Great photos Kien! Gorgeous sticks of rainbow goodness! :mrgreen:

Thanks! Sorry about all the blue cloves in the photos.. they are probably making you want to gouge your eyes out with a fork LOL.

That would be a Montipora Setosa that's decided that it wants to branch out in the world (see what I did there?). It has actually healed up quite nicely as it was mostly dead when I got it. Lost most of its red tissue but still had polyps on the skeleton. Never give up, never surrender :-)

Thanks guys! That last deep water is an Acropora Carduus. I'm calling it a "Red Dragun".

Your tank is a gem. Great Job!! I love the clean crisp lines

Your scape is unbelievable, and pictures are even higher quality than that.

What settings do you use on your camera for your FTS ... this is the photo I struggle with the most to keep everything in focus like you do.

Hey thanks!

My FTS is normally with my 24-105 mm canon lens on my 5DMarkII or sometimes 40D because the 5DMark II is a bit heavy for me (I'm a weakling). To help keep things in focus I either use a tripod or shoot with a high shutter speed like 1/250 of a second. This usually isn't hard and will pretty much freeze frame everything in motion. If the subjects in your tank are blurry then you are not shooting at a fast enough shutter speed.

wow. What lights are you running these days? I noticed a few specimens in your tank that I also have, but mine definitely do not look that good. I read through a hundred pages of this thread once, but I can't remember!

Hey Adam! I'm currently running 14K Phoenix bulbs (250 watt) with 4x39 watt 22k T5s for supplementation. Pretty much the same configuration I've been running on this tank since the beginning. I have experimented with bulbs over the years though. I've been through pretty much all the bulbs that my fixture can handle.. 10K, 14K, 20K, Ushio, XM, Phoenix, eBay, etc.. Out of all my testing my favourite is the Pheonix 14K with 22K T5s. Best compromise for growth vs colour. 10K will grow stuff faster but the colours tend to be more washed out. 20K halides will pop colours more but growth is a tad slower.

Anyway, we should compare notes and maybe trade some frags. I read somewhere that you were bursting at the seems LOL. I have a few colonies that I'm on the verge of needing to prune back as well as they are about to go to war on one another :neutral:

Nice photos Kien! Some great looking pieces!

Very nice Kien! Great pictures and sweet corals.

Thanks! :-)

150 gal mixed reef
 

Wow really nice. Where do you find some of your frags ?!! Can't wait to see pictures as it grows in. If you ever frag keep me in mind. I can only hope that my reef tank will be that nice someday.

Cheers and keep on reefing

Thanks! I get my frags from all over. Local reefers, canreefers, online vendors (you can find them all in the vendor forum), local fish stores, etc. Especially keep an eye on the Buy/Sell forums as that's where myself and everyone else posts there available frags.

Wow great collection of corals and love your photography work, well done!!

it took me about 3 days but i finally made it through this whole journal! amazing work man, inspiring tank for sure. I love the rock work being centered in the tank so it looks fantastic from all 3 sides. Very well done man. Congrats!

Thanks!

Thanks. Sorry for wasting your time over the past few days LOL

I think you need to tear it all apart & re do the tank as well but this time a closed loop is a must.

Really? I thought he was partial to bean animal style :razz:

That's not a bad idea, but I think I'll wait to see how you implement your closed loop first. I'm taking notes!

FLOODING UPDATE!!
 

Normally when you see a post around here with this kinda of a title you imagine the inside of someone's house being flooded due to a catastrophic tank failure of some sort. Not the case here. In my case the flooding is occurring around me! Thankfully it is not on my immediate property, but the Bow River which flows adjacent to my community (Riverbend) has overflow its banks, engulfed a couple of parks at the end of my block and is now flowing into our sewer system.

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Before I continue I really need to say that once again, the outpouring of support on this forum has been tremendous. I made a plea for help after we were evacuated and was inundated with PMs offering all manner of help and support. Thank you everyone. This is why I've always thought of Canreef as an extended family. We may bicker, disagree and fight on occasion, just like any family, but when it matters we all come together as one.

After we were evacuated late Thursday night we escaped to my sister's place on higher ground. From there I watched the news as the events continued to unfold. By Friday morning I had heard that they had cut the power to our community as a safety measure. Also at this time I had gotten word that my parents were in the process of evacuating so I decided to wait for them to meet up with us so that we could regroup. It took them a very very very very long time to snake their way through the city to get to us. My first concern was to make sure that my parents were OK but needless to say, I was quite aware of the clock that was ticking away.. three hours no power.. four hours no power.. five.. six.. By the time my parents finally made it to my sister's the tank had be out of power for 12 hours. Once I knew all my family members were secure and OK, I decide to set out to see what I could do for the tank.

By the time I hit the road I had already had a list of people I was prepared to call upon to help me out. I was set to give the people with big tanks a call once I reached my house but as I snaked my way through the apocalypse it became clear to me that asking people to leave their homes to come to my house might not be the best idea. Because I lived in an evacuated area near the river many of the roads in my area were either heavily congested, completed closed/blocked, or flooded!

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As I was driving I decided to go the generator route. My route took me past a Canadian Tire so I pulled in to buy one. As I walked into canadian tire I watched helplessly as their last generator rolled out the door. FRAK! I asked the manager if there were any left in the city and he told me that they were in fact expect more to be shipped down from Red Deer within 2 or 3 hours. Good and bad news I suppose. I couldn't wait around at Canadian tire so I set out to continue my journey home.

As I finally rolled up to my house I had mixed feelings. Part of me was relieved to see that my house had not flooded. Part of me feared what I might find in the tank. Sure enough, the lights were out and it was dead quiet. I proceeded to inspect the carnage. No one was swimming around. Two Hawaiian Flame Wrasses were dead on the sanded. The Flame Angel was on his side laying on the sand bed. All tangs were huddled up in a cave, not moving. Clowns were huddled up in there 'hem, barely moving. Water temp was 71 degrees F. Tank had been without power for a little over 12 hours at this point. I knew my first priority was to get some oxygen and flow into the tank. I didn't think the temp was a huge concern at 71. The house fairly warm thank goodness. I grabbed my Grizz Welding LED Flashlight and headed to the basement where I had a fully charged UPS that I use for my home networking equipment. I forgot how heavy that thing was. Nearly dropped it on my foot as I frantically disconnected everything from it in the dark while holding my Grizz Welding LED flashlight in my mouth. I plugged a giant 4" air stone and one powerhead to it and dropped them into the tank. Decided not to plug the heater in because I needed the UPS to last and decided that air and flow was more important at this point. I then set out back to Canadian Tire to try and secure a generator. When I got back to Canadian Tire (3 hours later) they had a mountain of generators in stock so I grabbed one, filled two fuel cans and headed back home.

When I got back home I was happy to see that a few fish were swimming around. Still most unaccounted for but the tank was definitely looking more lively. Tank temp still holding steady at 71/72.

I frantically read through the generators installation manual, filled it with fuel, oil.. frak, I'm out of oil! I drove to my local gas station to get some oil only to find that all their debit and credit card machines were OFFLINE. Pretty much every point of sale system in Riverbend was out so I couldn't even hit up an ATM. This was a bad time to be that guy who prided himself in not ever having to carry cash. Seriously, I never carry cash. Drove back home to get some cash. Wait, we don't have any cash in the house! Remembered that I always had change in my gym bag so I pulled out $10 and headed back to the gas station. Gas station said the oil was $15. What The Actual F#*@?!?! I seriously thought about bartering my wrist watch at that point. It really was the apocalypse.. Thankfully I didn't live terribly far from the gas station so I went back home to scrounge for more change. As a back up plan I had Brett and his Wife dig up some cash for me as well. Thanks bro!! I ended up breaking into my son's piggy bank and yanked out all his quarters and loonies for another $10. On my way back to the gas station for a THIRD time I decide to hit up a different gas station just for a change of scenery. There are two virtually side by side. How much for oil? $6. SIX DOLLARS! What The Actual FRAK?!

The generator was finally up and running by 4pm. I set it on my deck out back and ran an extension cable through my kitchen window.

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Plugged in the air stone, a tunze 6105 and a 300 watt heater. This was about half of its load and the manual said it would be good for 8-10hours at this load.

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The UPS was still going strong but I decide to take it back to my sister's place to charge up anyway. Damn these things are LOUD. I don't know what the ettiquette is on these sorts of things but I didn't want to leave it running over night. There were at least two neighbours who decided to stay in their homes, and I also didn't want to attract attention over night. I decided that I'd take the generator off line through the night and use the UPS.

I drove back to my sister's place to meet up with the family, have dinner and charge the UPS.

Some flooding pics just around my community.

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At around midnight I rolled back to my house to find the power was still out. Our block was pitch black. It was quite eerie. With my trusty Grizz Welding LED flashlight in hand (my mouth actually), I ventured into my dark house to turn off the generator and swap it for the UPS that I had charged. The generator was actually still going with very little fuel left but still going! As I turned off the generator and started to plug in the UPS the power came on at the house. I was a bit startled by all the lights coming on and I may or may not have jumped 10 feet into the air.. I did a quick check of the tank and everyone appeared OK. Still some unaccounted for and it was dark in the tank so couldn't really asses the corals but they didn't appear to be sloughing or sliming.

