My obsession - 450g reef

[tbittner]

We made our very first trip to BRK today. WOW!!! They have a LOT of stuff! Our daughter had to feed those MONSTERS in the ouside pond too.

 

We ended up getting five female and a male anthias. We also got a powder brown and a coral beauty. They seem to LOVE this big tank. The powder brown and coral beauty are all over the tank.

 

We also picked up a nice frag of pulsing xenia, a really nice zoa frag, and a really nice Florida Recordia. Everything is in the tank and looking great!

 

We got the flow running through the sump now by using the water change pump. It's only around 1,500 gph but at least all of the water in my entire system, including the 450, will be the same. That will help to reduce stress when we move everything out of the 120 and put them into the 450.

[tbittner]

Hey Terry, that's looking awesome! Question for you, are the new Solaris fixtures enough to light your tank? My buddy has a large tank in Chicago and he had to put his 250W DE halides back on so that he got enough light to the bottom of the tank.

 

I have to say that doing my tank build was frustrating, can't imagine how you made it through 2 sets of leaks! Sounds like the family really chips in to help, which probably makes it that much easier! My kids are too young to be of much help (except when I want to buy a coral or fish, they love doing that!) and my wife is in to the final product but not the build aspects, although she helped whenever I needed a hand holding something.

 

Can't wait to see this fully stocked!

 

Hi Dave,

 

Which Solaris does he have? These are the I4's and they are equivelant to the 400w MH's. The bottom of the tank IS very brightly lit but I also don't really have any corals yet. When I move everything down from the 120g, then I'll find out whether corals like them or not. That will be a few weeks from now though.

 

Patti (my wife) has been a HUGE help with the remodeling of the room. Our boys (15, 17) have been a HUGE help with getting the plumbing done. Our little girl (6) makes an awesome cheerleader.

 

Now to get the room cleaned up. It would be nice to have room for some chairs to sit in to watch the tank.

[Boret]

Both Dave and Terry, please let me know whenever you need help!

Dave I am only 15-20 mins away from you so please feel free to ask.

 

Looking great by the way!!

[vaironman]

A sofa right in front of the tank to take a midnight nap sometimes.

[davelin315]

I think he has the 3rd generation light, maybe only 2nd? He bought it a couple of years ago so I'm sure they've come out with newer systems since then.

[tbittner]

Thanks for the offer, Boret. Maybe next weekend, everyone can come out and we'll go fishing and catch and move everything from the 120 down to the 450.

 

Dave, Marine Scene has an earlier generation of the solaris and it really is dull/dim compared to the I4.

 

If anyone is interested in seeing them, and is up for a nice drive out into the country, come on out and check it out.

Edited May 11, 2008 by tbittner

[tbittner]

I received an Achilles from Live Aquaria today. And I stopped by Marine Scene on my way home and bought a beautiful, larger yellow tang AND a poor, skinny looking powder blue. Also picked up three cleaner shrimp.

 

Everyone has been acclimated and added into the 450. Everything looks great so far. The powder blue seems to be the dominate one which kind of surprises me. I figured the achilles would take over the tank.

 

They're all eating and looking fabulous.

[tbittner]

Please excuse the dirty glass, but here are some pics of our new additions to our family. All the tangs are babies, except for yellow.

 

Powder Blue:

 

Achilles:

 

Yellow and Powder Blue:

 

Powder Brown and Achilles:

 

Anthias and Coral Beauty:

 

 

 

Powder Brown:

[Black Mammoth]

Things looking good Terry. Not to worry you, but it looks like your PBT has a hint of ich. Maybe it is the "dirty" pictures

[tbittner]

I saw that too. We went and looked him over good after that and it did look like a start of it. This morning he was all clear again. We're just keeping a close eye on him.

 

He's eating great and I'm soaking his food with SelCon, Garlic, and Zoe. That's kept our Hippo Tang Ich free for almost a year now.

[tbittner]

Everything is moved. It's a busy little tank now.

 

Everyone seems to be getting along though. I see one of the damsels show aggression occasionally, but even they are getting along good. I think the Purple and Hippo tangs are just too busy exploring for now.

 

All the corals have opened up too. Amazing! I didn't lose anything so far, not even a snail or a crab.

 

Pictures later. We'll make a video tomorrow of the activity too.

[Boret]

congratulations on a successful move!!!

[tbittner]

 

[Jon Lazar]

Terry and Patti,

 

This is absolutely gorgeous! Congratuations on realizing your dream. Next time we're planning a trip up your way we're going to give you a call to see if there's a good time we can stop in to see in person.

 

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy,

 

Maureen & Jon

Edited May 17, 2008 by Jon Lazar

[tbittner]

Anytime Maureen and Jon. I don't think they make a camera good enough to do it justice.

 

It's really a busy tank though. Everyone seems to be getting along though. I'm sure that by tomorrow, things will really calm down. We shook everyone up with the move and we distrubed the ones that were already in the tank by adding all the rock, corals, and fish.

 

Everyone ate though. Now it's about time for the lights to enter moon light mode and all the fish will disappear.

[lletellier]

looks good!

[tbittner]

Thanks Lance!

 

We can't get over how the corals fluoresce under the Solaris moon lights. Amazing!

[tbittner]

We bought one of the new Olympus, waterproof 1030SW cameras.

 

OK! A small video showing the fish swimming.

 

A small, shaky video IN the water on the right side:

 

A small, shaky video IN the water on the left side:

 

Enjoy!

[st9z]

WOW very nice videos!

[tbittner]

Thanks Niki. They are the first ones we made so we still need some practice with it.

[lawnboy]

Did you remove the overflow that was built into the tank? Looks like you have overflow boxes on the back of the tank.

[tbittner]

Yes, we removed the built in overflow box. The bottom of the tank isn't high enough to drain into my sump. Besides, I like the additional room for the rock, fish, and corals.

 

I have around 3,300 gph flowing through the sump/fuge with this configuration. I provide an additional 5,800 gph with a CL powered with a Hammerhead. We're really happy with the flow in the tank. So are the corals.

 

Believe me, I would have preferred to drill holes towards the top and put in a coast to coast skimmer box but I wasn't about to try it.

[lawnboy]

That tank has enough holes already. Glad to see you are gettig use of this tank, still wish I had room in my house for it.

[gmubeach]

Wow is all I got to say:) gourgous

[tbittner]

Eric came out today and took some INCREDIBLE pictures of our 450g reef. THANKS ERIC!!!

 

Here is the FTS that really shows the tank. It's a BIG picture so scroll ----->

 

And here is a picture of a busy reef. The fish were having a little snack during this time.

 

That is all in about 4 feet of the 10 foot tank, but almost all of the fish were in the picture.