So, here are four tanks I think are some of the best looking reef tanks I’ve seen. There are certainly many more equally great looking tanks. Although in my opinion it is much more important to have healthy and interesting animals than picture perfect aquascape I certainly wouldn’t mind having a tank such as these.

These will work nicely as a contrast for my tank update I’ll post tomorrow

Japanese soft coral tank:

No related posts.

Phosphates are finally getting close to “zero”, currently 0.07 ppm PO4

Nitrates are dropping again, currently 0.5 ppm NO3

I think the corals are starting to grow again!

I sold Achilles tang and Niger trigger to local hobbyists but added 8 Anthias, 5 P. squamipinnis and 3 P. dispar

The new skimmer, ATB Medium, is absolutely fantastic. It is so efficient that I’m ramping up feeding again.

Biopellets continue to work as advertised. The biomass production has slowed down considerably since installing the new skimmer. I’m expecting a new shipment to arrive any day now, I will be increasing the amount of Biopellets to more reasonable 2-2.5 liters. Note that Biopellets are now sold by npbiopellets.com

Found a great manufacturer for PO4 binder, activated carbon and pulverized zeolith: Gilbers Environmental Technologies. Once again a little known company provides excellent quality, very good customer service and very competitive prizes. If you need any of the aforementioned filtering media, give them a try.

Related posts:

1. Tank update, July 2009
2. Tank update, June 2009 (Updated)
3. It foams. I’m back.

All animals were in good condition although the Colopometra sp. crinoid was understandably damaged during the shipment. I’m happy to report that it is already recovering fast, I can see new growth daily.

One more thing about Mrutzek Meeresaquaristik: it seems like this is the only place you can get full range of invertebrates for reef aquariums. All the rest offer the same old Acanthastrea, Acropora, Montipora etc. Some don’t even have anything other than stony corals. As sad it is, Mrutzek Meeresaquaristik seems to be alone in its class and really the only option for serious aquarist.

In addition to animals pictured below I also received 6 Berghia verrucicornis, 5 Pseudanthias squamipinnis and 3 Pseudanthias dispar.

[Show as slideshow]

Related posts:

1. Tank update, July 2009

• Note! I now work mostly with my laptop and although it’s a fantastic (Unibody Macbook), I don’t trust it’s display enough to make any kind of color correction. So I’m shooting in JPEG (I usually shoot RAW) and just resize the images.
• My experiment with Tropic Marin Reef Actif backfired pretty badly; I’m still battling with elevated nitrates, phosphates are under control
• To help with the nitrate problem, I’ve added Purigen in to the sump, but only in passive mode. I have also started the vodka+sugar dosing, increasing the dosage steadily. I’m now where I was before, at 22 ml/day, dosed 24 times a day with a dosing pump.
• I have also started to experiment with Ultra-Bak and Ultra-Life from Fauna Marin
• I have received a shipment from Mrutzek. The shipment contained gorgonian, sponge, tunicates and corals (see gallery at the bottom of this page)
• I also got two pieces of unidentified gorgonian from a fellow hobbyist (thanks Kaisa!)
• I continue to use the CaCO3 slurry filtration method although I did stop using it for a while to be better able to see what effects the Reef Actif has.
• I keep feeding quite a lot invertebrate foods, no major modifications to the mix

Shipment from Mrutzek Meeresaquaristik:

[Show as slideshow]

Related posts:

1. Tank update, June 2009 (Updated)
2. Tank update, October 2009
3. Latest additions

Tank gallery 15.6.2009

Quick snapshots from my tank

20 Photos

Related posts:

1. Corals
2. Invertebrates
3. Microlife