# 110x Marine Planted Tank



## demonbreedr16 (Jan 10, 2008)

Ut oh! I can see where this is going! I think... lol


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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

Funny! I cant wait to see how it turns out!


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## cah925 (May 18, 2007)

lol, I didn't know cats could type. Interesting start, looking forward to more updates.


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## lisya (Sep 7, 2009)

Love the cat's perspective! The only thing mine want to know is why I brought fish home and they didn't get any sushi!


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

About time you got this thread started roud: 
Been watching and waiting since April I think.
Looks like an awesome start.


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## kali (May 8, 2009)

hmmmm ..Interesting.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Hey that is the restored tank. I had not seen the final product. Your cat seems so unimpressed, but I think it looks great.

Seagrasses would look great with that driftwood, but I understand they are pretty demanding.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

hydrophyte said:


> Seagrasses would look great with that driftwood, but I understand they are pretty demanding.


I wanted to do shoal grass, but the bottom rim starts flush at the bottom glass, so a few inches of sand would look awful, not to mention a DSB for shoal grass. I might do ore grass instead, along the back and between rocks, with shallow, bare sand up front. I think I might add more rim at the bottom, somehow, I don't like to show the sides of sand. 

Thanks for looking everyone. 


Promise I'm not purposely trying to overdo the 'left side hill' scape with my tanks lately, it has everything to do with room placement.

More updates when i get some mud, which might take a week or so.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Intermission...









































































This tree seems to grow well here, I wonder what it's secret is...


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

Hmmm....I think I get it...Interesting.


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## roznalos (Aug 18, 2008)

wha??? i dont get it...


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Hey that's a pretty sweet spider lily. Do you know which one it is? How tall is the whole plant?


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

I'm not sure. It's about 4 feet tall, long blade leaves and about 4 flower stalks that are each a couple inches thick with a few flowers on the ends.


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## kali (May 8, 2009)

xximanoobxx said:


> wha??? i dont get it...


 LOL yep im with you .! still dont get it .
this's the most interesting thread on PTF.:thumbsup:


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

More excitement! 























































*Cladophora prolifera*, Halimida, Penicillus pyriformis, Udotea flabellum


















Ophiuroid



















And some long overdue stuff...


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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

Brackish aquarium??????


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

No, sir. I am a 'go all the way' type of guy.


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## jjp2 (May 24, 2008)

what happened to the cat's point of view?


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Heh, the project reached a point that exceeded his comprehension.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Let's see what kind of fun and excitement I can create here...without the cat's input...


Ingredients: Unimin Granusil 2040 + aragonite (Carib Sea) + playsand (silica) + Mother Nature's goodness. :thumbsup:










Clay...









Mother Nature's goodness...









Mother Nature + playsand + Unimin + aragonite...









Playsand + aragonite...









Sorry cat, no Special Kitty® in this tank. :frown:



.


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## roznalos (Aug 18, 2008)

very interesting. Worth a subscription


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## Wingsdlc (Dec 9, 2005)

Tidal Pool scape?


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Wowee those some special marine macrolagae that you got there.

It took no time at all for that brittlestar to make an appearance.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Wingsdlc said:


> Tidal Pool scape?


:thumbsup:



hydrophyte said:


> Wowee those some special marine macrolagae that you got there.
> 
> It took no time at all for that brittlestar to make an appearance.


Man, there's got to be 50 or more of them crawling in there, plus a bunch of other stuff. Sea Life Inc is no joke! More salad to come from Gulf Coast Ecosystems, and after a few more trips to the beach.


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## trackhazard (Aug 24, 2006)

Its like you reached inside my brain and pulled out all my ideas!

I am super interested to see the tank up and running. This is gonna be a stunner.

Charlie


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

trackhazard said:


> Its like you reached inside my brain and pulled out all my ideas!
> 
> I am super interested to see the tank up and running. This is gonna be a stunner.
> 
> Charlie


LOL! I'm sure a lot of us have been thinking this for a while, I'm just sick of waiting for someone to do it. There _are_ some marine PTs around, if you google you'll find some by Tom Barr, and some folks at reef-solutions (formerly MPT). Tom has some discussion about it on his site, and there were a couple threads started here (or APC) that I can't find anymore. I have only seen two or three people taking the 'scape seriously, though, maybe there are more and I just haven't noticed. Edit: I have found quite a few more, I guess the 'scaping world just isn't taking _them_ seriously... yet.

Story short, I got bored and needed a change.


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## trackhazard (Aug 24, 2006)

I've seen Tom's tanks and a couple others from his forum. Very nice.

I also came across this one from a while back:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1232393&pp=25

Like I said previously, if this tank ends up the way I think it will end up, it will be a stunner. Good job!

Charlie


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## eyebeatbadgers (Aug 6, 2007)

Very cool setup, looking forward to this one!


