# 2LM's Bowfront 72Gallon Reef! (Kingston)



## TWOLITREmedia

Alright so I was introduced to the forums by a buddy in Toronto and I decided it's about time I post up my build. I am "new" to the hobby but have done about a life time of research already and have a great local source for all my coral and information, and thus far everything is going smoothly.

I have had an established build thread since the beginning of my tank about a month and a half ago on another forum and I am going to do my best to essentially repost through here trying to keep the "copy" relevant.

Here we go......

I come from an automotive background and am a proffesional photographer and graphic designer for a living. I live in Ontario Canada (It's getting cold here!) and I am very new to the hobby. So new that two months ago I knew pretty much NOTHING about salt water. I have an addictive personality (Yes I know I stepped into the wrong hobby ;D) and I quickly found myself spending every night up until 5am researching everything I could get my eyes on. After feeling as though I had enough knowledge i started scouring Kijiji for some deals..... here is what happened 

So I found an awesome deal right off the bat from a guy who was going to start a 55 gallon salt water tank but failed to collect all the necessary parts before his budget ran out which always blows my mind when people tell me that. I realize not everyone has the money for it, but when dreams go further than wallet it baffles me.

Anyways here is a photo of the tank I originally bought.



















Thought I had really grabbed a steal, he threw in about 20 lbs of fiji rock, a ballast, and some bulbs......I didn't know what a good deal was until I jumped back on Kijiji the next night.

I stumbled upon this deal that had been posted that very same night I was browsing. It looked to good to be true, so I started asking questions about why he was getting rid of it.....

Essentially the guy flooded his basement pretty bad with his RO/DI unit so his wife demanded he get rid of the tank. After begging and pleading he promised for it to never happen again....what do ya know, it happened again, even worst. So he posted the tank right away with great hesitation.

Here is what is came with the set up.....here's the kicker, everything for $700 dollars! The light alone is almost 4 or 5 after tax, skimmer is a good 200+, ehiem heater, etc etc. Here is a list of what I got with the tank...(which you will see I have already replaced many things!)

Here's the package:

72G BowFront with stand

Vertex Illumilux 48" LED

Vertex Refractometer

Vertex Puratek 100 GPD RO SYSTEM

Reef Octopus BH-2000

2 x Hydor Koralia Evolution Powerhead (750 GPH)

Jager 300 Watt Aquarium Heater (Eheim)

Live stock:

~100lb premium fiji rock + 40lb SeaFloor Reef Sand

1 x Blue Tuxedo Urchin

1 x pisttol shrimp

1 x percula clown

1 x six line wrasse

1 x Flame Angelfish

1 x Yellowtail Dascyllus

2 x cleaner shrimps

1 x Feather Duster

1 x Dwarf Colored Feather Duster

1 x peppermint shrimp

1 x sand dollar

2 x Pom Pom Crab

~3 x Nassarius Snail

1 x Sand Sifting Sea Star

lots of assorted snails and crabs

few purple mushrooms
1 x Green Polyp Leather
1 x button polyps
1 x frog spawn.
1 x Green Polyp Leather

food, every needed test kits, 10g tank, 3g water pale, 2 x hydrometers, magnet cleaner, 2 x powerheads and everything else he has kicking around.

After speaking with a few different people who I respect their opinion I decided to take the plunge and tell him I would take it all. There was certainly concern on how I was going to disassemble the tank, keep his water to make sure the live stock would survive the move. A risky maneuver for a rookie to the hobby, but like I said I researched for about two weeks for hours and hours a day and felt confident. I had 5 guys with me including the owner, a giant cube van, and a lot of hope.

The fateful day came, and I made sure to prepare myself as much as possible throughout the day.

I did not lose a single piece of live stock and everything is sitting pretty and getting adjusted to the tank! I managed to actually keep 90% of the 72g of water and transport it all to my house in about 200$ in buckets. 100lbs of rock, and the listed livestock from earlier in the thread are all safe and sound. Should I mention it snowed a bit while we did it?It was about one degree Celsius, scary thought.

Aquascaping this rock was incredibly easy and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. Below is a photo progression somewhat of the setup process in my house. I wish I had time to take more photos, and just better ones in general but it was all quite hectic.

Here we are pulling out the rock at the owners house....










Everything started to panic in the tank a bit at this point, the shrimp started swimming all over the place. You can see the Vortec Iluminex on in that photo.

So about two hours later all the buckets were at my house and I needed to start to get to work, even though I had a heater in the bucket with the live and with the coral.

I used a small pond pump to ever so gently begin piping the water into the tank and onto a plate for the first five inches. Below is a depiction of SOME of the buckets this required. You can also see my custom built water dragon tank to the right ;D More on that later...if anyone is interested.










All the fishies were in here with one piece of live rock.










Starting to slowly pump the water. I couldn't believe how clear the water was right away. Slow and steady was the way to go here....You can see the aquascape here as well. Managed to do this all with no putty or glue, not bad for a first timer  Tonsss of tunnels and caves everywhere, love how it turned out. Made sure to have visible perches for coral addition.










Basically I pumped out all of the cleanest buckets into the tank first trying to leave as much sediment and whatever else at the bottom of the bucket. Really the only dirty bucket was the one with about 75 lbs of live and i made sure to rinse it all before placing it in the tank with some RO water. (I was told to do this to reduce sediment when putting in the water.)

Began to acclimate everything from the coral to the clowfish as the tank was filling. The anxious wait to get the level to the pump to begin filtration :-(










I think everything was floated at this point










Here's my yet named little clown  Excited to get out and re explore the new reef!










Here is the beast of a protein skimmer (Reef Octpus BH2000 I believe) still turned off at the moment, and probably will remain that way till possibly tomorrow night. 









So after many hours and my back killing me from improperly lifting large buckets with hundreds of pounds in them I decided to turn the light on quickly for a few photos. I was told to keep it off for the first night and turn it on in the morning. Had it on for all of five minutes and felt bad as the frog spawn began immediately reaching out towards the light. Regardless it's night time and it was time for bed anyway.


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## TWOLITREmedia

So all in all a giantly successful day in my opinion. Like I said before I don't think I could be happier with my $700 spent on this set up. Not pictured here is all the testing kits, refractometer, supplements, food (frozen and dry), salt, the RO/DI unit, and just INSANE amounts of other stuff the guy threw in. I felt incredibly bad at times when he helped me do this entire thing along with my three friends because I could tell it was killing him to get rid of it as he had thousands tied up in the hobby he loved. I'm not even sure how he could have left his RO/DI unit twice and flooded his basement to the point his wife demanded the removal of the tank, but I guess as the saying goes his loss....you know the rest.

Here's day 2 of the tank just before I topped off the water level with some salted RO/DI water that's been mixing since the day before..  After this I also got the protien skimmer running, as well as bought and installed a small internal filter to take care of some of the kick up created by the fish flying around. Eventually this will be pulled once my sump system is in place and I change out my power heads for a pair of MP10es.










The set-up from afar....

My Little Ocean - Day 3 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


My Little Ocean - Day 3 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


My Little Ocean - Day 3 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


My Little Ocean - Day 3 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

These are awesome, can someone tell me the name of this coral again? It wasn't mentioned in his stock list...Green Polyp Leather?

My Little Ocean - Day 3 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Button polyps spreading around looking great....I have a question about another colony later on.

My Little Ocean - Day 3 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

My little nemo hanging out around the AWESOME frogspawn!

My Little Ocean - Day 3 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Some purple mushrooms with neon green spots on them 

My Little Ocean - Day 3 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Can't get enough of my feather duster, there are also two heads of dwarf colored feather dusters as well in a darker spot in the tank that I couldn't get a shot of. 

My Little Ocean - Day 3 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Busy shrimp is busy...

My Little Ocean - Day 3 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Tuxedo Urchin looking fancy

My Little Ocean - Day 3 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


My Little Ocean - Day 3 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Buy them they said.....you'll be the envy of all your friends they said......


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## TWOLITREmedia

3xAI SOL Blue Units /w Controller! Time for some SPS in the future....


















ReefKeeper Elite + extra PC4 and SL1! Woop wooooooop 










Ok so last night was a long one! I managed to get ALL my new equipment hooked up, and I was going to post this at 5:00am when I finished but FlickR was taking FOREVER for the upload. Here we go.....

Got the 3 AI SOL modules hung!

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Set up the empty HOB GFO reactor to see the fitment. As you can tell, I could already see a problem because the rim of my tank is extremely thick...


Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

So I was told to just notch it!! Worked great....same for the BioPellet reactor.

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

I realize this was extremely dangerous for myself and my fish but there was no other way. I made sure to route the wires, and cut from a point that the only thing that could ever touch the water was the spinning littl dremmel cutter....which it didnt. I used a fish net under where I was cutting to trap any plastic peices although there was a minimal amount and the chunks came off nicely with a snap.

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Ok so the bio pellet reactor I grabbed was a Reef Octopus 70 which is not a HOB unit, so with a little help from Don's stock of odds and ends I began fitting a HOB bracket from another reactor to the ReefOctopus. 

