microbius

wow... the rock lifeforms are amazing i am now convinced i must have a salt tank

Terry

ATM - here are the side shots you were asking for.

From left - no flash:



From right - no flash:



Front again - not much change from the other pic above - no flash:



Front - with the flash on:



Totally different look with the tank lights versus the flash. I think the actual appearance is between the two.

I've also had a lawnmower blenny (aka sailfin, aka eyelash blenny) for a couple weeks. He does a super job of keeping algae under control - on the glass mostly, but also on the rocks. Between the blenny & the turbos and my nassarius snails, my cleanup crew has really helped with the brown diatom (almost gone now) algae, and the green as well. I have some dried algae sheets to supplement the blenny's diet when needed. the blenny is really a neat fish - he looks a lot like a mudskipper, if you've ever seen those, and he can hang on the glass with his modified fins. Doesn't really swims - kinda hops around. There are times I look in the tank for him, can't find him, and find him staring at me right in front of me - very well camoflaged & looks like the rock! My wife calls him a walrus, and he does look like it from the front!



That's it for now.

armadillo

That tank looks great but such hard work! Please stop me if I even suggest getting into salt water.

Terry

Yep - it's a lot of work, but a lot of fun too! And before you think about it be prepared to spend a lot of $$$ too! Maybe that'll stop you! I need to get myself under control before I spend my retirement money LOL!

armadillo

Ah well. Nothing new there. I already spend stupid amounts of time and money considering it's 'not even' salt water and only 10G and 15G respectively.

Tom

Looks great. I am wanting to turn my 10 gallon freshwater into a saltwater and have a clown fish and an invert.
Tom

Terry

Wow, I haven't been here in a long time! Hard to believe how much different my tank looks now. I've upgraded my closed hood to a Current Outer Orbit HQI/T5 light fixture, pulled out the skimmer & replaced it with an AquaC Remora that works much better, installed some fans for cooling to avoid a chiller, added a Tunze Osmolator for auto top off, corals, etc. etc. The tank is no longer an all-in-one with one cord - I have a zillion cords, outlet strips, a lot of things on timers to simulate dawn, early morning, full sun, dusk, and night lighting, as well as when cooling fans come on, etc. Also hard to believe how much more $$$ I've sunk into this project. It's a lot of work, but still rewarding. Here's where I'm at now:




Just a couple of my corals:















The corals were doing great before I got the metal halide lighting, and they've grown even more since. Now I can think about getting some SPS or clams without worrying about not having enough light energy to keep them happy.

This is definitely an addiction!

agsansoo

Wow, what a difference three months makes ! Looks great. What's the wattage of the metal halide bulb ? Is it 10K ?

COBettaCouple

yea, the tank looks amazing!

capekate

WOWOWOW... So now I know what they mean by "Live Rock"!! That is an amazing transformation and too think, all those corals and live thingys...( you can tell i dont know much about SW tanks..) were once dormant on the rock itself?? Your tank is beautiful really really gorgeous!

Terry

Hi agsansoo. The 24 inch Outer Orbit has a 150W metal halide (10,000k), 2x24W 420 T5HO actinic, 2x24W T5HO 460 actinic, 6 blue and 6 white moonlight LEDs. The MH, T5, and both blue & white LEDs can all be controlled separately via switches or on timers.

Terry

capekate - not quite LOL. The majority of the corals were purchased. My live rock did come with some live corals on it, and many other small life forms, but a lot of the larger coral types are removed before, for separate sales, or die off during shipment to the rock suppliers, or during the "curing process" of the rock. Mine was unusually good in being fully cured and still having a lot of life on it. But there's a lot of $$$ in purchased corals in the tank - corals can be pretty expensive.

After about 5 months I still find new life form popping out of the rock - new little feather dusters, different types of tube worms, etc. I probably pay more attention to what's new on the rock than I do the fish!

COBettaCouple

yea, live rock is so interesting, i think i'd put as much as could fit in the tank if we did a SW tank.

Terry

If you ever do go SW, keep in mind that a lot of the corals you buy often come on a piece of live rock, sometimes a substantial piece. I've gone from 50 lbs. LR to about 60lbs. now. If I had it to do over I would have added a bit less rock to start, knowing that more would be added with the coral additions later on. But, a lot of rock is good as the rock will handle most, if not all, of you nitrogen cycle, and even keep nitrates at zero or close to it, as the porous live rock, and the substate harbor a lot of anaerobic bacteria that consume nitrates and convert to nitrogen gas. I removed all of my ceramic biomedia a while back with no measurable ammonia or nitrites ever showing up. In SW the normal types of bio-media are just nitrate generators, which you don't want for a lot of corals. It's a whole new ballgame versus FW!

COBettaCouple

yea.. that's why it'll probably be a while until we get a SW tank. we want to be sure to do it right.

Tom

Looks great, good going Terry.
Tom

fishlover1

I really admire your tank it is sooo gorgeous! I would love to see more pictures.

Callum The Cat