Tank of the Month - August 2004 - Page 2

rjwilson37 · 08/05/2004, 12:32 PM

Your tank is awsome!

I love the zoanthid's and ricordea's and have that going on the right side of my tank as well as some mushrooms. I have a few LPS down in the sand and am still pondering how to complete the left side of my tank.

Does anyone give you any slack about the amount of fish you have in a 65g tank? I love alot of fish and think it really adds more life and color to a reef tank, but I do get alot of slack from time to time.

Boomerblaster8 · 08/05/2004, 12:37 PM

breathtaking....

Where in the world to you purchase all of your corals? Do you make a lot of on line orders? That tank is gorgeous. By far the BEST TOTM on RC to date. You should be proud of your work, and your eye for the hobby. Congrats!

Sumo2 · 08/05/2004, 01:10 PM

Archie Luz

I've been studying every single tank of the month issue on Reef Central and they always seem to get better and better. But, when I saw yours, no stony coral reef tank can hold a light to this beautiful arrangement of zoanthids and ricordia. My congratulations. It is perfect!!!!!!!!! The beauty you have attained is undescribeable (spelling?) You have to see to believe and I believe. I'm so jealous. I have always been partial to zoanthids and ricordia but always seem to get stuck with green or brown. Great photos - you seem to have perfected both.

Best regards,

doRee · 08/05/2004, 01:31 PM

OMG!!!!

That is absolutely the most beautiful tank that I have ever seen! I too would like to know where you get your corals? I love the ricordeas, STUNNING!! I spent a few minutes just staring in AWWW. Great work on the tank.

archie · 08/05/2004, 01:41 PM

Wow. Thanks to everyone for your wonderful comments. Please bear with me as I try to address any questions you have regarding my reef tank. You've all had a part in the creation of this reef tank in one way or another. Definitely the reason that Reef Central is such a great forum.

JumboShrimp: I'll try to post more xenia pics. You can see the Fiji Pom Pom in the left section image.

Mrbeachbum2: The sandbed specifics are listed under the Filtration section of the article. I have been successfuly using DSBs in different tanks. I follow the work of Dr. Ron Shimek, and believe that his studies have led the hobby in the right direction. The skimmer is a Euroreef ES5-2. Although I find that softies generally don't require as pristine water qualities as SPS, my heavy bio-load dictated the inclusion of a skimmer.

frankberr: Please keep at it. This hobby is very rewarding, as long as you can find enjoyment in the challenges of providing the best possible home for reef creatures. I'll be glad to help you out in any way I can. Perhaps a trip to Garden City may be in order.

MUCHO REEF: Your tank was the inspiration to start up this one. I'm forever grateful of your magnificent article last August. Your posts have always been informative. I can only hope to be as helpfull to others as you have been to me.

kmc: When rics or zoos come into contact with one another, it is seldom fatal, unlike SPS. I found myself constantly worried about acros growing or falling on top one another. I'm sure many here have found themselves, flashlight in hand, inspecting their SPS tanks in the middle of the night.
Also the calcium/alkalinity uptake of softies is much lower than stonies. Therefore, less monitoring of those two components. I now find that I spend most of my time feeding the tank and sitting back, marvelling in it's vibrancy.

Labrynth: I've never had any problems with my emeralds. I do feed the fish heavily and really on the scavengers to take care of the excess. Then again this could also be the reason for the extra valonia gowth.

Toledofishguy: No problems with ph, although it sometimes jumps up to 8.2 every now and then. I think that live phytoplankton and rotifer feeding has made the biggest difference in my tank.

