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47 Column Mixed Reef


aaron1987

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Everybody likes pictures so here's a FTS to start things off:

 

3/10 FTS

DSC_0354.jpg

 

11/09 FTS

DSC_0136.jpg

 

 

With that out of the way, on to the boring details :)

 

Parameters:

Nitrates: 5 ppm

Ca: 450 ppm

Alk: 8.5 DkH

Mg: 1400 ppm

 

Equipment:

 

Lighting is provided by an Outer Orbit 250w MH with four T5's. Bulbs from front to back:

 

Blue+

Blue+

14k DE Phoenix

Fiji Purple

Blue+

 

Flow is handled by a Vortech MP20 and a Koralia 1 since the MP20 isn't enough by itself due to tank dimensions and aquascaping.

 

Filtration is courtesy of a Bulk Reef Supply single chamber media reactor with carbon and granular ferric oxide as well as a Warner Marine HX2.

 

That's it. Sumpless, baby! B)

 

History:

 

In 6th grade, I went on a family vacation to the Bahamas, snorkeled on a few reefs, and was hooked. I knew I had to try and replicate what I had seen. After mowing more than a few lawns, I found a 75g setup that I bought. It quickly became my baby. After several years, I lost interest and moved on to bigger and better things (I turned 16 and suddenly became obsessed with cars, imagine that!).

 

My hiatus lasted until 2 years ago when I was in Cocoa Beach with my girlfriend. We happened to stop into a couple fish stores on a whim and I couldn't believe how much cheaper everything looked and how far the hobby had come. My girlfriend thought it was awesome too, and goaded me into getting back into the hobby.

 

The instigator:

4209_722328216449_14820356_42373-2.jpg

 

Don't let her cute looks fool you, that decision to encourage this aquarium has cost me a lot of money (far more than she knows about :lol: ).

 

My initial tank was a BC29. I needed something I could move about and the fact that tanks existed without sumps blew my mind since they were considered a requirement when I started out.

 

HPIM0446.jpg

 

The above is a picture of the BC29 shortly before breaking it down for bigger and better things after a year. This brings me to why we're all here, my current aquarium (shown during its leak test):

 

HPIM0452.jpg

 

Marco rocks and an outer orbit followed:

 

IMG_7299.jpg

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I should probably mention a bit more about the aquarium itself since I've gotten questions about it in the past. The tank is a Marineland 47 gallon column aquarium measuring 20x18x30". They still show it as one of their lines on the company website but my understanding (or at least what I was told when I bought it) was that it was being discontinued. Not completely sure whether that's the case or not. The bottom glass pane is tempered.

 

I saw the same aquarium on display at Petland in Iowa City and loved the uniqueness of it. I had been wanting to do some sort of pillar aquascaping and the column was perfect for that. My girlfriend told me I was crazy and would be regretting the tall dimensions any time I needed to stick my hand in it. Being a tall guy, I figured reaching the bottom wouldn't be so bad. I was wrong, the sight of a coral knocked to the bottom is about enough to bring me to tears these days. Tight spaces make it a #@(*& to get anything that falls. That said, I wouldn't hesitate to pick the same tank again. I love the unique aquascaping I get to do!

 

Back to the progress. While I was cycling the rock I got from Marco I left for vacation and came back to discover that the canister filter I had been running and sprung a leak and had dripped water onto the stand causing some stress fracturing:

 

IMG_7303.jpg

 

I was extremely concerned about what this meant for the structural integrity of the stand. But thankfully I live in a fraternity with more than a few engineers who assured me it wasn't load bearing. Almost a year later, they're still right and I really hope it stays that way :o .

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OH

MY

GOSH

 

I really don't like tall tanks, but this one is absolutely gorgeous.

Tall tanks are so hard to aquascape well, but you have done an outstanding job.

What a beautiful, vibrant, healthy tank, my hat is off to you Sir.

