JoelRHale Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Really love the look of shallow tanks, especially this one! Link to comment
Chris George Posted August 3, 2011 Author Share Posted August 3, 2011 nice score on the chalice, especially if you got it cheap. looks kinda similar to an alien eye chalice. lookin good so far It's about 3.5 inches in diameter and was $20. Pretty decent price for the size I think. You have no idea how jealous I am that Vivid is your LFS... I ordered from them all the time and have never been anything but pleased with their livestock. I know, right? A coworker of mine that's also into reefs introduced me to Vivid a little over a year ago. Easily the best LFS I've ever been to. It's not even close. Really love the look of shallow tanks, especially this one! Thanks Joel. This has been a labor of love. Link to comment
TheNordCelt Posted August 3, 2011 Share Posted August 3, 2011 Looking forward to seeing your updated scape, and great job so far. Link to comment
mike c Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 You have no idea how jealous I am that Vivid is your LFS... I ordered from them all the time and have never been anything but pleased with their livestock. I second this!! ^^^ I take a monthly trip from Santa Barbara down to Age of Aquariums in Long Beach (which is also a GREAT store), and make it a point to hop off the 101 and stop in at Vivid. They've got a awesome selection or coral, and good prices too. How awsome is the small corner tank full of different colored Scolys!?!? Link to comment
LogansRunRx Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 awsome build. looks great! following along... Link to comment
Chris George Posted August 14, 2011 Author Share Posted August 14, 2011 I second this!! ^^^ I take a monthly trip from Santa Barbara down to Age of Aquariums in Long Beach (which is also a GREAT store), and make it a point to hop off the 101 and stop in at Vivid. They've got a awesome selection or coral, and good prices too. How awsome is the small corner tank full of different colored Scolys!?!? That tank is awesome, and they recently replaced the LED lighting they had on that tank to 2 AI Sol Blue units. Looks even better now. The last time I went in though, their entire 800g display tank was broken down. I didn't ask why. awsome build. looks great!following along... Thanks a lot. I'm on vacation for a week starting tomorrow so I haven't been making any changes or adding any more corals. After that, expect a lot of updates. Link to comment
creefer Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 Great build, Chris! Thanks for putting this up. Your tank is very close to what I have in mind for my upgrade next year....just a little smaller. I'll be following. Link to comment
Chris George Posted September 6, 2011 Author Share Posted September 6, 2011 Not much going on with this build lately. I went on vacation for a week, had very simple instructions for a neighbor on dosing, had the fish feeding on a timer, and auto top-off ready to go. I even pointed a wifi webcam at the tank so I could keep an eye on it from my iphone while on vacation. For the very first time.....NOTHING happened while I was gone! Everything thrived. On another note: My chalice coral lost some color over the last couple weeks. I moved it towards the center of the tank before the vacation, and now the deep green color of the tissue is a pale purple. The polyps are still neon green. Is this the typical loss of color with LED lighting? I'm going to experiment with moving it away from center again and see if colors back up. It was in my tank for the first 1.5 weeks near the edge of the tank and I would even say it was gaining MORE green color in that time. Perhaps the AI Sol Blue is too much light? Despite the change/loss of color the coral is growing. Link to comment
Chris George Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 I've been trying to keep a cyano outbreak at bay in this tank the last couple months, but it's been slowly progressing so I wanted to post an update. I replaced my skimmer with an SWC Extreme 160 Cone. What a difference! I don't think my 1998 AquaC EV-90 really holds up against the newer skimmer types. It just wasn't skimming that great. It was very picky about the water level inside and I could never get it quite right this time for some reason. The best part of this entire process so far: No deaths (other than snails) since this tank went live. I'm being so slow and careful this time. Checking parameters regularly, doing weekly 10% water changes, making sure my top off water is clean. It's been a very pleasant experience so far. New corals added 1 Orange Monti Cap 1 Orange w/pink tip Monti Digi Various Zoanthids 1 Favia 1 Orange/Pink/Green Acan sp. 1 Green w/pink tips Frogspawn Link to comment
1fishmonger Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Really like your tank! Great dimensions and nice rockscape. Have you considered using epoxy instead of zip ties to hold the rocks in place? Since it's already set up, you can probably remove one zip tie at a time and epoxy that single point in the rock work. Looks great Link to comment
Chris George Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 Thanks! It's actually a combination of epoxy and zip ties. I have some pretty heavy rocks protruding off of some others, so I'm almost positive epoxy alone wouldn't cut it. The goal is for coralline and coral tissue to eventually crust over it and make it invisible. I could actually epoxy over the zip ties to hide them better. Coralline algae growing on epoxy looks pretty natural after some time. Oh, and I totally apologize for photographing my tank with the egg crate under my rocks exposed. How embarrassing. I was in the process of removing some sand with cyano on it after a water change and I hadn't gotten around to replacing it yet. Link to comment
pschom Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Very nice. And similar. I got cyano in my late 3 gallon. Not sure why or how. I've had pretty good luck with the larger nanos. Anyway, looks great. Link to comment
castiel Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Lovely tank, i look forward to seeing it progress. Does the egg crate cover the entire base, or just under the rocks? Link to comment
