introducing my 870gal tank (pics ahead) - Page 8

RalfP · #**176** 10/21/2006, 04:29 PM

Hi,
today I added a Salarias fasciatus (Jewelled blenny) and a dozen small red hermits to the frag-tank. That should do against the algae.

jnarove,
The Vortechs look really interesting. They are known in Germany, but the usual (online-)shops do not have them

. Hmm, I'll start with the mentioned setup, maybe the flow from the return-pump is enough that way.
Nevertheless, I'll try to get that Vortech somewhere here.

laomedon,
it's a strange feeling, filling such a tank for the first time... you'll surely discover that ;-).
Sure I like to answer your questions, even more if you like ;-)...

1 - I don't like to see too big fishes in the tank. My goal was to build a system, where you have the impression of looking into a bigger part of the reef than in the "normal" sizerange.
Having larger coral and also many large fishes would IMHO result in the impression of looking into a "standard" sized system but at another scale. (4:1 instead of 1:1 or something like that).
(Hopefully I was able to describe what I mean).
So having a Naso lituratus or a Acanthurus sohal or something in that sizerange was never an option.
As the biggest ones I've chosen the Siganus magnificus, Acanthurus leucosternon, Acanthurus pyroferus.

2 - oops, I have to confess, that was misunderstandable ;-)... I cought the goby and replaced it with the other two... The Kole is still in there. Catching the goby wasn't difficult, because the Kole hold it in an upper corner.
Catching the Kole, I would try a mirror-trap, which is a acrylic box with small holes in it and a door which can be closed (dropped) by releasing a string. In this trap there would be a mirror at the side opposite the door.

3/4 - Yes, I am able to reach all places (with a small ladder), but working near the seafloor means wearing a mask if you want to see what you do ;-). A large gripper is used quite often.
That was also the reason why I did it in that size. I think this size is (for me) the largest possible size to be easily maintainable by myself without any help.
The length was defined by the size of the tech-room. Bigger wouldn't have looked harmonic from the livingroom. Hmm, and I don't like the look of a tank relatively shallow and very very long.

5 - Using only T5 (willing to loose the beauty wave-ripples HQI produces) would certainly mean using less power.
But I want to keep light-hungry SPS also on the bottom of the tank and think thats not possible with only T5 at 85cm height of tank.
Using the smallest available T5-lamps and covering the whole available surface area with them provides still not enough light for my needs.
HQI has a higher "lightdensity" i.e. more watts on the same surface area.
Therefore a combination of 400watts HQI and T5 was chosen.

The others, thanks for your kind words,
Ralf

md14fish · #**177** 10/21/2006, 07:16 PM

Awesome tank! What kind of anthias are they? How many fish are in there?

jnarowe · #**178** 10/21/2006, 09:48 PM

IceCap Inc/Vortech will ship you the pumps. You can order through marinedepot.com and they will ship to you as well. Believe me, they would love for you to try their powerhead and I am sure that Andy will help you out. Just contact them!

NexDog got them and he is in Japan. You can contact him as well for advice on how to get them.

RalfP · #**179** 10/22/2006, 04:57 AM

md14fish,
here is the actual list of the fishes living in the display-tank:
-Siganus magnificus (Magnificent rabbitfish)
-Chelmon rostratus (Copperband butterflyfish)
-Acanthurus pyroferus (Chocolate surgeonfish)
-Acanthurus leucosternon (Powderblue surgeonfish)
-Ctenochaetus strigosus (Kole)
-some Pseudocheilinus hexataenia, about 5? (Sixline wrasse)
-3,11 (14)Pseudanthias dispar
-1,1 (pair)Valenciennea muralis (Sand digging goby)
-0,0,5 (hopefully developing to 1,4)Pseudochromis fridmani

jnarowe,
Thanks, sounds good, but feels like something I should try after beeing sure not to get them here.
There would be $66 shipping plus 16% of total (purchase+shipping) for customs/import tax.
The pumps were to be seen on a German fair some months ago... maybe one of the shops is planning to import. I sent mail to some few shops... let's see what they'll answer.

Best,
Ralf

jnarowe · #**180** 10/22/2006, 10:57 AM

Ralf, sounds good. Have you seen the videos of the Vortechs? I know there is great equipment available in Germany but the Vortechs really provide supererior flow with oscillating patterns. Once you see one in action you would no doubt pay the extra money to get them. I have only a Sequence Hammerhead for return flow and the rest of my flow is Vortech pumps. They blow a little over 3000g/hr at about 35W with no transfer of heat to the system. Plus you can easily re-position them as needed. No wires in the tank. Just one on that frag tank and you would be set. I have 4 in my 1000g display and there is zero dead space in the tank. As my reef grows, I will install another two. Plus they have a battery back-up in production which will make these pumps even more valuable...

You can PM melev for his rather impressive videos if you haven't seen them already. I am in no way a shill for Eco-Tech, but I think given what I see of your frag tank, that would be the ideal powerhead for that situation.

laomedon · #**181** 10/22/2006, 01:50 PM

Ralf thank you for your answers, I know what you mean by big fish in big tank will make big tank look kind of smaller, I was always fascinated by big tank hosting numbers of smaller fish and perhaps one or two peaceful big fish like Naso etc... It always amazes me when they come out from the rockwork and suddenly show they full size that's just what I would love to have in my tank.

By the way can you hear any noise that your tank makes in the living room? that is one condition I have from my other half, tank needs to be silent, as we will have it in our living room also.

Adrian

jnarowe · #**182** 10/22/2006, 02:18 PM

Just yell louder and she will realize how silent it is!

RalfP · #**183** 10/22/2006, 05:32 PM

jnarove,
thanks for your advice, I've seen an impressing video of two of them in a large, blank tank.
Ink was added to the system and besides the waves etc. one could see how fast the ink
became equally distributed through the whole tank.
The only pumps I know, which IMHO are somehow comparable are Tunze Streams, which I use in the displaytank, but I always hated the wires and size (at least there are only 24Volts in the water).

laomedon,
the tank has got a (by design) relatively quiet overflow (water is not falling very deep),
but with all the pumps in it, there is a quiet, but detectable low frequency humming.
If talking, hearing music, watching TV etc. you'll not notice.
I guess I could make it even more silent if I would decouple the external pumps from their pipes by connecting them with parts of silicone-tube.
The Streams could be made silent by putting neoprene under the mounting-magnets etc, etc, etc.
Well, I'll not do all this stuff, I'am happy with it, like it is now.
Btw.... If I am right, a Naso will grow slow, but reach a size of something near half a meter, that would be way to large for what I would like to see in my pers. tank.
But nevertheless, I share the passion for them

.

Ralf

adddo · #**184** 11/09/2006, 03:50 AM

Quote:

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

Hehe, i might take you up on that invitation

kevinpo · #**185** 11/09/2006, 10:56 AM

Very nice tank! Thanks for sharing all your pictures, including the back and equipment. Great design and layout.

Regards,
Kevin

zemuron114 · #**186** 11/10/2006, 04:14 AM

did you just drill the rocks and place acrylic rods in them? You must have cherry picked rocks for years!!!! i have all small rocks... makes aquascaping a real pain

NuReef · #**187** 02/24/2007, 04:39 PM

Updates?

Ricky

md14fish · #**188** 02/24/2007, 06:28 PM

Probably one of the top 2 or 3 set ups I have seen on reef central!
Awesome!

Kevin McG · #**189** 02/25/2007, 07:19 AM

Absolutely stunning!!!!!!

You are an inspiration, some day when I hit the lotto

Putawaywet · #**190** 02/25/2007, 01:56 PM

Well Ralf, what can I say that hasn't already been said. Simply amazing.

To everyone else...

Anyone besides me see the irony of someone from Germany scrambling to buy American equipment. I mean, who would have thunk?

Brett

jnarowe · #**191** 02/25/2007, 02:10 PM

Brett: Seems ironic doesn't it!

RalfP · #**192** 03/02/2007, 06:06 AM

Hi all,

thanks again...
I still haven't got the new pumps for the frag tank (pls. don't tell jnarowe :-), a German dealer promised to get them, but didn't :-(.

hmm, updates...
coral and frags all doin' fine and growing well.
I changed the hose-pump for the Ca-support. I now use a Reefdoser quaddro (tm) from AquaMedic, because the Growtech one has a max. of 2 liters dosage per day and channel.
The chemical-dosage-containers were upgraded to 60 liters each, which will do for a little more than two weeks before refill.
I added another PVC-pipe/valve to my RO/DI water pipes, to be able to fill the mentioned 60 liter containers were they stand, not having to move them around anymore (carrying 60 kilos isn't funny ;-).

Did I already mention the worm I caught?
2 am moving myself in bed direction, I had a look at the reef in its soft moonlight.
Thinking about the way to dark sand near the frontglass, I discoverd that this it's not dirt, but a 1,5 meters long worm (stretched) along the frontglass.
Lucky me, I got it in one piece out of the water, not having to disassamble the reef like Oregonreef had to.
I found a guy through a german forum, who likes to keep such critters and sent it to him.
(Strange people around in the forums ;-).

Here are some pics to show how it develops (taken one hour ago):

Have a nice day,
Ralf

RalfP · #**193** 03/02/2007, 06:14 AM

Btw.
here is the worm:

Ralf

Bax · #**194** 03/02/2007, 07:19 AM

Nice worm!

Beautiful tank as well

jnarowe · #**195** 03/02/2007, 10:19 AM

Those worms freak me out. The tank is looking so sweet.

Please heed my warning: You have to watch the Aqua Medic doser very carefully. I just had to pull mine and switch to a LiterMeter. The reason is that my Aqua Medic, even though it was installed correctly, was allowing a syphon to my kalk stirrer and several times it bombed the tank with too much FW. It really messed up my parameters to the point that I just had to remove it.

RalfP · #**196** 03/02/2007, 10:24 AM

Jannes, the guy I sent the worm to had a closer look at it and discovered, that it seems to be a actively hunting species.
Having two eyes that normally look streight forward and a (two parts) large gripper near the large mouth.
It bit him, as he put his hand into its container, to have a size comparsion on the pic :-).
No poison involved, but painfull for about an hour.
It eats a small (prior) frozen fish two times a week (Smelt/Osmerus)?

I am still wondering, what it ate in my tank... *hmmm*

Ralf

edit: thanks for the warning, i'll have a closer look at it.
Using 3 channels on the Grotech for NaHCO3 and another 3 for the NaCl-free salt isn't my method of choice anymore :-(.

cbui2 · #**197** 03/02/2007, 02:07 PM

oh yeah ship that worm to me, got rice. oh don't forget ketchup lol, great looking pic's. keep them coming

DrBegalke · #**198** 03/02/2007, 03:27 PM

Great system!

That worm looks similar to the one Steve removed from his "oregon reef" : http://oregonreef.com/images/photos/p_067_l.jpg

jnarowe · #**199** 03/03/2007, 12:30 AM

I stare at my tank and wonder...do I have one of those??? I would soil myself.

mrpet · #**200** 03/03/2007, 03:03 AM

TOTM.... FREAKING AWESOME YOU ARE AN INSPIRATION TO US ALL.
VERY NICE TANK...