It's Saturday morning/afternoon now and it appears as though the power is still on at the house. No official word yet about lifted evacuation notices but first hand reports seem to indicate that my community is OK now. Well, aside from the parks down my street that are now under water. I'll be heading there shortly to asses myself.

I want to end this update by saying again how much I appreciate everyone's generous support. We truly do have a special community of people here. Keep on reefin' on Canreef.

Sounds like quite the adventure. Glad everything kinda worked out in the end.

Truly insane but glad you and your family are safe and that your tank is ok.

Amazing photos! What an adventure you've had, but good to hear you are all ok including your little salty friends! Hope you are included in the areas that can return home today!!

Also so happy to be part of this reefing community, knowing there are peeps ready to step up in a heart beat! Way to go everyone!

Great write up! Glad to hear that things are lookin up mang.

Your adventure makes my 4 hour power outage seem like nothin! I was manually stirring water to keep it moving every 15 minutes in a panic lol.

Glad to hear that you and your family are safe and sound. These are generally the pics I would expect to see in your thread but once everything settles and recovers from this ordeal I look forward to your amazing coral and fish pics again. :smile:

Wow Kien, I'd have been very stressed in your shoes

Sorry to hear about the wrasses
Keep us up to date as the critters recover

Oops. Type error... Darn iPad... I meant " not expect to see"

:redface::redface:

great news bro! by any chance could you share which LED flashlight you're currently using? I'd like to stock up in case I ever have the need...

im happy for YA BROTHER TAKE CARE BE SAFE.

Glad to hear things have worked out well for you Kien (well, yah in the end). Hope things will become absolutely normal in the shortest period of time :)

P.S. You never fail to take great photos even during the flood :twised:

Thanks for the long update. What a fraking adventure, eh?

Glad you weathered the storm so to speak, I think this has made everyone evaluate their back-up plans and double check their insurance policies. What an ordeal, can't even imagine.

Francis

Great update and great photos! Glad to hear your family and tank are safe and sound. I've had my generator sitting here for 4 years now, haven't even started it up but it gives me peace of mind (I should probly test to see it even works).

You've had quite the year so far Kien, lets hope the rest of the year goes a bit more smoothly eh? :wink:

you know, if it was just the me and the wife I probably would have done the same thing. Stuck a big paddle in the tank and stirred. However, having to relocate the family and helping to keep my son from freaking out was a challenge enough as it was!

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I'm a big fan of The Grizz Welding LED flashlight with built in laser pointer and SOS strobe. I made sure to have it on hand at all times. I have other flashlights but this one is my favourite. Plus The Grizz one fits nicely in my mouth keeping my hands free to do other things.

My life motto is, "Don't Panic!".

Ya no kidding.. couldn't make this stuff up if I tried! Here's to hoping for smooth sailing.. (no pun intended).

On a positive note, the power is still here a the house. I had unplugged my lights from the power bar yesterday but plugged them back in earlier this afternoon. Everything is looking decent. Some corals still stressed (retracted polyps, etc) but all the fish are swimming around. As bonus one of my wrasses are alive!! I saw all three on the sandbed not breathing yesterday. Took one out but left the other two because one was already covered by hermit crabs. Today I saw my male Hawaiian flame wrasses swimming around. Truly remarkable considering I had written him off! Sad though that he has lost both of his mates :cry:

Also on another sad note it appears as though I have lost my population of Designer and Limited Edition of AEFWs :cry: I will be refunding everyone who had placed an order. There is also a patch of Blue Clove Polyps that are still retracted that I'm hoping will pull through. Fingers crossed!

Oh man thats terrible! :cry:

I'm glad to hear you, your family, and your tank is (mostly) ok! RIP Flame Wrasses. :(

:heh:

Are you going to send an invoice to The Grizz at the end of all this for the flashlight endorsement? :lol:

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Glad everything worked out in your favor, despite the casualties.

Crazy man. Sounds like quite the scare and hassle but im glad it wasn't worse.

Glad you and your family are safe!

Glad your tank and family made it through Kien. I kinda feel left out that Grizz visited me last week and didn't leave me with a trusty Grizz Welding flashlight :). I'm jealous of yours, but OBVIOUSLY you need it much more than I do.

Glad to here you, the family and the tank made it through relativity unscathed Kien. Amazing pics as usual too.

But if it wasnt for me he would have had to us one of his other flashlight that he could not fit in his little wee mouth. :lol:

Thats because you where in a rush and didnt have time to even visit.

Ya Grizz now that I think of it, where's my nice cool LED flashlight? I've visited lots with you why didn't I get one? :pout: