My new 600 gallon reef

[Goodwin9]

Originally posted by AJT
"I am curious as to the size of your fish after having kept them for 8 years. How big are your blues?"


I bought the blues when they were about 2" long & they have grown faster than any fish I have. They are about 9- 10" long & 1- 1/2 " wide. Far outgrown all the rest.

Thats a (aquarium size) full grown yellow below him.

WOW nice looking fish and aquarium. Do you have a full tank shot that you could post? Were the blue fighting between themselves, or the other tang too?

[Cougarman]

I think there's a period of time "growth phase" when if you feed the fish alot they will grow large. After that growth phase, the fish satys the same size, regardless of the size of the tank or how much you feed.

[Goodwin9]

Originally posted by Cougarman
I've got 2 Regal blues too. I've had them about 5 yrs, funny thing is 1 grew large 7-8 inch, the other remained small 4-5 inches. I also have a 3.5 inch convict that I've had for even longer, and he hasn't grown at all.

Any signs of "aggression" with them?

[AJT]

Only the 2 blues fought. After 8 yrs one of them got a pretty good whippin. Thats when I solved the problem by removing one of them.

Right Side



Middle


Left

[jnarowe]

Oh my, you solved it by removing one of the fish?? I didn't know you could do that. Thanks for the tip!

[Goodwin9]

AJT

Very nice looking tank! Thanks for sharing with us. Has the Purple caused any problems?

[Cougarman]

for me the two regals are always playfull with each other. I have very little aggression overall. My Bristletooth is the most aggressive fish, but he's also one of the smallest, hell chase my leutenant into the rocks every once in a while, then a few seconds later they're back out grazing again.

[Cougarman]

Godwin9, how do you find the Acrylic tanks? Do they scratch easily. I built my self a 600 gallon in acrylic at my last house. I liked the light weight and the ease of working with, the clarity, but found it scrached easily and was difficult to clean. I went with a glass window on my plywood build for these reasons. I know in Canada Glass is way cheaper, so most people have glass tanks. They dont scratch, but they're super heavy.

[clekchau]

Originally posted by Cougarman
Godwin9, how do you find the Acrylic tanks? Do they scratch easily. I built my self a 600 gallon in acrylic at my last house. I liked the light weight and the ease of working with, the clarity, but found it scrached easily and was difficult to clean. I went with a glass window on my plywood build for these reasons. I know in Canada Glass is way cheaper, so most people have glass tanks. They dont scratch, but they're super heavy.

having owned glass aquariums all my life and owning my first acrylic this year, i conclude that they scratch very easily, you have to be very careful when you are aquascaping and cleaning

[cbui2]

i am very careful but still manage to scratch it.

[Cougarman]

ya i got fed up with the plastic scrapers. The metal blades on glass work much better. Glass is not as clear though, unless its starfire glass. Jinarowe I love all the leathers in your tank. Gets me thinking about doing the same in my tank. Probably alot easier to keep than sps.

[Goodwin9]

Originally posted by cbui2
i am very careful but still manage to scratch it.

I have to agree with Bart, not matter how carefull you are, you're going to end up with some scratches. I already have some in my newest tank... My glass tank are a breeze to clean, but you sacrifice the clarity. I don't mind cleaning the glass, but dread cleaning the acrylics.....

[jnarowe]

Originally posted by Cougarman
ya i got fed up with the plastic scrapers. The metal blades on glass work much better. Glass is not as clear though, unless its starfire glass. Jinarowe I love all the leathers in your tank. Gets me thinking about doing the same in my tank. Probably alot easier to keep than sps.

That's not me, that's AJT. I don't have any kind of leathers in my system.

[kau_cinta_ku]

ok well now that i am more awake and read the thread a little more, I am kinda figuring out your SPS prob. possiably. you stated you had nitrites in the tank. that would deff. be a concern for growing SPS IMO. I am not the best at SPS by all means as I am just getting started in them also. I have higher nitrates in my tank and all though my SPS corals stay with a great color and polyp extension, they don't grow very fast IMO.

when i was at your place I noticed your corals were bleaching and I was thinking it was from the lights at first but reading the thread i am guessing the nitrites.

I know you have other tanks that are setup without many fish and good lighting so just as a test would you care to try putting some SPS in there and see how they do as they wouldn't have the nitrites.

I am always willing to stop by and drool at your tanks when I am free and help out on things that your not sure of even though you have other great ppl such as Travis closer. I am not a marine bioliogest (SP.) but have done my share of things to learn from and am sure the both of us along with RC can get things figured out to make your tank your dream SPS reef tank.

but keep up the great work. I don't care what ppl say when I was there, I didn't see any aggression what so ever. all the fish very healthy and looked happy. not saying that in time it could change some but as of now I would just try for the nitrite issues.

I will stop rambling on for the time being just wanted to give my .02

[Cougarman]

Whoops, AJT that is.

[Cougarman]

Whoops, AJT that is.

[Goodwin9]

WATER TESTS RESULTS 8/14/07
I checked water parameters this morning and am posting the results. All of the tests were done using Salifert kits with the exception of the Phosphate test which a Hanna Colormeter was used. Any comments on the health of the tank would be appreciated. Suggestions as to what steps you might do to the tank today are also welcome. (Media change is the phos reactor is scheduled to be done today) These are my test results and have not been independently verified.

