What is the Most Unique Reef Tank You Have Ever Seen

[Gumbies R Us]

I have always been fascinated by the tanks I see here on a daily basis. From people that have brand new tanks to people who have been in the hobby for 20+ years. I'm wondering what is the most interesting tank you have seen. Maybe it's the species they keep in the tank, the overall design of the tank, etc...

 

[blaxsun]

The super expensive one in NY. Not so much the tank - but the mechanical room.

 

[redfishbluefish]

I've seen some phenomenal tanks, but the one that fascinated me was a local club member who had a fourteen foot long tank. Not very wide, not very deep, not all coraled up with sps, but nice and long. And what I found fascinating was watching tangs speed up and down the tank at full speed with no obstructions. After seeing that, you'll realize why a tang should never go into a small tank. It's like owning a Lamborghini and only driving it up and down your driveway.

EDIT TO ADD:

I made a mistake. In going to find a picture, I discovered I was off by two feet. The tank was only 12 feet long. Here it is shortly after it was set up.

 

[brandon429]

three grand in corals in a fishbowl for nine years? he he my friend maritza

 

[nuxx]

Seeing this tank is person was pretty interesting

Triple-S Fish Ranch - 1700gal 164 x 48 x 56 SPS peninsula build - Reef Central Online Community

Triple-S Fish Ranch - 1700gal 164 x 48 x 56 SPS peninsula build Large Reef Tanks

www.reefcentral.com

 

[brandon429]

I rate maritza's vase reef as the best pico reef on earth, not hyperbole, I spent ten straight years looking for better ones using google translator in German, Russian, French, S American, Mexican forums, England, Polish web sites, Finnish ones


she wins.

 

[vetteguy53081]

@ brandon429 and others-

No Pics ????

 

[vlangel]

I remember seeing a crest reef tank that was pretty cool. It was set up peninsula style but it was a lagoon tank. At the one end was rockwork (where 3 fairly big mangroves grew). The sand was deep there but it sloped down as you moved toward the other end of the tank. There must have been some rockwork along that slope to keep the sand in place. There lots of macroalgae, and Caribbean like Coral with inverts. There were probably fish too but I cannot remember what kind. It was a tank of the month on nano-reef even though it was bigger than most nanos, in the 80 gallons I think. Anyway, I thought it was very unique and a beautiful reef.

 

[Eagle_Steve]

@ brandon429 and others-

No Pics ????

Didn't I tell you to not use my drivers license pic again. Shame on you. Now the world know how funny looking I am.

But in all seriousness, agree, we need some pics!!!!

 

[brandon429]

martiza's is the best one

I do have a packed vase at 17 yrs though. its a test of what it takes to cause unlimited lifespan in reefing in general, not just small tanks. being free of waste makes reefs live forever, provided no nerf balls are allowed in the home of a pico reef lol. thanks Sir Vette for the bump.

My corals have requested some elbow room lol. Not getting any

 

[vetteguy53081]

My favorite is the aquaForest 1450 gal

 

[Gumbies R Us]

My favorite is the aquaForest 1450 gal

Now that's a visually stunning tank

 

[vetteguy53081]

Didn't I tell you to not use my drivers license pic again. Shame on you. Now the world know how funny looking I am.

But in all seriousness, agree, we need some pics!!!!

It was at the post office this time

 

[vetteguy53081]

martiza's is the best one

I do have a packed vase at 17 yrs though. its a test of what it takes to cause unlimited lifespan in reefing in general, not just small tanks. being free of waste makes reefs live forever, provided no nerf balls are allowed in the home of a pico reef lol. thanks Sir Vette for the bump.

My corals have requested some elbow room lol. Not getting any

Very neat !

 

[Gumbies R Us]

martiza's is the best one

I do have a packed vase at 17 yrs though. its a test of what it takes to cause unlimited lifespan in reefing in general, not just small tanks. being free of waste makes reefs live forever, provided no nerf balls are allowed in the home of a pico reef lol. thanks Sir Vette for the bump.

My corals have requested some elbow room lol. Not getting any

That one is unique that's for sure!!

 

[brandon429]

She did it without rip cleaning

I don't know how lol

That's an untouched sandbed never cleaned for ten years, all that coral exudate plus live rock exudate combined, still self balances

That's hard to replicate for the masses, we usually can't get past year 3 in a packed pico without disassembly cleaning

Those micro systems accelerate old tank syndrome fast, within months, somehow she's got the balance/ unicorn

 

[ripcord]

This is one of my favorites!

 

[brandon429]

all the natural room light that gets/so good for the corals, reduces shading too

 

[brandon429]

no other one on the planet:

ever seen a reef tank that does not require topoff any number of days it runs, a zero, 100% contained evaporation reef tank? nope, we have not.

I ran this at .023 for three years no topoff before selling it at a trade show.

look at the rear image for the technique

thats a sealed glass lid pressed onto weatherstripping by the weight of the canopy.

the lines for heater, and pump, are cut/ran through sealing grommets in the lid/and spliced back cleanly for a pass-through

you can imagine how that would stop all evaporation

(well how do you deal with Co2 and O2)

check out them clues.

the only non evaporating reef tank in the world is 20 year old tech.

once PNW catches onto that sometime soon/I bet there's a cool way to run their micro reef as sealed.

I was never in it to make money that's for sure. reefing is a suckhole that takes all mine.

First tabletop acropora ever grown in a pico reef, half gallon

grown in two inches of front to back depth with about 13 species of corals give or take

those are not frag plugs, they're adhered given time and happiness. all of them.

thats about 2003

 

[brandon429]

a hidden trick unstated was this:

I had to lift the lid to feed it and change water and use tweezers to separate fighting mad corals obviously...

that lid lift refreshed out the system. Its not like I sealed the lid for three years, it was opened 3-4 x a week for service. it just didn't evaporate in the interim, and frankly it would have ran sealed without the fancy plant setup on reverse-cycle lighting, that was just because I thought it was required at the time.

retailers can produce sealed systems for sale without all the fancy refugium/ the buyers will refresh the setup just fine in 2-3x a week maintenance. ok now go make a million bucks off it/I dont care

the only thing I care about is that 2 million of these eventually show up one day in the future.