Your photography skills never cease to amaze me. Beautiful pictures and nice additions to your tank.

Agreed (pics would look better with some actinic in there:razz:)

Thanks..:)

Haha... someday man..


Decided to bust up a big piece of live rock I had in my fuge today, and with the great Zoa frags at Red Coral, I made a "Zoa Island" rock.. as well as added a larger piece of the LR just to the left, which has opened up alot more room for frags/coral. Also took Carmens advise after loosing my last perculas, and am trying 2 normal, bone head, occelaris clowns. Gave them a slow acclimation, added them and within 10-15 mins they were hosting my Torch... both ate tonight as well with everyone. *Fingers crossed*

Here is Zoa Island, I will get some close ups once they start opening up fully:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../ZoaIsland.jpg

and 2 shots of the clowns, just incase anyone in curious, the butterfly doesn't bother the clams, just picks stuff off the shell:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ed/Action1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ed/Action2.jpg

Added some lighting to my fairly bare refugium on monday.. its a 4x24W Aquamedic T5 (normal output) light, thanks to fishytime.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../fugelight.jpg

Also going through a bit of a Clown/Zoa photo frenzy lately.. haha..The Clowns are enjoying my Torch quite a bit. Will probably be adding a Green BTA for them in the coming weeks though, hopefully they vacate the torch, as I would hate for them to kill it off since it was the first coral I ever bought.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...nued/zoas4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...nued/zoas3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...nued/zoas2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...nued/zoas1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...oaisland-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ed/paisley.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ed/clowns4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ed/clowns3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ed/clowns2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ed/clowns1.jpg

WOW. Could you please just once post a picture a little out of focus or showing a wee bit of dirty tank?

:laugh: Josh is a little bit OC about the glass on his tank:mrgreen:

I'd rather not.... ;) LOL!

:lol: ... What can I say... I like perfection. :first:


Red Coral got some new SPS colonies in today, and when I went in to do my weekly photos, I ended up coming home with one. I gotta admit, I HATE the rocks/cement that most of these colonies come in on, so I decided to remove the colony from the rock and mount it on 3 frag stones.

It's a deep water acro of some kind... I'm gonna have to see if Snappy can ID it for me. :mrgreen:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../deepacro1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../deepacro2.jpg

Very Nice as usual Josh! And I happen to really like the BASIC occelaris Clowns!:razz: Very nice little pair. Hope they work out for you.:wink:

Awesome pics dude! Tank is looking amazing

new shipment
 

see! it pays to get there before doug gets off work !
Cheer's
Geoff

They are looking great so far.. I think they will hang around longer than any other ones.. I named them Zac and Miri, i expect them to make a porno someday! :mrgreen:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ed/clowns5.jpg

Thanks man..

LOL!! I've got plenty of time these days... I've taken lots of photos this week with the amount of free time I have.

New addition to the tank... :twised:

Photos coming soon...........

So I added some new lighting to my tank today...:mrgreen: I've added a 2x54W retro kit to supplement my MH's (Ushio 14K). I am running the 2x54W Hagen GLO retro ballast with TEK2 T5 Retro Reflectors, and I went with the Giessemann Actinic+ and the Giessemann True Actinic for bulb choices.

Pretty impressed with the look of them when the halides are off, will have to wait till tomorrow to see how they look with the halides on. :biggrin:

Anyways, a couple Actinic photos for you guys... (Sorry, I REALLY suck at actinic photography, still working to get the right "white" balance...):redface:









VOILA!!!!!!!:faint::jaw:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...Actinicson.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ActFTSmar2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...enfrecact1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...enacroact1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ed/gspact1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../specKact1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...tongasact1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...color2act1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...icoloract1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...d/zoasact1.jpg

Thanks for looking.

Well that didnt take long for you to bang those up. I beg to differ....your actinic shot look kick-ass to me.

Thanks Doug, really wish I had an extra few inches in width on the tank though. It's a pretty tight fit between the T5 reflectors and the MH's.. 20-22" tank width would have allowed me to mount the reflectors pointing straight down, without blocking the halides. Oh well, next tank. :)


EDIT.. Just adding the comparison.

I shot these with IDENTICAL camera settings.

My Lighting Info:

Metal Halides: Bulbs - Ushio 14K (5 months old) powered by a Galaxy Electronic Ballast w/ Lumenmax3 Reflectors.

T5's: Bulbs - 1x Giessmann Actinic+ & 1x Giessmann True Actinic powered by Hagen GLO Retro Ballast w/ TEKII Retro Reflectors.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...parisonFTS.jpg

The tank is looking good Josh.

HT

Thanks Aaron... funny thing is I am already wanting to upgrade. :mrgreen:

So based on THIS Thread over at RC, I am going to run a 4-6 week experiment on 3 different pieces of SPS in my tank. Documented with photos of course, providing the camera setting for each coral as to show the true changes of the coral. Quoted below is my original post on RC, explaining the lighting cycles I am changing. Todays starting photos below that. :)

Some dosing info that I forgot post on RC though would be:

- Pohls Coral Vitalizer: 2drops/daily
- Pohls Coral Snow: 4ml/daily
- Reef Plus Vitamins & Amino Acids every 3rd day (recommended dosage).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...testcoral1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...testcoral2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...testcoral3.jpg

Very interesting experiment. Looking forward to seeing how it goes.

Indeed, I'm watching with keen interest here too. :)

Thanks guys... In the meantime while I wait, I went into Red Coral and dropped off a tank design for a quote. This picture is missing a few holes, specifically, the 2" overflow holes, 2 returns thru the floor, and 6 CL holes in the floor. The only hole I did add will be for the CL intake. It was my first time using this design program, so took it easy. As you can see the glass thickness is a bit out of wack.. haha.

I am planning this now as it would probably take the rest of the year to get "built" (stand, plumb, purchase gear, etc). It is my planned upgrade for the 75G, as long as the price is right. :lol:

Tank Dimensions: 60"x36"x20"
Tank Volume: 187G

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...theupgrade.jpg

Didn't you just start the 75 gal less than a year ago?:biggrin:

Haha, yea but like I said this is going to take me a year to build to the point where I can transfer everthing from the 75G, give me plenty of time to grow it out. :mrgreen: And I'm only going ahead with it if the tank price is reasonable.

Those are sweet dimensions. You're gonna love that 36" of depth.

Yea, its going to be fun rockscaping it.. :mrgreen: Got a few ideas brewin' in my head.

What is the V part on the end? Built in Overflow or something?

External overflow box... at least that's what its suppose to look like. :lol: The reason I decided to go with the angled style, after Red Corals suggestion, is so I would have a space for my closed loop intake high enough off the sand bed (the only hole in that design pic).. Plus I hope it will help in keeping detritus from settling on the bottom (of a traditional flat bottom style overflow), that's the idea anyways.

I also modified that overflow again today from this design, so I can eliminate the Sump returns through the floor of the tank, and I am going to narrow the overflow (at the top 8"s) from 36" (full width) to 24", So i have 6" on either side of the overflow to run my sump returns. I wanted them higher in the tank to avoid a catastrophic tank drain if the power goes out, I trust a good check valve, but not with that much water. :peep:

sweet design, good call on shortening the overflow. that thing is going to be a best, it looks so short when you look at the picture, but its 20" tank. this thing is going to rock, hope the tank is a good price.

Yea, I asked for two quotes. 1st was regular glass all the way around... the 2nd was Starphire panel for the end piece of glass (purely for photographing the long length of the tank).

I think I will be going with the 2nd choice after getting the prices back. :mrgreen:


Tried something new today for an FTS...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../animated2.gif

Cool idea! The fish look fantastic!

Good luck with getting the new tank...hope everything works out. That will be rad with the front to back dimensions. Any reason why you don't want to go acrylic?

Red Coral doesn't do acrylic.. haha but even if they did price would probably be way outta budget for me.

Thanks..:)

So this past week has been a bit of a rollercoaster with my tank, mostly all the down part of a coaster.. :lol: just not as fun.

I've been having troubles getting my triangle of 3 up (Ca, Alk, Mag) to where I would like them.

Test results from this week past week... I've been dosing Taylored Aquatics Mag, Kent DHK buffer, and Calcium in small daily doses to bring it up and it just won't budge..

03/24/2009 Ca: 380-390 Alk: 6.4 Mag: 1155
03/25/2009 Ca: 370-380 Alk: 6.4 Mag: 1260
03/27/2009 Ca: 370-380 Alk: 6.4 Mag: 1110 NO3: Undectable
03/29/2009 Ca: 330-340 Alk: 7.4 Mag: 1230

Yesterday's tests were done after an all day 20G water change with H2Ocean salt, which I thought would help bring my levels up a bit more, but no real changes.

