OK! Enough chat...Starting a 1000g+ Reef
- Thread starter JohnL
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marcom1234
New member
Wow great pics of your corals. im very jealous lol
hopefully when i get my new house i'll be able to have a fish room... even if it isn't as large as yours lol .... very awesome.
hopefully when i get my new house i'll be able to have a fish room... even if it isn't as large as yours lol .... very awesome.
jnarowe
New member
James: No kidding. It really makes me respect guys that can pull off really top-notch photography of their reefs. This is no point-and-shoot game, that's for sure!
Gabriel: OK! That's cool. You have some good shots in your thread so maybe you can do something with my tank.
marcom1234: Thanks. I am just a grasshopper with reef photography but hope to get better with time. I have a professional photograher that works for me and he's going to give me some tips on taking pics as well as what camera would be best for my situation and needs. Marc (melev) also has some great advice on his web site so I will try to absorb that too.
If you have the opportunity to design a tank room into a new house, that will be very good long-term. If so, you should visit as many tank room installations as you can to see how others have set up their systems and what benefits and challenges they have encountered. Some of the aspects of my tank room really help keep energy costs down as well as give me enough usable space. I have been toying with the idea of inserting a 300g+ display refugium into one of the tank room walls. I could do it, but I am not sure the benefit will out-weigh the hassle. I would also have to maintain that fuge a bit better than I do the one I have now! :lol:
Gabriel: OK! That's cool. You have some good shots in your thread so maybe you can do something with my tank.
marcom1234: Thanks. I am just a grasshopper with reef photography but hope to get better with time. I have a professional photograher that works for me and he's going to give me some tips on taking pics as well as what camera would be best for my situation and needs. Marc (melev) also has some great advice on his web site so I will try to absorb that too.
If you have the opportunity to design a tank room into a new house, that will be very good long-term. If so, you should visit as many tank room installations as you can to see how others have set up their systems and what benefits and challenges they have encountered. Some of the aspects of my tank room really help keep energy costs down as well as give me enough usable space. I have been toying with the idea of inserting a 300g+ display refugium into one of the tank room walls. I could do it, but I am not sure the benefit will out-weigh the hassle. I would also have to maintain that fuge a bit better than I do the one I have now! :lol:
I don't remember you having all that stuff in there:lol: 
drummereef
Team RC
Beautiful pics - nice.
marcom1234
New member
i agree with Hop .... pics aren't that bad.
and it will take time for the top notch pics ... but you seem to already know this so thats good.
what camera are you thinking of getting?
and it will take time for the top notch pics ... but you seem to already know this so thats good.
what camera are you thinking of getting?
jnarowe
New member
HOP: Thars treasure in me tank mateeeeee....:lol: Well there are things I cannot get good pics of and I have had a couple of "adding binges".
drummereef: Thanks!
marcom1234: Not usre but I already have some Nikon stuff so maybe I will get a Nikon DSLR body so I can use all that, or possibly follow what many other reefers are using and that's a Cannon rig. Just don't know enough right now to say for sure.
drummereef: Thanks!
marcom1234: Not usre but I already have some Nikon stuff so maybe I will get a Nikon DSLR body so I can use all that, or possibly follow what many other reefers are using and that's a Cannon rig. Just don't know enough right now to say for sure.
marcom1234
New member
well i have a canon dslr ... the rebel xt. although i believe they have a rebel xti out now which has more megapixels.
im pretty happy with the rebel.
im no pro photographer though and don't have a nice enough tank to play with taking great pics on it. all i have is a planted freshwater tank lol.
but in my opinion id think any digital slr would be good.
im pretty happy with the rebel.
im no pro photographer though and don't have a nice enough tank to play with taking great pics on it. all i have is a planted freshwater tank lol.
but in my opinion id think any digital slr would be good.
jnarowe
New member
the weather is tough at least for this area. It has been a bit East Coast like here for the last 3 days. Right now most of the snow has melted but in many areas including my own, it is still on the ground. We are expecting more snow tonight which will turn to rain and ice. Not sure over what period of time that will take place, but you will have to be flexible in getting to your final destination. If you can't make it to my place, I will not be offended. I have friends marooned on their vacation island for 4 days now...just take it easy and roll with it. Call me if you will not make it and we will do it another time. Maybe on your way back to the airport is a possibility too. No sweat on this end ok??!!
jnarowe
New member
no worries! I have to tell you though when I came home tonight the reef just looked so sweet. I did manage to clean a couple "windows" in the back panels so you could see in from the tank room. I have been so busy with our store expansion my maintenance has been a bit lacking...haven't done laundry in a couple weeks either...
jnarowe
New member
Well I wanted to chime in on the progress I have had using the Vortech pumps. As some already know, I had a tough time with these after the initial installation, but with theh help of Eco-Tech, Tim, Andy, et. al. I got new parts and drivers and have good news to report. Since adding the little washers sent out for thicker tank walls, my pumps have been very quiet. They will make noise only when they have been jarred which I have found may happen occassionally because of the tangs nipping at algae growing on the wet frames.
