Peter's 65 gallon

[Peter Eichler]

Not much to update, but the new clown pair is working out wonderfully.

[edwing206]

Great looking tank Peter! I like the rockwork.

[Mykel Obvious]

I really like the choices you are making here... I'm thinking along many of the same lines for my upcoming tank (I'm a Paly and Zoa fan)... I'm just starting my 65 gallon tank build... still working on getting my RO/DI system installed, etc... I like the hight on the 65 as I will be running a 6" DSB which still leaves an 18" water column to work with (if I ever do another build, I'll never settle for anything less than 24" wide though!! Just seems like I need more room in the front )

Uh, Peter, how much of the 120 lbs. of LR is in your tank?? Your FTS just doesn't seem like it has THAT much rock in it... yikes, and here I was gonna go with 25 lbs. dry Fiji and 40 or so Marshall Islands (have to say I really like the look of your rock though... and MI is hard to get right now... hmmm) Now I'm gonna have to think about total rock volume so I get a nice looking aquascape... might have to bump up to 60 lbs. of LR to go over the base rock...

I do wanna go with a nice open sand area for a Fungia and perhaps a Tongue (BTW, is that a Fungia I spy down near your cave area??)

Also I was wondering about your lighting... Are the T5's really that much brighter than PCs? I see you are keeping SPS without trouble, I'm wondering if I could keep anything like Montipora or Pavona with my 4x96 PC fixture (150 watts more than your T5 setup, but again I know very little about the T5s)

Ok, one last question... I really like the look of the Duncans (a new one to me, as most of what I learned about corals is from 5+ years ago)... any trouble with them??

Anyway, keep up the great work and give us a current FTS now and then

mikey

[Peter Eichler]

Originally posted by Mykel Obvious
I really like the choices you are making here... I'm thinking along many of the same lines for my upcoming tank (I'm a Paly and Zoa fan)... I'm just starting my 65 gallon tank build... still working on getting my RO/DI system installed, etc... I like the hight on the 65 as I will be running a 6" DSB which still leaves an 18" water column to work with (if I ever do another build, I'll never settle for anything less than 24" wide though!! Just seems like I need more room in the front )

Uh, Peter, how much of the 120 lbs. of LR is in your tank?? Your FTS just doesn't seem like it has THAT much rock in it... yikes, and here I was gonna go with 25 lbs. dry Fiji and 40 or so Marshall Islands (have to say I really like the look of your rock though... and MI is hard to get right now... hmmm) Now I'm gonna have to think about total rock volume so I get a nice looking aquascape... might have to bump up to 60 lbs. of LR to go over the base rock...

I do wanna go with a nice open sand area for a Fungia and perhaps a Tongue (BTW, is that a Fungia I spy down near your cave area??)

Also I was wondering about your lighting... Are the T5's really that much brighter than PCs? I see you are keeping SPS without trouble, I'm wondering if I could keep anything like Montipora or Pavona with my 4x96 PC fixture (150 watts more than your T5 setup, but again I know very little about the T5s)

Ok, one last question... I really like the look of the Duncans (a new one to me, as most of what I learned about corals is from 5+ years ago)... any trouble with them??

Anyway, keep up the great work and give us a current FTS now and then

mikey

Thanks Mykel! I got into zoanthids because of the variety that is available in the hobby compared to years ago. It was just something different from what I was used to. I also wanted the challenge of keeping a wide variety of creatures, which has proven to be somewhat difficult. I don't feel like I'm giving optimal conditions to evereything in my tank and it has been a bit of a balancing act. Certain zoanthids have whithered away during periods of low nutrients and SPS have browned up a bit during times when I try to increase the nutrients a bit through heavy feeding. However, overall I've enjoyed the challenege and I'm happy I decided to go the direction I have. I feel that just doing an SPS tank, like I contemplated, would have been rewarding but far less interesting.

Hard to say exactly how much is in the display, but there is one pretty good size rock in the sump, one good size rock in the frag tank, and 4 smaller rocks in a macroalgae tank I have set up. If I had to guess I'd say about 85 lbs. in the display. I agree with you about the 18" limitations, especially with that gigantic overflow. I'm already considering a 120 as an upgrade, but I have a wedding to pay for before that's going to happen. I think the monster tank is just going to have to wait for my next house...

The coral in the sandbed is a Platygyra sp. I've though about adding some sort of plate/Fungia but I'm just too bad about having frags on the bottom of the tank that I've got to get them attached to a larger rock or put in my frag tank before I consider it.

T5s really are that much brighter than PCs IMO. This was my first experience with T5s and I was shocked as to how bright they are. Just from eyeing things they appeared brighter than my older dual 175w MH fixture with the old school painted white reflector. I'd also speculate that even though the wattage is less the usable light with the T5s is greater than your PC setup.

With your PCs I don't think you'd have much problem with Pavona, Pocillopra, some montiporas (caps would probably be fine), and other less light demanding SPS.

Duncans seem quite hardy. However, they seem to be a great indicator coral. They seem to show signs of stress when something is out of wack in the tank, in particular when the KH gets a little low or flow isn't quite to their liking.

[AMIFL]

That clown picture is killer.

[porthios]

i have 4 koralia 4's in my 58 and they're on all the time. love em..