I was given an old glass tank that appears to be 125 gallons. It is 36" wide, 24" deep, and 34' tall. I need to clean it up with a little vinegar, but all in all it is in great shape.

It has not been drilled and came with a standard, 30 or so gallon sump, a protein skimmer (not sure if its functional or even decent) and a UV sterilizer.

There are some tubes and plumbing in the cabinet with the sump, but I'm guessing I need to get this baby drilled with an overflow. I want to paint the back black and repaint the trim and the stand a glossy white.

What do you recommend for the rest of the equipment if I plan on doing a mixed reef? I think flow will really be an issue on a tank this tall and I have a koralia and some old, small pumps I can move over and place strategically to enhance water movement.

I've been working on an AP24 for almost 3 years, so this is a major upgrade and I want to do it right, from the start!

I'd love any input! I really want to avoid all the major pitfalls I can and take my time to do it right the first go around.

I think light might be more of an issue than flow in that tall of a tank. You'll probably need a powerful MH or T5 to get enough light penetration to the bottom.

I've got lights off of a 65 gal that I'm hoping to use. I think there are 6 at 150 in a hood that should fit. I was just going to put softies toward the bottom and any sps or clams up at top if I decide to go that route (which I prob. will).

Any advise on how to drill and plumb for the sump?

I've got lights off of a 65 gal that I'm hoping to use. I think there are 6 at 150 in a hood that should fit. I was just going to put softies toward the bottom and any sps or clams up at top if I decide to go that route (which I prob. will).

Any advise on how to drill and plumb for the sump?

So here's a pic of the 125 coming out of my car and set up on the stand with my darling hubs posing for a sense of scale.

So the plan for this weekend (between all the holiday festivities) is to:

1. Wash tank well and clean glass
2. Check stand for sturdiness and reinforce where necessary
3. Scrape and reseal with new silicone
4. Paint faux wood trim white
5. BEG brother in law (commercial painter) to paint stand white and seal/lacquer the sh!t out of it
6. Drill the glass

I don't know how long it will take for the silicone to dry, but as soon as all paint and seals are dry, I want to test for leaks and test out the pump that came with the tank. It may not work as this was all found abandoned in a rental property, but it would be a real kick in the pants if all this equipment was solid. I'm not getting my hopes up.

Thanks for looking!

I hope the glass is not tempered.

Well now the lfs has talked me into an HOB, but I really am not sure how I feel about that. I need to research it. Is the function still equivalent with just the aesthetic factor being different? That is how it was set up before.

More research...

HOB can be viable if you get the right ones. U need one with a pump that will create a siphon for you. That way if you lose power, it will still work when your return pump kicks back on.

Yup. That's what I'll do if I go that route. My lfs was pitching one to me today. It looked nice and like it would be easy to manage the media and such.

As much as I want to take my time and do this right from the start, I kinda need to make a decision which way to go. Any die hard reasons NOT to go with an HOB and risk the drill instead?

The only thing with HOB is having to worry about a power outage. UNLESS like stated above you can find one that primes itself. However if this fails...bummer. It might just be a peace of mind thing with a drilled overflow.

I've never had to deal with drilling a tank myself.
But imo you're better off drilling the tank.

I would do whatever you can to avoid a siphon box and drill the tank. I've used siphon boxes in the past and on a whole they do work well but it was constantly on the back of my mind and IMHO an aqualifter or whatever means you want to remove any air from the pipes is a must, I found over time air bubbles would accumulate and add up, eventually it'll break the siphon. Eventually you'll get everything dialed in and it'll be fine, but a drilled tank will perform better and give you peace of mind. If you can by all means do it, you will thank yourself later.

I've had the best luck drilling two holes and putting standpipes in (raises the water level in the overflow box which also reduces the waterfall sound). I put a ball valve on one pipe and match it to the pumps flow rate, this eliminates the gurgling/slurping noises. The problem is there are always small variances and stuff which is were the second hole comes into play, I make that standpipe a couple inches higher. It is purely a fail safe.

Make sure to drill a hole in your return plumping about 0.5-1" below the water line in order to break the siphon that will occur when you turn the pump off. You should do this regardless if you use a siphon box or overflow. I like to drill them high enough to try to make waves. Some people even like to do two holes incase a snail is covering one but I've never had an issue.

Thanks so much for the input. I really do want to drill it. I just feel like that is the most thorough and failsafe plan.

Is there any way to tell if the glass has been tempered?

Also, are there any diagrams that show the best positioning for the holes?

