Quick photo from my phone this evening... Just thought I would update. Tank is sitting pretty.... Nothing wrong at the moment (cross fingers) Temp 78, Zeros in the bads and all parts right where they should be. Lets just hope we can keep them this way. (glass cleaning day is tomorrow.... Missed last weekend )
Would you guys call me crazy if I said I had started planning to totally rework the contents of this tank? I am in the process of putting in an order for 150lbs of Marco Rock. My plan is once I get it cured and clean to take out the majority of the soft corals in this tank leaving only the zoas, shrooms, and a few other small pieces and fragging or selling off the rest of the corals. (Whats kept and sold not yet determined completely) The next step is to rework the rock structure completely. Adding the Marco rock and seeding with what I currently have. The remainder of what rock isnt used in the Display will be added to the rock tub under the aquarium. Then from there its all Stonies. Complete SPS setup with the little things thrown in for added touches. This tank has run for 8 months now and by the time I make this full transfer will be at a year. So far (knock on wood) everything has gone extremely smooth with this tank. I havent tested a single Nitrate since its beginings and all the parameters stay in check. I myself have been amazed at how stable this thing is. So... On that note... what is the opinion of my peers? Do you think I am nutts?
Re: Re: In wall tank build. Yup. Nah j/k. Do it man. I would love to see more sps dominate tanks. Raffle grabber
If you like SPS more than the softies and LPS go for it. It is after all your tank But instead of base rock, why not just get some live rock from me? I've got enough to cover you for sure!
Would love to man but it will prolly be the first of the year before I even get ready to make the jump... Holidays are coming up so I have been shut down till after xmas so.... Unless ya have it till then I wont be of any help. I am just in the process of making arrangments so that when I put this plan in motion it will flow along and not give me any head ache... So far I have been overly happy with this tank... The only thing I am not happy with is the rockwork and I want to go more SPS. I STILL just have the same amount of rock that was in the 75 in this tank... I havent added any. In pictures its good and to a someone else it may look great but I guess its the artist in me that sees something missing every time I look... I will keep you guys posted.
thats cool I can understand that for sure. I love the way your tank turned out btw. I really like the clean look from inside and all of the specimens that you have are NICE!!! once we put the addition on to our home I plan on getting a big tank and doing an island. Said all that to say I want my rocks to look like yours. Maybe a bit taller columns, but lots of sand looks good IMO. And with the big tanks you can still make plenty of hiding places for the little fishies. Can't wait to see it reworked, your tanks always look awesome!! Good luck!
Thanks man... One thing I am having the hardest time with and scratching my head on is that the softies just are not thriving in this tank.. 75 before and just about ever other tank I have ever owned Softies over run a tank but I also kept them at around 10 to 20 part Nitrate.. This tank, I dont know if its just too clean or what but they come out ever now and agian, look great then deminish. SPS on the other hand.. Well... I put a birds nest in it about 3 months ago... This is how that has turned out... That is just one.. My Monties are taking over the back corner and the once long lost acro that I had and thought I had lost has doubled in size and has awesome color... Maybe I am just getting the SPS bug but I just think this tank will produce... almost effortlessly....
I think you are right about the softies. You need a more nutrient rich tank for them to thrive. The setup you have should be as you said great for sps. I think you should make the change but plan to go a little bit slower than just adding all that dry rock. Others have done that and the results are very often far from positive. Not to say you can't pull it off, but why be in such a hurry? Better to be slow and safe rather than fast and starting over.
Norm I agree totally... It will be a phase shif. By no means hurrying. The plan is to get the rock in... Clean it and soak it good... Make sure it is testing zero all across the board before putting the first piece in. Then I plan on putting the rock into the under tub. The big black tub off to the side under the tank piece by piece, slowly. Once I have that rock in there and it has been in the tank for a while then start to move it to the top. This will be a slow process and one I plan on dragging out for while just to make sure. The last thing I want to do is just toss a bunch of rock in and it recycle my tank or jack the phosphates up sky high or something. Like I said, It willl be next year before I even start, I am just trying to get all my ducks in a row and get a system lined out to be as safe as possible.
I have been on this kick about trying to clean up a little around the room... I felt as if I wanted to make it as nice as possible so I have been adding touches like the shelf above for the ballast and today I relocated my RO unit to the space below the frag tank. It was just hollow under there and plenty big enough for it. I never really touch the unit itself until I have a high TDS reading so I placed it under there and mounted my TDS meter on the side. It opened up a good spot for a small cabinet and a little glass shelf I found while out hitting the yard sales yesterday...
I'm thinking of turning a part of my garage into a frag room fully insulated with a small window unit in the summer. Raffle grabber
I love having my stuff outside the house... I only wish I could have went bigger.. But if I had done that a car wouldnt have fit so.....
