ADA 120-P + Elos Mini dual NPS tank journal

[uhuru]

I need a place to start posting my vids :inlove::spin1: so here is my official build thread documenting my new ADA tank build, and ongoing Elos Mini which will later be connected using a common sump. Total volume will be ~100g minus rocks and sand.

To start this is just a horrible quality video of some unknown larva I caught floating around today. I made it slow mo otherwise it was moving so fast you would miss it. I apologize in advance for the dirty glass and turbid water. I was working on stuff. :lol2:

<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/unknown_larva_01.flv">

Next I will post a vid of my black tubastrea releasing a planula larva. I need to put the segments together first since I only caught a little at a time.

[Aquabacs]

Bring on the vids!

Mike

[Western_reefer]

Yay! Keep em coming!

[uhuru]

Black tubastrea releasing planula larva. In the upper right is my dendro colony I accidentally killed. Bottom right is a baby dendro my rhizo killed.

<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/black_tubastrea_planula.flv">

[uhuru]

Also I ordered a Teco TR10 chiller today with the heater option. 20% off and free shipping now, so didn't want to miss out. It was still expensive as hell though.

[Western_reefer]

Very nice video!

[Aquabacs]

Cool vid!

Looking to pick up a Teco also while the sale is still on. I am stuck between the TR10 or TR15.

Mike

[rowjimmy]

Great vid uhuru! Congrats on getting it on video! :beer: Have you ever noticed any of the black sun coral larva attaching to your rock work and growing?

[uhuru]

Thanks guys!

Mike - I was too much in shock to spend any more than the TR10, but there is a nice article here (http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/8/review3) about someone using a TR20 to cool a 45g temperate tank.

rowjimmy - unfortunately I haven't noticed any of the larvae settling on the rock. I think it's highly unlikely with the relatively small amount of rock I have, and the small colony I have. I saw my crinoid catching a few, and many being caught by my gorgs.

[Aquabacs]

Their chillers are expensive but they are good though. The TR20 would be beyond overkill since I am not using any halides. I am leaning more towards the TR10 just in case there is a power outage or central AC going out. Tank is at 73-74 without a chiller. In addition, worst case scenario I would need 15 degrees of pull down temp. if an event occurred.

Catch any video of your filefish?

Mike

[uhuru]

My house has horrible a/c, so this chiller will definitely get some use, albeit only for the 2-3 months that it actually gets above 80 here.

No filefish vids yet, I need to check if my DSLR can take video. I don't think so, but the quality from my point and shoot is horrible. Tonight I'm working on the ADA. Hope to have the sump partitions put in and the stand frame complete. I'll worry about skinning it later. I drew up a layout for some of the plumbing. A have an ATB flowstar 1500 that will be feeding the 2 tanks, the chiller and the ozone reactor. Skimmer will be my ATB medium with airstar 1300. The ER-RC80 that I'm using to skim the mini right now will be used as a second chamber for the ozone.

[Nemo Niblets]

Insane flavor

[uhuru]

My chiller is not here yet, a/c not working, and we are having a small heat wave, even though I remember very well that I was running in 30 deg weather on Tuesday morning. Sucks :(

[Kreeger1]

my tank shot up to 81, Was not prepared for 85 plus degree ohio weather either.

[uhuru]

My crinoid has been moving, he has hardly moved at all since I got him. I hope the temp swing isn't stressing him out too much!

[uhuru]

Time for some pics to color up this thread!

You may remember I had an incident with my Dendronephthya where I had to cut it from its rock and reattach it to a new rock. Here is the pic again of it growing new roots a few days later:

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/_MG_0581.jpg

Here it is today. You can see that it is still attaching but much better than before. The base is growing vertically. Where there was only dark purple tissue there is now some beige/clear tissue replacing or growing above it:

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/_MG_0607.jpg

polyps that were killed have grown back and extension has been very good:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/_MG_0606.jpg

I wish you could see what I see with my mesoscope. Here is an attempt to take a pic through the mesoscope, but it looks way better than this in person. I tried to catch the polyps feeding, which it does by licking each tentacle in succession repeatedly - much faster than any of my gorgs. I really think the challenge at this point is getting it enough food to grow. The type of food seems to be ok, as does the water quality. It is a true constant feeder and needs food at all times IMO.

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC02903.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC02907.jpg

I also acquired a small distichopora yesterday. Yesterday it did not appear to have these little hairs coming out of it. Are these the polyps people are talking about? They seem to pick up a lot of debris very rapidly, so they must be quite sticky.

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/_MG_0591.jpg

Unfortunately trying to take a pic through the mesoscope causes a substantial loss of detail.
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC02899.jpg

[uhuru]

If you look behind the angler you can also see my Guaiagorgia touching my rasberry gorg - this does not seem to bother either one of them.
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/_MG_0601.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/_MG_0618.jpg

A cool hitchhiker. I've had it for months now. ID?
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/_MG_0625.jpg

Diodogorgia growth - growing over the epoxy plug and onto the rock, SPS style (but oh so much more rewarding)!
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/_MG_0623.jpg

Archohelia... Are those new polyps budding off of the larger ones? I don't know.
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/_MG_0614.jpg

[smsreefer]

NICE Shots uhuru !

[Aquabacs]

Looking great! With the Archohelia Rediviva it does look like those are buds. I would try to grab some some more shots over the next few days to record any development of them.

Mike

[Aquabacs]

Mike, have you received you chiller yet?

[uhuru]

Thanks guys! I am getting the chiller on Wed. For some reason my order was held up - maybe a missing part, or maybe they just lost it.

[Aquabacs]

Once you get it hookup let me know. I haven't ordered mine from them yet. It looks like they extended the sale for spring.

Mike

[uhuru]

Chiller arrived today. You're gonna laugh when you get yours Mike. Its just a medium sized box that you can hold with one arm, but it comes delivered on a big truck and a cute little pallet, with a big truck driver LOL. The company must have a special deal or maybe they own the freight company. So overkill, but at least you know it'll arrive in good shape.

[uhuru]

Been feeding Fauna Marin Ultra LPS Grow + Color since Saturday...

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/_MG_0672.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/_MG_0670.jpg

[stunreefer]

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Aquabacs]

I am interested to see what happens when the +color part starts kicking in :eek1:

Mike

[uhuru]

I added a Pseudocolochirus axilogus (aussie sea apple) to my tank last weekend, and my A. pictus had to check it out.

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/_MG_0630.jpg

[uhuru]

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[Aquabacs]

Nice Video! I see you like playing with fire with that Pseudocolochirus axilogus :)

Mike

[oldreefer76]

Nice Video! I see you like playing with fire with that Pseudocolochirus axilogus :)

Mike

He got it from a local who had it for sometime, and beat me to getting it

[uhuru]

Don't give up!! A few weeks ago I killed a very nice dendro colony by squirting too much food into one of the polyps at once. Within a couple of days the entire colony lost most of its tissue - but there was still some tissue on the sides of the skeletons so I continued to squirt food by it every day. What I realized was that the remaining tissue, even if it is NOT A WHOLE POLYP with a mouth for feeding - can DIFFERENTIATE and become a new baby polyp! This was just the skin left on the sides of the skeletons - I now have about 10 baby polyps all over the skeletons! In this pic you can see one of the polyps is now big enough to eat NLS pellets or Ultra LPS - or even smaller mysis shrimp.


http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/_MG_0764.jpg

Here is just a pic of two different gorgs in close contact with each other and no issues.
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/_MG_0754.jpg

[stunreefer]

Glad to see your dendro decided life was still worth living :D

Awesome shot of the gorgs too!

[flying_dutchman]

wow amazing tank, do you have a FTS?

[flying_dutchman]

also could give some tank info?
stocklist, temp, feeding etc.
thanks

[uhuru]

Thank you! In terms of feeding, I use 2 syringe pumps to dose Shellfish Diet and Roti-Feast. I was using a kalk reactor to dose Fauna Marin foods, but it just got to be too much work to clean it out all the time. I will be testing a new chilled food reactor to feed the Fauna Marin foods in the future, but as of late I have been feeding manually - pretty much everytime I walk by the tank. Once I'm done with my midterms I'm going to set up a flask on a magnetic stirrer and use a peri pump to dose the food...that will be until I get the food reactor. I keep the tank between 72-74, although it has spiked up much higher a few times recently. Instead of a stocklist I'll just post up some pics and if you have any questions just ask! :)

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/FTS_new.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/FTS_corner.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/coral_path.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/sclero_closeup.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/crinoid_closeup.jpg

Now this one, to me, shows the similarities between "gorgs" and "soft corals," which are both octocorals. I don't even know what to call this other than an unknown octocoral.
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/unknown_octocoral.jpg

[doorlady]

Your tank is so beautiful. May I ask what lighting you use. We are going to move our 29 gallon to my husbands office(I work there too!!!) Maybe I can convince him to go non-photo, we have been looking at seahorse and pipefish. Just not sure what we want to do, we have a 180 mix reef and a 120 mix reef.

