Joe's Wet Dream, A 550 Gallon Work In Progress

[spongebob lover]

wwouu dood just woouu .

 

[Scooterman]

Ahh, LR is overrated LOL It looks good, is porous then it will house the critters that is important. I can see a time when we will have to substitute LR because it will become illegal to harvest. Look at the large public aquariums, they make nice cement type walls (whatever they cal that stuff) & it looks really nice, even with the CC bottoms!

 

[Jobiwan]

I gave some serious thought to making some rock out of quick setting cement and letting it cure a few months, I'd love to try that thing where you mix a bunch of rock salt in it, in theory when the salt dissolves when you soak the cement you've got this major porous matrix, sounds like a cool thing to me, you could make crude molds in some sand and make all sorts of neat arches etc, didn't want to do it in the big guy though if it starts to disintegrate or something under some establiahed sps that would be the pits, might try it in a smaller tank some day... I wouldn't worry about a live rock shortage for a while, the amount they bring up to crush and make roads with on the developing Island nations is way more than the aquarium trade consumes, and it is good for their local economy, little different than the Florida situation I would think......I will offer the disclaimer that it is well established that I am full of crap....

 

[Jobiwan]

Hello all, the tank has now had water in it for 1 week, everything seems to be going quite well, I've tweeked the Ca++ & Alk just a bit, they are now at 450 and 4.5 respectively. Haven't detected any nitrates yet, I assume the algae bloom and chaeto are taking care of anything the live rock is producing. I've thrown a dozen snails in in the last couple of days figuring if they survive the water chemistry can't be too bad, near as I can tell they are all alive and eating to their hearts content, lots of strips of white running through my lush brown algae. I'll be adding a batch of snails in ten days or so, I may add a few yellow tail blue damsels then if things look well. The tank will be on a low light mode for the next couple of months with 2 x 250 HQI's while the algae situation stabilizes, seems I remember that coralline does well at lower light levels, anyone know if this is right?

Up to this point I have run just one Hammerhead CL w/o the OM-4 for circulation, along with the Iwaki 55 & 70 returns. Last night I fired up all 3 Hammerheads along with their OM-4's, my tank is now churning and burning, total circulation is almost 20,000 gallons per hour, 313 gallons per minute, 5.2 gallons per second. The OM-4's operate at 1 RPM, each one cycles back and forth one time between two pairs of outlets each minute, over time minute differences between the rotation rates of the three units will lead to continuing changes in the flow patterns, no laminar flow for this guy. I've tried to position the 12 CL return nozzles to where there won't be any two nozzles ever pointed at each other with the resulting undesireable head to head dissipating flows. I think I'll have a back and forth current similar to wave action coming over a reef, wish I could get some SPS in there to see how it likes it, but that will take a few months, I don't want to repeat my past mistakes . All for now, Joe

 

[Snowboarda42]

You forgot, its 33.33333333333333333333333333333333333333333...x turnover

 

[Scooterman]

Joe didn't you have all this rock curing in tubs? I bet you cycled off much of the rocks, probably won't show up other than the bloom. I had about a three day bloom when I installed my rocks, most of the rocks was already in tanks so not much time out of water. Joe, in time I'd like your opinion on your equipment, pumps, lights, ballast everything. Information like performance, loud/quite, heat or other pluses or negatives. I like to see first hand thoughts on equipment.

 

[reefman069]

hey joe. your tank is looking great. well you said you might add a few yellow tailed blue damsels. man those damsels are really mean. if you are going to add any damsels i would add the green cromis. most all other damsels will chase or kill any other fish you add after them. i am just letting you know what i went through. once you put a fish in your tank. good luck getting him out.

 

[NC2WA]

Joe,

I second what reefman says. These damsels are mean and are hard as heck to get out of a tank. They will terrorize anything that is added to the tank.

Kirk

 

[Jobiwan]

Hi Guys

Snowboard: LOL

Scooty: most of my rock (800 lbs) cured in a 500 gallon kiddy pool for 4 months, I was getting skimmate from it rght up to the end, which tell me something was alive in there I did pick up about 100 pounds of tonga branch and fusion, put about 50 pounds in the tank, I only only cured it 10 days, I did that thinking it might seed the tank with a little more life, but we shall see. Give me a few weeks to fill you in more on the equipment after I've run it a while, be glad to do it.

