a Wisconsin Reef... my raceway dream come true

[Alpha Aquaculture]

That's cool man!!! Can't wait to see these little babys ...1smile1

Thanks Lee! Imma get some pics up soon.

Nice pix of the Charlie Sheen.... I miss mine...
And congrats on the eggs! Hope they do good for you...

I'm still bummed you lost your piece! You got one of the sweetest frags. Thanks! I've got about 10 babies right now and I can see their bellies getting bigger

Congrats on the clowns!! After I get over Christmas, I will be hittin you up for a nice pair of clowns.

Thanks! I wonder how they are gonna look when they get bigger. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sick!

Thanks!!!

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

Here are some pics of my first ever Clownfish hatchout!!! I got around 13 babies growing right now

Day 2

Day 5 (today)

I'm so proud of them

 

[Reefer831]

Very cool, good luck!!!

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

Thanks! I have a pair of Black and White ocellaris that are laying right now too. And I'm pretty sure my Wild Onyx (purchased from a hobbyist, 4 years out of the ocean) will also lay very soon for the first time with me. I'm so excited by all of this. I hope to get better at hatching them and get a better success rate than this batch, around 20% hatch rate. I'll be updating

 

[clowns101]

Looks like their all starting to lay! Lol...congrats again...your doing better than I ever did!

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

Looks like their all starting to lay! Lol...congrats again...your doing better than I ever did!

I can tell in the next few months its gonna really be on. There are a bunch of pairs that are close. Just need to get the warehouse a bit more setup so I can feed all day long lol. I wish I could have seen your setup! I'm sure it was sweet! And 13 babies... come on you had to have done better than that

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

One of the best I've ever seen! This clown is a rockstar!!!

 

[clowns101]

I can tell in the next few months its gonna really be on. There are a bunch of pairs that are close. Just need to get the warehouse a bit more setup so I can feed all day long lol. I wish I could have seen your setup! I'm sure it was sweet! And 13 babies... come on you had to have done better than that

Hahaha...I done it all manual...I had 10gallon tanks lines up that I fed 3 times a day, haha...your doing much better by going all auto! I'm actully wanting to breed again...maybe start off with 5 pairs?

I may have som OLD pictures I'll dig em up, maybe on my old PC! Lol...

And that last clown, it's sweet, lol

 

[MarvinsReef]

man Kris, that SnowFlake is awesome. he has Picasso markings with awesome blue hue. 1smile1

hopefully, you kept him. :bigsmile:

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

Hahaha...I done it all manual...I had 10gallon tanks lines up that I fed 3 times a day, haha...your doing much better by going all auto! I'm actully wanting to breed again...maybe start off with 5 pairs?

I may have som OLD pictures I'll dig em up, maybe on my old PC! Lol...

And that last clown, it's sweet, lol

Could you please specific manual vs auto? You talking about recirculating systems vs stand alone? I just replumbed my hatching system yesterday. I actually removed one pump. I was gonna just valve the two Hammerhead Golds down but now with only one it uses half the power and I have an extra pump just in case. Well... I'll be using it and I'll need more but that's next month. A lot could happen in one month lol. I also added some nice true unions above my anti-siphon valves so I can clean them out easily. I learned that I needed to clean them yesterday about 2 min into the plumbing job when they failed and about 100g went all over the floor. It was our largest flood yet! Needless to say the plumbing took a lot longer than planned lol. I'm glad I can laugh these things off. Huuuuge floods just get chuckles now. Me and my crew get in mop/vacuum/squeegie mode and just handle business. I was joking that if you needed a good resume and it was a good job to be a janitor I would be golden with my moping skills. I'm usually the mop guy lol. And the really ironic thing about it was that my landlord has been really trying to help control my humidity. The tenant next to us sells electronics and has been complaining. He came to warehouse to donate his time putting plastic over the tanks to minimize evaporation. He is such a cool landlord. Right after he got there, flood! And the last time he was there to discuss the humidity, flood! Both times, he was the one who noticed about 100g on the ground lol. I tried telling him that it only happens when he comes there and I think he believes me. Its true but such a coincidence I feel like I'm telling a lie lol. Ahhhhhh the trials and tribulations of setting up an aquaculture facility.

