Greenhouse project

It took me a long time to figure out how to take good photos out at the greenhouse. There are major glare issues, and it made it very difficult to show how good the corals out there look. Most of my photos were just hazy and ugly.

I invested a bit in better photo equipment and added some VHO supplementation to the noon-day sun. It made a world of difference for photography. Here are two pics I took:
Acanthastrea
acanthastrea_gh.jpg


Blastomussa
blastomussa_gh.jpg
 
No, I had no plans to attend MASM. It would probably have been a good time and allowed me to see some friends in the Michigan area (I went to U of M), but it conflicts with my exam schedule.
 
Not sure there is a lot to show off, but we do have 2000 gallons up and running. It would be trivial to set up the last 3000 gallons, but at this time, there is no need for the extra capacity. Here is a picture after we set up the second set of glass tanks:
greenhouse_set2.jpg


One thing to note is we put up shade cloths over the entire ceiling. Even in the winter, some corals were getting over exposed and dying. We've had several consecutive days of sun, and we had to take measures to protect the corals. Some tanks have their own tank shades:
greenhouse_ceiling.jpg
 
One last photo of a coral out at the greenhouse. This is a blue hydonophora growing out there. Not everything from my tank grows well in the sun, but hydonophora loves it:
blue_hydonophora.jpg
 
Did you ever add the surge tanks? If so, How are they working ? I am in the planning stages of my greenhouse now, and have thought about adding surge tanks, but run with small effecient pumps. Not sure if it would be cost effective though.

Am I correct in thinking that your tanks are run exclusively on air pumps? No water pumps?
 
Sorry, read through all the pages, I see they are running.

Your glass tanks, are they being fed by a regular water pump?
 
Can I trade frags for orchids? All I have are boring Phals and Dendrobiums. However my mom bought about $600 worth of orchids when we were in Hawaii... I hope to get some cuttings of those.
 
I am assuming you are using natural gas from your local utilities. Even with the little use in the winter you had a 4 figure bill? Wow, thats a lot. Did you look into or consider propane?
 
No heater from what I've read other than a huge coil of tubing that goes by the heater to pick up radiating heat.
 
You have an excellent set up. I can't wait to go back through your thread from the beginning and look at all the set up pictures and read the posts.
 
Dendro, are you up and running yet? I'd love to come visit!! I'll send you a PM I guess to get your website.
 
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