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

trackhazard said:


> I also came across this one from a while back:
> 
> http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1232393&pp=25


That's one of the ones I was speaking of, as a serious scape and not just grow tank. He has a thread on reef-solutions, too, it was getting nice density and started looking very dutch vs. nature tank, before he had to move.

Tom's is very well manicured, too, lots of species packed in neatly. 



eyebeatbadgers said:


> Very cool setup, looking forward to this one!


 Thanks!


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## oldpunk78 (Nov 1, 2008)

this is going to be awesome! i've always wanted to try one of these.


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## mumlymmu (Oct 2, 2009)

uhm,Thanks so much 4 sharing with us,bros


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Thanks for looking, Oldpunk! And thanks for spammin PT, mumlybot. 

Here's one the first MPTs that inspired me, he eventually filled it with soft corals, but had a nice chef salad going on around page 4. I think his subsequent boiling of a mantis shrimp created some bad karma that led him down the path of this MPT's demise, and back into ugly gelatinous invertebrates. I watched so much potential slip away, and that alone was encouraging enough for me. http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=106407&hl=green


.


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## Ariel301 (Sep 7, 2009)

Ooh, this is going to be cool! 

Are you going to put fish in there? If so, what kind?


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Yes! All kinds, well, at least some gobies, a local blennie, and some Chromis, I have in mind. I would really like a more slender schooler than Chromis, have to get out there with a cast net and see what I can grab, maybe hit up a bait shop. Anchovies are very cool looking in the wild. We'll see.


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## Ariel301 (Sep 7, 2009)

Anchovies? Hahaha...that would be neat. You might get a lot of jokes from friends about putting them on pizzas...


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Hehe, no doubt, kind of the reason I'd like to have them.

"Hey, those are cool fish, what are they?"

"Anchovies"

"Whatever man, just tell me what they are already". 

LOL

Here's the Blenny I can get from the Keys, http://images.google.com/images?q=E...ent=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi

I'm really tempted to add a few juvenile Lookdowns (Selene vomer). They have a deeper body, which would make more sense in this tall tank than slender schoolers would. But, they grow to about 12", and cost $60 a piece for tiny juveniles. :eek5: They are sooo awesome, though. I can justify the size, I have friends with huge SW tanks that would take them, but the price is hard to swallow.

http://fishanatomy.net/webpages/fish/sargassum/lookdown/external.htm



.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

I agree with your point about a slender silvery schooling fish. I have always wondered why there seems to be nothing like that in the marine hobby trade. There must be some possibilities out there in the wild. Maybe the reefers will only buy stuff with gawdy colors(?).


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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

YAY!!!!! A tidalpool aquarium! This has to be awsome! I cant wait to see it set up!


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

jaidexl said:


> Here's one the first MPTs that inspired me, he eventually filled it with soft corals, but had a nice chef salad going on around page 4. I think his subsequent boiling of a mantis shrimp created some bad karma that led him down the path of this MPT's demise, and back into ugly gelatinous invertebrates. I watched so much potential slip away, and that alone was encouraging enough for me.
> .


Yikes! Did he really boil a mantis shrimp? That sounds like a guaranteed jinx, like killing spiders and snakes--very bad luck.


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## jjp2 (May 24, 2008)

Are you thinking of fish small enough to tease the cat or large enough to scare him?


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

hydrophyte said:


> Yikes! Did he really boil a mantis shrimp? That sounds like a guaranteed jinx, like killing spiders and snakes--very bad luck.


Yep, probably two but he only found one, and posted an image of it's mangled body in the thread. Having kept quite a few of these creatures, I lost a little respect for him then, but I guess they're still pretty much considered pests at this point. Probably thee most intellegent and interesting "pest" you will ever find.



jjp2 said:


> Are you thinking of fish small enough to tease the cat or large enough to scare him?


:icon_lol: Definitely small enough to compliment the scape rather than draw the eye away from it.



Update picture on the way......


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Just got some more macroalgae in the mail (Halymenia and Halimeda), planted them and fired up the tank. Now I'm off to order some shoal grass. For now, the manzanita's soaking in another container until they stop releasing tannins.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

It just occurred to me how useless an FTS is at this point. 

Here's a close up...


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Manzanita in a marine tank? That's heresy!


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

I had a feeling this wasn't the tank for shoal grass, and I think I'm right. It has a straight, rigid rhizome with blades every few inches. It would take a tank the size of my living room to use shoal grass in a scape the way I want to, I guess I was fooled by the little chunks of it I find at the beach. I suspect it'll survive for awhile then die off, or else become a trimming hassle. I have a few other things in mind as a replacement.

There's Oar grass along the front that isn't visible yet.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

I also added 2 to 4 inches of play sand and Granusil.


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## trackhazard (Aug 24, 2006)

Green background fits so well.

Are you planning on stacking the LR a little higher?

