was going to ask that as well the yellow and blue sponges that you have in tank. What are those for?

A few layers of foam to dampen the vibration from the pump. The pump comes with a foot that has suction cups but I found it a little annoying how it suctioned to the bottom of the sump. Plus, the foot added a little bit of width to the whole thing which I wanted to reduce :-)

The sponges are dish sponges that are quite porous and I used to use them for bacteria culture when I migrated everything from my previous 90g to the new 150g. I was going to take them out but discovered that copepods love to use them as breeding grounds so I leave them in there now. They are so porous that they don't seem to gunk up as I've never had to rinse them out in the entire year that I've had them. It might also be because they float. I'm thinking of throwing a few more in there to use as bacterial seeds for my quarantine tank. That is, whenever I need to set up a quarantine, just grab some of these sponges and throw them into the QT tank. If things get bad and I have to treat the QT with say, copper, I can throw out the sponges and buy new ones with little impact to my wallet. :)

And here's a video of the reactor with the new plumbing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEyPg8tatDo

Wait, what, no HD video? Get with it man, I expect more from you. If they can film an entire episode of House on your camera then you can film pellets in HD. :p

Seriously, looks like a keen little setup for them pellets. Pun only semi intentional (noticed it after I typed it in, but think I'm gonna leave it in. :mrgreen:)

Actually I did film it 1080p HD :-) However, it takes YouTube a while to process it before you can access the HD version. In the meantime you're left with just the standard def conversion.

edit: the 1080p version is available now :-)

it is great to get half Friday off huh?

... oh.

Um .. could you pretend that there's something that's not ridiculously perfect? Mostly I'm just trying to avoid myself from spiralling headfirst into full blown depression. Lie if you have to.

LOL I just spit tea on my monitor :razz:

So .. um .. wow, that's a lot of carbon. How often do you replace it? How come so much?

I typically only run a cup if rox 8 in one reactor that I change once a month. I'm just trying out a new system where I run half that amount (1/2 cup) in each reactor and replace one every 30 days. So, reactor 1 gets swapped out on the 15th if every month while reactor 2 gets swapped out on the 30th. The goal being a better transition from spent to new carbon. Just something to do I guess :lol:

As always...it's no wonder your reef is such a success!

Kien how are you liking the new skimmer? If you don't mind me asking what price range are the magus, I'm considering one to upgrade my old Euroreef 135?

Tanks looking amazing man! We need some more FTS!

I'm loving it. So far I have not found one single thing that I would change with this skimmer. Out of all four skimmers that I have used to date this one is by far my favourite.

You can find the distribution retail prices here -> http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...7&postcount=15

Thanks for the comp! Um.. today's FTS will look exactly like my FTOTM FTS :-)

:morning: lol

Last friday one of my favourite SPS pieces of all time arrived in the mail via Canada Post. A frag of the Superman Digi. I've been wanting this SPS since I got into SPS corals a year ago.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/...885fd425_o.jpg

Big thanks to Dez for the frag :biggrin:

Here are a few other corals I snagged recently.

A pinkish lemonadey SPS from Red Coral.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/...a08a7220_o.jpg http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4070/...1211a6ee_o.jpg

An unknown.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4041/...2ae57af6_o.jpg

A couple of deep waters.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4035/...4d28e78f_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/...84c839e6_o.jpg

And last but not least, an Elegance Coral.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/...39f7b739_o.jpg

Please explain why your out put of your vertex is pointed at your skimmer input? Does that not defeat the purpose of the food being created?

Referring to their guidelines, third paragraph down :biggrin:

http://www.npbiopellets.com/index.ph...uct-guidelines

That superman digi is gorgeous. I so want a frag of it too.

I can see why this is a fav, me also want :) Good old Dez. As for the unknown I'll take a stab at it possibly being a Acropora Parilis or Exquisita and the deep water being a Loripes or a Granulosa. Very nice Kien.

Thanks for the link. Starting to make more sense with how they work.

Kien, how do you like your powermodule? :lol:

Do you like it better than your MH's?

Thanks in advance!

I like the powermodule. It is a slick fixture and puts out a lot of light. To be honest though I am a halide fan as I do tend to miss the shimmer from it.. But then all I have to do is turn my head to the 150 reef. It is neat seeing them literally side by side because they both produce a completely different look. The halides are a sharp penetrating light while the T5s are more of a soft enveloping light. Well, that's how I see it anyway :) In the end it just boils down to which one you prefer.

