I couldn't do what I wanted, so now I'm gonna inject my hard-earned into a buzzword bonanza instead. What do I mean when I say "buzzword bonanza"? Essentially... I mean a tank that has all the bells and whistles and gizmos that seem to be on the cutting edge of reefing. In other words, for the first time in my life I'm setting up a tank that is more high-tech than waterchanges and light skimming. I've been told that it's all just trends, but eh, I don't care. I never was one for being trendy.

Going in my bedroom, and I've been pondering over this system for a looooooooong time. It's had numerous previous iterations, the majority of them ill-fated (because of my own utter stupidity mostly), and it's had many different plans. But, there's a few sticking points that've remained through all concepts, and those are reef-crest inspired, strictly SPS, high flowing, ZEOvit, minimal scape, so on, so on. What I've decided on so far:

• Tank:: 3'x2'x13" bevelled, trimless and rimless.
• Sump: 1100x480x350mm custom 3-section.
• Light: ATI Powermodule, 10x39W (5x BluePlus, 3x Aquablue Special, 1x ProColor, 1x PurplePlus).
• Skimmer: Royal-Exclusiv Bubble King Supermarin 200.
• Circulation: 1x Vortech MP40W, 1x flowmodded Tunze 6025.
• Dosing Pumps: Bubble-Magus BM-T01 3-channel dosing master unit.
• ATO: Tunze Osmolator.

STOCK

• 1x Dwarf Angelfish hybrid (Centropyge TBD x Centropyge TBD)

I'll work out more details later. For now, it's time to get more wine into me to celebrate!

Got one of the Vortechs and a couple of frags the night before last. Just running them in the system now while I get the stuff for the new tank coming. I'm aiming for a strike-up sometime around mid-January, depending on how many other projects the tank builder has between now and then. From there I'll let it cycle and mature for ~3 months, then slowly move the stock from this current system into it.



That's what the current one looks like. You'd not be mistaken for thinking it's a 2'x1.5'x1.5' with no skimmer and no sump to speak of, and a pretty ####ty T5 fixture. Upgrading it to a 250W MH unit with Lumenbright reflector and probably an XM bulb next week, and hopefully going to grab the Profilux x4 controlled dosing unit depending how solvent I am at the time. Might throw some more frags in as well once I set the MH up.


I guess time will tell what happens.

Awwww, Kim came to dance in my threat? How sweet!!


Now, how's about that Kimbearopora sp. frag...?

Cant you just swim out and rip off a chunk of reef and put it in your tank all cycled and done and stuff?

Well, I guess I could... but the sharks that live between me and it are mildly concerning.

IMO... Man up bro!!! Serious... Look at that damn haircut!!!



Looks sweet so far bro. I look forward to seeing what you do with this!

Lots of pics when you can.

I'm a computer programmer! I'm not allowed to be manly! But nah, the local reefs are destroyed thanks to a ######## in an oil tanker that didn't realise he was leaking crude all through our waterway! HOORAY!!

I'm looking forward to seeing what it does with itself! Thanks!



Oh, there'll be pics. I'm not one for spending that kinda coin on something not to show it off

Sounds like a sweet plan. Can't wait to see things materialize.

Woke up this morning to a bunch of bleached frags and my inverts all melted. Fish is a bit sick. Gah. Everything is going into meltdown. Seems the temperature probe for my heater popped out of its holder and the heater got stuck on - normal tank reading is 26.1C at this time of day, today it's 33.1C and my pH is having a bit of a crash. I hate hump day so much.

Still gonna get the 250w and gonna try again, up until this dumb problem the frags were doing well enough. Considering using a single 250 over the new system in a Lumen Bright III, the spread should be enough and cost over a grand less than Sunpowers. Also gonna get an RO/DI from PSI to get my TDS on the water down a bit while I still use ASW. Hopefully it makes some difference.

Fun mornings.

That sucks. Sorry, dude.

Eh, I'm just glad they were cheap frags and my tank had naff all livestock. Had this happened to the new one I'd be a little broken.

We can be thankful for small mercies I guess.

Sounds like the new tank will rock.

Sucks to hear about your tank crash though. I'm always worried about a piece of critical equipment failing sometime. When I set up my new tank, I'm going to get a little better redundancy going.