-Charlie


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Yeah, I'm liking the bare wall, gives off cool colors depending on camera settings. I might leave it like that and take out equipment for money shots.

I might add a larger rock on top of the left hill, the sand bed really ate up some hardscape. Or else I will just let the macroalgae fill that space and leave the rest for schoolers. One of my main goals was to not create a giant rock pile.

Thanks for looking


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## Randy Lau (Mar 29, 2008)

Jaide I like the direction you went in and digging the final look! SW meets FW (makes it brackish?)

Was that a local beach? If you caught and placed those fiddler(?) crabs in they would probably burrow won't they...
*thumbs up*


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Randy Lau said:


> Jaide I like the direction you went in and digging the final look! SW meets FW (makes it brackish?)
> 
> Was that a local beach? If you caught and placed those fiddler(?) crabs in they would probably burrow won't they...
> *thumbs up*


Thanks! Well, for brackish it would need a specific gravity around 1.010-1.015, this is at 1.023. 

That beach is about 10 minutes away, those fiddlers would probably die in the tank, they're terrestrial. I'm sure they can swim for a while but living in it constantly won't work.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Here's a crab for ya, Randy. It rode in on the shoal grass or seaweed, he's very small, possibly a marsh crab, Armases or Sesarma species.











I picked this macroalage off the beach and thought it was cool that it's still attached to a rock. Once in the tank, the rock started crawling up the glass! It's actually a snail, pretty weird too, it's a Cerith or Trumpet snail with a crusty oyster called a Chama attached to it's shell, along with the algae...


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Nice. There are so many cool hitchhikers that you can get with saltwater material. There in Florida I bet you could get almost any phylum in Kingdom Animalia riding in on those rocks and bits of seaweed.

I like the green background too. That is a background right and not just an optical effect(?). Did you paint it on?


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Heh, that's just the wall 

It's kind of a light tan color but it gets that cool effect in the tank, pretty convincing as dirty gulf water in person too. I think it helps that the wall has a mottled texture on it, gives it a weird diffusion pattern. I was going to leave the back open for a light box but I think the wall works great, will just have to remove the pipes for the money shot.

That snail algae is growing fast, it just occurred to me how long it's going to take the snail to move into photo position once it's a big bush.:hihi:


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## roznalos (Aug 18, 2008)

The tank is really looking nice.
Haven't seen one like it before...


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Thanks, xximanoobxx!

The tank went through a heavy diatom phase for about a week, also bryopsis (a kind of green fuzz or hair). I was kind of hoping the bryopsis would remain on the sand bed, it was almost like a dwarf hair grass carpet, but it was only a phase and is disappearing now.  But now my paddle grass is finally sprouting up in the front and I should have a nice colony of that within the next few weeks. All other plants/ macroalgae is showing growth. I should have an update pic soon, for now the glass is exploding with amphipods, so I'm waiting to clean it.


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## Tex Gal (Mar 28, 2008)

Very neat tank!


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## trackhazard (Aug 24, 2006)

That's the first time I've ever heard someone say he was sad his bryopsis was dying off.

-Charlie


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## Coltonorr (Mar 12, 2008)

Wow Sweet!!!
That background is sick...and fits perfectly!


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

That's really cool! It makes me want to change my reef to a planted sw. I might actually do that. I live the wood + LR combo. Really cool!


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Thanks a lot everyone! I encourage anyone to do it if you have the urge, if the same thing over and over fails to excite you, then this is a good way to change things up. New species to play with and figure out, new livestock options, a few more params to tinker with, etc etc. By the time I managed to pool all the money and equipment together to make this another FW planted tank, I was burnt out on the idea and wanted to break down most of my tanks, my attitude was a drag, now I'm all excited over a box of water again. :bounce:



trackhazard said:


> That's the first time I've ever heard someone say he was sad his bryopsis was dying off.
> 
> -Charlie


I know, silly isn't it... I was actually quite nervous when I saw it taking over, but then realized how much it works in a tank like this. I'm kinda bummed to see it wasting away, but there's plenty of other things popping up.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)




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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

More pics and some new IDs...

Derbesia sp. and Caulerpa taxifolia ...









Here's some cool stuff growing on my driftwood, Ulva (Enteromorpha) intestinalis - (gutweed)...









Caulerpa verticillata growing in Halimeda (monile or incrassata)...









Some interesting type of Halimeda, got this at a frag swap from Gulf Coast Ecosystems...









Feather duster hanging out in Penicillus...


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Some higher life...

Anemone from the gulf (or Keys) that hitchhiked on the Sargassum. 1/4" diameter...









Got about 5 of them, but they move around a lot and disappear easily...









Zoanthids...









Ricordea florida...









Still gotta ID this guy, possibly Rhithropanopeus...


















Another closeup, with the photosynthetic Gorgonian from the Keys...