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Moved the bracket out of the way for you to see the holes I needed to align. I only needed 2 or 3 of the holes to work for the bracket to be more than solid. It's a light weight unit even after the water is in it.

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

My DISASTER of a studio/basement at about 2:30am :-O

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Checking the reactor for leaks and making sure my pump is going to work properly for it.

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Ok so here is the before shot of my under tank area where all my PC4s from my RK Elite system.

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Bank to the tank...both notches done

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Getting ready for a wiring madhouse....

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

So I decided to start by running a nice tight and tidy daisy chain from one module to another. Believe it or not, there are three differe plugs in each unit with the matching amount of wires running along with it. 

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

From behind....you'd never be able to tell 

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


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## TWOLITREmedia

Next was to essentially set up my "control center"

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Starting to mount and plug things in...

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Ok so next was to rinse my media clear, and load up my GFO reactor. The reactor was customized into a two part reactor for GFO and carbon. Now I had a problem finding out exactly how much to put in both chambers but I basically followed the recommended amount for both media types. GFO chamber I put 3.5" of media at the bottom and left about half inch of space, then in the next chamber I filled the carbon completely as this Two little fishies reactor suggestes when using carbon to fill the entire thing...Let me know if you think this is dumb seems to be working fine though and slowly tumbling the media. Also replaced the dirty lines from before...

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

250ML of BioPellets placed in the reactor filled with RO water.

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Everything placed into the tank....a little crowded looking but considering what I now have going on not to bad at all!

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Brutal awkward photo of the back of the tank

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Pre-Ziptie orginization. This was where I left it with all plugged in at about 4:00am

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Little control center, and my new Red Ocean Iodine tester kid as well as my three digital Hannah checker kits I picked up as well!

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Decided to slowly start converting my tank over to H2Ocean salt as I have read great things, and I am not a fan of what I hear about Instant Ocean which is what this tank was established with. 

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Mmmmmm looks fresh 

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

5 Gallon Mixing Bucket (Made 2 Gallons seperate) Left this to mix over "night" or whatever was left of it....

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

So I never shot a photo of how I have my RO setup near my tank. I have a 35 Gallon Brute food safe bin with a constant pump moving around the water. The RO unit is installed under the sink and all I have to do is just ship the boards you see askew over and access the valves. Anyways seems to work great, got my water tested and I have 5ppm TUS which is ideal still.

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Ok so here is one final over all shot with everything in. Looks great and I couldn't be happier to see my tank at this point already!

Tank Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Hope you enjoyed the updates, thanks!

This was about a week in ----------------------------------

Ok so did a full run of tests on my tank the other day....

350/366 - Testing Madness by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Here are my perameters as of now, and I think I am pretty happy with them although I know there certainly will be adjustments made. I am just a week away before my "3 week wait" to put new live in here! I have already picked out the open brain coral, anenome for my clown, and two emerald crabs to make sure my tiny amount of bubble algea that shows up occasionally is under controll....plus I think they're cool 

Calcium - 530ppm
Nitrate 20ppm
Phosphate - .20
Alk 128
Mag 1250mg/litre
Iodine .06
Ph 7.9
nitrite 0 ppm
Salinity 1.026
RO Water 7ppm TUS

Other then that, I'm not going to lie I cheated a bit and introduced one critter since setting up the tank! Meet dozer the giant hermit crab, I couldn't resist!


353/366 - New Inhabitant by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

He just mozzies around all day checking stuff out. Seems like he's not interested in knocking over any coral which is nice 

Oh and I caught my starfish out to play for once!


Sand Star by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

I ordered my two Vortech MP10ES units and they are in tomorrow! I am very excited to see these things in action and I have been told it will be a nice step up from the Koralias I am currently running without a wavemaker.

More updates tomorrow!


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## TWOLITREmedia

Alright so I realized it had been about a week since that last parameter testing session I posted about so I decided to run another tonight.


More Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Here were the results one week ago:
Calcium - 530ppm
Nitrate - 40ppm
Phosphate - .20
Alk 128
Mag 1250mg/litre
Iodine .06
Ph 7.9
nitrite 0 ppm
Salinity 1.026
RO Water 7ppm TUS

Today's results:
Calcium - 416ppm
Nitrate 30ppm
Phosphate - .09
Alk 119
Mag 1200mg/litre
Iodine .06
Ph 8.0
nitrite 0 ppm
Salinity 1.025
RO Water 6ppm TUS

Calc is looking much more normal, alk and mag is still low I realize, and I am going to start dosing for mag next week. Glad to see the .11 drop in phosphate, and the nitrate dropping another 10ppm is always great. Slowly on the way to 0 hopefully eventually!

I forgot it had been a while since I posted a photo of the entire tank with the new aquascaping in place around the top and front of the tank so here it is pre-mp10 installation. 

More Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

You will see the difference the MP10s make for a clean looking tank in a second.

My 1050 Koralia Evolutions that will be for sale after clean-up!

More Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Speaking of MP10s.....So here's my question. Usually you have to pay extra to convert the non-wireless versions of these to be able talk to each other with an IR module. I thought I got the non-wireless version, but when I opened it there was a "W" on the modules. I think they may be just including the wireless units regardless when you buy new MP10es heads.


More Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Also grabbed an "AquaStik" to get my coral peices fixed down nicely as I am adding more flow with the mp10s different modes and the pulse modes could knock them off their perches.

Here is what the wall of crazy LEDs looks like now with the two new controllers mounted.


More Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Here is what the tank looks like now with the Vortecs as well as I moved the Reefkeeper Elites PH probe and Temp probe over by the heater on the left side to keep all "probe like" objects together. I will begin thinking off ways to clean up the tubing from the reactors, and one way is going to be to run a T junction with a stronger pump to run both reactors instead of having two pumps in there.


More Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

I just think the Vortec system is a marvel of engineering in the power head world....

More Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

My Koralias ready for a night bath of diluted vinegar...

More Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

"The Wall" at night  I love LEDs!

More Upgrades! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

That's all for now, check back very soon for some new coral additions!

Well today was the long awaited day that I got to finally add some new coral to my tank! Did some last minute water parameter checks and drip, drop, and away they go. Picked up a neon green and neon pink open brain coral which is still fully opening slowly and a pinkish orange bubble tip anenome for my clownfish. Can't wait to see this guy host him  Big thanks to Don (Crazy4Coral) as per usual for supplying the goods, and holding on to the anemone and brain for me!

P.S. Don't mind the inaccurate colours and lighting in these photos. I dropped these guys in after my lights were out so tomorrow I will grab some pics for sure!


New Signs of Life! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Here were my parameters for tonight after a full set of tests, magnesium dosing is clearly helping as I am up 200ppm from last week and everything is looking even nicer than before:
Calcium - 513ppm
Nitrate 30ppm
Phosphate - .12
Alk 117
Mag 1300mg/litre
Iodine .06
Ph 8.0
nitrite 0 ppm
Salinity 1.025
RO Water 6ppm TUS

4 Days Ago:
Calcium - 416ppm
Nitrate 30ppm
Phosphate - .09
Alk 119
Mag 1200mg/litre
Iodine .06
Ph 8.0
nitrite 0 ppm
Salinity 1.025
RO Water 6ppm TUS

Getting acclimated....30 minute float, then drop acclimation for another 20 for both the anemone on his rock and the Open Brain..

New Signs of Life! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


New Signs of Life! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Here is the both of them 5 minutes after placing them in the tank, looking a little flat ...that will change quickly!

New Signs of Life! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


New Signs of Life! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

After 4 hours in the tank, already a HUGE difference! Can't wait to see everything with the lights on tomorrow 

New Signs of Life! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


New Signs of Life! by Emilio Ciccarelli | http://www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Well that's all for now, will have more updates very soon!

--------------------------- 3 weeks into it!


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## TWOLITREmedia

Alright so after introducing my new open brain coral and anemone last night they have really opened up! The bubble tips on the anemone are fully swelled and the open brain and completely open now and I will try feeding it tomorrow.

Other than that, I just want to point out the polyp extension since I have started dosing Mag. It's amazing what being closer to the correct water parameters will do for your livestock!

More coming soon 

Fully Open Brainnnnnnnnnnnn

Fully Extended by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Bubbly Bubbly Tips!

Fully Extended by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Look at the polyp extension compared to previous images when I wasn't dosing Mag on my alvepora...unreal!

Fully Extended by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Frogspawn looking nice and chubby 

Fully Extended by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

ZOA's polyps looking huge now, and filling in the garden with some more soon!

Fully Extended by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Overview of the tank, and what seems to be what will be the final aquascape in this thing!

Fully Extended by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Thanks! I honestly couldn't be happier to be dealing with my local coral guy, he is wildly informative and is just an all around amazing guy to talk to. I am going over to his place tomorrow to take a FULL run of photos of his inventory so I will post that up for you guys to marvel at as I do every time I'm there.

