pics of my new fish/sps reef :)

[Tanu]

Because I just recieved an email about my old tank, I think it's time to update you on the new one

In the tank shown on my website (needs updated, I've sold this tank and
built another one...) I used two pvc-based-structures. One is the pile which
is shown. The rocks are just stacked on the pvd pipe. The other one was a
cave-like overhanging rock. It was built by one large piece of LR as base,
one smaller piece as some kind of 'fill up' to have a higher pile. On top
of that construction a large plate of LR. I just drilled these 3 rocks, and
stuck a pvc pipe in it.

The density in the previous tank great: I even kept a butterfly in the tank quite succesful. It was a C. madagaskariensis. In the new tank, a
130 G, I made some things a little different. I have constructed some kind
of pile (based on the old pile from the old tank), created a grotto and some
kind of fly-over or bow, it depends how you want to call it

Because I have a little more space in the new tank, I added another yellow
tang to the existing livestock, and I added a foxface and a Red Sea regal
angel http://www.tanu.nl/tmp/pygo3.2.03.jpg last saturday. Even the same day, it eagerly ate OSI Spirulina flakes, Duplarin and cyclops, a small freshwater crustacean. It also grazes the rocks.

The last fish I added to the previous tank was a candycane basslet: http://www.tanu.nl/tmp/carmabi2.jpg
I plan to add some more butterflies, and maybe some more algae grazers.
Though I like (love?) sps corals very much, my heart beats a little faster
when I see a beautiful Chaetodon. On www.fishbase.org, some aquarium-books
and personal info from other hobbyists I do research before buying anything.
Luckily, there are some very good suppliers within my reach I don't mind
if a coral gets nipped now and then, but I do mind if certain corals would
be damaged too much. In that case, it's either time to remove the fish, or
to remove the coral.


The BF in the old tank:


Some pictures of the new tank:
, a view through the side glass, the bow is
clearly visible
a close-up of the new pile (the yellow
turbinaria clearly has grown )
overview of the tank

What do you all think about my new tank? Of course, I like to hear kind words, but I also like to hear ideas to improve the tank further...


Tanu

[...Stoked!]

looks great! Im jealous!

[Soccer]

Nice!!! Both new and old tank look awesome

Good work!!!

[mr294]

your old tank was always a favorite of mine, and the new tank looks great as well

[colemanitis]

It looks really good - I love the colors! It looks like you're using a thin layer of CC for your substrate. What made you decide against a DSB?

[smokinreefer]

lookin good!
what are the dimensions are the tank, what kind of equipment are you using, circulation, lighting??

[Tanu]

The tank dimensions are 130 x 70 x 70 cms, or 51 x 27.5 x 27.5". The system is lit by a Aquaspacelight (2 x 150 W german (aqualine buschke) Hqi 10.000 K and 2 x 24 W PC blue). I know, this isn't very much light, and in the beginning I wondered if it would be enough, but it is! Even on the bottom of the (quite high!) tank sps frags retain lost colors and show very nice purple, red, blue and so on. I must admit that the fixture is closer to the water surface as recommended: It's about 6' to the surface


Current is generated by a Tunze Turbelle electronic which pums 4000 L/hour and a small 500 L/h PH.

Water is cleaned by a downdraft skimmer with wooden airstone. The skimmer is connected directly to the overflow, which has filter fiber in it. I change the fiber each 2 days. When the water flows out of the skimmer, it flows through Phosphate adsorber, silicate adsorber and a little carbon. I also use 15 mg/h ozone. Calcium is added by a calcium reactor, trace elements by a 3 channel peristaltic dosing pump. Each day 1 ml of Corall A, B and C (www.grotech.de) is pumped into the system.

The tank is up for only a few months now, but all rock was precured (either in my old tank, or in a temporary holding tank in my living room). There still are some unwanted algae, and I try to stock the tank slowly... Future plans are, like I said, some more fish, and of course more corals

What would you change (aquascape, tech..) if this was your tank?

Tanu

[abraham]

Man, you've got a nice tank! I love the colors and layout.
Abraham

[Duce]

Sweet...should we nominate this as a tank of the month?

[Tanu]

Just saw that I forgot about the DSB: I've thought about adding one, but here in Europe DSB's aren't very common, exept for the Jaubert-systems. I'm a admin of the dutch Reef forum http://www.zeewaterforum.net[/url], and I don't know of any of the members with a dsb. My system is mainly 'berlin', with a few modifications (fish load, ozone, less LR, experiments with phytoplankton) and my results in the past were excellent with this system. I like to experiment though (hence the BF and the angel in the reef, more bristleteeth fish to come!) but I didn't want to try a dsb.