Dag/Boomerblaster8/doRee
: Most of the clove polyps I have are from the Indo Pacific. They are seldomly available in bright green, but I have an unfair advantage of being one of the largest importers of marine livestock in Canada.

rjwilson37: The fishload is basically the reason that I have to employ the use of a protein skimmer. Altough, I believe that the DSB has been instrumental in keeping the excess nutrients in check.

page · 08/05/2004, 01:50 PM

vary nice ,archie how much iodine would you put in a 90 gallon with sps and softes. thanks for any help

hopkinkm · 08/05/2004, 01:55 PM

wow, that is awesome,

your tank is exactly what I am looking to do

softies in a medium sized (55gal) with moderate lighting. (2VHO's now, will later add some PC's)

I will have to bookmark this one.

Kory

MKz reef · 08/05/2004, 02:53 PM

great looking tank wish mine looked that good!

Drifters Reef · 08/05/2004, 03:28 PM

Wow, What a great looking tank. Great job..

Do you culture your own phyto and rotifers?

--Drifters reef

bheron · 08/05/2004, 03:31 PM

Archie - I can only echo the sentiments of everyone so far. And its so nice to see a different tank (softie) featured as ToTM. They all started looking the same. Your tank is what I will plan for some day.

2 questions:

- did I count 17 fish in there? that sounds like alot for a 65g. I'm just starting to stock my 75g.

- on my 75g which is FOWLR and some inverts, I figured I didnt have enough light to get nice color from zoos and keep zenia. I have 2 30W NO and 2 55W PC. Not far from what you have?

Great work. Congrats.

Steven Pro · 08/05/2004, 03:35 PM

An absolutely beautiful tank and a perfect TOTM complement to showcase much of what Anthony Calfo talked about in his article this month in ReefKeeping titled, "Thoughts on Reef Aquarium LightingÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ Keep Your Eye on the Prize!" You don't need MH's to have a stunning 'reef' display.

CrystalAZ · 08/05/2004, 03:41 PM

WOW! That is one incredible tank!

You have really outdone yourself there. The colors are unbelievable!

Definitely proof that you don't HAVE to have MH to have an amazing tank.

Crystal

lebowski · 08/05/2004, 03:42 PM

Not bad! I like your collection, I couldn't live without something branching though..

Keep up the good work.

BUBBA9459 · 08/05/2004, 04:14 PM

Now thats a screen saver, If I ever saw one

Beautiful tank !!!

Great pics

onefin · 08/05/2004, 04:30 PM

WoW what a great tank, the colors are wonderful great job.

Deuce67 · 08/05/2004, 05:16 PM

Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! I use to have 1 favorite TOTM. First was Aug 2003 Mucho Reef, and now i have 2! Yours! Great job!

superswimmer · 08/05/2004, 06:11 PM

I think your tank is beautiful!! I love softies. I think its amazing and it shows you can have easy corals and still have a beautiful reef.

alcmaeon · 08/05/2004, 06:50 PM

Wow, the tank is great and the photography is stunning! Archie, what equipment did you use to shoot your tank? It looks like pro work!

John Brancheau · 08/05/2004, 07:13 PM

Archie,

Fantastic arrangement of those softies, I really like the flow, and I am sure Mooch is glad to hear he was a part of the process........

John

Ronald · 08/05/2004, 07:33 PM

Amazing color in your tank! How did you get so many beautifully colored zoos? Did you mail order, from where? I am definately leaning toward adding more zoos to my tank. currenty I am heavy on the large polyp stony corals but have a nice xenia colony and some zoos as well as flourishing choralimorpharians (blue orange and green, a few blues have purple stripes). Congrats on your tank! I enjoyed the pictures.

camarojweed · 08/05/2004, 08:24 PM

Super Awesome tank! Great job, and very deserving of TOTM!!!

If I might ask, what kind of camera was used to photograph the tank, there are some amazing close up shots!

Jason

minfinger · 08/05/2004, 08:26 PM

Very nice tank and congradulations.

You got me thinking about something. With so many people out there that have these tanks setup with all these color morphs of Zoos and Color morphs of that, has any one ever had a color morph created within there tank?

