Tank Of The Month - December 2003 - Steve Parkes

[Lisa Page]

UltimateReef is proud to feature its fourth 'Tank of the Month' :D

Steve Parkes' Reef Tank

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/swt.jpg

Details can be found here (http://www.ultimatereef.net/TOTM/Dec03.htm)

Congratulations Steve!

If you have any questions or comments for Steve then please post them in this thread.

[Cudders]

Stunning :o Superb growth.

Well done mate :)

Mark.

[tuan]

Congratulations Steve - absolutely stunning!

[Jevs]

The pic isn't coming up for me....could it be to do with the site being changed at the mo. Even the details are not available to me.

Andy

[Lisa Page]

Andy,

Yeah sorry about that, I can't see it at the mo either. :( Hopefully it'll be fixed real soon.

Regards

Lisa

[Sahin]

Another awesome tank. :) The extra pics are excellent as well. Well worth seeing.

[kim]

Not another one......Reef Central just can't compete !

Steve, that's a wonderful "jungle"...... congratulations.

Hopefully all the server stuff will be fixed soon and we can cruise thru' all the pictures.

:wub: :wub: :wub:

kim

(ps also well done on the YTD's......a true sign of good taste IMO)

[simonh]

Fantastic Steve!

I've been wanting to read and see more of your tank for alongtime :)

[simonm]

simply amazing.

[Suk]

Superb set-up Steve, a reef to be proud of.

Do you find the Acro's tend to restrict the flow as they get bigger requiring even bigger pumps? I'm looking at putting a couple of streams in to compensate for the growth!
How do the tips fare when exposed to the halides, or do you just frag them?
Do your acros sting each other as they grow into one another? Another problem I'm just about to realise...

Best Regards
Suk

[Steve Parkes]

Thanks for all the compliments.

Kim,
I agree about the yellow tails. They're worth getting for shear entertainment value. Mine have been laying eggs for about 18 months - they live in between the folds of a Pavona coral and attack anything that goes near - algae magnet, sailfin...me! Size is no issue.

Suk,
Some very valid questions there.
The Acro's certainly do restrict flow as they grow - that's what they're 'designed' to do. Hence the reason I added a Stream. However, I have found that with such tall growth, even with the Stream about 12 inches away from the nearest Acro the flow is so strong that it slows down coral growth. My Stream seems to have formed a channel through the corals - even when turned down! IMO keep those Streams positioned way above your corals.
Another problem I'm experiencing is that the Acro's also block the light to anything lower down as they grow. Something to bare in mind when positioning those Acro's.

When the corals hit the surface the tip effectively dies as it gets exposed to air and the branches just get thicker below.

Finally, in my experience, when one Acro touches another there is a bit of a battle but you don't get large patches of dead white coral. One seems to just overgrow the other.

HTH

Steve

[Paul Everton]

Very Nice mate ;) you put a lot of hard work into your system mate keep up the good work an inspiration to us all. :D :D

[bristlebasher]

Steve

Your tank looks so untidy with all those acros in there . ;) :lol:

Seriously stunning m8 ! :wub:

Chow

H B)

[BrianO]

Steve

As I said when I saw it first. Faaaannnntastic ! :)



Brian.

[Valley Boy]

Congratulations Steve, superb tank! ;)

[Darryl]

Well done Steve, an absolute credit to you B)

[Calcium Kid]

Just gorgeose. Spelling,but you know what I mean. :wub: :wub: :)

[craigandsimon]

lovely tank - :) :wub: :wub: :wub:

[Martyn]

Hello Steve.
A "Stunning" system and inhabitants a real credit to you for the time and patients and knowledge, thats been spent and learned over the years.(excuse my gramma :D)

Pics not working in the link at the moment so I have added them here I can delete them when the correct new address is in the link and pics showing.

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/swt.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/sw2.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/ssump.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/ss2.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/sl.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/scr.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/s8.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/sa.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/sg.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/ssun.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/sp.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/sas.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/smb.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/sclam.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/ssally.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/su.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/sc.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/sspo.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/st.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/sside.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/SPacro1.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/SPacro2.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/SPacro3.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/SPelephant.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/SPcorals.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/SPmorecorals.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/SPgoni.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/SPzoos.jpg

http://www.aquaticsuperstore.com/uploads/SPpolyps.jpg

Regards
Martyn

[narthur]

wow thats one amazing tank...love the acros and natural look of the tank...
that skimmer looks impressive with plenty of gunge being collected.
Do you ever do any water changes or just top up evaporation? stunning all the same.. :wub: :wub:

[Steve Parkes]

Thanks again guys,

Its good to see that so many of you like the 'jungle' look too. I thought there would be a lot more comments about growing 'bonsai' corals and getting flamed for letting them battle it out.

Thanks for reposting the piccies Martyn. It's good to see the board seems to be behaving a liitle better now, following the move.

Narthur, yes I use a method which allows me to do a constant water change but at a slow trickle so as not to shock the system too much. However, that said I do ocassionally (every 3 months or so) do a 50 gallon change just to freshen things up a bit.
The skimmer is a serious bit of kit - it's just a pity that I had to get it from the US. Not that it's really a problem ordering stuff from abroad, I think it's just a shame that we don't have more companies designing good stuff here in the UK :(

cheers

Steve

[Preds]

Great tank Steve.

