Serpentman's 300g upgrade

[serpentman]

Thanks all. Here are some detailed pics of the shadow box. Its ridiculously simple to do. In all, it would have been cheap if it weren't for the large piece of acrylic.

Front:

Back:

Without the cover. I'm planning to sponge paint the rock formations to give it a little more textured and realistic look.

Without the cover and bulb on.

 

[serpentman]

A little off topic. The wife and I were digging through some old photos and I came across these. So I scanned 'em and thought I'd share. This picture was taken back in 1992 of my second marine tank. It rocked a NO bulb and an ole' school air stone skimmer. By today's standards, it was uuuugllly. Notice the bleached white coral skeletons, romaine lettuce and two different species of clowns. Geesh, didn't I know anything?

 

[tamortman]

that looks great i am so jealous

 

[jpsika08]

Great work, the wall paint with the blueish background contrast great!

The old tank looked great also, who knows, maybe in 20 years we will look at our actual tank pictures and say, eeek that looked ugly

 

[serpentman]

Some better FTS. I'm going to try and post some individual comparison shots of various corals, etc. soon.

 

[NexDog]

Incredible.

 

[CalmSeasQuest]

Beautiful colors - That background is just stunning!

 

[SaltwaterAdict]

Your tank is amazing. Nice touch with the background.

Do you happen to have any pics of how you designed and planned out your rock work/aquascape?

 

[SaltwaterAdict]

I see a shallow sandbed. :strooper: I'm curious, did this help decrease your nitrates? Also, how many fish did you relocate?

 

[serpentman]

Thanks everyone! I'll try and get some better shots today or tomorrow.

Tim, here are a couple of pictures of the rockwork in its early phase. The two major pillars were made in my 150 and moved over. They are held together with fiberglass rods and come apart like Legos. About 6mos ago, I was able to remove and dip all the rock in this tank and put it back exactly the same way in about 3-4 hrs.

 

[Taqpol]

It was already an amazing tank, but now it is even better with that background! Unfortunately, even though I have room behind my tank, I'll never be able to do something like that because I went with a central black overflow instead of corner overflows...

How long have you had that huge tabling acro in the middle of the aquascape?

 

[serpentman]

It was already an amazing tank, but now it is even better with that background! Unfortunately, even though I have room behind my tank, I'll never be able to do something like that because I went with a central black overflow instead of corner overflows...

How long have you had that huge tabling acro in the middle of the aquascape?

Thanks! I was actually cursing my corner overflows. However, I'm kinda glad I have them now that I did the shadowbox.

I've had the tabling Soli for a little over two years (784 days to be exact, lol).

Here is a pic of it the day I got it.

And earlier this month:

 

[SaltwaterAdict]

Thanks for those pics. They give me a good idea of how I'll construct my new aqua scape.

Nice growth on that table. It's the first corals that catches my eyes.

 

[adddo]

Awesome pics man! Thanks for the pics of the box also.

 

[sn4265]

And I'm done... It's taken me about a week to read thru this thread all the way, but I've learned a LOT by reading thru it all. I really appreciate you having posted some pics here on the last page about your aquascaping as I'm going to be setting up my first tank tomorrow. I'm definitely curious about the aquascaping and have gotten some great ideas from your tank.

I'm getting more than a bit nervous having followed thru your more recent difficulties. This makes me worry about how successfully I will be able to deal with issues that arise in both the short and long term. Thanks for sharing with us a beautiful tank.

I'll definitely have to keep this thread in mind. Some day down the road the wife and I are planning on building a new house and we want to have an in wall tank separating the study and living room. My thoughts are something like this in size and look.

 

[AD87]

That trim makes the tank really shine. Focuses your attention more to the tank and coral. Looks great Jeff.
Hows your neck... lol

 

[serpentman]

I'm getting more than a bit nervous having followed thru your more recent difficulties. This makes me worry about how successfully I will be able to deal with issues that arise in both the short and long term. Thanks for sharing with us a beautiful tank.

Thanks for the compliments. Nothing to be nervous about. Running a larger tank is like bringing a big ship to port. Both progress and decline happen slowly. Definitely need patience when turning things around.

Hows your neck... lol

Thanks dude. LOL, I remember very little of the ride home but definitely remembered that! Sunday was rough.....

 

[coraltastic]

i am setting up a 180 sps tank and was just curious are u still happy with ur leds and have u had any problems with them?

 

[serpentman]

I'm very happy with them as supplemental lighting to my MH's. However, I never ended up running them alone.

 

[coraltastic]

yeah i just read that in the past posted. do u think that a led allinone fixture would do good with sps. i am currentley rocking a mh and t5 fixture on my 72 sps tank with good results just wondering about leds. i was talking to a guy the other day that had leds and said he was having trouble with to much light but he only had softys. this is going to be a big tank and alot of money and dont wont to have to buy 2 or 3 times like i have done in the past. what kind of return pump are u using to run all the tanks and returns?