ThePremiumAquarium

So, I thought I would be able to last a bit longer than this... I have been searching all over my apartment for a place where I could put together a system. Problem is that my apartment managers don't allow pets of any kind including fish tanks! I figured oh well I will just not worry about setting up a tank for a while. LOLOLOLOLOLOL right. A few people suggested building a system in a closet. Cool idea but I still just can't take the risk, especially when they clearly know that I am interested in saltwater tanks since I asked about them when we got the keys. So after much debate, hardcore planning, persuasively sly conversations with the wife, and many many days of boredom, I have decided to set up a "small" system. Of course the biggest issue was coming up with a spot. Well I have decided and gotten pre approval to set up my system in my parents garage!! My parents always loved coming over and looking at my tanks, so it hopefully will work out well for all of us. My dad seems to be pretty pumped while my mom is still just acceptant at the moment. SO in order to get her completely pumped, I am going to build a pretty sweet, yet cost effective setup. So here is the basic plan of attack: I am going to build a 6ft long 3 tier setup. The depth of the tanks will be 10" or so and width will be 18-20". I would like a system that is divided to allow for separation of species, etc. I am going for an easy to view, easy to clean, and flow friendly design. The system will be built of drilled glass tanks for this reason. All tanks will be plumbed into a single sump to provide easy access to cleaning and equipment. What I plan on keeping/growing/trading/selling: - I plan on bringing in several dozen kinds reef friendly invertebrates including various hermits, snails, shrimp, crabs, stars, anemones, etc. - I plan on fragging and growing several kinds of corals including SPS, LPS, softies, etc. - I will house several small reef friendly fish that some of which will eventually end up in a display of either my own of one of my reef buddies. - Macro algae of various kinds will fill a decent part of the system to both provide added stability through nutrient reduction and oxygenation as well as to provide a breeding ground for micro fauna. I will probably have mangroves as well as I love their look and they seem to add a little something to nutrient export. I will be using a combination of VHO and Metal halide lighting for the system. Macro algae's/mangroves will either be grown using VHO's or Compact Fluorescent screw in type bulbs depending on the species and light demands. Corals will be grown under either metal halide or VHO's dependent upon there needs and desired growth/color. All tanks with the exception of the macro algae tanks will have about 1 inch of live sand of various grain size for substrate. I may use one partition as a deep sand bed depending on the systems need. I am guessing that I will use approximately 100lbs of live rock that will be added to the system once initially running. The system as of this point is nearing the end of panning and will be entering early stages of construction this next week. I hope to have everything ready for livestock to be slowly introduced with in a couple of weeks. I will be updating this thread with many pictures of the entire build as well as the maturing of the system. I am learned allot over the years and from many reef tanks that I have had and helped to build. Many of you have helped to establish what reef keeping is for me and for that I cannot thank you all enough. This build will certainly confirm that reef keeping is definitely a wonderfully addicting hobby that I cannot escape from. Hopefully This system will help to tide me over for a while until the wife and I are able to buy a home and my dream display can once more become a reality. Please feel free to add any comments, criticisms, suggestions, etc. along the way. I am excited to get another system up and running and will update as often as possible. YAY! Garrett

I am a big fan of pretty much any coral at this piont lol. Where can I hide a tank in my apartment? hmm. The closets are all full. I guess under my desk it will have to go... I have to say that sps and zoanthids still have my heart. I miss being able to watch corals color up and grow over the months. I also enjoy a nice lps or softy, but when I have a tank going, it is hard to not walk out of a good lfs with a piece of nice sps. Garrett

Mike, The tank looks to be coming along nicely! I am very happy to see that nothing too horrible happened to anything during either of the two moves lol. That tank is now officially well used! I would love to come check it out sometime once things get settled in with it. Beautiful system! Garrett

I would be curious to see what others think on this subject. I personally have never used black reef sand and have thought about it but have been hesitant for reasons just like this. I would guess that over time iron and other metals found in the sand would begin to cause a bit of a problem. Then again I have seen some sweet reefs that have used it though I cannot attest to the amount of time they had been established. Nice find and interesting subject. Garrett

I have experienced many combinations from 150w to 1000w MH lighting. The easiest bulbs to find as far as both local availability and kelvin ranges are going to be either the 250w or the 400w. If it were me, I would completely get rid of the 150-175w MH idea and stick with the 250w MH. I always noticed a much brighter, better colored result going this route. This includes tanks with only 10 inches of depth(I used 400w MH over 12 inch deep tanks and had amazing color and growth of sps and no, not overkill). There defiantely are exceptions to the rule, but in general, corals are used to so much light in the wild, that not even our 1000w MH's can get there. It all depends on what you want to keep, but if I were ever going to keep clams, sps, or even zoanthids, I would go with the higher wattage setup.

Now you are making me want to buy it back from you! I am getting the itch again lol. Great deal. If no on grabs this, I might just have to. Garrett

Welcome and nice tank! Keep us posted on how things go. Perhaps create a tank thread for your tank if you havn't already done so. This makes it easy to track your progress. Nice job so far!

Glad to hear she is doing well! Sleep is overated anyways. Reef and the baby is what it is all about! Garrett

That is hot! Nice looking acro there. When I get my system set back up, I will be pm'ing you on that one for sure lol. Any news on the baby?

Bump for a steal on a sweet collectors rock. Crazy awesome color and money making potential on these guys. Garrett

Hmmm... Could make a nice cold water frag tank That thing would also make a nice bomb shealter!

