I really like the live rock in the 265. You did a great job with the aqua-scape. I am not a fan of BB and although I think it would look better with at least a shallow sand bed, it looks better than most BB I have seen.
I agree with you. Sand is better asthetically, but with the amount of flow i have in the tank it would be a nightmare to keep sand. Im also relying on the BB and high flow for filtration purposes since my CUC options will be limited.
When I saw your pooch I wanted reach through the screen and scratch his back.
Ill trade him to you for a frag >LOL<
I thought you were going to build your own frag tank? What made you change your mind?
The cost of glass ;D The frag tank i bought is made from 1/2" glass and cost me less than it would to purchase enought 3/8" glass to do it myself. Believe it or not, the tank was only $110 and i had to pay a $30 delivery fee to pick it up in MD.
Love the cardinals. I think you and I talked about them a long time ago. Def one of my favorites for filling up a tank with some movement and isn't something you see every day.
Agreed. They are one of my favorite fish as well and one of the few that i can say from experience that will almost always shoal and sometimes even school. I had 6 originally but my chromis, of all fish, killed two within the first couple of days. Ive noticed that they are much more active since ive seperated them and the chromis. I actually considered getting a large school(15+) for my 265g but decided to go with the anthias instead.
Let me know if you ever really decide on the Achilles tang.
There isnt a decision that needs to be made ;D The stocking list is definitive. I spent months agonizing over that list and i doubt that it will change much. Im in not hurry to stock it and wont settle for subsitutions. After a LOT of reading, i beleive the Achilles reputation is due to primarily one thing: inexperienced hobbyist putting the fish in the wrong tank. The Achlies is one of the few tangs that will simply not tolerate less than ideal conditions. Water quality has to be on point, it needs a BIG tank which i think mine is the bare minimum, and it needs LOTS of flow. Right now i have 4 MJ mods with the big prop in all of them just for the Achilles. With that said, i will still definitely touch base with you when im ready to make the purchase if you think the quality of specimens through your source that good.
Would be cool to see a pair of long nose hawks. Why not a pair of flame angelfish vs just one?
Yeah, the LNH is another one of my all time fav fish that ive never owned. Never had the balls to put one in my reef. I never considered getting a pair but LA has had them fairly regularly so i thought it would be a little more unique.
Why not a pair of flame angelfish vs just one?
I had thought about it but they are impossible to sex and too expensive to play trial and error or try to fish out of a 265g. I could QT to monitor compatibility but ive heard of stories where people will keep two angels together in QT for weeks with no signs of aggression then once they are settled into the DT WWIII breaks loose. Ive put a lot of thought into the stocking list to be able to keep some of my fav fish(emperator, queen, tusk, achilles, crosshatch) and at the sametime avoid the cliched agressive FOWLR. I dont want to be that guy constantly seperating fish and selling fish because of aggression issues. I know i still my have one or two potential problems on my hands but i think overall the stocking list is a safe bet.
Could plan ahead for a DIYS larval collector system. It's just crazy how much larval and fry are simply filtered out of large healthy tanks. Could have it set up and planned, but just not used.
Not in the cards now because i have WAY to much on my plate. I look at all the crazy stuff i do now with very limited time, i can only imagine what ill do when i actually have time on my hands ;D If i told you some of the ideas i have for future projects jotted down in my notebook someone would like have me committed ;D
Instead of creating a mated pair, purchase a pair together. Dr. Mac was selling some this summer actually. I think they were listed on his site for all of 5-10 minute before he sold out, but if you contact them you might be able to work something out.
As far as quarantining the pair well I have QTed two clown fish pairs in the past and both times the second I put them in a small QT tank they went at each other.(not in a good way) The set of instructions I loosely follow to QT fish recommends to QT every fish separately. I place them in a tank with a clear divider. As far as WWIII occurring once they are in the DT, I am sure a lot of the reports of that are in smaller less populated tanks. In your well populated, well fed, larger tank I don’t think you will have an issue.(though no guarantees with anything in this hobby… or life)
I was very interested to see your comments regarding aggression vs fish populations. I really think there is something to it but i have never found any documentation to substantiate it. IME though, ive noticed that having several smaller, active fish really seems to diffuse the aggression displayed by more belligerent fish. I dont think it applies for a second with piscivores but im looking forward to the results i will get with my tangs and angels. Having the hippo in the 265g first was not planned and im hoping it wont throw a wrench into things.
I agree with you. When i said QT i didnt mean it in the sense your thinking. What i was referring to is how some people will QT a potential pair to monitor compatibility before introducing the fish together in the display.
Instead of creating a mated pair, purchase a pair together. Dr. Mac was selling some this summer actually.
I would probably buy a pair in a heatbeat but i rarely see any angels sold in pairs, let alone dwarf angels. Probably the most commonly available paired angles i see are the sexually dimorphic angels like swallowtails, bellus, etc.
It might put a smile on your face to know that i plan on QTing most of the fish for my 265g I still believe wholeheartedly in my techique and will continue to use it when stocking the small fish for the 265g. However, becuase ill probably be introducing new fish to the 265g every 4-8 weeks for the next year or two i just dont want to take the risk of loosing a $500 fish due to something preventable. I still dont believe in prophylactic medication and will only be using passive QT procedures. Ill definitely start picking your brain soon enough becuase i will be incorporating a permanent 40g QT tank into my fishroom this january when i set up the new system.
[quote=“logans_daddy, post:23, topic:2249”]
I would probably buy a pair in a heatbeat but i rarely see any angels sold in pairs, let alone dwarf angels.[/quote]
Well you could give up on finding a pair and just get a single one, or be laid back about this and wait several years on the off chance you might find a pair before someone else buys them up, or you could talk to the right people in the industry. You got PM coming.
I would be happy to help with QT or anything else.
There is probably only about 6-8" seperating the broms from the orchid and all three are more than 3’ away from the light. By no means am i a plant guy, and the little i know about plants is what i read about them before purchasing them, so please correct me if im wrong. Pretty much everything i have read about orchids say that although they are found in boggy, low light areas that they need a very well substrate. It seems that the are typically planted in a bark substate with a mossy or similar layer on top to retain moisture but allow for maximum drainage. Im pretty sure planting it directly in the substrate would kill it rather quickly. Also, the two broms on the bottom are supposed to be the biggest and i didnt want any shade issues planting them any higher. I planted the tank from the top down with higher light, vine-type plants at the top, and low light high moisture broad leaf plants towards the bottom. Im far from an expert and i wouldnt be surprised if i need to move things around a bit but so far everything has begun to perk up since planting with the exception of one begonia cutting. Ive always been interested in horticulture and can not wait to find the time to dwelve into the hobby a little deeper, but for now the closest thing ive come to besides this tank is cutting my lawn ;D
i’ve actually seen thriving cattelaya’s in straight potting soil before believe it or not. they are a very hardy orchid species, another reason why you seen them for sale in grocery stores frequently. I would leave out the sphagnum moss on the top layer, the majority of professional orchids mixes completely omit it, the moss will actually accumulate too much moisture generally. in terms of size, i’m not sure if you have ever been to longwood gardens, but they have some pretty massive cattelayas on display in their orchid room. the orchid growth will probably out pace the two achmea specimens you have, they aren’t as prolific of a grower compartibly. this is coupled with that inibility to prune. if you top off achmea’s your goign to have two new shoots instead of purning leaves on the orchid. be concerned abotu the drainge but don’t forget about the light, HPS lights as i’m sure you know produce a signifigant amount of light. the rare orchids that i own are kept in motted light in a sun room at my parents. what layers of substate are you using in your viv?
that also doesn’t look like a cattelya orchid to me. the leaves on a cattelaya are more narrow,it resembles a phalaenopsis, again another hardy species but not as fast a grower. gotta post more pics! haha
[quote=“kaptken, post:29, topic:2249”]
We will just have to call you Jungle Jim from now on.[/quote]
That is my uncle. Actually they named the Jungle Jim’s in Rehoboth beach after him. Has been the head mechanic there for MANY years. Place wouldn’t run with out him. Sorry OT.
Andrew - like i said before, my knowledge is VERY limited as it pertains to plant. The vendor i purchased the orchid from sells it as a mini-cattelya but it was a “seller’s choice” so there was no guarentee for a specific hybrid or color. The vendor is very reputable so i would be very surprised if it wasnt a cattelya, but i couldnt tell you one way or the other. The 150 HPS is very bright, but keep in mind that the tank is 4’ tall with another 6" bettween the top of the tank and the bottom of the fixture. The broms and orchid are at the bottom 12" of the tank so there is over 3 feet of distance between the light and plants not to mention all of the shading from the branches and other plants. As far as the substrate goes, i kept it very simple. I used 1 part organic soil to 1 part coco fiber with about 3" of hydroton. I know this isnt ideal for orchids, but i thought it would be a good balance that would work well for all of the plants. I left the orchid in the bark it came with and was told that the roots will actually grow along the background and will not need to be buried. All of the aerial pots have holes for drainage and about 1" of coca fiber at the bottom.
Its interesting that you brought up propagation because i am absolutely cluess where to begin. I just picked up 6 X 20g High tanks for PDF vivs and plan to plant it almost exlusively from the stock in my 40g viv. It wont be for a while, but ill definitely have to pick your brain when i get close since you seem to know a little about it.
there are really two diff sorta main types of cattleya based partly on leaf shape. we're all right, YAY!!