Now I'm not talking about when you buy a Zoo at the LFS and take it home and now it's a different color. Duh that's do to the lights. I'm also not talking about the same color getting bright or dark over a period of time. I'm talking about an actualy "new" zoo head with different colors that you didn't put in, buy or ever know about before.

Chondro · 08/05/2004, 08:30 PM

WOW, I love your tank !!!
The mag 700 is the only water movement you have?

kwl1763 · 08/05/2004, 08:34 PM

This has to be one of my favorites. I have a 20L dedicated to zoos and rics and have to say I like it as much as my 135G SPS tank!

Is there any way I can get a hi res copy of that full tank pic. It is stunning and I want to look at it blown up!

archie · 08/05/2004, 09:33 PM

Thanks again everyone for your kind words.

page: I would suggest that you use a good iodine/iodide test kit to see where your tank is at and dose accordingly. I really like Seachem's Reef Iodide as a supplement and their test kit is also pretty reliable.

Drifters Reef: I use Reef Crew's phyto and rotifers. They are Canadian based, but ship all over North America. Check out their website, as it is very informative. I had thought of culturing my own, but that would go against my lazy "low maintenance" attitude.

bheron: Yes, the bio-load is a bit high, but the majority of the fish are quite small. The largest (Powder Blue Tang) will be moved to a 220 very soon and replaced with a smaller herbivore. I find that the collection cup of my skimmer needs to be emptied at least once a week.
I think that I can get by with relatively low lighting because the tank is rather shallow (18"). A 24" tank may require stronger lighting.

alcmaeon/camarojweed: I used a Nikon Coolpix 4500. Not the latest and greatest, but definitely idiot proof enough for me. It was suggested to me as a good mid-range camera (at the time) capable of good macro photography. Believe me, I'm no professional, hence the lack of fish shots. I'm still working on shooting moving objects.

John Brancheau: Flow is exactly what I was looking for in aquascaping the rock and arranging the coral. I also try to envision what the tank will look like when it has grown in.
I've always been a big fan of Takashi Amano's plant tanks and love the overall look of his designs. There is a zen garden-like serenity to his work. IMO, Mucho Reef is right up there too.

minfinger: Very interesting question you've brought up. I've never seen it happen though. At least not in my tank.

Chondro: The mag 700 is my return pump and is also the only source for water movement. A SCWD switches the flow from one side of the tank to the other. I've placed most of the zoos, cloves, and xenia closer to the areas of higher water flow, while the ricordea, are gathered toward the centre where the flow diminishes.

kwl1763: I'll try to post a hi-res image for you soon. I've very recently upgraded to a new computer and I'm currently trying to recover data from my previous one.

08/05/2004, 12:32 PM	#26
rjwilson37 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: West Michigan Posts: 7,104	Your tank is awsome! I love the zoanthid's and ricordea's and have that going on the right side of my tank as well as some mushrooms. I have a few LPS down in the sand and am still pondering how to complete the left side of my tank. Does anyone give you any slack about the amount of fish you have in a 65g tank? I love alot of fish and think it really adds more life and color to a reef tank, but I do get alot of slack from time to time. __________________ Isn't life just wonderful. 29g Biocube Standard Pump Standard 72w PC Lighting Current Tank Info: 29g Biocube Reef Tank

08/05/2004, 12:37 PM	#27
Boomerblaster8 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Pottstown, Pa Posts: 150	breathtaking.... Where in the world to you purchase all of your corals? Do you make a lot of on line orders? That tank is gorgeous. By far the BEST TOTM on RC to date. You should be proud of your work, and your eye for the hobby. Congrats! __________________ Jonathan - Current Tank Info: 20 H: TBS package, 2x65 PC, HOB filter Corals: Trumpet, Blastos, GSP, purple mushrooms, striped shrooms, Ricordia, Rose coral Fish: False Perc, 6-line, serpant