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

Hey that looks great. THis has really come together fast. I love that brown algae that looks like kelp. I once had something like that sprout from some live rock in a little SW setup that I had years ago and it was about my favorite thing in the tank.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Thanks! Yeah, the Sargassum,, lots of cool critters and algae coming out of that stuff. I'm glad it likes my lighting, can't wait to see it get big.


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## londonloco (Aug 25, 2005)

I just sold the contents of my reef to get back into planted tanks. I've seen several of these tanks popping up on forums. They are beautiful! Mind posting a list of your equipment? I've been thru this entire thread, if I missed it, I apologize.


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## jmhart (Mar 14, 2008)

Awesome Awesome Awesome.


Marine planted tanks are always amazing.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

jmhart said:


> Awesome Awesome Awesome. Marine planted tanks are always amazing.


Thanks a lot, Jeffrey!



londonloco said:


> I just sold the contents of my reef to get back into planted tanks. I've seen several of these tanks popping up on forums. They are beautiful! Mind posting a list of your equipment? I've been thru this entire thread, if I missed it, I apologize.


Oh, sorry bout that, had a thread on my plumbing going when I started so I think I was trying to save forum space. Here you go... 

filtration- 3/4" closed loop, Blueline HD40, Ocean Clear 325 with pleated cartridge.
(Today, I'm building a 1" loop and switching the pump out to a Gen-X PCX 70, time for more flow)

CO2- none

Ferts/additions- nitrate, traces (fe), calcium, and bicarb weekly. Might have to add a Ca reactor, this Halimeda eats up about 3 degrees KH before I even get to a weekly water change. Can't test Ca at the moment but I bet that's dropping fast, too, so I'm adding it as well.

Here's the plumbing thread> http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/74926-ocean-clear-external-pump.html

And the tank refurb thread> http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/87775-refurbishing-junk-110x-56k.html


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## jjp2 (May 24, 2008)

Where did you find those union/shut off valves? Those are slick and I definitely could use some.


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## mumushummus (Sep 16, 2009)

when i grow up i will make one of this aquariums !


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## trackhazard (Aug 24, 2006)

So cool...

One question. You don't have lots of live rock in there and your in tank equipment seems pretty clean. Do you have any probs with coralline algae growing all over your in tank stuff? I can't stand the way it coats the plastic/acrylic equipment as well as glass in tanks but somehow seems to avoid growing on the LR. it doesn't look like you have a problem with it yet.

Are you dosing any alkalinity or calcium supplements? Or is there no need to?

-Charlie


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

jjp2 said:


> Where did you find those union/shut off valves? Those are slick and I definitely could use some.


Savko.com



mumushummus said:


> when i grow up i will make one of this aquariums !


Do it! roud:



trackhazard said:


> So cool...
> 
> One question. You don't have lots of live rock in there and your in tank equipment seems pretty clean. Do you have any probs with coralline algae growing all over your in tank stuff? I can't stand the way it coats the plastic/acrylic equipment as well as glass in tanks but somehow seems to avoid growing on the LR. it doesn't look like you have a problem with it yet.
> 
> ...


Well, I haven't gotten that far yet, it'll probably take a few more months to notice a problem. I clean the glass once a week to avoid it there (I want the back showing through to the wall), and so far the filter risers have grown some soft algae but that's it. In the future I'll be removing the equipment for nicer pictures, anyway. I might periodically sand and repaint them, also.

I have to dose about 2 tspns baking soda a week even with weekly water changes, and even though I don't have a Ca test kit yet, I'm throwing in a few spoons of GH booster as well, will probably be ordering some CaSO4 when I order a test kit. I was not expecting these params to drop as fast as they do, but apparently Halimeda is a hog for it, I'm thinking about adding a calcium reactor.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

8 weeks

Added 8 Green Chromis and a Pygmy Angelfish


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## ChineseSnooker (May 20, 2008)

amazing colours


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## seds (Jan 30, 2009)

You are my hero!

This will be even cooler when it has completely filled in!


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

What fun. Those are great fish that you selected.


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## macclellan (Dec 22, 2006)

Fan-tastic!


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## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

Really cool


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## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

wow very awesome  i love it


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Thanks everyone!


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## Coltonorr (Mar 12, 2008)

Wow! This tank is amazing! So much color...
Two enthusiastic thumbs up!:thumbsup::thumbsup:


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

Excellent tank! Since i live in south Florida it makes me want to convert my tank into one of these!!


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Thanks for the enthusiasm :thumbsup:

Got my firefish in the tank today! :bounce:











The new Koralia 3 is pushing everything over no matter where I put it, waiting for a K2 to arrive...


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## Green Leaf Aquariums (Feb 26, 2007)

That is a really nice addition to this tank. Awesome!


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## RipariumGuy (Aug 6, 2009)

Stuning! Love the new addition to the tank!


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## JDowns (Mar 6, 2008)

Looks great. That firefish is way to cool. :thumbsup:


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## Ariel301 (Sep 7, 2009)

Beautiful!


