teamschreiba

Thanks Alan! You pretty much nailed it as far as the reason I went with the concrete treated canopy. The contrast of textures is really what I was going for but lets just hope the stone doesn't beat the water

Haha those look really different! I've though about a pair of helfrichi's too but I've also heard they can have kind of boring personalities. A BSJ would be awesome though! Giving me good ideas here... A new close up shot of the canopy:

Yeah those look really nice! Pretty much all the wrasse in the halichoeres genus look great though.

Thanks for the suggestions! Mystery wrasse was on the top of my list for awhile but I think they are just too aggressive.

Thanks for the advice Kim! I moved her to another tank for now and once my tank is closer to being fully stocked I'll try adding her back in. I hope it works out because she is a beautiful and healthy fish. I also picked up a pair of flame wrasse but unfortunately the male didn't make it. Should have gone along with the advice that male flame wrasse just do not transport/ship well but he looked great in the store and was eating. The female that is left looks great and I will try and add one or two more females and let one become a male. That'll put my stock list at: 4 Bartlett's Anthias (Pseudanthias bartlettorum) 2-3 Female Flame Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus jordani) 1 Female Swallowtail Angel (Genicanthus melanospilos) ; Will be added last Any suggestions on what else to add? I'm considering another pair of fairy wrasse but haven't decided on a species yet.

So I have a problem, but let me run through the history of fish in my tank... I started with 3 Bartlett's Anthias, all was well with no issues. Around 2 months ago I added a female swallowtail angelfish, everyone got along great and there were no problems. Around 1 month ago the large male anthias jumped through the tiny opening in the screen top that my tank sitter left open on accident after feeding. The other two female anthias did okay for about a week but since then they barely come out of the rocks because when they try the swallowtail scares them back in. I figured this had something to do with the anthias no longer having the dominant male around so yesterday I picked up a large male anthias and another small female. The anthias have all taken to each other very well but the swallowtail still won't let them come out the rocks without chasing them back in. So my question, has the swallowtail established the entire tank as her own at this point and needs to go? Or is there a chance this behavior will subside after a few days since the fish are new? I guess if I did it again I would add the swallowtail last but in my research I did not see any indications that swallowtails would be aggressive. I'm thinking it is just this particular fish and/or maybe the tank is just too small for her. I would also really like to see my other fish especially since anthias are supposed to be swimming around the water column. Please let me know if you have suggestions or experience with these types of problems. Thanks!

Good call Alan. I'll put something together tonight.

Thanks! I used a Canon T3i with a Canon 50mm f/2.5 macro for a lot of the close-ups. I use a Canon 70-200mm f4L for the FTS/non-macro shots.

Thanks matt! It is a great height for lighting. I have RB LED's with 80 degree lenses that are really coloring up the zoas/palys that are almost down to the sandbed. A longer tank would have been nice but I don't think I'm going to putting any tangs in the tank or other fish that need extensive length for swimming. I know my swallowtail would appreciate more room but I know she won't be in the tank forever anyway. At this point it will likely be more wrasse and gobies. I have my eye on PIA now that you recommended it to me so I'm just waiting for the right fish to come along

None in particular as far as space restraints go. After looking through a lot of threads on multiple forums I found the proportions I wanted and then scaled them to a tank between 75-100 gallons. I considered a cube for awhile but found it would simply be too deep (would have been a minimum of 24"). Also considered like a 36"x36"x20" but in the end I liked the proportions of the 40"x24"x20" better. The only thing I would consider doing differently would be an external overflow or making my overflow box bigger. I made it with like 1/2" tolerances for the piping and while it does look/work great and takes up minimal space there's no way I could get my hand down to the bottom of the overflow without taking out the piping.

Here ya go... Some new PE's from epleeds! I have quite the zoa/paly garden now too and it pops really nicely under the RB LEDs. And yeah I'll be sending you a PM.

Had some fun with the macro lens...

Wow, awesome collection of chalices!

Thanks Alan, I appreciate it! I sold the MAME before anything else but I was so happy see it go, that was one of the big reasons for me wanting to upgrade. That thing was a pain to clean and I was sometimes nervous it was going to fail and I'd have a flood. The guy I sold it to was replacing the initial u-tube as well since I managed to punch a hole through it when I was cleaning it (the glass in that section was seriously paper thin). Beautiful piece of hardware but way too much upkeep. Yep! Thanks matt! Nope no new fish yet, really starting to research flame/fairy/other reef-safe wrasse though especially since I still have a liveaquaria giftcard. Any input or suggestions? I got my swallowtail about a month ago so I also want to make sure there's plenty of time between fish purchases. Also setup an eheim autofeeder in my floating canopy this afternoon so the anthias can get food a little more regularly. Tank pretty much takes care of itself now Just waiting for my custom top off container to be finished so I don't have to fill the bucket every other day.

