T.I.B.E.T (The Incredibly Big Expensive Tank)

Since October, my last update, I've been pretty busy...and I'm only going to get busier because the tank is wet! We're at the end of the cycle now, just letting things flow as we're not on any particular schedule here. Although amusingly enough Tibet is quieter then our grow out tank. I attribute it to the wide overflow, and the sump design.

I have a skimmer on order, an RLSS r10, which I'm dying to get my hands on. So far the tank has run completely skimmerless since it was filled. The tank evaporates 10g per day which is currently being added by hand, 5g once in each the mornings and evenings. I'm not ready to transfer any livestock yet, as I want to continue to seed the tank. I'm looking to pick up some macro algaes, as well as some live pods, but am having problems sourcing exactly what I need in town.

There really isn't much more for equipment to purchase, mostly back ups I'd like to have on hand. Given the video below, I'm not sure if we currently need to add the second 4 way on the display at this time.




Added more rock;



Tried out the new Checkers by Hanna. Alkalinity is good, Calcium...not as good.



Keeping it Classy! From the HRV box.



Started adding water on Boxing Day, December 26th.







Sump in place





The tank ran for about a week with only florescent bulbs. I hated the green and it got to me.



To solve the green problem and to figure out the height for the MH and T5s we set up a temporary wooden frame with 4 MHs and only 3 ancient fiji pink/purple? T5s from when the bulbs first came out. This is T5s only.




Video of us injecting air into the return to better visualize the interactions between the return and the 4-way at the end of the tank.
http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...CAEADFDE08.mp4

Direct link

Lots still left to do in the tank;

- Rearrange the rock work, I'm still not happy with it.
- Continue to tweak the return settings and play with the flow.
- Put vinyl on the back, probably black