Excellent macro shots. It must be fun playing with that new lens.

I also love the ric garden. Ever consider getting a few sexy shrimp to play around in there?

Great photo of the baby yuma.

Looking good!

No, I feared with my large fish and high water current they would not survive. I have not read up on them so this is just my belief without research. I'll check them out tonight!

any updates?

Yes! and its not a good one. I've been trying to figure out why some of my sps have receeded and my LPS loosing heads. I think I've found it out.

I run 2 300w Marineland Glass heaters for the tank. I grounding a volt meter and registered around 30v with them on. and 3v with them off. and turning the whole tank off I get a reading of 2.8 so I'm not sure where the last stray voltage is coming from. Could be my meter. I've ordered a 500w titanium from JBJ I hope cures this problem. In the mean time My spare 15 year old 300w jager heater is having a hard time holding temps in. basement is unheated at 54F and dropping.

I'll be wrapping the tank and enclosing the stand very soon.

I just dropped in on your thread, it's nice to see another "big tanker" up here in the nano-reef club.

I'll be watching your thread with great interest, hopefully you won't have to resort to a space heater?

Good luck with your heating issues man. Are there any local reefers who could maybe loan you a heater for the time being? Lots of people keep a backup or two.


There are quite a few of us! Even though I only have the one nano these days, and am probably taking it down soon, this is still the best reefing forum on the internet if ya ask me!

Yeah I remembered I have a couple of backups, included a 300w stealth sitting in my 30 gallon mixing trash bin. I've pulled that one out and temps have settled back up where I like it. Voltage is reading 3v much better than 30v's +

What is this? I found it very late at night darting around, Sucked it up with my extending feeding tube.

Still can't figure out what this was. Here is the best photo I could get of it. Sorry for the long delay been job hunting.

gross... looks like an albino bristle worm

Bulb Burned out

I was on a quest to use these Phoenix 14k 150w MH bulbs for 1.5-2 years, based on heavy research on these particular bulb life. I've noticed a diminished bulb output based ONLY via photos. It is not extreme but a brightness drop off is noticeable, via digital photo settings.

I installed the bulbs sometime in March 2010. 1 Phoenix bulb burned out 2 days ago (2-10-2011) This means the bulb lasted for 11 months. Oddly the other 2 phoenix bulbs in my 3 bulb fixture are burning nicely. I have a 10k Ushio bulb in place as a temp.

Saving some money up to order another set of 3 phoenix's. I love the color and so do my corals.

here is the burned bulb:









After comparing this bulb to the other 2, I believe it may have been a manufacture defect.

It has been too long! Again nothing really added to the tank. Just growing things out. I'm planning on doing a tank shoot sometime this week after I scrape the glass.

I did remove this guy. I had kept it for about 6 months, but its so big it was ####### off my anemone and sand level corals where not looking too good. The worm itself was about 8 inches long. I'd say over 12-14'' when it was weaving and crawling around the bottom of my rock work. Simply huge

I am not sure if it is a fireworm, but needles went flying when I managed to grab it at night with my 8'' surgical tongs. No LFS around me wanted it, so in the trash it went.

Enjoy:

Some changes are happening, mainly the move to LED lighting.

I've chosen to go with LED par38's in 20k. Starting off with 6 spread across the tank. I do not have high light demanding corals.

Another plus with this lighting setup. Adjustable, movable, and can work with any size tank of mine in the future. I like my 125 gallon tank, but with moving within a year. I feel a 40 breeder size would suit my coral demands. Plus upkeep and electric demand is substantial with a larger system. I want to get back to nano-reefing in my future.

Very cool. I'm considering the Par38 route myself over the 180.

I have no idea what happened last night, but my tank is crashing hard and fast. Lost all fish but the mandarin is doing fine. The sps are gone, and I'm going to lose the hammer coral.

