A Philippine Reef Tour

C

charlesr1958

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I hope this is the proper forum for this, but thought some of you might enjoy taking a little virtual tour of "my" reefs.

A Philippine Reef Tour

Chuck
 
Some lovely and some sad parts, cant believe those morons blowing the reef to bits.

Thanks very interesting

Do you keep an aquarium as well?
 
I hear ya, it drives me nuts at times to see the damage that is done, not only from blast fishing, but just the people wading / snorkeling turning over any and all coral encrusted rocks in their search for food. I would not mind so much if they would just turn the rock back over again. I spend half my time in the water flipping rocks back over and trying to repair what I can. Thankfully though, once I get beyond to where its deeper than 20 feet, the reefs are safe from people and much more pristine. The reef wall is utterly amazing. More coral species than I could ever care to try and count.
I have an 80 gallon system, which being in an apartment restricts me to tank sizes. I can't wait to have something in the 250 gallon range or bigger. This is the system as of a few weeks ago. and no, I can not cram anymore tanks into that area, I've tried...lol

fulltank.jpg


Chuck
 
Looking very Nice, would care you mind sharing some of the details of your system, were info hungry ppl here:)
 
Wow, usualy I have to shove my photos down others throats... okay, but remember, ya all asked for it...lol

This is the main tank, although I need to update it when I am done, Did just a little rearranging, not much, but a little, have also been squeezing in more inverts also. I plan to plant the sandbed with paddleweed once again, My sandbed is so active that any sea grasses get uprooted every day and I get sick of replanting them. But without such things, the tank doesn't look right to me.

tank3.jpg


still1.jpg


Yeah, I know, how can I cram anymore in?...lol

The Refugium

refuge.jpg


Nothing allowed but algae / sea grasses and as many "nice" hitch hikers as possible, I also dose the entire system with up to 2 litres of phytoplankton every 24 hours to encourage as much other life (non-corals) as possible, in the hopes that they will in turn feed the corals. Last night, on a whim, I poured 5 litres of phyto into the system at one shot, turned the entire system green, kind of spooky at first, but was surprised, that with no filtration to speak of, the water was crystal clear again within the hour. Somebodys got a full belly...lol

This montipora is going to be a weed, I swear I can notice almost daily growth.

still7.jpg


Chuck
 
lovely, what kind of equipment do you run??
 
Beautiful Chuck! Well done.

But guys... don't feel TOO bad if your tanks don't quite look like this. Chuck gets all his water/corals/sand/rocks from his back yard. So it's not quite a "fair" comparison since his system isn't truly closed. ;)
 
"So it's not quite a "fair" comparison since his system isn't truly closed."

So whats the difference if I pick out a coral, or sand, or rock out of the reef or a collector / exporter does? Nevermind, Am already kicking myself for replying to you.

I have seen a great many systems far more biologicaly diverse than mine, all in non-tropical locations.

Chuck
 
Kanga said:
lovely, what kind of equipment do you run??
Click to expand...

Nothing really worth mentioning, Just some lights, powerheads for flow, tupperware containers for overflows, a cheapo small air powered skimmer that is turned on and off depending on if I did something stupid or not, and thats it. I have a small cannister filter, but its in storage right now as I only run carbon off and on, rarely as I haven't seen any great need for it yet. And when I do run it, I don't use any trapping material (floss or sponge), its fairly low flow so the carbon just sits on the bottom of the cannister anyways. I would however like to run a phosphate binder from time to time so that I could throw even more nutrients (food) at the system. That and it might allow me to cut down on having to drag home 15 or 20 gallons of NSW when I go diving or snorkeling. Maybe in due time as everything matures more, I can do so without worry.

My Equipment - or I should say, my lack of...lol

Chuck
 
There are a lot of differences... all of which justify your practice of putting things back after they grow too big for your tank (a nice thing to be able to do!).

Additionally, being able to do water changes directly from the sea is a LOT different than having to mix it up from imperfect salt mixes.

But dude, this is all to your credit... it's certainly not an insult. As you can see, we all envy you here. ;)
 
Very very interesting, the quintesential Hippy Reefer, you dont need to worry about chemistry, parameter etc as the ocean takes care of it for you.

Lucky man
 
But thats what funny about it, I have gone many months (due to the weather) without a water change and have only then had to resort to supplementing calcium (kalkwasser), I only do the water changes now simply because its there and its free. One of these days I am going to get up the nerve to just not do any water changes and see how long I can go, now that I got my phosphate issue dealt with (bad test kits fooling me into thinking my tap water was okay for use). I'll probably lose my cool long before my tank does though...lol

Chuck
 
charlesr1958 said:
But thats what funny about it, I have gone many months (due to the weather) without a water change and have only then had to resort to supplementing calcium (kalkwasser), I only do the water changes now simply because its there and its free. One of these days I am going to get up the nerve to just not do any water changes and see how long I can go, now that I got my phosphate issue dealt with (bad test kits fooling me into thinking my tap water was okay for use). I'll probably lose my cool long before my tank does though...lol

Chuck
Click to expand...

yeah tap water is notoriously dodgy this side of the pond
 
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