[fuzed]

wow :wub: :wub:

[sparky]

Very nice indeed :wub:


Regards

Andrew

[narthur]

Originally posted by Steve Parkes@Dec 6 2003, 19:32

The skimmer is a serious bit of kit - it's just a pity that I had to get it from the US. Not that it's really a problem ordering stuff from abroad, I think it's just a shame that we don't have more companies designing good stuff here in the UK :(


Well this is what i think as well..thats why i'm trying to get hold of a beckett injector..apaherently alot of guys on RC are going down the spray injection route and with real success...we just have to do with what we've got here but really that might be rubbish compared to whats in the states...could be a market opening for someone who has the time resource and knowledge...nic :D

[reefclown]

Steve,
Truely inspirational :wub: Yet another Uk reef wizard contibutes to the globes most desirable reef tanks.

[Mountainman01]

Steve, that is one magnificent tank matey!!! :o

I'm new to marines but am already in favour of the "natural look"

I used to have a planted, freshwater tropical system running CO2 and always strived to keep that looking like a genuine underwater paradise!! :lol:

I'm sure that I will be revisiting your pics as time goes along, when things aren't going aswell as I want :angry: they will serve as an inspiration :rolleyes: .

[Mode]

One word

Awesome
Great
Lovely
jealous

ok, several words!

I will get there one day, i will get there one day.........................

Mode

[Suffolk Reefer]

Nothing can be said that hasn't already,

Real credit to you m8

[Valley Boy]

Hi Steve
How long have you had your Goniapora, i tried once but only survived 6m.
Would love to try again,any tips? ;)

[Steve Parkes]

Hi Paul,

I've had the Goni for nearly 3 years. I think it's more to do with the species than position, light etc. The species that I hear most people do well with is the red/brown version (mine also has purple mouths). I don't recall anybody having longer term success with the green varieties (please note that I'm stearing clear of species names!). Please feel free to correct me if anyone has.

That said, just for completeness, it's on the rockwork, mid tank (as you can see) and gets intermittent flow - enough to lift the polyps but not rip them off. It's also directly under a halide. I don't directly feed it. Oh and a clownfish has lived in it for about 2.5 years! The skeleton has grown from the size of a small tennis ball to more of a grapefruit size in that time and when fully extended it's probably about 10 inches across.

HTH

Cheers and Merry Christmas

Steve

[Valley Boy]

Cheers Steve,
I think i'll give them a go,especially now that i have got 400w halides!

[wingd]

Steve:
A couple of questions:
How far are your bulbs above the water? I seem to have bleeching problem with my 400's occasionally and I wondered how high your's are.

Your protein skimmer is very nice. I am in the US and there are those that have the MTC and other beckett skimmers, but many people are now looking to acquire Deltec skimmers. It is a little challenging here as the motors have to be converted to 110W. Can you comment on your prefference between a deltec skimmer and the MTC.

You mentioned that you are using a Korallin 1501 with sulfur beds in it to reduce nitrates. I am unfamiliar with this. How does sulfur reduce nitrates? Is there some reading that you can suggest?

What type of media are you running in your reactor? Can Rowalith be run in a Korralin reactor since it feeds from the bottom up? We don't have rowalith in the US do I am just curious.

I have really enjoyed the pictures of your tank. It is inspiring to see what can be accomplished.

Dustin

[Steve Parkes]

Hi Dustin,

Thanks for the comments - it's good to get a Transatlantic compliment!

I'll try to answer your questions.
Firstly my bulbs are 7 inches from the water surface and I don't use covers - as you can see from the salt splashes in the photo. I've never had a problem with bleaching even when I upgraded from 250W DE bulbs, although I did lower the 400's into this position over about 3 weeks.

I've been using the MTC skimmer for over 3 years now. I never heard of anyone else in the UK using skimmers with Becketts until recently as we can't easily get the injectors here. People do seem to be discovering them now though. A lot people here seem to either use the Aquamedic Turbo Floters (my previous choice) or the Deltec's. The Deltec range is very good but in my, admitted biased, opinion they can't touch a good Beckett skimmer. There's something reassuring in the way the bubbles are so numerous and fine that the acrylic looks white. I'm intrigued as to why, when you Guys have access to a lot of really nice skimmers, you're going to the trouble of getting Deltec's?

Next, Sulphur Denitrators put simply. The yellow sulphur based beads are held in a container and kept in an almost anaerobic state by passing a very small quantity of tank water through it (a few drips per second). The beads then get colonised by a particular bacteria which has the ability to break down nitrate and hence the effluent is totally nitrate free. By utilising an redundant 1501 (or 1502 as you would know it) the process is improved by the internal recirculation of the water.
I really just tried it as an experiment as I had the kit around and just need to buy the sulphur beads. IT DOES WORK but is very fiddly to set up. You have to slowly increase the number of drops of effluent over a number of weeks otherwise the whole thing crashes and you have to start again. I doubt whether I will carry on using it as I just haven't been able to successfully get enough 'clean' water out of it to make a difference.

I've tried lots of different media in my calcium reactors but am currently using a mix of Rowalith and the media which Korallin supply which is just crushed/eroded coral branches (environmentally collected - I hope). I'm not sure why you comment on bottom fed reactors with Rowalith but it works for me?

I think that's covered everything but feel free to ask if I've missed anything :)

Regards

Steve

[wingd]

Thank you Steve for the information about your tank. Again, I have really enjoyed looking at the pictures.

Dustin

[Michelle56]

Its beautiful! :wub:

[chrisbuxton]

Just been looking through the archives and spotted this ... fantastic, what an inspiration

Regards chris

[sgl101]

An Inspiration Indeed.

Time for some Pic Updates I feel

Regards Steve.

[craigg]

Thankyou