Recent Pics of my 120

[Maxx]

Finally got off my butt and took some updated pics of my display.

Tank is a 120 Oceanic, lit by Dual 14K Phoenix SE 250w HQI's.
Circulation is via two Tunze 6100's and two Tunze 6000's in an alternating gyre flow, (front left runs simultaneously with rear right, causing water to flow counter clockwise through the tank for about 6 hours. Then front right and rear left kick on and flow clockwise for 6 hours). I run the tank bare bottom, no sand substrate since I have too much flow. My twin daughters were born not quite a year ago, and my corals suffered alot during the first few months they were born. I've been making a concerted effort to do weekly water changes of 10% or more to remove detritus and improve water parameters. Its been working since I've noticed serious improvement overall in coral growth.

Inhabitants are:

1 Indo-Pacific Regal, 4 inches in length. Had her for a little over 3 years.
1 Tomini Tang, just under 4 inches in length. 3 years in my care.
1 Purple Tang, approximately 2.75 inches in length. 3 years in my care.
1 Powder Blue Tang Hybrid, (A.leucosternon v A. nigricans), 3 inches in length. 7 months in my care.
1 Black Cap Basslet, 3 inches in length. 1 year in my care.
1 H.magnifica anemone, approximately 10-12 inches in diameter. 4 years, 9 months in my care.
1 spawning pair of Rod's Onyx Percula clowns. Female is 5.5 years old, male is 3+ years old.
Various Acro and monti frags, and assorted snails.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Not a great shot, but interesting to me since it shows the stripes on the Regal from above...I like it.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Chubby Regal Angel

Nick

 

[Scooterman]

Sweet Nick, they are looking great! Time tested is a big plus in this hobby! Congrats!

 

[trido]

Thanks for finally sharing. lol

 

[TJL]

Hey Nick, sweet set-up with great choices in fish and thier longevity in your system shows your dedication/seriousness to the hobby

Cheers, Todd

 

[SRWoodcock]

Beautiful.

 

[Maxx]

Sweet Nick, they are looking great! Time tested is a big plus in this hobby! Congrats!

Thanks Scott!

Thanks for finally sharing. lol

Actually, if you search, you'll find my build threads for the 120 (Project 150) and its predecessor, Project 58, from several years back...

Hey Nick, sweet set-up with great choices in fish and thier longevity in your system shows your dedication/seriousness to the hobby

Cheers, Todd

Thanks Todd. Wish I took better pictures...I've been pretty lucky with my critters. I've had difficulty with SPS, but doing the weekly water changes and getting pretty serious about water parameters has helped out alot.

Beautiful.

Thanks Steve!

Nick

 

[Krish]

Looking good Nick!!

 

[Frankie]

Awesome Nick!!
I am a big fan of the Tomini Tang. It is nice to see another one. Yours has some streamers going there that mine did not. Did he come this way or did the tail grow out like that over time?

 

[Maxx]

Awesome Nick!!
I am a big fan of the Tomini Tang. It is nice to see another one. Yours has some streamers going there that mine did not. Did he come this way or did the tail grow out like that over time?

Wow...sorry for year plus delay in answering Frankie...
They grew in that way over time.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

Been some changes to the system since I last posted on this thread, (not counting super tardy response to Frankie above).

1...Plumbed a 58 gallon display and 40 breeder frag tank into the system. The 58 display contains a Purple based Purple tipped H.magnifica that I've had a little over a year, an H.malu anemone I've had for almost 5 years, a newly spawning pair of Grade B Picasso Percula clownfish, a Firefish, a juvenile Blue Line Angelfish, (C.septentrionalis) that I've had for a little over 5 months, and various LPS & Zoanthid frags. The frag tank contains primarily SPS frags, but also has some softies, 3 Derasa clams, (Still fairly small), 1 Maxima clam, (right at 2 inches overall), and a very small Powder Blue Tang, who will be moved into my 120 when it gets larger.

Plumbing in these two tanks to my 120 made maintaining water parameters easier, since it was now, all one system. It made maintenance slightly more difficult since the 120 was set up as a stand alone system, whereas the the new tanks were made to fit into existing space that was available. I can still do everything I need to maintenance wise, but it can be difficult to manuever around some things.

Here's a basic diagram of how the system is plumbed up now....

I estimate the total system volume at around 250 gallons.