I think there is a glass place around here, pretty close. I may try to take the tank there on Monday and get them to drill it. They may also be able to help me adhere the acrylic overflow box to the glass.

Here's a picture I took today of the tank holding water.





No signs of leakage! I think tomorrow I'm going to try to get it all painted. The back, trim and stand. Lets hope I can wrangle some help.

Here are a couple of shots of my 24. I used to have more corals, but had a bit of a health hiccup this same time last year and I lost several. I haven't really had the money to replace anything, so its a little bare. The new setup will be pretty light on the corals for awhile as well until that lottery ticket I have pulls through.

Looks like it's going to make a nice tank. That's not a commonly used tank size, so it should make for a unique setup.

I agree with what has been said about overflows. HOB's work fine when they're set up properly. Same goes for drilling. Both of them can overflow given the right circumstances.

For what it's worth, drilling would probably be cheaper, quieter, and last longer.

In the end, it's up to you!

Here is the situation with tempered glass.

Tempered glass is really strong --- you could hit it with a hammer in the middle without it breaking but ........ if you ding the edge just a little the entire pane of glass will shatter.

Because of this the sides/front/back are never tempered because they have exposed edges. The bottom is a different story. The tank has edging all around the bottom and due to it's size and height most likely the bottom is tempered and could not be drill.

I had a 58 gallon with a tempered bottom so I just drilled the back pane of glass in the corner near the bottom. Installed a corner overflow and all was well. Just need to do some planning on how the bulkhead is going to be installed in the back pane with a corner overflow.

If you use a HOB siphon box just make sure it is designed not to loose siphon in a power outage. Most of the newer HOB siphon boxes are designed with this in mind.

Here is my opinion, Your biggest problem is going to be the lights. You are trying to reach a LOOOOONNNNGGGG way down in that tank. If I was doing it I would use two 400watt MH's for that tank. T5's in my opinion are not going to be powerful enough down that far. That is a tall tank. You are going to be lucky to even reach the bottom to clean and rock scape. I am 6'4" and would have trouble reaching the bottom.

As for the pump and such, drill the back, corner overflow and get a big pump. Something on the order of a Little Giant 4 or an Iwaki 40. Maybe even a 5 or 50. For that tank, a 4 or 40 flow pump and you are probably golden. Just depends on the turnover rate you are looking for. I have used both brands of pumps with equal success and would recommend either.

On a side note, Careful where and how you place that tank in your house. Thats a lot of weight sitting there. 8.34 lbs per gallon plus tank, rock, sand, sump and the such. You potentially could have on the order of 1100+ lbs sitting in a 3' x 2' area. Just something else to consider while planning this. Good luck, Hope some of this helps. Mark

I'd recommend Lumen Bright reflectors for that deep of a tank, especially if you use 400 watt bulbs, you'll get a great par values and be able to keep them high off the tank which will help keep temps down.

Like c_k_kuehne I drilled the back of my 55g tank.

I agree with Deep.... no way you’re going to be happy with anything other than MH in that tank. I am a big fan of T5 but it aint gonna work at 34" tall even with fairly low light corals.

As for as drilling...its by far your best solution. I cant recall seeing a SUCCESSFUL tank that size with a HOB.

Drilled with a sump, MH’s and a good skimmer are really a requirement for your new tank. Don’t want to go that route…stick with nanos. My 2 cents.

Mark

Alot of tank companies use tempered glass to cut costs. Tempered glass is thinner, lighter and stronger than non-tempered glass. To find out which panes are tempered try this.
http://www.salt-city.org/showthread.php?t=9542

When it comes time to drill it try this.
http://www.monkeysee.com/play/8779
http://www.monkeysee.com/play/8785
http://www.monkeysee.com/play/8786

Actually, the ones that use a U-tube are better. Due to the physics of how a siphon works.... unless the power is off for DAYS (and all the water evaporates in the U-tube) it will start back up.

FWIW, the ones that use a pump to prime it... what if they pump breaks or the pump doesnt come back on?? Its just another piece of equipment that CAN fail.

I have used a U-tube (for over a year) on one of my old tanks, and it NEVER failed.

That said... I now will only drill tanks. (it is very very easy... people make it out to be more difficult than it really is) Its foolproof and NEVER fails, unless a snail gets stuck (which if it does... that is the hobbyists fault for creating openings big enough for snails to fit through)


edit: Oh PS i forgot, IF you do go the HOB route... FWIW many of them FAIL because people are idiots and dont know how to set them up properly.

