Thought I would share

[steiger33]

So I have been out of the aquarium world for a couple of years and got 2 of my tanks back up and running. I wanted to see what everyone's thoughts were on my tank and set up.

150 gallon with sump.
100lbs live rock
75 lbs live sand
2 green element Evo LEDs with timer
Protein skimmer
HOB Eshopps overflow

Tank is fully cycled and has some zoa's
1 Blonde Naso Tang
1 citron Clown Goby
1 Coral beauty
1 Atlantic Blue Tang
1 Butterfly
4 Pajama Cardinals
1 Queen Angel (coming Tues)

The rest of the stuff that will be added will be corals.

Would love some of your thoughts on good additions or things to do different.

 

[Oscaror]

Welcome back! Loks good

 

[Harold Green]

Excellent looking setup. Not knowing what finished look you have in mind once the tank is stocked with corals I'm hesitant to make this suggestion but did you consider removing the green shelf rock and the rock behind it to eliminate the rock wall look? You want something to draw the eye away from being centered in the tank. Of course you can do that with coral placement too.

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[steiger33]

Excellent looking setup. Not knowing what finished look you have in mind once the tank is stocked with corals I'm hesitant to make this suggestion but did you consider removing the green shelf rock and the rock behind it to eliminate the rock wall look? You want something to draw the eye away from being centered in the tank. Of course you can do that with coral placement too.

Please don't be hesitating on giving advise. I asked for it so I am curious what looks better the rock wall or not? I did the rock wall originally to avoid seeing the back but then remembered it's a black back tank.

 

[RareEarthCorals]

Since its so long maybe three islands would break up the wall look, unless that is what you are going for.

 

[steiger33]

Since its so long maybe three islands would break up the wall look, unless that is what you are going for.

Now it's doing 3 islands with having bigger fish like the Blonde Naso and Queen Angel, would that be an issue?

 

[Harold Green]

When I set up my 210 I laid out the rock from the right rear of the tank slowly coming forward as the rocks were added to the left. Stopping a little short of the middle of the tank. Behind it I started a second island from the back of the tank moving forward to the left. The rock work overlaps slightly in the middle of the tank with a canyon left between the two islands. The total effect is to show as much depth as possible to the tank. All in all I'm

quite pleased with the look and it does make the tank look deeper than it would otherwise.

 

[steiger33]

When I set up my 210 I laid out the rock from the right rear of the tank slowly coming forward as the rocks were added to the left. Stopping a little short of the middle of the tank. Behind it I started a second island from the back of the tank moving forward to the left. The rock work overlaps slightly in the middle of the tank with a canyon left between the two islands. The total effect is to show as much depth as possible to the tank. All in all I'm

quite pleased with the look and it does make the tank look deeper than it would otherwise.

Wow your tank looks gorgeous. I think I will have to rearrange mine. Does that design work well with the large fish also?

 

[steve&mari]

Off to a nice start I agree the island look with crevices is a great look. Seen it in many setups with large fish.

 

[steiger33]

One question I have is has any one else ran the Green Element LED's? Are they good for corals?

 

[Harold Green]

Wow your tank looks gorgeous. I think I will have to rearrange mine. Does that design work well with the large fish also?

Just above the left rockwork you can see a 4" sailfin tang. He easily swims behind the rocks and thru the dozen or so openings through the rock work. I didn't stack the rocks up much higher than the middle of the tank to allow growth room for the corals. At this point it's still a young tank but there's plenty of swimming room and plenty of places to place corals. They don't show in the picture but there are four cardinals, two wrasses, one basslet, numerous crabs, snails, starfish, worms, polyps, gorgonians, sps and lps corals. Last time I ordered live rock I requested rock with corals if available and the rock came with the ivory corals you can see in the picture along with brain corals, tube corals, turkey wings. Make sure the rock work in your tank is to your liking at the start so you don't have to move your corals around later.

 

[steiger33]

Another thing I just thought of would be with putting sponges in how would you make a real shaded area for them or do they need that much shade?

 

[Harold Green]

Generally sponges need no light only plankton in the water. I have seen sponges growing in higher light but they were plain brown. I have purple ones in my tank and they grow between the rocks where it's hard to see them. Some of the small yellow sponges can survive under my tank lighting but I think they would do better in the shade too. Over the years I've tried red sponges but they seem to fade away pretty fast in my tanks. Perhaps some of the other members have been successful with them. There's a thread here somewhere of a member who set up a sponge tank and it looked pretty impressive but he hadn't had it set up for long. I do have a black sponge that's growing on the sand bed and has been there for several months but I don't know how happy it is there. Most sponges need good water flow to bring them food and carry off detritus. The best sponges I've seen are the blue ones and they appear to be able to stand some amount of light so they might be a good starting point if you can locate one. I believe they grow wild in Florida but are fairly rare.