When I first had problems Tim asked me to leave them off my Neptune Controller so I had no control and was turning them up in the morning and down at night by hand. After about a month of that, we agreed that I would try one on a 5 min ON/5 min OFF cycle and see how that went. It did go well and now I have 3 pumps running full blast during the day and OFF at night and one pump cycles on for 5 min, then off for 5 min continuously.
Most importantly my corals love the flow from these pumps. Growth rates and PE have improved and color is very good. I had another reefer over today who asked me to sum it up much as I just did, and I told him I would buy more of them in '07.
I have to admit I still don't quite understand the 5 min rule when I see these pumps in videos pulsing on and off rather quickly. The MACNA video of the waves created by these pumps is awesome, but also clearly not on a 5 minute cycle.
Only one small negative to report at this point (aside from control issues) is that when I removed one of them this week to clean it, I found light crazing over 100% of the area where the pump was mounted. This is not earth shattering for me since no one will see this and my tank is 3/4" thick, but is does concern me that many tanks that will use these pumps have much thinner acrylic. I have never seen any over-heating error codes but the motors have felt quite hot as has been discussed in various MP40 threads.
I also checked into the FAQ tonight and see a recommendation that the drivers be mounted to metal to dissipate heat. I don't recall seeing this in the instructions but think it may be a good idea in my case. Right now I have them mounted to walls that are wood and coated with bilge paint, which I think is a bit insulative.
I can't wait to get the whole package set up!
When I first had problems Tim asked me to leave them off my Neptune Controller so I had no control and was turning them up in the morning and down at night by hand. After about a month of that, we agreed that I would try one on a 5 min ON/5 min OFF cycle and see how that went. It did go well and now I have 3 pumps running full blast during the day and OFF at night and one pump cycles on for 5 min, then off for 5 min continuously.
Most importantly my corals love the flow from these pumps. Growth rates and PE have improved and color is very good. I had another reefer over today who asked me to sum it up much as I just did, and I told him I would buy more of them in '07.
I have to admit I still don't quite understand the 5 min rule when I see these pumps in videos pulsing on and off rather quickly. The MACNA video of the waves created by these pumps is awesome, but also clearly not on a 5 minute cycle.
Only one small negative to report at this point (aside from control issues) is that when I removed one of them this week to clean it, I found light crazing over 100% of the area where the pump was mounted. This is not earth shattering for me since no one will see this and my tank is 3/4" thick, but is does concern me that many tanks that will use these pumps have much thinner acrylic. I have never seen any over-heating error codes but the motors have felt quite hot as has been discussed in various MP40 threads.
I also checked into the FAQ tonight and see a recommendation that the drivers be mounted to metal to dissipate heat. I don't recall seeing this in the instructions but think it may be a good idea in my case. Right now I have them mounted to walls that are wood and coated with bilge paint, which I think is a bit insulative.
I can't wait to get the whole package set up!
jnarowe
New member
Just a quick report: Gabriel (gkarshens) came by yesterday and spent the night. We had a blast talking reefs and drinking beer until 1am. He's a really nice guy and I sent some frags home with him including a couple for Mike (Dudester) to help get his system back up and running.
Gabriel is transporting the frags wrapped in wet paper towels on his person and the trip will take about 6 - 7 hours so it should be interesting to see how they fare.
Gabriel also took quite a few photos so I can't wait to see how they turn out! Hopefully he got a good FTS so you all can quit griping!
Sherman! Bummed you couldn't make it over. You would have really enjoyed talking with Gabriel.
Gabriel is transporting the frags wrapped in wet paper towels on his person and the trip will take about 6 - 7 hours so it should be interesting to see how they fare.
Gabriel also took quite a few photos so I can't wait to see how they turn out! Hopefully he got a good FTS so you all can quit griping!
Sherman! Bummed you couldn't make it over. You would have really enjoyed talking with Gabriel.
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