I'm really hoping it'll pan out like I'm envisaging it - I've wanted a good tank for so long and now can finally afford it. I've got big plans for this system and can see me keeping it for quite a few years. Really, as a "large" system it's the perfect trade-off for me - power it on a single fixture, get great flow due to the dimensions being symmetrical, have plenty of room for a nice aquascape.. all thongs I value a lot in a reef. We'll see how it goes.

To be honest, the current tank couldn't be any lower tech than it is (literally). I've got lights, a heater, and a wavemaker - that's it. Really, I don't need anything else for this particular one due to the objectives of it and miniscule bioload. New tank will be majorly redundant though, and as low tech as viable. As I see it, technology is just another entry for weakness.

Alright, changes abound. I'm tired as a whore from working a billion hours a day, so I'll summarise.

• Got a chiller off of a mate to hook up, and some pumps off of the interwebs to run it.
  
• Got a frag of the locally-famous "Dallas Acro" (named after the original propagator of it, Dallas Warren - also known as the guy who runs ozreef) off of the same mate to throw into my system to grow out to go into the new one.
  
• Rigged up a dodgy sort of 'fuge I'm gonna run a SSB and some Caulerpa in out of a $2 tub from a cheap store and some PVC fittings I got. Gonna hook it up tomorrow, and run a fair whack of Purigen in the return baffle (the 'fuge will be above the display and return via gravity feed), hopefully improve the clarity of the water a bit. Having no skimmer and no carbon has made it a little turbid at the best of times. Also got some Hagen carbon to run alongside it eventually, just gonna let the system balance out for now so I don't shock the coral.
  
• Bought a Octopus BH-100 skimmer off of Guppy's. Because I'm a retard and have never used a skimmer I can't really get it to give a good head (well, any head at all to give me any skimmate) so it's collecting for about 5 minutes then stopping. I've surely set it up wrong (though I fail to see how...) and it's frustrating the hell out of me. Anybody know just how to set these things up? Right now it's just getting half way up the collector's neck then bubbling down, then shooting the tank full of microbubbles. Typical RO giving no set up instructions to run the bloody products...
  
• Got a frag pack off of Ausfrags. Lovely looking things. Three Acros and some kind of plating coral (Ruffle I think it is?). Still browned out for now, but one of them is starting to show a nice ice blue/purple to the tips with dark blue polyps and another is starting to get some beautiful pink/purple with purple polyps.
  
• Got a bunch of frag plugs from Ausfrags too, so now everything is finally plugged up. That's helped a little with trying to position things.
  
• Got a bunch of janitor hermits and a snail, they're helping a bit to tidy up. It's needed it the last few days.
  
• Started feeding New Life Spectrum again. The Eibli (the only resident aside from CUC) seems to be loving it, to the point of launching from the surface to grab them from my hand. I guess I can't complain about that. Also, starting to colour up nicely.
  
• Been trying out more modes on the VorTech to find what I like. As much as everyone seems to prop Reef Crest, I'll be honest and say in my system it seems to be the gentlest of the modes. I can't quite explain it. It's not giving a nice surge like it does in every other tank I've seen run it, so right now I'm swapping between Long Pulse and Lagoon. Seems to do the trick.
  
• Gonna get a Tunze Osmolator and maybe a GHL dosing unit next pay. Depends if I find out when/if I can get Profilux III ones over here or not.
  
• Gonna order an ATB Small Dual skimmer custom built sometime in the next little while. All white. I saw a mate's ATB skimmer the same size in person and it looks bloody nice.
  
• Ordered my sump. 2.5'x2'x1.5' semi-racetrack with a platform specifically for the skimmer. Also, dual intake filter sock channels. Should be ready within the month (I'm in no rush).
  
• Decided against Starphire for this particular tank, not the smallest reason of which was the absolute insanity of the cost of it. To get the tank size I wanted the thinnest glass the maker can get over here is 15mm which is around 6.5x the price of doing it in 12.5mm float. No dice. 3'x3'x1'8" rimless with a bayfront center-back wall weir. Custom acrylic weir guard and back wall. Hooray!
  
• Got the 250W over the tank. The colours have changed remarkably for being without actinic, especially in the Monti. Instead of being brick red, it's now toxic green. The Stylo coloured back up and is now a lovely fuchsia/"##### pink". Just waiting for the new frags to colour up some.
  
