Here's my tank!

[Salt Creep]

My 29-gallon:
http://home.earthlink.net/~kenuy/tank1102.jpg

A few more pics:
http://home.earthlink.net/~kenuy/1102left.jpghttp://home.earthlink.net/~kenuy/1102myronacro.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~kenuy/1102pavona.jpghttp://home.earthlink.net/~kenuy/1102pocillopora.jpg

Ken

[HoopsGuru]

Sharp tank!

Give us the tank specs!!!! Lighting, etc...

[foofighter]

Great looking tank, Ken
What is that white piece in the middle. It looks like trumpet (caulastrea), just never seen that color. :)

[Pineapple House]

wow...that's a very awesome tank!! One of the best 29 gallon tanks I've seen yet! Keep up the good work!

PH =)

[Salt Creep]

The tank was set up in 1996 (if I remember right, it's been so long!).

Lighting is 4 40-watt NO Coralife fluorescents (I think I have daylights and 50-50's now) plus 1 96-watt PC (6700K). They barely fit on top of the tank, since I haven't gotten around to building a hood yet. I use a glass cover between the lights and the water.

It has a 10 gallon sump plumbed in, along with a propagation tray and an algae tank. See: http://kensreef.tripod.com/TankSystem.htm The algae tank used to have dwarf seahorses but they all got eaten by aptasia when I went on vacation. :cry:

I use a Turboflotor skimmer in the sump, and add Mrs. Wage's pickling lime and white vinegar to the makeup water (about half a gallon a day, added as a milky solution). General feeding (brine shrimp flakes from Brine Shrimp Direct) is twice a day, and the Tubastreas are target fed (minced shrimp, or soaked VibraGro pellets) once or twice a week.

Water current is provided by a couple of MaxiJet powerheads on a wavemaker. One of the powerheads is completely hidden, do you see it in one of the pictures?

The fish load is kind of heavy; I've got a mated pair each of neon gobies, tomato clowns (which live in a green frogspawn Euphyllia) and yellow watchman gobies. There's also a green clown goby , a blue damsel and a royal gramma. Other critters aside from the corals are a mated pair of banded coral shrimp, and a couple of anemone crabs (I don't know if they're a pair but they share the condylactis without fighting), a bunch of serpent and brittle stars, a blue linckia, and a couple of Tridacna maxima clams. A tuxedo urchin, some astrea and trochus snails, and an abalone graze on the algae. A turd cucumber mops up the sand (not a deep sand bed, maybe 3 inches at the most of mixed silica and aragonite sand).

I don't measure parameters much, just specific gravity once in a while to be sure. I have no idea what the calcium or nitrate levels or pH is. I just dump in some buffer now and then when I remember to. Water changes are done by siphoning out detritus from the sump and replacing with natural sea water (at least that's what the store claims it is) about once a month or so, when I feel like it.

Ken

[Salt Creep]

Oh, the caulastrea isn't white, it's more like a pale blue-gray.
http://home.earthlink.net/~kenuy/0902caulastrea.jpg
Ken

[DaveP]

awesome tank! dave :D

[Blodlizrd]

Well... I'll tell you one thing, this tank has given me hope for my 29 gal. I have been slowly working on mine and sometimes I wonder if it will ever look good. Now that I see that someone else has done it successfully, it gives me something to work toward. I went to your website and saw the rest of your system. This is one of the coolest setups I have ever seen. Great job, Ken!

[Dustin]

are those polyps covering the power head?

[Salt Creep]

are those polyps covering the power head?

Yup! I figured that was the easiest way to hide it, and the polyps have grown onto the glass and keep the powerhead in place too. I just have to make sure that the intake is clear; fortunately the polyps don't seem to be inclined to grow over it.

Thanks folks!

Ken

[Dustin]

how did you get the polyps on the PH? I wanna do that. It really is a great idea

[Salt Creep]

It's easy, just take some polyps (either a loose mat or growing on a small rock) and just use a rubber band to attach it to the powerhead. I attached mine at the angle of the nozzle and the motor housing. Then all you have to do is stand back and let it grow. Just make sure the polyps don't shift around until they're able to grow onto the plastic. Once they've spread you can remove the rubber band.

