Tank pictures

[sphelps]

Just thought I'd post some pictures of my tanks. This is my reef setup.

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/ReefTank009.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/ReefTank042.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/ReefTank040.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/ReefTank035.jpg

[sphelps]

Clam

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Clam.jpg


Front view

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/fish020.jpg

[sphelps]

All the corals and the clam came from Baysidecorals.com (the absolute best place for corals and just about anything else reef)


The fish in that tank include:

50gal glass (upper)

Naso Tang
Regal Tang
Purple Queen Anthias
Mandarin Dragonet
Yellow Tail Damsel

Blood Shrimp

12gal acrylic (lower)

Purple Firefish
Tomato Clown
3 striped Clown
Scooter Bleny Dragonet
Brilliant Red Startfish

The lights consist of a combination of Metal Halides and Power Compacts.

[sphelps]

Here's my custom 38gal acrylic sump:


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Sump2.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Sump4.jpg

http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/Sumpcovered.jpg

^^ that's the sump with it's cover that still need to be finished to match the stand. It's also going to look and fuction as a bench.

[sphelps]

Here's a quick shot of my other tank, it's a 90gal predator tank with 33gal sump.


http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a174/sphelps/90galtank.jpg


Fish in this tank include:

Panther Grouper

Moorish Idol

Koran Angel

Copper band Butterfly

Freckled Butterfly

Dwarf Lionfish

Porcupine Puffer

Sebae Clown with Some kind of anemone (maybe corkscrew)

Cleaner Wrasse

Lunar Wrasse

Psychedelic Mandarin Dragonet

Dragon Goby



Blue Ribbon Eel

Snowflake Eel



Coral Banded Shrimp

2 Cleaner Shrimp (skunks)

[I found Nemo]

Looks awesome:bravo:

Is that regular aquarium gravel you are using?

[sphelps]

Looks awesome:bravo:

Is that regular aquarium gravel you are using?

Yes, in the lower tank. The blue helps bring out the color. Plus I didn't want to use sand because of the acrylic, it would constantly get caught in the cleaning magnet and scratch it.

[Jon123]

VERY nice! you have some delicate fish there, do you have any experiences, tips, do/donts for idols, copperbands, ribbon eels, cleaner wrasse, mandarins, etc?

Jon

[sphelps]

VERY nice! you have some delicate fish there, do you have any experiences, tips, do/donts for idols, copperbands, ribbon eels, cleaner wrasse, mandarins, etc?

Jon

Here's some advice from my experience:



Moorish Idol:

Believe it or not the best way to initiate feeding is with flake food. Other than that I think it’s just luck. My Moorish Idol is a spectacular eater, and eats everything from flake to nori to krill. It’s also the best grazer I’ve ever seen, practically keeping all the rocks in the 90 gal algae free. However the Moorish Idol is one of my newer fish, and has only been in my tank 3 months but has almost doubled in size since I’ve had him.



Copper Band:

It was difficult to get this fish to eat but I did it by buying a live clam from superstore. I just pulled back the shell and broke the joint so the clam couldn’t close up anymore. The copper band finished that off in half a day. After that I removed the shell and placed frozen food inside and placed it back in the tank. After a while it started eating like every other fish. However it seems only interested in meaty foods, such as fresh cocktail shrimp, mysis and brine.



Ribbon Eel:

I got this Eel from Colby (baysidecorals) a few months back, he gave me a deal on it because it wouldn’t stay in his tanks. After getting it in my tank and then reading about it I was very worried, but all I did was constantly keep whole pieces of krill in front of where he was hiding out and after a few days he eventually ate a piece. Now he eats everyday and eats almost everything including flake.



Another thing about this eel is that it doesn’t like to stay in the tank. It definitely requires a closed canopy, and if you have any kind of overflow box you will need to seal it up good. My eel would constantly go in and out of the overflow box and eventually didn’t ever want to leave. I tried many methods to keep him out but would always find a way back in. I finally managed to keep him out with 3 layers of gutter guard (he got through not just one but two layers). They seem to have the ability to squeeze through tiny holes even if it seems impossible. It may also be a good idea to place PVC tubes underneath the rocks to provide a good shelter.



