ya, still don't know what is damaging it. I am a bit worried about something leach out.

It's a mp20.

Added 4 blue eye cardinals and a fairy wrasse.
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC03634.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC03647.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC03638.jpg

I also added some new corals today.
The tank is officially full, both fish and corals :lol:
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC03649.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC03631.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC03624.jpg

Looking really great! I love your fish selection. I had BS Cardinals but they hid behind my rock work all day in my tank until the pump went in to night mode so I guess my flow is too strong for them. How are yours doing.....out and about all the time?

Mine hides often as well. Unlike the angel and wrasse, the cardinals are not active at all. Almost always hover around the same spot.

aftered i lowered my flow a little mine are always out and about, i see them in the front of the tank a good 5-10x in there shoal of 4 on a daily bases

Haven't updated this for a few months.
A lot has happened during this time. I lost all my acro to AEFW and red bug.
I also lost my jawfish as it jumped through the egg crate onto the floor.

At the time I didn't know what was causing the my coral death. All the parameters checked out fine. Thought maybe the foam background was leaching some chemicals.
So I decided to change it out and replace it with acrylic.

I also took out the old fine sand and replace with more granule sand.
The rock work got a major renovation as well.

After the change, my tank had a mini cycle and got some algae problem.
Here is the FTS after the change.
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC03759.jpg
See the severe brown film covering the sand bed which is also crawling on the rocks.

At first I thought it was cyano, but later realized it is dino because the film got stringy. It is even clinging on some of my fish's dorsal fin. I hope it won't kill my fish.
I started to do more water change. Tried to cut the excess nutrient in the tank. Cut down on the light period. Siphon as much as possible. But the dino is just so hard to get rid off. I can swear that minutes after I siphon it out, it comes right back.

With all that effort, I am able to keep a little under control.
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC_0012.jpg
But there is still quite a bit of. My purple death is extremely unhappy and is all closed up.
I am waiting until end of November before adding any more acro species because of the AEFW. Hopefully by that time, I can have the dino taken care of.

I am winning the battle against dino! :biggrin:
The tank is looking better each day. I am so glad.

Here are some pics taken tonight.

FTS
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC03806.jpg

http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC03855.jpg

Right side view.
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC03815.jpg

Looks great! You have some sweet corals there.

Thanks.
Those are what are left after I lost all my acro.
I can't wait to add new acro at the end of November. Got the whole top rocks reserved for them.

Looking good sam! Hope you keep winning that battle. I will come by and check it out soon.

Here is a quick update to the tank:
Added a few SPS back to the tank. Hope they will do good this time.
Also added a couple purple firefish, but they are very shy and still hide when light is on.
FTS:
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC03967.jpg

Blue Eye Cardinal:
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC03994.jpg

Cherub Angel:
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC04020.jpg

Elegance:
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC04017.jpg

DIY moonlight
 

Today I added 4 blue moonlight to my fixture.
It was actually pretty simple to do.
Here are what is needed to do the job:
4x 5mm blue LED, These are 3V, 20mA each
4x LED holder
1x 12V DC power adapter.
Soldering gun
some heat shrink.
a power drill to drill the holes in my fixture.

The LED are connected in a series. Since the 4 LED add up to 12V, with the 12V power supply, I didn't use any resistor.

I solder the LEDs in a series with the power adapter.
Used the heat shrink on the joining parts.
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC04044.jpg

Drill the fixture to mount the LED holder and here is the finished product:
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC04051.jpg

Here is the moonlight in action:
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC04053.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC04060.jpg
The 2nd picture is very pixelated because it's taken under high ISO.
It is a little dim, but I am quite happy with the result.

nice tank man, will look very cool down the road (not that it dont know)so long as you stay problem free :)

Thanks.
This time around I am extra careful of where to get the corals from.
All corals are dipped before putting into the tank.
I am trying not to be lazy and keep up with the maintenance. The corals are looking better each day.

