lovely photos good sir =)

Good question :-)

Did you notice that I increased the resolution for you?

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6tk9ok2b.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1ag8kiae.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psr2kugdbb.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psynymw1g8.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psby1f5luf.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psmwxtaur8.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psx776dw4s.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psi6xdlv6p.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psypl7ufxj.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psixiyfhei.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...pslq1q2njv.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psbeglfqth.jpg

what is the second picture down? blue with pink one..

Meteor Shower Cyphastrea.

Crazy cool, man, crazy cool.

I totally forgot all about the camera discussion, so I just read it all now! I'm still trying to decide which camera I want to buy. I'm still quite lost. All I really know is that it will be a Canon for sure (I always knew that!). For me, I use my camera about 95% for reef photos. I have a G9 that I can use for light-weight options. Interestingly, I just got a scenery photo printed on canvas that I took with my G9 that's blown up to 48 x 12" and it looks quite good! I'm not impressed with the reef photos I take with this camera though. I still don't understand the difference between a 6D and a 60D - I see there are differences in specs, but I don't know what it means! Which specs matter to me???? :frusty:

Nice photo dump though Kien! Lookin good!

:jaw:

Wow, great thread!
Awesomely documented.

thanks for sharing your tank& experiences with us!

Kien,might that be your tank featured in Reef hobbyist mag?

It is! I made a congrats thread for him in the Lounge I think I put it.

Biggest difference is the 6D is a full frame camera and the 60D is an APS-C sensor camera. Full frame means the sensor is about the same size as a film camera giving you larger pixels and no magnification factor on the lenses. A 200mm lens is a 200mm lens. Larger pixels pick up more color and detail and this is where the difference is between a 20MP full frame pro camera vs. a 20MP phone camera. The 60D has a smaller sensor so smaller pixel size. It also gives you a magnification factor so a 200mm lens will give you around the equivalent field of view of a 320mm lens. Which type of camera also determines the type of lenses to buy. You can use full frame lenses on APS-C cameras but not the other way around. Full frame lenses usually cost more. Basically a full frame camera will give you better pictures but you probably wouldn't notice the difference unless you are tightly cropping or blowing up your images to a fairly large size. If your imaging for a book or art gallery full frame is the way to go.

The G series is actually quote a good compact camera. In fact, I plan to buy the new G17 when it comes out. Honestly I wouldn't get bogged down by specs. People (consumers) get way too hung up on specs. Full frame vs cropped, etc. At the end of the day they will both take similar pictures. Granted the 6D will give you more pixels but most consumers really don't need all that many pixels. As I mentioned before, I have a 6d which has tonnes of pixels because it's full frame (something like 24 mega pixels I think?), but by the time I'm done processing the photo I reduce the final image down to about 10 mega pixels virtually throwing away half the available pixels. You probably can't tell that in any of the photos that I've posted. Most of my former clients couldn't tell either. :-) If you really want a full frame camera, I recommend knowing exactly why you want it and what you intend to use all those pixels for. If you don't need all the pixels a full frame camera provides, then get a cropped camera (eg 60D) and use the money you saved to get a nicer lens.

Thanks ! :-)

what she said ----v :biggrin:

Thanks guys! I think I made up my mind. I'm going to get a cropper camera, and buy full frame lenses. Then if I decide I want to upgrade to a full frame I can do it. I found a local company that will let you try out a camera or lens or multiple cameras and lenses for 30 days and decide which one you want. I think I'm going to take advantage of this. :)

Sorry for cluttering up your thread Kien.

It's been a long road..
 

Finally! This weekend marks the official completion of our kitchen. YAY!

So to recap, back in May/June our kitchen flooded due to the water line in the fridge. For a couple of weeks while the clean up crew were in, my kitchen looked something like this.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...pslie9w9it.jpg

It was pretty dicey for the tank the first couple of weeks because the clean up crew would shut off the breakers while they were checking the electrical in various places and they would forget to turn it back on. This included the tank.

We ended up having to gut the kitchen and pretty much start from scratch. I'll tell you, that wasn't fun. We ended up having to camp out in various rooms in our house while our kitchen got ripped out.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...pspxclrpqb.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psi6z8cec1.jpg

I know this is a First World problem, but man it really sucks not having a kitchen. Thankfully it was summer so we made good use of our BBQ and ate outside a lot. Still, it was a royal pain to prepare kids lunches, breakfast, etc.

