Mike's 300 Double-D

[aquaph8]

Wow, just in time for a trial. Glad to hear it worked nicely.

 

[prop-frags]

We finally had some "free time" to play with the Panasonic DMC TS3 waterproof camera and thought we'd share a clip:

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Pardon the shaky camera footage - we need a bit more practice with it. :lol2:

 

[canyousee]

Practice for get about it that was eye popping. You guys hit that out of the park! Realy enjoyed it thanks a lot.

 

[drummereef]

Incredible video Mike. :thumbsup: What did you do, camouflage the camera in Nori or something? Those fish don't seem to be freaked out at all that there's a camera in the tank!

 

[110galreef]

Nice Vid!....

2:33....I see a flipped frag plug!

Also are your clowns hosting in your zoo's?

 

[iwishtofish]

Neat video! I haven't seen anything like that before. I'm pretty sure if I tried that, there'd be frags everywhere! :lol:

 

[launchnukes]

Great video. Your coral color is insane!

 

[aquaph8]

That video is really cool. I cant get enough of your Bellus pair, that's one of those fish I've always wanted but never had. Beautiful tank, all your hard work is finally paying off.

 

[prop-frags]

Thanks Guys!

Thanks Guys!

Practice for get about it that was eye popping. You guys hit that out of the park! Realy enjoyed it thanks a lot.

Thanks man! Hopefully the next one will be even better.

Incredible video Mike. :thumbsup: What did you do, camouflage the camera in Nori or something? Those fish don't seem to be freaked out at all that there's a camera in the tank!

Thanks Brett! And no need for camo, LOL. Our fish are used to hand feeding and are pretty laid back about the camera. More curious than anything.

Nice Vid!....

2:33....I see a flipped frag plug!

Also are your clowns hosting in your zoo's?

Good eye! It was up-righted shortly after we took the video and the clowns are hosting in our Palys. We tried to get them to host in an RBTA, but gave up after several months. The RBTA is now in our prop tank being hosted by a solo clown.

Neat video! I haven't seen anything like that before. I'm pretty sure if I tried that, there'd be frags everywhere! :lol:

Thank you! We thought we did good to only knock over 1 small plug, LOL.

Great video. Your coral color is insane!

Thanks launchnukes. We still have a few browned out corals, but over-all the tank is doing well. Looking forward to seeing some pics of yours.

That video is really cool. I cant get enough of your Bellus pair, that's one of those fish I've always wanted but never had. Beautiful tank, all your hard work is finally paying off.

Thanks Brett! We waited a long time to get the Bellus pair and they are gorgeous fish. I will say, however, the male can get fairly aggressive and does quite a bit of chasing of our female Bellus and our Regal Angel. The dynamic may change as the Regal grows. We'll see.

 

[kstate]

I'm jealous.

 

[apayan]

Very cool. Maybe if you strap the camera to the end of a stick you can get some cool panning shots around and over rocks. May help to stabilize it too. But that video was great!!

 

[cham]

Amazing tank, great colors too.

This thread inspired me to buy a self cleaning head, not the most expensive purchase ever but one of those things that has just been on my list for awhile and I've never pulled the trigger. I hope it works well.

 

[prop-frags]

I'm jealous.

Ahhh, one of the seven deadly sins. You can be cured with a heaping helping of algae scraping. Come by anytime LoL

Very cool. Maybe if you strap the camera to the end of a stick you can get some cool panning shots around and over rocks. May help to stabilize it too. But that video was great!!

Thanks! It's funny you mention that - we were talking about that very thing the other day, the problem is getting past the center braces to keep the pans smooth. Yeah, we are going to keep working with this...awesome potential in this little camera!

Amazing tank, great colors too.
This thread inspired me to buy a self cleaning head, not the most expensive purchase ever but one of those things that has just been on my list for awhile and I've never pulled the trigger. I hope it works well.

Thank you Cham - appreciate your complement. So far, the head cleaner is working out nicely. It sure stretches out the time between cleanings and seems to keep the skimmer performing well with less chores. Always a welcome thing on a system as big as ours!

:fish1:

How about an update!
It is the weekend after all and that means we found a little time to do a project we've been planning for a while. For many years, we've been using the Deltec PF600 calcium reactor. It has served us very well and helped with growing some massive coral coral colonies:

But that reactor has always had a few quirks that have been a PITA. So for the birthday this year, we have upgraded to the GEO CR818. The new monster reactor came in earlier this week and today we got it up and running.

Here's what you get out of the box. All the plumbing, and nice Panworld recirc pump:



The instructions are online at the GEO website. First was a nice rinsing for the reactor, plumbing, and the media. We thought two 9 lb buckets of media was going to be enough, but it didn't quite fill up this beast!



Next was putting all the plumbing together and assembling it to the reactor body. We really like the solid cast acrylic construction of the GEO reactor and the well-thought-out design.



We also decided to use a pre-filter for the feed line to keep down the detritus getting into the reactor and creating more maintenance headaches. Since this is a recirculating reactor, it will be very good to keep the inside clean as possible. A quick stop by the local auto parts store for an inline fuel filter does the trick:



A testament to the quality of design and construction; the leak test went without a single drop the first time! We LIKE!



The hardest part of this install was lifting the beast (almost) full of media up onto the shelf above the sump! GRUNT! But don't she look nice up there!?!?



And for completeness, an updated sump room shot (excuse the horrible lack of cable management):



Hopefully this will help us keep up with the voracious demand for Ca and Alk in this system! We'll keep you guys posted on how it does.

 

[cham]

Nice battery back up set up. When you go to replace those batteries take a look at AGM (glass mat). They have amazing numbers and enjoy punishment.

 

[aquaph8]

That is one massive reactor. It even makes those 5 gallon buckets look small.

 

[CRAZYFIZH]

Very nice build new to rc
getting ready to do a 300 dd build lots of great ideas
love the aquascaping stands look great that was the same idea we have but doing concreat tops to match our kitchen
again thnk you for sharing you build with us and lots of great ideas

 

[prop-frags]

Mike's Birthday

Mike's Birthday

Hi guys! This is Terry...

Tomorrow is Mike's birthday. We had a few friends over today to celebrate and I thought I'd share a pic of his cake:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/terryl93/5924430683/" title="nt 1213 by terryl93, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6141/5924430683_bb50e4f18f_z.jpg" width="640" height="624" alt="nt 1213"></a>

 

[dahenley]

nice cake!
happy B-Day!

 

[r6justin]

looks great!!

 

[aquaph8]

Awesome cake Terry. Happy birthday Mike, hope its a great one.