introducing my 870gal tank (pics ahead) - Page 7

purpletang26 · #**151** 08/02/2006, 10:42 AM

ralph how much water are you losing per day on evoperation

Silencer · #**152** 08/03/2006, 09:33 PM

I hate you so much

hugorsf · #**153** 08/04/2006, 06:26 AM

Hi ralf, great tank, great layout and spectacular frame u have there.

u said:

Quote:

as it is a in wall tank with its own room behind (see following pics) i can

What are the frames mades of? The material...

Do u have more pic's with the frame? Closer?

Thanks and keep up the good work!

plancton · #**154** 08/04/2006, 01:41 PM

Hehe, you did spell "frame" right. I was just trying to use sarcasm acting as if the frame was the only thing that caught my interest.

alien9168 · #**155** 08/04/2006, 08:13 PM

Ralph-
AMAZING!!!
I love how clean and semetracal the front wall of the tank is! Its beutiful.

This is certainly totm material!

I love how your tank seems to fit with the room it is in !

Awsome!

Thanks so much for sharing!!!!

Skipper · #**156** 08/06/2006, 08:13 AM

Here's the Tank of the Month article:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-08/totm/index.php

NexDog · #**157** 08/06/2006, 11:00 AM

I'll post my congrats in that the TOTM thread but I'll also say congrats here.

This is my new favourite tank for sure.

BigEasy · #**158** 08/06/2006, 08:06 PM

Congrats Ralph on TOTM and well deserved.

I would like to ask a little more about the T5 bulbs you are using. I have T5s on 2 systems and use D&D/Geismann and GE bubls. One thing that I have been waiting for is a good bublb between the D&D 11k and the Actinic +. I frequent the T5 thread and have not seen or heard of anyone using the Aqua Science 15k or the Osram/Sylvannia blue bulbs.

What are your thoughts on the color temperature of the bulbs and colors they produce in the inverts?

Could you please post a picture of the bulbs themselves while running?

Is there much experiene in the European reefing community with these brands?

Thank you,
Stephen

locito277 · #**159** 08/06/2006, 09:57 PM

Congrats on TOTM!! Youre tank is breathtaking.. You must spend days at a time staring at the tank...Keep up the good work and givin us a tank to make us aspire for more..

RalfP · #**160** 08/07/2006, 07:18 AM

Thank you so much again,
I am really still supprised about the attention, my setup generated.

@purpletang26
hmm, sorry, I don't know how much.
I have a dosing pump, taking the water out of the two 400gal containers with the RO/DI water automatically, which are also automatically refilled by the Osmosis.
Additional I dose liquids with my "Balling" Ca and Mg additions and also remove tankwater
automatically.

@silencer
I like you for hating me ;-)

@hugorsf
the frame is made by a furniture-carpenter, of some arificial (platic?) material, used for
building furniture, painted in the same colour we used for windowframe, doorframes etc.
Around the different plates, there is a shadow gap, made of L-profile brushed steel.
There is a highres picture of the tank in total at http://www.cashh.de/gallery2/main.ph...g2_itemId=1663 which maybe shows you more.

@Stephen
well, in Germany's reefscene there are currently 2 main brands discussed
ATI vs. FaunaMarin (AquaScience), they have very simular bulbs.
Both deliver blue and the coldwhite (around 15k) bulbs. FaunaMarin came up with a new one
somewhere between some days ago.
Osram is seldom used, but I had also good results with osram daylight / blue combination in the past.
There are lots of SPS-dominated reefs, only using T5 in coldwhite:blue 2:1 combination
of both main brands. I think Iwan's reef (also having a thread somewhere here) uses
the ATI version.
I prefer the AquaScience version (like the company and its other products).
The Osram blue is a little more blue, than the ones from the other companys and thats
what I like most.

Regarding the inverts, I read an article about zooxantella adapting easily to different
wavelengths, so I think if having blue at all to push fuorescent colours, it will be
ok for them and up to personal flavour to choose.
Well, having something full-spectrum (white) will help showing other colours (no red or yellow coral will look so if there is no light in that colour avail)
Some SPS-breeders have 6000k "daylight" MH (HQI) and coral are growing good at only that.
Later they put em under more blue lights to develop better colour.
Btw. T5 bulbs are replaced after 6-12 months here (I change after 8).
Just my 2 cent.

