tbittner

Great looking tank! Congrats! Beautiful Ric too!

Maybe it's the pictures but I don't see any cyano or HA. It's normal for a tank to go through those cycles though. Patience and water changes clear those issues up. Sorry to hear about your losses though.

James, I'm getting really good growth from the corals. I think it's a combination of things. Really stable water temps tops my list. The water ranges from 77.5 and 78.3 in a 24 hour period. Even during those really hot days we've had. It's also interesting to note, we lost electric today around 3 pm. I got home around 4 pm. I switched everything over to the generator, including the lights, and started the generator. It handled everything perfectly! And it's only a 6200 watt portable generator. I seriously doubt if I could have done that if I was using 400w MH's instead of the LEDs. The tanks didn't miss a beat. All pumps were running too. And I even had enough power left over to run the TV. As far as the electric bill goes, I'll have to see what happens over the course of a year. It's hard to compare to last June because last June wan't anywhere near as hot as this June has been. I know I'm using a lot less electric, and the room temp stays nice and stable too. The controller they built into the Solaris is worth a lot too. And another benefit, I can change the K rating with the push of a button. I don't need to buy new bulbs. Thanks gmubeach. Stop over and check it out in person sometime.

Do you still have that Queen Angel? I should have the 360g running by this weekend so I have a really nice home for it.

Probably towards the end of August or beginning of September, after the kids get back in school and everyone get their vacations in for the summer. That way, more people will likely show up.

Well, being that it's Fathers day, I got to do what I wanted today. Lets see, the toilet in the master bath started leaking so we went to Lowes and bought a new one. I spent the afternoon installing that. And the LITTLE bit of the day where I got to do what I wanted to do, we went to Mr. Corals and we picked out a bunch of really nice corals. I've lost one of the little Zoa frags though. It came off of the plug and has disappeared in the rocks or sand. I'm hoping that it will open up and I'll be able to find it that way. All the rest of the corals all look fantastic though. We actually have some life on the right side of the tank now.

Yeah, me too!

Thanks Gary! And I applogize for calling you Greg in my dedicated tank thread. I'm tired... And thank you for helping on BOTH ends today. Man, we couldn't have done it without you.

I bought pieces and parts from Automatted Aquariums and wrote my own program to monitor and control everything. I still have a good bit to do with it but I just haven't had the time to spend on it. The legs are 29 2/3" on centers. We got the tank, put it on a trailer, brought it home, managed to get it through the door and up on the stand. No scratches or knicks in the tank. Can't say the same about all the help we had though. Man, that thing is HEAVY!!! One side of the tank: Other side of the tank, looking towards the 450: Corner view from the couch: On the stand! Looking along the 450, towards the 360 predator tank: I couldn't have done it without Gary and Dougs help. THANKS GARY and DOUG!!! And thank you for the frags, Doug! I got them placed and they actually look pretty happy now. And I need to mention Glass Cages too. The tank is IMACULATE! Holes are exactly where I wanted them, the drilling is extremely clean, the seams all look fantastic, they installed a TON of extra bracing. This tank is built like, well, a TANK!

Maybe, I don't know yet. I have around 800g in the system now and with just the one skimmer running, my nitrates stay between 10 and 20. And I'm only doing a 40g water change per week. All the predators going into the 360 are already in a 150g, which is plumbed into the whole system. The 150 is going away after the 360 is setup and running. They needed more room though, they're starting to get big. The only thing we plan on adding to the 360g predator tank is either a queen triggerfish or a queen angel. If the nitrates don't stay in check, I can easily replace the 250's with a much bigger, inline skimmer. The corals all seem to be loving life though, including the acros and clams. So far, that is.

We have to have a place to sit! Two Euro-Reef RS-250's sitting in a 100g skimmer tub. That tub drains into a 150g sump. So far I only have one of them up and running. When I plumb the 360g, and move everything from the 150 into it, then I can eliminate the pipe that is in the way of the 2nd skimmer. I'll have them both up and running then.

Actually, Patti is the one who really wants the macro lense now, thanks to you. I know she would love to have the time to sit and play with the camera. We did get the remote shutter release and that does help with better quality pictures. We've just been killing ourselves getting everything ready for the 360g tank. After tomorrow, things will really quiet down and we'll actually be able to sit and enjoy our piece of the ocean.

The plywood has been glued on, sand piled on top to make a nice, tight seal, and the stand will be ready for the tank tomorrow morning. Nice, Oak vaneer plywood. We'll stain it to match the 450g stand. Another view from the corner. The salt is here and ready to be added to the 360g too. And an updated FTS of the 450. Sunset had started to set in already though.