I also dosed with chemi-clean a few days ago to fight some cyano, and regretted doing it later as I had to shut down my skimmer for a couple days, and all that did was put fear at the back of my mind all weekend. I should have just stuck to siphoning and Pohls Coral Snow.

3rd, and not least, Commensal Flatworms. I spent a good chunk of yesterday in between water changes siphoning and turkey basting as many as I could to attempt to bring down the population, which is large!

Tank was starting to look better last night, water needs to run through some carbon though, it definitely needs a polish.

Unfortunately I am thinking of adding a powerhead :neutral: As I think I am lacking on flow in my system. Not something I wanted to do, or have in my tank, but going to try it. I've noticed my tang is alot more active when he has a strong current to swim in... He will sit at the Closed Loop outlet and ride the blast of water for AGES... I adjusted the back nozzle on my CL to put more flow thru the front 2 outlet and immediately saw a difference in my Tangs behavior, in a good way, so I think adding a powerhead will be a good choice.

Sorry, no pics this update.. :lol:

I love that sequence of shots man....cool. No mention of the recent addition???:razz:

I haven't seen the recent addition enough myself... :lol:

Well now that he is out and about alot more, I've had a chance to photograph him, which is a challenge in itself. Damn Mystery Wrasses are soo quick. I'm pretty sure he took some abuse when I added him to the tank, as his side fins almost disappeared, and he looks to have some scars or missing scales behind the side fins. Looks to be getting better though, and the fins are starting to come back.. His tail was pretty chewed up from the LFS when I brought him home and it has actually almost completely healed which I am glad to see.

I actually had picked him up in hopes of a chemical free solution to my Flatworms, and he didn't touch a single one of them. So it was a costly addition that didn't pay off how I was hoping for, but still ended up with a great looking wrasse.

Anyways, the only decent shot I have gotten of the new addition. (not so new anymore I guess... haha)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...ed/mystery.jpg

Why dont you add a MP-40 or even an MP-20 to the tank?

The tank looks really good I really love the Copperband. Did I miss it or did you loose the female Hawaiian Percula?

I thought about the MP's but ended up just adding a Koralia 4 for now.

Yea, I lost the female Perc as well, I won't be trying Perculas in any other tanks in the future, they just don't stay alive for me, yet my Copperband and Powder Brown are doing great, go figure!.. I tried some normal Occelaris and they are doing excellent..


So I am still trying to bring my Ca, Alk, and Mag levels up to where I want them, but it is a taking forever. I am dosing more than the recommended level with Taylored Aquatics products. Mag and Ca are slowing getting closer to what I would like to see, but Alk just won't budge out of that 6-6.4 range... So frustrating, as everything in the tank (especially the SPS) looks great, with excellent color, great PE, and solid growth. Starting to wonder if these numbers even matter... :lol:

Test Results:

03/24/2009 Ca: 380-390 Alk: 6.4 Mag: 1155
03/25/2009 Ca: 370-380 Alk: 6.4 Mag: 1260
03/27/2009 Ca: 370-380 Alk :6.4 Mag: 1110
03/29/2009 Ca: 330-340 Alk: 7.4 Mag: 1230
04/01/2009 Ca: 380-390 Alk: 6.7 Mag: 1260
04/14/2009 Ca: 360-370 Alk: 6.1 Mag: 1140
04/15/2009 Ca: 380-390 Alk: 6.4 Mag: 1200
04/17/2009 Ca: 420-430 Alk: 6.1 Mag: 1290
04/22/2009 Ca: 400-410 Alk: 6.1 Mag: 1260

Dosing daily 5 caps of Mag, 4 caps of Ca, and 4 caps of dkH Plus, just to try and bring the levels up... Using all Taylored Aquatics products. I'm looking for numbers around Ca: 440-450 Alk: 8-9 Mag: 1350

Spent a good amount of time at Red Coral this afternoon, 1) Drooling over some new livestock, 2) debated bringing home this.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...controller.jpg

After about 2.5 hours of drooling and thinking, I ended up bringing it home. The full package I got consists of the following.

- Aquacontroller Jr Base Unit
- Direct Connect 8 (DC8) Unit
- Temp. Probe
- pH Probe
- PC Serial Interface Cable (which I hope to rig up to hook to my Macbook)

Hoping I can get this setup today and tomorrow before I go back to work for 2 weeks.

Huge Thanks to Kevin @ Red Coral! He really knows how to take care of his customers! :mrgreen:

I'm sure you'll be hapy with the Jr. I have one and love it. Jeff @ J/L recommended it and for the price I think it is a pretty good controller.