We have several non-photos now in our 180 mix, but I think they would do better in a dedicated non-photo tank and after seeing your tank I think I could convince him.

[uhuru]

Thanks! I am using a 21w LED lamp right now, but I will be running a custom controllable LED fixture in the near future. It will be strong enough to keep SPS corals but of course I won't be doing that. Main thing is I want something I can turn up when I want to really look up close at stuff or take pics.

I'm not sure how it would go with the fishes you want to keep in an NPS tank. Can those fish handle high flow?

[doorlady]

the pipefish and seahorse can't take the flow. I think if we go nps we will maybe do one or 2 small colorful fish.

We have a power compact fixture and a halide fixture for this tank, do you think the power compact will be okay, I know the halide will provide to much light( right?)

[uhuru]

For sure the PCs will be ok... you can run the halide too if you want. It's really up to you. With any lights you have to consider heat and algae growth, but a lot of that depends on your tank setup, maintenance, etc. You could even just turn the halide on once in a while when you want to take pics or something like that.

[doorlady]

You are always such a help with these NPS. I Love your Spider Sponge, how long have you had it? I had a beautiful one in the 180 but could not keep it happy lost it after about 7 months.

[flying_dutchman]

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/FTS_corner.jpg
drool...

I spot an angler, any other fish?

[uhuru]

Nope, just the angler!

[Aquabacs]

Your tank is continuing to look amazing!

Did you ever pick up that deep water gorg your were talking about?

Mike

[uhuru]

Yes I did, but its in my 150g tub in the basement. It's gonna be going in my bigger tank, along with a few of the corals in this tank (which is way overstocked). I also have a few more tubastrea colonies and a couple of dwarf angels, oh and some really cool hitchhikers in the 150g. I believe I have some sort of NPS mini anemone, and NPS "acan like" coral. Both have been doing well in only ambient room lighting for several months now. Just daily multiple feedings!

[Aquabacs]

Cool, cant wait to see them. How are your plans coming along to link the two aquariums together?

[uhuru]

Barely progressing.... and unfortunately I won't be able to work on it for another couple of weeks. But I'm giving myself until summer, and I'm actually going to take it easy this summer so I should have a lot more time for this addiction...errr, hobby :)

[Aquabacs]

Gives you more time to methodically plan it out :D

[uhuru]

You are always such a help with these NPS. I Love your Spider Sponge, how long have you had it? I had a beautiful one in the 180 but could not keep it happy lost it after about 7 months.

I honestly don't remember off the top of my head how long I've had it... but I am concerned about the long term survivability. The sponge itself is a very slow grower, and sometimes it dies back a little too. The parazoanthids multiply at a faster rate than the sponge can grow, even without any direct feeding. I am not sure if the parazoanthids are parasites, feeding off of the sponge or what, which might explain why the sponge dies off in certain parts sometimes, but grows in others. Maybe they share nutrients with the sponge but in captivity the balance gets thrown off. Overall the sponge seems healthy though. It is able to clean itself of algae and detritus without any help from me.

[uhuru]

Gives you more time to methodically plan it out :D

Well my goal is to have things as automated as possible. Everything from feeding to water changes. Not that I won't still keep on top of everything myself, but I will be getting very busy by this time next year and will be doing a lot more traveling too.

[uhuru]

Dendronephthya & Scleronephthya food mix:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/Softie_foodmix.jpg

This food is very thick and does not settle, even after a week. I use a lot of Ultra Pac. As time goes on the food does become a little less viscous, probably because the bacteria are breaking down the Ultra Pac and water is released. I could even dose this with a syringe pump if I wanted to but it is so potent I feel it is safer to dose it manually in very small amounts throughout the day. I leave it out at room temp, but as summer approaches I may start keeping it refrigerated. Lasts about 1 week. Some people would say it stinks but it has become a familiar smell in this house that I've grown to appreciate :) I know I'm a crazy reefer!

Zooplankton food mix:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/gorg_foodmix.jpg

Almost everything in the tank eats this. Even the LPS corals. I mix this fresh daily. This is what I plan to dose through an automatic "chilled food reactor" in the future. This mix provides a "surge" of food that circulates through the tank every hour or so. It is largely responsible for keeping most of the corals happy and extended throughout the day. IMO an automatic food reactor that will allow for surges of food to be dosed throughout the day, 24/7, while keeping the food from going bad for at least 3 days, will be the final piece of the puzzle for the feeding challenges of an NPS tank and allow for many reefers to find success.

CRI (Constant Rate Infusion) food:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/CRI_food.jpg

Finally I dose Shellfish Diet and Roti-Feast through 2 separate syringe pumps. This is based on the work of Chuck Stottlemire and "aninjaatemyshoe." This is the "constant rate infusion" portion of my feeding regimen. This provides the steady, moderate concentration of food in the water that feeds the microfauna, corals and other inverts in the tank 24/7. Whenever I have to leave town for a few days, or if I get extremely busy this is the only thing that gets dosed.

[uhuru]

Forgot to mention, I'm running for May nTOTM.

Please click this link (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1838147) to vote!

[oldreefer76]

Voted

[uhuru]

Thanks!

[flying_dutchman]

voted
+1

[glparr]

Got my vote.
Gary

[GreshamH]

Voted

[uhuru]

thanks!

[uhuru]

Just ordered Nutramar Ova, finally. I was very hesitant because I could only find it at Marine Depot before and didn't want to have to pay for overnight shipping. Fortunately Salty Critter just got some in and I just have to pay regular shipping since it's so close. I'll be adding this to the "zooplankton mix" I showed ealier.

http://saltycritter.com/images/pics/nutramar-ova.gif

[DFason]

Mike - I have almost finished your light. I was able to score a 1048 also! Just looking for the iceprobe now and it should be almost there!

I'll shoot you an email this week.

VOTED!

-Dave

[uhuru]

Awesome Dave! Thanks buddy.

[Aquabacs]

Got my vote! I would be proud to have a fellow non-photosynthetic reefer win the nTOTM.

Mike

[uhuru]

Thanks Mike!

[smsreefer]

You also have my vote !
60.2 % at the current count !
David

[doorlady]

voted

[uhuru]

Thanks smsreefer and doorlady!

[biloulou]

Voted.

[stunreefer]

Those are the best nTOTM entries I've seen! Two NPS aquariums to boot!

Oh, uh... you got my vote Mike ;)

[uhuru]

Thanks biloulou and austin!

Guys! I need some advice. Phishy is having their anniversary sale and I'm thinking of picking up some stuff for FLOW in my ADA tank. Take a look at this quick sketch of what the tank will look like:

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/sc000bcc65.jpg

I've done something similar to this in the past to create semi-gyre flow and it worked great. Only thing is it needs something to break up the flow once in a while or stuff settles in certain areas over time. When I had a BB tank this was not a big deal (actually preferred since I could just vacuum it out every day), but I want to keep everything in suspension as much as possible.

The pumps I have are non-controllable. I'm thinking either get a nano wavebox or maybe a vortech to keep stuff from settling. If I get a vortech I'm not sure which one. The mp40w ES is probably out of my budget right now. I could do an mp20 or mp10 though. Or would the wavebox still be the best solution here? What do you think?

[Kreeger1]

My vote as well

[flying_dutchman]

The mp40w ES is probably out of my budget right now. I could do an mp20 or mp10 though
IMO get a mp20, I believe you can upgrade it to a mp40 later on.

[flying_dutchman]

I believe you can upgrade it to a mp40 later on.
quote from website:
the MP20 can be upgraded to an MP40w

[uhuru]

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/black_tubastrea.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/dendronephthya_closeup.jpg

[ChadTheSpike]

Definitely have my vote for nTOTM :) bring on the NPS tanks, they are they only thing I see in the hobby right now that is on the pioneering frontier!

[oldreefer76]

Definitely have my vote for nTOTM :) bring on the NPS tanks, they are they only thing I see in the hobby right now that is on the pioneering frontier!

I am pretty sure we can presume Mike (Uhuru) is nTOM...congrats..:celeb2:

Yep NPS are the only pioneering frontier currently in the hobby, and if current regulations pending pass that will come to an end unless we can find a way to aquaculture them in our tanks and pass them on to others, I attended a talk by Anthony Calfo this past week end and it was a sobering awakening of what we face import wise in the future and it does not look good

[ChadTheSpike]

With more than 60% of the vote, it is more or less a done thing... unless there is a 'hanging chad' that needs recount haha (been a few years since I have heard that one)

I have been keeping an ear to the ground there as well... sobering is indeed the right word for it.

[rekn]

link to where you 2 got your info from please.



...or w/e it is chad and old are talking about

[ChadTheSpike]

I think you are referring to the Calfo talk and the current, I guess political climate concerning corals is the right way to put it...

Here (http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/us-considers-endangered-species-protection-82-stony-coral-species) is a link to a recent article in Coral Magazine that discusses some of it. And another article providing some rebuttal (http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/frag-no-more-endangered-species-proposal-threatens-marine-aquaculture).

