I love the sump area! The little frag tank area is a great addition to the overall setup of the system... the pendant looks like a metallic umbrella

Great stuff!

Planning on keeping mostly small fishes like banggais, apogons (if I can find some), sunburst anthias, perculas, gobies and just 1 PT. Any other suggestions?






Thanks! Its actually not a pendant but a reflector. Can't get pendants here from where Im from. Only reflectors are available so had to make do with what is available.

Sounds good to me but I'm still a bit of a noob only been reefing for almost a year I have a banggais they are a good fish I have a blood shrimp too he is cool should get one of them

Thanks! Really planning on getting banggais. Already placed an order in a local lfs for a pair. I used to have a blood red shrimp also. Had him for more than a year then he died. I dunno why. Most probably of old age. He was already 3 inches long when he died.

Very nice setup, looks great, are you running your skimmer, noticed in that picture there was no air bubbles?

more pictures of the awesome sculpture please

So damn sharp. What a great idea with the frag tank too. Hope all is well, keep the updates coming.

very nice setup.

sexy and nice light pendant i heard that gives off very good par values over others.

No not yet. Not running my skimmer during the cycle. Will start running it once the 12 weeks are done.





Thanks!



hahah! I keep on forgetting to take pics of the sculpture. heheh! Will post soon.



Its actually a reflector and not a pendant. And yes the lumenbrights produce more concentrated lighting.



Thanks!

Hey how is it going heard about the really bad weather your having over there its been on the news in uk hope the tank is ok
How come you are doing a 12 week are you not using LR

Weather in Manila is pretty ok. Not much rain anymore but still very cloudy and occasional showers. But nothing as strong as the previous typhoon. Right now its the northern provinces of the Philippines that are getting most of the rains and as of this morning a lot of areas have had landslides and floods due to the strong rains. Thanks for your concern richard.

Im using LR in the sump but not so much in the display tank because I want to keep a minimalist look in the display as well as have a lot of swimming space and room for the corals to grow. The 12 week cycle is actually to let all the phases of algae grow already so by the time I start putting in livestocks the algae wont be a problem anymore. Marlon actually did the same thing in his shallow cube before and it really works. After his 12 week cycle he never had any algae problems in his tank. Even his sump was clean without even using a skimmer.

Here is a clearer pic of the display tank with the scaping... Hope you like it.



and for those who like the sculpture more...there you go!

looking good and thanks for the pics!!

Good idear will be watch to see what happens as I am up grading in a few month (when I can afford the LR ) from a 10gallonto a 50 gallon main tank and hoping to put a 25 gallon sump on it if I can drill it or do something

Good luck with your upgrade!



Thanks and no prob!

OK, I thought I could contain myself but I can't

What's with the glove covering the pipe in the sump?

Looking good.

Heheh! Thats just temporary till I get a pipe going down to the sump from the skimmer. Put it there to reduce splashing.

Hey how is it going we need some updates and picks

Nothing much really. Havent added or changed anything yet. Still waiting for the cycling to complete. However its been more than a week already and last saturday nitrates went up to 40 while ammonia was still 1. No algae growth yet whatsoever. Heheh!

I just got some new corals for this tank but I put them in my 20gal for the moment. Mostly ricordias. Also ordered a vortech mp40w already. Waiting for it to arrive. This may take a while though cause its getting shipped from abroad cause no one sells that here.

Anyway, was asked by a friend of mine who owns a lfs here to try out Phosban. Has anyone tried this? Which one is better for an SPS dominated tank? Rowaphos or Phosban? According to him Phosban is better at removing silica and is way cheaper than Rowaphos. What do you guys think? Rowaphos or Phosban?

Just dropped about 8 shrimps again in my tank because I think the 1st batch of shrimps was not enough.

wow, i love the dims on your tank

Thanks! Tank is still cycling though! Can't wait to transfer my livestocks!

Current Test Results:

Nitrate - 80ppm
Ammonia - 0
Phosphate - 0 (undetectable)
SG - 1.025

Tank has been developing diatoms and some hair algae already. Will update again soon!

still following along , cant wait to see it all come together

I bet if you made a tank just like that... someone on here would pay a pretty penny for it very nice tank! awsome work!

me too! heheh! Its been boring just staring at the tank with just algae and dinos. hahaha! Can't wait to move all my livestocks.



Thanks tylerh.

Just some updates.

Nitrates 40.

Green hair algae growing already.
Diatoms starting to die out.

Sweet! I'm loving this tank. Can't wait to see it stocked up!

