Ryan's 150g Marineland Deep Dimension!

[zygote2k]

Ryan-

Why not build a custom canopy that houses 2) 400w HQI's and 12) T5's? Put 2) 6" exhaust fans in it and it should keep the heat down a bit too.

[Ryan S]

Ryan-

Why not build a custom canopy that houses 2) 400w HQI's and 12) T5's? Put 2) 6" exhaust fans in it and it should keep the heat down a bit too.

 

lol

[Ryan S]

Test Results Today, 8/2/2012:

Salinity = 1.023 (low)

pH = 8.22 (good)

Nitrate = 0.0 ppm (good)

Phosphate = 0.00 ppm (good)

Alk = 9.07 dhK (good)

Cal = 380 ppm (low)

Magnesium = 1425 ppm (high)

 

Last Test Results, 7/18/2012:

Salinity = 1.025 (good)

pH = 8.20 (good)

Nitrate = 0.0 ppm (good)

Phosphate = 0.00 ppm (good)

Alk = 9.74 dhK (high)

Cal = 360 ppm (low)

Magnesium = 1725 ppm (high)

[Ryan S]

8/2/2012 FTS. All frags finally mounted around the tank.

 

[Der ABT]

Looks great man, congrats on getting everythign mountd up, i hope you alot happier seeing things in place and being able to sit back (add fish) and wait for things to grow....cant wait to see the progression shots.

 

also glad to see your interest seems to have peaked again.

[nbgen12]

definitely a good looking tank

[trockafella]

[surf&turf]

Lookin good Ryan!!

[trockafella]

Looks good Ryan. Glad to see you got the frags all mounted. Makes the tank look much better, and much more clean without the racks. If youre gonna add more corals, I would look into some nice pieces for the sandbed, it looks bare. Why didnt you keep the rics there.? Also, how about a few pics from the other sides.

 

Ok, so when are you gonna work on that stand. I just tore apart my sump area and cleaned it up and fixed a few things I wasnt happy with. I thought of you while I was cleaning, I realized how happy I was to not have all that stuff cluttered in my stand. I think you should do away with some of it and try to keep it basic. If you sell some of that stuff you'll have money for other fun things like livestock. All in all I think youre doing great, keep up the hard work and it will pay off.!!

[Ryan S]

Thanks guys. I'm glad to just be able to look at the tank and not have a list of work that needs to be done.

 

Of course there is always stuff on my mind.

 

1) I am excited to add the rest of the fish over time. In particular, the pair of Japanese Swallowtail Angels. Vince has them at his place and they are really gorgeous. They will be the centerpiece of the tank by far.

 

2) Adam is going to finish my chaeto box soon. I will grab a pile of chaeto from OldReefer and hopefully this will help the tank's overall chemistry and health.

 

3) I have been emailing with the guy from RC with the 6 radions over his 300g DD tank. (AcroporaAddict). He has strongly recommended 3 radions over my 150g for a "heavy sps" tank. IE, if I want to grow SPS on the rocks on the sand bed or to have clams on the sand bed (I was hoping to buy a clam from Dr. Mac at fragfest on August 26th). I guess I will have to hold off on the clam since I only have the 2 radions right now and wouldn't add the third until next year?

 

4) Do you see all the snails on the sand bed, as shown here:

 

 

They are mostly dwarf cerith snails from reefcleaners.org. I want a solid, bright white sand bed, like oregonreef had here:

 

 

Should I remove the snails? Will I have algae problems then? I hate how they cover the white sand bed. I think they make it look bad. Should I just leave them? I read that he makes his sand bed look so bright and white because he'd add a thing layer (1/8") to the sand bed before taking photos like this. Is that the only way to get such nice sand? Do they sell a long "fork" device that I could use to rake the sand and help stir it up / keep it bright and not brown with diatoms/algae?

[icecool2]

Looking great!

 

Those ceriths will spread out and spend a lot of time under the sand too. I don't personally mind the look of them there, but I know what you mean. Maybe try a sand sifting cucumber or something like that. At least there is only one thing on the sand then.

[trockafella]

First of all, I would stop trying to mimic some of the nicest tanks out there. These peoples budget certainly exceeds yours, thustly youre gonna always be disappointed. Nothing wrong with wanting to acheive the best, but also be honest with yourself and what you have. Also, most of those tanks have been established for a long time. How do you know he doesnt have snails on the sand bed. Maybe he moves them for pics, maybe he does add sand, maybe he uses other cleaners. Diatoms should go away in time. My sandbed doesnt have patches like that, but I do see snails and crabs sometimes roaming around, especially after feeding time. It also looks like you still have a fair amount of hair algae growing too.. It would appear most of your algae is in a low flow zone. What does your CUC consist of.? I also think you still have some phosphate and or nitrates going on, the reason for the algae.