08/05/2004, 01:10 PM	#28
Sumo2 Registered Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL Posts: 2	August 2004 Tank of the Month Archie Luz I've been studying every single tank of the month issue on Reef Central and they always seem to get better and better. But, when I saw yours, no stony coral reef tank can hold a light to this beautiful arrangement of zoanthids and ricordia. My congratulations. It is perfect!!!!!!!!! The beauty you have attained is undescribeable (spelling?) You have to see to believe and I believe. I'm so jealous. I have always been partial to zoanthids and ricordia but always seem to get stuck with green or brown. Great photos - you seem to have perfected both. Best regards,

08/05/2004, 01:31 PM	#29
doRee Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: AZ Posts: 156	WOW... OMG!!!! That is absolutely the most beautiful tank that I have ever seen! I too would like to know where you get your corals? I love the ricordeas, STUNNING!! I spent a few minutes just staring in AWWW. Great work on the tank.

08/05/2004, 01:55 PM	#32
hopkinkm Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: syracuse ny Posts: 81	wow, that is awesome, your tank is exactly what I am looking to do softies in a medium sized (55gal) with moderate lighting. (2VHO's now, will later add some PC's) I will have to bookmark this one. Kory __________________ 2 pep shrimps 1 serpent star 2 ocellaris 1 Algea Blennie 1 purple pseudochromis tons of snails, hermits, brittles and bugs Green rics, Button coral, phylangia, cladacora Current Tank Info: 29 gal fresh, 5 gal s/w hex, 55gal newbie reef

08/05/2004, 01:41 PM	#30
archie Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Toronto Posts: 27	Wow. Thanks to everyone for your wonderful comments. Please bear with me as I try to address any questions you have regarding my reef tank. You've all had a part in the creation of this reef tank in one way or another. Definitely the reason that Reef Central is such a great forum. JumboShrimp: I'll try to post more xenia pics. You can see the Fiji Pom Pom in the left section image. Mrbeachbum2: The sandbed specifics are listed under the Filtration section of the article. I have been successfuly using DSBs in different tanks. I follow the work of Dr. Ron Shimek, and believe that his studies have led the hobby in the right direction. The skimmer is a Euroreef ES5-2. Although I find that softies generally don't require as pristine water qualities as SPS, my heavy bio-load dictated the inclusion of a skimmer. frankberr: Please keep at it. This hobby is very rewarding, as long as you can find enjoyment in the challenges of providing the best possible home for reef creatures. I'll be glad to help you out in any way I can. Perhaps a trip to Garden City may be in order. MUCHO REEF: Your tank was the inspiration to start up this one. I'm forever grateful of your magnificent article last August. Your posts have always been informative. I can only hope to be as helpfull to others as you have been to me. kmc: When rics or zoos come into contact with one another, it is seldom fatal, unlike SPS. I found myself constantly worried about acros growing or falling on top one another. I'm sure many here have found themselves, flashlight in hand, inspecting their SPS tanks in the middle of the night. Also the calcium/alkalinity uptake of softies is much lower than stonies. Therefore, less monitoring of those two components. I now find that I spend most of my time feeding the tank and sitting back, marvelling in it's vibrancy. Labrynth: I've never had any problems with my emeralds. I do feed the fish heavily and really on the scavengers to take care of the excess. Then again this could also be the reason for the extra valonia gowth. Toledofishguy: No problems with ph, although it sometimes jumps up to 8.2 every now and then. I think that live phytoplankton and rotifer feeding has made the biggest difference in my tank. Dag/Boomerblaster8/doRee : Most of the clove polyps I have are from the Indo Pacific. They are seldomly available in bright green, but I have an unfair advantage of being one of the largest importers of marine livestock in Canada. rjwilson37: The fishload is basically the reason that I have to employ the use of a protein skimmer. Altough, I believe that the DSB has been instrumental in keeping the excess nutrients in check.