Right after plumbing these two tanks in, I began to have pH issues. I suspect I'd had them all along to some degree, but hadnt quite caught it. PH was dropping down to 7.77 at night due to my tank being in the basement. I made several changes to boost the pH levels, (got a new/used skimmer, upgraded its pump, purchased a CO2 scrubber and plumbed it into the skimmer, fed the skimmer outside air, bought a Large CPR HOB Aquafuge, bought a new more accurate pH Controller to monitor the system's pH). All of that improved things slightly, but did not bring the pH above 8.0. Finally, I reluctantly purchased a Kalk Stirrer from Avast Marine. Bought the DIY kit, (They use the term You-Built) which was about $75 less expensive than the all ready assembled one. I had been trying to avoid dripping Kalk due to the damage it can do to pumps. I should have done it a long time ago. pH is now steady between 8.15 and 8.3.

I only looked at the Avast Kalk reactor after speaking to another local reef keeper who had one. He stated he a Deltec and needed another Kalk stirrer for his system. He'd bought his Deltec used from a friend and didnt realize how much they went for new. He stated he couldnt afford another Deltec so he tried the Avast Kalk stirrer. In the 6 months he'd had it when I talked with him, he'd said it was just as good quality wise and reliability wise as the Deltec. I gave it a shot and could not be happier. The kalk stirrer is connected to my Liter Meter 3 for kalk dosing. I'm dripping very little Kalk and its solely to maintain pH.

I also hooked up the Phosban reactor again as I noticed an increase in nuisance algae when I began feeding more Nori to my fish, (Primarily the PBT and the Juvi Blueline Angel). I recently ordered another DIY kit from Avast Marine, this time I went with the 18 inch Media reactor. It came the other day, but I havent put it together yet. The plan is to try Bio-Pellets in it. If it works out in my system, great. If not, I'll probably put phosban in it, and GAC in the TLF Phosban reactor.

I've gotten pretty anal about water changes over the past year. I do about a 45-50 gallon water change every week. Its actually more simple now. I siphon detritus out of the display (which is usually about 5-6 gallons), and then drain the first two sections of my sump, (which is another 40 gallons). Every two weeks I clean and calibrate the pH probes, (Aquatic Life pH Controller for calcium reactor, Reef Fanatic pH controller used as monitor) as I've noticed they tend to drift before the 1 month mark.

Water parameters seem to be pretty solid and I'm noticing some good growth in most of my SPS.

Enough talking, here are the pictures:

Here is the pic of the Blue line as I bought it from Diver's Den. All Juvi colors, 1.25 inches in overall length.

Here it is acclimating in the bucket Aug 2011

Here it is today at approximately 2 inches in overall length

Nick

 

[Maxx]

The Purple based, purple tipped H.magnifica

with Picasso Percs

The Firefish, (tough to get the purple highlights on the head shown correctly)

Duncans in the 58

The Picasso's started spawning while I had my camera out so I took some shots...Here are the high lights

Finally, a craptastic shot of some zoa's that I dont know the morph/name of...If you know, please tell me:

All of those shots are from the 58 Gallon.

Nick

 

[Maxx]

From the 120 Display:

Finally got a decent shot of the Black Cap Basslet

The Regal Angel and the Purple Tang

The Brown based yellow tipped H.magnifica anemone is in the midst of a split, and has been since Dec 28th at least...It moved around to the backside of the rock it had been perched on the entire time I've had it, and is all but impossible to take a picture of....so I didnt.

The Tomini Tang was also playing hide and seek....and won. Got no photo's of it today...

That leaves us with corals....

What I believe to be an A.chesterfieldensis...I'm calling it the Peppermint Chesterfield. The colors are pretty accurate in this photo.

Acropora tenuis...the color on this is not accurate...Its a whitish cream color with brilliant blue around the corallites...

Slightly better, but still way off color wise:

Green Stylophora

Palmer's Blue Millepora, (accurate colors here)

Acropora valida, (semi accurate colors here...kinda washed out)

Hawkin's Echinata, (which is actually A.turaki) Again accurate colors

Platygyra brain coral, (seen better days...but improving overall)

Superman Montipora, beginning to take off...

Pink Montipora digitata

Nick

 

[Krish]

Nice shots Nick!!


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[mercenary-grunt]

awsome love the scetch design you drew.

 

[Maxx]

Thanks guys!

Glad you liked them.

Nick

 

[duyvngo]

cool fishies!

 

[Da Kine]

Beautiful tank!