Cali Kid Corals

Leemar Starphire 290

Told you it would turn out nice! Like those pieces, you are a natural. Emaco takes a bit of practice, but looks like you have the hang of it now - next batch will be even easier.
 
Kensington Reefer said:
Kris be careful not to build structures that are higher than 2/3 the height of the tank. Think of fish swimming over those rocks and the vertical coral growth. Tangs wrasses and rabbits dont like to swim too close to the surface. But things are looking very exciting.
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Thanks Erin, that is good advice.

Thanks Jim and John.............We'll see if the rocks are still talkin today. LOL! ;) Let's hope.

@ Levi, I appreciate it. I am game to try anything. Thanks.

Kris.
 
Well, got some more rock structures built. The last bit of rock I have just isn't going together like I had hoped, so I am just going to incorporate them with the rest of the rock from the 110. I have decided to just stack the rest as I normally do. I won't need to go too high as these structures have added plenty of height. I am hoping the rest of the rock will fill in between these and make them feel a bit more natural.

todays first try....
IMG_1895.jpg

And from another angle.....
IMG_1896.jpg


second try. I really wanted to get the hole somewhere visable. LOL!
IMG_1897.jpg


Had a friend come over and help get these into the tank. Here is a FTS..........these are just set in there.......not sure what the final layout will be.
IMG_1898.jpg


The tall one on the far right will likely get laid over on its side. It's too tall to do much with. The others are a bit tall as well, but I like the look and will just have to put corals on the sides of them. There will be plenty of low rock for coral as well. Decided to wait until tomorrow to move the 110. Let the tank sit overnight and check the parameters tomorrow.

One of my Tunze pumps stopped working today. :( Not sure what is up with it. Others are really great. I am sure Tunze will help me figure it out, or get me a replacement.
 
If they are too tall you can saw them down to size
Just a thought

I am assuming you are going to put tangs in there... IME if properly cared for your properly, your tangs will get to be more than 6" faster than you think. They will break off any significant acro growth with minimal accidental effort.

Again, just a thought
 
Thanks Icon!!

@ Erin, sorry. I am NOT taking these things out again. LOL! Was a bit of a chore to get them in there. The height may not doo anything for the tank, or the corals. However I like the visual effect. I will just place the corals a bit lower.

I do plan on keeping tangs...........seems likely they will break corals no matter what? Not sure I follow why the height of the rock structures makes that worse?? I am hopeing there is enough room in the tank for them to comfortably swim around the structures. Maybe when I get the rest of the rock in, it will make more sense overall. I do wish I had kept the structures a bit lower though. :( Thanks for the advice......I am listening. ;)
 
rygh said:
Wow. Looks so clean and neat and well thought out.
Somehow that just seems wrong to me. :)

>Just have to imagine a 1" ball valve on top of the return pump with a Tube connecting it to the skimmer.
Be careful that the pressure from the return pump does not reduce the air coming into the venturi.

Also, you might want to think about the humidity and salt spray from the air coming out of the skimmer.
Close to the drywall.

Are you planning a skimmate reservoir?
I see the tube from the skimmer, and am curios where that goes.
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Sorry Mark, I just noticed the question.........

I am planning on a skimmate reservoir. I have one currently on another skimmer I am using, however the ping pong ball version will not work with this skimmer. The tubes you see are actually all part of a very large and elaborate Venturi. I assume they went huge to decrease the noise, and I can confirm it is silent. Only noise from the skimmer is a low hum from the bubble blaster pump. Problem with this is that cutting off the air from the reservoir does not stop it from skimming. So I am looking into buying the Reef Octopus reservoir. It is fitted with an electronic shut off. When the reservoir is full......it cuts power to the bubble blaster and stops the skimmer. Seems like it might be worth it. It is also much larger of a reservoir than the one I have. This skimmer is AMAZING!! I think it is gonna need a lot of cleaning. LOL! Thanks.
 
Well, it's been a long day. ;)

I was able to finish the aquascape. I moved all the rocks from the 110 gallon tank into the 300. Sand is now in, and all the livesand from the 110 went into the fuge. Fish and Nems, cleaner shrimp and starfish are chillin in a large Brute can with a powerhead, heater........a couple large liverock and an airstone.

The mushrooms, polyps from the 110 went in with the rock and are doing nicely. I moved the heaters and the lighting from the 110 over to the 300. The Maxspect LED's had 90' lenses on them. I switched them back to NO optics hoping to get a better spread for the 31" wide tank, and to my surprise..........they cover quite nicely!! 8)

I took several pictures throughout the day and most really don't do the tank justice. So I took a video. Hopefully it will give you a better perspective of how the tank looks and the depth of rockwork. I am VERY pleased with the final look. I may change some stuff in time, but to start out, it's pretty cool. ;)

Check out the vid. Thanks.

[youtube]SYMu8HFJtkA[/YouTube]
 
Looks great. Can't wait till I get to upgrade but my back hurts just thinking about how long you hunched over moving boulders around! The bundle of broccoli is clearly the centerpiece :D
 
Looks great, my only concern would be distance between rock and glass at the base rock on the right side of the tank and the pillar on the left side of the tank. For me personally, I have to scrape the glass fairly often and I have two base rocks that just piss me off every time.
 
Thanks very much everyone.

So the fish have been in for 3 days now. I have been testing the water every day, and it's getting better?? LOL! My 110 gallon tank had very high nitrates when moved........approx 90ppm and VERY high phosphate level at 5.7ppm. I had a cannister filter in addition to the sump / fuge that had been running for many years with two full trays of Kent marine Nitrate sponge, one tray of carbon and 1 tray of phosban in addition to 4 large sponges. That filter broke about 4 months ago and knowing I was getting a new tank I decided not to replace it. Sooooooooo the changes. I increased the water changes, but anyway.......

So these are the results over the last three days.

2/21/2012
Nitrate = Approx 25ppm
Nitrite = 0 ppm
Amonia =
 
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