• Deciding whether to go all out with the main system when I do set it up as I'm planning on moving abroad for around 2 years in October next year. I really don't see it as being the best possible idea at this point, though I will be setting it up as soon as I'm back. Time will tell on this one as I'll be gone for a minimum of 4 months. Ergh.
  
• Need more frags. Must have more frags. Fraaaaaaaaaaaaaagggssss...

Well, that's about it. I'll leave you with this, a dodgy, uncleaned and generally not as nice as it could look FTS I got yesterday when trying to diagnose the skimmer troubles;




Until next time...

New pieces to keep my addiction fed...








Showing signs of good growth on the frags I've had in there, so far I'd call this experiment into SPS a resounding success all things considered.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changeeeessss, turn and face the strain... *sings* then again, I guess, when ISN'T there changes in my tank? These ones are more noticeable than normal though.

• 
  Added a frag rack. Or to give it its proper name, "that bloody piece of s%*& that used all my zipties and then CUT MY FOOT". Or to put it yet another way, a dodgy frame to hold my frags closer to the light to grow them out some. I wasn't happy with the amount of light I was getting at the sand bed, the ones down low were exhibiting minimal growth while the ones higher up have exploded in the last 3 weeks. So... they're all about 2" from the surface at their current highest tips. They're not the happiest as yet because I suspect they're still acclimating to the change, and I need to reposition the VorTech to give them some flow.
  
  
  
  (Because everyone does it... )
  
  
  
• 
  Also added a black background. I was sick of looking through the tank and having it look pretty terrible to be honest, I think the addition of the black has made it look fairly smart given the current state of affairs. Also added in some fresh, heavier gauge sand in the front left where the VorTech was having fun burrowing. Seems to stay put much better than it did, so I can't complain.
  
  
• 
  Some new residents... couldn't get Seba's or Saddleback Anemonefish, so I settled for a pair of Pink Skunks. The price was right, they're a true mated pair, healthy, and I got sick of a tank with no movement. Also, prices for Decorated Firefish have absolutely exploded lately - to the point you're looking at $110 for a healthy one at most stores when it was lucky being $45 3 months ago. I couldn't justify spending 3x the price of this little fella. For a Helfrichi perhaps, but not a Decora...
  
  
  
  
• 
  Added a set of dodgy "barn doors" to my light to get the absolute most out of it I could. Having such a narrow tank (when you're using a reasonably large metal halide reflector, 1.5' is narrow as hell) I got sick of light spill. So I used an old carton of Grolsch, some alfoil, and my handy-dandy "duck-tape" I got in the US (which is actually white Gaffa tape...?). Seems to have made a bit of a difference.
  
  
  
• 
  And now, the biggest surprise since I've had the coral... this little bubby frag is GROWING! It may not seem like such a huge thing but I expected it to die almost immediately. But nope, in the last week it's been in the tank it's already grown nearly an extra 2/3 of its size width-wise and ever so slightly vertically. Even when it's been at the bottom of the tank (on the glass) shaded a bit, I'm kind of excited.
  
  

More to come.

Nice fixture.

it actually is for what I paid. I just didn't see the point in having all my light spill over and, let's face it, blind me when I could be putting it to better use!

Some eye candy...








Talked to Anthony Calfo for about half an hour yesterday... the guy is amazing. Genuinely one of the nicest and most logically and sensibly intelligent people in the hobby. He's got some great ideas, I'm going to try to compile a list sometime soon when I get a chance.

Wooo.

lol that light is some eye candy.......

Can't argue with results my friend! Plus, it's in my bedroom so I'm usually the only one who has to see it

That blue tip is HOT!

Aye, it's a gorgeous colony. I'm curious to see how it'll colour up over the next little while and then once it's under actinics as well. Right now I've just got the 15000K halide with no supplements. I'm hoping it'll be one of the centrepieces of the new system

Because it's the thing to do, here's the most recent FTS.

If that rack wasnt in the back id say that tank looks cool.

The rack is in there for a purpose for now. I'm more focused on growing frags out in this system than with actual aquascaping, so that I've got decent-sized stuff to put into the new tank. I agree though, it does detract a lot visually.

Looks like some nice SPS on that rack. That blue tip does stand out in the FTS though.

