Tank of the Month - October '06

[Skipper]

This month we are featuring Chris Ward's (cward) beautiful reef aquarium:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-10/totm/images/RChomepage.jpg (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-10/totm/index.php)

More details can be found here (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-10/totm/index.php) or by clicking on the picture above.

Congratulations, Chris!
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<center><font color="#FFFFFF" size="-1">If you'd like to nominate a tank
for Tank of the Month, click <a href="http://reefcentral.com/forums/newthread.php?s=&action=newthread&forumid=189" target="_blank"><font color="#FFFFFF">here</font></a>
or use the button to the right.</font></center>
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<td bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="27%"><img src="http://reefkeeping.com/images/nominate1.gif" border="0" title="Click here to nominate a Tank of the Month"> (http://reefcentral.com/forums/newthread.php?s=&action=newthread&forumid=189)
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[hannam11]

This is a great tank. Very nice job

[SERVO]

Congrats Chris!!!!!

Happy to finally see your tank here! Can't wait to provide you with new additions to grow out into monster colonies!;)

[mflamb]

Absolutely gorgeous. I've enjoyed studying your setup. Do you ever ship frags!?!?

[Gary Majchrzak]

Simply beautiful. A breath of fresh air. Congrats, Chris. :thumbsup:

[Jeremy B.]

Congrats buddy!!! That is one tank I could lay back in the recliner and watch for hours, so realistic!

[Kip]

super nice... love the mature corals... the dedication to minimal stocking for future growth is to be highly commended.

2 big thumbs up!

[JPMagyar]

Chris,

Its obvious but let me restate it anyways - your tank ROCKS !!

But, I also wanted to say thank you for introducing a new thought into my own world of reefkeeping. I must admit I never really consider the concept of allowing corals to "grow out", and although I'm not ready to give up all that real estate in my tank today. Someday when I build that "big one" I will definitely leave added room for growing out several massive colonies because I am totally in love with yours. They add a real sense of naturalism to the tank.

Thanks for sharing such a spectacular tank!!!

Happy Reefin'


Viszlat,

Joe

[jackson6745]

Beautiful Reef. Well deserved!!! I would love to see a few growth shots through the years if you have :)

[Corn]

grate job I knew that you would get TOM you have one of the best layout sps tanks that I have seen.

[Markk96]

Awesome tank Chris, very well done.

Mark

[affan]

Good stuff. Truly an inspiration and an honor very well deserved. Congratulations :)

[Behroz]

grate tank chris.thanks for shring your tank.i have 92g and i like to trasfor to 150g .in 92g ihave 80 pund sand bad .i bougth 160 pund new sand .can you hlpe me wich way i have to used.sand. tanks

[david walker]

:rollface: grate tank chris nice job!!!!!!!

[rbaker]

Congratulations Chris!!! You've created a beautiful reef! :thumbsup:

[dc]

Another beautiful tank! It looks great! :thumbsup:

[Johan Susanto]

nice tank chris. simply not to crowded.
how thick is the sand in display tank? is
is it fine sand?
how you maintence your sand keep clean?

[mhurley]

Congrats Chris!

[Hop]

Great tank and well deserved! Inspirational!

[emora]

Absolutely beautiful. Such an inspiring departure from the eclectic bit-of-everything set-ups we usually see.

[cward]

Thank you very, very much everyone. I have to admit that I never in my wildest dreams thought I would have a tank that could be "TOTM", but I'm very glad someone thought it was good enough to nominate. Feel free to ask any questions you might have and I will do my best to answer them as quick as I can.

jackson6745, I will post some growth shots in this thread tonight.

Johan Susanto, I have a goby that does a pretty good job at keeping the sand clean, but my flow also keeps the sand moving. The sand is Carib-Sea Aragamax select, which has a grain size of 0.5 - 1.5 mm.

[tom obrecht]

WOW WEE!! Nice job on a great tank!

[tom obrecht]

Oh, by the way, I'm setting a new system up and would love to find out where you purchased the rails that the lights move on?

[cward]

Thank you Tom. I bought the barn door track at a local store here in Columbus, but it is made by Stanley (http://www.stanleyhardware.com/default.asp?TYPE=CATEGORY&CATEGORY=HDW+BARN+BOX+TRACK) and I'm sure you can get it at a Farm and Fleet or Tractor Supply store.