Ralf

adddo · #**161** 10/16/2006, 09:08 AM

Incredible tank! Definitly up there with Steve Weast's oregonreef on my list!

Great job and thanks so much for sharing!

HDAlien · #**162** 10/16/2006, 05:48 PM

Beautiful setup, definitely one of the best I've ever seen!

HDAlien

RalfP · #**163** 10/19/2006, 02:34 PM

Thanks so much!

I did some changes the last few weeks,
in detail they are:

- added a (to be) harem of 5 young, small Pseudochromis fridmani to the system some weeks ago, they all feel ok by now. Still too small to see if it works that they develop to 1 male, 4 female.

- as the Kole tang was still hunting the goby (Amblygobius phalaena), I gave that one away and
added a pair of smaller Valenciennea muralis gobys. Thats 3 weeks ago and the Kole still does not show any interest in them. Strange but great!

- working in an SPS-dominated tank produces more or less automatically frags. Accidentaly hitting a coral and *crack* there's your new frag. I never had much luck on placeing the new, small frag somewhere in the main-tank and finding it again later. The crowded, too dark algae partition of the sump wasn't the right place also.
Its "only" about 60 USgal, but I now have a frag tank. Its located above the algae partition of the sump, connected to the waterflow of the sump-returnpump and lighted with 6*39 watts T5. That'll hopefully work a lot better!

Thanks for viewing!
Ralf

boris MAC · #**164** 10/19/2006, 04:10 PM

Ohh Ralph .. news for those who do not bookmark cashh ... hhhehehe

jnarowe · #**165** 10/19/2006, 04:46 PM

really nice frag tank!

Skipper · #**166** 10/19/2006, 08:20 PM

That's sweet, Ralf!

adddo · #**167** 10/20/2006, 05:42 AM

Nice fragtank!!

BTW, one could almost take a swim in that skimmercup lol

RLMainers · #**168** 10/20/2006, 01:07 PM

This is amazing. It is such a beautiful tank, then you have the freakishly clean tank room and the new frag tank! Wow! I am so jealous. Your dedication to your system shows. Thanks for sharing it with us.

AVALover5498 · #**169** 10/20/2006, 04:37 PM

You have the most beautiful tank that has ever reached my eyes!!!!! I am seriously in love...I wish i had a tank like that..i have 29.

AVALover5498 · #**170** 10/20/2006, 04:39 PM

A 29 i mean..Mine looks like a pico compared to yours.

RalfP · #**171** 10/21/2006, 05:30 AM

Boris ;-),
saw this thread higher in the list again and tought that some additional infos would be good ;-).

Regarding the frag-tank, I'll have to add some small algae-eaters. The algae start to grow on the frag-stones. Unfortunately the tank is to shallow to add a surgeon and still feel he's got a good home. Well, let's see what I'll find.

Fragtank's waterflow is still not sufficient. By now I added a Powerhead to the tank, that's doin' its job. I was pointed to Anthony's sprybar system as described in http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...2003/short.htm and think I'll give it a try.

addoo,
if you ever visit Germany, feel yourself invided to having a nice swim ;-). I'll take photos then ;-)

RLMainers,
its not that difficult to keep it all clean, if you're lucky, having a tank-room and having tiles on floor and walls. Not having a lot of places to put things on also helps a lot! ;-)

AVALover,
still the same reef, only a different viewing window.

Thanks again and again,
Ralf

laomedon · #**172** 10/21/2006, 09:31 AM

Ralf I love your setup, I'm planing similar sized tank that we will implement in our new house (at the moment project being just finished) so I would like to ask you few questions if I may:

1 - What would you like to be the biggest fish in your tank? (once fully grown)
2 - How did you catch that Kole tang in your Reef ? must have been a nightmare.
3 - Are you able to reach in all areas of your tank just with your hands or are you using scuba mask?
4 - How did you decide on your tank size? Especialy the lenght what was your limit?
5 - Newer thought on using T5 bulbs only?

thank you in advance,
Adrian

Skateboarder · #**173** 10/21/2006, 09:36 AM

Wow that is an amazing aquarium. Good job

jnarowe · #**174** 10/21/2006, 09:45 AM

Ralf, maybe a Vortech would be a good idea for flow in the frag tank. I would definitely consider it since they have so many advantages for that kind of set up.

DrBegalke · #**175** 10/21/2006, 12:51 PM

Great setup, like the look of the access panels on the front wall, and the removable black panels at the back of the tank.