Tank of the Month - March 2007 - Page 2

fishtk75 · #26 03/09/2007, 06:47 AM

John,
What are the lights timed for each time?
Also what is pumping the limewater to the tank for makeup water?
The SPS you have you said you never feed the SPS directly.
That you do that you feed the fish a lot! then generally feed them a generous tablespoon of Formula One large marine pellets daily, along with a playing card sized piece of Nori. An autofeeder sprinkles some Spectrum pellets during the workday.

Do you feed anything more for the corals?
Add any trace elements?

And how does everyone feed?

Dudester · #27 03/09/2007, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by drtango
those are Green Star Polyps, growing all over the place. Looks nice on the bottom, royal pain when it creeps up the rock towards the SPS

Enviable setup, very nice! How do you deal with the GSP encroachment on your more valued corals?

Subliminal · #28 03/09/2007, 02:16 PM

Awesome tank, man!

volivier · #29 03/09/2007, 05:49 PM

I hope my frags grow into your tank when they grow up! LOL Makes me rethink my DSB, how did you decide to go bare bottom? If I could get those results I'd take my tank apart and remove the sand.

drtango · #30 03/09/2007, 06:50 PM

Blueplanet- Entire setup is 6 feet 9 inches tall, the stand is about 40 inches. Tank is a standard 180--72 x 24 x 24. Sump is rubbermaid trough--I'd guess about 30 X 50

Fishtk75--side halides are on 11-8, middle halide 11:30-9, actinics 8-10. I use an inexpensive aqua-medic peristaltic dosing pump to drip Kalk. No trace elements are dosed, I do change about 15 gallons weekly. I don't feed the SPS; I think the light, flow and whatever they can get from the water column via fish waste (fragments of food from eating, bacteria etc from poop) is enough.

Dudester- The GSP are a real pain. I'll peel them, hit 'em with kalk paste, or if I'm really mad kalk paste + lye (careful with that!). They're pretty, but grow like a weed.

Volivier--I decided to go bare bottom after two previous bad experiences with a DSB. Seemed like the bed "filled up" after a few years and started releasing organics. Nothing scientific to back this up, but I thought it might be better to remove the organics rather than leaving them in the bed to break down. I couldn't figure out where the waste goes--even the tiny sand bed critters leave waste. My previous DSB's stunk horribly when I tore the tanks down. I'm sure there are folks out there who can maintain a DSB long term, I'm just not one of them!

Thanks all for your nice feedback and interest.

John

volivier · #31 03/09/2007, 07:05 PM

when you went barebottom, did you have any issues with a nitrate rise? i had to did into my refugium for a wrasse that'd took a ride through the overflow, and it made my nitrates go from zero to I don't remember how much, but it raised the nitrates.

Elliott · #32 03/09/2007, 10:19 PM

Congratulations on a job well done, absolutely beautiful. It's inspiring to see someone create such an amazing reef and use a no nonsense "simplistic" approach. Although simple by design it's certainly a complex and well thought out system. Yours is one of the most deserving tank of month selections I have seen.

blueplanet · #33 03/09/2007, 10:27 PM

John,
Many thanks. Beautiful tank. Your knowledge is impressive too.
I share your approach of keeping things simpler: as such, I normally do not feed my SPS as I have large fish like you. Fish/food wastes and whatever seems to sustain & grow them well.

blueplanet · #34 03/09/2007, 10:34 PM

Volivier,
IF I may volunteer my humble personal experience. I have no regreat of movin' from DSB to BB. Nitrate is manageable with strong circulation & skimming.
plus: if you are more SPS dominated - BB is good. If other inverts, some sand bad may be better ... so depends on your tank and what you keep inside too.
Cheers!

drtango · #35 03/10/2007, 01:01 PM

Blueplanet said it well--the key to barebottom is high flow and agressive wet skimming to get the organics out before they break down.

I also agree that for a softie/LPS display, barebottom may not be the best setup. I had fields of Xenia that melted away in the sandless system. My few LPS are doing "ok", but not thriving as the SPS are.

John

MO Will · #36 03/10/2007, 04:41 PM

Hi John

I love the tank and the simplistic approach

What type of shopvac do you use to vacuum detritus - I would have thought that a shopvac would suck too much water to be helpful

Also - do you try to route the flow somehow to try to get all of the detritus to end up in one place?

Thanks

Will

Hop · #37 03/10/2007, 04:54 PM

Just wanted to say congrats! Love the tank. I really like the stock selection and look forward to seeing more of it down the road!

drtango · #38 03/10/2007, 04:59 PM

Will-

I have one of the smaller 3 gallon shop vacs from Lowes.

I reduced the fittings with junk from my "plumbing bin" to 1/2 inch. I have a "T" fitting in the suction line so I can use my thumb to control the suction and break siphon when the vac gets full.

Works like a charm!

John

Dudester · #39 03/10/2007, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by drtango
Will-

I have one of the smaller 3 gallon shop vacs from Lowes.

I reduced the fittings with junk from my "plumbing bin" to 1/2 inch. I have a "T" fitting in the suction line so I can use my thumb to control the suction and break siphon when the vac gets full.

Works like a charm!