When is the new tank coming? link?

Sadly, it won't be coming for quite some time. There's been a few hiccups in recent times which've taken the wind from my sails, so instead of jump into the new project half-cocked, I'm just going to focus on making the most of what I've got for now. The bigger system will eventually happen, likely after I return from the US, but I just can't commit to it now.

I lost a whole bunch of coral due to a power-out two nights ago. Some of my nicest pieces bleached out, and the ones that didn't are in heavy distress. The really annoying part is I didn't have photos of most of them. My Stylophora has undergone some RTN on the tips of most of its branches, the remaining Poccilopora frag (I had 2, one disappeared) is an absolute goner (totally bleached itself), my Acropora millepora colony is in heavy distress and I'm not holding out much hope for it recovering, 3 Acropora frags (a white with purple polyps, a toxic yellow deepwater one, and an ice blue with royal blue tips) have bleached totally, my Montipora is showing signs of heavy distress, and I managed to break a few of the frags and broke some off of the blue tip Acropora colony. Everything else has lost all signs of its colour aside from brown (except the greens, they're just as bright...?). I'm kinda shattered over it, as I'm sure you could imagine.

So, instead of the bigger system, I'm going to do the following;
- New stand which I can fit a sump and inline frag tank under.
- Drill the display, likely just straight-through overflows with no weir (or a coast-to-coast Calfo with Beananimal setup).
- Bigger skimmer.
- ZEOvit, Basic 4.
- Battery backup for the VorTech.
- Change to NSW.
- Get more colonies.
- Lower pendant.


This is the last FTS I got before everything went wrong. I changed the 'scape after basically deciding the new tank was on hold (I know, slightly sloppy, but it's not finished... my tank is too low to work in for long periods and I didn't get to place things right, plus, I'm waiting for stuff to grow in. A new bit of base rock will fill the hole, and another will sweep down the front on the right).




I kinda preferred it when I was keeping softies and LPS and I could basically pour Lye in the tank and have everything survive. Eh. Oh well.

Changes, changes. Too many changes, too many incomplete changes. The sump is finished (the 2.5x2x1.5' I ordered ages ago) and I'm looking at a 3x2x1.25' display to go with it. We'll find out tonight if I get it or not. If I do, I'll be excited because I'm starting to feel the limitations of the smaller tank. If not, I've got one identical to the current one that's drilled and I'll be changing over into it. We'll see.

Also, got asked on my main forum how my tank is doing, so I figured I'd post a picture or two here.


The blue-tip is quite considerably more blue now than it was before things screwed up... somehow it's held its colour fairly well too. I can't quite explain it, but I'm happy.


The mille colony is still showing that it's one of the more difficult Acropora species to keep. Starting to get a brilliant blue/green shimmer to the tips and starting to get some PE again, we'll see how it goes once I convert to NSW.




Two corals hit the hardest by it all... they're slowly starting to come good again.

And, the obligatory FTS.



We'll see how it pans out.

Dang, sorry about the troubles with the tank, but it's looking nice.

To have had such hurdles with this tank it looks pretty darn good.

I like your skunks. I think I might get another pair.

Thanks guys definitely get a pair of Skunks, they're great to watch. These ones are particularly friendly, they tend to swim into my hands when I'm in the tank.

On the upside, good news on the horizon - this tank is a goner. I got offered the tank I spoke of (3x2x1.25) at a price which I was unable to refuse. It's a rimless () with 3 overflows, which should suit my sump well. I pick it up on Monday night, hopefully will be changed over into it in the next ~2 weeks or so. I'm itching to get it on.

Speaking of the sump, this is how we set 'em up over here:



Basically, there's a semi-weir for the infeed, flows under to the skimmer section, over a cutout into the 'fuge (which is now a frag tank...), over the baffle into the return. There was supposed to be a bubble trap but it got lost somewhere in translation, though with the flow I'll be putting through it I'm aiming to only have a very slow flow over the last baffle.

I just need to get a 150W pendant and ballast now (I'm dropping back from the 250W, adding in a pair of T5s), and the plumbing, my new skimmer, and the ZEO gear and I'm fully ready to roll. I really can't wait to get this thing plumbed up and running. Ahhhhhh, the wait is a killer.

