# MY NEW STUFF ++++ 1 year update +++++



## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

last night while performing my normal routine of topping off the sump and adding my two part suppliment it looked like the tank had evaporate twice as much water as usual so i was examining the tank and found a crack on the back wall...

soooo took the day off work to figure out how to resolve this problem

two options get another twenty and drill it then empty the old tank swap the bulkheads ect ect ect.. one problem i dont have time for silicone for the overflow to dry and what happens if this happens again in nine months but worse?

not a good plan

plan b get a nano cube, this wont work since i want to have a decent size sump and good skimmer..

plan c find a reef ready tank..

ok i have more then enough fully stocked shops around to get a reef ready tank from.. problem is that no matter which set up i get its going to cost about a grand..









so heres what i got

ocieanic tech series 45 gallon black trim L 24.5 x W 25 x H 18.5
with black oak stand

since this tank is much taller then my 20 long i also picked up the current outter orbit 159w hqi halide with two actinic compact florecents

the tank is sick, way over built with starphire front glass..

i will up date with pics once the water clears


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## Sheppard (Jul 8, 2004)

Damn Nismo that's a gorgeous tank! It's definitley a big change from a 20 long! But I know it will look good.
Whats Starphire glass? I have been reading afew things here and there about it, but i'm still not quite sure.


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

hahah what a great excuse to upgrade huh? that tank looks sweet. will be a very nice setup.


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

Sorry to hear about the old tank, but it sounds/looks like you definitely bought one hell of an upgrade!! Sweet tank, and perfect to stack tons of LR. Great pick up! Post some pics once you get it set up and running.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Sheppard said:


> Damn Nismo that's a gorgeous tank! It's definitley a big change from a 20 long! But I know it will look good.
> Whats Starphire glass? I have been reading afew things here and there about it, but i'm still not quite sure.


starphire glass has a lower iron content, typical glass has a greenish tint to it, also not as clear, if i look throught he front pane length wise, from the side (which is about 1/2 inch thick) i can see clear though the other side. the tank easily weighs as much as an AGA twice the size. it probably weighs three or four times as much as a 55gal AGA..

right now im having some complications with my set up though, i wanted to have alot of turn over so i got a rio17hf which i belive is giving me 800 to 1000 gph but i thinking its too much for my overflow and sump, im getting a crazy amount of micor bubbles and the over flow sound like the loudest coffee periclator in the history of man.. basically living room sounds like a LFS with a hundered tanks running..

i thnk i might have to scale teh return pump back to 500 - 700 gph and just add a few nano streams or korilia's to keep the water moving..

other issue will be adding more rock and comming up with and impresive aquascape. witha tank of this quality i cant have some slopppy mish mosh i need stacks of rocks with overhangs and archs its gotta be crazy looking. defiantely going to use medium size base rock, i have enough live rock to seed another 20 - 30 lbs of base rock and probably some kind of sub frame to achive the type of look i want..

i will kep this thread going as i make changes


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

Yeah, I have a friend that has a tank in similar shape as that one. He stacked so much LR in there that it towers to the top and around the sides. Thus, when you look at the tank it appears that the LR wraps around the entire tank, with coral and sponges stacked from the substrate to the top. Very, very nice tank.


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## Sheppard (Jul 8, 2004)

Thanks for clearing up the "Starphire" situation for me..I knew it was extremely clear glass but I didn't remember what it was that was different, so I guess it's the iron content..great stuff. I actually saw a pic posted on a nano-reef forum and the guy took the pic at an angle and he put a box through the other end of the tank and you could actually see through it with no problems. Normally it's slightly warped or off colour.

So congrats on the setup! Good call on the HQI too since it's a tall tank I think you could use that kind of intensity from your light.
I'm digging your plans for this baby too..overhangs in reef tanks are effing sick! It's the sweetest looking thing ever. I just don't know how to do it. Do you have to glue your rocks together? I'm also a big fan of all different types of Zoa's covering the rocks going down one side of the tank...Just an idea. I saw a guy with a nice tall setup like yours and he did one side totally covered in Zoa's and it was great. If I can find the pic of it i'll show you.
(i'll have pics of my setup one I get my digi back..and you'll be getting some pm's from me lol)

-Shepp


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

WOW!!!! I love Oceanic teck series tanks. I'm excited and its not my tank. We need more pictures of the tank.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

ok so i piled every thing in in a manner in which it was not crushing or touching anything but i was having micro bubble issues because the rio hyper 17hf is too much flow for my sump and the over flow. for now i have my mag three hooked up but i think i will exchange the rio for a mag5 and run a power head or two..









today i also picked up two more pieces of live rock, total weight of 10 lbs so i have about 25 lbs in the tank i know i paid far too much for this rock but the pieces have fantastic shape and great coraline color and at this point ive spent too much to be concerned about a couple extra bucks..

here it is a bit clearer with the new rock just on the sides









and here we go just a teaser of the first attempt at working out a suitable aquascape with just the actenic lights









adjusted white balance









here was the last full tank shot i ook of the ole 20 RIP


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

light (MH only) on









actenic and halide


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## welsher7 (Jul 29, 2005)

I like the aquascape so far. The tank is going to look great. I love that starphire glass.


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## Winkyee (Feb 17, 2003)

Your tank looks terrific.


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

Damn, the tank looks great! The corals look great.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

re arranged some of the corals. i need to figure out how to set up the camera to get more balanced shots with the 150w Mh.


