are these all top-down? you don't generally get that sense from the angles a lot of the time.

Most of them, yes. I think there are only 2 or 3 that are not top downs but for the most part they are top down.

Its great to see your tank looking amazing again Kien! I love following your threads (when they're active :lol: )

I think you have perhaps my all time favorite tank. It's awesome.

Great looking pics Kien so thanks for sharing. Glad to see the frags are making some serious headway coloring up. You've got quite a few gems in that tank!

Hi Kien.... Great photo's! You say Top Down do you have something you are shooting through, when shooting top down?


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Do you use a ladder for your top downs?

Haha thanks.

Thanks whipper-snapperDan! :-)

Thanks man! Ya all the brownapora that I picked up from a LFS last fall have all coloured up nicely too. All they needed was a little TLC.

Yup, one of those top down acrylic viewing boxes.

No, I don't have a step ladder tall enough sadly. I use a bar stool.

:biggrin: Honestly... this is one of my favorite tanks too!

Thanks :-). Y'all are too kind. And since we are being honest, the encouragements do help keep things going, especially during the lows and we all have those low points in this hobby from time to time.

Tell me about it. Just about decided to prune the whole tank down to frags last night. :)

NSFW!!
 

My big clam is spawning again. Gross!

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1826f14d.jpg

And yes, I am a pervert for watching and taking pictures.

Really cool kien. I gotta say your tank has always been on the top of my list. Just below mine. Lol

lol that 4-stripe took a serious money shot dude.

lmao!!!

so what happens tankwise when a clam that big spawns? skimmer go nuts? do the corals feed off it?

What a coincidence, my tank sits just below yours on the top of my list too! :-)

The tank gets cloudy for a bit but clears up within a few minutes. I haven't really noticed my skimmer acting any differently. Fish are also kinda oblivious. I suspect my carbon takes care of most of it?

Kien when is the next updated FTS?? :D

April :-). Or, you can come and park yourself in front of my house like Brett does.

;)I need to see that tank in person! Maybe this Saturday...?

Saturday is the reef meet :-). PM me and we'll set something up for next week maybe.

Meanwhile..
 

Clown eggs. Again.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psb44be5f6.jpg

Clams and clowns gettin' bizzee in the tank today, so it seems.

are those blue clove polyps covering your rocks?

Yes :biggrin:

For the most part. Unfortunately, depending on the size of the clam or the spawn, it can spike a tank hard. When I had some large squamosas that would regularly spawn, at least two events ended up being fatal because the amount of goo completely overwhelmed the skimmer and the O2 depleted. I came home to find spawning clams and a whole lotta dead fish.

Best to replace carbon and do a small water change shortly after the spawning stops.

Clams can go for hours. I remember once and 1.5 hours later I was all "is this going to stop anytime soon? Geeze." That's some stamina.

I think this is the third or fourth time that I've notice it spawn in the past 3 years. I did previously read a post that you had made a little while back about your spawning incident so I do keep an eye on everything whenever I notice it. It's just the one clam but he does seem to go on for a while. I do throw in an extra bag of carbon afterward. The extra water change probably isn't a bad idea though.

That is cool kien my clowns wil lay eggs like every 2-3 weeks like clockwork on the lip of my clam.
With that being said i have never had a clam spawn ever. What causes anclam to spawn.

Ya these two go at it quite frequently too. This is the second time this month. Between them and my shrimp I probably don't even need to feed the tank. They are constantly providing micro foods for me.

I vaguely remember that,it's a good reminder. I haven't noticed my clams spawning but my urchins do all the time, is it along the same sort of thing or is clam spawn harder on a tank then urchin spawn?

You can tell when you get a bad spawning, I had a large squamosa clam that turned my 100 gallon tank into what appeared to be a large milk container. Other smaller clams didn't have that much of an effect. Chances are your clam isn't fully matured yet but give it some time :mrgreen: Keep in mind as well that if you add more clams they will more than likely be triggered to spawn at the same time if the original spawns again.

I do have a couple of maximas also but I suspect they are still too young to spawn. I've never noticed them spawn. And ya, my derasa is big but nothing compared to the monster clam you had!

Wow Kein, you got all kinds of cool nice things happening in your tank :)
By the way, the birds nest is doing great, its covered in new growth!!!

My wife posted this in my wall on the today and instantly thought you being the popcorn king of canreef would enjoy.. Ease note the shrimp make this reef worthy lol

Crap forgot the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7UmUX68KtE&sns=em

HAHA that's awesome! I love the Muppets and I have never seen that video!

I've always loved the Swedish chef he is so functionally dysfunctional .....

Herbie to Bean Animal Overflow Conversion
 

So recently I have been reading a lot about this "Bean Animal" overflow that's supposed to be the Bee's Knees. Currently on my tank I employ the Herbie overflow which has worked out quite well. However, I do like to keep current whenever feasible. Plus, I'm not typically the type to knock something unless I myself have tried it. So, this morning I set out to see what all the hype was about with this "Bean Animal" overflow by attempting to convert my Herbie to the "Bean Animal".

First off, I have to say that this was probably one of the easier DIY projects that I have every done on the tank. Possibly the most fun as well. It went so smoothly that I didn't even have much down time to document the various steps (sorry; if you would like detailed instructions feel free to PM me!).

Here is the final result.

For comparison sake here's what the old boring Herbie overflow looks like.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1248427749

And her is the new "Bean Animal" overflow.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7b1d4bad.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...ps38803971.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psc85816c1.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psb300fce2.jpg

Conclusion:

I have to say, WOW!! What a difference this conversion made. Not only does the "Bean Animal" overflow liven up an otherwise boring Herbie/Durso/Stockman but man is this thing quiet. Dead quiet! My Herbie overflow was pretty quiet, but the "Bean Animal" has managed to surpass it in quietness. All overflow noise has been COMPLETELY muffled out. Truly AMAZING! Also, the "Bean Animal" overflow is truly set and forget. Once I set it up there was no further adjustment required. The "Bean Animal" overflow gets two thumbs up and my seal of approval. I will highly recommend it to anyone building a new tank in the future or anyone wanting to update their existing non-"Bean Animal" overflow.

Hahahahaha! The best part of that update was reading the text first by the email notification then seeing the pictures second. Well played sir.

:pound: Love the look of the bean animal overflow :mrgreen:

:lol:

That looks like an expensive conversion
I'm not sure I'm ready to spend that kind of dough right now
Maybe when I'm ready to do mine you could walk me through it ?