220 Half Cube 4 foot tall!

[Live Water Aquariums]

*Updated pics nearly 3 years old!!! Page 3*
OK. Here is one of my projects. This is a client's house where I set up this tank. I own Live Water Aquariums(619)993-0277 and our motto is "Keep your hands dry".
I visit this Aquarium once weekly and all maintenance is performed at this time. Automatic feeder. The homeowner literally doesn't touch the tank.
48x24x48 (LxWxH) It is now one year old. This is a low light system for it's size. One single 250 watt DE hamilton MH. I just switched from an XM 20,000K to a Phoenix 14K and It is the best look ever IMO.

This is where the tank will go:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/ponds035.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/ponds037.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/ponds039.jpg

OK here is the tank empty. This was purchased as a custom order through Live Water Aquariums, the company I own.

This is a Clear For Life Tank with Moore Cabinets making the tray and Canopy to sit on the existing bar area in the house (Which I reinforced).
I added moulding along the cieling and down the walls to hide the 1 1/4" Acrylic.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/fishes002.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/fishes003.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/fishes007.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/fishes006.jpg

[DaChrisDude]

Nice house Kevin! I really like the fern and other indoor plants. The grandfather clock is pretty nice also.

Oh, and the tank is ok.





Lol! Tank is sweeet! I love it! That's going to look so cool, I like how you can see it from so many different angles. What are you planning on keeping in it?

[Live Water Aquariums]

Here is the sump, Basic. The Balest for the light in the upper left corner. G3 skimmer. Added a Phosban reactor with rowa Phos, my favorite.

Coralife 1270 return pump behind sump with an Aqua-logic (1/4 horse,) Chiller in the canopy and a scwd on the return rotating between the two sides.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/fishes008.jpg

[Live Water Aquariums]

Not my house, this is business Thanks though.


Nice house Kevin! I really like the fern and other indoor plants. The grandfather clock is pretty nice also.

Oh, and the tank is ok.





Lol! Tank is sweeet! I love it! That's going to look so cool, I like how you can see it from so many different angles. What are you planning on keeping in it?

[Daniel]

CLEAN setup!!

i envy your moneys.

[Live Water Aquariums]

Sump is up on a 12 inch stand with pond liner wraped around it Just in case the sump somehow overflowed ( Never happens but you know, Murphys law).

[DaChrisDude]

OOoohhh... a client's house. Got it.

Still very sweet.

[Live Water Aquariums]

I edited the original post to reflect that better.
Here are a couple shots 1 Year old.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/fish9-06010.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/fish9-06012.jpg

[Live Water Aquariums]

Here are some more. Enjoy It's been a long road More fish coming and more corals patience is the name of the game but this system truly looks better every week as it should.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/fish9-06022.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/fish9-06017.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/fish9-06021.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/fish9-06020.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/fish9-06019.jpg

These are the first pics I have to share. Not the best, and we have a few new specimens so new pics are in order I will share soon.
Picks taken without flash with a Canon Powershot SD400 in "Underwater" setting... Much to learn about photography but pics don't do this tank justice. These shots were taken the day before a regular service date so this is in "Dirty" condition so keep that in mind. Thanks for looking more Pics soon.

[Live Water Aquariums]

I love Bubbles.

[DaChrisDude]

wow. Excellent work Kevin. The tank looks spectacular.

[Live Water Aquariums]

A little more info and one more pic.
Fish include: One African blue tang, Four ORA Perculas, One Foxface, Two bar goby's, Pair of skunk clowns, one pink one orange, One Brazilian Royal Gramma (huge, usually Upside down in cave).
Recently added a yellow tang pair. Fed the carpet anemone at same time- bad idea, both yellows got eaten by carpen within 24 hours. They didn't graze the leftovers as gracefully as the rest did:) .

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/fish9-06025.jpg

Nemo:rolleyes: Two host the carpet two host everything else.

[lucubrator]

What do you do to keep the sand white?

[Live Water Aquariums]

By memory, inverts: Two Skunk Cleaner Shrimps, One emerald crab, Two black brittle stars, Two Pink Brittle stars, ~100 Cerith snails, ~50 Scarlet hermit crabs, ~50 Astrea snails, ~20 Nass. Snails.
Corals, what you see. LR, about 220 lbs, Giant pieces of Tonga branch and figi to make cave.
Fish fed Spectrum pellets exclusively, 2 times per day through auto-feeder.