The magnesium he suggested was Tropic Marin and thus far it has proven to be amazing! I honestly am astonished at the difference in polyp size and extension since buffing up to 1300. I can only imagine once I get it to 1400. On top of that, I went by his place tonight to grab some ph/Alkility buffer to get my Alk up to 135ppm instead of my slightly low reading of 119 currently.

Does Alvepora have a tendancy to change in coloration over time? I heard some come dyed certain yellow colours....mine are a nice lively white with a slight neon/light green tinge, very cool under the AI SOLs in the day.

Here is a quick photo I took of the Mag I am dosing:

More Life! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr



nc208082 said:


> Hi there, tank looks good. Where bouts in Ontario you located?
> I honestly cant believe how fast your equipment is all being upgraded... quite jealous.


I'm in Kingston Ontario, only about two and a half hours from you. I shoot a lot of cars in the sauga area, and spend a lot of time in Toronto in the summer.

As for my equipment, I think since being an automotive enthusiast requires to really invest money to get the full effect from the hobby I was pre-adjusted before diving into this situation. Not to mention the more research I did the more it became apparent that better equipment really does make maintenance in this hobby much more pleasurable, keeping the focus of enjoyment on just staring at your tank for hours :-D I couldn't be happier with all my investments thus far!



Camkha1234 said:


> Can't wait to see 'em


Well here they are!

Little mandarin (aka Clementine!) I'll get better photos in the day. Didn't take him long to start skuttling around looking for copepods to munch on!

More Life! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Here is a shot of the Zoas all closed up being acclimated. I'll get a real good shot of these guys tomorrow, they were bright blue in his tank and he said with my lighting they will look even more ridiculous! I will also take a shot of the Zoa garden I'm building in the tank tomorrow!

More Life! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Oh yeh.....and I prepaid for one of these little babies tonight! 8 gallon nano tank /w built in sump/filtration/overflow system. Starfire glass, and the LED system is amazing!

The specs are as follows on the LEDS:
150 par @ 4 inches of depth
60 par @ 9.5 inches
50 par @ 15inches of depth

I dont think there will be any problem keeping some types of sps

Here is the tank empty...









And here is a shot of his personal tank after planting a bunch of frags! I'm very excited to say the least.









It arrives on the 4th of January!


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## TWOLITREmedia

------------------4 Weeks in
Quick updated from earlier yesterday morning of some maintenance to the tank....

Made some RO water

Maintnence Time! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Mixed 10 gallons of salt water....

Maintnence Time! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Re-calibrated my Reefkeeper Elite ph Probe

Maintnence Time! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Ready for some old water to drop!

Maintnence Time! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Here is what the reefleeper looks like when looking for it's "magical" numbers....

Maintnence Time! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

For anyone interested in what I will be dosing alkilinity with it's this Kent Marine stuff recommended by Don. Can't wait to see it's effects, it's my only slightly out of whack parameter...

Maintenance Time! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Alrightttttt here is a nice JUICY update for all of you....first and foremost as I mentioned I took a trip with my camera gear to Don (Crazy4Coral) my local coral dealers house and shot some stuff for him. I am totally stupid for not taking any photos of his personal 180 gallon display tank, but here are some shots of the tanks he has all of his live stock for sale and display in! I could stare for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours........

Super clean, all tanks built by him. I can get more info on his lighting, but I know he runs halogens on everything with some amazing pop!

Crazy4Coral! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Thought this was a cool abstract shot from the top of one of the shallow tanks...

Crazy4Coral! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Crazy4Coral! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

$5 dollar frag bin! How could I leave without taking something every time ?!?!?!?!


Crazy4Coral! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

$10 sps frags that are just gorgeous!

Crazy4Coral! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Crazy4Coral! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Crazy4Coral! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Really nice chalice....it was a hard choice, but I chose one over this you will see :-D New feature item in my tank for sure!

Crazy4Coral! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

I also grabbed a torch tonight and it was a hard choice between this one and the one I got.

Crazy4Coral! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Crazy4Coral! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

I will make sure I take many more photos next time as today I was SHOPPING!

Check out the new stuff...I am in LOVE with my teal /w neon pink "eye" chalice! As I said it was a hard choice between this one and the red, but in the end this one won no question let me know what you think  (I will shoot some photos under the light tomorrow, it's amazing...

Addiction Problems.. by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

My new torch! Dark purple with neon green tips 

Addiction Problems.. by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Now I was about to go, and he mentioned he had one frag left of his rare red gonapora. I looked at these babies and it was an easy decision. They're all closed up here but I will shoot some stuff tomorrow in the day with the polyps open, quite the wild colouration.

Addiction Problems.. by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Oh remember the Zoas from the other day....here is a really bad, blurry shot of them placed in the garden in-tank! The blue is very nice and rich.

Addiction Problems.. by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


----------



## TWOLITREmedia

As promised, more photos of all the new adds, and how the tank is filling in! My 6line and clownfish are the most annoyingly camera addicted animals every. They know exactly where I am pointing my lens at all times and just swim continuously in front of it as I try to shoot coral, then when it's they're turn they start flying around.

Here is a shot of the two "meters" i dropped into the tank to watch for diatom blooms, coraline growth etc. Luckily only the latter of the two seem to be happening and I am loving it. Look at that purple on the shell, that was all in the last month!

Tank Updates... by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Alvepora with it's personal cleaning crew on it, he never leaves!

Tank Updates... by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

The new torch just loving his flowy position in the tank...

Tank Updates... by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

This is a sweet shot of the open brain fully extended looking beautiful. Another funny part of this image is the conga line of clean up crew right by the glass each hermit cleaning the shell of the next, very funny they do this often for whatever reason. 

Tank Updates... by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Attention hog had to have his own shot, he would not leave me alone...

Tank Updates... by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Here is a shot of my brand new teal /w pink eye chalice! As you see here my 6line and clownfish would not stop swimming in front of my lens. The frogspawn is thriving in the back.

Tank Updates... by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

The tank is filling in nicely, here is a wide angle shot of the whole thing with the AI SOL units peeking in!

Tank Updates... by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

So I'm pretty satisfied with what's in there now for another two weeks. I will complete my dosing cycles, let everything get settled in fully and add some more stuff soon enough! Not to mention I will have the 8 gallon nano to work with soon 

Ran a full test on my water column today and here are the results! (This is after a week and a half of buffing mag up from 1100ppm and alk a week of dosing up from 119)

Ph - 8.1
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrate - 30ppm
Calc - 527ppm
Mag - 1350ppm
Alk - 132ppm
Phosphate - .10
Iodine - .06
Salinity - 1.026

Pretty happy with where I am at now after the adjustments! Now to work on bringing those nitrates down to 0ppm! I haven't had any severe algae problems, or anything out of the ordinary so for now I will just keep an eye on it. It has come down from 40ppm when I tested the tank the first week....mixed up another %15 water change for tomorrow 

New adds coming in the next couple days for sure!

Picked up some new stuff after testing my water last night and seeing pretty much perfect readings! Grabbed a beautiful Crocea Clam, a nice big chunk of birdsnest, and couple of very cool looking Zoa colonies with some bright pinks in them! More pics once they're in the tank 


Get Acclimated... by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Get Acclimated... by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Get Acclimated... by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Get Acclimated... by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Here are some picks of everything placed!

The clam

Happy as a Clam! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr
The mantle began coming out right away but my cleaner shrimp wont leave it alone at the moment, so curious!

Birdsnest, I have been long awaiting a piece like this 

Happy as a Clam! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Hard to see as my lights are out and these photos are mediocre at best, but it's the tight cluster colony of closed up zoas in the back....

Happy as a Clam! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Little frag plug of another type of Zoa for the garden. I think that's it for the Zoas for a while and I will see how it fills in. Need to keep an eye on these guys that they don't go crazy and spread everywhere!

Happy as a Clam! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


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## TWOLITREmedia

CURRENT DAY! (From this point on I will keep it up to date as I go 

More photos of all the new adds, and more attention hogs in the foreground!

Torch coral just swaying in the wind....

Just swaying around... by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

The torch, anenome, and red gonapora frag all in the same shot enjoying reef crest mode on the mp10s. 

Just swaying around... by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

The new Zoa colony i picked up all opened up today looking purtyyy. Garden is filling in nicely. You can see my chalice and frogspawn in the background here....

Just swaying around... by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Tiny little frag of some cool looking zoas here.

Just swaying around... by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Currently one of my favorite pieces in my tank, neon green birdsnest about 5"x5". Can't wait to watch this thing shoot off!

Just swaying around... by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Super happy clam opened fully up today looking great! Hard to get it in the photos for some reason but all those little spikes on the mantle are glowing neon blue.

Just swaying around... by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

That's all for now, more to come soon and hopefully a nano to start showing!


----------



## tom g

*set up*

all i can say is ...............WOW........ 
very friggen nice man 
cheers 
tom


----------



## TWOLITREmedia

tom g said:


> all i can say is ...............WOW........
> very friggen nice man
> cheers
> tom


Haha thank you! As mentioned somewhere in that jumble of posts just to sum it all up........

