Tank of the Month - December 2007

[guill0402]

you really have one of the most beautiful tank
your sps is great and what to say about your fishes

Check your PM

[fastfish]

cedricang - Thanks a lot. After a few tries with locating the pumps in different parts of the tank, I was able to locate the most suitable spot for placing my water movement unit. A set of Tunze 6100 pumps, one tunze wavebox, two seaswirl and two penductors from the return outlet are utilized to create the ideal flow pattern for my system. The water movement circulates in a single direction, directing the detritus to a part of the tank (left lower corner) which received the weakest amount of flow, gradually moving all the waste to one spot. Without much disturbance of the flow, the detritus stays in that part of the tank.

diesel10 - Thank you very much. All of my SPS are placed with a decent amount of space between them, allowing them to grow out naturally in both directions (horizontally and vertically). Most of my corals can "sense" and grow around each other in advance to avoid collision. In a few cases where the corals do come in contact with each other, and a trim is necessary, I slightly trimmed off a small part of the tips or branches. Also, only 2 to 3 pieces of corals are placed on a small rock, so sometimes only slightly moving the rock can help avoid the collision. Since the plating montipora capricornus corals take up too much space and grow very quickly which may result in a restriction of the light, I tried to avoid keeping them in the display. Only a few collection plating montipora capricornus corals are placed at a lower part of the tank, near the bottom. But I do have many montiporas in my prop tank in the fish room. Here are some of pictures showing the montiporas in my collection.

















mark2 - Thanks! Prior the setting up my system, an intensive research was conducted through the forum to find the appropriate equipment. I would recommend reading up the sponsor forum to find specific equipment suitable for your system. Because there are many reviews provided by the members and support by the sponsors, just in case you have any questions. That was how I found the right equipment for my setup.

HaroldT - Thank you for your support!

Dudester - Thank you so much for your kind words.

MTB - Thanks! It is a pleasure to share my experiences with our fellow members.

guill0402 - Thanks a lot!

[lito arangcon]

beautiful tank, any problem with "Ich" how long do you quarantine your fish?

[manosdr]

Beautiful tank, an amazing garden of sps...!!!
Congratulations...

[ckrumbhaar]

Extraordinary tank! While all the Tank of the month systems are beautiful, only a few instilled that complete sense of awe and this setup did that for me. Absolutely amazing colors. I must ask, you mentioned the camera you used as a Nikon D80. What lighting is used for your pictures? It does not look as white as I’d expect the XM 10ks?

[I Found Nemo]

Way to go FF nice to see another "Local" reefer winning TOTM thats 2 back to back

[dlondono]

WOW!!!!

[skylermiller21]

I really lke your tank i was wondering if u could give me a few websites to do my research for my 65 cube....any helo would be thankful....great tank once again......email me at skylermiller21@comcast.net

[paveking1]

outstanding tank . very nice corals

[Frick-n-Frags]

Incredible setup, philosophy and dedication. Bravo.
Maybe the best setup overall that I have ever seen.
Your philosophy may also be the most sound I have ever heard.
I really feel you have designed this tank to run indefinitely.

[dbui]

Congrat! Awsome tank and Corals.
I have a question how do you keep your corals so nice? They are not touching eachother and bleach out? Do you have to trims it all the time? it's look unbelivable in the Pics!

[plancton]

Fastfish, do you have any fullshot picture or diagram of how your light arrangment is distributed, I kinda have the same measurements.

[NaH2Ofreak]

Very impressive tank. Your dedication to the hobby really shows.

I am equally impressed by your personal response to each and every poster in this thread. Way to go!!!

Congrats!!
Dennis

[FunkieReefJunkie]

Fastfish I'm curious about the two t5 actinics running. Once all three of those 10k 400 watt MH turn on can you visually see any blue bleed through? I'm trying to get more actinic in my lighting and am attempting to figure out which way to go about it.

[bromion]

Simply fantastic! I am studying your pictures for inspiration.