Thanks Kien!

Hey Kien, Thanks for all the input yesterday...was nice meeting you. also you have a great system....keep them pics rolling. :biggrin:

More pics? Okay, here they come!

So this is what the finished 131g FOWLR add-on tank looks like.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272853531

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272853553

Just like with the 150g stand, this one is simply skinned with cabinet door panels from Ikea and held in place with magnets.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272853572

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272853625

Here I'm using an espresso finish to match the decor of the dining room.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272853668

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272853721

Here is the final aquascaping.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272853742

And lastly, here's what the twin-tanks look like in the space.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272853849

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272853890

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1272853906

There are still a few minor things left to finish up like the plumbing for the water change tank and some detailing to hide the plumbing that connects the two tanks. What I'm also noticing is that the Maristar light fixture that's on the 150g tank now looks a little out of place (colour wise). I've decided to take it out back and spray paint it silver to match the silver ATI fixture :-)

Is it just me or is that FOWLR tank full of corals???? :redface:

Tank is amazing by the way! :biggrin:

LOOL that's what I thought :mrgreen:

Anyways it looks great! and I want your aquascape!!! :twised:

Umm.. Ya.. Please don't confuse a typical FOWLR (Fish Only With Live Rock) with my use of the acronym where mine is actually Full Of Wonderful Live Rock'n'stuff. :lol:

So you mean it is a FOWLRS tank, I get it. :biggrin: Is that how you got it in the front door. :wink:

Love your aquascaping

Awesome acronym. Its nice to have a tank with "wonderful live rock'n'stuff" with a trigger and such. Looks amazing, very jelous.

That rock overhang is so badass. Gravity wants to make you it's b...boyfriend.

Room looks awesome man. I'd eat at the table more often if it was flanked by all that sweetness.

Thanks Brett. I am definitely playing with fire (and gravity).. I fully expect that overhang to one day just fall off and crash to the bottom of my tank :lol:

If you don't mind eating under the glow of blue lights, sure :-) I discovered the other day that having the two tanks on the main floor has completely overloaded that main floor circuit. It isn't apparent until you turn on the dining room light.. (breaker trips!) :redface: We had to refrain from using that light for the past couple of weeks and I had to spread the load between the dining room circuit and a circuit in the kitchen just in case someone did accidentally turn that light on. A couple of ugly orange extension cords strewn about. Well, had enough of that so finally got around to getting a couple of new circuits installed right next to the tanks. Yes, TWO new circuits, each rated for 20 amps.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1273020486

So I guess we're good to go for fine dining underneath ugly incandescent lights once again :-)

My starfish was having one of those days were he was feeling very insecure in his own skin I guess..

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4011/...8cda880f_o.jpg

Personally I think the mushrooms make him look fat, but whatever.

That's a vibrant mother of a photo man. How long have you had the star? I thought I had read stars generally don't live too long in our tanks?

Kien, I cant stop telling you how much I love your aquascape :twised: If you ever... decide to sell your tank.. I'm on top of the list :mrgreen:

Funny you should mention that Brett.. Last year I had a smaller blue linckia that lasted about 3 months. After that he decided to break apart all of his limbs. I was sure he was a goner. I know that starfish will do this to reproduce sometimes but never actually seen or heard of any first hand accounts of this. Anyway, after a while I started to notice his limbs crawling about, some in the sand some crammed into crevasses. I didn't think much of it as I figured they would just die off and get eaten by crabs and shrimp. Well, a few weeks ago I noticed a couple of the free roaming limbs started to develop nubbins! I wasn't able to capture a photograph until now.

Here's what a couple of the limbs look like now.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/...e98c7abf_o.jpg

Baby Blue Linckia!!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4035/...b1d73c11_o.jpg

As for the large Blue Linckia in the mushroom photo I've had him for about a year now. I also have a purple (4 months) and orange one for about 8 months now.

thanks guys :-)

Ok that is just awesome! Keeping one alive is a great feat, but that is even better. Great pic - also love the one with the mushrooms :)




http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4035/...b1d73c11_o.jpg

Holy crap man!...beautiful home...kick-arse systems, with killer scaping in both...TOTM....POTM...starfish reproducing...you da main mang bye reef addicted brutha!:hail: