Oh Man! Those videos are AWESOME! Your tank is incredible, and I love your rockwork. Well done. :biggrin:

I must say, very beautiful tank. :hail:

you deserve some sort of crown or at least a generous slap on the ass for posting those masterpiece videos! It's obvious to me that before you even had so many beautiful corals you had one hell of a rock pile!

Things I loved the most:

- you took us IN your tank
- the cool porcelain crab
- all the nooks and crannies in your rock made much more visible from above
- overhang heaven!

Man if you're EVER down with sleepovers again...pm me.

:sleep:

http://richardwiseman.files.wordpres...9/02/spoon.jpg

????

:rofl2:

Great videos Kien....Seriously man.....that is some of the best aquascaping I have ever seen....very impressed!

Hahaha! Well played good sir! Guess that's my invite.

Damn near be worth it too...still drooling over here haha.

Forgot to add...you've really convinced me to go ahead with a small group of the 3 or 4-stripe damsels. Loved seeing yours in the video. You always see these nature shots with hundreds of them in the coral heads and I think they are incredible looking fish. I may regret it but I'm going ahead and getting a few eventually. Was yours closer to first added or last?

Hey, thanks everyone! Complements greatly appreciated. How about some constructive criticism? Come on, I know you've got them, bring it! I can take it! :biggrin:

not sure what the deal with the spoon is.. but so long as y'all are having fun, that's what's important. :-)

The striped damsel was added mid way through the stocking of my previous 90 gallon. He is a mean bastard but only when I stick my hand in the tank. Everyone else in the tank seems to keep him in his place. So I guess I'm lucky. Seriously though, those underwaters are a bit jerky because him and the boxfish kept nipping at me :( and he really goes kamikaze. That's kind of what I like about him though. When he swims around acting all macho he goes a little crazy but no one seems to pay any attention to him. Watching him dart through the corals is a lot of fun.

SOLD. I'm getting 20 tomorrow.

very nice video and beautiful tank. You inpsire me to keep improving my tank but I got to say i can never get my rock work like yours. You are truly an artist

Keep it up :-) with shots and videos. Grats on your baby, mine are still not coming out yet.

That is amazing man really a true work of art, can't say enough about it, makes me want to start over with another tank......

TJ

Just went through the whole thread again. Once again, amazing.

Btw, did you luck out with the structure of the running beams (supporting beams) and your tank sits in a couple of them. I'm debating about upgrading and would love to to a room divider, very inspiring.

Thanks :-) Yes, if you are referring to the floor beams, the tank sits adjacent to one of the main beams in the middle of the room, and then 5 or maybe 6 joists (running beams?). Most importantly, they run perpendicular to the tank.

I remember your house, and if I remember right, I made a comment about a great location for a peninsula in between your living room and dining room :-D

See that's what real friends are for. Giving each other ideas that are essentially divorce fuel. Lol.

oh god i think i will have to look up framing terms. I know i have boards that run across the house and the way my current tank is sitting it lays on 4-5 of them i think. but if i did the room divider it would run parrell with them. Might call someone to check if they think it will hold the weight.

I don't watch tv and for the past 3 months i have been debating about selling the 50" and just having a sitting room where i can relax. every time i read this thread i keep considering it lol.

Being single and young has its perks :mrgreen:

Oh yeah this isn't the first time you've told me you're single now I remember.

We just need to be clearer on WHY you keep telling me that dude haha! :lol:

I enjoy everyones stories about their wife's and this hobby, esspecially yours. Brings a smile to my face. I am just waiting for you to finish your tank. Like everything great, it just takes time.

Trust me, finding a girl who will put up with me is a hard task. Plus i am a nerd at heart

http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/prod...e_solution.jpg

Yes i find that extremely funny

lmao! oh so do i. can you share a link to the store? The more clever shirts I have the less clever I need to be lol.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/

have fun. i think it took me an hour before i finished looking over this site. have yet to make my first order

I love think geek,I have a bunch of junk from them. I even dressed up the wife and the kids in some of their stuff. There's a picture of my wife with Darth Vader wearing her "I love my geek" t-shirt :lol:

P.S. tony if you read this and find that picture, that's Dave!

