My 110 Gallon Peninsula Reef Tank

[allsps40]

Aw inspiring colors.

[bagz727]

great looking tank!!! do you dose anything for sps colors? thanks

[sweet ride]

Originally Posted by phenom5

You're being too modest dude. Colors look fantastic.

Very nice tank.

That is one way of taking things out of context! your very kind! thanks for the compliments phenom5!!

Originally Posted by allsps40

Aw inspiring colors.

Thanks for the kind words allsps40!!

Originally Posted by bagz727

great looking tank!!! do you dose anything for sps colors? thanks

Thanks bagz727!!! the only thing that gets added directly to the system that has a direct impact to the color is CA & ALK. I do feed the system twice a week, the direct impact of that in the color of the SPS is always subjective as some people you never need the feed the SPS.

[sweet ride]

I was wondering if someone can shed some light to my bio pellets fiasco.....

been using them since June or July last year with no problem with them... the last couple of weeks they started to clump up, I will mix them daily and the following day they will clump up again... there is some sort of "snot" like stuff around the pellets that keeps them from tumbling.

any assistance is greatly appreciated.

side note, nothing has been added to the system in the last 8 weeks. and at this point in time the corals doesn't seem to be affected.

[dvanacker]

Maybe a nutrient spike has feed the bacteria making them visable and clumping the pellets.....just a guess.

[cjrudy]

Somewhere on the thread it mentions that you used acrylic rods for your rock. I am thinking the same thing for my new 90. Did you have trouble with stability using a smaller rock at the base. I am actually trying to figure out a way to use acrylic rods but yet not have any rock actually touching the sand, possible using some other type of base.

Any suggestions?

[Gills 619]

Dude! Insane, you are a true master! Your colour and coral health is second to none.

[sweet ride]

Originally Posted by dvanacker

Maybe a nutrient spike has feed the bacteria making them visable and clumping the pellets.....just a guess.

so it's been over a month since I last posted about this, and as an update I have removed and washed the pellets and after about 2 weeks they have completely clumped up again.

could it be possible that the pellets have been exhausted?

Originally Posted by cjrudy

Somewhere on the thread it mentions that you used acrylic rods for your rock. I am thinking the same thing for my new 90. Did you have trouble with stability using a smaller rock at the base. I am actually trying to figure out a way to use acrylic rods but yet not have any rock actually touching the sand, possible using some other type of base.

Any suggestions?

sorry about the late reply, to answer your question the rock work is actually fairly stable even with the small rocks in the bottom, I was originally going to use 2 part epoxy to secure the rock work but after placing the acrylic rods, I felt it was secure enough.

some people have actually used acrylic rods as as a spacer between the rock work and the glass. hope that helps.

Originally Posted by Gills 619

Dude! Insane, you are a true master! Your colour and coral health is second to none.

thanks for the kind words Gills 619!!!!

[zaheda]

What 250de bulbs and t5 are you using currently?

[sweet ride]

Originally Posted by zaheda

What 250de bulbs and t5 are you using currently?

Currently am using 2 aquamedic pendant with 250W Phoenix bulb and supplementing it with T5 KZ superblue.

[IPT]

Great tank, nice photography as well. You should come visit in the photography area.

[Verti]

Sweet ride,
I like your rock-work very much!
Could you please add photos of rock-work as was before adding corals in?
I might get some ideas out of it for my rock-work design.

[Dave1NC]

Originally Posted by sweet ride

so it's been over a month since I last posted about this, and as an update I have removed and washed the pellets and after about 2 weeks they have completely clumped up again.

could it be possible that the pellets have been exhausted?



sorry about the late reply, to answer your question the rock work is actually fairly stable even with the small rocks in the bottom, I was originally going to use 2 part epoxy to secure the rock work but after placing the acrylic rods, I felt it was secure enough.

some people have actually used acrylic rods as as a spacer between the rock work and the glass. hope that helps.



thanks for the kind words Gills 619!!!!

Hey man,
I used pellets for a while but never experienced a problem with them clumping. You may want to make sure the reactor is clean and that there is nothing interfering with the flow.

I also sent a message to the manufacturer when I had a problem with mine and they responded back pretty quickly.

Great thread. I enjoyed reading it and admiring your corals .

[Moser]

How is it all going?.

Any issues with the reactor still?

It sounds like bacterial slime in the reactor, so look for a nutrient source or slow flow.
Eg reactor outflow, pump.
Dead livestock.
Disturbed sandbed
Even old carbon. I had it disintegrate in my tank causing a massive bacterial bloom.

On another note, can you give us some photos of your sump system please?
You mentioned Chaeto. Where do you have it, how much light etc.
Vol of pellets.
How do you keep your sand so clean?.. Etc

Thanks for showing us a great system.
Mo

[agcneves]

Hi sweet ride,
Tank very very beautiful and great aquascaping for SPS!
Your pictures are Insane. Professional.
Is the lens of 100 mm by Canon?
Continue posting the pictures, please!

Best Regards

[sweet ride]

Originally Posted by IPT

Great tank, nice photography as well. You should come visit in the photography area.

Thanks for the compliments IPT!!! will definitely check it out.

Originally Posted by Verti

Sweet ride,
I like your rock-work very much!
Could you please add photos of rock-work as was before adding corals in?
I might get some ideas out of it for my rock-work design.

Thanks for the compliments Venti! sorry about the late reply, here is your request!