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## beantickler (Dec 6, 2009)

Wow... Awesome tank man... Great camera skills too... What kind of camera do you use?


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Shoot, how'd I miss this thread?

That's gorgous, Jaide!


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## cah925 (May 18, 2007)

Stunning tank. I wish I had more room to set up another tank to do something like this.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

awesome thread.

pssh. I knew what you where up to by the second post when you put the GH booster in the tank.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Thanks for the compliments, everyone!



beantickler said:


> Wow... Awesome tank man... Great camera skills too... What kind of camera do you use?


Just a cheap Canon Powershot sd1100, and I have to take at least 20 shots with different settings, then pick the best one to sharpen and adjust color in photoshop. More like 50 shots for fish pics. Most of the quality happens while prepping for the shoot, ie windows closed up, house lights off, cleaning glass, makeshift tripod etc. It's really hard to get a good white balance with that camera.


mistergreen said:


> awesome thread.
> 
> pssh. I knew what you where up to by the second post when you put the GH booster in the tank.


Hehe, that's salt, but I think you knew that. :icon_lol:


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

What type of wood are you using?


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Manzanita from Jake.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Orange _Montipora capricornis_


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

That's cool.


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## Yellow Jacket (Jul 27, 2009)

This is a really, really cool tank.

You've done a great job with it!


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Thanks 


12/19



















A new macro in the back that is too cool










Crab's getting bigger :0










Yikes! When macrolagae starts to sporulate or 'go sexual' it has to be yanked from the tank or you may face undesirable repercussions



















The spongodes and Idaho grape up front are now glued to the face of the main rock. Back row is a purple cap and some chalices, side job in experimental phase  In the FTS you can see I added a couple actinics to help these out.


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## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

I want it.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

I'm completely ignorant of SW tanks. What wattage of lights? Nutrients? CO2?
How does it not get completely covered in micro-algae?

thanks,


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

mistergreen said:


> I'm completely ignorant of SW tanks. What wattage of lights? Nutrients? CO2?
> How does it not get completely covered in micro-algae?
> 
> thanks,


I have 216w T5HO but some would have more, especially for hard corals. It's a 4 bulb Tek Light intended for FW, I want the 6 bulb now that I'm adding more corals, but they're relatively medium light species and are doing ok so far. Might make me some money faster if I light them up more. The grasses and macros are ok with about the same light levels we use in FW, I've had the aggressive ones (caulerpa) survive month long blackouts. Cyano takes the place of BBA as a lighting obstacle if nutrients are high, in my experience with this tank anyway. 

I had to dose N for the first month before adding fish, the red stuff was a good indicator of it as it went pale at the tips. No dosing now and all is well so far, no N showing on the test kit but no pale tips either, since the fish were added. I was adding a but if CSM+B for Fe but stopped, didn't notice any changes. I feed the fish enhanced frozen and flakes 2-3 times a day and sometimes feed corals at night. 

Some folks inject CO2 for the plants, but they do fine taking carbon from KH.

Final Q... not sure, the glass grows a covering similar to GDA but is red brown and green, I clean it off weekly. The rocks have some fine green stuff on the bare spots, micro tends not to grow where coralline is established, though.


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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

This is awesome. Those are two of my favorite saltwater fish, and they are also among the cheapest and most readily available. I think that that "new macro" might be some kind of Caulerpa I had some once that was similar. So what kind of algae is growing on the manzanita? It is very nice. Is the grass growing yet?


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Oh yeah, big point on dosing MPTs. Since the macros get carbon from KH, then it may be necessary to dose baking soda. I may need to start doing that again since I've noticed lower than suggested KH levels.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

hydrophyte said:


> This is awesome. Those are two of my favorite saltwater fish, and they are also among the cheapest and most readily available. I think that that "new macro" might be some kind of Caulerpa I had some once that was similar. So what kind of algae is growing on the manzanita? It is very nice. Is the grass growing yet?


The new one resembles Gracilaria but with little spikes all over it, it fragments very easily. I got that at the local beach, I'll have to ID it later. Not sure if you mean that one or the feathery one in front of it, which is Caulerpa mexicana. 

That is a type of Chaetomorpha on the wood, like the stuff people grow in their refugiums, but I'm not sure if that can form a holdfast. There are a few species I ran across online, will have to ID it also when I get around to digging for the new one. I didn't have to add it, it just showed up there and proliferated.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

hydrophyte said:


> Is the grass growing yet?


Oops, missed this. I thought it was a goner but it just sprouted a bunch of new shoots in the last two weeks. I used a red slime remover that some folks have claimed made their corals look healthier, my corals and some macros seemed to confirm this, and the grass shot back up at the same time. It is not an antibiotic or an algaecide, the descriptions says "RSR will accelerate the solubilization and biological digestion of organic solids."