Ken

[Dustin]

how long will it take to totally cover the PH, year, two, five? I cant wait until my tank is up and running so i can do this! I dont understand the whole rubberband issue, do you have to have a colony already started or can u just use some marine epoxy and glue one down?

[Blodlizrd]

That is super cool. It looks tons better than just a Coraline encrusted PH.

[Salt Creep]

how long will it take to totally cover the PH, year, two, five?

I think it only took about 3 months, if I remember right.

I dont understand the whole rubberband issue, do you have to have a colony already started or can u just use some marine epoxy and glue one down?

I used a rubberband because it was the easiest way for me to tie the polyps down in this situation. I don't think epoxy works well for them, you need to create a physical bond on the frag using epoxy. Superglue gel might work better but I haven't tried that with polyps.

Ken

[Irisservice]

Awsome Tank!! Your 29gallon looks better than some 200gallons

[volitan]

Awsome Tank!! Your 29gallon looks better than some 200gallons

Very True.. tanks like that give us with less appealing tanks the encouragement to keep at it..

[Salt Creep]

Thanks guys!

I actually had to remove and give away the condylactis, because it was getting too big and taking up too much room. It was quite a surprise for me to find out that I can barely get my hand in deep enough anymore to touch the bottom of the tank... and it's not because I'm getting fat. Time to prune some of the corals...

Ken

[phistio]

soon, i might be in the condy-giving-away-mood myself...these things are getting gigantic!!! and we're nearly in the same boat...you're 29g, i'm 25g...and i've got 2 condy's

[Samurai]

Awesome tank Salt Creep, I also like the caulastrea. It looks great in the middle of the tank like that. And the idea of covering the powerhead with polyps is very original, but what happens if the powerhead quits working?

[Fiji Live Rock]

I use a Turboflotor skimmer in the sump, and add Mrs. Wage's pickling lime and white vinegar to the makeup water (about half a gallon a day, added as a milky solution). Ken

I have never heard of this tatic being used before? What does it do to the water and the tank? :?:

[reefrunner]

http://www.emoticons1.netfirms.com/images/smackingforehead.gif Double post....

[reefrunner]

I have never heard of this tatic being used before? What does it do to the water and the tank?

Expanding the limits of limewater by Craig Bingman (http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1999/oct/bio/default.asp)

Limits to Limewater...Revisited by Craig Bingman (http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1999/aug/bio/default.asp)

[Salt Creep]

The vinegar seems to work, I can add the milky solution pretty quickly and there doesn't seem to be any big pH spike (not that I've measured or anything).

Regarding the powerhead, I can still remove the strainer to clean the impeller, but if it quits working.... well, I can probably peel the polyps off.


Ken

[vidodivr]

very nice tank, when I grow up, I'll be able to post a pic that nice to...LOL

Vido

[Fiji Live Rock]

I’ve gone on record here and several other places with my belief that limewater is probably the most economical method for maintaining these parameters in a reef aquarium, especially in aquaria with moderate calcification rates.

Well...that would be why I never really heard of it. The people I deal with and myself never really have had that problem so it was never brought up before.

[reefrunner]

I’ve gone on record here and several other places with my belief that limewater is probably the most economical method for maintaining these parameters in a reef aquarium, especially in aquaria with moderate calcification rates.

Well...that would be why I never really heard of it. The people I deal with and myself never really have had that problem so it was never brought up before.

I guess I'm confused. You've never heard of Kalkwasser, or you've never heard of adding vinegar to it? You would certainly not be the only one to have never heard of the vinegar trick, but I would think you would have to be living in a cave in the himilayas not to have heard of kalk. IMO, kalk is one of the best methods for maintaining CA that has come to the hobby, it's old school...but it is still cool http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/w/thumbs.gifhttp://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/w/super.gif

[pete_ra]

tell me how you get your polyps looking like that and how they grow that fast

[Salt Creep]

Well.... I haven't tested the water but I suspect compared to some other tanks mine is a real cesspool. :D I'm not advocating that you keep your tank really dirty but the polyps don't catch food as far as I can tell, and I think the dissolved nutrients in the water helps.

Lots of light and water motion sure helps too.

Ken

[pete_ra]

how did you get that piled up, good use of space!

[Salt Creep]

Everything just sort of grew to fill in the space. Now I have to trim things to keep them from killing each other.

Ken

[pete_ra]

check out mine in rate my tank, give me advice! thanks