Tank of the Month - August 2005 - rjwilsonreefer

[craigg]

UltimateReef.com is proud to feature its latest 'Tank of the Month'.

RJWilson's Reef Tank.

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(18).jpg

Details can be found below.

Congratulations Robert superb tank and thankyou for the fantastic write up.!

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

Craig

[craigg]

Rjwilsonreefer's Reef Tank

I would first like to thank everyone who mentioned me for TOTM, it is a real honor to receive such recognition for a hobby that is so much fun.

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(35).jpg

History

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(17).jpg

I will skip over the cichlid years of freshwater tanks, let’s just say it was fun and I enjoyed watching the fish chow down goldfish occasionally. One day my wife asked if I could get more colorful fish, so I started researching what it would take for me to move into the saltwater arena. Now she says, I said more colorful fish not everything else, just think of all the money I could have saved with a FOWLR tank. I guess I did get a little carried away, but I think we all do in this hobby once we get started.

So, over 2 years ago I started my first marine tank. It was a 29g acrylic with a Seaclone HOB skimmer, a Fluval underwater filter, 2 Aquaclear 300 powerheads, a 100w heater and the Coralife 130w Power Compact lighting. This was definitely a great starter system and I filled it with about 50lbs of live rock and 30lbs of live sand. Well, me being smarter than the average bear, I thought I could take some short cuts here and there just like I did in the freshwater tanks I setup over the years. I moved way to fast the first month and things were actually going pretty well until I put this one fish in and ended up losing the first batch of fish to ich. I tried reef safe ich stuff and it killed my cleaner shrimp, which was a quick $40. The reef safe ich stuff did not work either and so I lost another $100 dollars in fish. This was not going to happen again, so I then purchased a 10g quarantine tank for all new additions, which was about $75. Now I am at $215 dollars because I did not listen, thank goodness I found places like UR and RC. I purchased some new cleaner shrimp and the only thing in the main tank, were inverts and corals for about 30 days. I quarantined all the new fish for 2-3 weeks in copper before moving them to the main system.

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(20).jpghttp://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(21).jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(22).jpghttp://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(23).jpg


The aquascaping was pretty good, but the 12" depth from front to back on the 29g did not allow much room for coral placement in the rockwork. I also jumped on the T5 bandwagon because I wanted more color from my corals, the Power Compacts gave too much of a yellow look after seeing the reef tanks at UR and RC. I moved to the 96w Tek-Light T5 lighting in December of 2003 after a lot of research, this was much more light than the 130w of Power Compact lighting. I looked seriously at MH, VHO and T5’s, but I did not want to deal with heat issues, so I ended up with T5’s, which was a much better look for my tank. Before the first year was up, there were a lot of corals down in the sand and my knowledge of reef systems was growing. I could build a bigger and better tank with out all this stuff hanging on the back of the tank, it would look a lot nicer and have greater flexibility.

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(18).jpg

The new tank was going to house my Snowflake Eel, which was currently in the 10g Nano tank, (I turned the 10g QT tank into a Nano) so the top had to be pretty much completely sealed. I like an overstocking of fish (I like to see a lot of fish swimming around) and it needed to give me some more room for aquascaping. The new tank would also have to use my current T5 lighting until I could afford new lighting and since I am on a budget, the cost needed to be kept down. This is the tank you see here today, I have the new lighting on there and did a lot of DIY work to keep cost down. This new setup was designed to be very simple, I did not feel like becoming a plumber with some of the more complex setups you see around today. Keeping it simple is my mato, even the supplements I use still keep things pretty simple. I could ramble on forever about the things I would think about when deciding on what I was trying to accomplish. Just the decision on lighting alone was researched to death between MH, VHO, T5’s and all the different brands out there. When your system is this far along, every decision is a major decision and requires you to research it to death.


Tank Details

55g Marine Acrylic (36x18x20) with built in overflow.
DIY Stand 34" tall and 24" deep. (It goes right against the wall to keep the cats out)
1 150w Heater

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(2).jpg


Lighting

156w Tek-Light T5 Lighting (4x39w)
2 D&D Aquablue+ (Outside bulbs)
1 D&D Pure Actinic
1 D&D Actinic+

Circulation

2 MaxiJet 900 Power Heads (230gph x 2 = 460gph)
1 Mag 7 return pump w/just under 4ft of head (500gph)
960gph gives me about 17.5x for water movement.

Sump/Refuge

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(1).jpg

DIY Sump/Refuge 20H (24x12x16)
Euroreef ES5-2 Skimmer
Mag 7 return pump
4.7g refuge
20w with 75w output fluorescent over refuge area
Marineland Diamond Carbon bag in return area
Phosban in return area
Kalkwasser bottle drip 2 times a week

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson32.jpg.JPG

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson33.jpg.JPG

Filtration

75lbs LR
30lbs LS
Chaeto Macro Algae in refuge
Overflow has a circle sponge to capture larger particulate matter that is cleaned during water changes.

Water Parameters

PH 8.2-8.3
Salinity 1.025-1.026
Nitrate 0-5ppm
Alkalinity 9-10dkh
Calcium 420-440ppm


System/Maintenance

I moved my 29g over to this 55g around May 5th 2004. I knew that I would overstock my fish so I purchased a top of line skimmer as well as running a sump/refuge for more water volume and macro algae to help with nitrate export. I always had high nitrates in the previous system, running at around 20ppm, so I needed to do a better job on nitrates in the new setup. This new setup did well for a while with nitrates but they started to jump even above 20ppm with just 10% weekly water changes. I cut back my feeding and it has helped tremendously, I also do a 17% weekly water change with an extra water change here and there. So between cutting back on feeding and doing about 5-6 water changes a month, I have my nitrates at zero now, which is good. My tank never showed signs of a nitrate problem with my nitrates at 20ppm, but the closer we get to zero the better off we are I think. I can probably cut back a little on my water changes now that it is down to zero, but a water change is like recharging a battery, it adds so much life back to the system. All my corals and inverts perk up after a water change, so if I can fit one in every 5-6 days, I just do it.

Feeding

I feed flake in the morning and a home made frozen mix in the evening, where I feed for 2 days then take a break for a day. Sometimes on the off feeding day, I will still give them a small amount of flake in the morning.

Supplements

I dose Iodine 1 time a week, Kent Liquid Calcium 2 times a week, AragaMilk 2 times a week and drip Kent Kalkwasser 2 times a week. I rotate the 3 items above except the Iodine, for 3 days. I rotate them so I only dose one item a night for 3 days and then start over again. When I do a water change I squirt in a little liquid calcium and may not dose anything that night except Iodine if it is that time of the week. The AragaMilk is a great calcium buffer as well as giving the system trace elements like Strontium, Magnesium, Potassium and Barium. But since AragaMilk is a balancer it is hard to get my calcium over 380 with just using AragaMilk. So, I use Kent Liquid Calcium to give the system a boost of Calcium and then drip Kalkwasser 2 times a week to help maintain the calcium level. I found that if I did not drip kalwasser on a regular basis my calcium level would drop and it would take a couple weeks to get it back up there again. I maintain my Calcium at around 420-440ppm, which is good and this supplement dosage schedule works well for me.


Corals

SPS
3 x Montipora Capricornus
6 x Montipora Digitata

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(27).jpg

1 x Acropora
1 x Pocillopora

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(7).jpghttp://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(8).jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(9).jpghttp://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(16).jpg

LPS
1 x Frogspawn

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(15).jpg

1 x Green Closed Brain

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(26).jpg

1 x Red Open Brain
1 x Brain maze
1 x Bubble Coral
1 x Blastos

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(37).jpg

Soft
10 x Zoanthid Morphs
1 x Button Polyps

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(34).jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(40).jpg

2 x Gorgonia
1 x Colt Coral
4 x Ricodea Morphs
4 x Mushrooms (Green Hairy, Blue Spotted, Blue Stripe, Red)
Anthelia’s have 1 big patch and 2 smaller ones

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(13).jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(3).jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(28).jpghttp://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(29).jpg
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(31).jpghttp://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(36).jpg

Inverts

1 x Cocoworm

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(12).jpg

1 x Hawaiaan Feather Duster
2 x Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(10).jpg

1 x Emerald Crab
1 x Acro (porcelain) Crab
15-20 misc snails (Trochus, Margerita, Astraea, Turbo, Cerith, Nassarius, Bumblebee)
1 x Sand Starfish
2 x Black Brittle Starfish
15-20 Hermit Crabs (Red Leg, Scarlet Reef, Zebra)
1 x Derasa Clam

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(14).jpg

1 x Maxima Clam

Fish

1 x Snowflake Eel

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(38).jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(39).jpg

1 x Blue Tang

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(6).jpg

1 x Lamarck Angelfish

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(24).jpg

1 x Royal Gramma

1 x Banggai Cardinal

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(5).jpg

1 x 3 Stripe Damsel

1 x Neon Blue Yellow Belly (Azure) Damsel

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(4).jpg

2 x TR Ocellaris Clownfish

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(11).jpg

1 x Blue Reef Chromis
3 x Green Chromis
1 x Scooter Blenny

Future

I am planning a Custom 91g Acrylic right now that is 48x20x22, I have not ordered it yet so it is still in the early planning stages. My Dori and Derasa need a bigger home as well as my Montipora Capricornus’s, it just tears me up when I have to frag them to keep them from shadowing or touching other corals.