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

This guy's been asking for some love too, very first resident...


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## NateFank (Jan 2, 2009)

Beautiful!


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## dantra (May 25, 2007)

NateFank said:


> Beautiful!


 ^^^
Took the words right out of my mouth.

Dan


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## fishscale (May 29, 2007)

Do the chromis bother each other? I've never had a saltwater tank, but I'm already dreaming of the future. I read that sometimes the lowest fish in the pecking order gets harassed to death.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

NateFank said:


> Beautiful!





dantra said:


> ^^^
> Took the words right out of my mouth.
> 
> Dan


Thanks!



fishscale said:


> Do the chromis bother each other? I've never had a saltwater tank, but I'm already dreaming of the future. I read that sometimes the lowest fish in the pecking order gets harassed to death.


I haven't seen any aggression whatsoever. Coolest thing is their lip lock, two will lock and flutter around in a circular pattern, it's so gentle I would've guessed courting, but it seems it might be a dominance display. Everything I've read about it is from confused people, the way the fish seem to buddy up during and after, leaving the group to frolic in a corner, suggests it's indeed some type of courting display. Incidentally, I had 8 to begin with, 3 died within the first 2 weeks, one had lip damage which I thought at the time was bacterial. I have never seen any lip damage with the remaining 5. This behavior happens at the same time (evening) that tetras in my other tanks start to relax and court each other.  If they're fighting, they really suck at it.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

I've read that the Caribbean Blue Reef Chromis (Chromis cyaneus) are very aggressive with their pecking order, not comparable to the peaceful nature of the Blue Greens. Those are probably the ones you've read about.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Good guy - Chromis viridis









Bad guy - Chromis cyaneus


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Some kissing Chromis viridis (not my pics), Just imagine them fluttering in circles and flickering their fins.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

New resident today! I also added 5 sexy shrimp and 3 blue porcelain crabs, but I might as well have rolled money up and shoved it deep into my rocks.


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## garuf (May 30, 2007)

What a beautiful tank! Enter it into ada .
One thing I would say is no matter how pretty it is I'm finding the wood really jarring, knowing it's marine my brain just goes off like a cheap fire alarm going *WOOD IN A REEF?!?!?! DOES NOT COMPUTE!!!.*
Really really nice tank though.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Haha, I think they would laugh me out of the competition, not just because it's saltwater either. 

Ah the wood. I've been bringing it home from the beach since I was a kid, it was only a matter of time before I stuck some in a SW tank. I think the immediate assumption is that it will kill coral, but my mummy eye chalice that just grew a new hot-pink eye and is working on another tends to disagree. :flick:


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## Solid (Jul 19, 2009)

Please DO NOT post anymore pics of this tank! Especially any more FTS! 

Its making me want to go out spend alot of money... :hihi:


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## lotekfish (Nov 13, 2007)

I'm glad to see the neon goby in there. As soon as I saw your first few pictures I thought "My gobies would LOVE that tank."

Really nice tank. I used to have quite a few macro algaes in the refugium for my SW tank but I ended up having to down size into an all-in-one tank. Someday when I have more space I will attempt one of these. 

Thanks for posting and reminding me of the endless opportunities for learning and creating in this hobby.


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## londonloco (Aug 25, 2005)

Just beautiful! Are you target feeding anything?


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Thank you all! No I'm not target feeding anything, I drop in enough flakes or frozen food for them all to scrounge out of the water column within 30 seconds to a minute, twice a day. I use Vitamarin M, Selcon, and Blue Zoo Mix randomly, which helps feed the corals and filter feeders.


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## londonloco (Aug 25, 2005)

I noticed some fans a couple of months back...was I right? Did you take them out or....I was never able to keep sea fans or anemones for very long. Sea Fans didn't fair well at all. My anemones always thrived, split, but with in a year, they just disappeared. I finally stopped buying them. My clowns loved my xena's tho. Your tank is making me want to try my hand at a planted SW tank. Sigh.....just so beautiful....


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Did you lose all those other Chromis, Jaide?


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## Ashok (Dec 11, 2006)

Awesome tank, fascinating thread! Subscribed


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

londonloco said:


> I noticed some fans a couple of months back...was I right? Did you take them out or....I was never able to keep sea fans or anemones for very long. Sea Fans didn't fair well at all. My anemones always thrived, split, but with in a year, they just disappeared. I finally stopped buying them. My clowns loved my xena's tho. Your tank is making me want to try my hand at a planted SW tank. Sigh.....just so beautiful....


Thank you!

The purple gorgonian (sea fan) was added too soon, the tank went through a heavy diatom and bryopsis phase right after I added it, and I didn't have enough flow around it. For three days I battled with algae clinging to it but I lost it anyway. I should have waited for the initial hair and microalgae explosion to pass. Lesson to anyone trying one for the first time, be algae free (nuisance, epiphytic type stuff), and have lots of random flow around the gorg to knock junk off.



lauraleellbp said:


> Did you lose all those other Chromis, Jaide?


