gqlmao Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 I have been in this hobby for quite a while now, recently after university I found myself with an usually large amount of time on my hands even with a career. Well it didn't take long for me to bitten by salt water bug again. I want to share my tank and experiences that can hopefully be of use to someone. Lets get to the point! Tank: My tank is a 12Hx12Wx15L AIO, 3 sided starphire tank, it is a perfect cube with 3 inchs in the back for equipment. An overflow/sump setup wasn't viable due to the extensive waterfall noise and this tank is in my room, therefore I was subjected to a AIO design. I wanted the tank to be clean with no equipment showing on any of the 3 sides, this was a very big concern for me. Equipment: 1.Fishneedit 70watt metal halide with a 20,000k bulb, modified with fans and 6 gu10 460nm 4 watt leds 2.Vortech mp10 3.Hydor 200gallon/hour pico return pump 4.50 watt ehiem heater 5.Eheim 2026 canister filter with rubble and ceramic rings, 6.GFO and Activated Carbon 7.Eshoppes 75psk hang on skimmer 8.Fluval spec led light for refugium Tank Maintenance: I have done a lot of reading on methods to achieve 0 phosphates and 0 nitrates, at first I had macro algae in the rear chamber growing. However it proved to be not enough in bringing my nitrates down... it always hovered around 5-10ppm so I started to carbon dose. I know a lot of people don't recommended carbon dosing along with macro algae and GFO. After 2 weeks of small dosages I have reached a maintenance dosage of .2ml per day. This amount of vodka allows my cheato to double in size each week and keeps my tank from being dependent on large sources of vodka. I have not noticed any algae blooms during dosing so far. My skimmer is always on wet skim. As far as religious maintenance, I change 50 percent of water a week in order to replenish nutrients . I use H20 ocean for salt and have been getting good results with it. My SPS have been coloring up slowly . I have recently started prodibio dosing as well, I cannot comment on that just yet. Hopefully results will be seen when I update this journal in the future. I dose phytoplankton,pohls's coral vitalizer, feed fish daily, and spot feed acans weekly, my parameters are 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates. Livestock: 1. 2 Snowflake clownfish 2. 1 Blood shrimp 3. 3 Trochus snails. 4. Pink coco worm 5. Red and white coco worm 6. Red feather duster 7. 2 Crocea clams Corals: My tank currently contains several acans, ricordeas, yumas, zoas and sps. Tank is almost 4 months old. Pics: I'll shut up and let the pics do the talking now: Link to comment
bulldogpet Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Looks sweet ! Nice retro on the light. Link to comment
iball1804 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Truly amazing. Moar pics? Link to comment
Mini-Dude Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Oh my BEEP!!!! That's awesome!!!!! I'm drooling!!! Omg Link to comment
PSYS Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Man, that's a lot of different corals! Link to comment
iball1804 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Man, that's a lot of different corals! He's big pimpin' Link to comment
SouthFlorida_Tron Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 wow, member since 2006 and just now seeing photos of your wonderfulness???? perhaps some before shots please?! Link to comment
gqlmao Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 Thanks for all the comments, as for more pictures I don't have any at the moment, I don't have any before pics, these pics will serve as the start of the tank. I was a lurker, never took much pictures of my tanks, but I'm surfacing now! Link to comment
Kylebeano Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Very nice, impressive tank! Congrats Link to comment
SouthFlorida_Tron Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Thanks for all the comments, as for more pictures I don't have any at the moment, I don't have any before pics, these pics will serve as the start of the tank. I was a lurker, never took much pictures of my tanks, but I'm surfacing now! touche' Link to comment
iball1804 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 You better surface. That tank is incredible! Link to comment
ReeferReefer Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 This is crazy. I love the MH with Led mod. Link to comment
gqlmao Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 I have always been a fan of MH, when i delve back into the hobby I had hit a crossroad, MH or LEDs. Well I've always liked the 20k MH look, so I tried to incorporate some leds into it. The main issue with MH and leds is that heat kills LEDs, thus pairing with MH isn't a ideal choice. By adding fans and having the LED lamp circuit boards slightly below the fixture, I have managed to keep the LEDs cool enough. Link to comment
BLINDSIDE Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 woah! this tank is amazing! need.more.pics!! Link to comment
gqlmao Posted January 13, 2012 Author Share Posted January 13, 2012 Ask and you shall receive, not the best pics but I don't have a dslr, I have to wait for my friend to shoot my tank Pink centered with dark green rim zoas, I haven't seen these anywhere! if you know what they are called let me know! Pink and white Yuma along with it's cousins Top view of Acans and clam Top view of Zoas and clam SPS starting to colour up! Montipora Link to comment
gqlmao Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 Testing camera settings for actinic. Its harder than I thought,might take many tries. Link to comment
gqlmao Posted January 15, 2012 Author Share Posted January 15, 2012 I found these at a great LFS and swapped my true percs for my favourite snowflakes! Been looking for a while for these. Pardon the bad pics, hard to capture them. Link to comment
Deckoz2302 Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Oh man im envious of your acan garden you got goin on Link to comment
Thornchase Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 amazing colors!!! whoa!! Link to comment
gqlmao Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 Friend's pic of my tank, looks surreal! Homemade frag rack, my tank is getting too full. More to come!! Link to comment
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