Thanks bro! But that would take a while. Tank is only 5 weeks into cycling.

Hey how is it coming along it must be half way there now I don't know how you have waited so long lol have you got your mp 40 yet I have just got a 20 this weekend all I can say is omg I have been playing all weekend lol
can not wait to see some fish in It

Hey Richard. Tank is still cycling. Really getting bored waiting for the 12 weeks to end. Still have 5 weeks to go. Haven't gotten the mp40w yet. I ordered it from a local lfs but i don't think it has arrived yet. Anyway, no rush to get it since tank will be done cycling December 27. So hopefully I'll be able to transfer my LS by January next year.

Hey hi Shandy.

Good to see your post here. Following up from out conversation in absolute reef forum.
great progress on your tank!

keep those pics coming pls.

Thanks jacky! Theres just not much to post. Maybe I'll take pics of the algae tonight! heheh!

Tank is on the 6th week of cycling and encountered some problems:

1. Ballast of halides gave out. Dunno why. Will disassemble it tonight and bring it to the supplier for repair or replacement. For the meantime he will provide a service unit until he gets the ballast fixed.

2. Water became a bit cloudy. I am not sure why but there has been some powdery white substance growing all over the rocks and substrates. Not really sure what it is and couldn't get a good picture of it. Might be causing the cloudiness in the water column. What do you guys think? Should I just leave it be since its still cycling anyway or should I add some filter socks to remove those floating debris?

sorry to hear about the light, i hope its a simple fix, and as always still tagging along

Thanks bro! Im bringing it to the supplier later this afternoon. I think he'll be able to fix it. For the meantime, he will lend me his service unit. Good thing it happened now while there's no livestocks in it yet. heheh! If it breaks down again, im getting another ballast.

Btw, turned on the skimmer for a little while last night. Maybe an hour tops. It pulled out a whole lot of dirt. Water is now clearer. Still don't know why the water became hazy the other day. Its either because of the algae dying out, algae went sexual, or because of the calothrix cyano algae I saw growing on the sand and live rocks. Im really not sure. I guess its just one of those things that we will never know for sure. heheh!

any updates?

Just some updates....Hair algae growing all over the sand and LR. Cyano also starting to grow. Daitoms have died out already. Water is a bit hazy cause I just cleaned the glass before the pics.

looks like your light is up and running or is that the replacement?

Its mine. The supplier replaced the bulb cause it was defective. Ballast still working. Hope it doesn't give out again!

Guys, I just would like your opinion...you think 1 Vortech mp40w would provide enough flow for my tank? What would be the best location?

10th week of cycling....Cyano taking over!

Lookin' good. How long do you think you're going to cycle it for?

12 weeks total. Now on the 10th week. Only 2 weeks to go! heheh!

Here is another article about lumenbrights.....that might shed a little light on things!

lumenbright article

DougN

Thanks! Already read that article. Still made the height adjustable in case I do need to move the lights. But as of now bulb to water surface is already at 14". Just perfect for me cause it doesn't add much heat to my tank. Temp is now stable at 28C even with the halides on. Will check if fans will be enough to bring the temp lower to about 26C cause as much as possible id rather not use a chiller due to the cost of running one.

Hey there how is it going not long to go now do you have any ideas of what your going to stock?

Hey Richard360. Yeah now on the 11th week already. Only 12 days to go! hehehe! Well planning to stock up some Blatos, zoas, rics yumas and floridas from my current tank and then add a whole lot of SPS like stylos, acros, milles and monti caps. For fish just 1 Purple Tang, a pair of banggais, 1 royal gramma, 1 sunburst anthias, some threadfin cardinals if I can find some and maybe a pair of percs. Haven't finalized the fish list yet. Will see what fish I can get.

you are gonna need a SERIOUS CUC..... thats a TON of hair algae

Hahah! Yeah! Will be getting a lot of astreas and some nassarius snails as well as my ever reliable hands to do the scrubbing and the plucking of the hair algae and cyano. hehehe!

Tank is now on the 11th week of cycling. Only 10 days to go! Counting down to December 27, 2009! heheh! Nitrates are now at 5ppm while Phosphates are at 0.5ppm. Added a small ball of cheato last night in the fuge. Will be purchasing some CUC's by next week to start the clean up. Hopefully in a couple of days the nitrates and phosphates will both be 0.

i love this tank! the inline frag tank is brilliant. that sure is alot of algea. takes alot of dedication to start picking out that tank by hand. sweet cant wait for more updates.

also that sculpture is sweet!