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Birth of a biotope or Spanko is crazy


spanko

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Okay here I go.

This is what my tank used to look like:

 

fts-2.jpg

 

That was 2 weeks ago before I started down the path of creating a reef flat biotope.

All LPS, softies, fish, shrimp have been sold, given away, or are at the LFS as store credit when they are sold. All sand has been removed. (yes I am now bare bottom)

What remains of the original system that was running for almost 10 months is about 38 lbs. of live rock, asst'd snails and hermits, a ball of Chaeto and a Pom-Pom crab (gotta keep him, don't know if he is known to hang out on the reef flat or not but he is just too cool to give up). I also have left all of my SPS. A red M. capricornus , an orange M. capricornus , a superman M. danae, a yellow A. yongei, and what I am pretty sure is a S. hystrix 1/2 inch branch laying on it's side that hitched in on the rock. My only new addition so far is a Geometric Pygmy Hawkfish, (C. oxycephalus).

 

Tank is a 29 Gallon Oceanic Biocube. Chamber #1, Heater, modded filter pad, bag-o-Purigen. Chamber #2, Sapphire Aquatics skimmer. Chamber #3, Rio 6hf at 350 gph. Inside tank have run output of the Rio to the bottom of the tank where it splits in a Y and has the nozzles pointed across the left side towards the front and across the back pointed towards the right side. Koralia #3 at 850 gph pointed from the right side rear towards the left side front. So 350 gph turnover through the filtering and total of 1300 gph total "turbulence" through the display. In my small mind this should be enough to keep the detritus from the bare bottom up into the water column for removal by the mechanical filtration. Any thoughts to the contrary or in agreement with are welcome.

Lighting is in the stock hood and is the 4.36 nanotuners upgrade with the higher output fans and the upgraded moonlights. Running right now (2) 36 watt 10k daylights, (1) 36 watt actinic, and (1) 36 watt 50/50 for a total of 144 watts. I am thinking that I may have to replace the actinic with another 10k and maybe the 50/50 with another 10k. I keep reading that the actinic is just for our viewing pleasure and may not do anything for the keeping of the SPS coral that will be the makeup of the system. Any thoughts to the contrary or in agreement with are welcome.

 

Future stocking plans are:

 

An urchin, probably a tuxedo M. globulus

(3) Talbot's damsels. C. talboti

 

One of the following:

A. cytherea

A. clathrata

A. hyacinthus

A. tanegashimensis

A. spicifera

A. solitaryensis

A. glauca

 

One of the following:

P. rus

P. lobata

 

Possibly a small T. maxima because I had to get shed of the derasa I had due to it's need for a substrate that I no longer have and the fact that it is not an inhabitant of the reef flat.

 

The fish mentioned are all small when full grown, not more than 2" in length. The hawkfish does not move around very much, just sits like a hawk :D waiting for some food to cruise by and the damsels are free swimming in the top of the water column. Because I think there would not be much of a bio load from these I will consider another fish down the road after I verify first that I can keep 3 small damsels in a 29 gallon tank together, and second that the expected bio load is indeed small enough to maintain the water condition I need for the SPS.

 

I don't have any pics. of what it looks like in it's startup phase yet but will try to get some this evening.

Again any thoughts to the contrary, in agreement with, or any things I may be missing are welcome input at this point. I am excited to get this going even though it looks a little funky right now with what is a big square of a rock pile in the bottom of the tank with varying height to it and a gap around the edge to allow the Mag-Float all around to clean the glass.

 

PHEW......... :eek::wacko:

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that's an interesting idea, recreating the flat reef top. it makes sense, since that's the shallowest part of the reef and considering the actual depths of typical fishtanks; very appropriate. i like the idea! too bad you can't drain the tank at low tide and bake the corals in air at 100degF like in that video from Fiji you (i think) posted in another thread. :haha: but i see where you're coming from and i like it!

 

how deep will the rock be, and since cubes can end up having a lot of free space in the upper half of the tank, what will occupy this? massive coral colonies? i always thought a huge acro colony like a foot around would look good in a 30ish cube...

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Yes I am looking for the monti caps and the tabling acros to get large. Plus the damsels on the flats school above the coral-rock base, so am hoping I get a little of that going on also. Overall height of the tank display is about 19" so there is plenty of room for upward growth of the coral colonies. The rock work itself varies in it's depth from about four" to about 6" or 7". I has a lot of "trails" through it for water movement and for any of the critters that want to follow the maze. Looking at some of the real flat pics even though the coral has the appearance of being flat, the rock work underlying it has some variation in height. Hopefully in the cube this will also happen.

Hmmmmmm......drain some of the tank, let em bake a while, fill the tank back up.

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Phew....sounds like a load of work you just got done doing. I'm really looking forward to seeing your idea come to fruition. I first read the part about getting rid of the corals and stuff and I couldn't help but think I wish I could have gotten your caps :) I really think that full grown caps and other tabling SPS are going to look incredible in there. It will of course take a while to get them to that point.

 

I wonder how many other tanks are out there like this one you're trying to create? Any pics so far?

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Try for pics tonight. Scott Fellman from wetwebmedia.com told me that he has seen some of the Japanese reef tank set up like this. here is a link to some, I hope that I can even approach the beauty of some of these tanks. Keeping in mind I am trying to do it in a 19"x19" footprint, and also bare bottom. To me this is all important in the small tank with no refugium to keep the detritus off the floor and up in the water column.

