New journey has begun !!!!

Abhishek

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So, many of you - ok only a few of you or just a handful of you probably have followed me in my last venture after coming back to reefing !

The journey started in 2016 with a second hand tank and now the like every good old movie , it has reached its end .

Here’s the thread :- https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/finally-reef-tank-started-after-6-years.277366/

Last pic before I tore down my beloved 70 :(

A805AFF9-8E6F-42CB-8910-AA1E0C03B5A0.jpeg


A little older video of the 70 :-




The new saga has begun ! A 160 gallon 48inch x 38inch x 21inch pure star fire gem from
@Crystal Reef Aquatics .
3 sided starfire , ABS bottom , corner protectors , eurobraced - and every luxury you can think of with extreme fast delivery and accommodating all my crazy wishes ...

If anyone looking for a tank manufacturer , you should consider them - trust me when I say that I evaluated at least 10-12 makers before deciding on them .

And before you think or ask - No they don’t sponsor me or pay me anything !!!

Details will come later on flow , light , chemistry , blah , blah , blah ...

I just wanted to get a thread started as it doesn’t look good for a ReefSquad member not to have a thread running on the current tank !!

Aim is to have only acroporas but again my wife loves Zoas and clams so can’t say no .

Sold away most of my old acro colonies as I literally got bored . It’s way much more fun to grow nubs .

Tank has been running for 2 months and am impressed with the move with minimal casualty .

Colors a little off to my liking but that’s because of the new tank syndrome , me being spoiled by halides and trying a few new stuffs !!!

Enough talks - here is a video ! The video sucks though on YouTube :(

 
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Abhishek

Abhishek

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Abhishek

Abhishek

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First discussion is FLOW. I know most people want to talk chemistry or lights first but its all about the flow for me .

I have kept acropora for as long as I can remember and what if I tell you 90% of your problems will disappear with proper flow !!!!!

Nuts am I ???

I have always believed if you think you have enough flow for an acropora dominated tank - you DO NOT !!!! And with extreme flow comes faster encrustation .

Unless your fishes get pinned against the glass , its not enough .

In my new tank - I have employed :-

2 tunze stream 3s for laminar flow ( wish I had the money for panta rheis ECM 42) ,
1 MP40QD with battery backup
2 Reef Octopus Pulse 4s for random flow !

Its not easy to cover the 38 inch depth of my tank making 3-4 inch waves :)

When I took the video , its around 100 times the tank turn over . But normally its close to 150 times turnover .

Helps with algae removal, pest problem, no detritus gathering anywhere .

Apart from all my acros, it helps extremely with tang aggression .

Tangs are hardly ever able to chase each other as the flow literally rips them apart .

Lastly helps my fish keep up with their lean body after 4-5 times of daily feeding by my generous wife . They have to earn their food with exercise against the ripping currents .

And make no mistake that zoas and clams can't handle the flow . They take time but with time they adjust like they have done for millions of years !

So , increase the flow in your tank and see the difference . But never ever make it direct so as to rip apart the skin :)

Regards,
Abhishek
 
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Anirban

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So, many of you - ok only a few of you or just a handful of you probably have followed me in my last venture after coming back to reefing !

The journey started in 2016 with a second hand tank and now the like every good old movie , it has reached its end .

Here’s the thread :- https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/finally-reef-tank-started-after-6-years.277366/

Last pic before I tore down my beloved 70 :(

A805AFF9-8E6F-42CB-8910-AA1E0C03B5A0.jpeg


A little older video of the 70 :-




The new saga has begun ! A 160 gallon 48inch x 38inch x 21inch pure star fire gem from
@Crystal Reef Aquatics .
3 sided starfire , ABS bottom , corner protectors , eurobraced - and every luxury you can think of with extreme fast delivery and accommodating all my crazy wishes ...

If anyone looking for a tank manufacturer , you should consider them - trust me when I say that I evaluated at least 10-12 makers before deciding on them .

And before you think or ask - No they don’t sponsor me or pay me anything !!!

Details will come later on flow , light , chemistry , blah , blah , blah ...

I just wanted to get a thread started as it doesn’t look good for a ReefSquad member not to have a thread running on the current tank !!

Aim is to have only acroporas but again my wife loves Zoas and clams so can’t say no .

Sold away most of my old acro colonies as I literally got bored . It’s way much more fun to grow nubs .

Tank has been running for 2 months and am impressed with the move with minimal casualty .

Colors a little off to my liking but that’s because of the new tank syndrome , me being spoiled by halides and trying a few new stuffs !!!

Enough talks - here is a video ! The video sucks though on YouTube :(


This new tank looks smaller than the earlier one...:p
 
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Abhishek

Abhishek

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I noticed the whirlpool in the video. The tangs looked like they were fighting to pick at algae lol!

The tangs are probably the best algae eating machines out there . However , I wouldn’t discount the fact that I have 10 urchins and tons of snails .
Yeah , it’s really a whirlpool when all pumps run in 100% and the closing of the currents creates like 2-3 inch waves in the middle of the tank !

