http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1250487640

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1250487659

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1250487675

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1250487690

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1250487706

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1250487723

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1250487798

And finally, this is what the tank looks like in my haus.

from the living room..
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1250487870

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1250487969

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1250488129

from the dining room..
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1250487887

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1250487924

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1250487950

from the stairs..
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1250488001

from the foyer..
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1250488029

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1250488054

Fantastic….fabulous……amazing…..

Possibly a dumb question, but keeping in mind Im still only setting up my first ever SW tank, which of the corals in this latest post of pics are SPS?

Also, what special requirements do SPS need? Im trying to figure out if, after my tank has a few months to develop, I can get some SPS corals?

I have an coralife aqualight pro with three 250W MH and four 96W blue actinics along with moon lights.

I do not have a UV sterilizer or calcium reactor yet. Are those required? Let me know what else SPS needs including dosing if any?

haha, also, on the first post of this page in the last picture, what is the black squiggly worm swimming away from your coral thats over top of the white rock? Im sure its nothing but just funny it got in the shot :razz:

It is probably a piece of poo :-)

Pics #1, 2, 4, 5 and 7 are SPS. SPS stands for Small Polyp Stony corals. This means they have a hard calcium skeleton with small polyps which extend out from skeleton. If you look closely at them you can see their tiny little polyps. LPSs are Large Polyp Stony corals, like in picture #3, where they have a calcium skeleton as well but their polyps are much much larger :-)

Your light fixture will be sufficient for growing SPS. However, light isn't the only factor. They also need very clean and well skimmed water so investing in a good quality skimmer is a must (in my opinion; others may disagree). Lots of people dose chemicals, I do not (yet). Nor do I use a Calcium Reactor but lots of people do. I do not use a UV sterilizer either, although some people swear by them. Are they required? Well, that depends who you talk to :-) They are not required for me, but some may feel they are required. Maintaining a proper temperature, salinity, PH, alkalinity, all very important as well.

It is gorgeous! I love your house lay out too. What amazing job you have done it is just
incredible.

Definitely a beauty. I like the choice of white on the stand & hood. What type of paint/finish is that? And you've also decided to have the light fixture above the canopy? Kind of a neat idea too, but would you care to elaborate on the reason behind that decision? I realize it's a fixture not a retro light set up, but it does throw a lot of light into the room the way you have it set up.

Love the monster on your couch. We have an Eric and a Beth living on ours.

hehe, thanks :-)

The canopy is painted in a glossy enamel from a spray paint can :-) The stand doors/skin is an Ikea cabinet door "Abstrakt" that was already painted and finished in a smooth high gloss finish.

Actually there quite a few reasons why I went with this design for the canopy and light combination.

1. I wanted to be able to remove the top easily to gain access to the tank for maintenance. I can just pull the light off, then the canopy. Neither are very heavy. I would not have minded hanging the light if I didn't have a two story vaulted ceiling over the tank :-)

2. I also wanted to vent the heat from the tank out the top of the canopy. There are a lot of canopy designs where the light is right inside the canopy and it is completely enclosed. With that design you typically have to install fans or something to help vent the heat. Well, with this design there are lots of avenues for heat ventilation. I did install vent holes on either end of the canopy in case I too needed to install fans for extra air flow but because the top is completely open, it seems enough heat is escaping out the top and I have not had any heat issues with my tank.

3. Having the light sit outside and on top of the canopy also helps to keep the light fixture itself cool. This should help prolong the life of the fixture and bulbs.

4. The lights are high enough away from the surface of the water as to prevent splashing onto the light and developing salt creep. I hate cleaning out light fixtures and with this design I only have to wipe the glass every few months instead of every few days or weeks even.

Agreed it does produce a bit of light spill but not as much if you see it in person. The camera is very light sensitive so it exaggerates that light spill more than what you actually see. In the end it is no different than if you hung the light from the ceiling which many people seem to like to do as well :-)

We found Kenji at a fair in Cabbage Town a couple of years ago. He was hiding in a box of "one of a kinds" with a bunch of other Monsters :-)

Brains and Brawn
 

Got the brains of my Reef operations up and running. Here she is, the Profilux Plus EX II. Apparently I have a Salinity alarm..