In order to be right, i would have to know what im talking about first ;D Who knew there were so many orchid geeks! I was actually considering doing a little homework and maybe setting up a little area in my frog closet and try my hand at growing them.
So back to Andrew’s comment about not being able to prune orchids, how exactly would i propogate these guys? broms?
Wow… took me a while to get through that and not 100% sure that I got everything. All your tanks/vivs look great. Why did you decide to go with MH over the frag tank instead of a few T5 bulbs? Seems like it might make it a little more energy efficient over such a shallow tank.
Its going to be great to see that tank fully stocked. Did the male mandarin plump back up for you? (Keleigh wants me to ask… she was really attached)
well, i think everyone knows im a metal halide guy, but there are a lot of reasons why i went this route over T5.
The tank is 2’ X 4’. In order to propagate SPS in the entire tank i think i would need 6 bars, maybe 4, but i think it would be inadequate. That would put me at 324watts at high ouput. I would also need at least two ballasts, 6 reflectors, 6 bulbs, and 6 sets of endcaps. Also, with this setup the lighting would be even, and with a tank this shallow, it wouldnt give me a lot of PAR variation to meet the needs of various corals.
The pendant i bought is BIG. The physics of having a single pendand gives me a lot of flexibility. Im able to keep the most light demanding SPS directly under the fixture, as well as acans and other less demanding corals along the perimeter of the tank. I also purchased a 30% dimmable ballast that i only need(right now) to run at 70% which means that on paper im only running 280 watts. With the color and PAR of the Radium 20k bulb, the flexibility of a mutil-strength light source over a fixed-strength light source, the cheaper initial costs, and the cheaper annual costs associated with bulb replacement, it was a no brainer for me.
I know there are advantages to a T5 setup. I also know that if i looked at the actual effeciency of the MH ballast vs T5 ballasts that im probably using more energy with my setup. However, i dint think its a coincident that most aquaculture utilizes 400watt MH.
[quote=“logans_daddy, post:38, topic:2249”]
The tank is 2’ X 4’. In order to propagate SPS in the entire tank i think i would need 6 bars†“That would put me at 324watts at high ouput[/quote]
I should point out to any newbies reading this that Shawn’s MH doesn’t provide the tank with the ability “to propagate SPS in the entire tank” either(this is what he wanted), so for those designing systems to do so they might reconsider T5s.
[quote=“logans_daddy, post:38, topic:2249”]
However, i dint think its a coincident that most aquaculture utilizes 400watt MH.[/quote]
I dint think it is a coincident that many of the aquaculture facilities I have heard of have failed due to high energy bills. Truth is in any field it is a good idea to look at what others are doing and in most fields there is no point to reinvent the wheel, but I think aquaculturing corals is very different. Most of the people that have hard core dove into aquaculture have been able to do so because they have plenty of funds to do so not because they are experts.
Ok if Shawn’s the MH guy I’m the T5 guy. I agree there are uses for MH and ups and downs to both, but I’m not 100% sold on MH for shallow tank propagation yet. Would love to sit down and crunch numbers some day and really analyze this in more depth.
I should point out to any newbies reading this that Shawn's MH doesn't provide the tank with the ability "to propagate SPS in the entire tank"
actually Jon, thats not true. 99% of the tank will be SPS. Not all SPS require the same light intensity which, in a display tank or deeper frag tank, can be compensated for with relocating the corals vertically. in my tank, i adjust the output. with the height of my fixture i simply radiate the frags from the center out with SPS needing intense light in the middle and SPS with less light needs towards the perimeter.
I agree there are uses for MH and ups and downs to both
+1
but I'm not 100% sold on MH for shallow tank propagation yet. Would love to sit down and crunch numbers some day and really analyze this in more depth.
If i really believed T5 was better, i would have T5.
As it stands, what works best for me in general is MH and T5 actinics. The perfect compromise for me has been 2XT5 for the entire photo peried and 2XMH for 5 hours.
I still believe wholeheartedly in my techique and will continue to use it when stocking the small fish for the 265g. However, becuase ill probably be introducing new fish to the 265g every 4-8 weeks for the next year or two i just dont want to take the risk of loosing a $500 fish due to something preventable. I still dont believe in prophylactic medication and will only be using passive QT procedures. Ill definitely start picking your brain soon enough becuase i will be incorporating a permanent 40g QT tank into my fishroom this january when i set up the new system.
Truth is in any field it is a good idea to look at what others are doing and in most fields there is no point to reinvent the wheel, but I think aquaculturing corals is very different. Most of the people that have hard core dove into aquaculture have been able to do so because they have plenty of funds to do so not because they are experts.