W/C 30 gallons every 2-3 weeks, Scripps or Tropic Marin W/DI (Red Tide and rain) GRAVEL(sand)VACUUM!!! Micron bags changed weekly. Weekly feed carpet Chopped Silversides and Mysis. One cube Frozen Coral Food(H204Life)
Skimmer cup Rinsed with Salt water and emptied weekly, Major benifit thanks to Anthony Calfo.

Add B-ionic 1x per week, Reef Solutions 1x per week (used reef vital DNA before seem very similiar) also 5 drops Lugols Iodine and some magnesium suppliment and that's about it.

[ocean1]

Umm wow...

[Wes]

Nice job on the tank set up, inhabitants, maintenance, and the LR formation. Outstanding job overall!!!Did your client request the bubbles? Bubbles are a little over the top for me...IMO (bubbles only)... again great job... I would recommend you!!!

[GoTakuF1]

Curious about the amount of salt creep you get on that system with the bubbler but everything looks clean :)

[swissfish]

amazing set up, show us some more tanks, please

[cagirly2006]

What do you do to keep the sand white?


our sand was so gross from the flaked food we used to feed our tangs, then we got a diamond goby and he fixed that right up, our sand is perfect now!! just a tip :)

[Live Water Aquariums]

Curious about the amount of salt creep you get on that system with the bubbler but everything looks clean :)

Thank you. I get a little salt creep but I wipe it down once a week and it never gets out of control. The bubbles were functional mostly, I use bubbles on all my really tall fish only tanks and it really seems to help with water circulation(And I think they look pretty cool).

Originally it was to have something to look at When the tank was just sand and then just a bunch of greyish rock, but the fish play in the bubbles and the owners love them so they are here to stay. I think it helps add flow to the tank, however more flow is needed so I'll be adding a tunze stream down low and a tunze with the narrow stream up high on a controller to create more wave affect, then I could take the sqwd off the return and get more flow there too. Has anyone used the tunze stream rock? Can I put it right on the sand or does it need to be up off the floor?

More tanks to come. Thanks for asking.

[lucubrator]

our sand was so gross from the flaked food we used to feed our tangs, then we got a diamond goby and he fixed that right up, our sand is perfect now!! just a tip :)

I had one of those once too, and he worked well. I just didn't see any gobies in the fish lineup, so I had to ask.

[onad75]

That's a really nice setup ..

[Fishaholic]

I think that the bubbles look cool, i really like being able to see the tank from two sides its almost like 2 seperate tanks

[jrjuiliano]

Very nice setup!

[Ars3nal619]

Im jealous !!!

[Live Water Aquariums]

I had one of those once too, and he worked well. I just didn't see any gobies in the fish lineup, so I had to ask.

No true gobies. I don't think the tank is fed properly for one curently. That is one of the limitations of "Remote Reefing" Many animals need more care than an automatic feeder can do. I also am shying away from anything that sits on things because the Lawnmower blenny suddenly vanished one day and the carpet had a guilty look on it's face.:rolleyes:

[Live Water Aquariums]

O.K. Here is the canopy, chiller, autofeeder.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/nelsons001.jpg

[Live Water Aquariums]

Service time...

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/nelsons012.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/nelsons011.jpg

[Live Water Aquariums]

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/nelsons013.jpg
CARPET FOOD. *Edit, I fed silversides for the first year 1 time per week, after loosing several fish from picking at the leftovers and getting eaten by the carpet, along with much research, I stopped this practice. for the last 1.5 years I have not fed the carpet, ever(other than coral frenzy). I am a strong believer in feeding other nems, but carpets are detritus feeders and it gets plenty of food from stirring of the sand through gravel vac weekly, fish poop, and the occational spectrum pellets landing on it. It hasn't moved from this position ever and I haven't seen any problems from this lack of feeding.
I don't think the food did it any harm but I now believe it is completely not needed.*

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/nelsons007.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/nelsons009.jpg

Food was dropped and in the blink of an eye...

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/nelsons016.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/nelsons014.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/nelsons015.jpg

[GoTakuF1]

Thank you. I get a little salt creep but I wipe it down once a week and it never gets out of control. The bubbles were functional mostly, I use bubbles on all my really tall fish only tanks and it really seems to help with water circulation(And I think they look pretty cool).