:tips hat:

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At this point I didn't have a digital camera so pictures of progress are few and far between since I was borrowing cameras. After about 2 months of the tank being set up I decided to start adding some SPS. As luck would have it I happened to meet the owner of this beauty which was a tank of the month on RC:

 

Full-Tank-ShotSM.jpg

 

 

John was a real stand up guy with an incredible tank that was the inspiration I needed to truly step up my efforts with my tank and make it great. He was also a fantastic source for SPS frags and I got all my high-end SPS from him. Sadly his tank crashed awhile back :( .

 

With the addition of frags from John, my column was really starting to come along:

 

DSC04218.jpg

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you are the king of the tall tanks! so colorful. how did you make your aquascape?

 

I cheated :lol: . My plan had been to do the 'standard' pillar construction: drilling through rocks, securing them on 5/8" acrylic rods with zipties and epoxy. Using shelf rock (which had recently become unavailable) would allow me to make a bonsai tree-like aquascape. Since I couldn't get any shelf rock, I ordered from the only place that had dry rock in stock, then had to wait a month for it to arrive. As luck would have it, the rocks I received from Marcorocks were like they had been made for what I was hoping to do. Believe it or not, that entire aquascape is made primarily of 5 rocks with 4 points of epoxy contact.

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animalmaster6

STUNNING TANK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :huh: ... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

can't wait for more pics!

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Shortly after the last FTS I posted was taken, I took some time to photograph some of my corals.

 

I like these two because they give a good idea of the depth of the aquascape that is otherwise unapparent from full tank shots:

DSC04228.jpg

 

DSC04226.jpg

 

One of my blasto's melted over the course of a few weeks as you can see in this picture; I'm still not quite certain what happened, so just pretend it isn't there:

DSC_0017.jpg

 

One of my favorite pieces, meteor shower cyphastrea:

DSC04214.jpg

 

Monti row, from left to right: sunset, pokerstar, pink sand dollar, setosa. There's also a rainbow monti hiding behind the bird's nest:

DSC04212.jpg

 

Oregon torts, orange digitata, a bit of idaho grape, and a frag of blue acro whose name is escaping me at the moment:

DSC_0091.jpg

 

This past summer I was on internship and my tank was left at the mercy of my fraternity brothers who managed to do surprisingly little damage to it over my absence :) . Other than infrequent water changes, a few losses due to fallen coral that went unnoticed and some hair/bubble algae, things were just fine.

 

One upside to me being away was that I had enough money to purchase something I had been after for awhile: a Nikon D-40!

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Great look tank!

 

Do you have a thread that covers john's tank crash?

 

I wish I did but truthfully I don't know exactly what happened myself. The last time I had been out to his place he was talking about turning it into an anemone only tank (blasphemy!). Shortly thereafter he dropped off the face of the earth. His website was taken down, as was his frags.org postings. I heard from some of the other guys in the hobby around here that his tank had crashed and he'd left the hobby. His tank was heavily automated so if I had to guess, I'd imagine something failed and nuked it. All that's left as far as a testament to his tank is the Reefkeeping Magazine profile when he won TOTM, February 2009.

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Snapped a couple quick pictures of things that make me want to slam my head against a wall.

 

30" down. Some people complain about getting their arm wet when sticking it into their aquarium, try soaking yourself up to your armpit. Bleh.

 

DSC_0171.jpg

 

I don't really know what's responsible for this, I've got a purple urchin that likes to rearrange, but it's a pretty big chunk of coral for him to upend.

 

I've never quite figured out what my clam's problem is but this drives me crazy, too. It started correctly oriented 4" above where it is now. I keep expecting it to jump but it has been hanging on like this for almost 3 weeks now without showing any signs of letting go.

 

DSC_0158.jpg

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Holy, Holy, Holy! I HAVE NEVER SEEN BETTER! I was hoping to put the same together, but the tank I inherited has a leak. Its the same shape, slightly larger. I had no idea such a reef could be created!

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Holy, Holy, Holy! I HAVE NEVER SEEN BETTER! I was hoping to put the same together, but the tank I inherited has a leak. Its the same shape, slightly larger. I had no idea such a reef could be created!

