Tank Pictures

[kevinpo]

Here are some pictures I took tonight. I hope you like them.

Regards,
Kevin

[zhenya]

Beautiful as always, Kevin!

[ghofmann]

Kevin every time I see pictures of your tank I am amazed by it!

The last picture with the little clown really shows the scale of the tank.

[vtec si]

I love your tank! Can we trade?

[Cims]

Amazing stuff, Wow you should feel proud. The varity of coral is awsome, Makes me like hard coral more now for sure. I like your fish selection, do they get along? What size is your tank?

[James]

Simply Stunning !!! always a treat to see.

[kevinpo]

Thank you for your kind remarks! The little clownfish will be 10 years old Feb. 1st.
The fish get along quite well with the exception of an occasional fin nipped

The tank dimensions are 96"x44"x33.5". That is the largest tank I could get in the house

Here's a few more pictures. I will post a shot or two looking in from the end a little later when the halides come on.

Regards,
Kevin

[kevinpo]

Oh what the heck, here's a few more

Kevin

[ghofmann]

Great stuff Kevin.
How do you keep aggression between your corals down? It looks like you have some acros that are growing right out of some of your montis.

What kind of coral is the one with the yellow edges?

[Reefland]

Man that A. tenius is stunning!

[kevinpo]

How do you keep aggression between your corals down?

Great question!

Most of the time when sets of SPS corals have been in a tank for a few years they know each other chemically and learn to tolerate each other. As they grow closer and closer, eventually touching they try to defend their space, occasionally killing a branch of the weaker coral. If conditions are not optimal for a particular coral it may trigger a STN or RTN event, but if a coral is well established and growth is vigorous the two corals form a truce line, which appears as a thin white line of skeleton. This is especially true if the growth is horizontal, because the coral would rather grow upwards towards the light (in the case of branching SPS). It takes too much energy to fight horizontally for most corals. SPS corals will recover much more quickly if they are stung or damaged on the tips, often regrowing in a week or so.

Sometimes intervention is required most notably with the orange Montipora digitata. It is quite aggressive and I use calcium hydroxide mixed with water to the thickness of toothpaste to control its growth. I apply it with a syringe.

Small frags on the other hand need to be protected from contact with other corals.

The coral with the yellow edges is Turbinaria reformis.

Regards,
Kevin

[ghofmann]

Kevin thanks for answering my question. I always wondered how that worked short of constant fragging and re-placing things.

What do you use to keep up with the calcium and alk requirments for that monster? It would seem that consumption would be hard to keep up with.

[kevinpo]

You are correct! I use a dual stage calcium reactor and a Kalk reactor plus I dose calcium chloride and buffer every few days.

Regards,
Kevin
PS: Pictures of the equipment can be seen on my home page.

[kevinpo]

Here are the end shots.

Kevin


And one from the corner.

[Samper]

those are all pretty sweet Kevin.

[kevinpo]

Thank you!
In the end shot. The area around the column you see has no live rock around it (except at the bottom) the 36" wide coral growth you see is solid coral that has grown in the tank

Regards,
Kevin

[Poseidon]

It just does NOT get any better then that! Fantastic Kevin! Maybe one day, if I make my goals I will have a house that will allow me to house a tank like that!