If it was the pioneering comment, IMO, the forward direction of the hobby has slowed somewhat in the previous decade as previous 'impossibles' became commonplace and the final goal. At the moment there are precious few 'pioneers' making headway into new ground. One of the groups that is blazing forward into new ground is the NPS folks. It is exciting for me to see :)

[rekn]

thanks for the info chad. i was refering to what you linked. sorry i wasnt more clear, got into a hurry and had to leave.

[ChadTheSpike]

:) no porblem, I thought that is what you meant, I just provided both to save time in the long run if it wasnt ;)

[flying_dutchman]

Here is a link to a recent article in Coral Magazine that discusses some of it. And another article providing some rebuttal.
A more recent article from CORAL:
http://www.worldwidereefers.com/forums/content.php?8-Endangered-Species-Petition-is-Not-an-Imminent-Threat-to-the-Hobby

[flying_dutchman]

Congrats for winning nTOTM!

[uhuru]

Thanks! I need to do a write up on the tank but I have midterms until Tues so it will have to wait a little...

[Aquabacs]

Job well done Mike and good luck with your midterms.


Mike

[uhuru]

Thanks Mike, and yeah I will need the good luck!

[uhuru]

http://www.liveaquaria.com/CFFileServlet/_cf_image/_cfimg-21873375304963950.PNG

:) :)

[Aquabacs]

Very nice! Saw it when it was posted but I am running out of room ;)

Mike

[uhuru]

they moved the image I fixed the link - its a 1.5" tiny yellow Nephthyigorgia (you can tell by the size of the sand next to it)

[Aquabacs]

Regardless of size, it is yellow!

[uhuru]

I know, that's why I had to grab it. I never see them that color.

I don't know why they keep moving the pic. Well here it is I saved it to my photobucket account:

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/yellow_chili.png

[uhuru]

^^The picture above from DD is very accurate. I opened the bag and looked at this coral and it was already glowing. Brightest yellow I've ever seen on a coral - and to top it off the polyps are a pure white. This is truly one of the most breathtaking little corals I've ever seen in person. And it's tiny. Just a baby. Pics this weekend!

[Aquabacs]

Check PM :D

[smsreefer]

VERY NICE !
NEVER seen one like it !

[DFason]

Pictures Mike! Screw midterms and school. We need the pictures!

-Dave

[oldreefer76]

OMG..now I know we need to meet in person and I see your set up..... we probably live only about 20 min from each

[Kreeger1]

I had a similar coral but it was bright orange
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e109/kreeger1/DSCN0257.jpg

Great find Mike

[Aquabacs]

Erik did you pick that up from Greg?

Mike

[Luca_]

Ciao uhuru, beautiful tank! ;)
I saw you have a Paracucumaria tricolor, be carefull, because some years ago I lost a 600 lt tank because of it.

:)

[Kreeger1]

I picked it up at Macna a few years back from a vendor I can't remember the name of.

[uhuru]

Erik - how did that coral do in your tank? Mine is still not fully upright. Not sure if this is one that indeed prefers to be upside down or sideways. Polyps open and close in response to food though.

Luca - thanks for the compliment and warning!

Cool zooplankton video worth watching:

<object width="400" height="220"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6749526&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;ful lscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6749526&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;ful lscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="220"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/6749526">Zooplankton 3.1</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user1422665">Bravo Zulu</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Now what are those corals that they show?

[dancewithethan]

I love your build. Here locally we have ADA LFS rep. I too almost went with the 120p ADA tank, instead I got the 120 Gs OC Tech. However, I did build myself a ADA stand.

will you be going with the ADA stand?

[uhuru]

Ethan,

I am using a basic 2x4 stand that I'm going to skin later to make it look more modern. I'm thinking of doing sliding doors. I've seen it on one of the builds on RC before just have to find it.

Have you guys seen the movie IMAX UNDER THE SEA? If not, go out and rent or buy it! I liked it so much I might have to buy it. The imagery is unbelievable. A lot of azooxanthellae stuff. And man, the Dendronephthya and Scleronephthya corals get HUGE. The Dendronephthya especially are everywhere. Like right alongside the huge SPS colonies. Tons of gorgs (I think) hanging upside down. Monster crinoid feather stars that wouldn't even fit in one of our tanks. Just amazing.

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[uhuru]

This is a makeshift food reactor I've been using:

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC02939.jpg

It's very simple. An air pump keeps the food suspended and a peristaltic pump pulls the food from the reactor into the tank. It is non-chilled so the major drawback with this is that it is only good for 12 hours MAX. It starts to get cloudy and will foul up the water fast after that. Additionally, I have found that it's a good idea at least for my tank to not dose the food for about 8-12 hrs per day, giving the filtration (skimmer and ozone) a chance to clean up the water again. I know this is not ideal, but without giving the tank time to "recover" from the feeding you will otherwise have to make a significant water change on a daily basis.

The other issue is the air pump is not enough to keep everything from settling. If a stronger air pump and a diffuser or some sort could be added that directed the air bubbles evenly over the bottom that would probably solve it.

Both of these issues I believe we can solve in time and I'm hopeful that we are going to figure something out soon that will allow more people to keep these corals without having to manually feed the tank every time they walk by. A lot of times I get pretty tired of it too. Also, this will be a complete "under the cabinet" solution for feeding NPS tanks so it will not detract from having the tank set up in the living room as part of the furniture which is the case for many reef keepers.

I have stopped continuously dosing Roti-Feast due to the expenses getting too high. I still dose Shellfish Diet continuously, and I dose Roti-Feast and Oyster-Feast manually, but not with a syringe pump 24/7. With the reactor I've been using I haven't had to do nearly as much manual feeding. I mostly just feed the LPS corals once a day and squirt some cyclopeeze and nutramar ova at everything 4-5 times a day if that.

[flying_dutchman]

Why not drill a hole and put an iceprobe chiller in the reactor? Maybe put some foam around it for isolation.

For the airpump maybe get something like this?:
http://www.petsolutions.com/images/200/30133108.jpg
http://www.petsolutions.com/images/400/30133108a.jpg
Foster & Smith sells it as a "bubble disk"

[Luca_]

Dendronephthya & Scleronephthya food mix:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/Softie_foodmix.jpg

This food is very thick and does not settle, even after a week. I use a lot of Ultra Pac. As time goes on the food does become a little less viscous, probably because the bacteria are breaking down the Ultra Pac and water is released. I could even dose this with a syringe pump if I wanted to but it is so potent I feel it is safer to dose it manually in very small amounts throughout the day. I leave it out at room temp, but as summer approaches I may start keeping it refrigerated. Lasts about 1 week. Some people would say it stinks but it has become a familiar smell in this house that I've grown to appreciate :) I know I'm a crazy reefer!

Zooplankton food mix:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/gorg_foodmix.jpg

Almost everything in the tank eats this. Even the LPS corals. I mix this fresh daily. This is what I plan to dose through an automatic "chilled food reactor" in the future. This mix provides a "surge" of food that circulates through the tank every hour or so. It is largely responsible for keeping most of the corals happy and extended throughout the day. IMO an automatic food reactor that will allow for surges of food to be dosed throughout the day, 24/7, while keeping the food from going bad for at least 3 days, will be the final piece of the puzzle for the feeding challenges of an NPS tank and allow for many reefers to find success.

CRI (Constant Rate Infusion) food:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/CRI_food.jpg

Finally I dose Shellfish Diet and Roti-Feast through 2 separate syringe pumps. This is based on the work of Chuck Stottlemire and "aninjaatemyshoe." This is the "constant rate infusion" portion of my feeding regimen. This provides the steady, moderate concentration of food in the water that feeds the microfauna, corals and other inverts in the tank 24/7. Whenever I have to leave town for a few days, or if I get extremely busy this is the only thing that gets dosed.
Ciao uhuru, reading your post I found this interesting parts on food. I have never seen those products before, could you tell me what kind of products are they? Do you dose them directly in the tank and how much per day?

[uhuru]

Hello Luca, Roti-Feast is made by Reef Nutrition while Shellfish Diet is made by Reed Mariculture. Both products can be purchased from the same company I know some of the sponsors here sell them but I don't know about international.

Roti-Feast is a very concentrated solution of rotifers with some additives that allow the food to stay suspended in solution. This allows you to dose the food using a syringe pump. Shellfish diet is pure, super dense microalgae. It is very thick, like syrup and also stays suspended in solution making it easy to dose with a syringe pump. For Roti-Feast I was dosing 1.10mL/hr, and for Shellfish Diet 0.40 mL/hr continuously 24/7. Right now I am looking at alternatives to continuous dosing of Roti-Feast because it is too expensive.

[uhuru]

Why not drill a hole and put an iceprobe chiller in the reactor? Maybe put some foam around it for isolation.

For the airpump maybe get something like this?:
http://www.petsolutions.com/images/200/30133108.jpg
http://www.petsolutions.com/images/400/30133108a.jpg
Foster & Smith sells it as a "bubble disk"

The chilling part of the reactor I think has been solved - hopefully we can see within the next week or so how it works out.