 

Out of curiosity, what are the dimensions on the one you inherited? They're great tanks if done right. You should try redoing the silicone. I always thought these tanks would look cool with a rock wall against the back, a piece of shelf rock or two coming off it, and an arch into the middle of the tank. Caps on the wall, stags and acros on the shelfs and arch, would look awesome once it grew in. Wish someone would do that.

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Out of curiosity, what are the dimensions on the one you inherited? They're great tanks if done right. You should try redoing the silicone. I always thought these tanks would look cool with a rock wall against the back, a piece of shelf rock or two coming off it, and an arch into the middle of the tank. Caps on the wall, stags and acros on the shelfs and arch, would look awesome once it grew in. Wish someone would do that.

 

It is 36 w x 24 d x 34 high. I love it! I'm nervous about a repair. I have to say though that your scaping idea is genius and I'm going to try to fix it, just to do that! You are a natural and should be working in the field professionally. I know around here (Orlando) there are tons of opportunities for hobbyists to break into jobs at all the theme parks and restaurants.

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It is 36 w x 24 d x 34 high. I love it! I'm nervous about a repair. I have to say though that your scaping idea is genius and I'm going to try to fix it, just to do that! You are a natural and should be working in the field professionally. I know around here (Orlando) there are tons of opportunities for hobbyists to break into jobs at all the theme parks and restaurants.

 

I don't know that there are as many opportunities for making a career out of aquascaping in Ames, IA :P . Sure would be more fun than spending my days doing financial analysis, though!

 

Absolutely stunning! How long has it been up and running?

 

It was originally set up in late January of 2009 so I'm coming up on a year before too much longer. The 2 breakdowns and moves have played hell with my growth due to accidental frags and general stress to the coral accompanied with that kind of thing. The one coral that I don't have any issues with are my caps. I've pitched countless feet of red, green, and idaho grape. Going to town on the caps tonight, gonna be rescaping some of the coral since I'm running out of room and the caps are taking up a lot of prime real estate.

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Hey fellow Iowa reefer! This is a great tank! I know the tank you were talking about in the Petland in Iowa City. It's looking pretty bad right now, but seriously this is an awesome tank.

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Since I'm doing such a good job not studying for my 6pm final today I figured I'd go ahead and attempt to write up my current stocking list since I received a request for it:

 

Fish

Blue Spotted Jawfish

Blackcap Basslet

Blue Chromis

Midas Blenny

Percula Clownfish

 

Soft Coral

Assorted Ricordia (Yuma and Florida)

Too many mushrooms

Xenia

 

LPS

Tyree War Coral

Tyree Meteor Shower Cyphastrea

Rainbow Acan

Sherbert Acan

Unidentified Acan Lords

Frogspawn

Lobophyllia

Tubastrea Faulkneri

Misc. Favia

Dendrophyllia

Duncans

Blue and green trumpet coral

 

SPS

Tyree Pokerstar montipora

Tyree Pink Sand Dollar montipora

Tyree Sunset montipora

Montipora Hispada

Tyree Montipora Setosa

Rainbow montipora

Idaho Grape montipora

Tyree Flower Petal cap

Green and Red cap

Tyree Purple Monster acro

ORA Oregon Tort

ORA Purple Pillow

ORA Tri-color Valida

Green Slimer

Blue Tip Tenuis

ORA Purple Birdsnest

Tyree Ponape Bidsnest

Purple Millepora

Green Digitata

Purple Digitata (may have thrown all this away)

Green pocillopora (went sexual in my tank, I have it EVERYWHERE)

 

Polyps

Armageddons

Puple People Eaters

Vivid Nightmare Palys

Cherry Bombs

Incredible Hulk

Other misc. ones

 

I think that about covers it but I'm sure I forgot a few.

 

Hey fellow Iowa reefer! This is a great tank! I know the tank you were talking about in the Petland in Iowa City. It's looking pretty bad right now, but seriously this is an awesome tank.

 

I haven't been by Petland in a good long while; nice guys but their livestock terrifies me. The tank was looking a little rough the last time I was there as well.

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