On fish, I also have a 2" Royal Gramma in there. You can see him in the very last photo,  hanging out between the Red Monti Cap and the Orange Ball Sponge...so, 19 fish in all.

 

And I left my 2 urchins (a Black Spiny and a Brown Spiny) off the Inverts list. You can see one of them clearly in the upper left photo on the "Zoas" slide... they are both small; about the size of golf balls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honestly, my daughter just gave it that name because of the color scheme (neon orange and black)...

 

Here is a little better photo of the top side so you can see what I mean:

 

 

This photo was taken before the lights came on... when the tank is lit with the halides the starfish has a really cool neon effect; it almost "glows"...

 

I got it from LRNR beginning of February, and so far it seems to be doing great. It is about 5" across from tip to tip...

 

 

The heni doesn't bother corals at all - I got it at Aquatic Evo about 3 weeks ago

 

 

Aquatic Evolution advertised a sale on 'huge" zoa colonies from Viet Nam for just $49... and they weren't kidding on the size!

 

 

 

For size comparison, my Richmond's Wrasse is 5+ inches long... the zoa colony is at least 9" X 4" and I guesstimate 300 - 350 polyps?  That's less than 15 cents pp

 

 

They're still acclimating to my tank a bit, but I saw them open in the store and they were awesome! I actually bought 2 and the other one is a mixed colony of maybe a half dozen types /colors

 

 

And while I was there I picked out another sweet Acro colony; beige with neon sky blue tips... the picture does not do it justice - the blue tips "pop" like unbelievable; and the colony itself is almost tennis -ball sized, with maybe 25+ branches... for $59!  Crazy prices down here in UT County

 

 

 

 

Then I went up to The Aquarium and scored a few more sweet SPS (!)

 

 

 

A real nice Red Robin:

 

 

 

 

And a gorgeous Cali Blue Tort:

 

 

 

 

 

And my wife's favorite color is orange... so, I had to get this one. Around 3" across; not sure if it is a monti or what - but it has a cool orange 'pop':

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a bunch more random photos I took today.

 

Newest fish: Possum Wrasse

 

 

 

 

 

SPS Garden

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yellow Birdsnest I got from Shelby (lskurys) a few weeks back

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coral Wars - Blue Undata vs. Red Montipora!  The Undata says "the heck with you - I'll just grow right over ya!"

 

 

 

Got this Miami Hurricane from CJ (Mr Gray) about a month ago; it had 8 or 9 eyes when I got it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out how many eyes now! (I counted 15!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming next... I just special ordered another sponge that no one else has... I need something really cool for the Reef Tour !

 

 

 

 

Duy -

 

1) First I think you need a good skimmer to remove some of the organic waste before it breaks down, along with a good flowing system to keep everything suspended in the water column and not settling on the rocks and sand:

 

 

3) And I think you need to make sure you have enough live rock; since that is your main de-nitrator in your system and if you have too little your nitrates will keep creeping up due to the high bioload. I see a lot of people skimping on Live Rock due to the cost, and then wondering why they have constant problems with nitrates / hair algae / etc;

 

4) Then I think you need a lot of coral to pull any remaining nutrients out of the water. The sponges and clams probably also help with that

 

5) After that, It's just following the basic reefkeeping principles on things like changing out filter socks frequently so stuff doesn't linger and rot in there (I change mine every day or every 2 days);

I use a turkey baster to blow of f the rocks and corals every few days to help keep them from being covered in detritus or slime; If you run carbon and / or GFO (I run both in a BRS dual chamber reactor) make sure you change it frequently (every 2 weeks for carbon, monthly for GFO); keep your parameters as stable as possible (things like using an ATO and dosing regularly); feed a good variety on foods and don't overfeed; don't go too long on water changes (I do 16 gallons once a month, and I vaccum the sandbed when I change the water to get out any crud)

 

 

 

Yeah, "Kong" is loving his new home  and he hasn't knocked over a single coral yet... he's a "gentle giant" I guess... But the big guy LOVES bloodworms

 

And it's funny how the 2 fish are like, "pals" despite the tremendous size difference. The Possum is always following the Naso around the tank

 

 

 

 

I feed the tank once a day using a home made frozen mix... I am still working on the 'formula' but it has over 30 ingredients in it, of all different types and particle sizes, plus some vitamins. IMO one of the keys to a healthy system is feeding the tank as wide a variety as possible; my special food makes it easy because you only have to feed 1 thing instead of opening 10 different trays + 10 cans of dry food and or liquids. Think about it. In the wild, how does a reef "eat"? It's not like God reaches down with a giant can of Spectrum pellets once a day and shakes it over the ocean or something... different things eat different things, and not everything eats the one same thing, day after day...

 

And I dose with home made DIY formulations that expand on the standard "2 part / 3 part" recipes... I have added certain trace elements like Boron, Strontium, Manganese into the mix because IMO corals grow stronger with them (not just in growth rate, but in hardiness of the corals and coloration)

 

I am very tempted to actually take my food and dosing mixes 'commercial' once I feel I have really nailed them down 100%. The food I am developing a delivery methodology that nobody else in the marine foods business has done yet. Maybe later this year, who knows, could be the next 'big thing'???