[hollback]

Congrats Chris. The photos don't do this tank justice. You just can't imagine how big these corals really are.

[slojmn]

Chris,
Incredible and well deserved :D. You have inspired me to ditch a few corals and concentrate on some grow out scenarios which I promised myself I would do anyways before starting my most recent tank...the bug bit me and I just kept adding. Now I must pick and choose and keep the ones I truly want to see grow out. Your rock work is really nice, similar to Steve Weast's tank but on a much smaller scale, giving that illusion of depth toward the back of the tank. I like to call it "reef realistic". Congrats and keep us updated with those growth shots.

[jnarowe]

Nice job and reef-keeping philosophy. :thumbsup:

[hollback]

This will give you an idea of growth in a short period of time...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a257/hollback/Misc%20Junk/cward_display01.gif

[tom obrecht]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8293609#post8293609 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cward
Thank you Tom. I bought the barn door track at a local store here in Columbus, but it is made by Stanley (http://www.stanleyhardware.com/default.asp?TYPE=CATEGORY&CATEGORY=HDW+BARN+BOX+TRACK) and I'm sure you can get it at a Farm and Fleet or Tractor Supply store.

You're welcome! Thanks for the info!

[AcroSteve]

Keep up the good work Chris.

[flatback1986]

Your tank looks AWESOME! Thanks for sharing.

[Manogr]

Warning: This tank is on steroids :smokin:


Wow is all I can say....amazing....:thumbsup:

[fishdoc11]

Congrats:D

Very very well deserved!

One of my all time favorite tanks. Your aquascaping is simply outstanding.

Chris

[slimjimman]

Very nice man and thats a hell of a filter room and nice SPS colonies..

[jzdad]

Wonderful tank!!!!!!!! I love the idea of leaving room for them to grow .I believe when corals have lots of room to grow, they just take off ,like your tank for instance.When you said they started as Inch frags, How long were they in the 120? Then how long or big were the colonies when you switched over to the 270+.? Any plans for a bigger tank in the future?

[Stidd]

Gorgeous! I love the simplicity and the lack of clutterness.
Also... the pictures are really awesome...

Guy

[dgasmd]

Chris:

Congratulations. Your tank looks amazing. I hope it is where you want it to be, if there is such a thing. Very well thought out system. Very nice choice of equipment too, but then again, I am a little biased to the GEO stuff too. Once again, congratulations.

[cward]

Thanks again everyone.
jzdad, I had the 120 set up from about January 2004 to March 2005 which was dominated by SPS. I would say that 95% of my corals now are from that tank. No plans for a bigger tank yet, but when I do I'm going to make sure it's big enough to last me for a while.

[cward]

After looking back thru some old pics of my 120g tank, I realized that it was set up in July 2003, not January 2004. Here's a pic from 1/26/04. You can see the small slimer frag in the middle, the millepora at the top (just left of center) and the birdsnest on the far left.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/503/307411-26-04-tank.jpg

[Reefcherie]

Absolutely gorgeous in every way Chris! Congrats on the well-deserved recognition for an inspiring tank! :thumbsup:

[jnarowe]

incredible growth...you should write a book! :D

[smiller]

Hey buddy! Congrats for a great tank and for a great honor!! Top notch setup, and the size of your corals can only be matched by some of what we saw in Houston. God Bless Texas!:D

[wrang]

Thats a great tank you have. I realy like it

Where can i get the PO4 Hach spectrometer and
NO3 Hach spectrometer that you use??


Best regards from Sweden

[Makeumyne]

Chris, that is a beautiful tank.

It's a perfect example of less is more.

And when it comes to equipment, that's beautiful too! It's a perfect example of more is more!

Thanks for all your efforts.

Matthew.

[Flatlander]

:thumbsup: Beautiful tank Chris. Stunning corals. Like others said, its nice to see mature coral growth. :)

[KAZEKY]

Oh wow this thank is so nice!!!!