[jeweldamsel]

Hi fatfish,

Could you share you experience with the Goldflake angelfish? Is it a hardy fish? What do you feed it? How long do you have it? etc. Thanks.

[steve68]

Sweet looking tank !
really nice SPS.

[fastfish]

lito arangcon - Thanks! I think patience is the key when finding a fish suitable for a reef tank. Since I believe once a fish is placed in my tank, it will be here for a long term, I set a very strict critiria for a fish selection, and I always take the time to find the right fish. I highly recommend quarantining all the fish prior to placement in a tank. Most of my fish were quarantined in my prop tank for at least 4 weeks before they were allowed in my display tank. So far, I have not encountered any big problems with ich in my tank.

manosdr - Thanks a lot!

ckrumbhaar - Thanks you very much! I purchased my first Digital SLR camera (Nikon D80) in July and started to learn as much as I could from the Photography forum. From the initial setup to the present stage, I am only using the XM bulbs for my metal halide setup. Less than 5 pictures were adjusted for the brightness, all the other pictures were taken straight out of my camera after I learned how to adjust the camera to the appropriate settings. Since I am still an amatuer in photography, there are still lots for me to learn.



I Found Nemo - Thanks so much.

dlondono - Thank you!

skylermiller21 - Thanks! I conducted my research through the Reefcentral forum. I believe if you spend time reading up the information provided on the Reefcentral forum, which is actually one of the best places with lots of valuable information and insights that can help you set up your tank.

paveking1 - Thank you for your kind words!

Frick-n-Frags - Thanks so much! I wanted to set up a tank that could keep me busy for at least a few years, and upgrade to a bigger tank in the foreseeable future.

dbui - Thank you! I spent a lot of time searching the local fish stores for corals, finding corals with potential colors and structures. Good maintenance and husbandry is very important in keeping a healthy reef tank. I left a decent a amount of space between each coral when placing it in my system, also I tried to find the appropriate amount of light each individual corals need to keep in from bleaching out or coloring brown. I tried not to trim my corals, because I want them to grow naturally in form, so I only trim when it is necessary.

plancton - Thanks! My light fixture placement is kept very simple as shown in my Tank of the Month article. Three Lumenarc III reflectors are placed side by side parallel to each other, with two T5 supplements in the front. If you need the exact measurement or anything else, please let me know.

NaH2Ofreak - Thank you so much for your kind words!

FunkieReefJunkie - Thanks! My T5 lighting are not actinic, they are actually T5 HO blue plus. I mainly use it for the dawn and dusk effect, I have not noticed any blue bleed from the T5.

bromion - Thanks for your compliment!

jeweldamsel - Thanks! The goldflake angel was acquired around last May. It requires the same level of care as the other angels of its kind, but it is relatively easy to keep and eats just about everything. From my experience, I tried not to overfeed it at the initial quarantine period, until the first fish poop was observed, then I gradually fed more.

steve68 - Thank you so much!

[markreefer]

This is truly stunning. I will strip my unsuccessful 72"x30"x30" tank during the next month and I am now convinced to go with a bare bottom tank. Can I ask if you have any rock sitting on the glass? I guess you now have more rock than you show on the 3 docking stations??
Have you covered the bottom of your tank or is it coraline algae we can see?

[plancton]

I get it, do the fact that you only have 2 t5s on the front give you enough dawn/fluorescent effect?, are these t5s pointing inward or they are a bit in diagonal pointing to the back?

[pattykat99]

WHAT a BEAUTIFUL tank!!
I just couldnt stop staring at all the awesome pictures!! I am in awe at the color variations of your sps's and the pretty fish. Congratulations on winning Tank of the month!! your tank definitely deserved it.

[FVernese]

Very very nice tank. Can you expand on feeding your corals?

Thank you

[LuvAngels88]

GORGEOUS!!!! Outstanding rainbow of colors!! CONGRATS!!

[Reefaquariumnut]

Those tank colors are mind-blowing!!

[tfp]

you've got an amazing system . do you use any carbon?