 

http://www.reefland.com/forum/reef-archive...nese-tanks.html

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:o :o :oWOW. I was following another Asian tank over on RC (shhh) and they have some absolutely amazing tanks. I really like that style of aquascaping and I'm sure you will be able to pull this off. Some are not quite as much of the style as I think you're going for. I like the one shot of the tank room behind the tank. I guess if you ever had to sell the house you better find a reefer to buy it :)
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Geometric Pygmy Hawkfish

 

hawk223-oct-07.jpg

 

hawk123-oct-07.jpg

 

Pom-Pom Crab

 

po123-oct-07.jpg

 

Red Legged Reef Crab

 

redlegg23-oct-07.jpg

 

Just practicing. Minolta Dimage Z1. (3) 10k's and (1) 50/50 pc lighting.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well picked up a nice pc. of P. lobata last night, the LFS finally got it in. It is a nice pc. with many Spirobranchus sp. (Christmas tree worms) on it. Blues, browns, reds, just a lovely pc. Didn't get the rest of the order they placed for me though. Seems like when a LFS does trans-shipping from the pacific you may or may not get what you ordered. Now I am looking more closely at the scape to see how the coral will fit in with the bio-tope I am trying to emulate. Gonna have to move some things around when the last pc. of the puzzle (tabling Acropora) comes in and then let things grow out.

Still loking to add the Talbot's damsel, the tuxedo urchin, and a small maxima.

 

Will keep all posted. Thanx for following along.

Oh yeah will get a pic of the Porites tonight or tomorrow.

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I must have missed your post originally with the pics of the tank....I think it looks great and will be awesome once things start growing in. I love the selection of SPS so far and especially that superman monti....it looks super healthy.

 

Looking forward to seeing it come along and grow in.

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Nah, she who must be obeyed had me putting together some stools to go with the new kitchen we just finished. For sure this weekend. I have been polling people on this site about putting either tempered glass or a polycarbonate on as a top. So far the polycarbonate seems like a viable option. Can withstand heat up to about 250 degrees (can't imagine it will get tat hot), and won't yellow or discolor for a few years. Measured the top this morning and a pc. 18 3/4 by 14 will fit and cover all but about 1-2" of the very front where the bow and rounded corners are and naturally leave the sump area open. Around this neck of the woods a 1/4" thick pc. or either the polycarbonate or tempered glass will run about $30. Tempered glass has about a week lead time.

 

I think I will try the polycarbonate first and see how it goes.

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That's cool man....I understand that "those" duties come first :) Sounds like the polycarbonate is the way to go as well considering it's high tolerance for heat and it's ability to stay clear.

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Okay, old top off, Sunpod on. WOOT WOOT. Like the shimmer. White LED's on ot 10am. Halide on at 11am. Halide off at 7pm. White LED off at 8pm. Blue LED on at 8pm off at 10am.

Love it!

Made a Lexan top. 1/4 inch Lexan. Top goes from back wall out 11 3/4 inches. The rest of the way to the front is a separate pc. There is a 14" gap between the two pcs. for some heat to come out. There are two acrylic hinges and a little homemade knob on the front pc. so there is still access. At the back wall from the top of the wall to the bottom of the Lexan there is about 1/4 - 3/8 inch gap. More air flow. So far no heat build up in the tank Temp constant 78 degrees. test results today

Ag 1.028 a little high.

Calcuim 440

Alk 3.5

Mag 1350

Nitrates 0

Ph 8.2

 

Pictures later. Have some honey do list for she that must be obeyed to get done before I can play.

 

Thanx everyone for looking.

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Pics

 

Full Tank Shot

fts11nov07.jpg

 

New Top

newtop11nov07-1.jpg

 

Access Door Open

accessopen.jpg

 

Will put tabling Acropora in black circle area

fts11nov073.jpg

 

Porites worm Rock

poriteswormrock11nov07.jpg

 

Temp climbed to 80 degrees by the time the halides turned off today. Not too bad. Will keep an eye on them. May drill a few holes like 1/4 inchers in the top if it gets worse.

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Looking great bud and I'm loving that lexan top that you created. Did you make it or have someone local make it for you? Either way it looks great and blends nicely. I'm assuming that all of the corals are loving the new light :) Looking forward to seeing closer pics of the corals.

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Nope made the top myself.

Bought a 24" x 24" sheet of 1/4" Lexan ad two acrylic hinges $30

tube of Lexan adhesive/sealant $7

Carbide impregnated fine jig saw blade $5

 

A little of my time and $42 got what I think is a nice top.

 

Thank you Clifford513. It is really growing nicely, albeit slowly. Maybe the new Halides will help.

 

Thanx for looking.

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Was at LFS's today. Got the following:

 

Maxima

1macimanov07.jpg

 

Blue tip Acropora

bluetipacro.jpg

 

Both have been in the tank about an hour now.

 

I thought I got rid of all the softies in the tank. Found these darn things just hanging out on a rock......grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

zoasinthebiotope.jpg

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I totally agree with the comment about the superman monti frag....the polyp extension on that is insane and it is a beautiful piece. It will probably take a little while for it to start laying down more of it's base but it should take off with the new lights, I would think.

 

Great new additions bud....loving the clam and the acro. If you really don't want the zoas, just scrap them off and send them my way ;)

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