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MikeP
12-02-2008, 08:15 PM
Well we're at the year and a half mark. I planned on doing a tank journal thread from the get go but never did get around to it. Better late than never I guess.

Here is what I started with.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/190g%20Tank/IMG_2089.jpg

The tank was my fathers and he had it set up as a fresh water system for quite a while until the center brace came 'unsiliconed' and he emptied it. He had planned on doing salt and after the tank sat empty for years he finally said I could have it (I had being doing fresh water for a few years and recently started a nano reef). So obviously it needed a little work, I had it rebraced and retrimed and then resiliconed it myself.

Here was the stand...

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/190g%20Tank/IMG_2229.jpg

It's really a metal stand covered with wood. I removed all the wood and was left with this...

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/190g%20Tank/IMG_2230.jpg

I had it strengthened with some additional steel tubing welded in the center (front, back and top) thanks to a fellow Canreefer with welding skills. Then I repainted and started with the woodwork to cover up the metal.

Here is a pic of the stand in progress...

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/190g%20Tank/IMG_3106.jpg

I didn't want to hang lights from the ceiling so I had some brackets welded up that I could attach to the back of the stand and adjust. The lights were 175w MH, I upgraded to 250w about a year ago, then I added a third MH in the middle of the tank and the most recent upgrade is LumenMax reflectors which have made a significant difference. I Also have two 54w fiji purple HOT5's that run along the back of the canopy...

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/190g%20Tank/IMG_3226.jpg

Here's the sump (back when it was clean)...

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/190g%20Tank/IMG_3616.jpg

Here is the tank when it was first filled in May 2007...

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/190g%20Tank/IMG_3618.jpg

The aquascaping changed a few times and to this day I wish I'd done it a little different. Here is a full room shot taken Sept 15th...

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/190g%20Tank/e9560e6e.jpg

Stuff that I added over time have been a second phosban reactor to run carbon, 18 watt UV sterilizer, auto top off system, Seio wavemaker and I'm sure theres other stuff I'm forgeting about. I'll do some other posts later with pics of what's living in the tank.

fdiddy
12-02-2008, 10:30 PM
Looks great! Thanks for the pics. Aquascaping is one of those things that you never seem to get perfect :P

xtreme
12-02-2008, 10:46 PM
Very Nice! What are the dimensions of that tank?

GreenSpottedPuffer
12-02-2008, 10:46 PM
Looks really nice!

DO you have progression pics of the corals growing? You have some nice big colonies there. I would love to see more pics.

lastlight
12-02-2008, 10:54 PM
What color temp are your bulbs? Doesn't look very blue at all and I actually think it looks fantastic.

MikeP
12-02-2008, 11:15 PM
Thanks for the comments. The tank is 60x24x30, I do have some progression pics but not to many, I'll post em later. The bulbs are 14000k on either end and 10000k in the middle. It's pretty white looking but I had 20000k bulbs before and it was way too blue.

fishytime
12-02-2008, 11:46 PM
Geez what took you so long:razz: Looks good bud.

Skimmerking
12-03-2008, 03:00 AM
looks great man keep it up the tank looks like it was painted love the leathers in there .

Der_Iron_Chef
12-03-2008, 05:17 AM
Really nice, man!

fooser
12-03-2008, 06:38 AM
Looking good Mike! Looks even nicer than when I was over, you must have been putting some time in your tank lately! And yah, i agree that your colonies look big haha Maybe after I finish exams you should come over to see my tank and give me your opinion!:)

superduperwesman
12-03-2008, 03:36 PM
When I saw the first picture of the tank/stand I was a little worried but you finished product is really nice! I like it!

MikeP
12-03-2008, 04:30 PM
When I saw the first picture of the tank/stand I was a little worried but you finished product is really nice! I like it!

Thanks,

Yeah it took a lot of work. Hindsight is 20/20 with a few things and if we ever move I'll build a new tank. Overall I'm happy with the end product.

Delphinus
12-03-2008, 04:35 PM
Great looking tank. :)

MikeP
12-03-2008, 05:19 PM
Here's a few growth pics...