Thanks YHSublime!

New shot!

More like my dad has a pneumatic nail gun That's crazy Kim, we have a pneumatic nail gun too but I think the electric one works better than the pnuematic one.

Thanks! I'm going to mount a few more this weekend for sure. Also when I take the next FTS, you'll see the frag rack looks much better now on the right side of the tank. Although having no frag rack at all is the eventual goal. Thanks Jason! For the concrete finish, I used a product called Ardex SD-M which can be applied in very thin layers so not much additional weight was added to the fixture. With this finishing concrete no mesh was needed. I used acrylic sheets clamped down to the wet concrete to give it the polished finish (this was probably the 6th method I used before I finally got it how I wanted) and then used a chisel to clean up the edges. I should have taken more pictures of the process and written up a detailed DIY on it. I thought about doing the stand the same way but I really like the combination and contrast of the white stand, glass aquarium, and concrete fixture. I'm also not sure if the finish would hold up well on the front door since it would take more abuse from being taken on and off all the time. Let me know if you have anymore specific question about the canopy or process! Thanks Todd, I appreciate it!

Thanks! If you look in the third picture (one with both tanks) you can see how it's tacked to the main portion of the stand. I used a pneumatic nail gun to attached it to the stand and then puttied over the holes. The main purpose of it is to cover the plastic rim on the bottom of the tank but it also adds a nice look to the stand. The wood is something similar to this and was cut at a 45 degree angle on the ends to keep the clean look. I'll try and take a closer picture for you the next time I have my camera out. Thanks Neto! Thanks Jeff, I appreciate it! It's actually constructed out of wood (second picture in the original post) but I applied a concrete finish it, so yes there is concrete on it If you want I can post more details about the finish and how I applied it. Thanks jimlin! This build was definitely more thought out than my last build but it still has a ways to go... Thanks Kim! It's just a little bit bigger Thanks epleeds! Hopefully that is awhile from now but you'll be the first to know.

Thanks Chuck!

Thanks YHSublime! Omair! So far the more beginner SPS are really taking off, birdsnest/pocillopora/etc. but the acros are taking longer to adapt to the change. I'm hoping for better growth in this tank though since it'll be a lot easier to keep the parameters stable. Yeah I know...I've since moved it to the right wall of the tank so it's under the RB LEDs and I can see/photograph the frags a lot easier.

Thanks pizzaguy! I am pretty obsessed with keeping my tanks clean Thanks surf&turf!

Well after having an ADA 60-f (~8 gallons) for over a year and a half, I've really wanted to go a little bit bigger... I purchased/received this tank from Miracles back in November 2011 and have been slowly completing this build to get it where I want. All I really have left to buy at this point is a new sump in order to fit my Avast CS-1 skimmer. Here's the details: Tank: Miracles Rimless 40x24x20 with starphire front panel Sump: Custom built Advanced Acrylics 24x14x14 Return Pump: Mag7 Water Movement: MP40ES Skimmer: Reef Octopus NWB-110 Floating Canopy: 250W MH Lumenmax Elite reflector with Icecap ballast and 20k radium bulb; 36" VHO retrofit kit with UV Super Actinic bulbs; 12 RapidLED DIY kit with all RB LEDs Controller: Apex Aquacontroller ATO: Tunze Osmolator Dosing: Bubble Magnus with Avast Dosing Barrels Filtration: Filter sock + chaeto + TLF phosban reactor 150 with carbon So far I have two Barlett's Anthias (want to pickup one more) and a female swallowtail angelfish (I know she'll eventually outgrow the tank). I'm not completely set on what else to add but I'm considering a pair or trio of reef-safe wrasse and/or 4-5 apogon leptacanthus. This tank was originally being setup for 90% SPS but chalices and zoas have really been growing on me lately. My newest plan is SPS near the center under the halide and chalices and zoas on the edges under the RB LEDs. Let me know what you think! This was the initial plan: Beginning of the canopy build before the tank arrived: New tank next to the old one: First few fish: Nearly completed build: FTS from 3/6/13 (LEDs not yet installed in the canopy):

Great looking pictures! The green mouths on those RPE's really pop!

I just built a floating canopy and was considering using a kit like the one you linked to but ended up using a planter type hook with chain that you can see in the top of the picture. The chain is just so much easier to manage and setup even if it doesn't look quite as nice as thin wire would. My canopy probably weights 30 lbs max too and the hooks in the ceiling and chain are all rated for much higher than that.