[cward]

Thanks again everyone!!!
wrang, I have a friend in our club who has access to the Hach spectrometer at work. The one unit will actually do multiple different tests, but at a price of more than $3000, I don't see myself ever buying one
:)

[wrang]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8299125#post8299125 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cward
Thanks again everyone!!!
wrang, I have a friend in our club who has access to the Hach spectrometer at work. The one unit will actually do multiple different tests, but at a price of more than $3000, I don't see myself ever buying one
:)

Okey thanks for the answer. I thougt it was like a Hanna instrument pocket tester ;)

Your size of the tank is so nice. next time i change my tank i will put a mind of yours ;)
I realy like the deep that the fish can swim back or not like regular tank
side to side, up and down :lol:

[NanoCube-boy]

Your tank is absolutely nice. I love your corals, fishes, and invertibrates. Congraduation man, great peace of artificial ecosystem there.

What is this? what does it do in your system?
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-10/totm/images/tn_fequipmentroom018_jpg.jpg

Is this your giant refugium? It's very nice to have a refugium this big.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-10/totm/images/equipmentroom023.jpg

[cward]

Thank you very much.
The digital timer on the left controls the MH lights over the remote DSB and the refugium, and the mechanical timer on the right controls the MH lights over the main tank.
Yes, the 100g Rubbermaid is the refugium.

[Microsoftie]

Congratulations Chris,

I was wondering if you have more close-up pictures of your plumbing, gadgets and how everything is connected. I always like to get ideas from others. Thanks

- stephen

[ohioreef]

Congrats!!!

It's pretty cool to see someone so close with the TOTM!!!

[maxxII]

Can you elaborate on your remote DSB? I'd like to know more about how you supply water to it, what flow rate you run through it, is it lit? If so why? Could you also post some pics of it if at all possible?

I love the clean open look of your tank. Definately been one of my favorites since seing pics of it scattered around the board.

Nick

[cward]

Microsoftie, I will try to get some plumbing pictures posted soon.

maxxII, here's a better picture of the 60g remote DSB. The flow comes from an Ampmaster 3600, which also feed my display, so I'm guessing I have about 1000gph feeding that tank. I also have the the water going thru a Sea Swirl so the chance of dead spots is reduced. I light the tank because I occasionally have frags in that tank. The Chaeto that's in the picture grew too big to keep in the remote DSB, so I threw it in the refugium.
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/586/30741Remote-DSB-med.jpg

[maxxII]

So the only thing you've currently got in the remote DSB is a couple of coral frags and whatever sand dwelling micro organisms live in the sand?

How long have you had the R-DSB going?

Nick

[wrang]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8305222#post8305222 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cward
I light the tank because I occasionally have frags in that tank.
[/B]


So you "say" that the refugium works great without light
and get the same work like it has light on it?

Hope you understand.
I plan to put some AragaLive Live Sand in my sump and can realy find if it works with this to in the dark...

[cward]

And a plethora of these:D
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/512/30741DSB-aptasia-med.jpg

The remote DSB has been set up for about six months.

[cward]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8306656#post8306656 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wrang
So you "say" that the refugium works great without light
and get the same work like it has light on it?

The refugium and remote DSB both have lights over them. I light the DSB because I have light loving frags in there also, or else I would not keep a light over it. Same thing with the refugium, the only reason I light it is because I'm growing Chaeto.

[maxxII]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8306685#post8306685 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cward
And a plethora of these:D
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/512/30741DSB-aptasia-med.jpg

The remote DSB has been set up for about six months.





OOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
Aiptaisa farm!!!!!!

Why didnt we see pics of that in the TOTM write up????

:D

JK


Thanks for sharing that info....

is there anything about your tank you would do differently?

Nick

[cward]

It's my new experimental filtration system:D You ought to see my overflow:eek2:

Actually there is something I wish I would have done. A tank twice the size of this one:lol:

The next tank will be Starphire glass that is about 96"X48"X36", or even longer if I have enough room.

[Wiskey]

Well, your FTS has now replaced one of Steve West's macros for the desktop on my laptop. Kip still has the desktop on my desktop macheen, and Joefish has the computer at work.

Great tank!
Whiskey

[archie1709]

That tank is awesome. I specifically enjoy how you have integrated all four possible filtration/export tools in to your setup (a) sump, (b) refugium, (c) deep sand bed, and (d) gargantuan skimmer.

Very very nice. And yeah, you pretty much are addicted to "gadgets". :rollface:

By the way, if you don't mind me asking, what are your power backup setups? With a project of this magnitude, any redundance, DR, and back-up? Thank you again for sharing such a marvelous work!