Annnnyway, I def want to see your pics shoot me a link if you post them.

Thanks for the compliment on that last clown. Such a rare pattern

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

man Kris, that SnowFlake is awesome. he has Picasso markings with awesome blue hue. 1smile1

hopefully, you kept him. :bigsmile:

Thanks Marvin! He is def a one of a kind and to see a blue spot that is symmetrical on both sides is one of his rarest qualities. I've only seen a few blue spotted clownfish ever :wink:

For now I am keeping this one. I just took these pics last night during a plumbing break. I love photography and nothing beats a great candidate to work with :xd:

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

Its a zoo in here!!! Just got the stands today right in the middle of applying epoxy. The stands are a great place to let the epoxy cure for the next week!

It took two days to painter tape all the edges, then it will be two days to epoxy. That's 4 days for these 40 tanks and there is 80 for this job! Thankfully Brian is running the show!!!

Another one side of one tank done! Thanks Brian!!!

I foresee some plumbing in the near future

 

[skinz78]

Woo Hoo looking good Kris!

 

[MarvinsReef]

very nice Kris. man, what a warehouse... maybe in the summer time, I'll definitely have to make a side trip.

 

[JWorth]

some really impressive corals.

 

[stylaster]

Looks spectacular my friend!

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

Woo Hoo looking good Kris!

I know that's how I feel every time another construction project gets completed! Thanks

very nice Kris. man, what a warehouse... maybe in the summer time, I'll definitely have to make a side trip.

Thank you Marvin! Its gonna be awesome when its totally completed, def by the summertime! Madison is beautiful in the summertime. And one of these days I'll be driving up to MI to visit Todd and all you guys in that area and I know I would enjoy seeing your tank. Hope all your clowns are doing well!

some really impressive corals.

Thanks! I need to start feeding them more, I'd like to start to get on a twice a day habit.

Looks spectacular my friend!

I appreciate that Roy! Imagine when all the tanks are full!!!

 

[acan lord]

Very awesome! Love the acans. Lets some more of that raceway. I think that concept is amazing, something I plan to do with my next frag tank. How do you like your ATS? What do you feed your corals? I think you mentioned you made your own blend, care to share? :smile:

 

[acan lord]

I also was wondering what you thought about running a raceway style tank the opposite as you have. Like this one Raceway Tank | Reef Aquarium Center where the channels are long and narrow. Where the walls the water moves around are longer. This just seems more efficient to me. I do like how you have yours staggered and stacked, adds to the efficiency. You have done much research, was just wondering what you thought.

 

[Alpha Aquaculture]

Very awesome! Love the acans. Lets some more of that raceway. I think that concept is amazing, something I plan to do with my next frag tank. How do you like your ATS? What do you feed your corals? I think you mentioned you made your own blend, care to share? :smile:

I also was wondering what you thought about running a raceway style tank the opposite as you have. Like this one Raceway Tank | Reef Aquarium Center where the channels are long and narrow. Where the walls the water moves around are longer. This just seems more efficient to me. I do like how you have yours staggered and stacked, adds to the efficiency. You have done much research, was just wondering what you thought.

Thanks! We were feeding the acan frags just now. I've got a few more pics of the raceways I can share now for ya. We just got the second set of raceways on the stands a few weeks ago and are about to plumb them up. I like the ATS, whenever I clean off one of the plates the amount of crap that comes off still amazes me. I feed a blend of a ton of things for the corals. Coral Frenzy, Reef Chili, FM Ultra Min F and Acan food, a variety of freeze dried copepods, algaes like spirulina and naturose. Basically I don't feed anything large to them anymore, all fine foods.

As far as running a raceway style with long and narrow channels instead of like mine... If the channels are long and narrow, you will not be able to see the frags from the front glass. Or the channels will be so long that you won't be able to reach them. In my design you can see all the frags from the front glass. The channels allow enough room for your hands to get in and clean and work. Its just a more functional design. I also would def recommend stacking the raceways. It really increases the efficiency and adds to the amount of space.