Originally Posted by Dave1NC

Hey man,
I used pellets for a while but never experienced a problem with them clumping. You may want to make sure the reactor is clean and that there is nothing interfering with the flow.

I also sent a message to the manufacturer when I had a problem with mine and they responded back pretty quickly.

Great thread. I enjoyed reading it and admiring your corals .

Thanks for the compliments Dave1NC! I have since washed and dried the pellets and after 4 weeks all the pellets are all stuck together again... thanks for the other advice, I have just once again washed and dried the pellets again and when it clumps up again I will probably replace it.

Originally Posted by Moser

How is it all going?.

Any issues with the reactor still?

It sounds like bacterial slime in the reactor, so look for a nutrient source or slow flow.
Eg reactor outflow, pump.
Dead livestock.
Disturbed sandbed
Even old carbon. I had it disintegrate in my tank causing a massive bacterial bloom.

On another note, can you give us some photos of your sump system please?
You mentioned Chaeto. Where do you have it, how much light etc.
Vol of pellets.
How do you keep your sand so clean?.. Etc

Thanks for showing us a great system.
Mo

Thanks for the compliments Moser!!! and unfortunately yes am still having issues with the reactor, as per the sump picture, unfortunately I don't have any as we speak, but will try to get some.

As per keeping my sand so clean, most people wont believe but it's primary my 2 clown fish and then the three wrasse, followed by my cleanup crew nassarius, cerith snail.

Originally Posted by agcneves

Hi sweet ride,
Tank very very beautiful and great aquascaping for SPS!
Your pictures are Insane. Professional.
Is the lens of 100 mm by Canon?
Continue posting the pictures, please!

Best Regards

thanks for the compliments agcneves!!! Ya I did use a canon 100mm macro for some of those pictures.

[sweet ride]

Just a few full tank progression shots.

August 17th, 2009



September 3rd, 2009



February 27th, 2010





May 13th, 2010



Dec. 18th, 2010





July 27th, 2011





It’s been awhile since I’ve updated this, so I figure take a few shots of the system before a start changing some stuff. As you can see in the progress shot above I haven’t been having that much luck with the system. Over the last 4 weeks I’ve decided to change over from MH to a full T5 Lighting as a result I’ve had a few casualties some small frag, and some colonies as seen in the above picture, I’ve also lost significant amount of colors. Am hoping that over the next few months the system will recover in its glory days!

[Acronic]

eesh, I feel your pain, only a little worse. I just moved my system 3 weeks ago and lost absolutly everything but a hermit crab while I slept due to a heater malfunction. stunk up the house to the high heavens. Your tank will come around, tangs look fat and healthy!

[my Reef]

Aw that's su k.

[zaheda]

Did the np pellets cause the system to go downhill? You had so beatifull colours, why change to t5. Good luck on you tank, this is one of my ll time favourite tanks and just thinking of not using those np pellets on my tank.

[sweet ride]

Originally Posted by Acronic

eesh, I feel your pain, only a little worse. I just moved my system 3 weeks ago and lost absolutly everything but a hermit crab while I slept due to a heater malfunction. stunk up the house to the high heavens. Your tank will come around, tangs look fat and healthy!

Sorry to hear about your losses. hopefully your house doesnt smell anymore! I've done that all once also, I practically boil the aquarium with the faulty heater, the good thing is that it was only a small fresh water setup.

Originally Posted by my Reef

Aw that's su k.

it does, I just hope the system recovers completely.

Originally Posted by zaheda

Did the np pellets cause the system to go downhill? You had so beatifull colours, why change to t5. Good luck on you tank, this is one of my ll time favourite tanks and just thinking of not using those np pellets on my tank.

Thanks zaheda! I wouldn't blame the np pellets at all as I've been running this for over a year now..... and I will continue to run them as I still see alot of benefits with running them.

I've always wanted to try out a complete T5 setup as I've seen some great results with them.

I was forced to switch to the T5 fixture as one of the UV glass on the MH DE broke and I could not find a replacement glass fast enough.

[Gills 619]

Hi sweet ride. How is the tank doing. Has it recovered. Please give us an update.

[sweet ride]

Just a quick update, after almost a month of a lot of TLC, I think the system is staring to turn around fingers crossed. The basic issues like RTN, STN, and a lot of burnt tips is staring to subside. I have finally pulled the plug on the bio pellets after having to clean and dry them for I can't even remember how long! for the time being I will start dosing vodka again.

I think the corals are staring to adjust to the switch from the MH to T5. I've been playing around with the bulb combo almost week after week. at this point in time I have 1 14k, 1 fiji purple, 1 actinic and 3 blue or 20K bulb. The photo period is now at 6 hours and 10 hours. thanks for everyone help and input on this part!

am still having issue with keeping the PH just over 7.7 day time and 7.5 night time (Pinpoint & RKL) I've restarted dosing kalk as part of the ATO. I also have a fuge in reverse photo period. Am also battling HA due to the coral die off, this are most visible in burnt tips so am manually removing them for the time being and hope that those tips will re-grow again and choke the heck out of all the HA!

I have yet to added any new live stock to the system, but a couple of notable SPS that I lost and will be replacing once am confident that the system is 100% up and running again they are Strawberry shortcake, blue tort, ice fire, karl kadlight.

Anyways enough chit-chat for now here are a few updated pics, and just for comparison pics from last December, one day how I want the system to look again.

Aug. 22nd, 2011







Dec. 18th, 2010

[Bello]

Seriously SWEET!!

[bagz727]

how i wish my sand was that white!!