Conclusion

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(19).jpg

I would again like to thank everyone and just let you know that all this wouldn’t be possible without the help from people like yourselves here at UR as well as RC. There is a wealth of information between UR and RC that can help you with all sorts of questions or problems. There are so many ways to setup and maintain a healthy reef system that all you need is a little imagination and a lot of know how. Research everything that you want to accomplish for your tank and the sky is the limit. I am glad to have been chosen as a TOTM, because the TOTM’s help in setting new standards on what we can accomplish together at the Ultimate Reef.

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

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(25).jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/rjwilson%20(30).jpg

[BulldogR]

Stunning little tank :thumbsup: and :wub: the photo's....

[jobr]

:thumbsup: Superb a credit to you.

[markey]

stunning tank :cheers:

and nice to see it can be done by keeping it simple :thumbsup: nice work!!!

[firefish]

stunning if only my tank looked half as good as yours i would be a happy man. :thumbsup:

[mark_dimeck]

A cracker! Well done :thumbsup:

Love that clam - how log you had him?

Mark

[chronic2005]

nice dude, regal looks really healthy

[xxmattyxx]

Wonderful, looks lovely, congratulations.

Matt

[coling]

Amazing tank, amazing colours - well done.

[bigbok]

[B]mint double mint :bow:

[kris]

well done robert a real credit to you you :dance:

kris :thumbsup:

[nasotang]

what did i say TOTM! :wub: congratulations! :thumbsup: Nick

[ollie100]

What a beauty :wub: :wub: Good work :thumbsup:

[Sean the Prawn]

Very nice tank, congratulations. Those montis are lovely and your lps corals are just stunning :bow:

Sean

[Elliott89]

STUNNING :wub:

thats all i can say

Elliott

[abyss]

:dance: outstanding :dance:

[jaggy]

stunning , to maintain a tank like you have is the goal of all of us , and goes to prove you dont need high tech equipment ! :cheers: :thumbsup: :bow: :bow: :bow:

[bob_d]

:thumbsup:

Great tank!

Every time I see the high standard of TOTM, it gives me a further littl prod in the right direction, having started a new tank in the last few months.

Finally made the jump to reef.......and if mine ever starts to look like this, I'll be a happy bunny.

Awesome.

:cheers:

[TheThingIs]

Very very nice indeed, well done!

Lee

[ANDREW 30]

Cracking photo's and an absolutly beautiful tank!
Best of luck with your new tank, it will have a hard act too follow.

Andrew

[wayne g]

gorgeous!
:bow: :bow: :bow:

[waterfalls]

Wow. Just superb.

Dhiru

[bigblue]

well done! :thumbsup: If my tank looks half as good as your's then I shall be a happy bunny :D
BB

[fire999]

A credit to you, I am sure you are very proud of the tank..... :bow: :bow:

[The Escaped Ape]

RJ,

Congratulations! Good to see some transatlantic inspiration going on between RC and UR!

I think I said it about your previous tank and I'll say it about this one as well. You have an excellent eye for design in fish tanks. What other people manage to make look crowded and a bit haphazard, you manage to get looking brilliant! I can't wait to see the next upgrade and, maybe one day, your final 400g monster tank!

Congrats again,

Tom

[rjwilsonreefer]

Originally posted by mark_dimeck@Aug 1 2005, 13:47
A cracker! Well done :thumbsup:

Love that clam - how log you had him?

Mark
Thanks for the compliments everyone!

Mark, I have had that Derasa for around a year now, it has tripled in size.

[rjwilsonreefer]

Originally posted by burntom@Aug 3 2005, 01:47
RJ,

Congratulations! Good to see some transatlantic inspiration going on between RC and UR!

I think I said it about your previous tank and I'll say it about this one as well. You have an excellent eye for design in fish tanks. What other people manage to make look crowded and a bit haphazard, you manage to get looking brilliant! I can't wait to see the next upgrade and, maybe one day, your final 400g monster tank!

