[Custom] DarkDevil

[MrMoFo]

i have a Hydro flow and they tend to get "Stuck" on a occasion and need a good cleaing.....wont you have to move your rock work to get the HydroFlow out?

 

I love the look of the tank and sump.... but my guess would be that its pretty hard to get the water still enough to view from the top with an overflow and your flow comming straight up from the middle of the tank ...and its a small tank so what flow doesnt go to the surface will hit the walls and cause ripples that way right?

 

just my thoughts .....looks great!!!

[DarkDevil]

well, I think its time for me to do an update. recently I added some friends, this will be my first wave. will wait a little and see how the tank react before the next wave of stocking. here are some pics, I really need to get a filter on my camera, all the glare is killing my pics (remind self, get filter):

 

Left side

 

From top

 

Side view of my clam

 

Top view of my clam

 

Some zoa, I will add more when time comes

 

 

 

purple tip acro sp.

 

dark green acro sp.

 

Oregon Echinata/Tortousa

 

Tyree's LE Phonape Birdnest

 

Pokerstar Montipora Danae, lost color due to fresh water dip......

 

Montipora Vietnamensis, also lost color due to fresh water dip.....

 

well, we'll see how it goes, enjoy!

[GrandeGixxer]

This tank is going to be awesome!

[DarkDevil]

I think it's time for me to do an update, since a lot of other contestants are post whoring their thread to push it to the top. just kidding.

 

things I recently did:

1, changed my bulb from hamilton 10k to a hamilton 14k. give the coral a little bit more color.

2, dial in the kalk dripping

 

things that set me back:

1, I found a lot of monti nudis that are eating my montis, so I keep having to fresh water dip them, which the monti are still having really bad colors and hanging on by a thread.

2, Ca, Alk and pH are flying all over the place since I was using different ways to maintain Ca and Alk. all these fluctuation kind of lighten or brown out some of my SPS. but they settled down now.

 

well school is over next week, so I got a long list which I still need to work on.

I recently stocked up my tank, my good friend Doug generously gave me couple of his prized frags to put in, thanks Doug. well forget the babbling, here are the pics, sorry for the quality and I still haven't order the filter yet, I just can't take good pic with the blue lights, maybe I will figure something out, anyways enjoy!

 

Water quality:

SG: 1.024

Temp: 79-80F

Ca: 420

Alk : 9.6

pH: 8.00-8.14

 

 

 

 

let me know what you think

[sandlot13]

cool man! liking it alot...... keep the updates coming!

[serkel]

sweet clams what is the second one you got???

[DarkDevil]

Thanks!

 

there are 3 clams in there right now,

the blue/black one is T. Crocea,

the wavy gold is T. Derasa,

and the last one is of course a gold teardrop T. Maxima

 

I am still looking for unique color/pattern crocea or maxima, but seems like most of the places are out of maximas due to the cutback of exports of maximas. We'll see, but I think I can fit 2-3 more in there I will post more pics these couple days, kind of hectic around the house during the holidays, u know what I mean

[DarkDevil]

Sorry, no pics yet, I ordered the filter adapter and polarizer filter for my camera, due to christmas and new year's holiday, they keep delaying my shippment. oh well, should be here in couple days.

 

I recently up my flow from Mag3 (300gph) to a Mag5 (500gph), since the Mag5 was doing nothing in the garage. at first I just want to try to see the effects, but now I am liking it. I am thinking to up one more notch to a Mag7 (750gph), but we'll see.

 

Also I lowered my light a bit to blast the SPS, I am thinking to change it back to 10k bulb, since I think the 14k sucks. Although most of the SPS start to color back up nicely and the M. digitatas are starting to grow like weed.

 

the flatworms just don't like to leave me alone, they keep coming back. I even double the "flatworm exit" dose, and they still come back, I just don't know why they hate me so much... the monti nudi seems to be under control, I haven't seen one in weeks, and the encrusting montis are finally coloring up.