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1251665977

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1251666012

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1251666031

And here's what all the electrical looks like. A bit of a mess right now but once I'm happy with the connections I will tie everything up neat and tidy.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1251666089 .. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1251666106

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1251666136 .. http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1251666164
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1251666222

There is also an acrylic panel that separates the sump/water top off section from the electrical section. I took it out to take these photos.

And here's a laundry list of what the Proflilux does for me today..

* It monitors Salinity, pH, Temperature, Water level of my top off reservoir, and ORP (once the probe arrives),

* It controls and times my lights (Actinics and Halides and Refugium light), oh and moon lights (once they arrive). Will have moon lights programmed on a standard moon cycle.

* Keeps my temperature in whatever range I want. Currently it hovers between 78 and 80 degrees F. If it drops below 78, my heaters switch on. Once it hits 79, heaters switch off. No more worry about stuck heaters! If the temp raises to 81, these bad boys kick in..

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1251666571
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1251666590

* The controller is plugged into an old router that I hacked up to turn into a wireless digital bridge. You can actually get a wireless adapter for the profilux but it was too expensive, so I made one from the old router. I have email alerts set up to email me every 4 hours with the current stats of the tank (lights, probe readings, etc..). There is also an automatic email sent whenever a measured value is outside of and acceptable range. Temp too high, I get an email, temp too low, I get an email, water in auto top off too low, I get an email! This fall I plan on working on a native iPhone app to monitor and control the profilux from my iPhone!

* Tunze controll! I have a couple of Tunze 6105s (one I bought new and one I bought used). With a couple of dedicated cables plugged into the profilux I can control both tunze just like the dedicated Tunze controller. Currently I have my two powerheads on an opposing sinus wave. They go from 20% power to 100% in 15 seconds on opposite cycles. At night the powerheads are cut down to half power.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1251667767

Future: I plan on getting a dosing pump to hook up to the profilux.

Here are some scenes from the reef..

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3496/...e6eeed38_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2630/...44285466_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3527/...28487a34_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2559/...2172686f_o.jpg

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http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2457/...1284b004_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2596/...b75bc74d_o.jpg

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http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2486/...873b0615_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3468/...c7cb43cb_o.jpg

Orange and Green Lobo..
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2605/...08eb83f8_o.jpg

Tri-Colour open brain..
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3465/...872f5db0_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2447/...17783332_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2523/...f62e850a_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2494/...1db0dde4_o.jpg

pink and green open brain..
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2428/...786db755_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2473/...0d0ef468_o.jpg

This was a browned out tri-colour that I found at Red Coral. I saw that it had potential so I took a chance and now it has coloured up nicely..
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2547/...38fe7f5ded.jpg .. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2590/...bd662c2f15.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2460/...feebf497_o.jpg

Purple Nana
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3430/...e05632cc_o.jpg

Teal Stag
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2480/...05d8b738_o.jpg

Christmas Millie Frag
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3428/...7cc96dbf8a.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2587/...df1770e8_o.jpg

Pearlberry frag
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3449/...31780a35d6.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2530/...d7162bf67f.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2629/...18de3093_o.jpg

love your tank man looks really good . love the floors too im a hard wood man too.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2599/...08534b2e_o.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2593/...f705d456_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2581/...ebd1f48d_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3449/...b00e93ae_o.jpg

Supposedly a Bali-Tricolour frag (but I got it from frag-a-lot so who knows)..
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3523/...f54650db_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3557/...ef61d487_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2587/...a28f9e3f_o.jpg

Kien you son of a... haha lookin pretty fricken nice. Meanwhile Im pumped that I have live rock in my tank and my cycle has started and I got to flip on my lights for the first time over the tank today... haha

Is this a German Blue Polyp frag?


Fantastic Photos by the way.. :D

Thanks :-)

Well, it has blue polyps.. but I don't know where it hails from :-) hehe, to be honest I have no idea what type of frag it is. Could be an Austera ?