This new tank looks smaller than the earlier one...:p

Lol !!! It looks smaller to me in video too :D
Can’t wait for yours man !


Good to see you posting again and I can't wait to see this grow up!
Thanks man ! Am quite excited for the journey ahead too !!!

Looks awesome, how in the world did you get that much coraline in such a short amount of time? My tanks been up for a year and not nearly that level of coraline-- jealous!

Thanks man !!! Trust me it was way more but i have 10 Urchins who are very hungry always with no algae to munch upon .

There are a few things I did or doing that might have helped .

The tank is started with no rocks from my old tank as they mostly went with my colonies .
However , the tank was started with 100 lbs of fresh live rocks that I procured before Fiji was shut down and cycled them for over a year .

Also, I use kalkwasser . Last tank I couldn’t for space but this tank I couldn’t give up the opportunity for kalkwasser .
Easiest to keep up with high pH, provides Calcium , Alkalinity and some magnesium and strontium as I use Brightwells .
High constant pH with elevated levels of stable Alkalinity , Calcium , Magnesium and Strontium are always a recipe for coralline to grow .

Lastly , most of my acros are from either Adam at Battlecorals or Jared at Rocky Mountain Frags .
But it’s not only acros that I got from them. Since I trust both of these people , I got them to send me small live rock pieces from their system that I have kept in my cryptic refugium .

I also got cryptic package from Steve Tyree and Pacific East Aquaculture and all together they have helped me stabilize my tank a lot in 2 months .

I strongly believe with so much bio diversity , enough tangs , snails and urchins - I really never had much of algae issues and coralline algae could grow way faster .

Not sure if it has answered your question , but if you trust someone else’s system like I do of Adam , Jared and Tyree - try and get live rocks and increase biodiversity . It helps !!!
 

hdsoftail1065

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So, many of you - ok only a few of you or just a handful of you probably have followed me in my last venture after coming back to reefing !

The journey started in 2016 with a second hand tank and now the like every good old movie , it has reached its end .

Here’s the thread :- https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/finally-reef-tank-started-after-6-years.277366/

Last pic before I tore down my beloved 70 :(

A805AFF9-8E6F-42CB-8910-AA1E0C03B5A0.jpeg


A little older video of the 70 :-




The new saga has begun ! A 160 gallon 48inch x 38inch x 21inch pure star fire gem from
@Crystal Reef Aquatics .
3 sided starfire , ABS bottom , corner protectors , eurobraced - and every luxury you can think of with extreme fast delivery and accommodating all my crazy wishes ...

If anyone looking for a tank manufacturer , you should consider them - trust me when I say that I evaluated at least 10-12 makers before deciding on them .

And before you think or ask - No they don’t sponsor me or pay me anything !!!

Details will come later on flow , light , chemistry , blah , blah , blah ...

I just wanted to get a thread started as it doesn’t look good for a ReefSquad member not to have a thread running on the current tank !!

Aim is to have only acroporas but again my wife loves Zoas and clams so can’t say no .

Sold away most of my old acro colonies as I literally got bored . It’s way much more fun to grow nubs .

Tank has been running for 2 months and am impressed with the move with minimal casualty .

Colors a little off to my liking but that’s because of the new tank syndrome , me being spoiled by halides and trying a few new stuffs !!!

Enough talks - here is a video ! The video sucks though on YouTube :(


It looks great!
 

Anirban

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I am still planning. MIke will always remember me for the sump planning. He possibly changed that design a dozen of times.;Dead
 
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Abhishek

Abhishek

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I really dig the tank dimensions. Hoping for a tank with dimensions same to those some day.
CONGRATS!!!, best of luck.


Thank you guys ! Yeah I really love the deep dimensions . Lots of room to place acros at different levels .

However , it comes with its own set of difficulties .
Apart from flow , there’s lighting !!!

I have always been a MH guy with yellow/white lights . Not much fan of actinics .
I even bought a spectra for my new build .

However , I could t cover every inch of the tank with high light of 350-400 PAR with it .

Sure I could go 400 watt halides and tried it too . But the tank is in a small room of its own and there’s no possibility of venting my chiller .
Without ventilation the chiller would add more heat .

So with deep sadness I had to adopt ! Sold the spectra for 2 8 bulb ATI sunpowers !

Running 6 ATI BluePlus , 2 KZ coral , 2 giessemann super actinic and 2 KZ Fiji purple .

Really loving the KZ bulbs - much more daylight spectrum than the ATI and Giessemann counterparts .

Tank is a little too blue to my liking but wife likes it .

And with 12 bulbs , I could cover edge to edge with maximum PAR necessary . I have always ran high PAR with high nutrients and elevated ALK , Mg and Ca . So is this tank .

PAR ranges from 350 at the lowest on the sides to up to 550 at the top .

Lights are hung by 80/20 aluminum bolted to my stand . Thank God for not having to drill the ceiling in a rented condo :)

EC5BD2BD-0048-4F46-8D6D-33AB7B98DCF9.jpeg


C540D032-64C1-4F7E-934E-EFAE3F5CA3E3.jpeg


Regards,
Abhishek
 
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