Let me know what you think of my 54 gallon reef

nlreefguy · #1 06-19-2010, 02:36 PM

This is my 54 gallon reef system. No sump! All HOB equipment right now including eshopps psk-100h skimmer, 2 TLF reactors with carbon and NP biopellets, Eheim 1262 on a hang-on closed loop returning water to the system via two Sea Swirls, Tunze 6045 powerhead (adding a second next week), and all controlled by an Aquatronica controller.

Though you can't see them, there's a fair number of fish in there including a yellow tang, green mandarin, 2 yellowtail damsels (damn them!), 2 ocellaris clowns, one-spot rabbitfish,and a longfinned fairy wrasse. There's 35 coral colonies I think, of over 30 separate species. The idea I'm going with there is a mixed reef setup dominated by SPS.

I've been thinking about adding a sump via a HOB overflow to give me more skimmer options because my eshopps is not really doing it for me and I find it a little on the loud side (not that it's all that loud, but I just dream of an absolutely silent tank, and when the skimmer is off I almost achieve it!)

Sorry about the crappy pic (no photo skills). Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions!

hillegom · #2 06-19-2010, 02:40 PM

It looks good. More pics please
A sump would be good. More water in the system and you can add filters, refug, Bad crabs etc

nlreefguy · #3 06-19-2010, 02:56 PM

Here's some more pics. These are not very representative of he colors of the corals. For some reason, I don't seem to be able to take a good pic of the tank. Anyone have any easy tips for picture taking with a typical point and shoot? I'm using a Canon Power Shot SD1000 Digital Elph. Anyway, these pics show you the right and left sides of the tank, as I said the corals are actually a lot more colorful than this with the naked eye.

nlreefguy · #4 06-19-2010, 03:23 PM

Oh yes, i forgot to mention that it's lit by a 250 watt metal halide (right now has a plusrite 14000K) and supplemented by a DIY dimming LED actinic strip (works great, by the way, and very cost-effective).

christyf5 · #5 06-19-2010, 03:56 PM

Tank looks really nice! Maybe try using a tripod and making sure that the focus confirmation is on (or back off a bit and use the highest quality photo setting, then you can zoom and crop later). As well you could try using the white balance. Find something white (say a piece of PVC or something) and take a photo of it in your tank using the white balance setting, that should help with the colors

scherzo · #6 06-19-2010, 04:10 PM

The tank looks great.

As Christie said, Don't zoom in just move closer or crop later and check the white balance.

I often find just setting the camera to a "SUN" setting for the white balance works for my bulbs (14K Phoenix)

-jeff

#7 06-19-2010, 05:10 PM

THat is a nice tank you have there a sump would be a good thing but I know how budgets can get.

Bill

nlreefguy · #8 06-20-2010, 04:51 PM

Yeah I'm definitely going to go the sump route. It's just that I'm renting and I have had some issues with tank overflows while using sumps in the past. I figure if I set up float switches in my display tank to turn off the system pump in the event of an overflow failure, that will elimiate that. Don't you think? Also, thanks for the tips on the photography, I'll defnitiely try that stuff. I'm so "camera-illiterate"!

andestang · #9 06-20-2010, 05:03 PM

Nice looking set-up

! What are the deminsions of your tank ?

hillegom · #10 06-20-2010, 05:08 PM

You have to set up your system so that if the power goes out, the water that flows back into the sump does not overflow the sump. Controled with vaccum breaks and the original level of water in the sump.
I do not yet have a sump, so could someone with more knowledge chime in here?