Pics of my tank

[salty rick]

I have pics of my tank at this link:
<a href="http://home.triad.rr.com/rwilliams8/55Reeftank.htm" target="_blank">http://home.triad.rr.com/rwilliams8/55Reeftank.htm</a>

 

[saltylake]

Salty you got some serious coraline growth in that tank!!! I like the branch rock mixed in with the other LR. It looks to me that one of your mushrooms is hanging on the glass. I have never seen that???? Nice tank

 

[salty rick]

Thanks for the comments. The mushrooms are those green striped neon mushrooms. During the day they get as big as your hand and they spread like crazy. I had one leaning against the back glass and it spawned a new one on the glass. I have polys on the glass too. The coraline algae is about four years of growth. Proper calcium and KH levels is the key. I had more on the back glass but it got so thick that it flaked off. I later found that a tiny atera snail had gotten behind the coaline algae on the glass and slowly pryed it off.

 

[tru conch]

nice tank... that is a massive seabe clown, how big is she? i like your set up, very nice.

 

[salty rick]

Thanks for the comments Tru Conch. The Seabae Clown is about 3 1/2 inches long. I have had it about three years now.

 

[galina]

<img src="graemlins//eek.gif" border="0" alt="[eek]" /> That is a *sweet* tank! I love all that coralline!! What lighting do you have on this baby?!
Galina ( <img src="graemlins//eek.gif" border="0" alt="[eek]" /> )

 

[salty rick]

Thanks Galina. I have four NO flourecent, each are 36" long and 32 watts. I have a Coraline 20,000K, Coraline 10,000K and two Coraline Atinics. To light up the corners better I have two Sylvania Halagena bulbs from Home Depot. They are clear 60 watt bulbs. They look like minature metal halid bulbs. I found a rubber, water proof socket at Home Depot and mounted them to the inside top of the hood. This bulb gives the shimmer from the wake of the water like a MH. I don't know if they actually help in the corline algae growth. I haven't tried growing corals that need bright light because I wasn't sure if my light was bright enough.

 

[jedimaster]

Very interesting tank, similar lighting setup to mine, I was thinking of adding those very same halogena bulbs to my tank. I have 8 NO's though. Whats your calcium and kh level, and what do you use to keep it at that?

 

[galina]

Your lights aren't really bright enough for most corals, other then low light but everything in the tank seems to be doing great. Your corraline is awesom! Was it like that when you bought your rock? Where'd you get it? The tank looks great! How long have you had your setup? Do you add calcium or any other supplements?
Galina

 

[salty rick]

This tank has been up about four years. The LR did come with some coraline algae on it. From there it grew on its own. I bought the LR from a LFS here in Greensboro, NC. The readings today were KH: 170 mg/l acording to the conversion chart that is equal to 3.2 meq/l (it says to multiply the mg/l by 0.02 to get meq/l) and the calcium 420 ppm. That is the level that it normally stays at. I use Seachem Reef Advantage and Reef Builder for the ph and KH. I use Kent Turbo Calcium. I also use Kent Iodine, Kent Essential Elements and Seachem Reef Strontium/KM. I use Aquarium Pharmaceutical's Tap Water Filter to filter the tap water that I use in the tank. The lights stay on about 8 to 10 hours.

 

[dave flood]

I caught mine early in the morning just after I turned on the lite wiht 2 nets.