Mobile Bay Reef Keepers

Well, after barely restarting things a few months ago, I ended up having problems again and lost all of the new stuff I had, including my potter's angelfish. In any case, I just ended up adding some new frags, the oldest being about 3 weeks old. So, here are some update pics (excuse the lack of maintenance, like the aiptasia, dirty back glass, etc. I basically removed another 20lbs of rock and rearranged things, as well as starting the skimmer back up. The pics aren't so good for a number of reasons, one being that I was in a hurry, the other that I suck at photography. Anyway:

FTS


Left


Right


angled shot for fun


Hopefully, I can get things to fill in quickly to keep it from looking quite so barren.

I really like the aquascape. I'm a fan of the islands on each side, it will look really good when everything grows in. Just a suggestion but I think you could use the other 20# of rock and make the left side higher than the right. Like a tower going straight up. Thats just my opinion though it looks good as it is. How long has it been set up?

Thanks. Well, I don't want anymore rock in there and I am experimenting at keeping a low aquascape. My reasoning behind this is to allow for quite a bit of upward growth--something that often isn't "allowed" with higher rock. We'll see how it works. Most of the structure is actually a facade, too. Most of it is actually held up with PVC, leaving only about 45# of rock in there. The circulation is great. It has only been in the current configuration for about 3 months, but has been set up continuously for about 12 years--it just ran fallow for almost a year after the spawning incident.

Sorry to hear about the crash. What spawned in it, calupra?

Nope, this did:





Here's what it looks like when it happens:


Some eggs:

The pics didnt work, can you post a link to the thread on RC?

Sigh. Well, it won't even let me view the images anymore--damn RC. When/if I can actually view them again, I will transfer the images to photobucket and go from there.

Okay, pics are fixed for real this time . Note that the spawn pic is cloudy--it gets MUCH cloudier as time passes.

So, you were actually there to witness it? I guess you couldn't get enough of the eggs out to prevent a crash?

crsswift70 wrote:So, you were actually there to witness it? I guess you couldn't get enough of the eggs out to prevent a crash?

Nope, this is one of many, many spawns. These pics are about 2-3 years old. It isn't even close to the first time it happened--she usually does it at least 2x per year. I just didn't catch it this last time around, so it killed almost everything.

I applaud your persistance Andrew. I think you and I are very similar in that, and I feel much better nowing my beautiful tank isnt the only one suffering from every issue known to man, although at least in my case it's mostly due to lack of care. I've been entertaining thoughts of a complete redo down to something much less labor intensive. No decisions yet tho.

You still have the anemone, dont you? Is that it on the left side towards the back?? How does it like the new digs?

sb1227 wrote:I applaud your persistance Andrew. I think you and I are very similar in that, and I feel much better nowing my beautiful tank isnt the only one suffering from every issue known to man, although at least in my case it's mostly due to lack of care. I've been entertaining thoughts of a complete redo down to something much less labor intensive. No decisions yet tho.

You still have the anemone, dont you? Is that it on the left side towards the back?? How does it like the new digs?

Well, after the incident, the reason the tank looked so horrible (and what is taking me so long to get it back together) is lack of care. It is hard to get back into it afterwards, but I'm there . I had a little of everything happen to it between now and then, too, though.

Oh yeah, she's still there . Strangely enough, she is about as bulletproof as things come, besides fish and red open brain corals . She seems to really like that spot and frankly, so do I. The spot is away from everything, so corals can grow happily and she has her space--so we are all happy with it .

Well, call me crazy, but due to some slower spots I didn't like, I added one more modded Tunze 6025. That situates me somewhere around 12000 gph, counting the return . Even the larger polyped stuff doesn't seem to mind, though, so it can't be a bad thing.

12,000 GPH!!!!!! Is this in the 75? Thats like 160x turnover. I'm surprised you can keep the sand down with that. Now you got me wanting to add more flow. I only have about 36x turnover.

crazywesc wrote:12,000 GPH!!!!!! Is this in the 75? Thats like 160x turnover. I'm surprised you can keep the sand down with that. Now you got me wanting to add more flow. I only have about 36x turnover.

Yep, in the 75 . The main goal of this tank is to keep large SPS colonies in the long term. Lots of diffused, high volume flow makes them happy . Before you add more flow, think about what you want to keep in the tank and remember that not all flow is created equally. The modded Tunzes give a very wide, diffused flow, so I can get away with it. You put on other pumps and they really will blast the sand everywhere.