Wow!!! Just Wow!!!!

.

Can you link to the attachment? That's an awesome idea.

Here you go.

Congrats. I still can't believe your photos. Your bulbs and camera settings must match nicely.

Cheers!

Awesome tank! Do you just keep the chaeto in the back of the LR? Doesn't it go everywhere? I'm planning on putting my chaeto to the display area of my tank and was wondering how you did yours. Thanks.

The rock wall keeps the chaeto in place and I rarely have pieces of it floating around.

Hi,
Your tank's beautiful! I have a question for you--you said that you upgraded from a 30 gal. to a 40 gal. when you moved. I was wondering how you went about doing that? I'm getting ready to move here soon, and I just wondered if you had any good advice?
Thanks!!

how many bulbs running again and what bulbs?Im now getting my 30 breeder going and after two different halides on it i think im gonna try a 4 bulb t5 setup.

Sorry this reply is so late!

QueenOfTheReef - I basically removed all my corals from the rock and bagged them separately. I also had the 40 set-up a day beforehand. It all went pretty smoothly and i did not lose any live stock.

plainrt - You won't be disappointed if you go with T5s. I am running one of each: GE 6500K, ATI Aquablue Special, ATI Blue Plus, and a UVL superactinic for a wide range in spectrum.

Oh i found your info in the t5 post.I ended up getting a tek light so now just time to play with bulbs on it.

Thanks GobyInPeace. Makes me feel a little bit better about my upcoming move.

do you know what order your bulbs are in place?I here can change things.

Sorry this is so late. I did not realize anyone posted.

From front to back.

ATI Blue Plus, ATI Aquablue Special, UVL Superactinic, GE 6500K.

not too late.Im running same bulbs now on my 30b and enjoy the look.Ill try the way you have and see if does anything.

Your dawn/dusk modes might be screwed up if you arrange them the way I did. Since I wired the ballasts myself the bulbs are staggered.

yeah i went back to my way lol

thanks though

Awesome tank & very inspirational. I was just curious what ballasts you used to overdrive the 39w T5's. I've heard that the Icecap 430 & 660 ballasts overdrive the bulbs, though I couldn't get definitive info.
Thank-you.

If there was a tank of the year award, this would get my vote! Everytime I take a look at the TOTM page I always have to click on your description to look at it again lol

any updates on the tank?

Thanks again everyone for the kind words!

I recently decided to sell off most of my corals and stock my tank with more macro algae and fish. I have a new job that requires me to go away too often and did not want to worry about a full blown crash.

Most of my corals went to a 120 gallon I set up for a client and boy was he happy. I made some nice cash as well to soften the blow. It was time to move on. I really needed a larger tank as cutting back all the time was getting ridiculous.

I did keep the corals I started with almost 6 years ago. Those include a hammer, blasto, toadstool and some others. I kept these corals as they seem to be almost bullet proof ~ once surviving 90 degree temps.

I will post a picture as soon as I get the chance.

~Spike

Here are some recent pics after the selling off of the corals. I know it no longer has that awe factor but it is still a nice tank to come home to:









I will also post a few pics of my corals in their new home. You will be surprised how much they filled in a 120!

Really nice tank!

looks good now also.Some nice rock and i like the added chromis in there.

It's still pretty impressive! I'm glad you hung onto your original corals too.

Goby, how are your pumps set up around the tank? Right now I'm contemplating a 40b build and I was looking at building a closed loop pushing about 800gph through an OM squirt on top of a 200gph flow through a refugium. Granted, the idea was SPS, but now that I see your work of art, I question those plans.

Have you ever checked your pH after lights out? No big swings?

I have them set in a Gyre type pattern. Starting from the back right the pumps are aimed in a counterclockwise rotation with the last one in sequence pointing against the flow to create some misdirection. It works well for my set-up.

Sounds like your plan is sound though. You could always drop the CL flow down from 800 with a smaller pump.

Good luck!

I have 2 questions for the Peace Goby

1 - How did you come up with the idea of stuffing chaeto behind LR? I thought this idea sounded strange at first, since a plant would typically want max light. But at second glance, I guess it would have all the wonderful benefits you mentioned, yet this way, it won't grow out of control because it only receives limited light. Is that a fair assessment?

2 - What are the potential negatives associated with a 3-day blackout? And why 3 days - is there a reason 72 hours would kill more algae than say 24 or 48 hours?

Thanks. I really like these 2 unique ideas.

Man, I really love the vibe you got going with this BT, couldnt help but put a smile on my face and make me think "groovin". Nice work on the tone as well. Great entry man.

Thanks for the comments guys!

Sorry This is so late.



1.) I have always stocked some type of macro algae in my display, chaeto was just another type but its ugly so I hid it. The chaeto gets plenty of light and cutting back is the only way to control it.

2.)I have not encountered any negatives yet but others have lost already stressed corals. "is there a reason 72 hours would kill more algae than say 24 or 48 hours?" One more day with-out light makes a significant difference. That's just the nature of things.

The fish gods opened up and sent that tank for all to see,

FREAKIN AWESOME before and after, the color and clarity of that tank are INCREDIBLE! you have just given me a life goal to work towards.