High Tide Aquatics

Alve's tank today, thanks to BAR!

Here is Jeremy's Acro Austera. The picture is very dark, coral is a lot lighter in color with light blue polyps. It took a while to take off but suddenly it started encrusting really fast in the last two weeks:

AcroAustera.jpg
 
[quote author=tuberider link=topic=3453.msg47531#msg47531 date=1214670675]
Looks good! I love the rockwork!
[/quote]

Yah, ditto. Reminds me of my soon to be new tank that I did the rock work for many many months ago :lol:
 
[quote author=alve link=topic=3453.msg44492#msg44492 date=1212464468]
Alright, time for an update and some pictures. What annoys me very much is that I can not seem to get pictures showing the real colors. Everything looks very dull and faded in the pictures. Guess I will have to keep practicing :)

[/quote]

Try using either no flash or a flash not mounted on the camera. Those onboard flashes tend to wash out everything.
 
Thanks guys!

Gresham, I will try your advice. I always had a hard time taking pictures of my tank and after changing from 10k to Phoenix 14k bulbs it made it even worse in trying to get a couple descend pictures.
 
Time for an update with some growth pictures. Sorry for the bad quality but this is the best I can do. I do use a tripod Gresham and a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTI but I guess I just don't have the skills :)

March 15th:
YellowGreenStag0315.jpg


October 13th:
YellowGreenStag101308sm.jpg



March 13th:
Stylophora0315.jpg


October 13th:
Stylophora101308sm.jpg



April 4th:
ORABlueTortuosa040808sm.jpg


October 13th (almost ready for DBTC :) ):
ORABlueTortuosa101308sm.jpg



June 2nd:
Sedosa.jpg


October 13th:
Setosa101308sm.jpg
 
Thanks Jeremy!

Do you think this is about right for growth or is it slow? I just can't seem to figure out how people get next generations back into DBTC so fast. Compared with some of the frags I can take and some of the ones that are given out on DBTC, mine look like pico frags :) I guess I will have to be more patient and let them grow a bit more so I can bring nice pieces to DBTC.
 
Everything looks great, I have a few DBTC frags that I've had for a while that just haven't taken off "way she goes" as Ray from Trailer Park Boys says. Some do great.

Your coral looks healthy, and happy, I would keep on keepin' on if I were you. Growth is exponential, so don't compare yourself to people with a tank full of whole colonies, you will be there before you know it and will have trouble giving stuff away, trust me :D
 
Alright, time for another update. Now work finally slowed down after a crazy summer I have some extra time so I decided to start on a frag tank that will be plumbed into the main setup.
I had a 20g sitting around, a bunch of PVC pipe and parts, a maxi jet 900, egg crate so I pretty much only needed a light so I went ahead and ordered an IceCap pendant, balast and a 250W 14k Phoenix bulb.
I also ordered an overflow from glass-cages.com that comes with everything also the diamond bit to drill the tank.

Tonight I drilled the tank, installed the overflow box and did all the overflow plumbing to my sump. I have an unused T on my MAG18 return pump and will use that to pump water to the frag tank so I don't need to get another pump.

This is the overflow kit from glass-holes.com:
Glass-holeskit.jpg


Drilled the tank, got some chips on the inside but it will work:
hole.jpg


This is the back view of the mounted overflow:
overflowback.jpg


Front:
overflowfront.jpg


And top. I like that it is a skinny overflow so it doesn't take too much space in the tank. It should be good for 600gph:
topview.jpg


I am hoping to get everything setup on the weekend. More pictures will follow ;D
 
I finished all the plumbing today and painted the spacers for the pendant. Once those are dry tomorrow I can mount the pendant, fill with water on Saturday, open up the T at the return pump and hope all goes well and I don't flood our kitchen floor ;D

The only thing that will be missing is the 250W Phoenix 14k bulb. I had ordered new MH bulbs and T5's at aquariumspecialty.com on October 22nd, finally received them last Friday and one of the Phoenix bulbs was broken (not the bulb but the ceramics inside). I emailed him pictures, had to send the bulb back but still no word about the replacement bulb being mailed out >:( I will not be ordering from this place anymore and rather pay a little more somewhere else so it doesn't take about 4 weeks to receive some bulbs.
In the meantime I used the frag tank bulb as the second MH on the main tank so I am one short now.

This is how it looks so far:
fragtank1.jpg


And the IceCap ballast and pendant:
IceCap.jpg
 
Before I start cutting eggcrate I need some input about flow. On the left top the water gets pumped in from the sump. I have a Maxijet 900 laying around and was thinking about putting it on the bottom right blowing to the left. This way I am hoping to create a gyre effect.
Do you guys think this will work? Do I need a different powerhead or position it differently? I have a superflow kit for the Maxijet but that might be a little much for a 20g I believe?
 
nice stuff. it's going to look great... This is just for frag??

Have another question for you.. what type finish did you use for your cabinet to make it look so shinny? I use gloss polycrylic finish but it's not as shinny as I want.
 
Thanks Patchin. The wood is birch and building the stand and cabinet next to it took me forever but I am very happy with how it worked out.
 
Phong, I used 3 coats of Helmsman Spar Urethane from Minwax. Let dry inbetween coats, sand with very find sandpaper, another coat, sand again and finally a third coat.

Yes, the 20g will be a frag tank, the main tank still looks like a frag tank as well ;D

I would like to get rid of the mag racks in the main tank and have more space to grow out and contribute stuff to DBTC ;D
 
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