08/05/2004, 01:50 PM	#31
page Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: canada Posts: 63	vary nice ,archie how much iodine would you put in a 90 gallon with sps and softes. thanks for any help

08/05/2004, 02:53 PM	#33
MKz reef Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 8	great looking tank wish mine looked that good!

08/05/2004, 03:28 PM	#34
Drifters Reef Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Cordova, TN Posts: 27	Wow, What a great looking tank. Great job.. Do you culture your own phyto and rotifers? --Drifters reef

08/05/2004, 03:31 PM	#35
bheron Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Valley Forge, PA Posts: 2,655	Archie - I can only echo the sentiments of everyone so far. And its so nice to see a different tank (softie) featured as ToTM. They all started looking the same. Your tank is what I will plan for some day. 2 questions: - did I count 17 fish in there? that sounds like alot for a 65g. I'm just starting to stock my 75g. - on my 75g which is FOWLR and some inverts, I figured I didnt have enough light to get nice color from zoos and keep zenia. I have 2 30W NO and 2 55W PC. Not far from what you have? Great work. Congrats. __________________ Bryan Current Tank Info: 220 since Nov 2005

08/05/2004, 03:35 PM	#36
Steven Pro Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 9,376	An absolutely beautiful tank and a perfect TOTM complement to showcase much of what Anthony Calfo talked about in his article this month in ReefKeeping titled, "Thoughts on Reef Aquarium LightingÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ Keep Your Eye on the Prize!" You don't need MH's to have a stunning 'reef' display. __________________ Steven Pro, yep that is my real name. Current Tank Info: Twelve 600 gallon tubs located in a greenhouse

08/05/2004, 03:41 PM	#37
CrystalAZ Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: NW Phoenix, AZ Posts: 4,130	WOW! That is one incredible tank! You have really outdone yourself there. The colors are unbelievable! Definitely proof that you don't HAVE to have MH to have an amazing tank. Crystal __________________ SAVE THE BRISTLEWORMS! The BPA reminds you that "Bristleworms are our pals." Current Tank Info: Check out my gallery for lots of tank pics

08/05/2004, 03:42 PM	#38
lebowski Notorious Reeferus Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Chicago Posts: 3,048 Blog Entries: 1	Not bad! I like your collection, I couldn't live without something branching though.. Keep up the good work. __________________ "Only the pure in heart and soul can make a good soup!" - Ludwig Van Beethoven

08/05/2004, 04:14 PM	#39
BUBBA9459 Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cincinnati Posts: 353	Now thats a screen saver, If I ever saw one Beautiful tank !!! Great pics

08/05/2004, 04:30 PM	#40
onefin Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Hurricane Alley Posts: 1,621	WoW what a great tank, the colors are wonderful great job. __________________ "Click my little red house to visit my Lagoon" Current Tank Info: 125 gallon /40gallon Ecosystem

08/05/2004, 05:16 PM	#41
Deuce67 Registered Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: CO Posts: 3,750	Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! I use to have 1 favorite TOTM. First was Aug 2003 Mucho Reef, and now i have 2! Yours! Great job!

08/05/2004, 06:11 PM	#42
superswimmer Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 535	I think your tank is beautiful!! I love softies. I think its amazing and it shows you can have easy corals and still have a beautiful reef.

08/05/2004, 06:50 PM	#43
alcmaeon Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: SF Bay Area Posts: 94	Wow, the tank is great and the photography is stunning! Archie, what equipment did you use to shoot your tank? It looks like pro work!

08/05/2004, 07:13 PM	#44
John Brancheau Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Wyandotte, Michigan Posts: 527	Archie, Fantastic arrangement of those softies, I really like the flow, and I am sure Mooch is glad to hear he was a part of the process........ John __________________ If it is worth doin, be patient and do it right.... Current Tank Info: 180 in wall,Bubble King 300,Red Dragon 6.5 , Schuran, Jetstream 1, 100 gallon sump/ fuge,Tunze 6100,6080, 4 250 RO III's, Hamilton 14ks with 2- 6 foot vho's,sps dominated with some clams..