Birdsnest frag, Pic taken Sept 2007 (I moved it after those hairy mushrooms stung and killed a branch).

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0822.jpg

Here is a pic taken July 2008,

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_1343.jpg

Red zoos (I bought these on a trip to Edmonton and then got snowed in in Red Deer, other than some of the colony dieing it's the only thing that survived). Pic taken Sept 2007,

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0844.jpg

Here is a pic taken Sept 2008,

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/9174369e-1.jpg

Here is some yellow digi. Pic taken Aug 2007,

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0800.jpg

And a pic taken Aug 2008 (it's more greenish now),

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_1347.jpg

Here is an orange monti cap frag. Pic taken Sept 2007,

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0836.jpg

Here is a pic taken Sept 2008,

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_1475.jpg

And a recent 'top down' shot,

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/bc9705de-1.jpg

PS my camera and picture taking skills aren't all that good. :)

robzilla
12-03-2008, 05:37 PM
nice growth shots!!

MikeP
01-14-2009, 05:53 PM
I picked up 3 LumenMax elite reflectors and installed them in December. The light throughout the tank is much better now.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/190g%20Tank/60f59973.jpg




I also picked up a PFO dual ballast and I'm getting new bulbs this weekend :).

Carmen
01-14-2009, 06:39 PM
Love those growth shots Mike!! That top down of the orange monticap is really nice!

MikeP
01-14-2009, 07:59 PM
Yeah, caps look nice from the top eh? I should have placed it closer to the bottom of the tank - oh well.

GreenSpottedPuffer
01-14-2009, 10:14 PM
You have had some great growth! All in 10-12 months too! Great job.

I don't know if I missed it somewhere but what are you doing for calcium/alk? What do you dose or what is your maintenance schedule like?

lorenz0
01-15-2009, 03:41 AM
looking good mike. any full tank shots coming?

fishytime
01-15-2009, 04:28 AM
I agree on all fronts. Great growth, great shots and full tank shot please:biggrin:

MikeP
01-15-2009, 05:16 PM
Here's one but it's couple months old. Since this shot there have been some re-arrangements in the tank and the lighting upgrade.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/190g%20Tank/c847f165.jpg

lobsterboy
02-01-2009, 12:47 AM
mike the tank looks great, the monti must be huge!!!

MikeP
08-07-2009, 12:00 AM
Well it's been a while and I spent all evening yesterday tidying up the tank so this afternoon I decided to try and get some decent pics. Not much has changed with the tank. I added a frag section in my sump with a 24 watt (x2) GLO HO T5 light, I always seem to be accidently fragging my corals :redface:. I added another Koralia 4 to get a little more flow but that's it for equipment. The other thing that's changed is that I've jumped on the KZ/Zeo wagon. I not running the full system by any means I've just selected a few products to try out and so far I'm impressed with growth and color changes on some of the colonies in the tank.

Here are a couple of growth shots, pics of these corals are about two months apart.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0324.jpg

No good pics of the colony on it's own, that's it on the right.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0480.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0370.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0464.jpg

These two corals pictured are a couple of my favorites :)

MikeP
08-07-2009, 12:05 AM
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0465.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0466.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0467.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0477.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0493.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0468.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0487.jpg

Carmen
08-07-2009, 12:07 AM
About time we get some new pics! Need a FTS! Great growth on those SPS!

MikeP
08-07-2009, 12:10 AM
It never opens all the way cause nemo there hosts in it, I'm thinking that's probably a good thing.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0494.jpg

MikeP
08-07-2009, 12:13 AM
About time we get some new pics! Need a FTS! Great growth on those SPS!

Thanks Carmen, yeah I tried to get a good FTS but it wasn't working out cause of the window in the room showing a bad reflection. I'll try again when it gets dark.

MikeP
08-07-2009, 12:15 AM
Here's a side shot that looked okay...

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/190g%20Tank/IMG_0484.jpg

Carmen
08-07-2009, 01:32 AM
It never opens all the way cause nemo there hosts in it, I'm thinking that's probably a good thing.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0494.jpg

OMG Mike That Frogspawn has grown even bigger!!! EEK! CRAZY AWESOME PIECE!

