450 Gallon Peninsula Display

[mcrist]

Originally posted by MGB
I don't think it will suck too much, you'll be able to crank the flow and get more of that fish waste into the sump and skimmer, fish are a lot more adaptable than you think, I'm sure your blennies will survive. On your lighting thoughts, I went with the Giesemann Infinity which was expensive, but is a great performing as well as looking fixture. I wasn't dissapointed.

What size and wattage did you go with? Where did you buy it from? The light should be my next big purchase and hopefully I buy it before summer.

[mcrist]

Originally posted by tcmfish
Idk if I would use encrusting species on the returns because they will still look like returns after they encrust. I would use a branching coral like acropora or poccilopora that will have an encrusting base but will branch upward. A soft coral would look cool too. Idk experiment with it.

Well I plan on at least shortening the loc-line but I am nervous now since what happened to invincible569. He on fiddled with one and he had a leak but I have 8 that I need to adjust. Damn I hate plumbing…

[mcrist]

Originally posted by TheSaltwaterGuy
I'd love to keep some Crosshatch Triggers, thing is, they don't do well with sharks...

Maybe my next tank will have some.

Yeah I don't think they would like a shark as a neighbor. Come to think of it I doubt most fish would like that idea.

[tylorarm]

i remember you're running double ended 250w bulbs but what ballasts are you using? I bought the Geisemman Specta without ballasts at a lower price and then used my existing ballasts for the MH bulbs (mogul). The T5's were built in so no choice there. Still expensive, but less so without including the MH ballasts.

[MGB]

I went with the 250W DE Infinity fixture, which I got from Salty Critter, Great company.

It's a lot of money but you won't be dissapointed with the fixture. I ended up getting the 12k giesemann bulbs, which are actually 10k's and super actinic t5's, this combo seams to be growing everything well.

[bigtyguyy]

wow looks incredible!

[erics3000]

It looks bigger with the cabnetts...NICE WORK..

[mcrist]

Originally posted by tylorarm
i remember you're running double ended 250w bulbs but what ballasts are you using? I bought the Geisemman Specta without ballasts at a lower price and then used my existing ballasts for the MH bulbs (mogul). The T5's were built in so no choice there. Still expensive, but less so without including the MH ballasts.

I’ve never seen any Giesemann lights sold without the ballasts. Where did you buy them? Do you have any problems running the lights with different ballast?
My current light is an ugly Coralife light fixture with three 250 watt mogul metal halides and 2 actinic compact fluorescent bulbs. No offense if anyone owns one of these fixtures it works fine but it’s just a black box hanging over my tank.

[mcrist]

Originally posted by MGB
I went with the 250W DE Infinity fixture, which I got from Salty Critter, Great company.

It's a lot of money but you won't be dissapointed with the fixture. I ended up getting the 12k giesemann bulbs, which are actually 10k's and super actinic t5's, this combo seams to be growing everything well.

Thanks for the info...

[mcrist]

Thank you bigtyguyy and erics3000.

[TheSaltwaterGuy]

Originally posted by mcrist
Yeah I don't think they would like a shark as a neighbor. Come to think of it I doubt most fish would like that idea.

Not because of the fact that the shark would eat the fish, rather the face that Triggers generally don't like sharks. They tend to pick at them and sometimes eat the eyeballs out of them. Pretty gruesome stuff.

[tcmfish]

I used to work at a LFS and we got in a shark and a butterfly and the butterfly ate the sharks eyes. It is grusome

[TheSaltwaterGuy]

Yep, that kind of stuff happens. If people would actually research the fish they want to keep and the fish that are compatible, this kind of stuff would never happen.

[mcrist]

Yeah it really sucks when you don’t research your livestock purchases and you either see them slowly die/suffer or you see the destroy one another. I admit I made some mistakes early in my hobby obsession but I believe we all did.

[mcrist]

My cabinets are now done. The last two doors were attached tonight and it really looks great. Now I need to start my next project which is reducing my nitrates. I’ve been trying a lot of different things over the last several of months with no success. I decided to try sulfur based denitrator so I ordered the Korallin BioDenitrator S-4002. It should be here tomorrow.

[Dudester]

Looking fantastic! I agree that the long locline returns detract from the reef. Mounting frags on them is an interesting idea, but if you do you'll need to make sure you're happy with your flow patterns. Once you have corals encrusting over the joints of the locline you won't be able to reposition their direction to change your flow, which defeats the purpose of having locline in the first place.

What bulkheads did you use beneath your locline returns? If they're Sched80 you won't have to worry about causing a leak.

Hope you're winning your battle vs. the 'trates.

Mike

[mcrist]

My original idea was to have the loc-line stick out the sand only an inch or two. Then I made some changes and now they stick out about a foot. I think I will try replacing the loc-line with a 2-3 inch nipple and schedule 80 45 degree elbow. I am hoping that this will be a lot less noticeable then the loc-line. All my bulkheads are schedule 80 Hayward brand bulkheads. I was planning on testing the change this weekend but installing my new Korallin BioDenitrator S-4002 and a water change was all I had time for.

Thanks for the compliments Mike.

[erics3000]

I seperated my loc line on another tank to make it shorter. I just pulled it apart. maybe I had something different. have you tried just pulling it apart?

[Jeremy Blaze]

Looks amazing! I love room divders and your looks perfect where it is and size wise.

I agree the cabanitry made it look even bigger, and much better!

Coming together nice, and will definatly be totm material after it matures a bit!

[mcrist]

Originally posted by erics3000
I seperated my loc line on another tank to make it shorter. I just pulled it apart. maybe I had something different. have you tried just pulling it apart?

I have found that loc-line is not too easy to separate especially when your arms are fully extended in the tank. I can just reach them so I can not get to much leverage.

[mcrist]

Jeremy Blaze , Thanks… Believe it or not the room divider was my second choice. I wanted an in wall setup but my wife talked me out of it.

Boy does my tank need to mature before my tank could even be considered for TOTM. You may gladly dream with me…

[erics3000]

Yeah I was thinking you might need a snorkle. hahahah

[mcrist]

I am happy to report that my nitrates dropped from a high of 20-25 (test kit not accurate at the higher range) to 7 ppm. The Korallin BioDenitrator has been in operation for only 10 days. I thought it was suppose to take 30 days to see results but I am not complaining. Let see how long it takes to get to zero.

[Dudester]

That's good news. Have you done anything else to reduce nitrates like, say, a recent large water change? If not, then that sounds like a nice product.

[mcrist]

I did my normal weekly water change after I took the nitrate readings. No other changes were made.