Still holding at 5. They look great, I'm reluctant to try and add any more. I really don't feel like quarantining anything new right now, because I would de-bug them and the whole nine yards. 



Ashok said:


> Awesome tank, fascinating thread! Subscribed


Thanks!


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Check out all the little flatworms on the rock, they're the little orange things hanging in clusters, there are a few in the bottom left on the sand, and also some out in the open sand. They're like ninjas, hiding in plain sight. 



jaidexl said:


>



They came from someone else's tank, where I got the rocks, and I didn't dip them well enough. I'm going to kill them all with Flatworm Exit next week, there's a chance I could lose more than expected if I don't do it right. I've juggled that or adding a wrasse, but I don't like the idea of a wrasse eating my feather dusters and bristle worms, plus it's chancy like hoping an SAE does his job. I've read more success stories than failures, and have done a lot of research on how to do it right, so I'll give it a go.



.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)




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## hydrophyte (Mar 1, 2009)

What a cool tank.


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## garuf (May 30, 2007)

Jaide, if you have time can we have another full tank shot please? I'm fascinated by this tank.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

No problem, I'll get another FTS tomorrow when the lights are back on, although it doesn't look much different from that far away. 

Thanks for looking, guys :icon_bigg


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## FDNY911 (Dec 6, 2009)

Nice tank man.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Thank you! 

Here's a big FTS from today. Had to rip all the green hairs off the wood and did a big 'pruning' yesterday, so things are looking a little shabby right now. Pruning is basically ripping chunks of algae out by the bagful, nothing like trimming stems. I have to work on the right side tomorrow.


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## Lee (Feb 13, 2007)

can't wait to see it fill in. Are you sure this is a 110 Gallon? It looks much smaller.


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## blackandyellow (Jul 1, 2009)

Very interesting tank, I haven´t seen this thread before! You have an amazing collection of living being in there. I´m happy I don´t have it in my house because it would be impossible to keep me off of watching it! Great work. I didn´t know wood in SW tanks was supposed to be a no-no. I´ve always seen pieces of wood in tidal pools in nature.

Congrats!


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## F22 (Sep 21, 2008)

that may be one of the sickest tanks I've seen in a long time dude... great job


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## garuf (May 30, 2007)

It's really really nice, have you considered adding more live rock? The massive water column at the top screams for some sea grasses or something similar.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Lee said:


> can't wait to see it fill in. Are you sure this is a 110 Gallon? It looks much smaller.


Thanks, It's a 110X, the high version. 18"x30"x48" inside dimensions, I think they actually hold 112gl to the rim. there's a picture of me climbing a step ladder to get in.



blackandyellow said:


> Very interesting tank, I haven´t seen this thread before! You have an amazing collection of living being in there. I´m happy I don´t have it in my house because it would be impossible to keep me off of watching it! Great work. I didn´t know wood in SW tanks was supposed to be a no-no. I´ve always seen pieces of wood in tidal pools in nature.
> 
> Congrats!


Thanks. Yeah, we stare at it for a while every day.  I don't know if it's a common recommendation to not add wood, I just know if you search out people asking about it, you will find a lot of answers like "gee, I don't know, I wouldn't risk it". I say, why not. I haven't noticed any out of the norm parameter changes, like the low pH one would expect to see. I have waited as long as 4 weeks to do a water change, still with no strange parameters. Corals grow fine but some colors are not developing as well under mostly 6500k light and only one actinic bulb. 



F22 said:


> that may be one of the sickest tanks I've seen in a long time dude... great job


Thank you!



garuf said:


> It's really really nice, have you considered adding more live rock? The massive water column at the top screams for some sea grasses or something similar.


I would like more rock in the future, for now I'm holding out for green gracilaria to come back into season, my plan is to put it next to the halymenia (bushy red stuff) and let them both explode up into the water column to dominate the wood as the focal point, so the wood is framing a large mass of red and green. Plans may evolve into other things since macros are not all readily available like plants, you take whatever is in season and someone is selling at the time. Green gracilaria is one of the most common and I can't get any, go figure. I keep the red halymenia trimmed down low for now so the bottom can keep filling in under strong light, as well as the monitpora caps I glued to the rock face under it.


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## johnblah (Jan 6, 2010)

This tank is really just amazing to me. It's everything most marine tanks are not. I guess because it's not the average type of marine tank. Just so much good here.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

johnblah said:


> This tank is really just amazing to me. It's everything most marine tanks are not. I guess because it's not the average type of marine tank. Just so much good here.


Yes! I like your perspective, I didn't want 'just another marine tank', I really just wanted to express what I see in nature, same reason I love doing FW PTs. Being on the coast Florida your whole life can show you lots of this stuff.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Petrolisthes armatus


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## RcScRs (Oct 22, 2009)

Update?


