Tank of the Month - July 2005

[doczahi]

Amazing.
One of the best looking I've ever seen!!
Congrats
Zahi

[kimoyo]

Hi Tuan,
Really awesome! I just had a question about something you said in your description:

"I didn't want to add all the pumps right at the beginning as I find that in strong flow the SPS colonies grow in tight formation, so if they're subjected to very strong flow at the start it gets harder and harder to increase the flow later, as they grow."

I hadn't heard this before and I was wondering if you knew why this happens? Seems like most of the SPS people just say put a lot of flow in there but not to gradually move up. Can you talk a little about why you believe this and results you've seen. Thanks.
Paul

[tlp]

Originally posted by kimoyo
Hi Tuan,
Really awesome! I just had a question about something you said in your description:

"I didn't want to add all the pumps right at the beginning as I find that in strong flow the SPS colonies grow in tight formation, so if they're subjected to very strong flow at the start it gets harder and harder to increase the flow later, as they grow."

I hadn't heard this before and I was wondering if you knew why this happens? Seems like most of the SPS people just say put a lot of flow in there but not to gradually move up. Can you talk a little about why you believe this and results you've seen. Thanks.
Paul

SPS corals needs a lot of flow. As I've grown them from frags, the way the colonies grow depends on the flow that they're getting, so if you have strong flow the formation of the branches will generally be closer together, weaker flow the branches will be less tight.

As the colonies gets bigger the flow will be hampered somewhat and you will get dead spots (sometimes this can eventually kill the coral as the base of Acro may suffer from lack of food or detritus settlement leading to bacterial infection etc...)

So I think you need to start with strong flow, but also plan ahead to increase the flow as times goes on, by adding more pumps etc.. This serves the dual purpose of getting the coral to grow in fairly open structures at the start and just as importantly, right at the beginning you may not be able to afford all the pumps right away.

I started with two large close loops pumps and a pair of Tunze 6100 streams, then added 2 more streams and then 2 more recently, totalling flow of somewhere in the 60x plus for in-tank circulation.

[kimoyo]

Thanks! That is very interesting because you see a lot of people going with 60x right away. I got two tunze 6100's on a mulitcontroller for my 120 but I think I'll throttle them back for a while and increase them after my corals grow a bit. I appreciate the info.
Paul

[tlp]

Originally posted by philipm
You mentioned using an automatic feeder in your descriptive and I was curious what brand. Would you recomend it?

I have been searching for a good automatic feeder.

I use an Eheim auto feeder. On my particular one it seems to do a feed each time power is applied so I took the batteries out, hook it to an adaptor and plug into a timer to give a feed every hour or so during the day.

[aquaria_rn]

I could not stop "Hahing and Ohing" at about every picuture I looked at. You have got an amaizing set-up. I was even awed by your plans and configurations. I could only hope to one day have a set-up to half the way your set-up is now. I recently had a leak in my 55 gallon and up graded to a 72 bowfront. I can't tell you how much easier i find it is now to care for my tank. I left to Montego bay for 5days and came back (much to my amazement), to a thriving tank. All I had to do was top off and feed. When I had my 55 gallon and went to Bermuda for vacation I came back to a half dead tank. With your self service system, it must be easy to go and not worry as much as I did on my vacation. Thank you for sharing your experience with me. I can't wait to up date and try your plans. It must of cost a fortune ,but your end result is well worth it. Congratulations on your success!
P.S. I feel you, when you mentioned your wife, my aqauspacing, coral selection and tank are greatly attributed to her. I'm just glad I have her on my side so I can spend the money on my tank and not have to get yeld at. (Ha! Ha!). Good luck and again thanks for your insight.

[mdt178]

tlp,

holy cow! what a tank! simply stunning!
however, you know you not moving anywhere anytime soon.

[cward]

Awesome tank!!! I love the dimensions.

[lcdd]

STUNNING!!! completely changed my thinking on my future tank size. Was going to go with 3 ft wide, and longer tank but i love the depth created by the 4ft wide tank. Thank you for sharing. would be great to post links to larger size pics to use as my wallpaper Congratulations!

[MUCHO REEF]

Absolutely beautiful, an outstanding job. Congrats on a well deserved TOTM.

Mucho

[megachrome]

Awesome tank, but the system is just breath taking. ?? Where did you get your titane heat exchanger?

[kmagyar]

Tuan, Congrats on TOTM. Your setup is fabulously wonderful to say the least. I was wondering what type of bulbs you are using and have used in the past. Were they always 400 watt bulbs? The progress photos of your cap colony show different coloration from each year.

