Tagging along!

Wow looks great Brett. Nice to see you back again.

~Donny

So good to see you back Brett! Your tanks are always some of my favorites.

Thanks guys it's really great to be back!

My leopard seems to have figured out that the tank's current dim lighting doesn't mean it's always bedtime. She's been out the last two evenings and I managed an ok phone shot.

First when I got her in March 2013:

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/93/black4.jpg

And present day (has a little scuff on her side):

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/209/leopard.jpg

Still gorgeous but totally different.

"Overflow is standard external with three holes. Primary siphon with trickle down the emergency and third is my return which I still need to fit with some loc-line. Black vinyl on back of tank and the overflow teeth are CNC in a black plexi insert that can be removed "
The black vinyl is on the outside of the back glass and the black plexi is on the inside of the overflow as a removable piece? The reason I ask is they made my back plastic panel permanent on the inside of the tank. It covers the entire back glass and acts as the strainer if you will to the externally mounted overflow. What caught my eye was the visible silicone joints on your tank. I didn't understand how it was made I guess.

Yes even though the silicone seams are visible i prefer having glass that I can scrape on the back vs full acrylic across the back.

Looks amazing! Great job. I’m getting the salt itch again and seeing a build like this makes it even worse.....

Nice fish.

Welcome back! Looking great!

:pop2:

Wow my journal is still on page one of this sub-forum without a new post in months. Wow wow lol.

Figured I'd throw an fts in here so I have something to compare to down the road. My algae battles with this tank were soul-crushing but things are much better these days. I can tell I'm finally getting to that point where everything's sorta deciding it can start growing. The coral figures maybe you've earned some satisfaction. Most frags are still teeny but it's great to see the growth starting to pickup. I still don't have much in the way of SPS... going to see how my easy pieces do for a while longer before going much deeper down that rabbit hole.

Currently running 8 rows of T5 with just a strip of DIY adhesive-backed LEDs down the middle for a bit of day and evening light. I plan to add something with a strong blue pop in the future. Maybe the Reef Brite Lumilite etc.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/209/fts20200130.png

looks great. I'm sure it's a great pleasure to your family. Do you still have the leopard wrasse?

Thanks! The leopard died about a month ago sadly. I think it was about 7 years old. My naso also just up and stopped eating shortly after. Went from pig to nothing overnight and a day later was gone. Very strange and everyone else is doing great.

I did a re-start back in July 2019 so I hear ya about new tank issues. Still going through stages right now.

Real shame to hear about your fish losses. I also had a couple unexplained ones last fall - both long-term resident wrasses. I'm no longer adding garlic power to their frozen foods. No other ideas about what happened as they were sudden losses as yours were.

My favorite fish!!!! Glad to see she's looking good!

Tank looks good too. Love the cabinetry.

Ummm ... which fish?

Orange shoulder. Had her for a solid 4 years. Loved that fish.

Oh, phew. Though you may have been looking at old pics. NM :lol:

Algae problems aside. Still a good looking tank!

Tank looks really nice Brett. Is this build 11? :biggrin:

Thanks yes I suppose it is! I've really flattened the build curve. All part of getting old or something.

wish I kept a log of all my builds over the years . Still remember when we cut down that 500g tank in your basmt lol . But tank looks awesome stand is super clean :biggrin:. Also really like the scape

Just incredible! I still can't get over how many builds you've done.

Thanks guys. Yeah cutting that tank apart was a learning experience. I recall it went pretty fast once we got the guitar string going!

I actually like going back through old builds for fun sometimes which is why I've made sure all the pics remain on my server. I'm a lot more patient / easy-going with things now which is both good and bad. It makes for fewer and less exciting updates since I'm really not adding or doing much besides letting things grow (the first year of this one didn't really see the kind of growth I'd have expected). If I still had a macro lens and I was spending more on corals like I used to I'd prob be more on top of making some sort of update more regularly.

I have been busy removing all the sand the past month or so. My orange shoulder loves to eat sand then crap it all over my corals and some don't like that too much. I'm being really OCD too and I've been siphoning it out almost nightly for the past month to see if I can truly get it all. I siphon into a mesh bag hanging in a 5g bucket. That bucket then has a small pump putting water back into my sump before the filter sock. In this way I can siphon/turkey baste/siphon sand for hours without having to shut anything down. It's the last 1% which is mostly sand fines that is keeping me busy right now but I am determined! After I blast a few more grains out from under or inside a rock the tang tries to eat it. He follows me around for the whole process it's quite funny.

Alright I tried a tiny bit harder to make these phone shots a bit sexier but... they are what they are lol.

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/209/2020-04-28-1.png

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/209/2020-04-28-2.png

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/209/2020-04-28-3.png

Looking good bud!

Wow, looks so lovely and clean.
(Even without sand:))

:pop2:

What seasoning is on that popcorn?

I don't use any seasoning. Not even salt, or butter.

Adorable. Not reef safe but adorbs.

Wouldn't the guinea pigs jump out without a cage on the front?

There's sliding screens between the aluminum channel =)

One of the cats (who'd been napping on a blanket in there for a month until my glass piece was ready) tried to leap in when the screens were installed. That was good for a laugh!

damn you took down the reef?

Hey man is your reef tank all done