Jackson's 115 Gallon Custom Cube 32x32x26

[skinz78]

Great looking reef and your shots are awesome, keep them coming!

 

[kellerexpress]

Absolutely stunning reef!

 

[jackson6745]

Great looking reef and your shots are awesome, keep them coming!

Absolutely stunning reef!

Thank you. I appreciate the good words. In another month this tank will turn 1 I'll have a friend take really great pics for that update

 

[s2nhle]

I really admire your tank. keep coming back to thread for more amazing pics. Thank you for sharing.

 

[terri_ann]

How many times do you feed a day Rich? Do you do any phyto for the clam? Do you target feed the acans, etc? How many hours do you run the MH's? With the lighting switch, have you noticed a change in growth rates for any of the corals?

How long have you been reefkeeping? If you were to give your best advice to a newbie starting out, what would that advice be? What part of the hobby do you enjoy the most? The least? For those who are starting to keep SPS's, what advice so you have for them ?

Lastly Rich, if you could undo one thing with this tank, what would it be? If there was one thing that you could add with this tank, what would it be? Thanks Rich!!

 

[jackson6745]

I really admire your tank. keep coming back to thread for more amazing pics. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks! Hopefully things continue as they're going. Growth has been very fast. In the next update you'll see substantial growth on some of the pieces.

How many times do you feed a day Rich? Do you do any phyto for the clam? Do you target feed the acans, etc? How many hours do you run the MH's? With the lighting switch, have you noticed a change in growth rates for any of the corals?

How long have you been reefkeeping? If you were to give your best advice to a newbie starting out, what would that advice be? What part of the hobby do you enjoy the most? The least? For those who are starting to keep SPS's, what advice so you have for them ?


Lastly Rich, if you could undo one thing with this tank, what would it be? If there was one thing that you could add with this tank, what would it be? Thanks Rich!!

Feeding 2 times a day mostly. No phyto is added. I don't target feed LPS but I broadcast feed reef frenzy and mysis, LPS do get some particles. I am running a 400w radium 5 1/2 hrs at the moment. With new light (which is very similar to old light) I didn't exactly notice a growth increase overall, however, there is more light around the edges of the reef and the corals in these areas have been growing quicker.

I have been reef keeping since 1996 and had all sps tanks since 2002. Best advice would be to used tried and true equipment. Copy the equipment and regimens of your most admired reef(s) I mostly enjoy the growth and color changes that occur in SPS, least enjoy concealing wires and dealing with my APEX For those starting in SPS best advice would be to keep alk and cal extremely stable, and be sure to have full coverage no matter which lighting you go with. Adding t5's to any lighting scheme is usually a good way to do this.

One thing I wish I did differently is plumbing in a manifold. I have been toying with the idea of adding a large fluidized bed, or possibly a frag tank. If I had the manifold it would be very easy to hook things up. I hope I answered all questions properly

Thanks terri_ann

 

[Derek'sReef]

Your tank looks amazing. I first seen your unique acro that grew to be an amazing piece. (Oh yea I would love a frag by the way. Spread it to different states to really spread the wealth. Lol) I live in Kentucky. Anyways, I seen that piece which led me to your tank build. you have an amazing set up.congrats man. Im gonna keep following because it can only get better.

 

[terri_ann]

Thanks! Hopefully things continue as they're going. Growth has been very fast. In the next update you'll see substantial growth on some of the pieces.



Feeding 2 times a day mostly. No phyto is added. I don't target feed LPS but I broadcast feed reef frenzy and mysis, LPS do get some particles. I am running a 400w radium 5 1/2 hrs at the moment. With new light (which is very similar to old light) I didn't exactly notice a growth increase overall, however, there is more light around the edges of the reef and the corals in these areas have been growing quicker.

I have been reef keeping since 1996 and had all sps tanks since 2002. Best advice would be to used tried and true equipment. Copy the equipment and regimens of your most admired reef(s) I mostly enjoy the growth and color changes that occur in SPS, least enjoy concealing wires and dealing with my APEX For those starting in SPS best advice would be to keep alk and cal extremely stable, and be sure to have full coverage no matter which lighting you go with. Adding t5's to any lighting scheme is usually a good way to do this.

One thing I wish I did differently is plumbing in a manifold. I have been toying with the idea of adding a large fluidized bed, or possibly a frag tank. If I had the manifold it would be very easy to hook things up. I hope I answered all questions properly

Thanks terri_ann

Thank you so much Rich for taking time to answer all my questions.:happy: Very informative and helpful to me! I'm with you on the Apex!:squigglemouth: The 180g I'm getting Saturday will be my first experience with a manifold. I will probably have more questions for you going into the fuyur~

 

[jackson6745]

Your tank looks amazing. I first seen your unique acro that grew to be an amazing piece. (Oh yea I would love a frag by the way. Spread it to different states to really spread the wealth. Lol) I live in Kentucky. Anyways, I seen that piece which led me to your tank build. you have an amazing set up.congrats man. Im gonna keep following because it can only get better.

