Hello from Northern Manitoba

[LoJack]

Hello Canreef,

Thought I'd introduce myself and show a little bit about what I do up here in the north. I have been a member of Canreef for a while, but haven't really posted here much as I devote most of my time to our local forum. However, with the reading I've done here I thought I'd dip my toe in the water.

I'll start with a few photos of my tank. I work in a Nickel Mine up in Thompson, Manitoba and have no LFS. Everything in my tank has travelled a minimum of 750 km to get here.

I'm an avid DIY'er and have built everything myself out in my shop.

So here goes.

The tank is a 144 Gallon Starphire Reef. I built the stand, overflow and plumbing myself. I built the LED's custom from RapidLED.com.

It all started with a basic shell of a stand:

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u58/LoJack29/3933d4cb.jpg

Which I had to dress up a bit of course:

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u58/LoJack29/IMG_2387.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u58/LoJack29/28c26c79.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u58/LoJack29/19318175-1.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u58/LoJack29/b7e17f2e.jpg

Tried to figure out an aquascape

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u58/LoJack29/c0d34266.jpg

And some drilling and plumbing of course

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u58/LoJack29/c8fc95a6.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u58/LoJack29/768a8e70.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u58/LoJack29/78bf31ed.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u58/LoJack29/fb403973.jpg

Wired Up some LED's

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u58/LoJack29/658f7cca.jpg

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u58/LoJack29/6fccddd4.jpg

Built a Canopy and Some doors in the shop

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u58/LoJack29/76fca8da.jpg

And added a bit of Life!

http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u58/LoJack29/cbcccaae.jpg

I hope you like it. I have a ton more photos and intend to put a build thread together ... but thought I'd show a quick preview and introduce myself. I look forward to spending some time with the CanReef community.

--Tyler

[Proteus]

Wow. Looks fantastic.

[Maverick00]

Nice woodwork, Stand looks excellent!

[subman]

Sweet setup!

[AquaticFinatic]

Sweet tank and stand. Looking good :biggrin:

[Skimmerking]

Tyler looks great. Man. Doug who is a mod on here he worked in Thompson at the nickel mine ginko I believe. He was a crane operator.

[Delphinus]

Welcome to Canreef! Great looking setup. What are your goals for the tank (what sort of things are you planning to keep in there)?

[Treebeard]

Very nice! Looking forward to more details!

[LoJack]

Tyler looks great. Man. Doug who is a mod on here he worked in Thompson at the nickel mine ginko I believe. He was a crane operator.

Yeah its a small world. Doug was a Hoistman in the mine when it was still INCO. We have since been sold to a Brazilian company, VALE.

Doug's son Cliff is actually one of my converter operators in the Smelter, I'm currently working as a Foreman at the same mine.

[LoJack]

And thanks for all the kind words, I appreciate them! I'll definitely post a few more pictures.

The plans as they stand now is a nice healthy mixed reef. I love the challenge of SPS, but love the look and sway of most LPS. I have a weakness for Zoa's, but they've just never done well in my tanks for some reason.

[Doug]

:welcome:

Hey. Hows things. Good to see you posting on Canreef. Whats local, WFF ?
And yes thats all correct about me. I guess Mike forgot. :razz: .I here they are closing my ole place up. Spent two years reconditioning that shaft before going hoisting.

My supplies always came from Winnipeg also but I use to order a lot of dry goods online from the US, before many Canadian online stores came out.

[LoJack]

Yes the WFF is what I consider my local forum. I got into fishkeeping when I was attending the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg and became a part of the Aquarium Society of Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Fish Forum.

You heard right, they are intending to close Birchtree mine down in the fall of next year.

I get most all of my livestock from Winnipeg, and almost all of my drygoods shipped from J&L and BulkReef Supply.

Its inconvenient ... but if you want a Reef in the North ... You gotta put up with it lol.

--Tyler

[HaZRaTTy]

This won't do, honestly someone ban him.. Since when do we let Maple Leaf fans post on Canreef? Isn't that rule 1 or 2 on the forum rules.

I think you should consider going into wood working your stand blows any other DIY/Custom built stand that I have seen. IT really shows the time and effort you put it if that goes into your Reef you won't have a problem keeping SPS.

Good Luck!!! ;)

Ps. Serious about the Leafs comment.

[LoJack]

This won't do, honestly someone ban him.. Since when do we let Maple Leaf fans post on Canreef? Isn't that rule 1 or 2 on the forum rules.

I think you should consider going into wood working your stand blows any other DIY/Custom built stand that I have seen. IT really shows the time and effort you put it if that goes into your Reef you won't have a problem keeping SPS.

Good Luck!!! ;)

Ps. Serious about the Leafs comment.

lol I won't take it to heart ... Edmonton is the only team to do worse than use the last few years in a row haha.

And thanks for the compliments, non hockey ones haha

[HaZRaTTy]

No problem.

Being from Northern MB myself (The Pas) I feel your pain in getting livestock up there either a long drive or an expensive multi plane ride. Can't wait to see everything fill in!

start a tank journal :)

What did you skin your stand in maple?

[SanguinesDream]

Beautiful woodworking on the stand. I look forward to seeing your progress.

[LoJack]

No problem.

Being from Northern MB myself (The Pas) I feel your pain in getting livestock up there either a long drive or an expensive multi plane ride. Can't wait to see everything fill in!

start a tank journal :)

What did you skin your stand in maple?

Its actually Red Oak. Another curse of living in the north. The material would have cost me less than half of what it did, anywhere else in the world. But up here you pay a premium for everything, including plain jane very much overdone oak flat stock.

I would have used maple or cherry if I had the option.

And I do intend to start a journal with the entire build, but I'm currently on a run of 14 shifts straight at the mine ... so it doesn't leave a lot of time to sit down and put a build thread together in the evenings.

[Doug]

Look forward to build thread also.

My rubbermaid tubs and inverter made so many trips back and forth from Winnipeg I cant count that high..:lol: Its a pain but was always well worth it, IMO. So was our life in Thompson.