16 gallon bow reef wall biotype - dialup beware

[skylsdale]

Biotype: A group of organisms having the same genotype.

 

Biotope: An area that is uniform in environmental conditions and in its distribution of animal and plant life.

[Fishfreak218]

i love how you can see that some of the LR used to be SPS colonies....VERY cool...it makes it look like a reef tank..and you dont even have coral..looks realy good with the Sand

 

ohhh yeah i forgot what sand did you use???

[Caesar777]

Too late to put a spraybar back there? They work wonders.

[icenine]

Yellow clown gobies, if they don't eat your coral they will just annoy them to death. Mine has kinda turned me off the whole goby thing in general.

This tank looks wonderful, but like PF mentioned there look to me some maintence pittfalls you may have to watchout for. When things start to grow out moving that "wall" seems like it might me a nightmare if it needs to be done. Tube attached to a powerhead would work to flush things out I would think.

[masterswimmer]

Biotype: A group of organisms having the same genotype.

 

Biotope: An area that is uniform in environmental conditions and in its distribution of animal and plant life.

 

 

Thanks for the english lesson....oops, I mean English lesson.

 

 

Fishfreak218

i love how you can see that some of the LR used to be SPS colonies....VERY cool...it makes it look like a reef tank..and you dont even have coral..looks realy good with the Sand

 

ohhh yeah i forgot what sand did you use???

 

Thank you Ff. As mentioned, I did hand pick each piece, so the previous live SPS colony placement was intentional. They actually make fantastic 'plugs' for new SPS frags!

 

I used Southdown.......please, no riots now. That was all I had.

 

 

Caesar777

Too late to put a spraybar back there? They work wonders.

 

Seeeee, now that's the kind of thing that would have been a nice addition. Thanks for the tip Ceasar. See next post.

 

 

icenine Posted

This tank looks wonderful, but like PF mentioned there look to me some maintence pittfalls you may have to watchout for. When things start to grow out moving that "wall" seems like it might me a nightmare if it needs to be done. Tube attached to a powerhead would work to flush things out I would think.

 

Thanks ice. I can't think of any reason to have to remove the entire wall. However, I can see the dead spots behind it as already mentioned. The idea of the powerhead with some vinyl tubing would definitely work fine. Thanks for the feedback.

 

 

Thanks again everyone,

Russ

[ecotoxlady]

Wow Russ! This tank looks fantastic and I cannot wait to see how it develops! I was wondering how the egg crate handles the weight of the LR that you used on the wall? All the egg crate I have come across has been really weak but it could just be the junk they sell around here.

[Caesar777]

Yes, Icenine's idea of the powerhead and tubing is excellent.

[Micro-Reefs Aquariums]

Masterswimmer,

 

I opened this thread and saw the first couple of pics and said, here we go again with another AGA tank.

 

Then I see you constructing all the zip ties and say, what is this guy up to?

 

I scroll down and see what you are attempting and I literally am totally blown away on your design of the wall and current.

 

You get my highest kudos on design and implementation of this wall; I believe you could enter the rock formation at Monterey Bay Aquarium in California and they would place your tank on display.

 

I can only imagine what this tank is going to look like when it starts to mature with your SPS corals.

 

A little advice; take your time with your tank once your run out of real estate you'll wish you would have been more patient to your selection of corals.

 

Go with the most exotic and rare finds you can get make this tank, make it the tank of 2006, I'm tunned into this thread.

 

What is going to be your filtration system? Don't cut any corners in this department you have a beauty upstairs in your display tank, you don't want just any engine running this baby.

 

Awesome job!!!

 

Mike G

[importfan878]

this is awesume, i mgiht have to try it, does the eggcrate support it well, how did u get the eggcrated to stand, would it be posssible to just use a drill instead of a dremel

[Zazie]

Amazing....just simply amazing. Can't wait to see it with corals.

[Fishfreak218]

Masterswimmer,

A little advice; take your time with your tank once your run out of real estate you'll wish you would have been more patient to your selection of corals.

 

you can say that again...

[masterswimmer]

Wow Russ! This tank looks fantastic and I cannot wait to see how it develops! I was wondering how the egg crate handles the weight of the LR that you used on the wall? All the egg crate I have come across has been really weak but it could just be the junk they sell around here.

