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    Aqua Rei Photo Contest Shows Off Japanese Reef Hall of Fame

    From the Archives. This was originally posed in June 8th, 2009. Thinking of re-aquascaping your tank? A heavy dose of inspiration awaits you below. Aqua Rei, a LFS in Japan put on a Photo Contest for its customers to see who had the best aquarium of all. Fortunately for us it has been shared online [...]

    From the Archives. This was originally posed in June 8th, 2009. Thinking of re-aquascaping your tank? A heavy dose of inspiration awaits you below.

    Aqua Rei, a LFS in Japan put on a Photo Contest for its customers to see who had the best aquarium of all. Fortunately for us it has been shared online and highlights some of the most beautiful and well known reefs from Japan.  It’s a mishmash of recent talents like Anagonbe’s Reef and nostalgic representations of Japanese style aquariums such as Hiroyuki’s Rainbow Reef from 2005. Check it out for some intense Japanese Reef eye candy.

    anagonbe-fts-lights

    For those of who may have missed it, you can find more on Anagonbe’s reef, shown above, in our Top Selection write up here. If you thought Anagonbe’s or Yasuhiro’s lighting was elaborate… take a peak at Hiroyuki’s set up.

    hiroyuki-fts-anglehiroyuki-lighting

    Seven 250w DE Metal Halides, 11 Superkaru 150w Metal Halide Spotlights and a handful of NB CFL spots and LEDs. Keep in mind, the bulbs come on at different times, but I would cringe to see his electric bill each month. The big question is if the Rainbow Lagoon is still up? Like the Blue Lagoon, we don’t know. The photos above are some of the most recent from 2006. We’ll have more on Hiroyuki’s reef in the future–it is another well known aquarium that ranks up there with Yasuhiro’s for it’s planning and style.

    Thanks to StonyReef for for bringing the Aqua REI page to our attention.

    Related Posts

    1. Japanese Metal Halide with Internal Ballast
    2. Yasuhiro’s Blue Lagoon, The Tank that Started it All
    3. The Beautiful MzOne MT250 Metal Halide Fixture
    4. New HD Videos of Anagonbe’s Japanese Reef
    5. An MT-250 Surprise, Hands on with the Japanese Halide

    Meta

    • stunreefer

      Amazing, thanks for sharing guys!

      I love the fact that EVERY single tank has at least one gorgeous Pomicanthidae specimen in it :D

    • Pingback: MAIS REEFS JAPONESES « Reefsimples – Blog de aquarismo do Roberto Pinto

    • D Morel

      Can’t get enough of these, an now even more new lights I want!

      That IS some serious eye candy by the way, thanks for the links.

    • http://www.felixsavestheday.blogspot.com Felix

      amazing use of space
      and coral placement.
      thanks for sharing once again.
      f.

    • Ian

      Those dudes are NUTTY with their lighting…

      I wonder if there’s a Japanese tank coffee table book out there…….

    • http://glassbox-design.com eric michael

      @Ian, something on that note has been discussed… not sure if it will become a reality.

    • Doug Benson

      The amount they spend on lighting over there is ridiculous. I finally found a source for those ‘Supercool’ spotlights and bulbs, and the prices are nuts even before having them imported to the States.

    • mcliffy2

      @ Ian – While its not the “Angelfish of the World” book features quite a few Japanese tank in the last chapter on angelfish in the aquarium. Its a great book, highly recommended.

    • mcliffy2

      @ Ian – edit, I mean not the focus. The book definitely is called Angelfish of the World :)

    • Nicholas Sadaka

      Does anyone know if their cost of electricity is significantly cheaper than here in America or is it just that these probably come from pretty affluent hobbyists? For some reason I’d think it’d be MORE expensive over there, but absolutely no basis for that belief.

    • Ian

      @Mcliffy2, I’ve read it at least 50 times ;) thanks though…

    • http://www.synj.net Versus

      The spot lights arent that bad if you can find them . I recently sold mine for very cheap since I am going with T5 . As for the blue lagoon I had a thread a long time ago but small schooling fish ( parvulus / redspot cardinal ) during this time you couldnt get them .

      I forget who posted but there were pictures and info about what happened. I suppose the tank unfortunately crashed. I have the pictures but its on a beefed hard drive ill need to send to get the data off the platters

    • http://www.taka-tech.net TAKA

      Electric cost in Japan is much higher than US. However, in general their electric equipment is not required Amp.
      Electric bill for some of Japanese reefer would be around $300 or more, but the normal electric bill without these equipment is around $100.

    • D Morel

      I’m running 9 150W fixtures currently (number to increase soon) plus a dedicated AC unit for the fish room.
      I don’t like talking about electricity costs….

    • Nicholas Sadaka

      Thanks TAKA…I had always wondered about this, so I guess my other answer would be that guys with these setups are well-to-do ladies and gentlemen. Just wondering if I needed to take my tank and go set up over there instead of here for some financial benefits!!! Guess not:)

    • http://www.taka-tech.net TAKA

      Eric,
      anagonbe just told me that he would like to say thank you to you because of your aqua rei post.

    • http://www.aquarium-setup.net/ 6789ten

      Man that’s quite an assortment of lights over that tank. I bet the whole thing bursts into flames if you turn em all on at once!