Congrats again,

Tom
Thanks Tom, I can not wait to get started on the new tank, I am hoping to put a little more effort into the stand this time with some nicer trim work and such. I don't know about that 400g, I like to keep things simple and that would not be a simple task. Those that keep the larger and monster size tanks, my hat is definately off to them for the work they put into something like that.

[rjwilsonreefer]

The new tank is definately a ways out yet, I love my tank and it is very healthy, I just hate fragging the cap's sometimes, they are so darn beautiful as they grow out and swirl and turn.

Someone asked about my lighting duration, which is a little over 13 hours a day.

Actinics from 6:45am - 8:00pm
Daylight from 7:15am - 6:30pm

[rjwilsonreefer]

Well, I guess that is one good thing about a simple reef setup like mine, not many questions because it is pretty straight forward. :P

[rharlow]

RJ: Awesome Tank. Quick question about the lighting. Are you using Triad ballasts or Icecaps (I.E. are you overdriving the T5s)? I'm in the process of setting up a 65g and am going with T5, but still working on whether I'll go 4 or 6 and whether or not I'll overdrive any. Again, great Tank!!!!

Chip

[rjwilsonreefer]

Originally posted by rharlow@Aug 6 2005, 22:07
RJ: Awesome Tank. Quick question about the lighting. Are you using Triad ballasts or Icecaps (I.E. are you overdriving the T5s)? I'm in the process of setting up a 65g and am going with T5, but still working on whether I'll go 4 or 6 and whether or not I'll overdrive any. Again, great Tank!!!!

Chip
Thanks Chip.

I am using the Sunlight Supply lighting, it came all put together and ready to go so they are not being overdriven. They run very cool, which could be because I do not have a canopy over my tank. I know the Tek-Lights from Sunlight Supply run cool, but have heard from people that have a canopy that they can run hot as well. I don't think it looks to bad the way they are, so I am not going to put a canopy over them.

[hippolad]

Lovely tank and set-up :thumbsup:
Don't want to affend, but don't you think it's a bit on the small side for a regal tang. :unsure:

Steve :D

[saltcleansincethe80's]

Totally inspirational!

My 100 gal. looks like a post apocalyptic wasteland in comparison.

I wouldn't worry about the tang, he looks very happy in there.

I kept one for 7 years in a FO tank, similar in size to yours. He used to hang out in a large bleached clam shell, I know they are not PC nowadays, but there was little else you could do for decor then.

Please, can you tell me, what is in the last pic in series?

[rjwilsonreefer]

Originally posted by saltcleansincethe80's@Aug 10 2005, 12:22
Totally inspirational!

My 100 gal. looks like a post apocalyptic wasteland in comparison.

I wouldn't worry about the tang, he looks very happy in there.


Please, can you tell me, what is in the last pic in series?
I can not help but worry about my fish, so hopefully soon I will have a larger home for my Tang and Dersa Clam that are growing to large for there current home. My Dori (Tang) is still very healthy and happy being only about 7" right now, but I am sure she will be much happier when I move to the 4ft tank.

The main picture at the top is the last picture in that series as to how the tank looked at the time I submitted the pictures for this TOTM. I had a couple of nice shots from a prior month that I used for some of the closeups.

If you go to my web page you can see I have had to frag some things since these pictures went up, which kinda stinks for some of them, they grow in so nicely and looks so sweet at different stages. But, you gotta do what you gotta do to make everything happy.

[cabbagehead]

Hey RJ,
You might remember me from RC. I first want to congradulate you on your awesome tank. As I have said in the past your success has been the blueprint for many of us rookies. I was wondering about your sand star. I have one in my 55 gal and have noticed a decline in pod population. I am currently building the stand for my 135gal and am debating on whether to keep my sand sifting star because of this. I do plan to keep Mandarines as soon as I think my tank can handle it. I will be using 100% of my old 55gal as fuge. Thanks and I can't wait to see your 90gal!!!
Jack

[rjwilsonreefer]

Originally posted by cabbagehead@Aug 10 2005, 17:00
Hey RJ,
You might remember me from RC. I first want to congradulate you on your awesome tank. As I have said in the past your success has been the blueprint for many of us rookies. I was wondering about your sand star. I have one in my 55 gal and have noticed a decline in pod population. I am currently building the stand for my 135gal and am debating on whether to keep my sand sifting star because of this. I do plan to keep Mandarines as soon as I think my tank can handle it. I will be using 100% of my old 55gal as fuge. Thanks and I can't wait to see your 90gal!!!
Jack
Thanks cabbagehead!