As of two months ago I had no experience in the marine hobby.
After a week or two of insane amounts of research I dove in and bought my tank.
I met a local coral dealer here that is just an all around amazing guy and sells some of the healthiest most colourful pieces I have ever seen....and for prices unheard of by most people in Toronto and Ottawa. His experience is insane with almost 25 years in the hobby, and I can't get enough useful information from him. 
The reason why I was able to begin adding coral after only about 3 weeks, and my tank didnt really "cycle" was because of the way I moved it and did not touch the sand bed essentially, kept the majority of the original water, and then let it do its thing for 3 weeks testing testing tesing.

I am pretty obsessive about my water quality now, and after seeing the improvements from buffing my mag up to where it should be and dosing for alk a bit to maintain a reading of 135 the polyp extension and colour in my tank is wild!

I want to state that I am a "professional" photography but do not judge my work by these photos. My bowfront tank creates a next to impossible shooting situation which I learned only after everything had been done. If you want to see my real work (automotive photography) check out the link in my signature.

Look forward to participating in the forums, and even though I'm a good two hours from you guys it's nice to have a large fairly "local" forum to visit!


----------



## Shoryureppa

Man, That was such a waste of time!!!!! Can I get a refund?1?!?

KIDDING!!!!!

Great job on moving the tank! I can totally relate to that as I did a 30 gallon when I started.

All controllers for the Vortechs come with a "W" if it glows, its wireless.

Keep us updated! I love pictures!

Harold


----------



## altcharacter

I'm very impressed with how much research you've done before hand with your tank and the equipment that you've mated to your tank. It's a real breath of fresh air to see someone in this hobby go the extra mile to make sure their tank is healthy.

I do have two thoughts that I would like to pass on to you though:
First, why not a sump? Everything is hanging off the back and you have room in your stand to put one. It would make the tank look so much better in my opinion
Second, I'm pretty sure you don't need 3 AI Sol's for your tank but that is up to you of course. If you look at some of your FTS you'll see the light bleeding onto your wall when it should be in your tank. I know people with 3 units but they're running 110g+ tanks where the length of the tank is 60-72" and even then you could almost get away with 2 units. 

Either way dude keep up the awesome work and I love your pictures!!


----------



## Flexin5

your friend sounds like a stand up guy...who's super handsome and is hung like a moose...

hahah good shit man, bring the car down and hit me up when your here


----------



## goldfish

Great looking tank - you are no beginner anymore. 

Can you recommend some sites where you did most of your research on?

Thanks

I've been running my tank for about 9 months and I haven't that much success to get my corals to grow so quickly.

What test kits are you using?


----------



## TWOLITREmedia

Shoryureppa said:


> Man, That was such a waste of time!!!!! Can I get a refund?1?!?
> 
> KIDDING!!!!!
> 
> Great job on moving the tank! I can totally relate to that as I did a 30 gallon when I started.
> 
> All controllers for the Vortechs come with a "W" if it glows, its wireless.
> 
> Keep us updated! I love pictures!
> 
> Harold


Haha thanks! The tank move was laboreous, but with a little planning you can make anything happen properly I think. 
As for any questions I may have asked in that LONG slue of posts you can basically disregard as they have been answered in a various number of ways through other forums, or just contact with friends and my coral guy.
I appreciate the answer regardless, I have ordered the two wireless modules to add to my mp10es units so they can communicate!



altcharacter said:


> I'm very impressed with how much research you've done before hand with your tank and the equipment that you've mated to your tank. It's a real breath of fresh air to see someone in this hobby go the extra mile to make sure their tank is healthy.
> 
> I do have two thoughts that I would like to pass on to you though:
> First, why not a sump? Everything is hanging off the back and you have room in your stand to put one. It would make the tank look so much better in my opinion
> Second, I'm pretty sure you don't need 3 AI Sol's for your tank but that is up to you of course. If you look at some of your FTS you'll see the light bleeding onto your wall when it should be in your tank. I know people with 3 units but they're running 110g+ tanks where the length of the tank is 60-72" and even then you could almost get away with 2 units.
> 
> Either way dude keep up the awesome work and I love your pictures!!


So I can answer both of those questions with what I think are logical and reasonable answers. In terms of a sump this was most definately the route I had originally planned to go. Two problems arose after buying this 72 gallon bowfront tank. The first and biggest problem was it was tempered  No drilling for me :-(....I am not willing to take the risks associated with HOB overflow systems, so that was out of the question. The tank came with the ReefOctopus HOB BH2000 skimmer which is an awesome skimmer, so that was another thing influencing the decision of why to just stay HOB. Third thing was that the stand for the tank is kind of impractical and only utilizes about half of the under tank space for hidden sump area. This limits me to a very small sump even if I went with a custom size...forcing me to go with a skimmer with a small footprint, and having a mess of wiring and plumping under neath.

Seeing this was my first tank, I basically just wanted to make sure everything worked hasstle free, with no leaks or worries if I have to leave town for two days or so.

As for your question about the SOLs it's simple. The person I was buying them from was ONLY willing to sell me them for the insane price I got them for if I bought all three units. Yes I realize I could sell one, but I plan on jumping to a 180 gallon in the future once I move so no reason to get rid of one when I will end up buying it back plus another unit or two. There is certainly unnecessary light flood, but for $600 for the three modules AND the controller....you'd keep it too hahaha

No worries about the questions, please ask away I have done a lot in only two months in the hobby!



Flexin5 said:


> your friend sounds like a stand up guy...who's super handsome and is hung like a moose...
> 
> hahah good shit man, bring the car down and hit me up when your here


Haha of course....she's going to be a BEAST come the spring dude. Booooooooooost.



goldfish said:


> Great looking tank - you are no beginner anymore.
> 
> Can you recommend some sites where you did most of your research on?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> I've been running my tank for about 9 months and I haven't that much success to get my corals to grow so quickly.
> 
> What test kits are you using?


Thank you! I still consider myself a "begginer" even though I feel I have done enough research to last me a life time. Being in the automotive hobby you gain a knack for sucking immense amounts of information from a various array of sources on the net including different forums, blogs, shop videos, and even wiki can help at times. Nothing beats FIRST HAND knowledge from someone who has gone through it, and I am not going to lie in that department I lucked out meeting Don from Crazy4Coral here in town. He is a wealth of knowledge and would NEVER sell me anything that wouldn't work for my tank size or parameters. Not to mention I can call him day or night for emergency calls or anything....so yeh, I lucked out. Also the price I have paid for my coral would make many big city buyers cringe at how low they are.

The test kits I use are as follow, and I test every 3 to 4 days depending on my schedule allowing for it. I generally test the day after a 15% water change, at around 6pm every time sometimes late at night as well to see for fluctiations:
Hannah Phosphat Digital Checker
Hannah Calcium Digital Checker
Hannah Alkalinity Digital Checker
Red Sea Iodine Pro Kit
Vertex Refractometer
(Can't remember the brand) RO water dissolved parts per million checker
API Master kit for Nitrate, Nitrite, Ammonia, and Ph
Elos Magnesium Test Kit

My Reefkeeper elite is constantly checking my High Range Ph and my temperature which it is also remotely controlling my heater.
It's attatched to a net module I recently picked up that I have an app on my iPhone to connect to it with. I can control anything plugged into my ReefKeeper's PC4 power bars (which is my whole tank as I have three of them) and also sends me alerts if ever my temperature drops below 77.7 due to a heater failiure or my pH spikes for some strange reason. Very useful unit without a doubt!

TIP: I can not describe how much more accurately and stable my ReefKeeper Elite system keeps my water temp at 78 (or whatever I want it at) apposed to trusting the Ehiem Jager (This is one of the most popular heaters out there as most know) heater to stay at a steady temp. The reason this happens is the submersible heaters still take in ambient air temperature to make their readings on wether to stay on or not. I have seen my Ehiem bring my tank to 80.5 before having to manually shut it off!
Do yourself a favor and pick up even a ReefKeeper Lite for just over $100 bucks, makes for a much more stable tank and shares many of the same features as my Elite system! I will be running a ReefKeeper Lite once my little 18 gallon nano comes in (Fingers crossed for tomorrow!)


----------



## altcharacter

Totally agree with the ReefKeeper. I just picked one up and it made most of my wiring dissapear along with the worries of timers and thermometers. 