 

other then that, everything else seems fine. although I rearrange a lot of coral last night to make room for the new ones that are going to come in the next couple days, and everything was still sliming when I went to sleep. I broke a lot of tips off, so now I have to wait for them to heal.

 

I will be visiting friends next couple days to see what I can pick up from their tank to stock up mine. I will see what I can score, pics will follow, until then....

[DarkDevil]

Hi again, I hope I am not late, I was out of town last couple days, didn't have time to update my final collection of corals. But here it is, my final selections of corals, a lot of friends helped. when they know the corals are going into the contest tank, they all frag out things that they didn't want to frag in the first place, I really appreciate all the helps, you know who u are!

 

took me a long time to glue things down, placing them and stuffs, and in the process, I broke off a lot of stuffs, now they need to heal. also my hand are always in the tank for the past week, I am sure the corals doesn't like it at all. since a lot SPSs and a clam is added, plus the cold weather, my calcium, alkalinity and pH go all wacky again. my kalk dosing seems not catching up, I need to find new ways to keep them stable.

 

anyways, enough of the babbling, nobody likes to read, here will be the pics, first will be the overall pics:

 

Tank in action:

 

Top:

 

Left:

 

Right:

 

Couple top close up:

[DarkDevil]

Here is the break down of what is in the tank:

 

First are the Tridacnid, giant clams:

 

Large Tridacna Crocea:

 

Small Tridacna Crocea:

 

Tridacna Derasa:

 

Teardrop Tridacna Maxima:

 

 

 

 

Then to the Acroporidae:

 

Acropora Yongei (green slimer):

 

Acropora Tenuis:

 

Acropora Tortuosa (ORA Tort):

 

Acropora Valida:

[DarkDevil]

Acropora Tortuosa (Cali tort):

 

Acropora Millepora:

 

Acropora Prostrata:

 

Couple Acropora Sp. if you know the species, please let me know:

 

ORA Chips Acro:

 

Green hairy: Acro

 

Green with blue tip:

 

Blue tip:

 

Purple acro:

 

Blue/purple tip:

 

Tabletop Acro:

 

 

Steely blue Acro:

[DarkDevil]

Montipora Digitata:

 

Montipora Digitata (Green base w/ orange polyp):

 

Montipora Capricornis (Idaho Grape):

 

Montipora Danae (Pokerstar):

 

Montipora Peltiformis:

 

Montipora Confusa:

 

Couple Montipora Sp:

 

Rainbow:

 

Bright Yellow:

 

Purple Polyp:

[DarkDevil]

Seriatopora sp.:

Purple Polyps:

 

Tyree's Ponape:

 

Cyphastrea Ocellina (Atlantis Meteor Shower):

 

Couple shots of various Zoanthid Sp.:

 

Couple broken frags:

 

 

Hope I didn't leave anything out, let me know what you think, enjoy!

[WarEagleNR88]

Hope I didn't leave anything out, let me know what you think, enjoy!

That's a lot of corals! Looking great! Hopefully we'll see some good growth over the next few months.

[sandlot13]

wow, some great stuff! man, makes me wish i had the money to get some new corals! loving the encrusting monti's

[DarkDevil]

That's a lot of corals! Looking great! Hopefully we'll see some good growth over the next few months.

 

 

thanks, SPS don't grow fast, that's why I am stocking it up like it is. but couple of my older frags have start taking off, especially the green digitata, it's starting to grow like weeds, u literally see growth everyday.

 

 

 

 

wow, some great stuff! man, makes me wish i had the money to get some new corals! loving the encrusting monti's

 

 

thanks, a lot of the great stuffs are from friends, they are all exotic SPSers. you just need to beg to the right person

 

couple of the montis when I got them they are totally browned out, I got kind of an idea what they suppose to be, I took them in to see if I can color them back up. well I am starting to see some intense color from the new growth, so in a month or two, I am sure they will be more extrodinary, we'll see.