Justin


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## LondonDragon (Mar 15, 2007)

Now this is my kind of marine  well executed, looking forward to how this will develop  congrats


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## boink (Nov 27, 2006)

Nice sexy shrimp =p


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Thanks for the comments! 

Big day today if all goes as planned, time to treat the tank for flatworms. There's a big protein skimmer hanging on the face of the tank right now, I set it up a few days ago and this will help draw toxins out of the water as the flatworms die. I also have a large hang-on filter with a gallon of carbon, a brute trash can filled with change water, and will be spending most of the day siphoning the worms from the tank then will do a huge water change. This is if I can muster up the motivation, I've already put it off for a few weeks..... go figure, my wife's phone just now rang, her cousin is in town and she wants to know if I'm down with doing something today.... "as I'm writing this to everyone" I tell her with a look on my face. :icon_conf Seems like I never have time to do aquarium stuff anymore.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Some shots from this morning, before the main lights come on. That's a Current PowerBright LED strip I added to supplement the color of the corals on the rock, they were looking pretty brown without it.


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

I've clicked in to read the updates here time and again since our exchange in my trickle filter thread and enjoyed it every time. 
Finding your balance in this one really makes for great reading. My brother is dedicated ($$$ and years) to a living rock and hard coral tank. While I enjoy looking at his tank with rock and coral attached to and covering nearly the entire back wall of the tank it always seemed to be lacking. A huge pile of rock and coral center lining the tank without a single plant in the whole system. 

Lotta work and figuring it out on your own I'm guessing as nobody else does it this way. Love the way its turning out.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

I know what you mean, lots of my friends have coral dedicated tanks and I've never been all that impressed. They don't seem to get where I'm coming from but some of them do enjoy this tank, as something different. There are folks online that I can share knowledge with, no one local though, and growing macro algae is still a fairly undocumented practice as far as nutrients and growing conditions go. The most you might get is "needs high light", along with people claiming some fert additions help.

Since adding the fish load, I've been able to stop nitrate dosing, the red Halymenia was a good indicator of deficiency as it's tips would go pale. With a fish load and two feedings a day, nitrate is still registering zero on the test kit but Halymenia tips remain deep red.

I'm interested in seeing how the skimmer effects things, I'd like it to slow the growth of the fine hair algae, I like it as a "mossy" covering, but it has more of a nuisance tendency and is choking my frag rack up high where the hermit crabs can't get to. In any case, the skimmer cannot stay on the front of the tank forever, wish I'da drilled this tank and added a sump but it was not my intention at first to set this up as a SW tank. Lesson learned, a tank dedicated to algae is not the best place for a coral frag rack, but I have nowhere else to put it for now.


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## Niyona (Feb 20, 2010)

+1 This tank is fantastic. I'm a freshwater planted tank gal. And mostly I shy away from saltwater. But this tank has given me some inspiration!


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## chase127 (Jun 8, 2008)

wow, the sun really hits that tank just right and makes it look AMAZING. i really wish i had a tank like this at my house


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## kwheeler91 (May 26, 2009)

simply amazing man.


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## chris.rivera3 (Apr 15, 2008)

what happened to this tank?


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Not much, the green gracilaria I needed to finish the scape has been out of season or something since the tank's start. No one can find any, just brown and red. And now I'm not really excited about putting BP dispersants in my tank even if it did pop up somewhere. So it stayed looking pretty much the same as the last pic. I'm actually breaking the tank down as we speak.


Anyone wanna buy a 4x54w Tek Light? Got four 65k's and like 3 different wavepoint actinics for it.


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

Epiphytic growth, that's the magic words when it comes to SW algae scapes. My conclusion after doing one this big is that it's a major pain dealing with epiphytic growth, that is small bombers of unwanted algae growing in your display algae. When you go to pick it out, it's not like yanking HA off a leaf, the whole dang chunk of beauty you've been working on starts to fall apart, then you're at square one. Maintaining a strict scape like you would when trimming stems, well it just doesn't work out the same. My advice to anyone doing this would be QT all new macroalgae and make sure there is no epiphytic stuff that looks like small brown gracilaria or cheatomorpha. Those two things will entwine themselves in your macro stands and give you big headaches. Smaller macro scapes are much easier to keep up with.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

So what's this tank's next incarnation going to be?


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## jaidexl (Sep 18, 2006)

It's got a one way ticket to the dump. :tongue:

I hate the dimensions of this tank. If I start a new one it'll be a rimless 40-ish gl.

I'm keeping the 65 and 30 going as low techs, _might_ resurrect the little iwagumi, but I'm pretty much burned out on tanks as of now. I'm down from 9 tanks to only 4 not including Tracey's BC29 reef. Got a new hobby I'm trying to jump into, more greasy sweaty mechanical related, messy garage, busted knuckles, etc etc.


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