Simon's 450

[ca1ore]

"Ya think?"
Nope! Love them!

Need two to take photos of the corals though - one to draw the fish all to one end and another to actually take the picture. Otherwise I get fish photo bombed (is that even a term anymore).

 

[garbled]

Thank you. What do you use to block the light and what do you use to clean the front panel? Isn't your acrylic 3/4 inch? Mine is.

Mine is 7/8" acrylic, and I also have a mighty magnet. F5. I previously had an F4, but upgraded. Amazing magnets. Can't recommend them enough. The F4 worked pretty good, but would jump a bit as you moved, the F5 is pretty smooth.

 

[Victoria M]

Need two to take photos of the corals though - one to draw the fish all to one end and another to actually take the picture. Otherwise I get fish photo bombed (is that even a term anymore).

in your tank you get fish photo bombed! lol. I look forward to the day my fish come up to see me. They all still run and hide when I approach the tank.

 

[albano]

I look forward to the day my fish come up to see me. They all still run and hide when I approach the tank.

Are you from Sylvania or Transylvania ?
;Woot

 

[Victoria M]

Are you from Sylvania or Transylvania ?
;Woot

that is my new favorite emoji.

 

[ca1ore]

Use more garlic. Ever since I hung a string in the kitchen we haven’t had a single vampire ..... didn’t actually have any before either, but what the heck.

 

[Victoria M]

My fish do 't like me yet. I think it is because there are 5 little fish in a 187 gallon.

 

[ca1ore]

Found a string of ‘meat’ in one of the vortech pumps ..... fish jerky I think. So, me and the boys did an inventory:

10 tangs - gem, black, purple, yellow, desjardini, zebra, regal, elegans, brevirostris and chevron.
13 pseudoanthias - Bartlett’s, bimaculatus and resplendent
8 butterfly - pyramid and zoster
9 angels - regal, emperor, rock beauty, potters, swallowtail, flame and lemon peel
18 wrasses - lineatus, dusky, cleaner, labouts, Lubbock, red scale, sail fin, orange back, exquisite, pin tail, and leopards.
9 cardinals - ochre striped, PJ and banggai
9 misc. - quoyi, flame hawk fish, chalk basslet, zebra eel, clowns and Midas Blenny. Prob missed a few.
..... and then an indeterminate number of damsels. 5 Talbots, 3 Rolland’s, one Starki, 5 azure, 2 Ambon and lots of yellow tail. Nominally 5o total damsels.

So, my guesstimate of 120 fish is about right. Oh, the fish jerky ..... female flame wrasse nowhere to be seen.

 

[garbled]

So no issues with that fishload in the 450? I'm really not sure what a reasonable load for mine is yet.

 

[ca1ore]

I wouldn't say NO issues. I do run nutrient levels that are higher than ideal for a mixed reef; but otherwise, OK. Even for a 450, and considering that almost half are small damsels, 120 plus is a very high fish load.

 

[ca1ore]

Pictures for Friday ….

 

[ca1ore]

……..

 

[Victoria M]

Oh my god is that beautiful!

 

[lavoisier]

Took me a few days to read through the whole thread. Beautiful. Informative. Inspiring. Thanks for taking the time to share.

How did you attach coral to the back wall (if I'm seeing that correctly)?

 

[garbled]

That's an acrylic tank. I imagine he just superglued it.

I think my dream of dreams for the magical perfect tank would be an encrusting montipora covering the whole back wall. But I have to admit the table acros on the back are pretty awesome too.. Though I do kinda wonder if they have enough grip to hold the back like that if they get bigger.

I am jealous of your anthias. Want.

 

[ca1ore]

They are actually attached with magnets. Two of the three are on the skim box which is just 1/4” thick, so that works pretty well. The third is on the full thickness rear wall (1 1/8”) so that requires a serious set of magnets. If the colonies encrust onto the back wall they will stay put as they grow; otherwise they eventually torque off the wall. If that happens, I just trim and reseat them. You don’t want tables getting too big as they then shade too much.

 

[garbled]

Ok, wait, tell me everything about the magnets you use for 1 1/8" thick acrylic. I have that exact thickness on the sides of mine, and I need to figure out magnet things that will hold powerheads and stuff. I have desperate need of this info.

 

[ca1ore]

I actually used the magnet set from a WAV pump. They claim to work to 1” thick walls, so I just bolstered the exterior side with a couple of neomidium magnets from KJ Magnetics. Works ok if the exterior side is hidden behind the tank; probably a tad ugly if on the side. My WAV and vortech MP60 pumps stick fine on 1”, and might still work on 1 1/8”. I use a MP40 on the rear, but had the tank builder thin an area to 3/4” for it (which means I cannot move it).

 

[garbled]

Can you tell me the size and model of the magnets you used to bolster the WAV? I really want to run a WAV, but the 1" thing scares me.

 

[ca1ore]

I used these. Not cheap though.

https://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=BY0X08BR-N52

You could also buy an extra WAV magnet kit and double stack the outside.