Thanks Stones!!!! as per the last set of photos your correct in both points, all of them were taken with actinic bulbs only as well as shoot under exposed. Most of the time I just use the MH when doing a photo shoot.


Thanks for the compliments Sunee!!!

Stunner stuff!
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...lausemd3-2.gif

This setup is absolutely one of my favorites on Canreef, happy to see that it looks to be in good health still. Also it's awesome to see the progressive shots, they give quite a good time line as to what one who takes great care of their Reef can hope to achieve.

Thanks snappy!! one day I wish my system would look close to your system.


Thanks spawn! the progressive shots also let me know that the corals are actually growing!!!!

Wow those pics are stellar as usually. :)

Hey, I just read your specs again and noticed that you were running NP bio pellets with GFO. Are you still doing that? Reason I ask is because the manufacturer doesn't recommend that but I do it :). I've found that the pellets alone only drop phosphates so low and not much lower , for me anyway. With just pellets phos sits around .1, with GFO it drops to pretty much zero.

Thanks kien!!!! Yes am still using GAC/GFO in conjunction with the bio pellets. As per parameters I never actually had any problem with just running the bio pellets, but one thing that I notice is that when I don't run GAC/GFO my water clarity doesn't seem to be as clear, then again it could just be my perception.

Cool, glad to see I'm not the only one living on the edge! :lol:

Ya, I notice the same thing with GAC. It really helps to clarify the water. Sorta makes sense as it is meant to take out certain chemicals from the water column that could otherwise yellow the tank water. You really notice it when you replace the GAC with a brand new batch. The next day the tank is crystal clear :D

Another question, I noticed that you dosed two part for Alk and Calc but there is no mention of magnesium? Do you dose it?

I do not dose magnesium on a daily basis. I do however monitor my magnesium on a monthly basis and when it does drop thats when I add epson salt.

I do have a question for you regarding the photos that you take, how do you take those amazing top down shots? do you use a viewing box or just turn your flow off in the system and just shoot above the water?

I shoot with a top down viewing box and turn off the powerheads. You can easily make one out of acylic or buy them at LFS. I bought mine cuz I was too lazy to make one. :)

Thanks for the info, I'll have to get a hold of one. I did try to use some sort some sort of a viewing box but unfortunately I don't have sufficient room between the top of the water and the bottom of the light fixture, as I have a canopy, the camera just wont auto focus nor manually focus. Do you remove/move your light when your doing your top down shots or do you just navigate around them?

Thats one beautiful tank Sweet Ride! WOW. I really enjoyed the great photography as well! Nice job!

Brad

thanks for the nice compliments!!!!

i really like your aquascape. did you secure the rocks together somehow or are they just stacked?

I use 1/4" acrylic rods to secure the rocks together.

so you just drill the rock and put the rods through? do you glue the rod to the rock? add silicon?

That is correct the rocks were drilled, I was planning to use epoxy as an extra security but I found that with the acrylic rods only the structure was secure enough so I opted not to use any. Allot of people that do use acrylic rods also use epoxy to support the structure.

thanks for the info.... but where can i get acrylic rods?

Sabic PolymerShapes
16536 117th Avenue NW
Edmonton, Alberta
Tel: 780-451-1650

thanks :)

Just a few full tank progression shots.

August 17th, 2009

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_h...ust%202009.jpg

September 3rd, 2009

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_h...ber%202009.jpg

February 27th, 2010

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_h...28right%29.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_h...%28left%29.jpg

May 13th, 2010

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_h...May%202010.jpg

Dec. 18th, 2010

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_h...28right%29.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_h...%28left%29.jpg

July 27th, 2011

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-K...252520copy.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-i...252520copy.jpg

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated this, so I figure take a few shots of the system before a start changing some stuff. As you can see in the progress shot above I haven’t been having that much luck with the system. Over the last 4 weeks I’ve decided to change over from MH to a full T5 Lighting as a result I’ve had a few casualties some small frag , and some colonies as seen in the above picture, I’ve also lost significant amount of colors. Am hoping that over the next few months the system will recover in its glory days!

i still want.

I love this tank. I'm taking inspiration from this tank for my new 48x20x24" 100 gallon tank that I'm moving my current 90 into. I have always really enjoyed the look of a minimal rock layout like you have done, but have yet to be able to duplicate it!

I'm sad to hear about your lighting troubles. Why did you switch away from halides?

Man, so sorry to hear about your losses. I dig the general look of the tank. Your tank was empty on Aug 17, 09. I got water and rock in my tank on Aug 16, 09. It's neat to see similar aged aquariums.

I've always wanted to try out a complete T5 setup as I've seen some great results with them.

I was forced to switch to the T5 fixture as one of the UV glass on the MH DE broke and I could not find a replacement glass fast enough.

Good luck with your new build! and as always thanks for the compliments!

Thanks man! even the pictures on May 13th, 2010 I can believe how small those corals were and how much more rocks I have then! am not 100% down as the way I look at this is the glass is half full, for a while every time I go to the LRS I tell my self I wish I had extra space for those SPS and now I do!

You couldn't just go to a glass shop?

I'm sure you will get good results provided you picked a fixture that is well-suited to your tank, but I think it will be a few months at least before you're really on the turn around. Lighting is probably the biggest thing to change. Time will brighten things up!

actually I did! to several of them and even I even went to 2 LRS, the store is that the 2 LRS doesn't keep them in stock and as per the glass shops those were special orders. On the side note I did order them anyways and I actually have to extra backup now just in case I do decide to go back to MH!

for now I will bite the bullet, and deal with the lost corals, just got to keep telling my self more space for those SPS that I've always wanted!

