Tank Of The Month - March 2008

[MattCollins]

Hi Brian,

Just a quick question regrading your MH on times, down here in Australia and on many other TOTM's they run there MH for nearly double the time you do, but your corals look great, can you tell me how you came to decide on running them for only a short period compared to the usual.

Many Thanks,

Matt (OZBOY) Collins-Leslie

[makoJ]

Originally posted by arammell
Brian,

I love the tank!!! I am setting up my own tank and was wondering if you would send me a picture of your live rock structure before you put all the coral and inhabitants in it??? I love the way you and your wife set it up!!!
arammell@gmail.com

Thanks Andrew

this is the best one I have to show the rock work as I didn't have much time to wait between getting the rock up and putting the corals in lol

[makoJ]

Originally posted by Dale Christian
Very impressive! I'm in College Station and always looking for new resources, so I was wondering if you could recommend suppliers in the Austin area, or did you get all of your coral online.

Also check out Kingfish Aquariums too when your in Austin they have a really cool store with nice coral and fish. You may have to give them a call before you show up though as I don't remember their schedule.

[makoJ]

Originally posted by MattCollins
Hi Brian,

Just a quick question regrading your MH on times, down here in Australia and on many other TOTM's they run there MH for nearly double the time you do, but your corals look great, can you tell me how you came to decide on running them for only a short period compared to the usual.

Many Thanks,

Matt (OZBOY) Collins-Leslie

I did a lot of reading on shorter photo periods as well as did some experimenting on my previous tanks with short MH periods.

On my last tank I went from running my MH's for 10hrs a day to 5 hours a day and studied a few of my faster growing corals to see how it would affect them. After 5 months on a shorter cycle I saw no difference in growth or color so I kept them on the shorter cycle. So when I set up this tank I just followed what was working on my last tank and it seems to do just fine.

[melev]

- While posting the correct name of the store for you, I proceed to create a typo of my own. I should stay out of your thread.

"I think he meant," is what I should have typed.

[dragonets]

woa..., awsome..
I want 1 too.. hehe..

[stunreefer]

Awesome tank man! The colors on your SPS really, really POP!

[Dudester]

Great write-up Brian (and Christina, I'm sure). The description of the move process nicely sets this TOTM article apart from the others, and rightfully so. I can't wait to see the tank again when you have your new MH configuration. I've said it to you in person, but it's worth repeating ... Congratulations to you and Christina. You two are local heroes and assets to the hobby.

[makoJ]

Thanks dragonets, stunreefer!

Originally posted by Dudester
Great write-up Brian (and Christina, I'm sure). The description of the move process nicely sets this TOTM article apart from the others, and rightfully so. I can't wait to see the tank again when you have your new MH configuration. I've said it to you in person, but it's worth repeating ... Congratulations to you and Christina. You two are local heroes and assets to the hobby.

Thanks so much Mike! lol I don't know if we are hero's, I'm not wearing tights LOL

[KingfishJohn]

That's JUST what we need... Brian running around in his fast car in matching blue with white racing stripes tights!

PS: I've just come up with a new rule for my store... no reefers wearing superhero tights haha

[FunkieReefJunkie]

I was so happy to see you made TOTM Brian! It's been fun following your tank thread. Pretty picture after pretty picture. Now you can put away your scraper and siphon hose and set back and enjoy your fruits of labor.

[manosdr]

Beautiful tank, congrats Brian...

[hefeweizan]

Beautiful TAnk!!! Congrats on TOTM!!!

What metal halide bulbs are you using?

Mike

[psteeleb]

great looking tank Brian. It looks better in person then the pictures, but great pictures also.

[dailydriven911]

Beautiful tank one of the best out there for sure!

[makoJ]

Originally posted by KingfishJohn
That's JUST what we need... Brian running around in his fast car in matching blue with white racing stripes tights!

PS: I've just come up with a new rule for my store... no reefers wearing superhero tights haha

I thought Kingfish sold tights LOL

Originally posted by FunkieReefJunkie
I was so happy to see you made TOTM Brian! It's been fun following your tank thread. Pretty picture after pretty picture. Now you can put away your scraper and siphon hose and set back and enjoy your fruits of labor.

Thanks! lol I tried to put the scraper down but I can't LOL

Originally posted by manosdr
Beautiful tank, congrats Brian...

Thank you!

Originally posted by hefeweizan
Beautiful TAnk!!! Congrats on TOTM!!!

What metal halide bulbs are you using?

Mike

Thank you, I'm now running a mix of Reeflux 10k's and Radiums before I was just running all Reeflux 10k's

Originally posted by psteeleb
great looking tank Brian. It looks better in person then the pictures, but great pictures also.

Thanks! and it was nice meeting you the other day

Originally posted by dailydriven911
Beautiful tank one of the best out there for sure!

Thank you

[riccardopist.]

great tank..

[NanoCube-boy]

makoJ,

What you meant by "pump have check valve on it"? Does that mean once it stop pump, the pump closed the ___?

Humidities aren't the issue, but what about the evaporation from the salt? I heard electronic can't be too close to saltwater tank because it can damage. Can it damage your laptop? How would you download your water parameter from your auto controller? Does it test the water too? What type of test does your laptop download?

[makoJ]

Thanks riccardopist!

Originally posted by NanoCube-boy
makoJ,

What you meant by "pump have check valve on it"? Does that mean once it stop pump, the pump closed the ___?

Humidities aren't the issue, but what about the evaporation from the salt? I heard electronic can't be too close to saltwater tank because it can damage. Can it damage your laptop? How would you download your water parameter from your auto controller? Does it test the water too? What type of test does your laptop download?

The check valve closes once the pump is off as the flapper valve inside of it closes. looks like this


It is a cheap laptop which you can find for less than a $100 on ebay so I really don't care if it gets damaged but being in the tank room has never hurt it.

Controller is hooked up to the tank with probes and the laptop is hooked to the controller. This controller can show the temperature of the tank as well as the ph/orp and a few other things if I hooked them up. It keeps a log of all of these parameters and I can download the charts to see how they change over the day(s) or week(s) or year(s).

[NanoCube-boy]

MakoJ,

That's a cool check valve. Well if it breaks, you keep spending a bill everytime, that's sounds like a lot of money. Then again, you sound like you are a rich guy. haha Thanks for answering.

[makoJ]

I don't think it will break it was in there for a year and no problems so I doubt it will affect it if it hasn't happened by now lol

[NanoCube-boy]

cool. haha

[Blacksun]

Congrats

The tank is BEAUTIFUL!!!

[Energy]

Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful. Your colors are amazing. Well deserved honor- Congrats!

[upsetter]

Top notch!! Just beautiful!! You guys are doing a great job. With all those acros, what is your dipping routine against AEFW? What products do u use, for how long etc & do u lose any color post dip? I lost all my acros about a year ago to AEFW. Have come back with a bigger tank now & I'm adding all my montis, stylos, poccis etc before any acros & just want to have the best plan for when I do start adding them. Of the online vendors u use, are there any u can recommend or NOT recommend regarding pest issues? Although I do realize it's the hobbyist's responsibility in the end. Again-- GREAT TANK!!!