Lorenzo: Again, if I remember right, you had hardwood floors on that floor. Normally you have to run hardwood floors perpendicular to your joists. Or at least that's what I've been told. So your tank would run parallel to the hardwood floors in this case. I'm no builder but I think it is a rule of thumb, even if there might be exceptions ? I asked quite a few people before proceeding and the general consensus is that 150g is about the max you'd want to comfortably put on the main floor without extra support underneath. But then I know people who have put more than that so I don't know :noidea:

150g plus sump would be like 200g :-) I knows quite a few ppl putting their tank on main floor without doing any extra support to the floor. But i think we should play safe by sistering the floor underneath. Easy to do and give you some peace of mind. A collapse or bend floor will cost thousands to repair :-)

Aye, salt water hobbies = very understanding wife.

I had my floor engineered to hold 500 gallons safely lol. Not that I'm ready for an upgrade just yet.

Actually, depends how much stuff is in our DT and sump. My 150g is displaced by about 10 gallons worth of rock maybe? Some would have even more. My 45g sump only holds about 30g worth of water I think? So in total I've estimated roughly 140g worth of water. BUT, then there's the weight of all that other crap like rocks, sand, tank, stand, equipment, etc, so you're far exceeding the weight of 200g worth of water anyway LOL!

Ya, If you're going to put major weight, like I'd say 180+ gallons on your main floor I'd probably look into extra support too. However, this isn't always "easy", especially if your basement is developed already and your tank sits right on top of your home theatre! :redface: Certainly not impossible, just more challenging!

My next upgrade 400 gallons or so will find me relocating the tank into the basement.

Banished!
 

I have been hunting this guy for a long long time now. I first caught a glimpse of him in my previous 90 gallon tank. I was sure he was a goner when I worked on the live rock aquascaping for the 150g but sadly no.. At night he would mock me with his beady little red eyes... nah nah nah-nah nah catch me if you can.. As soon as I put my hand in the tank he'd be gone.

Well, his time has finally come! The other day I caught him grazing on a patch of zoanthids and figured, what the heck. This time however I got lucky and was able to sneak up behind him from the other side of the tank. He was so busy having lunch that he didn't see it coming!

Here he is, my Nemesis. He has quadrupled in size since I first saw him eons ago and now resides in the sump. (note to self: Do NOT put any rocks from the sump into the display tank).

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1262162370

Hydor 700 Weakling Mod.
 

I love the performance of Hydor 700. It skims very well and I am quite pleased with it. However, there is one thing that I do absolutely hate about it and that is the fact that you require herculean strength to remove the skimmer cup. It is held in quite tightly by an O-ring. Often times I find myself wiggling, jiggling, twisting, turning, and whatever else I can do to get that darn skimmer cup off. Sometimes I get fed up and just give it good 'ol brute force which unfortunately usually results in the contents of the skimmer cup ending right back into the sump :rant: :flame: :mad:

It was finally time for an intervention. What I ended up doing was removing that darn O-ring completely.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1262162847

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1262162866

In order to prevent water leaking out of the skimmer cup's neck I employed a gasket instead. The gasket is cut out of that thinish foamy paper that you can get from craft stores like Michaels.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1262162988

I cut out a ring the exact size of the skimmer neck and seated it on the lip that the skimmer cup rests on.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1262163019

Lastly, the skimmer cup had a little bit of play in it due to the removal of that O-ring so I needed to shim it a bit with something. After trying various types of tape I finally settled on a strip of electrical tape which made a perfect fit.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1262163049

The skimmer cup now sits into the main skimmer body quite nicely with a smooth and gentle insertion force.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1262163125

This has worked out quite well and now I no longer dread cleaning the skimmer cup. :cheer2:

Lentils anyone?
 

These NP-Bio Pellets seem to be all the rage. Gotta keep up with the Jone's right? So I ordered a batch with Tony to try out. Like everyone else, I'm curious to see how well they work. My current Phosphate control method of choice is a TLF Phosban reactor stuffed with Rowaphos. Personally I don't really know if it is doing anything since my test kit never seems to read anything and the chaeto in my 'fuge doesn't seem to grow all that well. Nevertheless, like a good reefkeeper I run it.

Here it is, a bag off NP Bio Lentils (as Tony likes to call them).