Chris George Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 The crate was supposed only be under the rocks, but I ended up with that arch which wasn't in the original plan. The crate runs under the arch too. I'm going to cut it out on my next water change. Link to comment
Chris George Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 Very nice. And similar. I got cyano in my late 3 gallon. Not sure why or how. I've had pretty good luck with the larger nanos. Anyway, looks great. Thanks a lot. Yeah, I've battled cyano with many of my tanks. I'm beginning to think I have high silicate water here or something. No matter how new I keep my RODI filters and resin, it makes an attempt to come back. Lovely tank, i look forward to seeing it progress. Does the egg crate cover the entire base, or just under the rocks? The crate was originally supposed to be only under the rocks, but I ended up with that arch which wasn't in the original plan. So the crate runs under the arch too. I'm going to cut it out on my next water change since it's exposed right now. I've snapped a few pieces out after installation before. It's pretty simple. Link to comment
JNA_DESIGN Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Love the scape. Looks amazing. And to your question with the Chalices changing color, I have a SOL and I have had all my chalices change color is some form or another. Just give it time. I personally think all my chalices have changed for the better but that could be because of the personal bias lol. Love the zoas also. Link to comment
saltwatercoral Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Nice setup Chris! Loce the AI SOL to! You should join the Aqua Illumination Club! Just post a pic of your tank with the SOL in the pic and alittle about your tank and your in! Link to comment
pschom Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Love the scape. Looks amazing. And to your question with the Chalices changing color, I have a SOL and I have had all my chalices change color is some form or another. Just give it time. I personally think all my chalices have changed for the better but that could be because of the personal bias lol. Love the zoas also. The changing color thing is annoying. Sps take quite a bit of time to acclimate to my LEDs. Every time I move one, or add one it browns and takes a month to return. I dont understand that. Has nothing to do with water quality, acclimation process, or anything. Just happens to me. I have a Mini anemone that has changed colors recently. Still looks great, but it's more green than it was orange before, and there are actually some white parts in the pattern now. Link to comment
najluni15 Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Is your ai enough light for the entire tank? I have a 57" that is a bit deeper but as wide and was thinking of getting ai. I love my kessils though. Any thoughts? Amazing tank by the way Link to comment
JNA_DESIGN Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Personally I feel like a mad scientist Love getting cheap brown frags and watching them turn into some crazy chalice that most would have laughed at. Link to comment
pschom Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Personally I feel like a mad scientist Love getting cheap brown frags and watching them turn into some crazy chalice that most would have laughed at. Yeah, that makes sense. Just takes forever. It does work though...sometimes. Link to comment
JNA_DESIGN Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Sometimes is right lol. Rather spend $5 on a mystery chalice rather then a scratch off from 7-11 I like to think all coral want to be pretty, just gotta show a lil love and time, some can be very shy before letting you see her with the lights on Link to comment
Chris George Posted January 3, 2012 Author Share Posted January 3, 2012 Love the scape. Looks amazing. And to your question with the Chalices changing color, I have a SOL and I have had all my chalices change color is some form or another. Just give it time. I personally think all my chalices have changed for the better but that could be because of the personal bias lol. Love the zoas also. Thanks a lot. This tank has been my true labor of love since ever beginning this hobby. I want everything to be perfect. The Chalice is really bugging with the baby poop brown it decided to turn. I see hints of it coloring back up though. I see a bit of purple in the darker areas. Nice setup Chris! Loce the AI SOL to! You should join the Aqua Illumination Club! Just post a pic of your tank with the SOL in the pic and alittle about your tank and your in! Thanks! I will definitely join the AI club. The changing color thing is annoying. Sps take quite a bit of time to acclimate to my LEDs. Every time I move one, or add one it browns and takes a month to return. I dont understand that. Has nothing to do with water quality, acclimation process, or anything. Just happens to me. I have a Mini anemone that has changed colors recently. Still looks great, but it's more green than it was orange before, and there are actually some white parts in the pattern now. Yeah, everything I've purchased had been under MH's or Fluorescents. Most of the corals have changed for the better. The Monti Cap was a brown/burgundy color when I bought it, and now you can see it's a very vibrant orange. The Monti Digi was actually a really sweet pink color, and it has turned into the typical orange you see in montis. But it retained the pink tips so it looks pretty nice. Is your ai enough light for the entire tank? I have a 57" that is a bit deeper but as wide and was thinking of getting ai. I love my kessils though. Any thoughts? Amazing tank by the way If I were putting light-loving corals along the sides and corners, then it's definitely not enough. My plan is to keep very low-light corals like mushrooms and certain zoas along the outskirts, and keep everything that needs the light near the center. That being said, I'm leaving the option open of adding another AI Sol unit to this setup at some point. With the price drop, it's definitely within budget. Thanks for all the kind words guys! Link to comment
BLINDSIDE Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 ONE OF THE BEST CUBES IVE SEEN! I love this tank! Link to comment
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