I have a sand starfish and a scooter blenny in my 55g, and my fuge portion of my sump/refuge is only 4.7g of the available 20g. I would think that once your pod population get's going and you running a 135g with a 55g fuge, you will be just fine with the sand star and a couple mandarins.

I have had my sand star since my first reef tank, the 29g. I did not put the scooter blenny in the 55g until my refuge had a good pod population and have not really noticed the sand star eating all my pods. I have pods and shrimp galore in the tank and the fuge.

[mr-jimbo]

Very nice..love that maxima clam ;)

[rjwilsonreefer]

Originally posted by mr-jimbo@Aug 10 2005, 19:47
Very nice..love that maxima clam ;)
The big one is the Derasa, and the small one is the Gold Maxima, I had a Blue Maxima that did not make it and died right around the time I was chosen for TOTM. I had him for a year and a half and the darn queen conch just knocked him over to many times recently, he was facing sideways or face down in the sand a lot and I had to fix him pretty much daily. It had some very nice purple stipes in it to, which is a shame that he did not make it.

[mattthejew]

Love the look of your tank mate. Just wondering if you had all your lights on in the pictures. They have a lovely blue tinge to them, without being too dark or making the regs and yellows fade. Mine seems to be one or the other. Also wondered what make bulds you're running??
:thumbsup: Nice one
Matt

[rjwilsonreefer]

Originally posted by mattthejew@Aug 18 2005, 14:36
Love the look of your tank mate. Just wondering if you had all your lights on in the pictures. They haveÂ* a lovely blue tinge to them, without being too dark or making the regs and yellows fade. Mine seems to be one or the other. Also wondered what make bulds you're running??
:thumbsup: Nice one
Matt
Thanks Matt!

Yep, all lights are on in my pictures, I am only using 4 bulbs for my setup.

I am running D&D bulbs which are basically the same as the ATI bulbs of 2 Aquablue 11k, a Blue Plus and an Actinic. The D&D are named a little different with these names where I use 2 D&D Aquablue+ (Outside bulbs), 1 D&D Pure Actinic, and 1 D&D Actinic+ for the (inside bulbs). I don't run any type of a Sun bulb, which is like 6500k spectrum which are to yellow for my taste.

[rjwilsonreefer]

I figured I would throw this out there, where someone asked me a question about T5 lighting and get a better understanding of what they should do. I hope my understanding is correct and good enough to present this so other's can understand what were trying to do with our lighting.

I only have 4 bulbs over my tank which take up about 12" of the 18" front to back width of my tank. I have 3" up front and 3" in back that don't get as much direct light for corals that don't like as much light, this is why my brain corals are all the way up front.

There are Blue Plus T5's which are very blue and there are Actinic T5's which are not as blue and maybe a hint on the green side. The Blue Plus are suppose to bring out the blues in hard corals and the Actinic are suppose to bring out the Florescence in corals. I have 2 11k bulbs which are very white with a hint of blue, 1 Blue Plus and 1 Actinic. My tank is slightly on the blue side I think, but that is the way I like it, especially since I only have 4 bulbs. If I switch out one of the 11k white bulbs for a 6.5k Sun bulb, then I am on the yellow side of things which I did not like as much, but a lot say that the Sun brings out more yellows and reds from corals, where to much Sun (yellow 6.5k bulbs) then your corals start to turn to the brown side.

There is a balance that we all try to play in what looks pleasant to our eyes as well as what is healthy for the corals. Through a lot of reading, I have found that the 11k white T5 bulbs supposedly have more pars (light output) to the corals than the Sun T5 bulbs, not by much but a little more. This high par output is good and healthy for corals that need a lot of light, especially like your Maxima and Crocea clams. If you have to much blue light to bring out the coral colors it may not be enough par (light output) to keep the corals healthy as well as promote more growth.

I am looking at moving to a new custom acrylic which will be 2" more width from front to back, so I will probably go with a 6 bulb T5 setup from Tek-Light. Being I will have an extra Blue Plus in the mix with 2 11k's, 2 Blue Pluses, 1 Actinic, I may put a Sun bulb in there for the 6th bulb just to see what it does for me. If I don't like it in the mix I will just swap it out for an 11k. I want to make sure that I have enough pars of light to keep the corals healthy and growth is good as well as have some nice color.

I hope all this helps you out.

