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View Full Version : SantaMonica tank, Oct 2010



SantaMonica
01-01-2009, 12:28 AM
Well it took a while to get time to take more pics, but here are the updated ones of my 100 gallon tank. The main thing to mention is that this tank is not for showing... it is for experimenting. Details are at the end of this post. There have been no waterchanges since August 2008. The only dosings are Mrs. Wages Pickling Lime in the top-off (for Cal and Alk), Seachem Reef Advantage mag, and Seachem Reef Advantage strontium. Feeding is 48 ml of skimmate... I mean... blended oysters, per day, 20 square inches of nori per day, and one silverside per week (for the eel). There are no mechanical filters, no chemical filters, and no sand. The only filters are the live rock (now 5 years old), and the algae in the scrubbers. The lighting is 2 X 150 watt halides, and one 96 watt actinic. The tank is 30 inches tall. Tests are Nitrate and Phosphate = 0 (Salifert), pH = 8.3 to 8.6, and the water is contantly filled with food particles.

To see big pics, right-click and "view image":



High-Res: http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Tank.jpg
http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010TankSmall.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010AcroColors.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010AcroGreen.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Digitata.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Digitata2.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010BrainAndMushrooms.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010BrownXmas.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Coralline2.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Coralline.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Coralline3.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Coralline5.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Coralline6.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010CorallineOverflow.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010CorallineOverflow2.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Echino.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010EelShrimp.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010EelTube.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Elegance.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Elephant.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Favia.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010FeatherDuster1.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010FeatherDuster2.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010FlowerPot.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010FlowerPot3.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010FragTray.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Litho.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Litho2.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010LithoAndMonti.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010MontePlates3.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010MontePlates4.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010MontePlates5.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010MontiOverflow.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010MontiPlates1.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010MontiPlates2.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010MushroomsBlue.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010NotSure.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Palys.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Pocillopora.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Powder.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Scoly.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Sponge.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Stylophora.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Superman.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010SupermanAndEchino.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010TubeAnemone.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010XmasRock.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Yuma.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Zoos1.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Zoos2.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Zoos3.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Bubble.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010Clam1.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010TopOfTank.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010LiquidFeeder.jpg


http://www.radio-media.com/fish/Oct2010BatteryPumps.jpg





Videos:

Whole Tank:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUl8FIQAxr0

Tank Right to Left:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58pOisX2vSs

Eel Eating:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDZtHf-xXCc

Flower Pot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMdllQSKU2c

Frag Tray:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtvF0ZbVX7w

Liquid Feeder:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOIx09XWYCo

Tube Anemone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7TnVm19td4



Here were the main experiments:

Iron Overdosing: I tried adding an iron supplement for many years, but never saw any affect. I always followed the instructions, such as Kent's Iron+Manganese "Add two teaspoons per 100 gal, per week". It had no visible effect. But after I started to read the literature about algae and iron, and after I realized that I now have much more algae in my system that the average tank does, I went out on a limb and poured in 8 ounces of Kent's. This is 24 times the recommended dosage for 100 gallons. But I reasoned that it's not the gallons that matter, it's the amount of algae. And it worked. The algae in the scrubber, that previously was yellow and hard (due to lack of iron), turned solid green and fluffy. Growth was much faster that week too.

So if more was better, much more should be much better. So I poured in a HALF GALLON of the Kent's. This is 225 times the recommended dosage, and over 9 times more than what I put in before. This was the biggest mistake I've made yet on this tank (coral-wise). Within a few hours, both of the bubble corals shrank up to nothing, and started letting pieces go. The next day, my 3 year old 5" litho was half gone. And by the end of the week about 30 of my 60 corals were completely wiped out. Iron was even beginning to deposit on the inside of the tubing that feeds the scrubbers. Well, I never did a waterchange, and things have gone back to normal, but now I know the power and the problems of adding iron. The more algae you have in a system, the more iron it can use; but don't add too much. How much is too much? The green soft corals (like a green bubble) seem to be affected first, so watch those.

Over Feeding: When my scrubber (only one unit at the time) was basically not filtering at all (before I knew about pumps clogging, and lights getting weaker), I increased feeding to 128 ml of skimmate... I mean blended oysters... per day, along with 5 frozen cubes per day, and one silverside per day. No waterchanges of course. So with this high level of import, and with almost no export, nuisance algae began to explode in the tank. I must say, the few SPS I had really grew at that time. The over feeding made up for the small 150 watt halides in a 30 inch tall tank.

Non Feeding: After realizing the non-flow in the scrubber (due to the clogged pump), and the worn out lights in the scrubber (should have been replaced 9 months earlier), I got the export back into operation. But to speed up the removal of the nuisance algae in the display, I stopped all feeding for 2 months. No blended oysters, no nori, no cubes, nothing. Only one silverside for the eel, but only every 2 weeks. Well, another big lesson learned: If corals have been growing based on high amounts of food in the water, they cannot survive on less. In other words, if the food in the water was always low, the corals would not have developed a need for food. But since they were fed large amounts of food for a while, they grew and needed those large amounts at all times. When the feeding was stopped, I lost about 4 corals in the first 4 weeks, and another 10 corals in the next 4 weeks.

