dschfliers tank thread

[dschflier]

I had a thread which started a couple of years back and about 6 months ago my main display sprung a leak. so now I finally have some pictures and will re-start a new thread with my new system.

 

My setup consists of 3 tanks and a sump

 

Main display is 210 gallon which I drilled with 1.5" overflows

 

Lighting is supplied by 2x 110watt VHO acitinics

2 x 250 watt MH on left and right and middle is 400 watt MH

For random water movment I use a WAV

2 x controllable tunzees

1 x 1" seaswirl

 

90 gallon reef ready tank which I also drilled 2 x 1" overflows for more water flow

 

54 gallon corner tank, bought from Dan which he built an overflow in the back and four 3/4 holes in the bottom for excellent circulation.

 

The 54 is kinda used as a propagation tank and when I need it I can detach it from the rest of my system and use it as a quarintine tank.

 

My sump was built by NAGA who does local acrylic work and the sump is pretty much bullet proof. I am very happy with my sump and I do feel this is a part of peoples setup where many people skimp. Having a well thought out sump has really made my system work more efficiently in my opinion. I will explain later in the thread.

 

ATO attached through a GSA Kalk stirrer

GSA protein skimmer

GSA media reactor

Grey seas products do not seem to be being made anymore but I have always been very happy with Dans workmanship.

 

Here are some pictures of my setup from before I became a WAMAS member. My tank went from being a fish only tank with minimal soft corals to a tank which I am very proud of today. I am trying to keep the pictures in date order so you can see progression. I am sorry to say I never took pictures when I had the hair and cyno outbreak.

 

 

This was taken about 5 or 6 years ago. It was a Reef ready tank and within about a year became covered with hair algea and cyno.

 

The next picture is from about 1 year ago a bit before my tank had its leak. This was still the reef ready tank using an Iwaki100 as my main pump. I feel the Iwaki is a very reliable pump, but I wanted more flow so when I got my new tank I finally installed my hammer head pump which I had for over a year collecting dust .

 

 

 

My current tank I bought a non reef ready tank which I drilled with 1.5" bulkhead fittings. This has made a substantial difference in water flow. I did forget to paint the back of the tank so until the coraline covers the back you can see the plumbing. These pictures are from about 3 months ago and the corals have really responded well to the new environment. After I moved them back to the 210 they had all browned out from minimal light for over a month. I have also observed that my birds nest which is closer to the 400watt light turns more pink and the side of the birdsnest closer to the 250watt light stays more brown. Until this point I have only used a Kalk stirrer and been very happy with my progress. I am finally planning on starting up my nuclear reactor calcium reactor.

 

Another point. When I finally got my hammerhead pump setup and running I found the noise the return made into the sump was very loud. This really bothered me and I had plans of putting sound insulation in. One day I went over to see chips(flowersellers) tank and noticed he had the same pump and similar water volume to me and a similar sump built by NAGA also. I couldn't believe this. How he did this is top secret but for 50 bucks I will pass along the secret. My tank is now silent as well. Actually it was just a matter of putting the return pipes into the sump so they are submerged. I figured this would slow my flow rate but it really has worked well.

 

Here are some pictures as of 3 months ago. The tank has really colored up since these pictures. I will take some more pictures hopefully this weekend and go over the system a bit more.

 

last picture is the right side of the tank. I will explain why i setup my corals as I did next time I get a chance.

[Dell2go]

Great tanks, David.

[lawnboy]

Next time add pics of the stand you made.

[Origami]

I like the new open look, Dave. Lot's of room for coral growth!

[zoozilla]

The reduction of rock looks great. Your corals and fish will appreciate the open real estate.

Edited April 21, 2009 by zoozilla

[gsedlack]

I like the look of your tank. Nice work.

[jamesbuf]

Your tank has come a loooooong way David. Your sps growth in the last few months has been pretty impressive. Keep up the good work.

[st9z]

very nice, I like the new tank layout with the less rocks

[dschflier]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I will post pictures of my stand but I still haven't bought the doors yet. I am a bit of a slacker when it comes to finishing my projects. My planning for the aquascaping of this tank was to keep it very open and allow a couple of my main pieces to have plenty of room to grow. At first I was going to keep my LPS either in my 90, 54 or even sell them but I really like the pieces I have, so decided to keep them. I am very happy I made the decision. I have a green and a brown torch and they are both pretty large. A Large frogspawn which my clowns pretend is an anemonie. A friend of mine gave me the green torch from his tank because it was dying and now every time he comes by he wants it back. What is really neat is in three different places in my tank small torch heads have begun to grow.

 

I needed to keep my LPS away from my SPS because I wanted to minimize the chemical fighting. So I made what I call an LPS garden on the right side of the tank. the only SPS that I have close is a green monti cap.

 

The center of the tank is used as a seperator where I let my main teal staghorn and other acropora grow and fill in the middle. The teal one I got from Leishman and I really love the coral. Some of the others I attach to tonga branch rock using a zip tie until it attaches itself and then let it go on its own.

 

Then the left side of the tank is mostly SPS. I am still working on remembering the names of the various corals but I also have a red table acro from Leishman which is really getting a much nicer red now. I think the 400w light is making a big difference. One of my first SPS that has survived has really turned into a beautiful piece. I got it 4 birthdays ago at BRK as well as one of my green staghorns. I think that is what the green one is. My wife takes a road trip with me to BRK for my birthday.

This is what it looked like for 2 years. It didn't do anything except not die.

then it started to grow

and grow some more. It is not huge but it really has grown a lot since I took this last picture.

 

One last thing before I end for tonight. One of the items which really enabled me to turn around my nori producing tank into a reef tank was checking my water parameters. I had never done it. Every time Dan would come by he would ask me and I wouldn't know. He kinda forced the issue and just knowing what is going on through testing has made such a huge difference in my tank. Lately I have fallen back into that bad habit and haven't tested my parameters in months.

 

I plan on taking the plunge and am thinking of finally using my calcium reactor. I think I may be able to get more growth and maybe even more color. before I do this I will definitely test my parameters again. I am a bit worried about using the calcium reactor just because I have everything running pretty well but I think I will go ahead with it.

[Antiguan]

Looking good, David.

 

Trevor

[Boret]

Any updates??

[zoozilla]

Nice growth on that A. Valida.

[Origami]

Any updates??

 

Yeah, I'm wondering, too, David. Have you got that calcium reactor up and running now?