 

 

Thank you for your compliments. The eggcrate was purchased at my local HD in their ceiling tile department. All it is, is light diffuser for flourescent lighting in drop ceilings. So far it seems to be handling the weight just perfectly. I don't want to jinx myself by saying more than that .

 

 

mikeguerrero, wow, what can I possibly say in response to those kind and thoughtful accolades? Thank you very much. I have been very patient with my 75 and I don't anticipate doing anything different with this one. Your suggestion to stock it with the rarest, hardest to find corals is a great idea. It is only 16 gallons, so stocking it with rarities shouldn't be too tough. I am only using an HOT CSS 65 on this tank as I don't have a sump plumbed into it like my 75 does. I did three mods on the CSS that I even called Coralife directly to talk to them about. They've already told me that they might incorporate one of the mods into their future design. Again, thanks for the high praise. Not so sure it warrants it, but I do thank you sincerely.

 

 

importfan878, thank you too. The eggcrate is working just fantastic. I got it to be almost self supporting by incorporating the 90 degree corner into it. There is not a whole lot of force pulling it forward. I imagine you could use a drill instead of a dremel. The problem I see with that is, a drill is low speed/high torque. The dremel is high speed/low torque. The high speed with a 1/8" bit worked great.

 

 

Zazie, Thank you. Believe me, I can't wait to see it with corals either. This is the first tank I'm experiencing a bit of anxiousness with.......but I will contain it.

 

 

Fishfreak218, No worries. I will be VERY selective with my choice of corals. It's like oceanfront property, you only have a very limited amount of it. Build wisely. And I wll.

 

 

You are all too kind,

Russ

 

Oh yeah, I don't know how I could have forgotten. I did add a small cleanup crew today. I added 6 Nassarius snails, 3 Turbo Astreas and 1 Coral Banded Shrimp.

 

Russ

[Caesar777]

Careful with the coral-banded shrimp...They eat all other shrimp, as well as small fish.

[masterswimmer]

Careful with the coral-banded shrimp...They eat all other shrimp, as well as small fish.

 

 

Thanks Caesar. There will only be one, possibly two fish in this tank. One of them I've decided will be a Fu Manchu Lionfish.

 

 

drowning, thanks for the thumbs up on the 'cool idea'.

 

 

Russ

[importfan878]

fu manchu in a 16 gallon, i tohught they need a 40?

[Regal Tang]

man nice origionality...i first looked at it and i was like...man that looks stupid(with all that white stuff before you added LR)...but man you did a good job with the rock...im jealous...very creative love it =)

[masterswimmer]

importfan878, It will be the only fish and only 1 - 1-1/2" in size. I should have no problem. I actually ran it by Anthony Calfo as well.

 

 

Regal Tang, thanks for taking the time to complete the thread. I know it starts out pretty rough. Hopefully as you proceed it picks up a bit of steam, lol. I appreciate the kind words.

 

Russ

[Cam barr]

love it nice job

[tasmart123]

Slick wall set up. Cant wait to see it have corals.

[masterswimmer]

Cam barr, tasmart123 thank you both for the kind words, I appreciate it.

 

Russ

[Wiggawam]

It will only be time before any shrimp in that tank are lunch for the lionfish.

[Zazie]

More pictures!!

[masterswimmer]

actually i knew i've seen this done before....had to research but here's the link.

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2004/aquarium.htm

 

 

drowning, somebody else did show me that link. I love that tank, , surprised?

 

Russ

 

It will only be time before any shrimp in that tank are lunch for the lionfish.

 

 

Ww, the CBS is about twice the size of the Fu Manchu that I'll be getting. Eventually the FM will outgrow the CBS, but I'm hoping by then they've become accustomed to each other.

 

Russ

[masterswimmer]

My one coral banded shrimp was missing in action since the day I put him in the tank. There are no fish yet, only a few snails. I figured I added the CBS too soon. That wouldn't be normal for me because anyone who knows me would tell you that I'm MUCH TOO conservative on the 'take it slow' theory.

 

Well anyway, after about 4 days of the CBS being MIA (didn't think there'd be that many places to hide in a 16 g), he surfaced. Alive and what seems to be very happy. I'm psyched.

 

Happy Holidays everyone,

Russ

[tinyreef]

probably molted (as usual for shrimps in new environ).

 

i still say (from my post on MR) go softies!

 

actually, it is the correct biotope for soft corals. well, most of it anyways. the top where you've got heavier flow is where the stoneys belong. just nitpicking though.

 

looks great still!