After the kitchen was gutted and everything cleaned up, we were faced with the decision of how to put it all back together again. I spent a good three weeks just talking to various contractors and kitchen renovation specialty companies. The experience ranged from getting insane quotes of over $70,000 to redo my kitchen to not even receiving a quote from half the contractors that I contacted. One of the contractors even took some money as a retention fee to go off and work on my kitchen plans. 3 weeks and that guy never even produced anything for me. Thankfully he gave me a refund.

Kitchen and part of the house sitting in the garage:
http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psakcb7gzl.jpg

Well that whole experience sucked so I ultimately decided to just take matters into my own hands and be my own contractor. This saved me a lot of money but was ultimately a massive time suck. Lots of running around sourcing materials, labourers, doing some of the labour myself, etc. And of course, with any renovation there was a bit of scope creep. We ended up ripping up all the flooring in our house and replacing it all. With a massive 150g tank sitting in the middle of the house that proved to be quite a challenge as well!

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psxkkvdjje.jpg

In the end we are pretty happy with the results but I never want to go through that again, ever.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psdipdj1nu.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...pslutr959j.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0mi1vhdw.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...pszyczinlu.jpg

And to keep this reef related here's a Full Tank Shot of the tank during the floor install.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psaefryx9v.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psskj0ad2a.jpg

A couple of days ago the finishing touches were put on. Mainly the kitchen back splash. That marks the official completion of our kitchen and a return to normalcy for us. Just in time to host a Thanksgiving dinner this evening.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Holy crap Kien! I'm glad you made it through your summer - and your tank too! I was wondering what was keeping you so busy. I love the color of your kitchen walls - very nice!

Ya, never mind the tank, I wasn't sure if I was going to make it through summer :lol: Then school started (for the rugrats) in sept and we were in a mad dash to the finish line for completing our renos. A whole bunch of things were coming together all at once. It was epic. But yes, the tank miraculously came out unscathed!! Hooray! And all of that is behind us now so more time for hobbies and such, again.

That sure was a lot of hair pulling! Glad for you its finally over.
Kitchen looks good.
So you were the main contractor? Helping out and co-ordinating the trades.
Good work, I'm sure you saved some money doing it that way.

The end result looks fantastic! I don't doubt that was a long and arduous process.

What exactly happened with the water line? Was it kinked or something, or just rotten luck that it sprung a leak?

It wasn't kinked. Just rotten luck I guess. The water line developed a pin prick rupture that fizzed water into the kitchen all day long while we were away. Floor was soaked right through down to the room in the basement below (which also had to be gutted). Some of our lower cabinets were ruined as well.

This actually wasn't the first time this exact failure happened. It failed in this manner a couple of years ago but that last time we were home and were able to shut off the water. We had an authorized service centre come in and replace that line. So it wasn't user (DIY) error either (I don't think). Needless to say, I won't be fooled a third time. The water line won't be hooked up again unless we buy a new fridge. Even then I'm leary.. Although, a few weeks ago I ordered some water sensors with a remote monitoring kit so at least if it happens again I'll have 10-15m to drive home and shut off the supply. Ya, I'm paranoid now. I've done a lot of renos before but by far, a kitchen Reno is the worst. Especially when you have a full on family in tow.

Stick a fork in me, I'm done!
 

This week marks the official completion of our post flood reconstruction renovations. Last month we finished up the kitchen which was a huge milestone, but we were not quite done yet. The flooded kitchen also ended up flooding the room beneath it in our basement which was our spare room/exercise room. We lost the entire room, exercise equipment (treadmill, spinning bike, weights, electronics, etc) *sadface*

Well, this week we finished up reconstructing that room and had our new treadmill delivered. This means we are officially back to pre-flood "normal". This is a huge relief and means I have a whole lot more time on my hands now. YAY!

For anyone interested that cares, this is how our kitchen ended up.