The bubble disk idea looks interesting I'll have to look into that further as well. I was thinking even a rigid airline tube with holes drilled in it and pointed towards the bottom might work.

[oldreefer76]

the bubble disk will definitely keep everything in suspension and is a great idea, I can't wait to see the chiller idea you told me about today and how it works out

[Luca_]

Thank you for the information! :)

[herring_fish]

Referring to the reactor issue below:
I haven't tried it yet but I bought a 6 inch funnel from Grangers to under 3 dollars and glued it to the bottom of my 6 inch tube. I will feed the air line from the top so that I can manually move it around and tune it for best results. I think that if the air is introduced right at the bottom of the funnel, it should keep everything will mixed.

Actually, I am setting this up to grow artemia so I have an exit tube at the bottom of the funnel to draw off the water. I want to use some powders that have been formulated for me so I expect settling. The air line will hopefully keep a good bit of the food suspended but what can't stay in the water column can be drawn off before it can to do much fouling.

In your case, you could cut of most of the nipple at the bottom of the funnel and put silicon in the hole to make it a cone. You could place the con in the bottom of the reactor and seal off the top of the cone with silicon so that water can't leak around the funnel.


I quickly drew up what I am talking about. The fist one is my artemia tower at a smaller scale. The one on the right is what I though might help keep more food suspended. The point where the air would be introduced is not shown but would be at the bottom of the cone.
http://asaherring.com/Reef/Hardware/reactor1.JPG

[uhuru]

Thanks for the diagram and explanation herring fish. I may mess around with some ideas when I have more time this summer. Speaking of summer - I'm getting a little worried. I need to simplify this hobby. I'm going to be doing some traveling due to externships and such, and need to make everything "so easy a cave man could do it."

Oddly enough it's not really the corals I'm worried about because the food reactor even as I have it now DOES WORK - even the LPS can eat and survive on the food that gets dosed for extended periods of time. It just needs cleaning and replenishing every 12 hrs. or so.

What I'm worried about are the fishes. My butt head angler still only eats live shrimp. My OSFF requires multiple feeding throughout the day, and as such, also requires lots of water changes in his tank. I'm considering selling off or giving away my difficult fish, but it breaks my heart to think about it right now. What to do, what to do...

[flying_dutchman]

I hear ya, I really want to setup a NPS system now, but traveling this summer for two months won't make that happen.
Maybe a reefing buddy can keep them for you while your away?

[flying_dutchman]

also, can't you just setup a tank for the feeder shrimp? Feeding the angler would be as easy as to scoop out a shrimp and throw it in the tank twice a week.

[DFason]

I'll take the OSFF and put him in the new macro tank :)

-Dave

[uhuru]

also, can't you just setup a tank for the feeder shrimp? Feeding the angler would be as easy as to scoop out a shrimp and throw it in the tank twice a week.

Yes that is what I do now (I have a little 5g tank and keep about 1 week's supply of ghost shrimp in there). It sounds easy to us to catch a shrimp and throw it in another tank but my parents will be house sitting for me and to them it would be quite a challenge. I might just pick up a few SW shrimp and throw them in the tank before I go. My frogfish is a little strange in that he doesn't eat more than 1 shrimp at a time, then has to poop before going for another - so the chance of him overeating is pretty slim.

I think the OSFF will be ok too once I get an automatic water changing system set up (which I've been wanting to do anyway). He eats flakes and pellets so he'll be good as far as feeding is concerned. Sorry Dave! Of course there is the risk of something going wrong with the water changer while I'm gone but it's a risk I have to live with.

I'll probably ask a reefer to come by a few times a week just to make sure everything is running ok.

I need to decide on a reef filler dual head pump to do the water changes or the litermeter 3 automatic water changer (more expensive).

[DBarsotti]

This tank is AWESOME! nice work!
Almost makes me wanna get rid of my sps.. almost:lol2:

[uhuru]

LOL, eventually we'll be able to push you over the edge DBarsotti :)

I just wanted to share this website:

http://www.aquariumdesigngroup.com/index2.php?v=v1

These guys do some sick installations! They were taught by Takashi Amano the founder of ADA. If you look in their reef tank gallery, they have an ADA 120-P with overflow which is the exact same tank I have. Looks really nice.

[dainiusiva]

ohh,the famous aquarium design group :) they hooked me onto aquariums a few years ago

[flying_dutchman]

Did you ever write the nTOTM article?

[uhuru]

Yes I guess I forgot to link it here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1845922

[uhuru]

Sorry for the poor quality of this video, and the dirty glass (I hadn't cleaned it for a week when I took this). Just a quick one of my frogfish catching a small ghost shrimp. You might have to replay it a few times to see it :)

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[uhuru]

Got an ATB media reactor today to run my ozone mixed water through once I get my ADA tank set up. I don't like sponges because they clog too fast on my setup with all the particulate foods in the water, and this reactor uses a fine plastic strainer instead.

Stock photo from ATB:
http://www.atbskimmers.com/products/inventory/Media%20Filters/ATB%20Media%20Filters%20/001b.jpg

[Aquabacs]

Really like that reactor, Mike. Besides no sponges I like the fact that it has a very small foot print. I would like to see those well crafted ozone reators hit our shores from Siam.

[martinphillip03]

subscribed

Marty

[martinphillip03]

I am new to ozone. I am setting up a system in a week. Why use a reactor instead of a skimmer. Does it being an Azoo tank have anything to do with it?

Marty

Got an ATB media reactor today to run my ozone mixed water through once I get my ADA tank set up. I don't like sponges because they clog too fast on my setup with all the particulate foods in the water, and this reactor uses a fine plastic strainer instead.

Stock photo from ATB:
http://www.atbskimmers.com/products/inventory/Media%20Filters/ATB%20Media%20Filters%20/001b.jpg

[uhuru]

Hey Marty, it has nothing to do with the tank being NPS. Ozone works more efficiently with a dedicated reactor in most cases - unless you have a really tall skimmer with low flow rate. Ozone reactors don't have to be big because they often use bioballs or biobale material to increase surface area. They create pressure inside the chamber with a dedicated air pump and use low flow rates. All of these things help saturate the water with ozone better than a skimmer. Also, it makes it easier to filter out the ozone before the water returns to the tank and before the air escapes into your room. There is also concern about ozone affecting water/bubble chemistry, resulting in less skimmate production. Lastly, if you have a nice expensive skimmer, you might not feel comfortable running ozone through it.

[uhuru]

I should clarify that I'm not using the ATB reactor as an ozone reactor. I use an Aquamedic 1000 CO2 reactor for that. The ATB reactor will have activated carbon and will receive the effluent from the ozone reactor. It will be used to filter out the ozone before it goes into the main tank.

[martinphillip03]

What sort of flow rate are you thinking?

Marty


I should clarify that I'm not using the ATB reactor as an ozone reactor. I use an Aquamedic 1000 CO2 reactor for that. The ATB reactor will have activated carbon and will receive the effluent from the ozone reactor. It will be used to filter out the ozone before it goes into the main tank.

[uhuru]

the slower the better IMO. I'm not sure on the gph right now but I'll slow it down until it just trickles down the reactor.

[uhuru]

hmmm, something is eating my tubastrea. Only new hitchhikers I've seen lately are these small snails. Anyone heard of tubastrea eating snails? Something is eating them from the outside (maybe inside too). I'm gonna have to throw a flashlight on the tank at night to find out what the heck is going on.

[Aquabacs]

Mike are the snails the same color as the tubastrea? Yellow/orange color. I have read online but not physically seen. Try a search tubastrea parasite, tubastrea snail, or somewhere alone those lines.

[uhuru]

I think I have found the culprit. Phestilla melanobrachia
http://www.seaslugforum.net/images/195640a.jpg

^Looks just like that. Black too, and has decimated my black sun coral colony in a matter of days.

Any suggestions on how to treat? Can the black nudibranch also move on to the orange tubastrea?

Funny thing is I haven't added any new tubastrea for 6 months. This must have hitchhiked on some other coral and got lucky in my tank.

For anyone interested, the parasitic snails are called Epitonium humphreysii, or Wentletrap snails. They look like this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e3/Wentletrap_01.jpg/220px-Wentletrap_01.jpg

What I have are limpets.

[slapshot]

I think I have found the culprit. Phestilla melanobrachia
http://www.seaslugforum.net/images/195640a.jpg

^Looks just like that. Black too, and has decimated my black sun coral colony in a matter of days.

Any suggestions on how to treat? Can the black nudibranch also move on to the orange tubastrea?

Funny thing is I haven't added any new tubastrea for 6 months. This must have hitchhiked on some other coral and got lucky in my tank.

For anyone interested, the parasitic snails are called Epitonium humphreysii, or Wentletrap snails. They look like this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e3/Wentletrap_01.jpg/220px-Wentletrap_01.jpg

What I have are limpets.

Dang that sucks! Can you remove the colony and dip it? I would bet if its black it stays on the black.

