ThePremiumAquarium

Nice catches Blain. I have been meaning to get out and fish some more lately. I used to do alot of fishing when I was younger with friends and family. Had fun in Canada few times with some huge rainbows. Good luck catching him. I am sure you will get him out without too much trouble. Garrett

Blain, I am not sure that a fish hook would work that well on an invertibrate unless it was just to snag it. Fish hooks work on fish because they have an upper and lower mandibal to bight down with plus have soft vascular tissue that the hook is able to puncture and get caught around. You could give it a shot but I doubt it would work. A trap is probably your best bet. I saw a youtube video of this guy catching on using a net once. What he did was take some wedding veil and burry it just under the sand in front of where the mantis would hide. A fish line was attached to each end of the net and then join up at the top out of the tank. Then he baited the mantis out using a couple of hermits he toss right on the sand that the net was hiding under. once the mantis went for the first hermit he pulled on the fishing line and the mantis was caught. It looked like he had done this before as it went so smooth. I figured that the mantis would slither out of one of the corners or something but he didn't until in his bucket. I will look for the video to see if I can post it. Garrett

That was probably the best explanation on this subject that I have ever heard. I would recommend that this explanation be printed out by everyone so that when questioned they can simply pull it out to explain why it works. I know why I use refugiums, DSB, live rock, etc. and could probably provide a decend explanation but not one that was so condensed and well stated.

If it were me and assuming I kept a light bio load, I would go with the media rack, filter floss and chaeto. I would also add live rubble rock to any free area in the back. Garrett

You are right about that but taking pictures of corals are another story all together (whistle)

Looks great! The pillars have come along nicely. Good stuff.

LOL I guess pics will have to wait until Monday. I have a business trip this weekend and forgot to snap a few shots before I left tonight. I got the VHO lighting up and it looks awesome. Nothing that I purchased yesterday is dead and everything seemed to be really healthing and out and about. I picked up some zoas yesterday. All of them look nice and once I put light on them, opened up nicely. Sorry for the photo delays lol. Garrett

Did a bit of shopping today for the system. The tanks now have a few "beginner" fish in them to help kick start the cycle a bit. Also picked up some amazing live rock. Lots of little critters and some macro algae on a few pieces. Very good looking purple stuff. Got a few of the critters for my CUC and will add more as the system progresses. Tomorrow I will probably get some lighting up though I am waiting on bulbs and a fixture to arrive so I will only be able to get the VHO lighting up on the top level. Coralreefaquarist helped me decide what to put in which tank today. We had some good discussions while on our trip in Portland and he got some sweet corals I am sure he will post soon! Thanks for coming with! I ran out of time to take any pics tonight, but things are looking alright and going to plan. Once lighting is up I imagine things will look alot better and I will be more apt to take some pictures. Garrett

Beautiful mushroom then. That thing is as bright as a nice rose anemonie.

Nice looking corals in there! Welcome. Garrett

They are in general a good sign of a healthy tank. They are a small feather duster with a calcium based tube much like coco worms. I usually didn't have a problem using a razor to get them off the display glass in my tanks. I would recommend doing that with some caution to see if you can't get them off without scratching the glass. If you have enough of a bioload in your system, they will usually do quite well and proliferate. High levels of calcium and correct levels of alk, mag, and iodine also help alot with these guys. Phyto plankton feeding allows them to go nuts. Garrett

I am certainly glad to here that all of my previous sand sifting stars are doing well in there new tanks. I am going to grab 1 for each tank that has sand in it for this new system. I will wait a bit but will not have a reef without a good sand cleaner crew. Potters angels are beautiful and I have had pretty good luck with them aswell. Thanks Lance and Curtis for confirming that they are well. Garrett

The system now has salt, heat, and sand! I used Hawaiian live black sand in one of the 10g, Philippines sand in one of the 20g breeders, course live sand with some shell matter in 2 of the 10g and 1-2mil Caribbean live sand in the rest of the tanks that I am having sand in. Salinity is checking out at 1.025 which is where I think I will keep it for the time being. The water is a bit cloudy from adding the live sand so I will wait to take picks until it clears up. Should be clear by morning. Taking a trip up north to grab some rock, a few small reef fish and a few tester inverts tomorrow. I am pumped to get something moving around in the tanks! Garrett

Send me a pm if they do not. I am interested in all of them. Thanks, Garrett

Simply amazing! (rock2) I think you have mastered the reactor. I havn't seen any manufactured with such thought, precision, and craftsmanship. Pefect setup IMO.

I totally agree! Awesome setup you have here! I love the layout and the dems of the tank make for a unique view and a style of your own. Great to have you here and keep us updated!

I may do just that. Kind of depends on needs and such. Will just have to wait and see how it goes once stocked. Koralias are fun though.

That is exactly what I am doing. There are 10 return nozzles that each have ball valves on them. They allow for individual tank flow control. The top tanks then drain down to the second set of tanks which has been pretty cool to watch. I am suprised at how well it is working. I figured my logic would run into a few snags but so far not a problem. Power heads may have to be used in some of the higher flow demand tanks but I am not sure yet as they seem to have pretty decent water movement. The 1 snapper is all that is running them and it seems to be doing well. More flow is always nice but for now this will definately do the trick. The snapper pumps water through my chiller and then into the system so it has about 6 feet of total lift with gravity helping a bit in a couple of areas.

Thanks Erik. They are turning out pretty decent. Now I just can't wait to see stuff growing in them! Garrett

Oh very soon my friend... very soon!

Its not too bad actually. I would kick it down by an hour or two on the halides, but I have seen system run with a 14 hour photo period and have some of the best success out there. Corals get alot more light in their natural environment so it really isn't harmful in most setups. Just harmful on your power bill!

Nice to have you here! It looks like you have a pretty sweet setup. Create a thread under members tanks that outlines your system with some pics. Beautiful anemone and wrasse!

You guys make me blush lol. Water is flowing!!! Here is the right side bottom level. Behind the tanks you can see teh drain pipe for them. Was a bit worried about flow but seems to be working like a charm! Here is a veiw of the right side that shows how the top tanks drain into the lower level and then the lower level into a 1.5" drain down into the sump. Saves energy while allowing gravity to have some fun. Corner shot of the two sides coming together: Right side: Its hard to get a good shot of the left side, but here is a shot from behind the prop systems pirate and his ship. I still need to replace 1 of the 10g tanks that is on the left side but so far all is running smooth and I am excited to get to the next step. I decided to go with a couple more 20l after a few of the 10g tanks broke so my tank total will be 18 instead of the original 22. 4x 20l 14x 10g. I actually think I like this better though it was a bit more expensive and reduced the volume by about 30g or so. Total system volume is at 320g if completely full not accounting for tank water level decreases due to drilling and not counting plumbing volume and a few other things like sump running at half or full capacity. I decided not to paint the back of the tanks black. I really like the look of black backed tanks as I think it helps reduce unwanted algae as well as makes the corals stand out but I like to be able to see easily behind the tanks and that just happened to win over my vote. My dad was all excited that he could see the back front and sides of all of the tanks on the right side so I knew that I couldn't paint those without some sad faces. Tomorrow I will add salt to the system and dry sand. I also will wire in the temp controller and heaters and get the system up to reef ready temperature. I might also get some of the lighting in place and may pick up a few small pieces of rock. Garrett

Every six line that I have ever had in my systems(which is probably around 20 or so) have done really well. I have had a few jumpers and a few that died straight from the wholesaler but most did really well. I agree with Curtis in that I wouldn't have a reef system with out one. I will probably have a few to use in my system once it is up and running. Garrett