Only problem I see with this setup is it's in Kingston


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## royy

*AI sol*

WOW 600 for 3?

whered you get such a deal :O


----------



## sig

I see. perfect $700 deal, become few thousand at the end as always 

I know, it costs $20 for the wife and does not matter what you brought home

in my opinion you should go with sump and it will hide all ugly reactors on the back of the tank

*100% free webcam site! | Awesome chicks and it is absolutely free! | Watch free live sex cam - easy as 1-2-3*


----------



## TWOLITREmedia

altcharacter said:


> Totally agree with the ReefKeeper. I just picked one up and it made most of my wiring dissapear along with the worries of timers and thermometers.
> 
> Only problem I see with this setup is it's in Kingston


Hahaha, I will put a RK system on any reef tank I own from now on.



royy said:


> WOW 600 for 3?
> 
> whered you get such a deal :O


Yes as I said, it was a crack deal that I could not turn down. My buddy on here tried to buy one from me immediately after hearing what I paid but I figure it just doesn't make sense for me to do that. Instead I run all three units at %43 power with an amazingly effective light spread. I couldn't be happier with these units and their controller. %10 chance of thunderstorms every day over my reef ;-)



sig said:


> I see. perfect $700 deal, become few thousand at the end as always
> 
> I know, it costs $20 for the wife and does not matter what you brought home
> 
> in my opinion you should go with sump and it will hide all ugly reactors on the back of the tank


Haha you know whats great about my girlfriend, shes as down or more than I am to buy all the toys I like. ONLY stipulation is she has to be there to pick all of our fancy coral! Equipment wise she could care less what I spend my money on so I think I have it easy compared to most  $500 on little fan things? (Mp10s) no problem! haha.
Yes this system started out costing me about $700 and was worth around $2000. Now I have invested almost $1600 and my tank is worth about $4500 so no complaints here about uping the inherent value of the system but barely increasing costs  I try to do this with everything I do....I have about $15000 in camera equipment but have only actually invested about 8000 to acquire it all. Finding the right deals at the right time for the wrong unfortunate people is key to all this.....

As for the sump, like I mentioned, originally I had studied for a week straight on JUST how I was going to go about making my sump. I was very excited to build a little refugium to maintain acceptable copepod levels in my tank as well as stabilize pH, run an ATO, and many other things. Then when I purchased the tank and realized it was tempered glass I was very upset. I have heard to many nightmares with HOB overflows so that was also not a route I wanted to go. I am totally content with the reactors on the back until I move out of this house and into my own personal one....then to my custom 200 gallon in wall build /w filtration room ;-)

For my first tank ever, this one is fulfilling all my requirements


----------



## Playing God

Well done. 
There's too many people in hobbies these days that research and talk big...but never actually DO anything. I'm forced to go slow and steady with all my hobbies because I have that annoying habit of falling in love and building, then promptly losing interest after a few months. I could see myself getting halfway through a 100+ tank build and just becoming disinterested.

One day I plan to go all out and upgrade, assuming this hobby sticks, but for now 35 gallons will have to suffice--until then, you're my hero!!


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## TWOLITREmedia

Playing God said:


> Well done.
> There's too many people in hobbies these days that research and talk big...but never actually DO anything. I'm forced to go slow and steady with all my hobbies because I have that annoying habit of falling in love and building, then promptly losing interest after a few months. I could see myself getting halfway through a 100+ tank build and just becoming disinterested.
> 
> One day I plan to go all out and upgrade, assuming this hobby sticks, but for now 35 gallons will have to suffice--until then, you're my hero!!


Haha thank you! I am glad for now you can live vicariously through my head first dive into the hobby 

Wait till you see the nano set up I just started cycling! Pictures up shortly.....maybe it's own thread.


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## TWOLITREmedia

Alright so after much anticipation my 18 gallon CAD light nano set up came in! I am super happy with the build quality of this tank, and can't wait to get my cycle done with and get on to the fun stuff!

Picked up 18 lbs of uncultured Tatoka and 3 lbs of rubble to fill the back filter compartment. Eventually I will run a nano skimmer and about half the current amount of rubble back there but for now this will work great. Took about 10 gallons of water from my main DP to seed it and 8 gallons of freshly mixed saltwater from the night before.

Here is what the tank looks like dry, with one of the LED light fixtures sitting next to it on it's side....

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

As you can see the unit is nicely sectioned off into an overflow/sump system for you with three compartments. The overflow runs into the sponge to remove large particle matter. After that it is pushed through about two and a half pounds of rock rubble. Under the seperator and out the 250gph pump running the tanks flow system. I will be opting for the "wave making" power head adapter you can add to the spout in the tank...

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Sexy.....I love how it looks with the rest of the room, and almost matches the SOL units over my main DP tank.

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

An overhead shot of the LED units....blown out lighting, sorry guys did these all quick.

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Rinsed the 10 lbs of new argonite i purchased for about 40 minutes till the water was asclear as possible, then rinsed with RO water for another 20 to reduce diatom bloom as much as possible

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

In goes the sand bed....about 2.5-3"

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Fillerup...and a rouch idea of the aquscape. Went for a cavernous space in the middle of the tank with higher ridges on the outsides slightly. I am going to change up the front right portion though tomorrow...

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

At night....

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Better shot of the aquascape at the end of it....

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Let the cycle begin! Stay tuned on the build up of this one 

Set-Up Phase One! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


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## explor3r

Great start and great pictures too, adictive personallity is the right for this hobby bacuase if u were not like that u would become anyways.

I would highly recommend u to run a sump as well, there are so many benefits from it like more room for your equipment, more water volume equal a more stable system and it gives u a chance to do something else that is the most exciting of them all.

3 modules of AI for your tank is just great having in consideration that when you want to upgrade you already have the light and you wont need to buy anyomore modules as long as you dont pass the 150ish gallon depending of coure on the dimmensions.
Congrats and keep up the good work and keep the pictures coming!!!

Remember that on this hobby nothing happens from night to day..

LET THE WATER FLOW


----------



## TWOLITREmedia

explor3r said:


> Great start and great pictures too, adictive personallity is the right for this hobby bacuase if u were not like that u would become anyways.
> 
> I would highly recommend u to run a sump as well, there are so many benefits from it like more room for your equipment, more water volume equal a more stable system and it gives u a chance to do something else that is the most exciting of them all.
> 
> 3 modules of AI for your tank is just great having in consideration that when you want to upgrade you already have the light and you wont need to buy anyomore modules as long as you dont pass the 150ish gallon depending of coure on the dimmensions.
> Congrats and keep up the good work and keep the pictures coming!!!
> 
> Remember that on this hobby nothing happens from night to day..
> 
> LET THE WATER FLOW


Thanks for the kind words! As mentioned a few times now there were reasons why I went without a sump in this first system of mine. The main one being that my glass is tempered in this 72 gallon bowfront making drilling impossible. I was not willing to take the risks associated with a HOB overflow either.
On top of that to make matters worst the stand the tank came with does not accomodate for a very useful sump size anyways even if I get it custom made. Oh well, this will all be considered with the next tank before buying anything, trust me!


----------



## goldfish

TWOLITREmedia said:


> Thanks for the kind words! As mentioned a few times now there were reasons why I went without a sump in this first system of mine. The main one being that my glass is tempered in this 72 gallon bowfront making drilling impossible. I was not willing to take the risks associated with a HOB overflow either.
> On top of that to make matters worst the stand the tank came with does not accomodate for a very useful sump size anyways even if I get it custom made. Oh well, this will all be considered with the next tank before buying anything, trust me!


Sounds you need a tank upgrade already...


----------



## TWOLITREmedia

goldfish said:


> Sounds you need a tank upgrade already...


Blah, tell me about it! I am already planning out the 200 gallon for my first house! hahaha


----------



## TWOLITREmedia

Ok so this photo is totally garbage and does not do this Yuma/Ric justice at all but its AWESOME! As a bonus also, there is five babies on the rock it came with also  The center in the day is bright orange, and the outside is a bright teal....super pumped to watch this baby grow...and it's babies...grow. Hahaha


More pics! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

On a side note, I did some testing today and much to my surprise almost nothing changed! I over dosed a tad on ALK and my mag is being consumed a bit which seems normal for all the adds that I have put in in the last two weeks (about six large pieces and three frags) Here were the results...nitrates and phosphates almost totally gone 

Calc - 539
Mag 1300
Alk - 160
Nitrate - 10ppm
nitrite - 0
ammonia - .06
phosphate - .04

I will take a full run of updated photos in the day tomorrow with the lights on and everyone awake!


----------



## goldfish

TWOLITREmedia said:


> The test kits I use are as follow, and I test every 3 to 4 days depending on my schedule allowing for it. I generally test the day after a 15% water change, at around 6pm every time sometimes late at night as well to see for fluctiations:
> Hannah Phosphat Digital Checker
> Hannah Calcium Digital Checker
> Hannah Alkalinity Digital Checker
> Elos Magnesium Test Kit


I'm seriously considering getting the hannah test kits as I find the other ones very painful and laborious to use to the point of not wanting to test anymore.

I've only read good things about them - what would you say anything bad about them besides the testing agent being a bit more expensive than the other test kits? Do you have to ever calibrate the test kits?

I guess Hannah doesn't have a magnesium test kit? How good is the Elos one?