John

Crazy as it sounds, John, we need a photo of your shop vac plumbing mod. That's exactly what I've been needing, but alas I lack the plumber's creativity!

afishfanatic · #40 03/11/2007, 01:03 AM

John, Your tank is increible! I have one question. Do you know the name of the sps coral that white base, green polyps, and purle tios? It is in the last row of corals posted and is in the middle column next to the green mille. Also the name of the picture is: tn_IMG_3884_JPG.jpg

Thanks!

powderbluetangy · #41 03/11/2007, 10:03 AM

john

how much kalk do u put in that 40 gal bucket & how often do you stir it during the week?

doesnt kalk topoff go bad if its exposed to the air for an extended period of time?

great tank!!

Skipper · #42 03/11/2007, 10:40 AM

powderbluetangy: a quote from Randy Holmes-Farley's article...

"Summary

Limewater can lose potency by reacting with carbon dioxide in the air, forming insoluble calcium carbonate. Since calcium carbonate is not an effective supplement of calcium and alkalinity in reef aquaria, the limewater can become less useful through this process. The rate at which this happens in large containers, such as plastic trashcans with loose fitting lids, is much less than many aquarists expect. There is, in fact, little degradation under typical use conditions. Consequently, the dosing of limewater from such large still reservoirs can be just as effective as dosing using any other scheme, and may have substantial advantages. These advantages include simplicity of the system and the ability to use organic acids such as vinegar to boost the potency. The use of a reactor to dose limewater has the advantage of requiring less space, but does not have the oft-stated advantage of eliminating degradation by atmospheric carbon dioxide that is reported to plague delivery from reservoirs."

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/20...ture/index.php

powderbluetangy · #43 03/11/2007, 12:45 PM

excellent, thank you skipper... looks like a 40gal trashcan will be added to my system

acrouse · #44 03/11/2007, 06:56 PM

John-congratulations on tank of the month. Impressive how simplicity = elegance in your tank. Beautiful coloration and arrangement of corals.

I am interested in how you like the automatic fish feeder and what brand you are using? Any major malfunctions with it?

thanks
jolene

jgarey · #45 03/11/2007, 10:57 PM

Your tank is just beautiful!!!
If you don't mind me asking, what was the name of the company on the internet that you got your canopy and stand from? I have a 125 reef and need to get a taller stand and and new canopy. Yours is really nice. Thanks for any info.

Jennifer

fishtk75 · #46 03/12/2007, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by drtango
Blueplanet- Entire setup is 6 feet 9 inches tall, the stand is about 40 inches. Tank is a standard 180--72 x 24 x 24. Sump is rubbermaid trough--I'd guess about 30 X 50

Fishtk75--side halides are on 11-8, middle halide 11:30-9, actinics 8-10. I use an inexpensive aqua-medic peristaltic dosing pump to drip Kalk. No trace elements are dosed, I do change about 15 gallons weekly. I don't feed the SPS; I think the light, flow and whatever they can get from the water column via fish waste (fragments of food from eating, bacteria etc from poop) is enough.

Dudester- The GSP are a real pain. I'll peel them, hit 'em with kalk paste, or if I'm really mad kalk paste + lye (careful with that!). They're pretty, but grow like a weed.

Volivier--I decided to go bare bottom after two previous bad experiences with a DSB. Seemed like the bed "filled up" after a few years and started releasing organics. Nothing scientific to back this up, but I thought it might be better to remove the organics rather than leaving them in the bed to break down. I couldn't figure out where the waste goes--even the tiny sand bed critters leave waste. My previous DSB's stunk horribly when I tore the tanks down. I'm sure there are folks out there who can maintain a DSB long term, I'm just not one of them!

Thanks all for your nice feedback and interest.

John

Thank you John

uscharalph · #47 03/12/2007, 04:55 PM

Very Nice!! Someday......

frezel · #48 03/12/2007, 07:06 PM

first i would like to say WOW awesome tank, i have been in reef keeping about 12 years now and really got interested in your use of kalkwasser, i plan on setting up my ro unit to direct feed into a trashcan and an JBJ top off to fed my sump, i wanted to dose kalk to see what results i can get, but have a few questions after trying to mux a batch at home myself,

1. after mixing the kalk in a 5 gallon bucket (6tsp to 5 gallons ro/di) only the top half of the water went clear and the lower half remained cloudy, is this normal, or does the kalk water go clear throughout.

2. i am assuming the kalk settles out to the bottom of the bucket and the water is saturated to its max? if thats the case is it ok to dose the cloudy limewater (drip) into the sump?

i understand the principles ( i think) but just am unfamiliar with the actual process, is there a specific amount u add to your trashcan? or do u just dump abunch in and stir and let settle out and than use whats left.

Also does your pump in trashcan sit on bottom? does it have some type of tube that goes to top of can to shipon clear water..

Please help, and thanks in advance, in the mean time ill be sitting here drooling at your tank :P

gman0526 · #49 03/12/2007, 07:09 PM

Very nice indeed

Congrats!!!

"As easy as falling off a log.."

kmagyar · #50 03/13/2007, 09:39 AM

John has the right amount of dedication and love for the hobby. I have to say, he has been a true inspiration for me over the years. Remember this John?

His 92 corner which has been replaced by his current 180; This is from several years back.

Thanks for years of inspiration for many people and many more to come. Are the future plans still brewing John?

Keith