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

What type of Acro is that on the top of the reef structure (top left)?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Coldfire said:


> What type of Acro is that on the top of the reef structure (top left)?


to be honest i dont know, gettting a correct ID on acros can be very difficult since the smae species can exibit many types of growth and many species share similar types fo growth. proper id also requires examination of the skeletle structure many times and i would like to wait until these frags get a substantial amount of growth before i start cracking piece off..

for anyone that is interested i have created kind of an identification map of sorts.









1. plating montiporas, not sure if they are necessarily monti cap though. i have orange w/orange polyps, yellowish green w/ purple, and the larger one on the bottom right should regain itsgreen color under the current lighting. there is also a small piece of purple plating moti growin off of a piece of monti elk horn, once it gets larger i will seperate them.

2. monti digitata, the larger green piece grows like a week and during the relocation process of setting up this tank a number of pieces have broken off. the other digi frag is a purple color w/ brownish polyps.

3. milipora the color of these vary from brown in teh areas of no growth to blue at the tips and the growth around the base has been greenish, the polyps are blueish with white tips. the color on these frags has become much better when it is under more intense lighting.

4. Bali green slimer, three frag of this, the color is not so great right now since they were not positioned well under the lighting of the old tank but that is already changing in the new tank, these should really start to grow nicely and color up.

5. Brain coral, therea are two type of brain but im not positive of their exact species

6. birdsnest , another type of acropora teh growth tips are a pinkish color and the polyps ahve white tips.

7. montipora elk horn, this frag also have a purple plating monti and a purple digi monti attached to it.

8. arco ? i have no idea what kind of acro this is specifically but belives it is one ofthe table forming growth types, this was teh first acro i purchased, it was cheap and ugly brown but it seems to be fairly hardy. the color has been slowly changing from a dark brown the approaching yellow and gowth has been slow but seems to be accelerating

9. acro ? its green and has been growing at asteady rate overall just a nice piece of acro.

scattered around the bottom of the pile are assorted color zooanthids, mushrooms, green star polyps and a finger leather that also has some really cool purple an white clove polyp

fish in the tank are a randalli goby (spelling?), 2 ocelarus clown fish and two male lytrail anthias.

in a year or so some of these frags will be available depending on what kind of growth occurs.


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## LouDiB (May 22, 2006)

Looks great dude...lotta work and dedication to that thing. I see that you got rid of all your p's?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Louie D said:


> Looks great dude...lotta work and dedication to that thing. I see that you got rid of all your p's?


thanks louie, yeah i got rid of my large rhom when i moved to queens and sold my lil one a few months after that. then i ran a freshwater planted tank with community peaceful fish but when i moved back to jersey in aug my 29g crakced when i was cleaning it so i just donated all my freshwater live stock back to the lfs. so strickly marine (for now) would like to get p's again but need to wait until i can have a "fish room"...


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

heres an update.

i traded the rio return pump in for credit and wicked up two clown fish and two lytrail anthias, having more fish mean i have to feed the tank now more regularly, something i havent really done since my last fish lived off the the pods in the tank and falkes occasionally. between the feeding and the new live rock and the normal results of a new tank i had several algea blooms. due to the increased intordution of nutrients and waste from teh fish i have added a phosban reactor and began using carbon fitler pad in teh sump so thats helping keep things in check.. i also got a few new frag so heres some eye candy


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Amazing tank Nismo-

Hows the growth comming along since the upgrade in lighting?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

AKSkirmish said:


> Amazing tank Nismo-
> 
> Hows the growth comming along since the upgrade in lighting?


i have noticed growth maybe slightly accellerated but keep in mind the light is twice the wattage but the tank is twice as deep so the increased lighting really only benifits some of the higher placed frags but all the frags are still growing at a moderate rate


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

nismo driver said:


> Amazing tank Nismo-
> 
> Hows the growth comming along since the upgrade in lighting?


i have noticed growth maybe slightly accellerated but keep in mind the light is twice the wattage but the tank is twice as deep so the increased lighting really only benifits some of the higher placed frags but all the frags are still growing at a moderate rate
[/quote]

HEHE-Thats something I never thought of.......Seems darn logical though....


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

i will try to locate older pics of my stuff and do some comparison shots to give an idea of growth from a couple months under the 70 watt to now, unfortunately i lost my sd card that had all the last shots i took in the old tank under the old light so what ever growth ive had in the last couple weeks might slightly mis represent but then again its not like im measuring the mass of these frags with a digital scale so who cares..


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

True that Sir-LOL

I look forward to seeing the pics when you get the chance to locate them...


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

ok here are a few

5/13/07








10/12/07








05/01/07








10/11/07 - slightly differnt angle but the color change is pretty well represented and the encrusting growth around the base 








this is more interesting though, this frag came off of the frag above shortly after the 05/01 pic it started turning green a few months ago but has really started to encrust and the green has become brighter








05/14/07








10/13/07















these last two are a bit longer and mroe dramatically different

03/02/07








10/12/07








03/02/07








10/11/07


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

FTS


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## Quido (Dec 5, 2006)

Nice tank, any fish in it?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

i was just thinking and realized this tank had its B-day last month..

its been an up and down year, but things have been progessing pretty nicely

i was just about to take a snap of it for an update but eht lights turned off wo i will have to get some tomorrow..


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

picture


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## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Looks nice Nismo.


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## nataz (Mar 31, 2006)

nismo driver said:


> FTS
> 
> View attachment 155235


Your rock scape looks good, I love the coral placement. A little flame angel crusin around would look hot in there.


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## Moondemon (Dec 9, 2006)

Yout tank makes me want to get my 1st SW setup !!


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## Malawi- (Oct 21, 2008)

Looks good to me.


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