[oldreefer76]

Wow Mike that sucks, are there any salvageable polyps?

[uhuru]

Yes, there are some salvageable polyps. I still need to take a closer look to see what it is, but it appears to be nudibranchs. Once I verify what I is I will look into what I should use to dip that would be safest for the coral. My understanding so far however is that their eggs are resilient, and can be laid in the live rock not just on the coral (and I'm certainly not removing the rock). If they only attack black ones I'll be relieved, because they will slowly starve once they finish off the one small colony I have.

[Aquabacs]

Mike, PM Claude. I believe FM Ultra Pest will be able to help with the issue but check with him first.

[uhuru]

Here is a cool video of NPS corals in the ocean:

<object width="400" height="225"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9111388&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;ful lscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9111388&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;ful lscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="225"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/9111388">Bajo Las Gerardias</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user1502205">Rafa Herrero</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

[Aquabacs]

Very nice, it is beautiful to see how mother nature plants her gardens of gorgonians. Everyone pay close attention to the orientation of the fans ;)



Mike

[uhuru]

And check out nahham's (from the large tank subforum) diving pics:

http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/1621036/1/Diving/2010-06-19%20Khor%20Fakkan?h=da7ba7

That looks to me like a forest of Dendronephthya clones. Also there is a wall of some blue gorgs and what looks like Menella gorgs.

[Western_reefer]

Here is a cool video of NPS corals in the ocean:

<object width="400" height="225"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9111388&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;ful lscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9111388&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=&amp;ful lscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="225"></embed></object><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/9111388">Bajo Las Gerardias</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user1502205">Rafa Herrero</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Love the video! Thanks for sharing!

[dainiusiva]

what is that coral with big white polyps on orange stalks? looks very beautiful,havent seen anything like it

[Western_reefer]

what is that coral with big white polyps on orange stalks? looks very beautiful,havent seen anything like it

It looked like some sort of Balanophyllia.

[uhuru]

Gorgonians and what we call soft corals fall under the category of Octocorallia. Octo = 8. All of them have 8 tentacles per polyp. Each tentacle has pinnules running along its edges.

Look at the polyps on the orange one. It is most likely a branching Dendrophyllidae.

[uhuru]

Nice ninja edit Moses :)

[Western_reefer]

Nice ninja edit Moses :)

I edited my post after a minute. lol

[uhuru]

This is how I feed my tank these days. I dose this every hour using a timer and BRS dosing pump.

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[Aquabacs]

So you now using the BRS dosing pump on you food reactor instead of the aqualifter pump? Same mix of foods?

Mike

[uhuru]

Mike, I use a BRS pump now. The aqualifter seemed to slow down after using if for a while. I can see that the tubing for the BRS pump is going to have to be cleaned or replaced much more frequently than normal due to the food buildup along the inner walls of the tubing. This is the mix I currently feed automatically:

• 3/4 teaspoon each of - Ultra Clam, Ultra Seafan, Ultra Min F
• sometimes, I add - 1/2 teaspoon Ultra Pac*
• sometimes, I add - 1/2 teaspoon Ultra Life*
• 8-10 drops Ultra Min D
• frozen cyclopeeze - standard cube size
• frozen Nutramar Ova - standard cube size
• Elos SVC Zooplankton
• 900 mL chilled RO/DI water

*Ultra Pac and Ultra Life will cloud up the water

Manually, I feed:
• More Cyclopeeze
• More Nutramar Ova
• Instant BBS
• Spectrum Reef Micro Feeder

[Aquabacs]

Thank you Mike for sharing that information with us. It is good to keep the forum transparent :)



Mike

[flying_dutchman]

So you do you keep the mixture cooled? How long does it last? How much of the solution do you feed per hour?
BTW how is the sea apple doing?

[uhuru]

I agree Mike. At this stage of NPS reef keeping it should be more about learning than anything else.

dutchman - I don't keep it cooled. I use chilled RO/DI water and the frozen foods when mixing, and this helps prolong the life a little, but during the summer it doesn't last more than about 8 hours. I'm waiting on DFason to come up with a solution to keep the food chilled, but I may resort to getting a mini fridge if that doesn't work out. My space is limited especially once I get my ADA tank set up next to the Mini so I was hoping to avoid that but it may be unavoidable.

[dainiusiva]

what kind of solution can be better at keeping food cold other than mini fridge a-la aquabacs?

[flying_dutchman]

^
I was thinking a chilled food reactor, isolated with styrofoam or something and chilled with a ice probe chiller.

[uhuru]

Yes Dave is working on a food reactor with the cooling element built into the reactor. Just plug and play.

[uhuru]

what kind of solution can be better at keeping food cold other than mini fridge a-la aquabacs?

The mini fridge with the way it is plumbed is ideal. The chilled food reactor is more for dosing a mix of powder and frozen foods together. Sort of an all in one, plug and play solution that can fit under a stand. Who knows, if it works well it might make NPS keeping a lot more realistic for people. Frozen and powder foods (like FM foods) are very cost efficient too. That's another factor that will make NPS keeping more possible for people.

[dainiusiva]

IMO the mini fridge as seen in aquabacs setup is best solution for feeding nps corals,but it has downside - cost.chilled food reactor on the other hand is less costly,but it will not cool food enough for it to last lets say a few days ( if i am imagining the reactor the right way - general kalk reactor with iceprobe chiller incorporated for cooling) of course i can be wrong,but is it really justifying not going the mini fridge way?mini fridge is really much less maintenance vs somewhat less cost of chilled food reactor.

[uhuru]

It should be much smaller than a kalk reactor so it can be cooled significantly. Therefore it should keep the food for the same amount of time that it would in a mini fridge. Steve is only able to keep cyclopeeze in the fridge for about 3 days. I would expect similar for the food reactor. It's something worth trying IMO. Even if the food only lasts 1 day, the amount of work you put into feeding your corals is no more than the amount you put into feeding your fishes.

[Aquabacs]

Honestly, what is important is what ever method is used, is to make it reefer/user friendly. Honestly no matter how much we love our tanks, you dont want to have the aquarium control your life and be a slave to it. Now if I can only figure out how to automate the hand feeding of polyps :)

Mike

[uhuru]

You brought it upon yourself by getting all those monster colonies Mike! :)

Here is a slightly better video of the auto feeding. I followed the food around a bit so you could see how it distributes in the tank and gets to all the inhabitants. I think it gives a pretty good idea of the flow and the pattern of it too.

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[Aquabacs]

I know but I can't help myself. Also got something nice today from Ian at Reef Odyssey :) Nice vid by the way. When the food is added that quickly to your tank have you run into any skimmer issues or is the skimmer timed to shut off for a period of time after the food is administered?

[uhuru]

I leave the skimmer running, and it really hasn't given me any issues with it. It used to shut down for a long time from feedings but now it recovers within minutes. I don't know if its the ozone or what, as I do run a very small amount into the skimmer (it is fed from the bypass of the actual ozone reactor). When I use Ultra Life the skimmer becomes noticeably more productive.

[Aquabacs]

The Ultra Life is pretty awesome stuff. I remember the first time I used it, got a little nervous how cloudy the tank got and the skimmer started working like crazy. Next day the tank was super clear. When I use it the traditional way (not in food mix) I add 3-4 drops of Ultra Bio to the mix.

[uhuru]

Yes I'm a big fan of Ultra Life too. Even though it clouds up the water the corals love it. The next day when the tank is clear all the corals look like they had a feast. Do you think the crinoids consume the particles too? Mine definitely shows a feeding response with it. I usually add it to the food mix 2-3x/wk.

[Aquabacs]

I would say they would consume some of the particles (add Bio ;)). Now what I haven't able to pick up for a while is Fauna's "syringe of coral happiness" that is something that everything seemed to love. Have been using an alternative product but it isn't the same.

[uhuru]

What is this "syringe of coral happiness" you speak of?

[Aquabacs]

Come on Mike...you know what it is...that would be Ultra Booster.







Mike

[uhuru]

I've never used Ultra Booster, unfortunately. I also use a substitute (from Prodibio) but I can't really compare it to anything. I guess its not as good as the FM version though.

[dainiusiva]

is the ultra booster and prodibio used to feed the nps corals in your tanks,opposed to using it for denitrifying purposes in lets say sps dominated tanks?

[uhuru]

Yeah I never really thought of it as a denitrifying aid it is like a lipid/amino acid supplement to me. I used it a lot more when I was mixing ultra pac and dosing it manually.

[dainiusiva]

Yeah I never really thought of it as a denitrifying aid it is like a lipid/amino acid supplement to me. I used it a lot more when I was mixing ultra pac and dosing it manually.

it may be just that i got it wrong and its not a bacterial supplement to be used in conjunction with bioptim.i guess you are correct,and it is lipid/amino acid supplement

[uhuru]

Tonight I picked up another tank, so I'm now going to have 3 tanks connected by a common sump. :dance: The goal is to make my life easier. The problem is I like fish that don't get along :mad: Also, one of them is going to be a planted tank, which should serve as a display quality refugium to help with reduction of nutrients and production of zooplankton. More details to come!