Originally it was to have something to look at When the tank was just sand and then just a bunch of greyish rock, but the fish play in the bubbles and the owners love them so they are here to stay. I think it helps add flow to the tank, however more flow is needed so I'll be adding a tunze stream down low and a tunze with the narrow stream up high on a controller to create more wave affect, then I could take the sqwd off the return and get more flow there too. Has anyone used the tunze stream rock? Can I put it right on the sand or does it need to be up off the floor?

More tanks to come. Thanks for asking.

Who doesn't like bubbles? Here's an interesting read along the line of what you're already doing: http://homepage.mac.com/johnlaurenson/ReefTank/PhotoAlbum46.html

[Live Water Aquariums]

Prize specimen...seriously.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/nelsons017.jpg

Yes those are apptasia. The owners love them. They were the first things to show up on the "Live Rock" to prove that it indeed is live. They love them and won't let me kill them! Every two to three months or as needed I Joes juice any of them that get near the corals, otherwise they don't spread too fast here. Probably about two dozen of them throughout the tank- in bare spots... why not?
*Edit: we still have a few of these prized specimens. usually about a dozen or two. Still the same practice, every 2-3 months I joes juice or blue life aptasia control whatever I can get to, not stressing to hard, never trying to eliminate them just thin them out. People stress so hard on these things, and I understand, unchecked they can be a real problem, but if not overfed, and if managed properly they can easily be controlled.*

[Live Water Aquariums]

Who doesn't like bubbles? Here's an interesting read along the line of what you're already doing: http://homepage.mac.com/johnlaurenson/ReefTank/PhotoAlbum46.html

Wow!!! Thats a new one... how cool.

[GoTakuF1]

Wow!!! Thats a new one... how cool.

I've been meaning to try it but I hate salt creep. Its a neat concept though. I'll have to dust up the old air pump soon.

[Fishaholic]

Ive got some Prime specimans also, ask the customer if he would like them:) lol


would that air thingy work with a return pump? Just put an air pump on a timer? whats the real benifit?

[rbdesigns]

Sweet tank, how thick is the acrylic on the tank?

[rudy]

O.K. Here is the canopy, chiller, autofeeder.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/nelsons001.jpg

I like the blue beerbong looks a little small tho:D
Really nice and clean setup, great work.

[Live Water Aquariums]

Sweet tank, how thick is the acrylic on the tank?
1.25 inch, rounded corners.

[GoTakuF1]

would that air thingy work with a return pump? Just put an air pump on a timer?

I don't see why not. If you're going to run air through your return pump, just be careful not to push too much through it or it will cavitate. Otherwise, you can just hook that pump to an airstone.



whats the real benifit?

The tank owner covers it on his site but you should try it and let us know.

[Daniel]

minh that link for the bubbles was pretty interesting... thanks for sharing :)

[SushiGrower]

No algae problems on the tank?? Seems like it gets a lot of light, maybe a low bioload lets you get away with it??

[Live Water Aquariums]

As I stated at the begining, this is considered a low light system for it's size. Weekly water changes and constant use of GFO phosphate remover, along with a large clean up crew keep algae at a minimum.

Anyway, thanks to Ed (Barometer) who used his photo skills to help me shoot this tank, I have some updates. After nearly 3 years this tank is still going strong. Most of the original inhabitants are still around. New fish include a mated Flame angel pair, Lawnmower blenny, pair of orange anthias, and one blue eyed cardinal. Anthias were originally six, so were the blue eye'ds, this is the price you pay for having carpet nems.
So here are a few fts's (full tank shots).

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/FTS-front2.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/_MG_9636.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/FTS-front.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/FTS-side.jpg

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/FTS-side2.jpg

This tank has all the same equip. as was set up with. We have replaced the sedra pump on the skimmer once, and added a single Seio pump on a Seio controller to increase flow and create wave action.

[Live Water Aquariums]

A bunch more shots thanks to barometer, thanks Ed, enjoy.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/FTS-back1.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/FTS-back2.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/shroomsGSPCC.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/sinularia1.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/_MG_9626.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/_MG_9629.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/_MG_9652.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/_MG_9650.jpg

[Live Water Aquariums]

And more:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/_MG_9674.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/_MG_9675.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/bigshroom.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/bigshroomnsin.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/blotchyshooms2.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/carpetnclown1.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/flamenshroom.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/frogspawn1.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/frogspawn2.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/frogspawn3.jpg

[Live Water Aquariums]

A little info. For the last two years this tank has been fed NOTHING BUT New Life Spectrum thera "a" pellets, and coral frenzy powder. The spectrum pellets are fed 5 times a day through an automatic feeder and the coral frenzy once a nite by the owner. The pellets in the feeder are also dusted with the coral frenzy so the corals are fed a little by that during feedings. Not any frozen food has been used in 2 years...None! The tank has been run on regular water changes using Scripps water exclusively for two years as well no mixed salt ever, rain or shine.