Just a quick updated FTS.
Added and moved a few corals around. The corals are doing better.

http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC04230.jpg

Added 3 more SPS on boxing day
 

After boxing day, there is no room left in my tank for any more corals.
Which is good on my wallet. Only thing to do is wait for the corals to grow in now.
Here is the FTS with the last new additions.

http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC04368.jpg

the tank is looking some sweet. How's the angel in the tank is he being good

The angel has been a model citizen in my tank. He doesn't nip my corals nor bother other fish. I guess I am lucky coz I've heard many that had problems with cherub angels.

The wrasse, on the other hand, sometimes bully my firefish. The firefish are a little roughed up but seem to be standing up for themselves well enough.

Awesome job with this tank man! I have been planning a 24"x24"x20" SPS cube for some time now. Your journal is inspiration for me to get my butt in gear!

Cheers!

Thanks for the good words.
But ya, get up from your butt and setup that cube! :lol:

:lol:
the tank is much nicer when u see it in person. i love it. good job, sam.

I have changed my light to a Lumenmax Elite + 250W Galaxy ballast.
The light coverage has increased greatly. I am very happy with result.

Here is a FTS taken a week ago.

http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC04550.jpg

I will take some more close up shots of the corals.

I'm just going through the photos.
I'm amazed by how fast the birdsnest grows.

Taken 12/2/09
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC04136.jpg

Taken 1/17/10
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...9/DSC04571.jpg

does this mean you wernt happy with the fish need it light?

I find the reflector of fishneedit fixture isn't very good. The coverage area isn't wide enough and a lot of light is spilled. I can immediately tell that sides of the tank is so much brighter with the lumenmax reflector. The ballast of fishneedit is probably not as good as the bulb emits some buzzing sound when it fires up. Galaxy ballast doesn't do that.
I think the fishneedit unit is good for it's price. But I wanted something with better output for my sps.

well that certainly punched things up a bit....good choice:wink:...are you easing into the MH?

I hang it 9 inches above surface. Higher than the old unit. It already looks brighter. Corals look fine so far. I may lower it a bit see how the corals will react.

A buddy came over last week with his camera and took some pics for me.
His camera and photography skills are both so much more superior than mine.
So here they are. Enjoy:biggrin:
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...c/DSC_0242.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...c/DSC_0177.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...c/DSC_0261.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...c/DSC_0299.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...c/DSC_0306.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...c/DSC_0294.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...c/DSC_0171.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...c/DSC_0139.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...c/DSC_0129.jpg

:jaw: AMAZING!!!

http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...c/DSC_0150.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...c/DSC_0193.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...c/DSC_0257.jpg
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...c/DSC_0147.jpg

And last but not least, my chihuahua:biggrin:
http://i683.photobucket.com/albums/v...c/DSC_0332.jpg

Awww, can I have a frag of that, lol.

I can frag you some 'polyps' of hers :lol:

and that
and that
and that
and......

Thanks.
Haha, I'm just comparing the ones I took with my Sony a350 against his with D80. His pics are so much sharper. I guess I should've gotten a Nikon.

I have that exact same camera but have no clue how to properly use it.

Cool. I owned this camera for over 1.5 years and I'm string trying to figure out. Recently I got a 50mm f/1.8 lens. I can say that lenses do make a big difference. But I cannot see myself spending thousands of dollars on lenses. So I need to be content of the quality I get from my camera. Or I'll just call my buddy over to take pictures for me.

Your tank is looking amazing! You seemed to have plowed through the hardships you went through with a very positive attitude and it's resulted in an amazingly beautiful tank.
Excellent work!!!

Thank you for the kind words. There are still so many things I have to learn. So many troubles I might run into still. That's what makes a reef tank fun and challenging. I am hoping to keep it up in a long run and have fun along the way. :smile:

Wow nice growth!!

looks like the CA reactor is working well for you...

It's working ok. But I have ran into a problems a few times. The pump's ceramic shaft and impeller broke. I had to replace the pump.
The effluent would sometimes stop because of CO2 build up in the reactor. That causes the CO2 to continue be pumped into the reactor as the PH keeps rising in the effluent cup.
I had the media turn into mush many times. I am using the bleed valve for the effluent flow already. Not sure what I am doing wrong.
Is there some way I can dial it to be more worry free?