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1262163899

I am actually quite happy to be rid of the Rowaphos as it is quite a bother to set up each month. The emptying, cleaning, disposing, refilling, rinsing.. what a pain! And messy to boot.

These biopellets are great. No rinsing, they are easy to manage, just open bag and dump into canister. Plus they dissolve so there's no cleanup after use. Easy peasy!

Out with the old in with the new!
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1262164067

And here's my one two punch, carbon and bio lentils daisy chained.
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1262164115

I've decided to run about 600ml to start out with. There is a slight tumble of the bioPellets in the reactor.
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1262164161

So this evening Tony came by with his probe. We got a nitrate reading of 8 which I don't think is anything to really be concerned about but certainly not zero like my test kit likes to try to tell me.

Parameters to note for testing purposes:
Nitrate: 8 (with Pinpoint Meter)
Phosphate: Colourless on test kit.
Specific Gravity: 1.026
Temp: 79-81F
Ph: 7.9 - 8.3
Alk: 8.5
Calc: 420ppm
Mag: 1400ppm

* I feed a combination of formula 1&2 flakes and pellets twice a day and sometimes frozen fish mush that I make up with PE Mysis.
* I have about 18 fish that I feed, plus inverts like shrimp, crabs, starfish and various LPS that I spot feed.
* I do not currently have any nuisance algae.
* I do not run zeo or use any additives other than the odd Coral Snow once in a blue moon.

In about a week or two I will have Tony come by and probe me again to see where we're at with the readings.

Sounds like a good time.

Should be interesting to see them run in a reactor - if they don't breakdown and clog the reactor, I think I'll be ordering some after my GFO runs out.

WHOAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:razz:

I know what you mean....I was just at a clients house yesterday where the gentleman (who's tank it is) has been away for three weeks...his g/f hasnt touched the skimmer( a hydor) and I dang near had to get a crowbar out to pry the skimate fused cup off....of course she is standing there looking at me like Im some sort of weakling....

Great solution! Should market them as Kien's skimmer cup-eze.

New Additions - Part I
 

Thought I'd throw down some photos of some new additions from the last couple of months (or so).

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2732/...dc86bb08_s.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2743/...b1e5283c_s.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2495/...b2f9f036_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/...8cbff52a_s.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2651/...d0e5ccc1_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4042/...9822c504_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/...f871ca55_s.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2699/...7814825c_s.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2636/...835019df_s.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2531/...2c4f4f15_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4018/...1e98318f_s.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2523/...8a89a7f7_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4041/...0a169f03_s.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2630/...b7671b33_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/...4c182aa1_s.jpg

New Additions - Part II
 

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4012/...fe8c9a03_s.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2531/...40948740_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/...84d949fd_s.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2494/...06ab8a8e_s.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2643/...d5728420_s.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2752/...4eb19701_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4064/...a877d9d7_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4013/...73ea9c74_s.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2501/...e38b897e_s.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4050/...2d5e70a3_s.jpg

Okay, so I guess not *all* of them are new, but they are pretty :-)

Sweet Tailspot! :mrgreen:

Incredible photos and I'll second that...I so want a tailspot!

Ya, he's the family's new favourite fish! He has such a great personality. He swims around openly, back and forth through the tank. He'll rest on something just to stare at YOU while you peer into the tank, so funny.

they are such cool fish. can't wait to get one myself

Very nice shots and corals Kien....what bulbs are you running?

thanks :-)

I run 3 250 watt Ushio 14Ks and 4 39 watt aquascience 22Ks.

In The Family Way
 

The Clowns have spawned! At least I think they did. This is the first time I've seen them spawn and the eggs look nothing like the eggs on Finding Nemo :noidea:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2652/...3781d092f7.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4025/...a5d8a043b5.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2686/...93d12668d3.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2799/...1946e23884.jpg

They did the deed on the slope of a rock just behind the goniopora that they host. Very cool stuff. :biggrin:

congrats, those would be clown eggs, they will darken as they develop, its pretty cool once you can see the little eyes.

really nice pink stylo you got, looks wicked

lol you need to go to stylo rehab, sadly its starting to wear off on me

nice work kien. maybe you will have a nice big family