Fish's new tank project

[Fish]

Thanks Justin.

Well I added 20lbs of rock to the tank. You can't see it all in the photos because I put a big piece in the sump because it had some gsp on it. (After scraping off as much as I could, I am trying to kill the rest by keeping it in the dark for a while - just so it doesn't take over my rock-work).

Hope you enjoy:











- Chad

[nanopodreefer]

Are you going bare bottom? I am aware of the huge debate... but can you give us newbies maybe your top 3-5 (or more ) reasons for going bb, or if you still plan on sand, same thing? Looks good though.

Nano

[Fish]

Nano,
Yup this tank will be BB. Sorry, but I don't think I can contribute any more to the debate than what has already been said. My advice would be to just try it both ways and see what you like better. Start with sand and if it starts to give you trouble, syphon it out. If it doesn't give you trouble - then rock on.
For me, BB allows me to keep a way cleaner system with higher flow and easier cleanup of detritus. I don't have/plan to have any sand dependant livestock, so my reason for keeping a sand bed would be purely for aesthetics. Now that alone is a pretty good reason - I put a lot of effort into trying to have things look good - but for me, my sand beds have only looked really good for about a week. After that golden week, the sand loses some of its brilliance and gets dulled by the bio-film that grows over each of the grains. I have tried different sifting critters and daily stirrings but I have never been able to maintain that beautiful white look. At that point, aesthetics is no longer enough reason to overweigh the drawbacks of sand and I go back to BB.
This time around I am going to try and cover the bottom of my tank with meadows of gsp, zoos, and mushrooms - should look alright...

- Chad

[Skimmer Juice]

What kind of light (brand) is that? Sorry if it was already stated but I did not want to read all the pages. I ordered a high output t5 also just waiting for it

[Fish]

I ended up going with the Tek 24" 4-bulb from Gold's. The tank is 30"x18"x18" and it provides great coverage.

- Chad

[Fish]

Well, sorry that I have been away for a while. Here are some recent photos of the tank. I have added some zoanthids and some rics and a pair of clowns. I think that the clowns will be the only fish I put in this tank - now to build it up with some more nice softies.


FTS (please excuse the diatoms on the bottom pane, I haven't cleaned the glass in a while - but there's some coraline growth there too):






blurry photo of the clowns - at least the rics were standing still:





This is the same zoo colony I posted before but I wanted to show how much the palys have colored up. This pic doesn't even do it justice - the skirts are an fluorescent green even under the daylight bulbs. I have never had a coral this bright before - I wish I could get the camera settings right so you could see what I mean:





- Chad

[muck]

Looking good Chad.
No need to adjust your camera settings.. just send me a frag of the palys so I can see in person..

[nanopodreefer]

I am really interested in hearing how your T5 lighting system is working with the coral growth and such, is it as good as you thought, or better!!?