New tank pictures

[sandalscout]

I posted this up on another forum as a welcome thread. Thought you guys might want to see it too:

Hey Everyone!

I've got a 90 Gallon Mixed tank that I've had online for about 1.3 years now. I've finally gotten it to where I'm really happy with it. I'm running 6x54w T5s with icecap reflectors, Octopus DDNW150 skimmer, OceanRunner 2500 return, and dosing calc/alk using a 2 head dosing pump on my RKL.

Sitting right next to it is a 40 breeder frag tank, tied into the sump with a throttled down RIO HF20 return pump. it's running a 6bulb Teklight 36" fixture.

I'm planning on these purchases soon:
backup generator
Vortech mp40w (maybe two) for the 90
Vortech mp20 for the frag tank
SL2 (to move my autohub ATO to my QT tank)

Here's a few pictures, more are at:

http://s290.photobucket.com/albums/ll256/sandalscout/Reef Tanks/2-17-2010/

 

[NeveSSL]

Looking great, Matt! :thumbsup:

Love the mandarin. I'm thinking about seeing if I can get my female moved to my office in prep for taking down my current tank for when we move so I can re-do it.

Brandon

 

[Pickupman66]

very nice looking Mixed reef. you have done a Great job and the tank looks awesome. Be proud of it.

 

[MentalNote]

Looks good! That is the happiest bubble coral I have ever seen.

 

[Deep Thief]

Looks good! That is the happiest bubble coral I have ever seen.

+1 That is the ONLY bubble coral I have ever seen in a tank that looked good. Most are receeding and showing skeleton. Kudos to you. Mark

 

[orthokardia]

ilove the clown hosting the frogspawn. very cool. that is one good looking tank!

-bart

 

[sandalscout]

Thanks guys. I absolutely love the bubble, and the pictures are deceiving, but it's larger than a football when it's open. It's about the size of two baseballs when closed up. It's got two HUGE mouths on it.

The clowns just starting hosting the frogspawn about a month ago. Funny stuff, I'd had one of them for nearly two years (it's "mate" jumped) and then when I got the new one they finally starting hosting a few months later.

 

[yan singleton]

tank looks great matt.

 

[sandalscout]

Thanks Mark, One day I hope it'll look as nice as your 75. How's the 180 doing?

 

[sandalscout]

Got my new bulbs in today, not sure I'm 100% done with the layout/selection as I have some other bulbs to play with, but here's the setup:

ATI Blue Plus
KZ Fiji Purple
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus
UVL 75/25
ATI Blue Plus

Plus, I got my new camera last week, takes MUCH better pictures. Here are a few from tonight, I had just fed the tank, some things (notably, the large frogspawn in the top left) are still getting adjusted to the Vortech, and I had just changed the bulbs. All of that, plus not cleaning the glass led to less than stellar pictures, but this should give you an idea of the lighting look. I also did edit these ("I'm feeling lucky" button) in Picasa, but I honestly think that this brought the blue down a bit, more in line with the true look of the tank. The original pictures were just a hair too blue.

The SPS really are showing off more color than the had been. The most noticeable immediate change was the Pagoda cup. It went from a faint greenish brown to a surprisingly brighter green color.

 

[commonstranger]

Sweet pics !

 

[Fcamdog]

Bulbs made a huge difference. Looking great!

 

[sandalscout]

Thanks guys, it took me a little bit to get used to the new lights, they are quite as intense blue as I thought that they would be, but I feel like I've got a nice color response across the board, and my reds, yellows and green are all way more "poppy" than before.

 

[kw0829]

Looks great

 

[Isaac Larkin Jr]

your tank looks very good.

 

[sandalscout]

Hey Isaac, good to see you on here! Thanks for the compliment.

I think I'm hosting the April meeting, so you guys can see it in person.

Matt