Is the only thing that changed was a switch in the lights. I can't believe going to t5's would cause this. what kind of halides did you run before and what T5's are you running now? Your tank was amazing, not to say it isn't now but i am curious about the changes caused by lighting.

Well it would have been a special order for tempered glass, but you could have used a chunk of Lexan or even regular acrylic in the meantime. Lexan and acrylic actually block UV better than glass. Lexan won't warp, but regular acrylic will, so acrylic would just be a short term fix.

I hear you on the space issue! Losing corals always sucks though.

I was running 2 Aqua Medic 250MH with Phoenix bulb DE 14K, and now am running a tek light 6 bulb fixture with 1 KZ Figi Purple, 2 Giesemann Actinic +, 2 KZ Super Blue, 1 ATI Blue Plus. The system was also running with 1 MH only for almost a week before I switch to the T5 fixture. I know what your saying I just hope I can get those colors back again with whatever corals I have left.

I just checked out the tank again and it seems that some of the corals are still stressed. I will probably frag a few more of my favorite and move it to a buddy's tank.

Just a quick update, after almost a month of a lot of TLC, I think the system is staring to turn around fingers crossed. The basic issues like RTN, STN, and a lot of burnt tips is staring to subside. I have finally pulled the plug on the bio pellets after having to clean and dry them for I can't even remember how long! for the time being I will start dosing vodka again.

I think the corals are staring to adjust to the switch from the MH to T5. I've been playing around with the bulb combo almost week after week. at this point in time I have 1 14k, 1 fiji purple, 1 actinic and 3 blue or 20K bulb. The photo period is now at 6 hours and 10 hours. thanks for everyone help and input on this part!

am still having issue with keeping the PH just over 7.7 day time and 7.5 night time (Pinpoint & RKL) I've restarted dosing kalk as part of the ATO. I also have a fuge in reverse photo period. Am also battling HA due to the coral die off, this are most visible in burnt tips so am manually removing them for the time being and hope that those tips will re-grow again and choke the heck out of all the HA!

I have yet to added any new live stock to the system, but a couple of notable SPS that I lost and will be replacing once am confident that the system is 100% up and running again they are Strawberry shortcake, blue tort, ice fire, karl kadlight.

Anyways enough chit-chat for now here are a few updated pics, and just for comparison pics from last December, one day how I want the system to look again.

Aug. 22nd, 2011

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-O...rge%252529.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-6...rge%252529.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-s...rge%252529.jpg

Dec. 18th, 2010

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_h...28right%29.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_h...%28left%29.jpg

Yikes, sorry to hear you are still having such a battle. I'm not up to date on what you've been up to, but I know you changed from MH to T5, and you also switched from vodka to bio-pellets?

Were you having nutrient issues? It sounds to me like you are, seeing as the low pH level. Do you use GFO? Are you seeing any cyano or just the hair algae? What skimmer are you using? Have you tested for ammonia, nitrate, and phosphate?

If it makes you feel any better it still looks good from far. ;)

oh thanks Myka! I just hope that am in the right side of the fence now! Ya I did the MH to T5 and it's actually from bio-pellets to vodka as i've also been having issue with the pellets clumping up. (this pellets have been in my system just over a year before I finally pulled them out)

As far as test kits are concern I wouldn't say that am having any nutrient issue, salifert says that I don't have any tractable nitrate, and hanna checker says zero phosphate. I also run GAC and GFO and I have always run them in my system. As far as skimmer is concern am using a euro-reef RS-180, I would say more that sufficient for my system. The only thing that I have not tested yet is the ammonia. I will be bringing a sample to one of the LFS and get them to check it for me.

Glad to hear you think you're past the worst. Hope you get the full colour back.

I certainly do hope that am out of the weeds!

If nutrients aren't an issue, why not drop the vodka too? Do you have any friends that could check phosphate with D-D or another high sensitivity kit? I had that same skimmer on my 90 and it did a good job as long as it wasn't overflowing (which it did often!). I just switched to a SWC 180 Cone. If you use any ammonia products like Prime, AmQuel, etc make sure they use a salicylate kit, not a Nessler. You can check nitrite too...will tell you if there was ammonia present recently.

I can't believe so many "numbers" are good, but there is so much havoc! Have you checked pH at all? Preferably with a meter, not a kit.

I finally had a chance to stop by the LFS and they checked the water sample that I brought, all test was done with salifert test kit. They tested the water for nitrate, nitrite & ammonia, all the test came back ok. Oh and I've never used any ammonia product.

As per the skimmer it have always worked well for me also, there was only several times that I could remember the skimmer overflowed.

The only number that am having an issue with is PH. This is monitored 24/7 via american pinpoint PH monitor and Reef Keeper Lite. The probes are calibrated on a monthly basis. I have now been adding kalk to the system for about a week and still no luck. the PH continue to hover just over 7.7 day time and 7.5 night time.

Tests ok, as in 0? Or did they carry a value?

Ah ha, I knew it would show up as pH. You have big fish in there? Some tangs maybe? How do you treat your sandbed? How deep is it? Any conchs or other stirrers/sifters? What kind of sand? You buy it new?

test all came back with zero or no value. what do you mean by "Ah ha, I knew it would show up as pH"?

Ya I have 3 tangs in the system. what do you mean by how do i treat the sandbed? The sandbed is around 1" to 1 1/2" deep. I have nassarius snails & cerith snail, I also have 3 wrasse as well as 2 clown fish that keeps the sandbed stirred up. I have sugar size and yes they were purchased new.

How do you treat it as in, what do you do with it? The sandbed is probably trapping more crud than you think. I vacuum mine with a gravel vac while doing waterchanges. Makes a big difference. I think your low pH is probably caused by a large bioload.