No one has said it yet, is there any paper or stickers you can see from the inside of the tank looking at the bottom? If there are, it should be a manufacturer, a manu. date and maybe one that says, "tempered, do not drill." If its a manufacturer, and a date, call them and ask if its tempered, you might get lucky and its not. I doubt it, but you never know. This will be the ONLY sure way to KNOW if its tempered or not. If you can not do that, then assume it is and drill the back, Good Luck, Mark

Great advise guys! I do want to upgrade and can handle the maintenance and equipment needs. Remember, I'm also getting a 65 setup that is fully functional with skimmer, sump and lights, so I'm hoping to repurpose those.

NOW, BIG OBSTACLE

The tank is leaking. Overnight, the pressure proved to be too much and the front corner has a slow leak. I can scrap this tank altogether and just move the 65 over and be done, but I REALLY like the look of the 125. It is so sleek and simple and I think it will look more like a giant cube and less like a cheesy 1970's setup.

I have asked my lfs to refer me to someone who can repair the tank, and at this point, the cost of the repair is going to dictate what I do next.

My plan right now is to drill the tank. I don't think it is as hard as it sounds, I just know that a small mistake means disaster. My husband is super handy though and meticulous, so I think we'll be good. I might even be able to get the folks at the lfs to do it for me.

I def. want to feel confident in the structure. Do you think its worth repairing? I mean, even a new tank can spring a leak right? I will only use it if I can find someone super experienced to make the repair. Otherwise, it looks like I will be upgrading to a nice (but boring) 65 gal.

Wheres it leaking from? How much? How fast? Can you take the old silicone from that area out and resilicone it there? That is what I would be trying to do. Also depends on your answers to some of those ?'s though. If its in the bottom corner, thats all the pressure. If its in a top corner, then thats not as bad as its not nearly the pressure. Just some things to think about.

You asked about cutting the old out and redo-ing the silicone, Did you do that and now its leaking? If you haven't, maybe thats worth a try. What would that cost? Two tubes of silicone and some effort on your part. The effort may not be worth it, but thats up to you. Keep us posted. Mark

PS, I would do this in the garage so if it does leak, its not tragedy.

Yeah, its at the bottom and its not too fast. The tank lost about an inch of water overnight although I don't know what time it had started. It didn't leak at first. It seemed to be about a drop per second. My husband wants to try to just patch it by completely adhering another piece of glass to the corner and sealing it in.

I had not scraped and resealed it as I wanted to test it first to see if it even needed it. I guess you are right that there is no risk in trying. I have it set up in the carport right now, so I guess I'd try to fix it and then leave it up for a long, long time before committing to it. I can only imagine feeling confident about it and 2 months down the road it opens back up.

I guess anything is worth a shot. I really, really like this tank and think it would make an amazing reef tank. We'll see. I guess its all about risk???

If you can figure out where the leak is, cut back the silicone about 3" above and below the leak on the inside. Just re-silicone that area. Adding glass to the outside (or inside for that matter) is not really a viable idea for patching a tank.

You could also add a small film of silicone on the inside over all joints making the new silicone come about 1/8" past the old silicone on both sides. (I would do this after you fixed the leak and the fix was fully cured).

Thanks c k. Have you ever tried it? Has anyone ever patched a leak on a tank this size?

Well I have built a 85 gallon tank from scratch. Started with 1/2" non-seemed plate glass. Took a beltsander to the sharp edges to seem the edges and then siliconed it all together. So no I haven't done the exact patch idea I posted but have messed with enough tanks. If that was my situation that is how I would handle it --- assuming you know where the leak is coming from.

if i was in your position, i would scrape ALL the old and lay a bead of new silicone.

btw, i think that your tank is the same width and height as my girlfriends, but around another foot of depth. hers looks awesome, i imagine yours will be superb with the added depth.

if you build it ...

That sounds like a dare DJ

I may gladly accept. We have talked about completely re-sealing the joints from scratch, but I'm just worried that it may open whole new areas up to weakness.

Can we some pics of your girl's tank? I'm always up for new inspiration!!!

I thought he was saying the tank was the same size as his girlfriend. JK

I wouldnt try to reseal a small part, I would reseal it all. Silicone wont stick to old silicone.

I hadn't thought of that. I just don't even know what kinds of tools you''d need to apply the pressure correctly and make a good seal. I guess you'd have to find someone to supply new trim. I wish I could find someone in my area who builds tanks and see what they'd charge me for the two panes of glass.