[Tagareef]

Tuan...Congratulations, I think you have mastered the art of replicating a natural reef environment in your beautiful display!

Thanks for sharing it with us.

Luis

[jumboshrimp18]

Tuan,
You wrote, "About ten times during the day an automatic feeder dispenses a mixture of dry flakes/pellets and Cyclop-eeze." I would very much like to hear what kind of automatic feeder it is and how it operates.
Thanks.

[tlp]

Thanks again everybody. Putting an extra spring in my steps despite recent events here.

Originally posted by jumboshrimp18
You wrote, "About ten times during the day an automatic feeder dispenses a mixture of dry flakes/pellets and Cyclop-eeze." I would very much like to hear what kind of automatic feeder it is and how it operates.

Posted a reply above, hope that helps.

I use an Eheim auto feeder. On my particular one it seems to do a feed each time power is applied so I took the batteries out, hook it to an adaptor and plug into a timer to give a feed every hour or so during the day.

Originally posted by megachrome
Where did you get your titane heat exchanger?

I used the ones Koi keepers use. They are generally available I think.

Originally posted by kmagyar
Tuan, Congrats on TOTM. Your setup is fabulously wonderful to say the least. I was wondering what type of bulbs you are using and have used in the past. Were they always 400 watt bulbs? The progress photos of your cap colony show different coloration from each year.

My set up has always been 400watt DE lamps. I did experiment with different lamps, not always successful, and some of the pics were probably taken with just the T5s on. The colouration variation is more to do with the not so good camera technique earlier on. Orange is a truer colour of the coral.

[AcroSteve]

Does your feeder just drop the food on the surface of the main tank?

Any issues with the food floating over the overflow before it soaks up enough water to sink? Any concerns with the skimmers removing some of the food before it can be eaten?

Great tank by the way. Very impressive.

[tlp]

Originally posted by AcroSteve
Does your feeder just drop the food on the surface of the main tank?

Any issues with the food floating over the overflow before it soaks up enough water to sink? Any concerns with the skimmers removing some of the food before it can be eaten?

Great tank by the way. Very impressive.

Not really. The food has to run the gauntlet of passing across 7.5' feet of water full of very greedy fish. Not much will make it pass them! I guess some is lost via the skimmers but nothing significant.

[druluv]

With a lot of people going bare bottom, and taking out their fuges, it is nice to see a tank win TOTM, and flourish with a fuge plumb into their system.

I have always toyed with the idea of placing a fuge on the top my tank to feed corals naturally. Now I'm really going to try and put one in action

[Dudester]

Is grey the standard color for PVC in the UK? I've noticed that in tanks from Europe and elsewhere, grey PVC is utilized instead of our uglier white PVC. I also noticed that the plumbing is extremely neat and tidy in systems done outside of the US. I want some plumbing supplies and lessons from our friends abroad before I do my tank.

Beautiful job, probably my favorite TOTM thus far!

[tlp]

Originally posted by Dudester
Is grey the standard color for PVC in the UK? I've noticed that in tanks from Europe and elsewhere, grey PVC is utilized instead of our uglier white PVC. I also noticed that the plumbing is extremely neat and tidy in systems done outside of the US. I want some plumbing supplies and lessons from our friends abroad before I do my tank.

Beautiful job, probably my favorite TOTM thus far!

It's not necessarily standard. Overhere our DIY suppliers arent very good for plumbings, if it doesnt fit the toilet or the kitchen sink most plumbing suppliers don't have a clue. We can't just walk into home depot and get a tank connector and valves.

Even worse is when you do try to get some parts we're in the middle of trying to go metrics but doing it on the cheap so you buy something that says 40mm and another piece elsewhere, 40mm isn't necessarily 40mm!
So we end up going for manufacturers like VDL or George Fischer and get everything from one place, which tends to be grey. Personally I like white !

[Dudester]

so it's true ... the grass is always greener ...

[NexDog]

Speechless, absolutely speechless.

Going to read it in more details later and go through this thread. I'm sure there's a wealth of info that needs to be thoroughly absorbed.

[Flatlander]

An absolutely amazing aquarium. I know word is over used, but it fits here.

Congrats on your selection. Skip did his job well this month.

[jawwad19]

I CANT STOP THINKIN ABOUT THIS TANKKKKKK lol

[Cosper]

Here it is the 9th, and I still think about this tank iono 10-15times a day!

I dont completely understand the point/ benefit of the refugium and how it works.. etc.. I am in the dark on it, all I have read is what is on the tank of the month page. Could someone elaborate?