I aquired from Yikan. Not sure when this picture was taken

[thedude15810]

That does look like it is in the same family. That acro is annoying though as it refuses to turn anything other than a dull green.

[fishypets]

At least it's not brown!

[js_bass]

This tank is something else, i am sure it will look great when it is stocked with corals. You Should open your company to the public, i would love to have you build me a tank, in my dreams

[martinphillip03]

bmp

[martinphillip03]

Any updates on the clam problem?

Marty

[thedude15810]

The two clams remaining in the tank continue to do great and the Derasa has more than doubled in size. The gigas that I removed and had a broken hinge unfortunately passed the other week out of the blue. I still don't really have a clue as to what killed the croceas.

On an unrelated note, the tank now house both a female and male bluethroat trigger. The female is more than double the size of the male and has decided my fingers look like tasty snacks.

[gkarshens]

Your fingers do kinda look like sausages.

[invincible569]

Great Job!! After seeing pics of you guys in front of the tank, it shows the true perspective of the aquascape. You guys did a great job on it! Its one of a kind.

[thedude15810]

Thanks Gabe I think

Your compliment means alot Edward and while I do think that the lack of tons of live rock hurt the tank in the beginning, it should all come to balance.

I need to take new pictures of the tank as we got several ORA frags, chalices, a duncan, brain, aussie acan, etc.

John

[Kev135]

very very nice

[Dudester]

Thanks Kev135!

As a little update, the tank is looking incredible! It's nearing its 1 year anniversary, and things have really smoothed out. The corals continue to color and grow tremendously. John is doing a great job caring for this tank.

I recently got a PAR meter and we tested it out. I don't have a good full tank shot to map out the numbers for you, but in general, our lighting scheme is providing values of around 350 near the surface, high 200's near the middle, low 200's closer to the bottom, and low 100's at the substrate. Our 400W MH bulbs are getting a little old, and we've got plans to change to different bulbs relatively soon. Hopefully we'll have nice photos to post for the official 1-yr anniversary.

[thedude15810]

I guess I should probably comment on what has gone on the last few months as well.

Nothing really to report. 100 gallon water changes monthly with gravel siphoning then every third month siphoning the sump. The calcium reactor had to be broken down at one point and more media added. Parameters have been staying rock solid with kH between 7 and 8, calcium at 420 and magnesium at 1400. It is also interesting that I'm not running any kind of GFO and the phosphate in this tank has never even showed up (using the D&D test).

The only huge negative was that unfortunately the sixth month old naso tang died. Mike called me late one night (he was on call) and informed me that the naso was dead and stuck to the strainer. I decided I wanted it out sooner then later and went to the tank with coat hanger in hand (I couldn't think of any other way to prod it off the strainer). Well I gave the naso a poke and it moved. He swam (poorly) severel inches into the middle of the tank where I was able to net him and take him back to my shop to try and save him.

He had no real outside marks or problems other than the small nick from where I had poked him. Eyes alert, very aware that I was holding him (wearing gloves) in front of a powerhead to try to get him some oxygen but everytime I let go, he had zero muscle control. It really was a bad loss as his brain was fully functional but his body just gave out for some reason. Anyway, he was dead in the morning and the only big fish remaining is the female bluethroat that bites.

I also had a problem with the Sequence Hammerhead closed loop pump this afternoon as the seal had rusted up and down the shaft and caused distruction in front and behind the seal. I'm waiting to see what MDM says but I'm getting real tired of opening Reeflo pumps only to find a rusty, unfixable mess (FIFTH pump in three months).

I'll work on getting some pics for the tanks one year anniversary by bribing one of my friends with camera skills.

John

[jnarowe]

I have had two nasos check out for no apparent reason.

[thedude15810]

I remember and the really frustrating part in this situation is that he lasted so long in the aquarium. I'd had nasos come in with some kind of stomach parasite and waste away slowly but this tang was actually started to put on weight.

This specific fish was unique too as it would brush my hand when I was working in the tank and liked to be pet/ fed by hand.

[mcrist]

Sorry for your loss...

[jnarowe]

man, sorry to hear about that.

[Micki]

that's too bad. I'm sorry...

[tanya72806]

sorry for your lost Cant wait to see some more pics

[Elliott]

I too had a large pacific naso tang that died for no apparent reason, looked healthy and fat, eating well everyday, good color, then just died overnight, was like a puppy dog following me around the tank not afraid at all, still wondering what killed it.

[GSMguy]

TTWOP

[thedude15810]

Ok so I had a little leak last night that made me have one of those "DUH" moments.

So I previously said that I removed the hammerhead closed loop pump (yesterday at three). Unscrewed the pump from its single union ball valves, basked in my glory that I could remove the pump that way, went on my way.

Nine rolls around that night and the cleaning staff call to report water on the floor. I immediately begin to wonder if like an idiot I didn't close the ball valves completely and other complete disaster scenarios run through my head as I speed up there.

If you look back at the plumbing behind the tank pics you'll notice that the output of the hammerhead went straight up, into a T, then into 2 90's returning into the tank. Well the hammerhead was supporting most of the plumbing weight and since this is a closed loop, all the piping still had water in it. Remove the pump and gravity begins pulling the entire structure towards the ground. The stress of this caused on of the bulkheads to only slightly tilt upwards resulting in a slow and steady leak.

Three gallons of water later and I was quite relieved but thought this was one of those great leak stories that I won't forget about again.

And how did I stop the leak... well I put a bucket of rowalith C+ with a wadded up towel on top of it to act as the temporary "hammerhead".

John

[melev]

Glad you were notified in time.

[Elliott]

wow, were you lucky, if that bulkhead broke.....