ArtFully Acrylic (Adam B)

Now through November 15, 2015 ONLY!!! Been thinking about a dream tank? Time for a custom sump? Now is the time to order - you couldn't find a better time to do it! During this FIRST EVER Anniversary Sale ArtFully Acrylic will offer ALL aquariums and sumps for 20% off!* Contact us now for your dream tank! To place an order, please contact us at (202) 670-8265 or send an email request to adam@artfullyacrylic.com for quotes and/or further information. *Orders and deposits must be received before November 15, 2015 to qualify.

Well obviously I'm "subscribed" lol. You ain't kidding about the details Tom....I believe we worked on the little details of the dropoff for 6 months'ish before ironed out? LOL. Obviously being a coldwater tank ACRYLIC is the absolutely best! This should be interesting. Making the coast/rock crashing waves will be a challenge, but I bet we can get it all figured out. That and the arrangement necessary for it to happen is probably my favorite part of the project. Looking forward to it Tom! Let's get crankin'!

Good to speak with you today Rich. And thanks to everyone that was not only quick to point us out in this thread, but to also PM me to bring it to my attention. Welcome to the family Rich! As you can see...it's a big tight nit one =)

I'm gonna have to side with YHSublime and MBVette here. Monkiboy in particular gave you a good suggested means of treatment outside the DT as well. Short of FULLY quarantining everything (listed well by YHSublime) there is always a chance of Ich making it into your DT with any new addition....not just fish. However, at least in my experience and strong opinion, I explain it like this... Look at Ich like the Flu. For most of us, we may be around the flu regularly but not catch it. Generally this is due to precautions we take to not contaminate ourselves. But, if we do get it then it sucks for a while. We are weak, we are vulnerable, we don't want to eat, etc.. It's not a fun experience, but in most cases we get over it in a short period all on our own as it runs it's course. However, if we were to be suddenly dropped into the middle of the Antarctic with the flu things may end up quite differently. We may not make it out. Is this directly as a result of the flu? Or is it a result of a combination of circumstances in an already weakened state that would have lead to our demise? Ich doesn't have to be a death sentence. I've had new fish in a system that were fully quarantined pop with Ich and in most cases quickly get over it. I've also had the same result with wild caught fish too in the past, though outbreaks were more common in those cases. I've had a system where no new fish had been added for months and no signs of ich for months only to see it pop up on a single fish. In the display tank we had in our store this would be unavoidable as our display was tied into our main frag tank so new additions of coral and more were frequent. In most cases where a fish didn't make it or get over it quickly, thereby requiring outside treatment,there is generally some other outside catalyst that is causing the issue. Ich looks for suitable hosts that are susceptible and make an easy host. Generally these fish may have some other stressor that has made them susceptible. This could be them being recently added to a new system, other new tankmates that are bullies, lack of appetite, other illness/parasite that is currently unseen, etc.. If the fish that you are having trouble with are eating well, active, not respirating strangely, or displaying other signs of distress then they will generally get over it all on their own. Best of Luck!! Hope this helps.

Looking good brotha! You are certainly right...I'm seeing more flourishing in your tank in the short time with your T5 setup now than you've had in the last year+ with your Sol

Yay! Awesome to see that little prize again . He's looking good!

Hey Alan! Followed the thread a bit from time to time. But noticed your most recent problems and thought I'd chime in. First off...these are just MY opinions from my perspective and experience . The first thing that jumped out at me was you saying that the nitrates were pretty low. In my experience this is great for an SPS tank but can be more challenging for some softies. In the wild many softies grow in lower light environments that are more nutrient rich and therefore higher nitrates. The main Frag system we have in the store we purposely try to keep the nitrates around 15 to 20. The nitrates in that system we used to keep below 5 when we carried more SPS. After allowing the Nitrates to increase we noticed a pretty big difference in the happiness of soft corals and most LPS. As for the lighting most soft corals don't need a lot as you stated. But mushrooms and most Zooanthid coral will let you know if they are not getting as much light as they want. They will usually stretch out towards the light if there is not enough vs staying pulled in tight to their base. As for your phosphate it will not do you any good to put GFO in there without dealing with the phosphate first. Phosphate levels that high will most likely consume that GFO in 24 to 48 hours which of course could get expensive. A large...double norm...will help reduce it in most cases to allow gfo to take over a bit. However, finding source of phosphates is important if creeps back up. When real high I tend to look first for any recently added rocks. Particularly ones that have been drilled. I have had a few situations where this has been cause. Hope this at least starts with some help on the right track.