Freakin amazing. Not sure whether or not I should be rolling on the ground right now or not but I can't stop laughing. Usually I feel really bad for the fish in accidents of late or improper delivery, but in this case, I definately feel sorry for the store owner. I wonder if he had a bunch of customers all looking down into the box to do a little cherry picking when he opened that thing. I am pretty sure they were to scared to ask how much the critter in that bag cost. Sad but oddly gets a laugh going. Nice find! Garrett

When I was growing chaeto, I tried many methods of lighting. It really does well in most of the methods that I tried but I defianetly suggest the strongest lighting for the fastest growth. It really does make a huge difference and does an awesome job of reducing your bio load if that is what you are going for. For a long while, I used only 23w cf screw in bulbs in a 6500k spectrum. Then I switched it up on some tanks to different lighting so that I could really get a good idea of which lighting back to back produced the best results. I eventually had the best results out of actinic white vho's. Since this was the stongest lighting that I used it was not really a big supprise, but the spectrum was kind of a supprise since it is right about 12k. I have heard that some wholesalers run 10-12 hour lighting cycles without seeing any loss in growth rate, and I would definately have done this had I been or were using metal halides but for the 23w cf bulbs, the cost just wansn't high enough to worry about it. All around chaeto really just grows like nuts assuming you have the basic requirements. Nutrients(poo and such), some light(the stronger the better), decent flow, and a good lighting spectrum. I have seen some strands grow from abou the size of a softball to well over the size of a basketball in 1 weeks time. I have had 40g br tanks go from basketball sized clumps to 3/4 full in two weeks(regular churn rate for what I was doing). Pulling the chaeto apart to allow for maximum light pen and growth room really seemed to help aswell.

There could be a few things that are affecting your growth. Could be that you need stronger lighting. Could be that your bioload or elemental compostition isn't just right. Could be that your spectrum might be slightly off. In general chaeto grows really well when in a nutrient rich or heavy bio load environment. Chaeto really loves strong lighting but will grow slower in respect to decreased output. Aslo spectums between 5.5k and 12k will produce the fastest growth. If I could setup the ideal chaeto growout tank, it would be a shallow tank with roughly 3x3 footprint lit by a 400w 6.5k-8k mh lamp connected inline with a decently populated fish or reef system. Lots of flow through the chaeto to prevent detritus would make conditions really nice for harvest and light penetration.

My brother in law is from Equador and he claims them to be slightly greasy. Personally I would be willing to try it if I ever go down to South America. Only think is, I will definately have to know that it wasn't some poor kids pet lol. Garrett

LOL, I work for Qwest so I probably shouldn't be saying this, but I did just noticed that they were in a few of my Best Buy stores. Might be quicker and easier than ordering one on the phone or online. Of course if you decide to go with Qwest, let me know and I can get you a great deal since you are currently with our competitor Garrett

Bobs zoas are the better deal imo. I frequently come across 1080p plasmas for $6-$700. Ask a Best Buy associate or manager if they have any at risk plasmas or LCD's that they are willing to sell at a killer price. Don't tell them I sent you but trust me, it is worth checking in to. Garrett

Fishy stuff that doesn't belong in this fishy community Who, what, where, when, and why? I certainly see alot of these questions being asked as of late. This hobby is a complicated one and requires these questions to be asked quite often. Usually it is not of a person that is in the hobby and on our boards. I have not met you CA2OR. I like to see people for what they are and I have a pretty good talent at reading people. Most of us do which is why there has been so much discussion around your interactions with the members of this board. It seems that either you are a very simple book to read or you are infinately harder than most expect. Either way, there are many things that we all must try and achieve in life in order to become respected and content with ourselves as a person. Keep it simple, keep it honest, and do things that feel like they are the right things to do. You will be content and respected for this.

The tank is looking great! Keep up the good work. Can't wait ot see wome of those corals grow out! Garrett

You might as well just bring several 40g rubbermaid brutes... I mean it! Garrett

I know that littlenano has no ill intent here and I think that these will be some wonderful pets. My aunt is a professional golden retriever breeder. She is what you would call an extreme pro. It is amazing all of the things that are needed to be a breeder. That article pretty much dials it down to a tee. Most people don't realize that there is an issue with breeding their own two pure dogs. In many cases, if done responsibly, it doesn't become an issue either! Both the ***** and sir are papered and according to littlenano so will the pups. If this is monitored by both a good vet and excellent home care, then there really isn't any harm.(besides that to other breeders esentially). I would suggest a spay/nueter contract as I believe in adopting whenever possible. Excuse my mispellings lol. I am tired. I just know that littlenano has only the best intentions even if maybe a few details had not been brought to her attention prior to breeding. Garrett

Or if you get real trixy, you could just add another sump with live rock next to the sump holding the calcium reactor and its effluent. This will allow for increased stability and will keep your sump water more equal with that of your tank. I like volume and space for more live rock or algae (whistle) Raising your ph really isn't crucial or anything that I would worry at all about Mike. I think the numbers that you posted look pretty hot to me. Add a bag of nice carbon near a high flow area in your sump and you should notice a clarity increase if that is an issue at all for you.

Coolerist...

I have to get in on this... I want to have a sea monster status implemented. It will be for those members who only make posts that are worth posting. The judge will be me and I will be able to asign status Ex worthy post: "Big beautiful man looking for love" Title= Sea Monster

David, Thank you once again for coming down and picking up part of the system! I hope it all works out great for you. I know I sure loved it. And your right, it is gonna be a tough cold turkey break. I will just have to get me some of this reef crack in the near future lol. Garrett