I am getting the 65 moved over on Thursday. The guy who is giving it to me is going to help me move it over. I kinda wanted to move all of his critters over to my 24 for a day or two while I scoured his tank clean. It hasn't been kept up with too well over the past few months. He wants to move it all on Thursday though and set it up. I guess I'll just rework it over the next week or two. I want to wash and epoxy the rocks into a great scape and get all the sand out and put new sand in.

We'll see. I'll take pics.

Megan, Tools are not a problem. The tools you would need:

Razor blade or two... maybe three
Silicone, aquarium safe
caulking gun for the silicone
a couple of rags
some vinegar
a pair of gloves, perferably like the plastic coated ones
spit

There is your tool list. Do not take the trim off. Leave it alone. Take and put on the gloves and take the razor blade and start scraping/cutting the old silicone out of the tank. Take note here about how much and how thick the old silicone is from the factory. This will be used later on. Hold the razor blade at a 45deg angle and push it under the old. Go down and around every joint in the tank. As you are pushing the razor blade make sure you are hitting the adjoinig piece of glass. When you then go down that other piece of glass and you hit the first piece and this will effectivly cut out all the silicone.

DO NOT CUT THE PIECES APART, LEAVE THEM TOGETHER AND IN TACT!

There should be a thin film of silicone holding all the pieces together where the edge butts up to the other piece. All you want to do is remove the silicone from the inside all the way around the tank. The gloves are for your hands as the razor blade will start to hurt from you pushing on that thin piece of metal for a while. Once you get all of the major silicone out, now its time to clean up all the extra that is just a really thin film against the glass.

Taking your razor blade, start scraping this away. It will take a while, remember I asked if it was worth it. Here is where the test is as to wether it was worth it or not. This will take a little while to accompolish. Its not hard, just tedious and time consuming. After you have cleaned it all up, now you need to take the rags and some vinegar and rub it along where the silicone used to be.

I WOULD NOT POUR THE VINEGAR INSIDE, INSTEAD, POUR IT ON THE RAG AND THEN RUB THE RAG ALONG THE GLASS!

At this point, you should have all the old silicone out and the glass cleaned up and ready for the new silicone. The tank should still be intact and together. There should be a thin film of silicone holding it together that you really can't get to as it is between the edge of one piece of glass and the other pane. Again, leave the trim on the tank.

Let everything dry real good, get rid of the gloves, get the silicone, caulk gun, and some more rags/paper towels. Silicone will stay plyable and workable for quite some time so don't worry about rushing this part. Put a tube in the gun and start squirting it all along every seam. Start in one spot and keep going all the way around the tank until you have a bead of silicone on every joint.

Once you have a bead everywhere, you need your last tool, SPIT! Lick your finger and start rubbing it along the joints, smoothing it out along the way. You will be kinda pushing it out and down. Don't push too hard and don't push too much out. You really want a decent amount left along the seam. At some point your spit will have worn off and you will need to wipe your finger with your rag and repeat the process until you have smoothed the entire inside seams of the tank. Here is where you should have noted earlier how much and how big the silicone was from the factory. You want to kinda try and match what was there. You may be asking, why spit? I don't know but it works! There is something in it that doesn't stick to the silicone and keeps the silicone from sticking too bad to your finger.

In case you are wondering, YES I have made my own tanks before and have siliconed it this way. Only difference is I had to put mine together and yours is already together.

Oh by the way,

I double dog dare you

to do this! Good luck, The biggest obstacle, have the confidence that it will work. Don't worry, it will, and if it doesn't, who cares. How much are you really out? Two tubes of silicone and some time. Call it sweat equitiy in your reef tank. Mark

Woohoo!!!

It would seem that glass companies are not shy at all about wanting to repair the tank! I have called a few and for between $10-$50 they will scrape out the old the old silicone and replace it with new. For that price, its definitely worth a try. I'm going to get that done in the next day or two and then once it cures, I'll try another water test for at least a couple of days out in the carport. Heck, they'll probably even drill it for me!

In the meantime, I'll be getting the 65 moved over and I'll just spend the next week or so getting that one cleaned up and ready to accept the livestock from my 24. Once I can break the 24 down, I'll use the rock and some water from that to seed the new 125.

Please keep your fingers crossed for me. I am WAY excited and think that this whole deal is real gift from the fish gods.

I found this topic last night and am blown away. This is the direction I'd like to go in as well.

