Pictures of Bomber's barebottom SPS tank and related equipment

[photobarry]

The tank looks great Jerel!!

And that reminds me...little doug is doing great and getting really big.

[Bomber]

Picture! Grab a picture of Doug Jr. if you can!

[photobarry]

Will do! I sent you a PM.

[photobarry]

I found my camera. It's not a great picture, but here he is. He's now 6" tall. (and I just cleaned that side of the tank the other day. I swear!)

[mikesreef]

Bomber, I just called the Cutting Board factory and they tell me that the majority of their orders are for Black starboard for reef tanks. What are your thoughts on this being you used white....

PS Sorry for calling you Boomer.....

[Bomber]

Originally posted by photobarry
I found my camera. It's not a great picture, but here he is. He's now 6" tall. (and I just cleaned that side of the tank the other day. I swear!)

I printed it out and showed it to his Dad, Doug Sr. I'm not kidding, I think I saw a little tear in his eyes.

Barry, he's growing like a weed! All that meat is paying off.

[Bomber]

Originally posted by mikesreef
Bomber, I just called the Cutting Board factory and they tell me that the majority of their orders are for Black starboard for reef tanks. What are your thoughts on this being you used white....

PS Sorry for calling you Boomer.....

No problem, people do it all the time. Boom and I are best friends - Boom, Bomb - get it? LOL

I guess people like black a lot then. I like white, sorta reminds me of white sand and most of the "tank dirt" doesn't show so bad.

[photobarry]

Originally posted by Bomber
I printed it out and showed it to his Dad, Doug Sr. I'm not kidding, I think I saw a little tear in his eyes.

Barry, he's growing like a weed! All that meat is paying off.

LOL I can't believe how much he's grown. And you were absolutely right that he learned not to be afraid of things. He has learned to scoot out of the way when I'm siphoning the bottom.

Years ago I had a cleaner shrimp die on me. It was amazing to watch my tuxedo urchin eat the whole thing. I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it!

[Bomber]

Sorta flies in the face of vegetarian don't it? LOL

I don't know how they do it with all those brains, but they can learn fast and remember forever AND see you coming!

[Yellotang]

Originally posted by Bomber
Where in this world have you been lately?

Just finishing up with a hellasish school semester.

Hopefully one of these days I can find one. I have an urchin already that has been with me for 5 years

[Bomber]

Want me to make you a baby and send it too?

[scottbythesea]

Hey Bomber what kind of urchin is that anyway..........To bad I have a northern species up were I'm at, they are all over are Breachway inlets here in Lil Rhody......They appear to be eating the Kelp we have growing here.

Don't they score up the live rock real bad?

ScottbytheSea

[Bomber]

He's a regular old Diadema antillarum Scott. When the urchins crashed we had to learn how to make a lot of them in a hurry. Now that the populations are back, we just do it for fun.

[Dag]

The problem with some urchins is they are very sensitive to water quality, and because of that don't ship very well. We try to keep them in every system because they are like the canary in the mine. If anything is wrong with the system, they will tell you first.

My diadema died after 6 mos of apparent health. The spines began dropping off and then it just disappeared without a trace. Any other explanations besides water quality? It seemed to have plenty of algae. Maybe it died of old age?

[dphins]

Bomber, how do you make baby urchins? I remember watching a program about the dieing reefs and they found that a lack of algae control was killing their reefs. So they introduced more urchins to prevent the algae from over growing the reefs. Sounds like this is what you are referring to in your post?

[Bomber]

Originally posted by Dag
My diadema died after 6 mos of apparent health. The spines began dropping off and then it just disappeared without a trace. Any other explanations besides water quality? It seemed to have plenty of algae. Maybe it died of old age?

Dag that's a water quality issue. We monitor ours and save them by moving them to a clean system when they do that.

[Bomber]

Originally posted by dphinsx2
Bomber, how do you make baby urchins? I remember watching a program about the dieing reefs and they found that a lack of algae control was killing their reefs. So they introduced more urchins to prevent the algae from over growing the reefs. Sounds like this is what you are referring to in your post?

That would be us.

[dphins]

"That would be us. "
Well a thank you is in order then! I hope things are looking better there? Keep up the good fight.

[pjr]

Bomber, I've been following the other thread since Day 1, and just started reading this one today. You and the other repeat posters here (espcly Official Photographer Gregt) are a great source of knowledge and we all appreciate the great contributions.... hats off to Bomber (and the bombettes?).

Anyhow, this is my first post in these threads, and I have two questions: one simple, one more detailed:

1. What do you use to siphon? Just a tube and some suction or do you hook up a canister or something?

2. The 2 hours of light thing confuses me. At first I thought you were just running a few florescent bulbs with it... I realize that you have VHO bulbs running 4 wide. General thinking is that VHOs 6-wide will grow anything, so.. wouldn't running 14K halides without supplimentation give you the same result? You'd lose the stair-step of intensity, of course.

3. Do you have any clams in your tank and if so are they healthy?

OK, this is more than two questions... what can I say? A lot of pent up data needs!

I am moving again in about 6 weeks (been living in a condo for the last 4 months while the new house is being built). My pre-move 100g tank with a 4" bed was a nasty disgusting mess to break down... yech.... no more sand beds for me! And yes I had algae issues.

I've been doing a pseudo BB right now with a temporary setup -- a a 55g with just eggcrate (left over from my plenum days) on the bottom, and a Remoro pro and an Aquaclear hanging on the back. I'm impressed -- It has stayed pretty darn clean until a few weeks ago. Couldn't understand why the sudden issues, but just realized that the skimmer was misadjusted, hence some hair algae on the glass. Overall it's been a great success, and I can't wait to set up a larger tank (with Starboard) when we move in late January.

Thanks again and best wishes....

[PaintGuru]

Originally posted by pjr

3. Do you have any clams in your tank and if so are they healthy?

Figured I would say that I do have clams in my BB setup and they have been doing well since day 1. Just some data for you .

So they are finally finishing your house? Good for you.

[pjr]

Yes... finally! Four people in a two bedroom condo (including teen and pre-teen daughter)... not a good combo!

Thnk for the reply PG... I am curious how clams could do in a BB with just 2 hours of MH exposure....

[Bomber]

Hey pj

1. 1/2" siphon and a 5 gal bucket.

2. I'm bulb stupid.

3. Got a few oysters, do they count? No clams.

You'll have to try the clams out. In a healthy system, they would give you plenty of warning that something's wrong.

[pjr]

You and I use the same siphon method... "I love the taste of salt water in the morning."

Thanks!

[keeperofthereef]

Great tank , great pic's (forget the critics) I run a bare bottom too and find i t runs so much cleaner no sand to trap detris and the bottom wil soon be covered with coraline. Big tanks are like Big blocks , 10- 20 thousand should get you under 9.0 seconds ! : )

[Cody Ray]

Just thought I would pop my head back in and see if there were any new pics, but I guess it would look pretty much the same, am I right?