If it makes you feel any better, you can't compare my build to yours. You are starting from ground zero, where as I had a major head start (as far as the stocking is concerned). Where you need to buy your rocks, sand, live stock, and build up your salt water and cycle your tank, I didn't (really) have to do any of that. I simply dumped everyone from a previous 90g to the 150 and topped off the water. I kept my rocks wet while I was working on them so there was little to no detectable cycle :-) Anyway, just remember, Rome wasn't built in a day :wink:

Okay, enough with the chatter, more pics!!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2635/...3431b3d4_o.jpg

Acropora Loripes
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2521/...0c96ccdc_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2624/...91e711c1_o.jpg

Yellow and Green Acropora Cerealis
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2530/...0e1c5faf_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2454/...9075d471_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2671/...dd190860_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2458/...01abe774_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3514/...7fbcbdec_o.jpg

Yeah ... ok that's it, I really do quit. Holy crap man. What do you do for a living BTW? I need a better job apparently. :p (I'm just sayin')

Nice stuff, what can I say ... wow, really wow.

I'm a computer geek by day. Company pays okay. I think we might be hiring, do you know anything about computers? :lol:

Amazing photos, with an awesome set up. Looks good.

How about some fish.. (excuse the white spots everywhere, my goby decided that it was a great day to clean the entire sand bed )

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3424/...df783b42_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2577/...167eaa97_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3491/...23027479_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2558/...1220eeea_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3496/...bc329525_o.jpg

Just Tanging around.. (they actually do get along quite well).
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2663/...eca9a7cb_o.jpg

To infinity and beyond!!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2484/...1f500db5_o.jpg

My son's most favourite thing in the tank, the red reef starfish. We have an orange lenckia too but we never see him as he only comes out at night. This guy is out day and night and always on the glass.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3248/...3c85e6e1_o.jpg

man i love this tank. i really love the caves in the tank the first section of rock, i bet the fish love to swim through out that alot. very clean setup, everything was thought through. i love this tank and your photos are amazing, really makes a difference for people who arent there in person. if only i had the money to do this.

I really do love this tank as well.

How are you liking the build quality on the Maristar fixture? Do the reflectors spread the light out enough that it would work on a 32" wide tank?

Hehe thanks guys :-)

I love the Maristar fixture. It is pretty sturdy. I can't see it falling into the tank anytime soon :-) To be honest I am not sure if it would be able to handle 32 inches width. It does my 24 just fine (with the fixture 10 inches above the water). I suppose if you raised the light a little more it would spread more. It is a pretty simple design and gets the job done though. What I don't like are the Galaxy Dual Ballasts. I have gone through two of them now. The first one had one side that only worked for 5 hours at a time. Returned it and got another one. The second one had one side quit completely after a week. I am in the process of returning that one now and just sticking with the Galaxy single ballasts. I have one of those for the third halide and it has worked like a champ since day one.

Thanks, good to know about the fixture and the ballasts.

I'm not sure I would really want to raise the light any higher than 10" as it starts to become difficult to balance PAR and wattage when you go higher.

I've always planned on going with LumenBright wides and supplimental T5 so that is probably what I will continue to focus on. It just would have been nice to get it all in a tidy package like the Maristar.

Ya, there are a lot of configuration factors that come into play. How deep is your tank, what kind of rock work do you have, etc. My tank isn't very tall, just 20" so the light could probably sit fairly without any problem. As it is my sand bed is blasted with quite a bit of light. I could probably grow SPS on my sand bed. I do have some pretty high ledges too, so a lot of my SPS are like 4 to 6 inches from the water's surface. I really do like the neat tidy package though. When I need to do a deep clean of the tank (corners and such) I can just pop off the light and put the whole contraption on the ground while I service the tank. Another thing I like about having the light a little higher is the lack of water splash/salt creep on the lights. I haven't yet had to clean the light at all, still pristine. On previous fixtures where I've had to situate the light closer to the water I had to clean the lights often which was a pain.

excellent work Kien! love the rock scaping and the clean look of your tank.

The other day Kien sold me a nice little toadstool mushroom so I was over to his place to pick it up and saw the tank. Awesome setup, really good looking. Nice work Kien.

Sucks to hear about your troubles with the Dual Ballast.. I had the Dual 250 Galaxy as well on my 75G and it worked flawlessy for the 9 months I had it..

As mentioned.. Very nice tank! :mrgreen:

Ya Kevin mentioned that yours worked fine. I wished mine worked because it was nice to save an outlet with those duals. Just bad luck on my part I guess. Funny thing is Kevin lent me the previous defective one so now I am running both the failed ones on one side (of the ballast) each until my replacements arrive. Thanks Kevin!

Very nice setup and photos are fabulous. I really found some of your techniques very useful and inspirational. I will definitely apply some in my presently undergoing new built.
Cheers!