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...ps15fv7wzl.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...pssi3mvyzz.jpg

Now, you may think that this isn't exactly reef/tank related, but actually it kinda is. In the background here you can see the tank. :biggrin:

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psee11mwj2.jpg

Reflecting back on the past year I am reminded of how throughout this entire ordeal, the tank has remained a focal point of not only our house, but our lives. Everything that we did had to somewhat revolve around the tank. For example, the cleanup contractors had to make sure to turn on the breaker for the tank if they had turned it off. When we had to redo the entire floor we simply laied flooring around the tank instead of disturbing it in any way. :lol: I'm sure the fish enjoyed the two days of nail gunning. :neutral:

Remarkably, the tank has come out somewhat unscathed. So we've been hit by two floods now, neither of which was the actual tank itself. The first one was the great Calgary flood of 2013 (was it?), and the great kitchen flood of 2015. Clearly my prayer reactor is doing its thing! I highly recommend that everyone invest in one.

6 years and counting
 

This past year also marks the 6th year for this tank. Time sure flies when you're having fun. Marching onward and upward. Or, just keep swimming, just keep swimming :biggrin:

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3tc5x2ww.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psqvfqvb8b.jpg

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/...psw5zhgm6p.jpg

Wow, your Kitchen is, for lack of a better word, spectacular, or beautiful, or whatever.
Happy for you that it's all back together now and your tank looks like it's recovering very nicely.
Now I need to go back through your thread and see all the kitchen/tank pics that I missed :surprise:

Gorgeous as always big guy!

Very Nice Kitchen, the tank is really something else

Always nice to pop in here and see something like this! Your kitchen is amazing, well done.

Now your tank, that first pic shows just how worthy your tank is of "Tank of the month, year....acknowledgement of some kind. Stunning!!

Really amazing nice job wish I had this tank

I can't imagine going for as long as you folks did without a functional kitchen and eating area ...... mad props to your guy's patience (even if you didn't feel that you were being "patient" at times, I'm sure!!!).

Must say though the end result is super nice!

And the tank, geeze man, your tank simply disgusts me. :lol: No seriously, it's looking very sweet. Nicely done.

Thanks guys! And gal! Sheena!! Nice to see you still lurking about here :-D. Reminds me of the good old days when we went for wings. We should do that again, just cuz.

I'm in for wings!

I'll keep lurking, thinking of starting up again next year, smaller so who knows!!

I'm in for wings as well!!!!

Congrats on the kitchen reno, it looks great!

Tank looks stunning as well!

Kien,

Your tank is truly spectacular and worthy of Tank of the Month honours every month. It blows any tank I've ever owned or set up right out of the water. I love your new kitchen too. Looks great. Amazing job and hopefully things don't come in THREES:wink:

Anthony

Beautiful. Something to aspire to. Nice tank as well :lol:

That tank is awesome!!!

Same as the light over your table. Nice kitchen

Thanks guys! :biggrin:

Thanks :-) Miss hanging out with you guys on the west coast. I really need to schedule another Vancouver trip!

One of my favorite tanks of all time.... Love it!!!

hey you have a regal angel! how long have you had him? has he eaten any lps? does he eat with the wrasse and tangs?? Your tank has definetly inspired mine alot, i hope mine is still running as long as yours!

Ya, I just saw your new addition! Love the regals :lol:

I've had mine for 4 years now I think. In general I have found them to be a challenge. This isn't the first angel that I've ever tried to keep. I've found that they can be fickle eaters. And yes, like many medium (to large) angels they can tend to develop a taste for LPS and/or clams and/or SPS. Having said that, here's the history with mine..

I got my regal originally to put into a "FOWLR" that I once had many moons ago. That "FOWLR" happened to have some corals in it and she did nip on most of them when I first introduced her. She was in there with a bunch of other angels (Queen and King). Most of the corals that I put into my "FOWLR" I didn't really care about so I let them have at it. Interestingly enough over time they started to lose their interest in the corals and nipped on them less. They much preferred my homemade fish food mush that I make. Eventually I shut down that "FOWLR" and sold most of the fish in there save for my regal. The regal I put into my main 150g display. I kept an eye on her and sure enough, she didn't bother any corals, luckily. Just luck and maybe some conditioning from the previous tank that she was in, maybe.

She does enjoy eating zoa frags though. I can not keep any zoas in my tank. *sadface* Aside from that, I have acans, chalice, a clam, and all manner of LPS that she doesn't touch.

For good measure I do keep a special prayer in the prayer reactor for her. I'm not sure what I'd do if she started to decimate my coral collection in the 150g. That would be a tough decision.

Looks great Kiener!

Out of curiosity what made you choose the chimney over a shroud on your hoodfan? Kitchen looks sweet after the fix!