47 gal column

Thanks Mark for the "how to". If I have to, I'll do it. I'm not skeered. I fell like it was way beyond coincidence that I received two great tanks for FREE in 2 days. My family thinks I'm crazy, but I'm on a mission at this point. Man, I love this hobby and while I've lost focus for a little while, this is exactly what I needed. Merry Christmas to me!

Glad to see you're going ahead with the plan! If you're looking for some more inspiration, this is one of the tanks that's got the rock wall backing going on in a very pleasing way:



The rock island in the center would be awesome with branching SPS types and the aquascaping would be minimalist enough to allow a lot of room for fish to swim. Definitely easier to pull off than the LR arch from the wall to the center, and honestly probably just as effective visually.

I'll also point out that John (RC TOTM from my thread) used similar backing on his tank and the effect on the visual depth of the aquarium is just stunning when it's stuffed full of caps and tabling acroporas. He used reef ceramics for his (not sure if they're still in business). I've seen plenty of threads for DIY eggcrate/foam/rock aquarium backings that end up looking stunning.



A note on lighting a 34" deep tank, especially if you intend to go with SPS throughout... you will need at a bare minimum 250w halides and I would recommend 400w. T5's simply don't penetrate that deeply, no matter how many you were to throw on the tank. I wouldn't put SPS at the bottom of my 30" tank under 250's.

Also, FYI: your link to my thread is broken

How can you NOT do it? I double, DOG dared you!!!!



I think you're skeered. I think you're skeered of the spit tool

Good luck with the build, I hope it all goes well. Keep us informed. Mark

Hey Aaron! I just replied about my tank on your thread b4 I saw your post here. Thanks for visiting! I do love those photos you posted. Now I'm going to start researching the foam rock walls. I've seen some that turn out great.

As for your link, sorry. I don't know what went wrong. How bout this...

You have to check out Aaron1987's tank! TOTM Worthy. Just click on his link above.[color="#9ACD32"][/color]

And Mark, the only thing I'm worried about is my making an inappropriate comment about the tool to which you are referring.

I plan on trying to get the overflow box tomorrow and some plans on where to drill for the bulkheads so when the glass guy comes out, he can get that all taken care of for me.

I'm making RO/DI water for the arrival of the super messy 65 that is coming on Thursday. Pics to come.

Megan, I promise, you won't offend me

So riddle me the Bat Boys (and girls)...

Does my overflow box have to span the entire height of the tank? I thought the most important issues were the surface area that it was skimming along with the size of the hole/bulkhead to remove the max amount of water.

So for a 125, I'd need about 18" of surface area skimmed. If I cant find a box that is 35" tall, can I use any height so long as it is wide enough? And then once I figure out where I'm going to place the overflow box, where do I drill the hole? As close to the bottom as I can get? And then the hole for the return is as close to the top as I can get right?

Thanks, sorry for all the ???'s. I can't picture the system in my head and my lfs doesn't have any DIYs, so they are hesitant to direct me.

Oooh, oooh! I found the website that everyone was posting about that was getting bleeped out all the time. You know, Glass Holes....

It answeres all of the above questions.

Nevermind.

So I spent ALL day moving the new tank over from my friends house. I had no idea how much labor was involved in moving a tank. Seriously, I moved a ton of weight in a million 5 gallon buckets. In and out, in and out, old water, new water. I am so sore!

The tank is still cloudy, so I haven't scaped yet. I need to vacuum the sand really well and do about 5 big water changes. There is a bit of hair algae on some of the rocks. I shook all the rocks in the buckets of old water to get all of the detritus off, but I didn't get a chance to scrub any of them. It got cold here today, so I really needed to get everything back in the tank before the water got too cold. Now its just settling and I'm hoping tomorrow I'll get to reorganize everything and get the corals where they need to be.

It came with a ton of rock. I don't know how much. I don't have a scale, but its a ton. There are two giant toadstool leathers and they have put off about 10 little babies. Theres a scolemia, a candy cane, a bunch of yellow polyps, and a couple of finger leathers.

So right now I have my little Viper light on b/c the lights that came with need to be replaced. The only thing in the sump is the sock and a Rio 2100 for a pump. That's it.

So, what would you recommend for lighting and the rest of the equipment.

I want to post pics, but the site is not letting me upload right now. When they let me, I'll get some pics up.

The first shot shows about half of what had to moved from the inside.

And then a shot of the empty tank, ready to move and one of it getting set up in my kitchen.