[uhuru]

I have a colony of something like this growing in my elos tank:

http://www.elasmodiver.com/BCMarinelife/images/Strawberry-anemone.jpg

Except they are not red, they are clear with green centers and tips!

[flying_dutchman]

^Pictures!

they look like strawberry anemones (cold water)

[uhuru]

yeah they look like strawberry anemones but different color. Maybe a tropical relative? I'll try to take pics later. They are growing in a spot thats really hard to capture.

[aninjaatemyshoe]

They are probably Pseudocorynactis sp., likely the Pacific variety if they came in as hitchhikers.

http://actiniaria.com/img/pseudocorynactis_caribbeorum_2.jpg

[herring_fish]

I have them too. Are they a good think or bad?

[uhuru]

I have been keeping an eye on them, but I can't say yet. I think if they were big enough then they could be a danger to small fish but mine are pretty small. They are spreading faster than anything else in my tank though, so my main concern is if they will become invasive and grow over other corals. As of yet they only grow on uninhabited parts of rock, and stay in the shade. I'm gonna try to take some pics of some of my cool hitchhikers in a bit.

[flying_dutchman]

If you ever decide to frag some I'd be interested.

[uhuru]

Well I tried to get pics of the corynactis or pseudocorynactis but it was too hard due to their location. I did get some pics of my other hitchhikers which have been growing like crazy since I started feeding them FM LPS Grow.

Some type of anemone that started splitting:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC02950.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC02967.jpg

Some type of azoox LPS. It has a skeleton underneath, and extends transparent feeders when there is food in the water. It has doubled in size and gained nice color since target feeding the FM food daily. I have 2 of them, different colors, but I couldn't capture the other.
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC02963.jpg

[oldreefer76]

Very nice gotta love hitchkikers

[uhuru]

funny thing is I used dry rock for everything... these came on rocks that came with the corals

[Aquabacs]

Well I tried to get pics of the corynactis or pseudocorynactis but it was too hard due to their location. I did get some pics of my other hitchhikers which have been growing like crazy since I started feeding them FM LPS Grow.

Some type of anemone that started splitting:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC02950.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC02967.jpg

Some type of azoox LPS. It has a skeleton underneath, and extends transparent feeders when there is food in the water. It has doubled in size and gained nice color since target feeding the FM food daily. I have 2 of them, different colors, but I couldn't capture the other.
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC02963.jpg

Mike, I have almost the same LPS hitchhiker in the last picture but I dont believe mine is truly non-photosynthetic. I have move the polyp to the top of my reef and have been feeding it the large LPS+ pellets as well to see what happens to it. Use caution with the anemone, you might have more than you plan in no time. I have these red/purple African beadlets that have done extremely well in our aquariums' lighting condition but if fed to much, they are like feeding a gremlin after midnight...tiny anemones everywhere.


Mike

[uhuru]

Mine are definitely non-photo. The fluorescence on them is really something that is hard to capture on my camera because I have to use flash. They literally "glow in the dark."

I have been doing some research on setting up what will be my planted tank that is connected to my 2 azoox tanks. Because this tank will be receiving the same continuous feeding as the azoox tanks I wanted a few select corals that will really benefit from both the high amount of food and the light. I think Goniopora spp. really fit that bill. From most of my reading so far, their requirements seem very similar to azoox corals with the added requirement of light for photosynthesis.

[DFason]

Mike - I'm hoping to have the first one done this week :)

Air pump and all. When I'm finished I will send it yoru way.

-Dave

[uhuru]

Sweet! Looking forward to it Dave!

I'm getting close to having the ADA tank ready. Just gotta do some finishing touches with the stand then stain and varnish!

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC02972.jpg

I was originally intending to have the tank sit flush with the stand like with the ADA and Elos stands, but... I couldn't do the full frame doors with the way the stand was built with 2x4's. So I had to increase the size of the stand. I think it still looks pretty modern though.

Off to Savko to get some plumbing before they close. I'm hoping to have water in this tank soon.

[Western_reefer]

Sweet! Looking forward to it Dave!

I'm getting close to having the ADA tank ready. Just gotta do some finishing touches with the stand then stain and varnish!

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC02972.jpg

I was originally intending to have the tank sit flush with the stand like with the ADA and Elos stands, but... I couldn't do the full frame doors with the way the stand was built with 2x4's. So I had to increase the size of the stand. I think it still looks pretty modern though.

Off to Savko to get some plumbing before they close. I'm hoping to have water in this tank soon.

Wow! It looks amazing already! I can't wait till its filled up!

[dainiusiva]

it's a shame that you couldn't do the doors flush to the tank.it looks great indeed.i am really looking forward to see how chilled food reactor turns out

[uhuru]

This was posted in the responsible reefkeeping forum but I wanted to share it here as well. Must see for NPS enthusiasts.

Arctic dendronephthya and crinoids!

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[Aquabacs]

Tank project is coming out good. Is the plan to have elos and this stand match by same paint theme? Will the planted tank be under the stand? That video is pretty sweet, it has been bookmarked :)

[uhuru]

No I thought about making them match but I think it would end up looking like I "tried and failed." I decided to paint this stand completely to hide all my imperfections :) Right now its all primed and tonight I'm going to paint it "twilight blue" which is kind a steel gray color I guess. Similar to the ADA stands but lighter. The elos tank will be moved right next to the ADA tank though and the planted tank will be across the adjacent wall, but still connected via a common sump. I will have a couch in the center so people can just sit down relax and look at the different life around them.

I thought the video was amazing. What temp do you think that water is? I notice the dendronephthya are really small too. I wonder if that has to do with slower metabolism or food availability. The crinoids looked like they ruled the place.

[Aquabacs]

My wife would kill me if I had 3 tanks going at the same time, connected or not :) She did say once the car is paid off, I could start my next tank project.

For what temperature the water is at...I am going with slightly over freezing but not much more. For the dendronephthya it could be a little of both but it is amazing how nature adapts itself. Didn't look like there was any effect of either with the crinoids. I would have loved to see more video or should I say continous video of an area, not just highlighted segments. The section with the crinoids, almost in a formation was pretty awesome.

[flying_dutchman]

Great video
I notice the dendronephthya are really small too. I wonder if that has to do with slower metabolism or food availability.
Willows in the tundra get only about 3'', my I guess this is comparable. Harsh conditions don't allow for much growth.

[uhuru]

If you think about dendronephthya that live amongst photosynthetic corals where temps avg 84-86 you have to wonder how different they are genetically too.

[uhuru]

So I've had this idea of combining mangroves and NPS corals/sponges/tunicates in the same tank, with the mangroves providing shade for the corals as well as "substrate" for the corals to attach to. TBH I thought it was totally unnatural but conceptually would work very well and could create a well balanced ecosystem. I found out that this actually does occur in nature and Matt Wandell posted some links in another forum with amazing photos. This is going to be the inspiration for my ADA tank:

http://blogs.panda.org/coral_triangle/files/2010/03/D3X7890.jpg

More pics here:
http://blogs.panda.org/coral_triangle/2010...-of-raja-ampat/
http://www.naturalscenes.net/Sponges.htm

[DFason]

Dear lord. I'm going to be a copy cat...

Amazing! Mike I'll be shooting some photo's over this week I promise. :)

-Dave

[uhuru]

LOL... I had the same reaction Dave.

And yeah shoot over some photos! I really need to get something going soon!

One of my experiments will be attaching dendronephthya frags to mangrove roots

[flying_dutchman]

Some pictures in the links are absolutely stunning, every square inch is covered with life :eek1:
http://www.naturalscenes.net/Images/Indo2008/IN-Kkbn-UW-N019Er240608.jpg.htm

[DFason]

Mike - I know this is not much but I had to run to work quickly. I still need to drill and tap the holes for the dosing, exit and food injection but for the most part this gives you the idea of the size. The chilling part it connected to a piece of delrin that is part of the flange. This way cleaning is simple too. I may put something on the side for a drain too. The overall tube is only 4" :)

http://i578.photobucket.com/albums/ss230/DFason/IMG_0081.jpg

-Dave

[flying_dutchman]

how much volume does it hold?

[DFason]

8-10oz.

I think plenty for the food. You dont want to have to much volume. This way its very easy to stay chilled.

-Dave

[uhuru]

Yup that looks like the perfect size. Easy to keep cool, easy to clean, and the food stays concentrated. Looks great Dave more pics!

