Tank of the Month - May 2007

[Skipper]

This month we are featuring Dave Jelley’s (250G) beautiful reef aquarium:



More details can be found here or by clicking on the picture above.

Congratulations, Dave!

If you'd like to nominate a tank for Tank of the Month, click here or use the button to the right.

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[jwccwj]

Amazing,definatley one of the nicest Ive seen!! Glad to see a fellow Canadian with such a wonderful tank. Sometimes getting beautiful livestock is a challange this far north.

[Lo0seR]

I am not one to check water parameters all that often. Honestly, I check my calcium and alkalinity once every four months or so. I find a large system such as mine to be very stable.

Just keep it simple, man I love your setup and simple is what more of us should get back to. Nice display of what you preach, well thought out and it shows.

[Hop]

Very nice! Definitely need to spend some more time and reread the whole article. Nice job!

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Beautiful sps reef! Well done!

[slojmn]

Dave,
Excellent read and lots of enjoyment looking at your amazing collection of corals. Your system is gorgeous .

[Baddi]

sweet tank, congratulation!

[anothermineral]

Beautiful, Congrats! Your coral peg system is a great idea.

[250G]

Thanks everyone!

slojmn - appreciate the comments, I always follow your posts with interest.

As you can tell from my write-up, I try and keep things really simple (easy), consistent and stable.

And yes, chalk on up for Canada! Here in Toronto we are pretty luck to have several really good stores for livestock.

[Oldude]

That is an awesome reef display and setup. It's an inspiration and gives me something to aspire to. Thanks for sharing.
Well done!!!!

[jwccwj]

250g just a question on your 20k xms,I thought the higher the k the bluer the bulb? Is the whiteness of your bulbs because they are XMs or because all electronic ballasts do not overdrive the bulbs giving trhem a whiter appearance.Just asking cause I really like the color of your lighting.

[jenz]

Congrats Dave.... Im glad that most of the pieces you got from us are doing well and thriving.

Keep up the good work.

[KevinFJB]

Congratulations and excellent job Dave - truly a great tank.

[eldude]

Nothing against last month's TOTM but it's nice to see a large tank with a lot of livestock. I can't wait till next month's tank because I never get tired of looking at other peoples addictions, I mean tanks.
Amazing tank this month, just amazing!

[Jocool]

Yes beautifull tank. I almost spilled my coffee though when I got down to the bottom of the read, when it states LONG TERM PLANS--in it he says 'save enough money to finish the basement. Personnally, I'm finding it difficult to understand where the money problem is?

[fishdoc11]

Very nice tank....well deserved

Extremely well thought out system. Very similar in tank size/dimensions/layout to the system I hope to build one day.

Congrats, Chris

[Dudester]

Just beautiful! Could you please elaborate a little more on your coral pegging system? Do you drill a hole into the rock that an acropora is mounted upon, then glue some rigid tubing into that hole?

[tom obrecht]

Welcome to the TOTM club!! WOW, you have a true beauty there!! Keep up the great work!! You are an inspiration for me!

[AS11423]

Gorgeous!

[spoiledcats]

The tank is beautiful, but the poor hippo tang looks emaciated.

[robs fish]

Thing of beauty look so forward to seeing it in person.

Rob

[merseyman]

Awesome. Can you tell me who built the first tank, that fell apart? Curious because I had a starphire custom made form an Ontario builder. Also, if you ever need to sell any of your frags and are willing to ship to San Francisco, keep me in mind. You've some gorgeous stuff.

[NightShade00013]

Tank looks great, love the fact that more and more people are begining to run almost fully natural systems without water changes. Just top off and add back what the tank uses. Very inspiring.

[REHEM]

This is the part that blows my mind:

"I do not do water changes on a regular basis. In fact, I have done only one water change in the past two years."

Beautiful tank!

[250G]

Wow - a lot of posts. I will try and get a respose to most of you!

Oldude - Thanks, inspiration is important, I would not change too many things about it, and am generally happy with it.

jwccwj - I have no idea why my lights are so bright, except because of my ballasts. If I ran Icecap ballasts, I could not personally use 20K XMs (which you are correct are the most blue in the tyically used reef spectrum). I have a Icecap as a back-up ballast.

jenz - You have provided the most insane livestock over the last 4 years in the Toronto area, and there is a reason your business has grown SO much during this time. Click on his little red house - the majority of corals in my system come from ReefRaft. And now you got me interested in aussie acans! See you next week

KevinFJB - Thanks man! If you have any questions about my tank and I am not around, as Kevin. He was over today! His tank is a future TOTM here as well FYI.

eldude - Thanks - believe it or not I have more corals in there, but could either not get good photos, or we just did not have enough space in the layout.

fishdoc11 - Thanks. As I noted in the text, NOT my design, but I mad it work. My original design was better, but what can you do.

Dudester - Coral pegging
- I drilled a ton of 3/16 holes in my liverock when I put it in the tank.
- Now, I drill a 3/16" hole in the small piece if rock I want to mount an SPS frag to, and glue to the frag to the rock
- Insert the rigid plastic tubing (airline tubing from the fish store) in the rock which you glued the frag to, and simply insert in the predilled holes in the rock of the tank.
- As the holes are a reasonably tight fit I do not glue the plastic tubing in, in case I need it londer or shorter in the future.
- I can also remove a piece of liverock and drill a hole in a specific location if required.
Gotta love the flexability this provides!

tom obrecht - Thanks. Be inspired by how simple my process is as outlined in the article. Anyone can do it.

spoiledcats - Yes, I keep the fish thin. The blue tang dominates the daily spirulina pellet however, over the back, purple and tomini tangs.

robs fish - Thanks. Next time you head into Toronto for a shipment let me know.

merseyman - With regard to the company who constructed my tank, well all I can say is that they are a respected as a top quality builder. Maybe chat off-line. Frags will be sold through an online store, shipping to the US is not possible at this time however.

NightShade00013/REHEM - Well about 10 fish in a 270G makes that possible. And I am lazy - but it seems to work. Thanks being said, I will be doing my second water change this week!!!