08/05/2004, 07:33 PM	#45
Ronald Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Buffalo, NY Posts: 165	wow Amazing color in your tank! How did you get so many beautifully colored zoos? Did you mail order, from where? I am definately leaning toward adding more zoos to my tank. currenty I am heavy on the large polyp stony corals but have a nice xenia colony and some zoos as well as flourishing choralimorpharians (blue orange and green, a few blues have purple stripes). Congrats on your tank! I enjoyed the pictures.

08/05/2004, 08:24 PM	#46
camarojweed Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Chesapeake, VA Posts: 1,648	Super Awesome tank! Great job, and very deserving of TOTM!!! If I might ask, what kind of camera was used to photograph the tank, there are some amazing close up shots! Jason

08/05/2004, 08:26 PM	#47
minfinger Premium Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Summerville, SC Posts: 2,724	Very nice tank and congradulations. You got me thinking about something. With so many people out there that have these tanks setup with all these color morphs of Zoos and Color morphs of that, has any one ever had a color morph created within there tank? Now I'm not talking about when you buy a Zoo at the LFS and take it home and now it's a different color. Duh that's do to the lights. I'm also not talking about the same color getting bright or dark over a period of time. I'm talking about an actualy "new" zoo head with different colors that you didn't put in, buy or ever know about before.

08/05/2004, 08:30 PM	#48
Chondro Premium Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: MD Posts: 196	WOW, I love your tank !!! The mag 700 is the only water movement you have?

08/05/2004, 08:34 PM	#49
kwl1763 Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 877	This has to be one of my favorites. I have a 20L dedicated to zoos and rics and have to say I like it as much as my 135G SPS tank! Is there any way I can get a hi res copy of that full tank pic. It is stunning and I want to look at it blown up! __________________ Keith Click the red house above to visit my thread Current Tank Info: 450G SPS tank and a 20G RBTA/Clown tank

08/05/2004, 09:33 PM	#50
archie Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Toronto Posts: 27	Thanks again everyone for your kind words. page: I would suggest that you use a good iodine/iodide test kit to see where your tank is at and dose accordingly. I really like Seachem's Reef Iodide as a supplement and their test kit is also pretty reliable. Drifters Reef: I use Reef Crew's phyto and rotifers. They are Canadian based, but ship all over North America. Check out their website, as it is very informative. I had thought of culturing my own, but that would go against my lazy "low maintenance" attitude. bheron: Yes, the bio-load is a bit high, but the majority of the fish are quite small. The largest (Powder Blue Tang) will be moved to a 220 very soon and replaced with a smaller herbivore. I find that the collection cup of my skimmer needs to be emptied at least once a week. I think that I can get by with relatively low lighting because the tank is rather shallow (18"). A 24" tank may require stronger lighting. alcmaeon/camarojweed: I used a Nikon Coolpix 4500. Not the latest and greatest, but definitely idiot proof enough for me. It was suggested to me as a good mid-range camera (at the time) capable of good macro photography. Believe me, I'm no professional, hence the lack of fish shots. I'm still working on shooting moving objects. John Brancheau: Flow is exactly what I was looking for in aquascaping the rock and arranging the coral. I also try to envision what the tank will look like when it has grown in. I've always been a big fan of Takashi Amano's plant tanks and love the overall look of his designs. There is a zen garden-like serenity to his work. IMO, Mucho Reef is right up there too. minfinger: Very interesting question you've brought up. I've never seen it happen though. At least not in my tank. Chondro: The mag 700 is my return pump and is also the only source for water movement. A SCWD switches the flow from one side of the tank to the other. I've placed most of the zoos, cloves, and xenia closer to the areas of higher water flow, while the ricordea, are gathered toward the centre where the flow diminishes. kwl1763: I'll try to post a hi-res image for you soon. I've very recently upgraded to a new computer and I'm currently trying to recover data from my previous one.