I used to have a pair. A power outage killed the female. The male died a few days later. He was literally lost without her. It was a sad few days, he seemed so miserable.

Aye, I've found that when I've kept mated pairs, if one mate dies the other tends to not be too good. Healthy, sure, but not so much happy or displaying regular behaviour. I guess it says a lot about us that we don't seem to be so phased by interaction...

New tank has landed. It's low, it's rimless, and it's going LED. Looking at a pair of 120W Baisheng units with modified panels to go over it, which if the PAR values the members of my reef society have pulled hold true... I should be seeing about 450 on my sandbed over my tank's height (13"). I'll have so much light I could pro'lly just run it barebottom and power my in-sump frag tank off the same fixtures or som'in. Just need the stand made... the stand I bought the tank with is 3.5" too thin front-to-back to fit my sump under... crap. Getting barrels for NSW and plumbing this week, then just gotta wait for my supplier to get more NSW in. Then, acquiring bits and pieces to go with it... new skimmer, a ZEO kit, then a smaller LED fixture to go over the frags (60W pro'lly), then dosing pump set. Maybe an electronic ATO, for now it'll just be manual everything still and gravity-fed top-off. And maybe a pair of MP10s, one for the display on the back wall, and one for the frag tank. Possibly. I may just end up going for cheap knock-offs for the frags because I could still push about 100x the chamber volume with the smallest one I can get. We'll see how financial I am.

For scaping, my idea has differed greatly from the original plan - I was planning on having it open at one end and a largish structure in front of the weir with SPS colonies on, but now I'm thinking I'll be doing something inspired by Hu Haiwei's 210g SPS reef, with tighter-growing Acros on the left and stags on the right. One thing I know for sure is I want to find a yellow A. formosa to be a centrepiece, that should be fun... though not impossible. For now I've ordered a pair of stunning purple colonies of A. nana and A. tenuis I believe, I pick them up once the new tank is running. Gotta love stock dealers who'll give you a discount and then hold stuff eh?

Because I'm a giant d-bag and can't be bothered doing much lately, here's some new coral:


Can't really see the green polyps, but they're there. I think I need to move it to a more direct path of the VorTech. Either way, it's starting to get colour already, Pete! :thumbsup:


It's difficult to get a shot of it because it's hiding behind like 10 frags and I can't be bothered moving them :konk: Starting to get a mad cream/purple to it.


The transition from red to pink to blue is much better in life, tis one just doesn't want to expose right no matter what I do. Either way, it's a nice bit!


This one... I was sceptical about at first. But my sister picked it out and I got it. Looking at this photo I really am glad I decided to... this thing is absolutely STUNNING. All up I can count about 6 different colours in it...

And now some oldies...


A frag I made of the Dallas I got off of snaz. It's not got the body full green, but in honesty I prefer it like this. This one is going to have a new home in my pico once my LED is built. Get the Dallas some international recognition!


This one changes colour so bloody much. When it was in the other tank it was a pretty heavy blue with purple and a dash of pink, but now it's moved it's turning a beautiful silver with green, red, blue, and purple. I think I'm gonna refer to this one as the Bubblegum once it grows out...


I've got a few brown-outs and a few that have lost a lot of colour, but that's to be expected when you throw a bunch of SPS into a tank that's been set up for less than 4 hours under a light 8" closer to the water (in a tank 4" shorter...). I guess we'll keep an eye on these now that they're in their final resting spot for a while!

Maybe someday I'll actually get around to setting the new system up...

Hi

Hi.

Heeeellloooooo ladies sup?

Hi.

Oh what the hell, you can have a flower too

Out of those corals... I'm putting a frag off of the top one and the Dallas into my pico. I'm trying to pick some others out but failing...

Gotta love getting paid on the day of a coral sale...

Holy shi-

What can I say? I like to do things properly. None of this, "ooooh, I think I might get a tiny frag" bull####... NONE! I got most of those colonies for $15, though one did cost me $26...

WTF

My supplier was having a sale to get rid of old stock. I was more than happy to oblige by getting 9 colonies and 2 Monti frags. And 2 Acro frags. And some macro. And a little bit of Pocci...

+1..

It had to be done!

For reference, this is how it looked at 5pm yesterday, as opposed to 5:30pm after all the coral had gone in:

wow, looks so cool like that too