THANK GOD I wasn't actively drinking anything when I read that ROFLMFAO!!!!

Lol, yeah well...was supposed to be on both . Thanks for bringing it to my attention =)

We see a lot of questions on the new gyres. There apparently aren't many videos of them running on a true reef/display so many don't know what to expect. We had one on display on one of our frag tanks at the social, but when we moved it to the display tank it really showed what it could do. Here's a short video of the new gyre working on our display. Previously our display had a single WP60 on the left wall. I really like the small footprint of the gyre in comparison for sure. Our display is 69x19x23 and I would consider it pretty rockwork heavy. The sandbed in the front looks decently wide, but this is due to most of the rockwork backing up all the way to the back wall. This could certainly create quite a few flow obstructions. In the video the gyre is operating on a steady 100% forward direction. You can even see the zenia on the opposite side of the tank being pushed TOWARDS the gyre which sits on the left wall at the top. No other powerheads are in the tank so this is only being caused by the gyre's flow rotation. Nice. These pumps are exceptionally versatile. By changing to matching A-A impeller's (included in the box) this gyre can handle systems far far larger than our display. It can REALLY move!! And I mean that literally as putting it in alternating gyre mode caused a sandstorm that displaced almost 1/3 of the sand on the left side of our display. In the brief period I let it run at this silly rate of power I could even see sand being PULLED off the sandbed and through the two arches/caves on the right half of the tank. Way more power in full out mode than this display can handle. But the great thing about this gyre is it's versatility. Being able to turn down the flow rate, reverse the flow alternately, change the impellers, change the direction each impeller is aimed, etc.. all adds up to a pump that can work on a very large variety of tank volumes and setups.

Awesome guys!! Steve is VERY familiar with your pain diamond grinding the floor . Ours took 11 hours to grind for a MUCH smaller space hahahahaha. But we had glue from prior carpet to also bulldoze through. I definitely remember how dust covered everything got from that darned process. But your floor looks SUPERB! And I can't believe how quickly you guys got that place up and running!! Congrats on the final approval!!

Everytime I think I've seen the best you put up more pictures Ken!! Faaaannnnttasssssttiiiccccccc!! Saw the pic that casts above the two frag tanks and looks across room at the sink. LOL. That made me glad that I spent the extra time to make the "strip braced" tops on the frag tanks look extra neat and tight along with the edge rounding. I still can't believe...even more now...after all these pics...that you went strip braced on the frag tanks =P. Course they have got to be some of the best looking strip braced tanks around . This is all what happens when you put two OCD people together =P HAHAHAHA!! Absolutely loving it. I must stop by again soon to see all this progress. Haven't been to your place since before your tanks were done!

Ken...wow. It's all looking AWESOME!!! Ummm...can we say that your tank pics will certainly end up on my website after it's up? And that's saying something....I haven't uploaded a new tank build pic to my website in about a year and a half HAHAHAHAHAHA. And this build is worth it!! Honored to have built the tank and frag tanks for ya!!

Oh darn....I was just about to say that this would be the biggest and baddest TANK build thread EVER!! Oh well...at least it's still the biggest and baddest SHOP build thread EVER!! Look forward to seeing it progress!!

We find using Photobucket as your upload location for the pictures to be a bit more user friendly. Maybe something to look into. Photobucket will let you simply cut and paste the "Link Codes" into your thread and the pics will automatically populate =). That's what I wanted to run you through last time you were here anyway lol... . Stop on back by if you around the area again Ken and I'll give you a crash course =)