Chad and Kirk: I've had a few yellow tail blue damsels for some time, (I'd just transfer them...) they have never been any problem with new fish, and don't strike me as agressive at all, and they stay quite small (max 2 inches in aquaria, mine have topped out at 1 1/2 inches), they are also known as Goldtail Demoiselles, there is another species called the yellowtail blue that hits 4 inches and is a typical nasty damsel, you might be thinking of them. Here's what Scott Michael has to say about mine: "It combines beauty and good personality, being one of the less agressive members of this genus. It can be kept in small groups in a medium sized tank with plenty of hiding places. The Goldtail Demoiselle should not be kept with highly agressive species, including more pugnacious damsels. This species is ideal for the reef aquarium, never harming desireable invertebrate tankmates and providing some algae grazing service." I'd agree with that description based on several years experience with them. And if I get tired of them theres always a Polleni Gouper

 

[reefman069]

hey joe. looks like i must have been talking about the other damsels. my rule is only green cromis's. i have lost a few fish from damels picking on new tank mates and killing thim. well hope they work out for ya. can't wait to come see your tank. talk to ya soon. chad

 

[Jobiwan]

Most damsels are nothing but trouble, that is for sure Chad. I do want some type of schooling fish, I'll probably take your advice and go with chromises, a dozen or so would be a great counterpoint to the bigger fish I'll have in there, see ya soon, Joe

 

[Jobiwan]

I thought this was kinda interesting, a friend came over today, I wanted to show him the flow patterns, so I tried something new, I put a bit of flake in there, 2 hours later there was still flake moving around in the current, since it was not at the surface it didn't go out the overflow, every other tank 've ever had, the food would settle to the bottom within 5 minutes, I'll be able to use a lot less food, less nitrate and phosphates going into the tank, way cool. Tommorow I'll try a little frozen planton and see how that behaves...

 

[Scooterman]

That makes me wonder about fish poop, you get it floating around mid level then spewed all over & finally over the overflow trough, well that is how it is done in my tank LOL! When cleaning the tank, I open the sump pump wide & that starts a front to back motion that scoops up particulate & dumps it in the trough. I usually shut the CL to help it circulate to the trough faster. It has been almost a year since I put water in my tank & this works really well, I put a sock to catch what It can, then all I have left to to siphon the sump, only thing on the bottom is LR shed.

 

[Jobiwan]

Speaking of poop, here is a photo of the first week of skimmate from the BK, it is thick and dark and really stinky, now I know how proud parents feel at babies first BM....
.
.
.

 

[spongebob lover]

Speaking of poop, here is a photo of the first week of skimmate from the BK, it is thick and dark and really stinky, now I know how proud parents feel at babies first BM....

wwoouu that is some serious goo dood....i'm jelouse

 

[NC2WA]

Joe,

Looks like the same crap (no pun intended) that comes from my H&S skimmer.

 

[Snowboarda42]

I want more pics!

 

[Jobiwan]

LOL I am in that really boring period now right up there with watching paint dry or chrome rust, forcing myself to go extra slow, living with the "nothing good happens fast in a reef tank" mantra. I played with my water change setup today, but since I really love to live on the edge I decided to use the Great White that Jason gave me and cleaned the algae off, and I've been tinkering with the CL nozzles trying to come up with the best flow pattern, I hope to have something of interest to post photo wise soon, I might add a little to the aquascaping in the next couple of days, I'll post photos when I do that, if there is anything in particular you want to see let me know...

 

[Snowboarda42]

You brought this upon yourself!

Just kidding. Honestly, your setup is so badass, I would be happy if you posted pictures of stuff we've seen, but at different angles LOL. If you want to make us/me really happy though, do something to it, then take more pics

 

[NC2WA]

Joe,

I know your feeling. I was in that lull period for several months while I waited for nature to do its thing with the tank. It sucks, but a major part of this hobby is unfortunately--Patience.

I am just now considering the type of butterflies and angelfishes that I would like to have in the tank. Going to start with a pair of Golden Butterflies.