Thank you so much. I will eventually get that coral all over. In the next month or two I'm going to ship a batch to a few guys in Cali. So far the results have been 50/50 with guys keeping color on this piece. It really likes halides

Thank you so much Rich for taking time to answer all my questions.:happy: Very informative and helpful to me! I'm with you on the Apex!:squigglemouth: The 180g I'm getting Saturday will be my first experience with a manifold. I will probably have more questions for you going into the fuyur~

No problem Terri ann. Any help I could offer you're more than welcome to.


My skimz dc pump died last week luckily I had 5 days of warranty left Kind of disappointed that a pump so young would just quit working. I love the SKimz design but I have little faith in the pump quality since my experience, and reading experiences of others. I have it running with a new replacement pump for now so I'll just let it be.
The tank went unskimmed for a week and I actually saw an increase in SPS color and no nutrient increase visually noticeable or noticeable with test kit readings. I had some time to kill today so I took an iPhone video. Enjoy

[video=youtube;uBa3WNZUWyg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBa3WNZUWyg&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

[s2nhle]

adorable. thank you for sharing. wish mine like yours. What is your maintenance schedule? equipment?

 

[jackson6745]

adorable. thank you for sharing. wish mine like yours. What is your maintenance schedule? equipment?

Thanks again s2nhle. My maintenance is nothing special. If I didn't have to feed the fish everyday it would actually be a low maintenance reef. I attribute this to the various bacterias dosed. I don't run gfo and hardly run carbon.

Maintenance includes:
- Feed fish 2x-3x daily. A variety of frozen, flakes, and pellets
- 18g water change every 2 weeks
- clean glass every 4-5 days
- dose prodibio every 2 week
- dose microbe-lift special blend every 2 weeks (alternating weeks with prodibio)
- change filter sock every 5 days or so.
- Fill 2 part containers every month.

 

[Quinn123]

beautiful tank, hoping one day i can keep sps coral. not have any luck with them

 

[skinz78]

Beautiful reef, keep up the good work and keep the updates coming!

 

[FLipp]

love the tank!
those acros will look amazing in a couple years.

 

[jackson6745]

beautiful tank, hoping one day i can keep sps coral. not have any luck with them

Not as complicated as you think. Some of the simplest systems can be successful with SPS. It does require keeping water parameters stable, which is a PITA if you don't like to test:bounce:

Beautiful reef, keep up the good work and keep the updates coming!

Thanks, will do. Next month this tank turns one. I'll post dslr pics. No lazy cell phone images

love the tank!

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]those acros will look amazing in a couple years.

[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]thank you! In a couple of years this tank will have to be trimmed back significantly. Definitely will need to choose a few pieces to remove. [/FONT]

 

[jackson6745]

Today is the one year anniversary of this reef. I am very pleased the way things are progressing. At the moment my nutrients are still a bit high due to a broken skimmer pump, but I'm getting things back in the balance that I prefer. I am slowly removing corals to reduce clutter and allow or more growth + flow. Excuse the frag rack, I am coloring up a batch of those rainbow tenuis frags before I ship them.


Here's a video from today
[video=youtube_share;aBy4XN00M-w]http://youtu.be/aBy4XN00M-w?list=UUhMQtkcK_YQuWgCqG41ncXA[/video]

For growth reference
Here is the tank on Jan 6th
Jan 6th 2014 by rich.colombo, on Flickr


And a pic from today. Some corals have been moved and changed since then, but you can see the growth for the most part.
1 year by rich.colombo, on Flickr

 

[dnov99]

Phenomenal Rich!! Just an amazing tank!

 

[kingator]

Def incredible rich .....I def need to make my way down your way one day

 

[jackson6745]

Phenomenal Rich!! Just an amazing tank!

Thanks Darren. Much appreciated.

Def incredible rich .....I def need to make my way down your way one day

Anytime bud.

 

[ifarmer]

how you do the top off?

Thanks again s2nhle. My maintenance is nothing special. If I didn't have to feed the fish everyday it would actually be a low maintenance reef. I attribute this to the various bacterias dosed. I don't run gfo and hardly run carbon.

Maintenance includes:
- Feed fish 2x-3x daily. A variety of frozen, flakes, and pellets
- 18g water change every 2 weeks
- clean glass every 4-5 days
- dose prodibio every 2 week
- dose microbe-lift special blend every 2 weeks (alternating weeks with prodibio)
- change filter sock every 5 days or so.
- Fill 2 part containers every month.