The last pic is how I left it when I went to bed.

x

'

Oh, she looks so preety now! I ran a water test though and I need to do some major water changes. My calcium was at 340, so I dosed, my KH was at 10, Phosphates were high and Nitrates were high.

Now I am spending all of my time researching how all the tubes attach to the RO unit I have. It came with the tank and I can't tell what connects to what. There don't seem to be any good diagrams out there.

Also, none of the lights work. What would be the best lights to have for this system? I might be upgraded in the near future to the tall 125, so I'm wondering if I can get lights that will be strong enough for that system, but not overpower the 65.

Once we get good RO water, I'll start doing some serious water changes. I'd like to be able to transfer all of the contents of my 24 over in the next week or so.

Oh, and this is a super creepy worm I found...

We got the RO/DI unit working and I now have a garbage can full of water to do a change. I'm going to do a 50% water change and vacuum the hell out of the sand bed. Its so dirty! Then I'm hoping that by tonight I can move the contents of my 24 over. I'm so excited!!! I can't decide if I want to tear down the AP24 or make it a specimen tank. The expense alone seems prohibitive.

So I did a 30 gal water change yesterday and I"m running more water to do another one tonight. The nitrates are through the roof! I don't the sand had ever been vacuumed in 5 years. I was picking through it today to pull out any shells or anything large enough to hold detritus and found giant clumps of compressed poo. I am guessing this is the reason my nitrates are so high as I don't think the tank is really going to cycle since all we did was move it and reassemble it with its own rocks, sand, water and inhabitants. What do you think? Is it just dirty or am I cycling?

Here are some updated photos I took this morning.

I need a coral id as well on the little purple zoolike things with green centers. They have little ruffled skirts.

;-)

So it turns out that the corals in question were blastos and here are some pics of my scholemia eating the shrimps molt. It scared me at first, but then I saw shrimpy hopping around the rocks.

I also realize I haven't updated in awhile.

So I have decided to abandon the 125. As much as I love the shape and all, the 65 seems to be more than enough for me right now. I actually pulled some muscles in my neck and shoulders when I was setting up the 65 and have since had to get CAT scans to find the source of my 8 day migraine. I know it was from the pulled muscles, but nonetheless, the Dr. ordered it and I have since decided that a tank any deeper than this one will be nothing more than a PITA. As it is, my hubby got me a very spiffy set of long handled grabbers for Christmas.

About a week ago, I transferred all of the contents of my 24 gal into the new tank and everyone is very happy! I was nervous about it, but needed to do it as I was constantly having to move my MH pendant from one tank to the other. I still need to get a new lighting setup for the 65. I'm looking at some T5's and I hope to do that soon.

The current inhabitants of the tank are what came with it...

Bi-Color Psuedo, Clown, and Cardinal and misc corals to include zoas, blastos, yellow polyps, scholemia, a ton of toadstools and leathers, candy canes and some gsp.

I added from my 24...

Coral Beauty, YWG/Pistol pair, serpant starfish, green rock anemone, an open brain, button polyps, gorgonian, misc. mushrooms, torch and hammer, finger leather, and more gsp.

There was nothing in the way of a cleanup crew so I bought a dozen snails and a dozen crabs and a cleaner shrimp.

Everyone is happy and I'm looking forward to getting some more color in the tank. Right now everything is the typical green and purple with spots of yellow. I want to get a mandarin and about 3 anthias and that should do it. I don't have a fuge for copepods, but there is a ton of rock in this thing, and probably more to come.

So it's been a long time since I've updated.

Since then, I rescaped to a 2 island look. I got rid of about 40 lbs of rock in the middle.

I've had a couple of small losses but nothing crazy, until today.

We got a sponge crab and he ate all the legs off of my starfish and cut my largest toadstool leather off of his stalk at about 2 inches from the cap. It still extended its polyps today, I don't see how it can possibly make it. Luckily, I got the little bugger out of there.

I found a guy on craigslist who selling off some of his stock today and I got some amazing deals. I got an orange plat for $20, a yellowish gorg for $10, about 25 heads of a killer turquoise zoa colony for $20, and a rock covered in green hairy mushrooms $20. I also got 2 emerald crabs and little red crab for $3 each. I'll probably have to wait until tomorrow to get pictures of any of them, but I've added a few tank shots for now.

Thanks for looking!

Any tips on how to take better photos would also be appreciated! I have a basic Cannon Sure Shot, but I don't know how to use it! All my pics seem washed out and I don't know how to do the macro shots.

tank look'in great!