[DarkDevil]

a little update, as my luck always, expect the worst. yesterday, I found on one of my encrusting monti have a large portion got eaten/died off, I think the nudi problem still there. so I did a FW dip again, oh well, it was doing so well, and a lot of places are turning bright blue/purple, now we are back to square one again.... all the Acros are doing well, all of them have encrusted the base already, so let's hope they will be taking off soon.

[DarkDevil]

I guess I am a little late for the update pics, I am really busy these days. Whenever I am home, the light is already off, so I didn't get any pics. Anyways, nothing much happen to the tank, other than the dreaded bug munching on my rainbow once a while, everything else is in pretty good condition, and very stable.

temp : 79-81F

calcium : 410 ppm

alk : 8.6 dKh

pH : 8-8.2

here comes the pics, my photo taking technique is getting worse and worse, oh well, the tank look way better in real person. Anyways, here we go:

close up of my cali tort:

[one8thscale]

Awesome collection of SPS, those clams are nice too!

[DarkDevil]

thank you, you yourself have a nice collection going on over there too, btw, love your dendro. I still need to get one for my other tank.

[one8thscale]

Yeah, dendros are cool! Only problem is that they like to eat a lot. Good luck with the contest.

[GrandeGixxer]

Any new FTS? How is the growout going?

[DarkDevil]

yes, I will upload them shortly. they are growing at a steady speed, everything is happy. most of them color up decently, granted, a lot of them are deep brown color when I got them. but they still could be better, 3-4 months is not enough for full coloration from brownies, I will have comparison in my final report, stay tuned! thanks.

 

ok, here's my March update. But seriously, I just don't know how to take good aauarium pictures! all the pics turn out crappy, my tank looks way better then that, I can have ppl confirm that. what can you do right? anyways, if the tank looks ugly, it's because of my photography skills, not because of the tank, here it is:

left:

right:

top:

look at it from middle:

actinic shot:

 

 

 

couple pics showing how much growth there have been:

 

enjoy! I will have full report and all the corals update in my final report, stay tuned! thanks

[DarkDevil]

First of all, I want to thank nano-reef.com to host such a wonderful contest. It gave me another meaning to keeping a reef. I learned a lot through my tank and I learn a lot through other contestant’s tank. Even if I did not win this contest, the experience of keeping up with the tank during the past 6 month is just phenomenal. Let’s see how these 6 months have treated me.

 

I first started with this design is because I have always wanted a large cube tank. When I notice this contest, I thought why don’t I start a mini cube and see how it goes? After a lot of calculations and planning, I did not end up with a perfect cube, but I prefer this a little more because I can have the top down look of my corals. Also this is my first self-build display tank, I was very nervous when I was building it, but I did a lot of research and the final product turns out fine. Moreover, I am a starved college student so for the equipments I tried to stayed as less as possible to keep the total cost down. Ended up spending more then I anticipate but couple less meals did not kill me either

 

Equipments:

Display tank dimension: 17"x17"x8.75" = 10.95 gallon

Sump dimension: 17"x11"x12.25" = 9.92 gallon

Lighting: 250W MH XM20k + 2x 32W Compact Florescence Actinic (9hr MH, 13hr CF)

Flow: Mag5 w/ hydro flo

Skimmer: AquaC Urchin w/ Maxi-Jet 1200

Heating: 100W tube

 

Designed in Solidworks:

 

When building the display tank:

 

Finished display tank:

 

Sump:

 

I hand polished everything... took a lonnnnngggggggg time....

 

And resting in the final position:

[DarkDevil]

For corals, my original idea was to keep it an all clam tank, with a sprinkle of a little zoa and encrusting SPS. Unfortunately just right after the contest began, from what I read, the importers have slowed down the import of the clams, especially the T. Maxima, due to the heavy harvesting of these species. And I have not seen any good looking clams in the store for a long time. So I decide to go another route and switch my original idea to go mainly SPS because nobody else in the contest are going for it. Since I have couple friends who have really nice collections of SPSs, everybody chipped in a little, or sell it to me for a very low price. I ended up with: 4 clams, 15 Acropora, 10 Montipora, 2 birdnest, 1 LPS and various zoas.

