400 gallon project

[untamed]

FTV's...



For those who haven't had a drink at the bar for themselves....


The view that only I see...(this is the far back corner, viewable only from one small spot in the fishroom.

[Jason McK]

Looks Great Brad

J

[Pan]

Awesome, your fish look very very healthy. Way to go!
What about some chalk bass for a schooling fish? I was going to do blue stripe/eye cardinals but only have one left

[Sebae again]

Tank looks great. A tip about schooling fish is get them all at once from the same school at the LFS and even get a couple extra in case a couple don't survive. Fish from different schools may not bond and even if the same species can kill each other, even timid fish like chromis.

[Tom R]

Originally Posted by untamed

The vision is to recreate what I've seen many times in THE aquarium, where the school hovers above a coral head and disappears into it when threatened.

Does that sound untamed enough, Tom?

That sounds great. Your own wild kingdom. A snorkeling trip to Brad's house is a lot cheaper than a trip to the Caribbean.

Tom R

[christyf5]

Woo, looky at all that white sand. Those gobies have been busy!!

[untamed]

Originally Posted by christyf5

Woo, looky at all that white sand. Those gobies have been busy!!

Yes...it is completely different. It is far cleaner than I was ever able to make it by vaccuuming.

[Delphinus]

Just out of curiousity (and apologies if you've answered this before) but do you plan on replacing the sand at any kind of interval?

Without trying to open up too much debate on this topic, I'm sort of torn, for my 280, I want the benefits of a clean BB tank, but I like the look of a sandbed (at least when it's nice and clean). But I have to admit that there's no way that over the typical lifespan of a reef tank that I'm going to keep up with weekly vacuuming and whatnot. But then again, I don't want the sand for filtration, I just want it to look like a sea floor and not an aquarium floor.

[untamed]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Just out of curiousity (and apologies if you've answered this before) but do you plan on replacing the sand at any kind of interval?

Without trying to open up too much debate on this topic, I'm sort of torn, for my 280, I want the benefits of a clean BB tank, but I like the look of a sandbed (at least when it's nice and clean). But I have to admit that there's no way that over the typical lifespan of a reef tank that I'm going to keep up with weekly vacuuming and whatnot. But then again, I don't want the sand for filtration, I just want it to look like a sea floor and not an aquarium floor.

I don't plan on replacing the sand. Further, it would seem that I will NEVER have to vaccuum the sand bed ever again. The tank is BB at the back and the sand varies in depth (depending on the mood of the Gobies) from less than 1" to over 4". At this depth and movement, I don't think the sand bed is providing any kind of anaerobic filtration.

The gobies have achieved the (almost) perfect compromise. Their downside is that they tend to place sand on top of the display rocks from time to time. This can bury a coral and do a lot of damage fast. They don't do it all the time, and I think that it is a breeding behaviour that causes them to suddenly decide to build a new mountain. (more on that later)

For me..I dislike the look of BB tanks. I was prepared to live with the sand as dirty as it was. Now, it is beautifully clean, but I have to pay a bit more attention to turkey basting than I used to and lower placed corals are at risk of being buried.

[Pan]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Just out of curiousity (and apologies if you've answered this before) but do you plan on replacing the sand at any kind of interval?

Without trying to open up too much debate on this topic, I'm sort of torn, for my 280, I want the benefits of a clean BB tank, but I like the look of a sandbed (at least when it's nice and clean). But I have to admit that there's no way that over the typical lifespan of a reef tank that I'm going to keep up with weekly vacuuming and whatnot. But then again, I don't want the sand for filtration, I just want it to look like a sea floor and not an aquarium floor.

Get a strip of fiberglass sheeting...make the shapes you want..bumps, valleys etc..expoxy aragonite over it the thin fiberglass(like thick paper...)