Thanks


----------



## TWOLITREmedia

goldfish said:


> I'm seriously considering getting the hannah test kits as I find the other ones very painful and laborious to use to the point of not wanting to test anymore.
> 
> I've only read good things about them - what would you say anything bad about them besides the testing agent being a bit more expensive than the other test kits? Do you have to ever calibrate the test kits?
> 
> I guess Hannah doesn't have a magnesium test kit? How good is the Elos one?
> 
> Thanks


Honestly the hannah tester are A+++++ and I would recommend nothing else. They're ease of use is fantastic, and online tutorials are great if you get lost at any post. Also the company has spectacular after market support.
No calibration needed! Pop the battery in and go 

Elos is the best Mag testing kit on the market IMO and from what I have researched. Crazy easy to use, but a bit "expensive" i suppose depending on what your budget is like.

Both companies are great though, you'll have no regrets.


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## RR37

Tank looks great ! However Your flickr link quickly distracted me. The black GD dumped on TE37's... Then the red bug eye wagon... Two of those boxers look familiar to me ! particularly the red Rex. Now then... Nice tank


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## TWOLITREmedia

RR37 said:


> Tank looks great ! However Your flickr link quickly distracted me. The black GD dumped on TE37's... Then the red bug eye wagon... Two of those boxers look familiar to me ! particularly the red Rex. Now then... Nice tank


Haha I'm glad I could consume some of your time with my work ;-)


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## Flexin5

I'm gonna poo in your tank lol


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## TWOLITREmedia

Flexin5 said:


> I'm gonna poo in your tank lol


Hahahahahahaha


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## TWOLITREmedia

So I realized I hadn't done a full update of the coral in the tank since a month or so ago. There has been tons of new stuff added, and moved around. I realized again though that I forgot to take a full shot standing back so I will make sure I do this tomorrow. Enjoy! (Nano tank has been cycling for 7 days now, should be good in another two weeks to start adding a couple of pieces of coral frags or a fish or two)

Here we go...

Neon Green Birdsnest got moved out of the flow a bit and the polyps went crazy!

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Yellow ric all opened up showing it's colours, I love this piece! 

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Alvepora looking bushier and bushier every day, keeping it's stark white colour..

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

BTA flowing in the wind..

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Acans looking nice and puffy...teal and red, I love these colours

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Lobo looking jucier than ever...I need to take a shot when this thing feeds, the tentacles are wild!

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

I swear this brain has already gotten signifigantly larger since I purchased it....tried isolated feeding the other day and it didn't open up. I am going to try to feed it a little cube of shrimp tomorrow, instead of mysis shrimp.

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Another pic of the RIc (With no flash)

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Slightly out of focus shot of the frogspawn. Rubbed a rock against the one head about two weeks ago and it looks like it's healed up nicely

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Brutal photo of the frag of red planet that I bought. Can't wait to see this piece in two years or so, looks like alien coral!

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Little blasto frag, once again out of focus (God damn bowfront) :-(

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Zoa garden....

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Random Zoa frag that I'm going to move tomorrow into the garden...

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Nemo just has to get his close up...

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Cleaning crew ready and primed

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Clam fully opened

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Love my teal /w pink eye chalice!

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

SixLine also being an attention hog...

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

So I moved this torch coral about a week ago behind a wall that gets direct flow on the other size and now it looks gigantic and flows so nice and gently back and forth! Crazy what a small change in position will do for these corals

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Red monti, can't wait for this piece to fill out!

Tank Updates! (Jan. 11th 2013) by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

That's all for now, full tank photo tomorrow...it's filling in great! Going through a very minor diatom bloom so I am going to do an extra 5 gallons on my water changes for the next two times I think to clean that up. Hope you guys like the photos!


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## rburns24

Photos look excellent. What came are you using?


----------



## fiftyfive

Look's very good Emilio. Small world, seen most of the Trackwerks photo you've taken. Good to see you in the hobby.


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## TWOLITREmedia

rburns24 said:


> Photos look excellent. What came are you using?


Thank you! I currently use my Canon 5DmkII with a various array of lenses for what your seeing in this lens.



fiftyfive said:


> Look's very good Emilio. Small world, seen most of the Trackwerks photo you've taken. Good to see you in the hobby.


That's crazy! Sorry for my ignorance who is this?! I don't recognize the user name :-(


----------



## TWOLITREmedia

Finally got a full tank shot after forgetting to take one every time I'm messing around for some reason! Filling in nicely thus far 


Updated Full Tank Shot! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


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## fiftyfive

TWOLITREmedia said:


> That's crazy! Sorry for my ignorance who is this?! I don't recognize the user name :-(


I'm good friends with Fac, probably bump into a few times lol.


----------



## TWOLITREmedia

fiftyfive said:


> I'm good friends with Fac, probably bump into a few times lol.


Awesome man! Well I'll be out there this summer shooting a bunch and definitely will be chilling with Fac a couple times, hopefully I see you around! (Actually hopefully he builds another monster to take to the track!)


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## Flexin5

fiftyfive do you live in ottawa? i know FAC too, wondering if you came partying with us when a bunch of us drove to ottawa for a car show.


----------



## fiftyfive

Flexin5 said:


> fiftyfive do you live in ottawa? i know FAC too, wondering if you came partying with us when a bunch of us drove to ottawa for a car show.


Yea i'm in Ottawa, probably did party with you. I've been to a lot of car shows in toronto so probably bumped into you too. I'm always rollin' with the Trackwerks team.


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## Flexin5

oh i definatly know you then..lol


----------



## goldfish

TWOLITREmedia said:


> Honestly the hannah tester are A+++++ and I would recommend nothing else. They're ease of use is fantastic, and online tutorials are great if you get lost at any post. Also the company has spectacular after market support.
> No calibration needed! Pop the battery in and go
> 
> Elos is the best Mag testing kit on the market IMO and from what I have researched. Crazy easy to use, but a bit "expensive" i suppose depending on what your budget is like.
> 
> Both companies are great though, you'll have no regrets.


Bought all those test kits as you recommended and started testing the magnesium level last night using the ELOS test kit.

Damn instructions were not clear and instead of starting with a new batch of saltwater to do the 2nd phase, I used the same batch from 1st phase and I ended up wasting alot of reagent D (I only found out from google that for 2nd phase you are suppose to start with a new batch of saltwater). 

Seems that it's a very common mistake.

For the hannah calcium checker, it recommends you to use deionized water....do you use that or do you use distilled water or RO/DI water?

Also, since I started testing my water and want to maintain the recommended levels, can you tell me what product(s) do you use to dose to keep your ca/mg/alk in check? Most of the guys that I have met locally do not test their water or add additives....it seems that weekly water change is good enough.

Thanks


----------



## TWOLITREmedia

goldfish said:


> Bought all those test kits as you recommended and started testing the magnesium level last night using the ELOS test kit.
> 
> Damn instructions were not clear and instead of starting with a new batch of saltwater to do the 2nd phase, I used the same batch from 1st phase and I ended up wasting alot of reagent D (I only found out from google that for 2nd phase you are suppose to start with a new batch of saltwater).
> 
> Seems that it's a very common mistake.
> 
> For the hannah calcium checker, it recommends you to use deionized water....do you use that or do you use distilled water or RO/DI water?
> 
> Also, since I started testing my water and want to maintain the recommended levels, can you tell me what product(s) do you use to dose to keep your ca/mg/alk in check? Most of the guys that I have met locally do not test their water or add additives....it seems that weekly water change is good enough.
> 
> Thanks


Oh noooooooo, I made the same STUPID mistake with the Elos kit the first time, I apologize for not mentioning it. The instructions are a bit stupid when they say Repeat 1.1-1.2 they should really just say start with a new batch.

Now that you have made the mistake once, testing mag will be a 5 minute breeze from now on.

As for the hannah checker, RO water is perfectly fine for the calibration.

Ok for dosing I have been dosing magnesium with Tropic Marin BioMagnesium. It's a powder supplemenet (there is also a liquid option). It's super easy, and I have essentially figured out that if I dose about 3 scoops a day I can maintain a solid 1400ppm Mag. Since dosing and maintaining levels I can not describe the difference in polyp extension, its insane. 
For my alk/PH buffer I use Kent Marine PH/Alkilinity buffer. It's a liquid supplement and I only dose when I have tested and notice my alk drop.

Calcium I am not dosing for currently as it seems like my weekly water changes are keeping my calcium levels at about 530ppm consistently which is good.

Anyone who tells you that weekly testing is un--necessary is essentially just lazy, or doesn't care enough about their tank to make sure their water column's parameters are as close to nature as possible. Just my .02 though, I am a busy ass guy with a million and one things to do a day and I still manage to find the time once a week to test so I have a hard time believing when people try to tell me their too busy...

Good luck man, you'll get into process! Depending on what is being consumed in your tank and at what rate Kalkwasser is something you may consider dosing. I would reference other users for that info though as I can't speak from experience.


----------



## goldfish

TWOLITREmedia said:


> Oh noooooooo, I made the same STUPID mistake with the Elos kit the first time, I apologize for not mentioning it. The instructions are a bit stupid when they say Repeat 1.1-1.2 they should really just say start with a new batch.
> ....
> Good luck man, you'll get into process! Depending on what is being consumed in your tank and at what rate Kalkwasser is something you may consider dosing. I would reference other users for that info though as I can't speak from experience.