Cleaner Wrasse:

My hardest working fish! He keeps all my fish in that tank completely clean, not only does he eat ich off fish but he’ll eat pieces of sand, food, or other parasites off fish. He’ll also eat a variety of frozen foods every once in a while. I’ve had this guy for almost a year and he’s grown quite a bit and is starting to get a little bit of yellow on his belly. When ever a new fish is introduced the cleaner wrasse will automatically clean the new fish, even if the new fish tries to get away the cleaner wrasse chases it down.



I can’t really provide any advice for this fish; I think my success with this fish is mostly luck. I’ve tried to keep another one on two occasions with no success.



Mandarins:

I believe these fish are fairly easy to care for; all they need is a constant supply of amphipods and copepods. However a constant supply of these little bugs must be established before introducing one of these fish. The biggest mistake I think people Have is assuming they can keep these fish just because they have a bunch of live rock, just because you have live rock does not mean you can produce a constant supply of amphipods and copepods. Before you add one of these fish you should take a look at your tank. If you look close you should be able to see tons off tiny bugs crawling all over your rocks, and sometimes on your glass. And there shouldn’t just be a few, there should be millions. A good population is usually best started by having a large amount of fully cured live rock and live sand. If you don’t like the look of live sand in your tank (like me) it can be housed in your sump. Having a live bed in your sump is very beneficial in many ways especially because you can make it nice and deep.



Purple Queen Anthias:

I believe this fish is going to be a challenge, I won’t say much as I’ve only had her for a couple weeks.

These fish require a constant supply of micro-planktons such as zoo-plankton. For this reason they are said to be one of the most difficult fish to keep, and are not recommended. I honestly was not aware of this when I purchased her and I probably wouldn’t of if I was aware of it. Pretty much every other Anthias is easy to care for and will usually accept frozen foods. My friend has two lyretails and they are doing exceptionally well.

[sphelps]

and thanks for the nice comments.

[Jon123]

WOW! thanks for all the info, looks like you REALLY know your stuff!! Ive been doing salt for about 9 years now, but never had the money to "waste" on delicate species, especially considering the cost of marine fish! Nice to know these fish are actually possible to keep and hopefully ill get the chance to try them someday!

now what to do with these 300 damsels and clowns LOL! :BangHead:

Jon

[briansmyth]

Very healthy looking corals.

And very good photos - could you tell us if you were doing anything special with your camera?

Thanks for the information about your experience with the fish in your systems.

[stinga]

Well I should say those are some real nice pic's you have there!I like the way you see so much tank and they are very nice set ups of rock,etc.Great job on those more rare guys!What's the longest you've ever had one fish?Thax Chris:dance:

[Bayside Corals]

Hey Steve,


Everything is looking great and thanks for the kind words! I like your
sump setup you have built! I will have to come and see it soon.

Best Regards,
Colby
________
MILF (http://www.****tube.com/categories/28/milf/videos/1)

[sphelps]

Thanks again for the nice comments. The camera I use is a Olympus Stylus Digital (4.1Mpix). I actually bought the camera because of the number of different photo setting and features. Not only can I choose the right picture mode for the right light, but it has a flower feature which gives better focus on close ups, for example taking pictures of flowers (hence the name) or in my case corals. I also don't usually use the flash and have the shutter mode set pretty fast. Works great for the reef tank cause it's got lots of light but not so good for the 90gal because the light is not as bright which creates darker pictures, and you can't really use a slow exposure when taking pictures of fish. And a flash is usually out of the question because of the reflection from the glass. Other than that just keep the glass clean, I use "Invisible Glass" by Stoner to clean mine.



My oldest fish (in my possession) is my Naso Tang at just over a year. But to be fair that was basically my first fish. I’ve only had my tanks for just over a year but I’m always trying to learn new stuff. I’ve read about 7 books including 3 atlases on the topic and I’m always researching new ideas, plus I’m always trying to use some of my new engineering skills to improve on my systems. Plus just talking Colby every once in a while really helps you learn a lot about Corals and pretty much anything else.



Thanks again



And Colby, the beers are in the fridge and you’re welcome anytime.