Edited August 6, 2012 by trockafella

[surf&turf]

A Kole tang will help keep your sand clean as well, mine picks and eats sand all day long.

Edited August 6, 2012 by surf&turf

[Ryan S]

That area at the front is low flow, for sure. I am going to try and turn up the vortechs tonight a little bit and see if they can go up more w/o blowing the sand around. That should help with some of the low flow spots.

 

There is very little hair algae in the tank. Mostly on the sps frags that were on the frag rack. I am hoping the future tangs / chaeto box will take care of that. My coralline algae is very miminal still though. I'll grab some scrapings from Evan sometime, and maybe try Purple Up to help it spread? The rocks turning purple would make the tank look super nice I bet.

 

The clean up crew is:

65 Dwarf Cerith Snails

15 Cerith Snail

15 Nerite Snails

15 Nassarius Snail

15 Zig Zag Periwinkles

1 Fighting Conch

15 Dwarf Blue Leg Hermit Crab

5 Dwarf Red Tip Hermit Crab

5 Emerald Crab

5 Peppermint Shrimp

2 Cleaner Shrimp

2 Fire Shrimp

[Fishie]

Ryan .....it looks really nice...so many frags...cant wait to see them grow out

 

you may want to just get a small rock with purple coraline algae..it will spread very fast

 

why are you getting 5 emeralds ?

 

they get big and then they start eating other stuff and collecting snails to feast on...idk..1 is fine unless u have a bubble algae problem

you may want to look at getting a strawberry crab...same as emerald but looks way cooler...they are elusive tho...

if there isnt much room look for a pom pom crab....also very cool

 

Vince told me that 2 fires are hit or miss....and they like to be housed singly...so i went with just 1

[nbgen12]

Once you get coralline and have to constantly scrape it youll be cursing the stuff lol

 

Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

[Ryan S]

Once you get coralline and have to constantly scrape it youll be cursing the stuff lol

 

Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

 

haha. that's true. i love it on the rocks, not the glass, that's for sure!

[Fishie]

i got a lot of purple rock so lmk if u want it

 

 

[roni]

 

They are mostly dwarf cerith snails from reefcleaners.org. I want a solid, bright white sand bed, like oregonreef had here:

 

 

Should I remove the snails? Will I have algae problems then? I hate how they cover the white sand bed. I think they make it look bad. Should I just leave them? I read that he makes his sand bed look so bright and white because he'd add a thing layer (1/8") to the sand bed before taking photos like this. Is that the only way to get such nice sand? Do they sell a long "fork" device that I could use to rake the sand and help stir it up / keep it bright and not brown with diatoms/algae?

 

If I recall (and my memory gets worse each year), Steve Weast (oregonreef) would vacuum a portion of his sand bed each time he did a water change. Your tank is looking great. Keep up the work and keep things stable and I wouldn't be surprised if you have a TOTM soon enough

[Ryan S]

If I recall (and my memory gets worse each year), Steve Weast (oregonreef) would vacuum a portion of his sand bed each time he did a water change. Your tank is looking great. Keep up the work and keep things stable and I wouldn't be surprised if you have a TOTM soon enough

 

Thank you Roni! I would be willing to vacuum my tank. Any idea on how he "vacuumed" the sand bed? Do these work with saltwater sand?

 

[zygote2k]

Thank you Roni! I would be willing to vacuum my tank. Any idea on how he "vacuumed" the sand bed? Do these work with saltwater sand?

 

of course.

FWIW, I saw a prebuilt manifold system from AES in their catalog. Can be made from 4-10 outlets and can handle high pressure.

[Ryan S]

I understand with those end pieces the gravel in freshwater not getting sucked up, but I always assumed the tiny sand particles in saltwater tanks would get sucked right down the drain? if i get a big enough end part, would the sand not go down the drain then?

 

petco has this one for $20?

 

http://www.petco.com/product/114921/Aqueon-Siphon-Vacuum-Aquarium-Gravel-Cleaner.aspx

 

does anyone else use this to vacuum their sand?

[BowieReefer84]

You can use one, but you need to use your thumb to stop/start the flow... Like you start the flow up and throttle it back... I have done it before. Kind of a pain imo. I would get some nassarius snails instead. They are cool too.

 

With a deep tank it will be really hard to use that vacuum imo. IF you get one I would get a LONG acrylic tube in the 20"-24" range.

[epleeds]

you could just change the sand out every 30 days....that way it will always be white.

[Tracy G]

Also if you mix the sand up a little you can siphon out what is kicked up. If you put the siphon on the sand it will pull up the sand with it. If you are going to stir it, do it often. If not you have a chance to gather pockets of nitrates that as you stir it up..... It can kill everything.