No need to apologize - you can bet that I won't make the same mistake twice. 

I was thinking of getting this additive set from BRS:

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-2-part-calcium-alkalinity-total-package-bulk.html

But since you mentioned that calcium level might be good from weekly water changes, maybe I will buy individual things instead.

I've heard of kalkwasser use before but I'm not sure what it does.


----------



## TWOLITREmedia

goldfish said:


> No need to apologize - you can bet that I won't make the same mistake twice.
> 
> I was thinking of getting this additive set from BRS:
> 
> http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-2-part-calcium-alkalinity-total-package-bulk.html
> 
> But since you mentioned that calcium level might be good from weekly water changes, maybe I will buy individual things instead.
> 
> I've heard of kalkwasser use before but I'm not sure what it does.


The BRS kit is very popular and I'm sure would work great for you. The dosing option you choose to go wish often depends on the consumption rate of whichever nutrient your replenishing. This requires week to week readings to determine the rate at which they are consumed. If you have a ton of SPS for example calcium will be one of your things to really keep an eye on as they will consume calcium quickly.

Do some google searching on Kalkwasser, there is a ton of info out there, and it's not for everyone so you'd have to make your own call there....or again, possibly reference the dosing forums and people who are much more experienced in that area. I'm glad I could get you started in the right direction!


----------



## fiftyfive

I'm currently using the BRS two part, great price but i'm starting to notice that im going threw a lot of it. The calculator isn't accurate for my tank. So i might be looking at antoher solution. 

I have a few friends running kalk and it works wonders. It basically stablizes your cal/alk (helps with ph swings) but it will not replenish what is consumed. One big reason why i choose not to use it, because overdosing can nuke your tank. :S


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## goldfish

Hi TWOLITREmedia.

You got PM.


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## TWOLITREmedia

fiftyfive said:


> I'm currently using the BRS two part, great price but i'm starting to notice that im going threw a lot of it. The calculator isn't accurate for my tank. So i might be looking at antoher solution.
> 
> I have a few friends running kalk and it works wonders. It basically stablizes your cal/alk (helps with ph swings) but it will not replenish what is consumed. One big reason why i choose not to use it, because overdosing can nuke your tank. :S


Great info man, thanks!



goldfish said:


> Hi TWOLITREmedia.
> 
> You got PM.


Glad I could help you out with the testing


----------



## TWOLITREmedia

Ok so I have definitely been slacking on the updates, but I assure you lots going on!

So last Saturday was exciting, instead of the usual large coral update we decided to pick up some fish! Grabbed two benghai cardinals, another clownfish (larger then our other one to take the place of "female" they paired immediately), and two teal and blue little hyper active fish (I will get the name soon, or I'm sure someone will ID them on here!). Everyone is getting along great and it was a succesful add all together 

Full tank shot....

New Fish! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


New Fish! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Super happy couple 

New Fish! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

My two cardinals looking super bad ass ;-)

New Fish! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Ok so I lied! Not alllllll fish....I can't walk out of Don's (Crazy4Coral) without picking up something from the frag bin!!!! This transluescent neon green acro is gorgeous under the AI units, and it a great addition to the colour in my tank and goes well next to my red monti!

New Fish! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

So my clam has not been doing great lately ever since my shrimp bugged the hell out of it for about two days straight. It's still reactive and opens in the day somewhat and closes at night but it's not looking like it improves at all....we'll see how it goes everything is leaving it alone now.

New Fish! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

The nano is just about cycled in these photos, and has now had a small cleaning crew added!

Also grabbed a gorgeous three headed dark blue/neon green alvepora tonight that I need to photograph tomorrow once it fully opens up, it's amazing!

If you guys are ever going through Kingston, I strongly suggest checking out Crazy4Coral and talk to Don. He's awesome and his stock is always A++ and prices are unbeatable.

More updates tomorrow!


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## fiftyfive

the hyper active fish is blue/green Chromis, they are great in a school. Things are looking good, keep it up.


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## Ryan.Wilton

Yeah the blue/green Chromis would love some company (get 3 more )


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## TWOLITREmedia

fiftyfive said:


> the hyper active fish is blue/green Chromis, they are great in a school. Things are looking good, keep it up.


Haha yes thats it!



Ryan.Wilton said:


> Yeah the blue/green Chromis would love some company (get 3 more )


I was actually planning for two more, but hey three works too! Haha.
I believe I have capped out my bio load in terms of fish so the last three chromis will be it for this tank I believe. All coral from now on!


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## Flexin5

tank is looking good buddy!


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## TWOLITREmedia

Flexin5 said:


> tank is looking good buddy!


Thanks man!


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## goldfish

TWOLITREmedia said:


> Haha yes thats it!
> 
> I was actually planning for two more, but hey three works too! Haha.
> I believe I have capped out my bio load in terms of fish so the last three chromis will be it for this tank I believe. All coral from now on!


I love my Chromis too and they have such beautiful colors - they actually come up to feed when I open up my lid in my QT tank.

Do they actually school?

Did your cardinals pair up yet? It's hard to tell if you have 1 of each gender.


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## TWOLITREmedia

Ryan.Wilton said:


> Yeah the blue/green Chromis would love some company (get 3 more )


As suggested, I did! :-D



goldfish said:


> I love my Chromis too and they have such beautiful colors - they actually come up to feed when I open up my lid in my QT tank.
> 
> Do they actually school?
> 
> Did your cardinals pair up yet? It's hard to tell if you have 1 of each gender.


Yes they do actually school in the sense that they swim around almost in the same exact motion patterns together towards the top of the tank. 
As for my cardinals they sure do seem to stay together all day long, we'll see if I see any breeding signs down the road as they are some of the few mouth breeders out there and in tank birth is possible with these guys similar to clowns I believe.

Okkkkk so another big chunky update today!
Let's start off with some new product I have introduced to the tank.

Woop woop more adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Prodibio Reef Booster and BioClean. Both fairly new products on the market I believe but they have surely hit the market hard and many people are swearing by them. So the reef booster is basically just an additive filled with essential nutrients that are not always necisserily produced naturely in your tank environment to really boost coral growth. The one I am really excited about is the BioClean though and the reason being is that my main DT is over a year old and is considered a "mature" tank at this point. As there are many advantages of having a mature tank, some of the down sides include that essential bacteria that at the beggining of the tanks life was plentiful to help breakdown phosphate and nitrates have been consumed and are not repleneshiable in an ordinary un dosed tank environment. After about a year of a tanks life is when you will begin to see the loss of these essential bacteria. Basically the BioClean is a two part supplement including a capsule for reintroducing the bacteria, and a capsule that acts as "food" for bacteria that currently resides in the tank. This product was developed to be used effectively in conjuction with biopellets in helping seed them with the same essential bacteria mentioned before.
Without trying to sound like an informercial this product on paper looks really great, and either way effective or not I am excited to see the effects of the product as there have been rave reviews thus far.


Woop woop more adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Woop woop more adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Ok so a couple more things that dont swim and sway is another run of tests I ran today! Results were as follows....(P.S. I grabbed an Elos Nitrate test kit....best kit ever, super accurate/API sucks for below 10ppm nitrate 


Woop woop more adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 2.5ppm (Weehoo almost 0! The Elos kit allows me to read down to 1ppm nitrate, I believe API kist only read to 5ppm.)
Ammonium 0ppm
Calcium 473ppm
Phosphate .09ppm
Alkalinity 130ppm
Magnesium 1350ppm
PH 8.1
Salinity 1.025

I am very happy with the stability of my tank readings at this point. I do a full run of tests once a week for the past two months and I haven't noticed much change the past three weeks or so other then reduction in phosphate and nitrate levels which is great!

Ok on to more fun stuff.....

Here's a mediocre shot of the 4 headed dark green/neon alvepora I picked up!

Woop woop more adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

.....so guess what!!!! My clowns are finally hosting my anemone! Like hosting the shit out of it in shifts haha. They love hosting it so much now that I grabbed another anemone for them both to have a spot at night to sleep as they kinda of sliently argue over who gets the small retracted anemone at night.


Woop woop more adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


Woop woop more adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

^The colours are weird on that shot because it's natural light as the tank lights were off at this point and I bounced a flash off the ceiling.

Woop woop more adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

So far it has not budged from the spot I got him to grab on too which is aesthetically right where I want him but we will see over night if he ventures around. Hopefully not!

As mentioned I officially capped off the tanks bioload from fish with three more green/blue chromis! Thats five of these little guys schooling around, looks awesome!


Woop woop more adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Ok so this shot of this nice chunk of Acan I grabbed does NOT do it justice as natural light sucks for aquatic photos. I will reshoot one tomorrow and you will see just how bright the orange and green is!

Woop woop more adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Clam seems to be doing a bit better today but no drastic difference in mantel extension......oh well, keep an eye on it is all I can do unless someone has suggestion how to help "heal" it.