[Aquabacs]

So I've had this idea of combining mangroves and NPS corals/sponges/tunicates in the same tank, with the mangroves providing shade for the corals as well as "substrate" for the corals to attach to. TBH I thought it was totally unnatural but conceptually would work very well and could create a well balanced ecosystem. I found out that this actually does occur in nature and Matt Wandell posted some links in another forum with amazing photos. This is going to be the inspiration for my ADA tank:

http://blogs.panda.org/coral_triangle/files/2010/03/D3X7890.jpg

More pics here:
http://blogs.panda.org/coral_triangle/2010...-of-raja-ampat/
http://www.naturalscenes.net/Sponges.htm

Mike, you know when you posted those links I had to visit the starfish section, then caves, then finish it off with over/under :)

Mike

[uhuru]

Some progress pics with the ADA:

Primed stand
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC02977.jpg

Painted stand
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC02993.jpg

Extra tall light hangers to give me max flexibility with lighting options, and mangrove growth
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC02994.jpg

I got a DIY retro T5VHO setup for a great deal, so tonight I'm gonna try to build a "hanging canopy" for it to suspend above the tank.

[Aquabacs]

Nice job Mike! Color of the stand looks pretty cool. Is there a coating you put over the paint to protect it or did you use Marine/Industrial paint?

Mike

[uhuru]

Thanks! I used 2 layers of Miniwax spar urethane coating to protect the paint. For the inside I just left it white.

[Aquabacs]

Cool. Now get on with the fun stuff ;)

Mike

[uhuru]

Well the sun is back out so I think I better mow the lawn before it rains again...

I might be picking up a mini fridge this week as I believe my tank has really been suffering from dosing of too much rotting food. I'm actually amazed at what it has been able to handle, but I think the tank should be doing a lot better than it is.

[uhuru]

Good lawd this thing is bright!

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC03012.jpg

4 x 39w GE 6500K bulbs overdriven by Icecap 660. I also added fans on the label end side of the fixture.

[GreshamH]

Is there really any creditably to the "label end"?

[uhuru]

According to our resident T5 expert Grim Reefer:

"Some, but not all of the lamps have a dedicated cold spot which is at the label end. On other lamps regulating the temperature at either end will give you top performance but it is good practice to just cool the label end of all lamps to remove any doubt."

[GreshamH]

So other then a guy saying it, there really is no paper or credible source that states this? Not that Grim is not credible, but on something like this I prefer to have some one state it that does not hide behind a screen name ;) Off to talk to Sanjay.

[uhuru]

let us know what you find out please :)

[Aquabacs]

How's the frig coming along?


Mike

[uhuru]

Things are progressing slower than expected, but getting there. I am saving the fridge plumbing for last - which should be tonight and tomorrow. I plan to have water in the tank by this weekend. I'm going out of town for most of August so I really need to get this going.

[GreshamH]

Not that you guys are "hiding" behind a screen name

>removes foot from mouth<

[uhuru]

No worries Gresham I don't think anyone takes offense.

I finally got the light hung tonight. Going to finish the plumbing tomorrow, then it's gonna take me at least a day for all the controlling and power supply stuff.

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC03021.jpg

And even though I won't be keeping any NPS stuff in this tank, here are some pics of my seagrass tank that I'm also working on:

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC03006.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC03009.jpg

I added another top layer of sand which came from the elos NPS tank. I added water a couple days ago and its just starting to clear now.

[GreshamH]

let us know what you find out please :)

Waiting on permission to repost but the two people I spoke with said there is truth to that and backed it up with a PDF.

[uhuru]

That's good to know. Look forward to seeing it.

[GreshamH]

Full credit for finding this PDF goes to Jose Dieck.

http://www.peerless-lighting.com/info/pdfs/HOT-5+_WebDocument.pdf

It’s all about the Cold Spot
While it is customary to speak of the ambient temperature’s effect on lamps, it is not the entire story. To be technically precise, what ultimately determines the light output of the lamp is not the ambient temperature, but the cold spot temperature (see Figure 1). The cold spot of the lamp is the location on the lamp surface where the temperature is coolest. Normally, cold spot temperature of a lamp rises or falls in lock-step with the ambient temperature of the lamp. For T5 and T5HO lamps, the cold spot temperature is 10 oC higher than the ambient temperature. Hence, the 35 oC optimal ambient temperature will translate to 45oC optimal cold spot temperature. Unlike a T8 or T12 fluorescent lamp where the cold spot is in the middle of the lamp, for T5 or T5HO lamps, the cold spot is at end of the lamp where the company’s label is printed on the glass, and is located on the metallic end cap about 2 mm from the glass envelope.

[uhuru]

thanks for that :)

[Matt_Wandell]

And even though I won't be keeping any NPS stuff in this tank, here are some pics of my seagrass tank that I'm also working on:

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC03006.jpg


What's the mucky stuff? Looks fun...

[fishnerd]

Looks like some Fiji gold mud....

Matt,

where are pics of your NPS setup ?

Bryan

[uhuru]

I just saw a video of the steinhart deepwater aquarium on vimeo (http://vimeo.com/11979156)

[GreshamH]

What's the mucky stuff? Looks fun...

It does doesn't it :lol: i was thinking the same thing when I saw it.

[Matt_Wandell]

Looks like some Fiji gold mud....

Matt,

where are pics of your NPS setup ?

Bryan

Hi Bryan,

I need to do some update shots of it...much more Tubastrea and less Aiptasia since that video was shot.

Here's a phone pic I took today. This is about as good of a photo as I am capable of taking. I'll see if I can get somebody to shoot some shots of it.

http://i657.photobucket.com/albums/uu299/mhwandell/IMG_2006-1.jpg

The Dendro and Archo I got from you are doing well. I experimented with the Schizoculina in the dark to see if it was completely NP...not so much. It paled up and died.

[GreshamH]

Matt I have a Schizoculina I can pass your way if your interested.

[uhuru]

So bummed right now. Of all the fridges that don't have any wiring going through the sides, I happen to buy one that DOES have wiring along the side. And, I happen to drill through a spot where there is wiring. Had I drilled 1 cm higher, I would've missed it.

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/DSC03025.jpg

I was hoping it was just for the door switch that automatically turns the light on, since the light stopped turning on. So far, it seems the fridge is completely dead though. Not turning on at all. It must be tied into the whole system.

I'm not sure what to do at this point. Time and money are not on my side.

[uhuru]

Well at least I found where I can drill a 2nd hole that doesn't have wiring going through it. Back to Lowes tomorrow I guess :( Unfortunately that means I won't be able to get it running until at least monday though.

[1crazymofo]

sick

[slapshot]

Why don't you try to fix it? Cut the outside a little bigger to give yourself some working room and with some care and patience you can solder and reconnect those wires.

[uhuru]

I tried to drill the hole bigger, but there is a big piece of metal in the way that runs vertically up the fridge. I tried to loosen the wires and pull them out with some needle nose pliers, but they are buried very tightly in the insulation. I took a power cable and thought about using it to bridge the wires. There is a lot of power running through them as soon as I plug in the fridge so I definitely cut off something important. I don't know I'm trying to decide if I should continue trying to fix it or just buy a new one. I'm going out of town for at least 2 wks and my gut tells me it's not worth the risk. With the condensation that could occur, risk of electrical shock to the fish sitter, etc... and I've never soldered before and don't have a soldering kit so while I may save some money I might spend a lot more time anyway. Ahhhhhh!!!!

[Aquabacs]

Mike , soldering is super easy. Hell, I sure you can even find a youtube clip to show you how to do it in less than 5 minutes. I would stop by your local HD, Lowes, etc. and fix it. Do you have anyone near by that can help you out? If you were a little closer I would take a drive :) Or if you got a few dollars to burn a new frig is between 80-100 bucks.

Mike

[oldreefer76]

Mike that is an easy fix, if you need help let me know I am not that far away from you maybe 15 minutes

[uhuru]

Gary I could definitely use your help if you think you can fix it, I'm PM'ing you my number and address right now.

[uhuru]

A few all nighters and a couple of floods later, everything is up and running! Matt's venturi idea for the food doser is genius. Pics and details soon...

[herring_fish]

I went looking for the reference to Matt's venturi for feeding but couldn't find it. Could you fill in a little information and/or a link where it is explained? I saw the one that used it for cleaning but not for feeding.

[uhuru]

We sort of hijacked Aquabac's thread here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1773991&page=47

I shot a video of the venturi in action, showing that even if the peri pump tubing ruptured with about 900 gph running through the pipe water never leaks out. I'll try to post it later if I have time, although today's gonna be pretty hectic with getting all the electrical and controller stuff done.

One thing I would change if I could do it again is make all the pipe 3/4" instead of 1/2". In my situation the 1/2" pipe is too restrictive and really cuts down on the output of the pump.

[uhuru]

Good news and bad news.

Good news is the fish are all in their new respective homes. The OSFF is in my seagrass tank, the cardinals are in my ADA tank.

Bad news is the potter's angel that was supposed to go in my ADA tank died quickly after I caught him. He freaked out as soon as I caught him with a net, and then he got stuck in the net, and when I put him in the acclimation container he was in shock and soon stopped breathing altogether. Needless to say I didn't use a net to catch any of my other fish.