MikeP
08-07-2009, 01:34 AM
One of my first corals ever. Bought off a Canreefer when all I had was my 30g (Thanks Danny!)

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0018.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_3737.jpg

MikeP
08-07-2009, 01:40 AM
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/629db9cb.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Inverts/IMG_0332.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Inverts/IMG_0491.jpg

MikeP
08-07-2009, 01:54 AM
It's hard to get a good SPS pic in my tank. I'm sure it has to do with my camera and my lack of skill, but maybe the tank lighting too. Under the 250 watt Phoenix 14k bulbs and the T5 actinics the tank is blueish, what looks great to the naked eye don't look so good when I try to take a picture. Here are a few that turned out (sort of).

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0354.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0366.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_3859.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_3874.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0509.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0331.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0314.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q117/MikeP471612/Corals/IMG_0310.jpg

lastlight
08-07-2009, 08:36 AM
That birdsnest is massive.

I couldn't recall whether I had seen your tank before and I was about to leave a post about how much I liked your tank. Found an old post of mine basically reading my own mind! I still agree with myself...aquascaping and lighting looks fantastic! Your growth is impressive.

MikeP
08-07-2009, 06:33 PM
That birdsnest is massive.

I couldn't recall whether I had seen your tank before and I was about to leave a post about how much I liked your tank. Found an old post of mine basically reading my own mind! I still agree with myself...aquascaping and lighting looks fantastic! Your growth is impressive.

The birdsnest is getting to the point where it's almost too big for the tank :lol:.

Thanks for your comments!

fooser
08-07-2009, 07:34 PM
Hey Mike, Does this look more like you actual tank?

http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp206/anthonychin88/IMG_0354.jpg

http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp206/anthonychin88/IMG_0366.jpg

http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp206/anthonychin88/IMG_0331.jpg

Coleus
08-07-2009, 08:55 PM
Hi Mike, I noticed you put your tank in main floor. Did you have to reenforce floor joist? I love your frogspawn when i first saw it.
________
DairyQueenX (http://www.girlcamfriend.com/cam/DairyQueenX/)

MikeP
08-07-2009, 11:40 PM
Hey Mike, Does this look more like you actual tank?

Not sure what you mean Anthony, all the pics are of corals that are in the tank right now.

MikeP
08-07-2009, 11:49 PM
Hi Mike, I noticed you put your tank in main floor. Did you have to reenforce floor joist? I love your frogspawn when i first saw it.

Thanks, everyone seems to like the frogspawn. I get a lot of requests for frags, I might try one of these days but for now I'll leave it be.

As for my floor, I did a bunch of research before setting the tank up. A friend of mine's girlfriend is a structural engineer and she came over to give me an opinion too. The wall behind the tank is a load bearing wall and the wall on the left (if facing the tank) is an outside wall. The tank also sits perpendicular over three joists.

fooser
08-08-2009, 06:39 AM
Haha, Yes I know they are in your tank. Sorry, I meant do the pictures i re-posted have colors more like the way they appear in the tank. I tried to take away some of the blue levels in your pictures by just a very tiny bit, but i guess it wasnt very noticable :redface:

Not sure what you mean Anthony, all the pics are of corals that are in the tank right now.

MikeP
08-08-2009, 07:11 AM
Haha, Yes I know they are in your tank. Sorry, I meant do the pictures i re-posted have colors more like the way they appear in the tank. I tried to take away some of the blue levels in your pictures by just a very tiny bit, but i guess it wasnt very noticable :redface:

Yeah I thought maybe you messed with the pics :lol: I scrolled up and down and up and down looking but didn't really see a difference. It's weird with my camera, I was trying to take a picture of a green acro colony yesterday and in every pic it turned out colorless :neutral:. I'm going to look into a different camera and a tripod as well. Someone suggested to me that because the corals are sitting 12 to 18 inches away from the camera that it's trying to focus on stuff in-between the camera and the coral. I've tried manual focusing but that doesn't seem to work too well either. Oh-well I'll figure it out sooner or later.