Salinity 1.022
Temp 79
NH3 <.25
NO3 25
NO2 .1
PH 8.0
Phos .40
Alk 8.0/2.86
CA 400

[tanya72806]

CHuck Im sorry I missed this but how often and how much do you do a waterchange ???????? In order for you SPS to flourish you really need to lower ALL of your nutrients. Bring your salinity up to 1.026 also If you have any questions ask away or PM me

[Cougarman]

Goodwin9 do you use any type of phosphate absorber? I know you have a phosphoban reactor, but sometimes people put other media in it. I use Rowaphos on my tank, and i think its a must if your gonna have alot of fish and corals. I've gotton incredible sps growth since I started using it. Your pH could be higher, but then it is morning, I'm not sure if you have a reverse daylight refugeium or not. I'd raise the alkalinity a little too. Helps reduce the pH swings. Just my opinion though. Maybe a test for Mg would be beneficial aswell. Its levels can affect alkalinity aswell. And again, I dont see the nitrate levels as too much of a problem, however the lower the better.

[AJT]

Purple has not caused any problems. There is the occasional chase, but no injuries.

Salinity 1.022 Most people use 1.024 Fish like it less, corals higher

Temp 79 OK
NH3 <.25
NO3 25 Fine for fish & softies, LPS & SPS too high
NO2 .1 Bio filter not handling load Maybe a little more time, water changes, &/or more Live rock/ Less Food
PH 8.0 Too low for SPS/LPS Should be closer to 8.3
Mine is usually lower in the morn & higher in he evening. Lower o2 levels at night drive down PH.

Phos .40 Too high for SPS/ LPS
Alk 8.0/2.86
CA 400 OK but should be closer to 425-440 IMO


If you are feeding alot of flake food like me, it seems to raise waste/PO4 levels. Have you gone to oriental market & bought DRIED not roasted Nori(green seaweed)? I have been told there is less PO4 in it than flake food. It is used to make sushi & readily available. I clip a sheet to my glass 2X a day for the tangs, they will love it. Watch out how you clip it, if a piece gets loose it can cover some of your overflow & possibly cause a mess.

my .02

[Cougarman]

I agree, my fish love nori. You can buy about 50 sheets for $5 at an asian store here. Very cheap in my opinion. I also get alot of frozen fish and shrimp for my porcupine fish, cortez stingray, white-eyed moray and trumpetfish. I use my magfloat cleaner as a nori clip.

[Goodwin9]

Originally posted by tanya72806
CHuck Im sorry I missed this but how often and how much do you do a waterchange ???????? In order for you SPS to flourish you really need to lower ALL of your nutrients. Bring your salinity up to 1.026 also If you have any questions ask away or PM me

I generally do 100 gallon water changes every other week, more if necessary. Salinity dropped a little cause the auto top off failed again last night (3rd time) and pumped 80 gallons of RO into the tank and onto the floor......

[Goodwin9]

Originally posted by Cougarman
Goodwin9 do you use any type of phosphate absorber? I know you have a phosphoban reactor, but sometimes people put other media in it. I use Rowaphos on my tank, and i think its a must if your gonna have alot of fish and corals. I've gotton incredible sps growth since I started using it. Your pH could be higher, but then it is morning, I'm not sure if you have a reverse daylight refugeium or not. I'd raise the alkalinity a little too. Helps reduce the pH swings. Just my opinion though. Maybe a test for Mg would be beneficial aswell. Its levels can affect alkalinity aswell. And again, I dont see the nitrate levels as too much of a problem, however the lower the better.

I use Rowa Phos also and plan on changing out the reactor today.

I forgot to list the Mag reading this morning of 1110.

[Goodwin9]

Originally posted by AJT
Purple has not caused any problems. There is the occasional chase, but no injuries.

Salinity 1.022 Most people use 1.024 Fish like it less, corals higher

Temp 79 OK
NH3 <.25
NO3 25 Fine for fish & softies, LPS & SPS too high
NO2 .1 Bio filter not handling load Maybe a little more time, water changes, &/or more Live rock/ Less Food
PH 8.0 Too low for SPS/LPS Should be closer to 8.3
Mine is usually lower in the morn & higher in he evening. Lower o2 levels at night drive down PH.

Phos .40 Too high for SPS/ LPS
Alk 8.0/2.86
CA 400 OK but should be closer to 425-440 IMO


If you are feeding alot of flake food like me, it seems to raise waste/PO4 levels. Have you gone to oriental market & bought DRIED not roasted Nori(green seaweed)? I have been told there is less PO4 in it than flake food. It is used to make sushi & readily available. I clip a sheet to my glass 2X a day for the tangs, they will love it. Watch out how you clip it, if a piece gets loose it can cover some of your overflow & possibly cause a mess.

my .02

Thank you for your input! I'll check the PH again later this afternoon to see what happens after the lights have been on for a while.

When I look at these numbers, I think that the major reason they are less than perfect are;

1. The number of fish in the tank.

2. The amount of feeding I do. (I feed 1 if not 2 sheets of Nori each day, in the evening, I feed a variety of frozen foods. (Brine, Mysis, Plankton, Emerald entree, Marine Cuisine, mega marine algea) Every other night, I also add ON formula 1 & 2 flakes. I still haven't gotten around to making up a batch of Janathan's frozen recipe.

During feeding, I shut off all of the pumps in the tank so I can better guage when to stop and also to limit food being sucked into the over flows.

With this said, any more ideas or suggestions for improvement?

[PJsStuff]

This is sad Im watching you change your water lol. I'm bored. lol