[Joao Monteiro]

Cward,

Congratulations. Your tank really makes the difference.
I wonder why didn´t you put your DSB in the refugium ? Only for extra volume of water or for any other specific reason ?

[Joao Monteiro]

(I edited the double post)

[2turtles]

Do you keep all those pumps running 24/7 or do you scale back at night?

[Gooli]

Great looking setup! how long have you had the copperband and what are some of the secrets of success for keeping one?

[revenge53142]

me waants it

[geo]

Chris was called out of town and wont be able to answer any questions for a few days.

[Tbohinc]

looks Great Chris grats on the TOTM!

[raskal311]

Wow!!!!! now thats a TOTM

[RareCorals]

I love to see monster colonys. Beautiful tank, very inspiring...

[cward]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8311657#post8311657 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Joao Monteiro
Cward,

I wonder why didn´t you put your DSB in the refugium ? Only for extra volume of water or for any other specific reason ?

I have a bunch of LR in the refugium that I didn't want on top of the DSB. Also, I believe that the Chaeto would have blocked flow to the sand bed, which might cause the DSB to turn necrotic.

[cward]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8311821#post8311821 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 2turtles
Do you keep all those pumps running 24/7 or do you scale back at night?

I keep them running 24/7.

[cward]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8315053#post8315053 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gooliver
Great looking setup! how long have you had the copperband and what are some of the secrets of success for keeping one?

I've only had the copperband for about six months, and this was a fish that had been in captivity for a while, so I knew that it was eating frozen foods. Every fish that I have (excluding the mandarin) will eat about anything I put into the tank, so I really try to feed them what the butterfly will eat.

[cward]

archie1709, I really don't have a back up power system at the moment, but that is something that is in the works. I do have a generator at work that I have access to if the power ever does go out for a long time. In the past I've just used battery powered air pumps, but they really wouldn't help me if the power went out for a whole day.

[jnarowe]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8338657#post8338657 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cward
I have a bunch of LR in the refugium that I didn't want on top of the DSB. Also, I believe that the Chaeto would have blocked flow to the sand bed, which might cause the DSB to turn necrotic.

That certainly is food for thought. I have a RDSB/refugium and it went whacko last month. I also have rock in there and the chaeto is acting a lot like floss. I'll have to re-think my design.

[Tyreef]

This is a great tank. Very cool

[ccscscpc]

Now that is a beautiful tank!!! Congrats!!!

[CHAOSTACTICS]

congrats man looks awsome:)

[MAPA]

I really would like to be in your shoes with this tank. So beautifull and tasty in terms of aesthetics. You must have a lot of sensivity.

One question aside - ho do you exactly know which amount of water did you drained from the sump during changes?

[Tiki G.]

Awesome tank! Nice job.

[cward]

Thanks again everyone, the nice comments sure make make me feel like I'm doing something right. But I won't let it go to my head:)

MAPA, my sump holds 110 gallons, but the amount of water in it is about 45 gallons. I have ball valves on my drains and returns, so when I turn of my return pump and close the valves, my plumbing drains about 5 gallons into the sump. This allows me to drain the sump completely so I can clean the detritus out.

[NanoCube-boy]

nice stragety man...

[brettb614]

Chris, unbelievable, you really deserve it! Hardest working reefer I've ever met.
Photos are great but can't really show how large and HEALTHY everything is in this tank. (My nine year old daughter about had a heart attack when she saw it!)
Brett

[renman303]

Beautiful! I can only hope that my setup will look this good over time.

[enzo54321]

Congrat's

[Tyreef]

nice

[cward]

Thank you again everyone. Brett, it's nice to see you here on RC. I would love to know how the tanks doing.

[szwab]

the most amazing thing about chris's tank is how clean he keeps it. even more amazing than that is, if you invite him over eventually he will dissapear only to be found with the algea magnet in hand cleaning your tank! I think I'm going to start having him over once a weeek! :lol:

[NanoCube-boy]

IMO, I hate algae magnets because they scratch my tank, and doesn't clean well. It's only for just a get by cleaning until the real cleaning.

[Dansin]

Great looking tank. Love the table millie. I have started to get back into the hobby again after findind Reefcentral. I have some questions for you on the 120 gal. you had before. I want to start one up so i would like some suggestions. Again great tank.