[ILoveMyTank]

I'm not too good at the picture bit but a couple are real good. I just added another 40 pounds of live rock making the total 225. Any suggestions on jump starting massive coraline growth are appreciated.

[ILoveMyTank]

and a few more

[ILoveMyTank]

last two pictures. any feed back ?

[thatguy559]

nice fowlr

[ILoveMyTank]

Thanks. I want to concentrate on adding corals now. I wanting to have evrything right first before I added them. the tank has a 30 gallon refugium under it and a seperate 30 gallon wet/dry sump with a octopus 200 running. I'm a little concerned if I have enough lihjting. I have three 44" 10000k 130 watt each dual accent lights and four 4 foot T5 bulbs but no reflectors. the lights are 15" above the surface of the water and the tank is another 20" deep. I have 3 more of the 130 watt bulbs that I've been thinking of buying a a box to run. I'm scared that if I add metal halides that I'll need a chiller. Any one think thats enough lighting to start adding corals ? any suggestions of what lighting you would add ?

[map95003]

Tank looks nice...as far as your lighting, you probably need to bring your T5's closer to the surface, I think 15" is too far away, they don't run too hot so you shouldn't have to worry too much about heat. You also want to get some individual reflectors for each bulb, without the reflectors you are not maximizing the effeciency of the lights.

As far as how much light (watts), you first need to figure out what kind of corals you want to keep.

[LReefer]

How is your wet/dry setup? This may cause you some problems.

Can you post pics of your filtration setup?

[JackedupSOB]

looks good so far

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by ILoveMyTank

I'm not too good at the picture bit but a couple are real good. I just added another 40 pounds of live rock making the total 225. Any suggestions on jump starting massive coraline growth are appreciated.

Just get your water params in check and the coraline will grow fast.

[ILoveMyTank]

Ok here are some pictures of the filteration. I just recently added the refugium. there is also a wet/dry sump. between the two they hold an additional 45 gallons of water.

[ozzy_200769]

I run 3 175 watt halides w/ cf actinic and theres no heat issues on my 125.I will try to attach a pic, though not a good one.

[ILoveMyTank]

Originally Posted by ozzy_200769

I run 3 175 watt halides w/ cf actinic and theres no heat issues on my 125.I will try to attach a pic, though not a good one.

Thanks. I have convinced myself to purchase a 72" metal halide retro fit with three 150 and the accentic for a total of 840 watts. I have two variable speed fans in the canopy and the light unit comes with one. I might purchase one more to run four fans. I also just added one more koralia 4. giving me what I consider the perfect circulation. When its all said and done i'll have an awesome set up. I better for the almost six thousand dollars spent so far.

[malawiman]

great pics, much envy i dont know alot since i just started recently 2month old 30 gallon tank. i saw my first coraline growth on my glass today. but could not tell you why or how.

[Bonneville08]

Hi Brian,
Your tank looks very nice, the MH will be a great addition for the corals. I have two small concerns:
For your system, you have a wet/dry in the photos. The purpose of the wet/dry is to convert ammonia into nitrate, you don't want to produce nitrate. Please check out:
Reefkeeping 101 - Natural Filtration - Part 3 by Tom Murphy (aka WaterKeeper) - Reefkeeping.com
for a brief description of the Berlin method among others.
As far as livestock goes, that is the most emaciated tridacna I've ever seen.
Good luck

[ILoveMyTank]

I just got and installed my 72" metal halide retro fit light system today that also has four 96 watt accent bulbs and moon lights. WOW !!!! what an amazing system. I added two more 4" fans for a total of four in a push/pull fashion to keep from buying a chiller. I have a fifth in case of an emergency. ( you can never be too prepared ) I also added another Koralia 4 pump and am very pleassed with my circulation. I have started dosing calcium and am seeing fast coraline growth starting. I also bought a doser and will began using it at about half the rate suggested and will increase as I monitor and test everything. My last issue---refugium and sump. Since they are two seperate tanks they are posing a problem with seperating the flow correctly. I'm going to bring one drain into the refugium ( I currently am using two mag7s to pump water back and forth between the refugium and sump ) about 3" below the top of the third chamber in the refugium, I will drill a 2" bulk head hole and attach it to the wet/dry sump. This will allow natural flow of water from the refugium to the sump with no pump. this will also keep a constant water level at all times in the refugium. The second drain of the tank will continue to go into the wet/dry sump. In the refugium I use a 200 micron sock. In the first stage of the wet/dry I use a 100 micron filter pad. I clean these two to three times a week and never miss ! I will be replacing all the bio balls with live rock rubble (25lbs.) which I have already purchased and cured. The only fluctuation of water level will be in the sump and I will have enough room that if the power goes out, I won't have a flood. I have begun studying corals and will stock them next. This will be my SUPER TANK !!!!LOL. Any advice or feedback ?