So the pics you see are what's left after the iron, the over feeding, and the non-feeding. I don't recommend these tests for anyone else; I did them so that I would be able to recommend safe feeding and filtering methods for others.

worley
01-01-2009, 11:17 AM
As expected, a stunning looking tank :D

kcress
01-01-2009, 01:15 PM
Indeed!
And highly loaded too!

You need a turf scrubber!

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol:

SantaMonica
01-01-2009, 07:48 PM
We're just doin' our best over here :)

Now if I could only get one of them new fangled scrubbing bubbles thingys...

SantaMonica
01-04-2009, 12:46 PM
My water tests today, all Salifert:

N03: 0 (clear)
P04: 0 (clear)
Si: 0 (clear)
Ca: 490
Alk: 9.3
Mg: 1500
pH: 8.4

zoa
01-04-2009, 01:02 PM
Just courious how long you have had the goniapora? Are you feeding it any special way or is this a direct result of the scrubber?

SantaMonica
01-05-2009, 01:16 PM
Copper one a few month; green ones a few weeks.

No target feeding. And I just now got my continuous feeder installed. So food (which is Organic Nitrate and Organic Phosphate) is constant and heavy in the water, but the scrubber keeps the Inorganic Nitrate and Inorganic Phosphate at zero.

Sly
02-06-2009, 08:03 AM
Very nice setup... Where do you get your corals?

SantaMonica
02-06-2009, 03:52 PM
Tongs, Underwater Depot, Vivid. Will probably have to start mailorder though, in order to get NPS.

chrissu
04-25-2010, 12:00 PM
Santa Monica, I'm thinking about Upgrading my old 2*65w power compact lighting to 2*150 MH. Would you recommend putting in a canopy For the light or should I just place a new light on top of the tank similiar to how your setup is done in these pictures?

SantaMonica
04-25-2010, 01:32 PM
I'd recommend a pendant setup, hanging from the ceiling or from supports. I used to have a hood but threw it away because it got way too hot inside, and was always in the way. But even the current lights are always in the way, so my next setup will be hanging pendants. This is my second Current light fixture; the first one burnt out both fans, and did so again after I replaced them (they are VERY hard to replace). And now my second unit, bought new, has the fans going out again. So no more fans for me... will be free-hanging pendants from the ceiling. Also, pendants allow you to widen the distance between the bulbs.

chrissu
04-25-2010, 06:22 PM
A pendant sounds really good, especially if that means that I could completely skip the canopy. I want to insure that all the direct light is pointing downward into the tank and not shining into our eyes as we look at the tank from across the room seated on our couch. Is there a particular pendant or reflector combo that you are considering for yourself or would recommend for my situation?

Here is a picture taken at eye level when we are sitting on the couch.

BTW, the ready made scrubber I bought from you still rocks. My ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates always stay at zero no matter how much I feed the fish. My fears of high nitrates are gone for good now thanks to your easy to use scrubber.

SantaMonica
04-25-2010, 10:05 PM
Looks like a grea setup, and happy to see that the water is doing great.

I have no experience in lighting (have not even done pendants for mine yet), so do ask the experts elsewhere and I'm sure there will be an easy not-in-your-eye solution.

chrissu
04-27-2010, 09:31 PM
No worries and thanks again for the pendant idea. I'll do some checking around...

ocean rock
05-23-2010, 01:30 PM
its looking good .
led light unit they have come on leaps and bounds .

piratefish
11-01-2010, 08:23 AM
WOW !! I really want a bigger tank. That is really an impressive tank SM. I don't think i could experiment on mine, but thank you for the information.

rahjelli
11-01-2010, 09:12 AM
fantastic SM, very insightful. I have a 13 gallon bucket for Top off to my 120 that I fill up maybe once every 6-7 days? What ratio should the lime powder be to your top off, any suggestions? I have Mrs. Wages and so far have been doing 10 teaspoons per 13 gallon fill up, I just stir it in the bucket and leave it, is this ok?

SantaMonica
11-01-2010, 02:16 PM
I do 3 tablespoons per 5 gallon, or one 10 oz cup per 32 gallon trash can. You can't use too much... it just settles to the bottom.

Max98
11-17-2010, 01:50 AM
What does the scrubber look like on this tank?
And please include dimensions,flow, light ect. :D

Thanks

Max98
12-08-2010, 05:13 AM
What does the scrubber look like on this tank?
And please include dimensions,flow, light ect. :D

Thanks

I think your tank is running a skimmer since you are ignoring me. :roll: :D

SantaMonica
12-08-2010, 07:22 AM
It has two SM100's...
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=502 (http://www.algaescrubber.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=502)

Max98
12-08-2010, 09:39 PM
Thanks. :)
Very nice tank

RandyAce
07-12-2011, 11:44 PM
any tank update? Thanks SM!

SantaMonica
07-13-2011, 11:48 AM
I post all the time.

RandyAce
07-13-2011, 10:58 PM
I post all the time.

what i mean is your tank update... maybe a fts or close up pic? thanks!