[mattthejew]

Cheers mate answered a lot of questions for me there. Started off using arcadia bulbs, (like you i have four T5s). Then i saw someone raving about the aquablue+ bulbs so i gave them a go being half the price!! Question then was what do i put with it. Atm iv got another aquablue+ and a actinic plus. Dosent look anywhere as good as yours and probably isnt the right mix for my corals either. Bulbs are due replacing any way so thanks for that, i know what to get now!!
Matt :thumbsup:

[narthur]

stunning tank..! how do you find that Kent Calcium i've never beena big fan. Also Iodine i've heard its not nessecarily good for the tank but yours looks a picture off health. Also i love the snowflake do they get any bigger?

Tank looks a picture off health are you going with MH on the new tank or sticking with the T5's..

Nic :thumbsup:

[rjwilsonreefer]

Originally posted by narthur@Aug 20 2005, 07:04
stunning tank..! how do you find that Kent Calcium i've never beena big fan. Also Iodine i've heard its not nessecarily good for the tank but yours looks a picture off health. Also i love the snowflake do they get any bigger?

Tank looks a picture off health are you going with MH on the new tank or sticking with the T5's..

Nic :thumbsup:
I like the Kent Liquid Calcium, I add some about every 3 days and also give a squirt or two in the water change mix where I add a capful of Iodine in the water change mix as well. I buy a 64oz bottle of the Kent Liquid Calcium an 8oz bottle of the Kent Iodine and they last me about 4 months or so.

I am going to stick with T5's :P which give me a pretty good result, I like them and only have to replace them every year and a half or so.

[narthur]

Originally posted by rjwilsonreefer+Aug 20 2005, 13:27--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (rjwilsonreefer @ Aug 20 2005, 13:27)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-narthur@Aug 20 2005, 07:04
stunning tank..! how do you find that Kent Calcium i've never beena big fan. Also Iodine i've heard its not nessecarily good for the tank but yours looks a picture off health. Also i love the snowflake do they get any bigger?

Tank looks a picture off health are you going with MH on the new tank or sticking with the T5's..

Nic :thumbsup:
I like the Kent Liquid Calcium, I add some about every 3 days and also give a squirt or two in the water change mix where I add a capful of Iodine in the water change mix as well. I buy a 64oz bottle of the Kent Liquid Calcium an 8oz bottle of the Kent Iodine and they last me about 4 months or so.

I am going to stick with T5's :P which give me a pretty good result, I like them and only have to replace them every year and a half or so. [/b][/quote]
Oh i wonderd why you T'5s look so good you in the US of A unfortunatly were still limited on T5 options here' Deltec do a good range but not much else really.

[Marine Queen]

WAW WAW WAW - yummy :bow:

Charlotte

[Glyn]

Great to see a snowflake eel, and looking so good. I kept one back in the 1980s and it was the smartest fish I've ever kept. It worked out that I was defrosting food on one of the glass cross members above the waterline. From then on, whenever I brought the food out, it would hover in the water, carefully poke its head above the surface, look around to see where the food was defrosting, snaffle it up, and then take it off to its cave. Before I could train it to do my tax returns I had to move jobs & house, so it got returned to a lfs. [End of old fogey memories...]

Highly pleasing tank, and you have an excellent eye for design; your corals look "meant" rather than random!

Glyn

[rjwilsonreefer]

I am using the German T5 bulbs put out by the ATI/or D&D distributors here in the U.S.

I do place corals where I think they will look best and do well, I am not always right in my placement and have had loses over the years. For the most part I place them in a good area and they look and do well where I place them. I don't like to move a coral again and again after it has been placed, they seem to do much better if left alone after they have been placed. It is bad enough we have to put our hands in as often as we do for mainteance, I don't like to put my hand in the tank unless I have to.

It is fun though to put my hand in the tank and pet my Eel when new company comes over and is admiring the fish tank.

[rjwilsonreefer]

I decided against the custom 91g acrylic for my new upgrade and went with an All Glass Aquarium that has the MegaFlow overflow kit. This was $200 less than the custom Acrylic, which could be money's better spent on other things, this will have to do and it should do well for me.

Right now I am hoping to be moving the 55g over to this tank sometime in the next 3 weeks.

http://rjwilson41.com/docs/aquarium/90g/Setup/new90gallon.jpg

[rjwilsonreefer]

I would again like to thank everyone for there comments and very much appreciate being chosen as TOTM here at UltimateReef.

I am starting my new 90g project, and will keep you informed on how it is going especially when I make the switchover.

Thanks again everyone!

[rjwilsonreefer]

Here is a link to my thread on ReefCentral for setting up my new tank.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...threadid=666041 (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=666041)

[craigg]

Thankyou