Woop woop more adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Random shot of the cardinals hanging out....as per usual...

Woop woop more adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

This little guy didn't go into this tank, but into my nano! Always wanted a nice bright blood shrimp  Again natural light, booooo. 

Woop woop more adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Well that's all for now guys, more soon I am sure!

Water change tomorrow 


Woop woop more adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


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## Ryan.Wilton

Wee need an update 2LM...


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## TWOLITREmedia

Ryan.Wilton said:


> Wee need an update 2LM...


It's coming I promise! Been super busy lately, but I can officially say the tank is basically capped off with my additions tonight. I will bring everyone up to speed on the last two weeks of ads ASAP I promise!


----------



## TWOLITREmedia

Alright so here it is, the long awaited update!

It's been a good two weeks almost I believe since updating and much has changed and been added. The tank is basically at capacity now and I am just going to enjoy watching it grow for a year or two before moving.

I'll just get right into it, and highlight some of the new pieces as well as some that were already there!

New piece of blueish green acro /w an encrusted plug

18 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Brain looking juicy as ever

11 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

My newest ad.....dun dun dun dunnnnnnnnn....a HUGE fox coral! This thing is totally amazing the amount it fluctuates from night to day. I will make sure I grab a shot at night for sure.

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

One of my two new anemones!

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Here's the other! Both are nicely settled in and have not moved in over a week.

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

A horrible out of focus shot of one of the two new birdsnest!

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

My original birdsnest, this thing is growing quick!

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Some new tealish purple mushrooms that came on a rock with a ton of pink and yellow tiny zoas! I call them the pink lemonade rock 

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

The Bubble tip reaching out

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

That gonapora I grabbed a couple weeks ago is just fully extended now and looks wild!

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

My original neon acro and red monti

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Clam seems to be making a full recovery since being moved! Super happy, thought this guy was a gonner. I think what happened was it's mantle actually was eaten by the shrimp. They were none stop on it for four days, but it seems to be growing back quickly and the clam is still very reactive.

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Lobo, ric, and my new frag of favia. This favia is going to look WILD in about a year, it's a two coloured favia with neon green mouths.

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Ok so I grabbed a nice big piece of red digitata and broke so many pieces off of it I was able to creat what will be a shelf of digitata branching out from my zoa garden base!

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Another new piece of blue acro, this photo does no justice as its at the back of the tank and the water volume warps the photo quite a bit. 

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Another new awesome add is this beautiful sea pen. I don't see these often in peoples tanks and love this thing dearly. At night it completely disappears under the sand totally un seen. It's wild to watch this thing grow as the sun rises. News target feeding of phytoplan once every three days or so.

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


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## TWOLITREmedia

Big ol piece of green monti I grabbed!

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Some brand new reds birdsnest 

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Both clowns now spend all day and all night hosting all three anemones in the tank. This is the anemone the large clown sleeps in, and the small one sleeps in the other new white anemone. So glad they figured it out without taping pics to the tank haha

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Can't remember if I posted a shot of this orange and green acan but it's totally awesome. The colour really pops uner the AI SOL units.

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Red gonapora with blue mouths fully opened now since moving it to a nice coved little area.

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

The lobo looking nice and floppy in it's new spot up high in the tank. May still move this guy a bit....

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Well here it is, the FULL tank shot. Below you will find the finaly livestock list.....now we watch it grow 

Final Tank Adds! by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

The List:

2 Clownfish
2 Benghai Cardinals
1 FlameAngel
1 SixLine
5 BlueGreen Chromis
2 Emerald Crabs
2 Cleaner Shrimp
Big Ass Clean Up Crew
1 Open Brain
1 Lobo Frag
1 Large Ricordia /w 4 babies on it's rock
3 Anemones
1 three headed alvepora
1 four headed gonapora
1 frag of red gonapora
1 three headed frogspawn
1 red birdsnest
1 green birdsnest
1 white birdsnest
1 Large pink/Blue Lobo
Large Zoa garden with over ten different coloured zoas!
Various assorted mushrooms (Teal, Purple, Blue, Green)
3 Different pieces of Acropora
Various branches of Red digitata placed throughout the tank with a main cluster on the wall.
1 Red Monti Cap
1 Large Green Monti
1 Large Colored Feather Duster
1 Two headed white colored feather duster
1 Gigantic Fox Coral
1 Sea Pen
1 Purple/Green Torch Coral
1 Teal/Red Acan Colony
1 Orange/Green Acan colony
1 Crochea Clam
1 Frag of RedPlanet
2 Sandsifting Stars

Holy moly.....it's been a fun and intense ride for just over two months. Super happy with my results, and all my parameters are still stable. I have figured out the exact calcium and magnesium / alk consumption so dosing is easy 

Thanks for all the help guys, and most of all a HUGE thanks to Don from Crazy4Coral here in Kingston for all the amazing deals and beautiful coral.

Now onto the nano en devour and focus all my time on that! I will keep this thread updated.


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## Ryan.Wilton

Looks BADASSED I'm envious, I had attempted this in (probably the same brand- Oceanic?) a 72gallon bowfront. My protein skimmer leaked, almost caused an electrical fire, which in turn poisoned the system and killed all the corals and fish. My dad wasted about $5000 on the dumb tank. What a let down.

We still use the aquarium but he's a little gun shy on trying a saltwater again.


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## TWOLITREmedia

Ryan.Wilton said:


> Looks BADASSED I'm envious, I had attempted this in (probably the same brand- Oceanic?) a 72gallon bowfront. My protein skimmer leaked, almost caused an electrical fire, which in turn poisoned the system and killed all the corals and fish. My dad wasted about $5000 on the dumb tank. What a let down.
> 
> We still use the aquarium but he's a little gun shy on trying a saltwater again.


Shit that's too bad man, I'm still trying to convince my parents to let me set one up upstairs! I'm not sure what kind of tank mine is, either Oceanic or Marineland I believe.

Thanks for the kind words!


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## Ryan.Wilton

Oceanic and Marineland are the same company I believe lol


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## TWOLITREmedia

Ryan.Wilton said:


> Oceanic and Marineland are the same company I believe lol


Haha well there ya go!


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## TWOLITREmedia

Holy moly it's been a while for an update (by my standards anyways). I've been super busy with the last couple of months of my diploma, went to NYC for a small vacation (tank fared incredibly well! Maintained by my sister :-O), and a million and one other ventures.
Ok so straight to the updates, I'll go photo by photo but first the most recent readings taken of my tank (after I got home from NYC about a week ago).

Phosphate - 0.00
Nitrate - 3ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Ammonia - 0ppm
pH - 7.8
Mag - 1300
Calcium - 449
Iodine - .05
Alk - 135
Temp - 78
Sal - 1.026
RO - 5 TUS

Woohoo! perfect 

First thing was first when I got home, water change!

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Look at this guy, he got sick of his spot in the hole above so he rammed himself into this tatoka rock :-(

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Awesome new little mini frag of zoas!

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Another!

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

One of the electric blue hermits..

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

One of my faveorite pieces of all, my new red star!

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Look at this garden now :-D

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Still haven't seen these guys extend their polyps yet, but when they do it will be awesome. Sun coral! (Have them in the shady spot for a reason)

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Fox coral looking gigantic as ever

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Another one of my favorite pieces of ours is this brand new illuminated scallop. It literally sends little electric blue currents through it's "mouth" back and forth. Totally awesome to watch!

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

All birdsnest growing like weeds!

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

One of our two anemones swaying in the wind

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Gonapora all stretched out, this stuff looks great in it's new spot in the tank!

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

My favorite acro, and my red monti growing like crazy!

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

The clam has made a 100% full recovery from it's sad state about a month and a half ago....glad I didn't toss it.

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Acans

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


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## TWOLITREmedia

Lobo, ric, favite, and scallop all hanging out on the sea floor....

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Tube anemone and sea pen doing they're thing...

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Torch coral looking larger than ever and the red gonapora above it growing well

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

This guy was begging for a photo....

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Anemone even farther rammed in :-(

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

Green monti seems to have stopped shelving out and is starting to grow upwards...cant wait to see this one in a year!

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

The tips of this blue acro is going crazy

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

The size of these things in the day vs night is unreal. Almost 6 times as big!

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

And of course....the current full tank shot!

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

On another amazingly positive note....I want to thank Don at Crazy4Coral as I was the winner of his three month ballot draw for a brand new BRS 4 stage water purification unit! This will be a welcome upgrade from my two stage RO unit and at almost a $200 price tag what a score! Thanks again Don 

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr

:-D

Long Awaited Tank Update 06/03/13 by Emilio Ciccarelli | www.TWOLITREmedia.com, on Flickr


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## goldfish

*Great pictures of corals*

Very nice coral growth in your absence - maybe you should go away more often and let your sister take care of your tank.


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## TWOLITREmedia

goldfish said:


> Very nice coral growth in your absence - maybe you should go away more often and let your sister take care of your tank.


Haha that's what I was thinking!


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