List (please check other thread for every single picture):

2x Tridacna Crocea

Tridacna Derasa

Tridacna Maxima (teardrop)

Acropora Yongei (green slimer)

Acropora Tenuis

Acropora Tortuosa (ORA Tort)

Acropora Tortuosa (Cali tort)

Acropora Valida

Acropora Millepora

Acropora Prostrata (ROAB pink with blue tip)

Acropora Abrolhensis

Acropora Lovelli (Mike Paletta Turquoise Lovelli)

Acropora Loisettae

Acropora Solitaryensis

Acropora Sp. (ORA Chips)

Acropora Sp. (purple stag)

Acropora Sp. (purple/blue tip)

Acropora Sp. (steely blue)

Montipora Digitata

Montipora Digitata (Green base w/ orange polyp)

Montipora Capricornis (Idaho Grape)

Montipora Danae (Pokerstar)

Montipora Danae (Superman)

Montipora Danae (Rainbow)

Montipora Peltiformis

Montipora Confusa

Montipora Nodosa

Montipora Sp. (plating w/ purple polyp)

Seriatopora sp. (purple polyp)

Seriatopora sp. (Tyree’s Ponape)

Cyphastrea Ocellina (Atlantis Meteor Shower)

Several Zoathids sp.

 

For every project, there are always ups and downs. My first downs is, since I start the tank, I have been having flatworm problems. I tried heavy dosing of Salifert Flatworm Exit, it will kill the flatworm instantly, but after a week they will start popping up again, I don’t understand why. Lucky that these are not the acropora eating ones, nor would they do any harm, but I just don’t like the idea of having them in the tank. Second is the montipora eating nudibranch, I think I got my first one from the M. Confusa. Also resilient little bugger, I have to keep dipping all my montipora in fresh water, but they would come back in time. This fresh water dip actually made all my montipora hanging by a thread. They all lost their skin, color, and looked really bad. But now they seem doing just fine, the colors have been slowly coming back, took really long time though.

 

Maintenance wise, other then the weekly water change of 1.5 gallon. I have to dose 2 part - Seachem’s Reef builder for alkalinity and Seachem’s Advantage Calcium for calcium supplement. Also I feed the tank twice per week with Golden Pearl, DT’s Phyto and a little Cylop-eeze.

My parameter:

Temperature: 81F-83F

Salinity: 1.023-1.024

Calcium: 410ppm

Alkalinity: 8dKh

pH: 8.2-8.3

NH4, NO2, NO3, and PO4 all zero

 

Some monthly pictures:

October:

November:

December:

 

 

 

 

January:

February:

March:

 

 

 

 

The coral growth is phenomenal, I am surprised to see the SPS grew faster then some of the softies, the clams grew a whole lot also. Here are some of the pictures to show the differences:

 

Tyree's ponape birdsnest

November:

Now:

 

ORA Tort:

December:

Now:

 

Purple polyp birdsnest

December:

Now:

 

 

 

Cali Tort:

December:

Now:

 

Acropora Lovelli (Mike Paletta Turquoise Lovelli)

December:

Now:

 

Seriously this might be one of the best experiences I have had in my 4 years of reefing. I am actually proud of myself, I went through the whole 6 months with minimal problems. I did not crash the tank, everything seems healthy; as far as I can tell, they are all growing. Although some of them lost the color, maybe because of too much light and not enough nutrition, but I am sure they will gain the color back once they fully acclimate to the environment. But on the other hand, I colored up couple brownies and saved couple dying pieces from the fish store. A big pat on my back, but then without this contest I may never try to build this tank and made it worked. Once again, thank you nano-reef.com for hosting this event, thank you everybody who helped me with my corals and supports, and also, thank you everyone on this site for reading and the kind words. May everybody have a nice reefing experience. Good luck.