[iwantone]

Air bubbles add a huge amount of gentle circulation. Look at the old reef tanks by Lee Ching in the 80s. THat's all he used.
Great set-up, very nice rock work. I get so tired of see the WALL reefs that everyone else has.

[Chanas4]

where did you end up putting that Tunze stream rock sand, or up higher?

[Live Water Aquariums]

We went with one seio pump 820 if I remember right. It's in the upper right back on the wall on the seio controller. They really didn't want to see a pump in the tank, especially at the price of the Tunze set up so to convince them to let me do it we went with the savings of the seio, when the controllers finally came out. I really wanted to do a tunze rock down low and one up high, but they haven't come out with a solar powered tunze yet and I couldn't figure out how to hide the cord. It really adds a significant amount of flow and the movement is very visible as the path of the bubbles go straight up when at low flow, then they sway to the left when the pumps crank up. I turned the seio off for the pics so the bubbles are straight up in the shots. I was excited when the vortechs came out, thinking I would put one on the overflow box but of course they made the stupid things so the power side is not submersible so that wasnt possible. I was going to add another seio on the other side but it really didn't seem needed.
The only coral we have ever lost was the alveapora, it fell off the rocks a couple of times and never quite recovered. Since then I've learned to mount each coral to a better base to eliminate this problem. The huge candycane got so big it was shading everything out so I fragged it down to a little nub. It grows so fast it will be a show piece in no time.

[Live Water Aquariums]

Air bubbles add a huge amount of gentle circulation. Look at the old reef tanks by Lee Ching in the 80s. THat's all he used.
Great set-up, very nice rock work. I get so tired of see the WALL reefs that everyone else has.

Thanks,
For softies and LPS the flow is great. I try to set up low energy set-ups for my clients, they are already paying for service they don't wan't to see a $300 increase in their electric bill as well, and I feel it is more environmentally responsible. Doing my research everyone told me I would need a 400wt metal halide minimum and closed loop... they said it simply would not work. Those of us who remember what reef tanks consisted of 15 years ago know that is simply not true.
As for the rockwork. I love the big cave. The Brazilian Royal gramma and Cleaner Shrimps hang out in there upside down all the time, it's a kick.

[Live Water Aquariums]

This little Neon Green Polyped Sinularia Frag started from less than 1 inch. It was propagated at Pet kingdom and this was nearly 1 year later.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/fish9-06017-1.jpg
This is the mother colony from that frag.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/_MG_9629.jpg
This is a seperate frag from that colony in the tank near the blue wall.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e301/KVflynn/nelsons/sinularia1.jpg
The main colony has produced nearly 100 frags over the years (with a little help).

[malakaikingston]

Amazing build, very inspiring.

[Jessy]

very impressed... its nice to see a different way to do things for those of us that have only been in the hobby 1 yr or more...

[barometer]

This tank was amazing in person, I was in awe. Kevin's got some serious reefing skillz :D

Sorry the photos didn't turn out better (smack me down sensei :hideeyes:). You can also see I was playing with exposures and color corrections. I've definitely never encountered a setup like this, quite inspiring. :)

Here's a closeup that I liked

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb106/barometer/purplerock/first%20shoot/flamenshroom_sm_frmd.jpg

[WanaLeime]

Kevin,

Any updates on this tank? This is an awesome build! is this where my rocks went? :)

-Dennis

[Live Water Aquariums]

Kevin,

Any updates on this tank? This is an awesome build! is this where my rocks went? :)

-Dennis

Hey there Dennis.
It's been a long time. I will try to get some updated pic's of this tank. It's going well, been around a long, long time by now.
Your live rock is spread around between two or three setups I was putting together when I bought it. It helped me cycle them and get the rest of the rock to purple up quickly and nicely. I'll try to get some more pics up of some of my more recent work up someday. With a new baby at home, It's hard to get anything extra done these days. Take care, Kevin.