I think we'll have plenty of help in Manassas. I think we need two more people at home. I think we'll have eight and I'm pretty sure we can do it with eight, but ten would make it MUCH easier. Please? Eric, may I borrow your suction cups? I can get them back to you early next week. I only bought six. Thanks!

I have a 300g sump system that includes a 100g skimmer tub, 100g fuge (drilled to hold 50g though), and a 150g sump, which runs with about 80g in it. After I get past the install of the 360g predator tank, I'm going to upgrade my 44g trash cans, one for collecting fresh RO/DI water, another for mixing saltwater. I'm going to get two 150g enclosed containers and plumb those up to make water changes much easier. I had everything working as far as auto top-offs and automatic water changes, then my old sump container sprung a leak. When I ripped it out to replace it with the 150g sump tub, I lost those capabilities and I've been so busy getting ready for the 360 that I haven't had time to get it all back up and running. Hopefully, next weekend I'll have the time to do all that. And after all that, to answer your question, both tanks will be plumbed into the same sump system. The predator tank will have glass tops on it too, to keep the eels inside the tank and off of the floor. We lost one of our snowflakes a while ago so the predator tank stays locked up tight. That should help keep the evaporation down too. The 450g reef is open top, as are the sump tubs.

Thanks Ziggy! Yeah, we're kind of using the 360 as a room divider in a large room in the basement. I'll have my office/work space on one side of the 360. The other side is our aquarium room, with a couch, love seat, and a view of the 450 and the 360.

No problem. I'm hoping in a month or so to schedule a tank tour, once we get the new one up and running. That shouldn't take too long though since we aren't adding any new LR to the system.

Excellent! Thanks Steve!

PM sent! Thanks!

Well, Patti said NO MORE!!! I think she was talking about kids.

I feel safe in answering your question, now that the corals have been under the light for a few weeks. I NEVER got this kind of growth from the Outer Orbit. I suspect that some of it is probably the more stable water conditions, the temp rarely varies more than one degree in a 24 hour period. I have lower light corals on the bottom, mainly mushrooms, and they are thriving and thinking about growing out across the sand! OK! For the new 360g tank, here is what we have so far: The legs are 4x4's, with the supporting piece sitting on top of the two legs. In the bottom of each leg, I fastened a piece of 1/4" steel, and I have a 1/2" bolt running up through the steel, into the leg. These are used for leveling everything to exactness. The bottom frame is 2x4's and they keep the legs firmly in an upright position. Tomorrow night, we'll level the legs and get them to the correct height so the top of the 360g stand exactly matches the height of the 450g stand. There will be a space between the corners that we're still considering ideas for filling in. We'll probably hang a curtain to seal the area between the two stands. The top will be two layers. First layer will consist of two 2x10's and one 2x8, laying flat on the legs, glued, and tight against each other. Then I'll fasten the planks and legs together with steel angle braces. We'll then glue on a piece of 3/4" plywood that has a nice oak vaneer finish on top of the planks. The tank will sit on a piece of 3/4" stryofoam on top of the plywood. There are two 1" holes in the bottom of the tank, on the right/bottom. All the other holes are in the left end panel for the drain to the sump and the returns from the sump. The 2" hole to feed the CL is in that end panel, along with two 1" return holes. This is the view from the couch and love seat, looking at the corner where the two tanks will meet.

The tank will be at the home depot in manassas, the one on springwalk road, at 10 am. We'll probably be there around 9 am, and hopefully the glass cages truck will be early because my neighbor has things to do afterwards. He is providing the truck and trailer. The party starts at our house, in Round Hill, VA, between 11 am and noon. First up will be lifting the tank onto the stand. Then it will be food and drink time. Maybe a game of baseball, ping pong, movies, sitting and staring at the 450g reef, etc... And for a tank this size, I don't think we can have TOO much help. So we are begging for help on either/both ends.

Well, I went ahead and bit the bullet and bought six of the suction cups from glass cages. I figure if anything goes wrong with them, I'll go back to them to fix things. We couldn't find anyone around that rents them. Really surprising...

About 3 months ago, Dominion scheduled a 6 hour outage so they could do work on the transformers in our area. They said they are increasing capacity and improving the service. Since then, we had the outage for a couple hours on the day that you were out for a lot longer. Last night, our power was out from 4:30 until 10:10. BEFORE Dominion did their "improvement", it had been years since we lost power. I'm really loving the "improvements" they provided...

Thanks for the link, Eric. They sell a lot of different ones. Which ones did you buy? The ones that glass cages sells aren't looking so expensive anymore after looking at some of the ones that Anver sells. Yeah, the predators need a lot more room too, and we love BOTH the reef and the predators. We have the room, so why not? We love to watch them.