More good news is the refrigerated doser is working wonderfully. I use a 1000 mL flask filled with cyclopeeze, nutramar ova, FM foods and Spectrum Micro Reef food on a magnetic stirrer that turns on everytime the dosing pump turns on (once every hour). The entire 1000 mL is dosed into the tank over the course of about 12 hours. During this time, there is food in the water column at all times. This is so great not just for corals but for fishes that feed on small plankton. I also have 1 pump that feeds Shellfish Diet every hour, and two more pumps coming in today - 1 for Oyster Feast and 1 for Roti-Feast or whatever other cool products Reef Nutrition comes up with. Since everything is refrigerated I may even try live Phyto Feast for the micro-plankton content, I will just have to add an air pump to keep it stirred.

REALLY bad news is my ADA tank has developed bubbles in the seams. I have had a lengthy discussion with a distributor about this, who has discussed this with one of the bigger heads at ADA in Japan (2nd only to Amano himself). Apparently this is very common with all the German built 120 tanks. ADA has since changed production to a Chinese facility using thicker glass and different silicone. The Chinese tanks are actually a level above the German ones. Ironically the German manufacturer is the one that builds Green Leaf tanks, ADA's main competitor. When I have time I'm going to send an email to ADA in Japan and let them know about my disappointment. I will also let them know that thousands of people see my tank and read through my posts on various forums and it does their company no good to have me say these things about them. Will they do something about it? Who knows. Their response so far is that this is normal for the German tanks and the tank will hold up fine for years (well at least until the warranty expires right?). Lets say its not a structural problem its still an aesthetic problem, something which should be never be associated with the name ADA. At this time I'm considering putting corner bracing on the tank to prevent the problem from getting worse, especially while I am out of town it will be one less thing to worry about. I will definitely deal with this in more depth when I get back.

[Aquabacs]

Sorry to hear about the Potter's, Mike. You can always replace it with a Bandit now :)

Onto the frig. What was the final decision of what what used to split the feed lines into the 1/2" single venturi? Plastic airline splitter or something else? When you get a chance, post a picture up of it, looking forward to seeing how it turn out.

Mike

[uhuru]

Have you ever had a fish die just from freaking out in the net? I was so mad at myself I should've just used a clear container which worked so much better with the other fishes. I really liked that potters he was very interactive and knew how to beg for food, which made it easy to catch him. For some reason he just freaked out though once he realized I wasn't feeding him but catching him.

I used the JG style T's and elbows to route all the 1/4" tubing into the one single 1/4" that then feeds into the venturi. I will try to get some pics before I leave. I just got 2 more dosing pumps today from BRS so I want to get that set up first.

I've been using my ATB w/Airstar skimmer and this thing is such a beast. The feeding does kill the foam though. I'm probably going to have a 4-6 hr. period every day when there will be no feeding to let the skimmer clean up the water.

[slapshot]

Have you ever had a fish die just from freaking out in the net? I was so mad at myself I should've just used a clear container which worked so much better with the other fishes. I really liked that potters he was very interactive and knew how to beg for food, which made it easy to catch him. For some reason he just freaked out though once he realized I wasn't feeding him but catching him.

I used the JG style T's and elbows to route all the 1/4" tubing into the one single 1/4" that then feeds into the venturi. I will try to get some pics before I leave. I just got 2 more dosing pumps today from BRS so I want to get that set up first.

I've been using my ATB w/Airstar skimmer and this thing is such a beast. The feeding does kill the foam though. I'm probably going to have a 4-6 hr. period every day when there will be no feeding to let the skimmer clean up the water.

I lost a Queen Angel that I had for 6 years. She had 4 inch trailers on her. I was moving her from a 55 to a 125. Placed her in the new tank and she swam about a foot, stopped, twitched real wierd, and then died right on the spot. I was so mad!

[Aquabacs]

I was thinking something along these lines for a JG fitting. http://www.johnguest.com/gfx_series/PP49_D1.gif

What is interesting is that some fish are just resilient; can jump out of the tank, flip around on the floor in the dust, throw them back in, and they are perfectly fine. Now you take the same exact species, put it in a different stressful situation, and they die. Got to love mother nature.

Mike

[dainiusiva]

wow,simply unbelievable what happened with your ADA tank.

[uhuru]

Tell me about it. I mean, I got a significant discount on the tank because it was on clearance. But still, if I buy an Audi on year end clearance does that mean its expected to break down on me prematurely? If it has the ADA name on it this should never be a concern regardless of what price I paid for it.

[GreshamH]

Good news and bad news.

Good news is the fish are all in their new respective homes. The OSFF is in my seagrass tank, the cardinals are in my ADA tank.

Bad news is the potter's angel that was supposed to go in my ADA tank died quickly after I caught him. He freaked out as soon as I caught him with a net, and then he got stuck in the net, and when I put him in the acclimation container he was in shock and soon stopped breathing altogether. Needless to say I didn't use a net to catch any of my other fish.

More good news is the refrigerated doser is working wonderfully. I use a 1000 mL flask filled with cyclopeeze, nutramar ova, FM foods and Spectrum Micro Reef food on a magnetic stirrer that turns on everytime the dosing pump turns on (once every hour). The entire 1000 mL is dosed into the tank over the course of about 12 hours. During this time, there is food in the water column at all times. This is so great not just for corals but for fishes that feed on small plankton. I also have 1 pump that feeds Shellfish Diet every hour, and two more pumps coming in today - 1 for Oyster Feast and 1 for Roti-Feast or whatever other cool products Reef Nutrition comes up with. Since everything is refrigerated I may even try live Phyto Feast for the micro-plankton content, I will just have to add an air pump to keep it stirred.

REALLY bad news is my ADA tank has developed bubbles in the seams. I have had a lengthy discussion with a distributor about this, who has discussed this with one of the bigger heads at ADA in Japan (2nd only to Amano himself). Apparently this is very common with all the German built 120 tanks. ADA has since changed production to a Chinese facility using thicker glass and different silicone. The Chinese tanks are actually a level above the German ones. Ironically the German manufacturer is the one that builds Green Leaf tanks, ADA's main competitor. When I have time I'm going to send an email to ADA in Japan and let them know about my disappointment. I will also let them know that thousands of people see my tank and read through my posts on various forums and it does their company no good to have me say these things about them. Will they do something about it? Who knows. Their response so far is that this is normal for the German tanks and the tank will hold up fine for years (well at least until the warranty expires right?). Lets say its not a structural problem its still an aesthetic problem, something which should be never be associated with the name ADA. At this time I'm considering putting corner bracing on the tank to prevent the problem from getting worse, especially while I am out of town it will be one less thing to worry about. I will definitely deal with this in more depth when I get back.


ARG NOOOOOO I have a ADA tank I m putting up now. When did they switch plants, maybe I am in the clear...

[uhuru]

I got mine at the end of last year and I was told it was the last of the german shipments. There are still a few odd shaped ones coming from that plant but most of the new stuff is coming from China.

[uhuru]

Got a pair of Serranocirrhitus latus Sunburst Anthias today, they are so freakin cute. As of now they are already staring at me waiting for more food. Gotta love DD!

[GreshamH]

I got mine at the end of last year and I was told it was the last of the german shipments. There are still a few odd shaped ones coming from that plant but most of the new stuff is coming from China.

Hmm I wonder how long mine may have sat at the distributor? I got it like 4 months ago :) Guess I can ask since I know them :D

[uhuru]

I have been staying in Boston (at MIT) doing some pretty cool research work dealing with things like neuroscience, brain mapping and the latest in genetic modification/embryo transfer technology. Still, my brain was hungry for more! So, this past weekend I had the chance to visit the NE Aquarium. Overall I was impressed with the quality of their displays, the health of their animals, the amount of conservation education they had interlaced into everything and how friendly the volunteers were with answering question after question. I know there are better aquariums out there, but there are also much, much worse ones.

Anyway, here are some pics. I have a ton more, as well as videos, but I won't be able to post everything tonight. Also I didn't have a chance to do any color and brightness correction so sorry in advance.

The first thing that caught my attention was the vet clinic with windows so everyone can see the medical side of things:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/NE%20Aquarium/DSC03066.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/NE%20Aquarium/DSC03069.jpg

A Queen Trigger healing from a wound.
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/NE%20Aquarium/DSC03072.jpg

I could see myself working here (doubt it would actually happen though).
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/NE%20Aquarium/DSC03074.jpg

Couple of downdraft skimmers and lots of UV for the hospital tanks.
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/NE%20Aquarium/DSC03075.jpg

[uhuru]

On to some of the animals I saw...

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/NE%20Aquarium/DSC03079.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/NE%20Aquarium/DSC03089.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/NE%20Aquarium/DSC03100.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/NE%20Aquarium/DSC03193.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/NE%20Aquarium/DSC03155.jpg

And finally the coolest tank they had there. My camera does this tank no justice. It rivals the most colorful SPS tanks out there:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/NE%20Aquarium/DSC03133.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/NE%20Aquarium/DSC03135.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/NE%20Aquarium/DSC03137.jpg

http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb171/icientyouth/NE%20Aquarium/DSC03128.jpg

[GreshamH]

Last tank in the series... that's a 'pacific' coldwater tank, right?