In my previous tank, I neither didn't have a dsb, and still had no nitrates, even with about 22 fish in 220 L of water! Of course, heavy coral growth and agressive skimming with the use of ozone is neccesary to achieve this result.

Further, some friends of mine tried a DSB. The first few years, everything went fine, just like it is described on most US bbs. But, in some cases the dsb fouled: heavy algae and cyano growth, and after some years tissue loss of sps corals.

So, I decided to go the safe way. I'm still thinking about adding a refugium on this tank, but, on the 'hardware side' I try to be at the safe side, because it took quite some effort to get this tank in place, just watch this evidence:

movers placing the tank on a lift (I live at the 4th floor, no elevator)


Tank sunbathing



They broke the front and the side glass, I wanted to keep the tank because of the back- and sidewall, with included pvc tubes, pump chambers and so on


Another reef-freak. We just glued a new side glass, and a new front glass. Front glass isn't ordinary glass, but 'optiwhite' glass, about as clear as crystal The difference is clearly visible IRL


I guess you'll now understand that, except for the livestock, I wanted to play 'safe'

Tanu

[matt_rogers]

Nice tank!
Where in the heck did you get that coral backdrop?
I have never seen anything like that available over here.

matt

[YANATRON]

i too was intrigued by the backdrop! is that natural? how did you do it? you're going to be a trendsetter my friend...


johnny

[Tanu]

The backdrop is made of acrylic sheets, glued to the glass (back and side) of the tank. On the acrylic, pur-foam (used in insulating things when building houses) is applied. A pump-chamber and all the pvc tubes are embedded in the foam. In the still 'wet' foam, a few pieces of LR are pushed, and thus 'incorporated'. Also, coral sand is applied over the still wet foam, thus creating a more 'natural' look.

Here's one of the most actual shots, took this one sunday:

[kozmo02]

looks great!

[matt_rogers]

Nice work Tanu!

[bluereefs]

Wonderfull aquarium Tanu
And we have similar opinion about dsb and play safe theory.
Do you have galery section in yours dutch forum?I would like to see some picture of holland reef aquarium?

[skylsdale]

Great looking tank Tanu! The foam method hasn't really caught on over here, except for hobbyists who keep African Rift Lake tanks. Your turbinaria is fantastic.

As far as suggestions, I would actually recommend not adding any more corals(I can just feel everyone's tempers rise...) IMO, envisioning what you have now, but four to five times bigger, would look incredible. You could have some great stands of SPS that aren't overcrowding each other, but creating some great canopies and overhangs from the LR ridge you have there. It would be great to see your cardinals hanging out in the cryptic areas provided by the acroporas. But, to each his own...

[johnrags1234]

I love your table acros so much. The tank is realy killer too, btw.

[Project Reef]

Bump. This is a very cool thread.

[Leviathan]

Impressive, most impressive

[Tanu]

Skylsdale: the foam method isn't very common in here for reefs either. In planted freshwater tanks and African Cichlid tanks it is quite common.

I won't be adding much more corals I think, but sometimes I see a unique piece, which I can't impossibly leave at the store

I bought the Turbinaria about 7 years ago, as a 2$ piece of about 1.5". In the previous tank, I glued the colony to a reef pile, which is almost covered with this coral entirely. It is one of my favorite corals.

Like I said before, I like to experiment. I also add quite an ammount of phyto, in order to experiment with non-zooxanthellate animals. At this moment, I only have quite an ammount of mysid shrimp and small tubeworms thriving, but I also like to try some 'more', but I take my time..

In order to make it a little easier to keep 'sensitive' fish, I also added a UV sterilizer past week.

At the time I took this pic, I only had one cardinal left, ime this species doesn't live very long, only about 1-2 years. I'm slowly increasing the school back to 'normal' levels. Tuesday, I added two more.

This tuesday I also added a small majestic angel:


The regal died, unfortunately. It eagerly ate even flake foods, but from what i've heard, all regals out of this shipment died, i suspect there was something wrong in the whole route between catch (Red Sea) and arrival at the very reputable store. I recieved full store credit for it, but it still was very dissapointing...

There is a gallery on 'our' forum, which can be reached at

Gallery on Dutch forum

All members can post their pics there, so see for yourself

Tanu

[bluereefs]

Thank you for link Tanu,loots of beautifull reef aquariums .

[SaltwaterSensei]

that back drop idea is excellent!

looks very natural. I'm sure with time it only gets better

[abraham]

Tanu, I want to make sure that I'm getting this correct. Your back ground was made from spray foam insulation? I didn't know that the stuff was reef safe. It's very cool and I'd like to do it myself, but I need more information please.
Abraham

[Addicted Reefer]

Excellent tank, awesome colors