I've set up my AP24. As I was going to gradually downsize back to it over the coming months. Well guess I don't have a choice, it's up and running now. Finished the coral and LR transfer now just to catch the madarin. Then move my snails over.

More details and pictures to come once I feel I'm safe for the night.

Ps first tank that is bare bottom.

Wow that sux. Hopefully you can save everything that is left.

Well I suppose I should start a "Rocket's AP24" tank thread soon. Just so tired from the massive amount of work it takes to dismantle a 125 transfer to a AP24.

I've come up with 2 theories so far on what happened.

Theory 1: RO filter problem.

Reason: I tested TDS about 2 weeks ago. The meter read out 9. Which is has been the normal for my tank for the past 2 years. I just tested the TDS and it read 15. Higher, but It has read this high before. (I am on well water)

I have had a spectra pure 5 stage unit since Christmas last year that I have been meaning to setup. Well now my house has a dedicated RO/DI unit for my tank, and the fridge/sink now has a dedicated RO unit with 2.5 gallon tank.

Theory 2: Sand bed nuke

Reason: As I was cleaning out the sand today I noticed how dark green it turned the remaining water. I wonder if one of my many 15'' bristle worms disturbed a high debris concentration.

The new AP24 is Bare Bottom. Pictures to come tonight.

Thinking back. I managed to capture this photo:



I never really thought anything about it until today, when I developed the images from my 60D. The odd thing about this photo is: 1. I have known I have had a sea star for over a year. 2. This is the only photo I have of the sea star. 3. This photo was taking about a week ago.

I noticed the strange behavior of the star fish. It literally ran around the entire tank perimeter and then darted back into its original hiding crevice in the rock-work.

Blah, It is just bugging the crap out of me that I can't figure out what went wrong. I had a beautiful tank for so long. Now I'm back to my AP 24. And I'll be with it for a few years.

P.S. Entire 125 setup including lights stand sump skimmer heater rock and new (bagged) substrate is for sale asking $2000. PM FOR DETAILS!

Damn, really sorry to hear this. You're tank was really hitting its stride, too. Looking forward to seeing pictures of your AP24. Bare bottom is different, some people like it, some people hate it. We'll see where you come out.

This will be my last post in this thread. Here is what will/is/now happening. I have quickly setup and transferred everything I wished to keep in my old AP24.

Here are the final pictures of what was a great adventure.









Everything was going smoothly. Until my 10 or so snails decided to spawn, at the same time: My AP24 was a white cloud after I got my Vortech up and running.





Look for a link to my new "Rocket's AP24" thread tonight.

A few thoughts on running a somewhat large reef tank:

Setup is expensive. I got most of my large equipment on ebay sales, or local people tearing down their tank. I'm actually the third owner of the 125.

Maintenance can be very tiresome, or extremely easy. I managed to setup a ATO system, and lights and tank temp where controlled via an reef keeper controller. Water changes where hard a first. I designed a system that would auto fill a 30 gallon brute trash container. Drilled a few holes wired a K3 to stir the water, and a 300 watt heater to heat it 1 day before the change. I had a 3500gph pump setup inside container to quickly pump all 30 gallons back into the 125 when I did a water change. I could do one in about 10 minutes. Draining the tank took the longest. And was plumbed into my basements sump pump. fearing failure of that unit, immediately after a WC I would flush it with house water.

Cost was the biggest issue. I'm living comfortably, but even then filling the tank with corals, and fish was getting to be expensive. Trade with others to get deals. And allow your corals to grow to fill out the tank. Every 6 months I would order 3 200 gal Oceanic salt mixes. And once a year I would replace my UV bulb, 3 150w MH bulbs and 4 96w PC's.

I figured I'd pay about $50 in electricity every month just for running the tank. I manged to drop that a little by switching to the LED's.

The LED's (4) PAR38's will be going over my AP 24. In fact, today, that is my goal, to get them operational over my AP24.

I look forward to substantial savings in the future. With being back to my original tank that got me started here on N-R.com.

--End of thread--