Taqpol's 220 gallon custom Miracles tank!

[Taqpol]

Well, in getting the unfortunate red bug pictures I did manage to take some others as well:

New Acans!

Zoanthids:

Sunset Montipora:

And a close up of an annoying little worm that lives inside it. I tried to kill it by putting super glue over its hole and it responded by burrowing out in the middle of the coral...

ORA Plum Crazy doesn't seem to like the LEDs to much so far, but that might have to do with factors besides light:

Duncan:

Top down shot of my Pavona so that you can see the side facing away from the front. Yes, it is really that green:

 

[Taqpol]

New corals!

Green Acro, possibly Acropora samoensis?

Green Millipora:

Red Millepora:

The seller called it a "superman acro". Purple body with red polyps:

I've been wanting this coral for a long time, Acropora desalwii:

Already has a good table structure:

Random shot, emerald crab molt being picked clean by some sort of bristle worm:

I'm going to edit and post the fish pictures tonight!

 

[drummereef]

Alex, those pics are sick! :thumbsup: What lens(es) are you using with the dslr? Refresh my memory again, what camera are you using?

Also did my best to help you out with your Apex issue over in my thread. Hope this solutions helps.

 

[Lyfey]

Taq, I agree with the redbugs, they look exactly the same as whats on the ID site of melevsreef. I have never had them or treated for them, but I would look for a whole tank treatment option.

-Chris

 

[Taqpol]

Fish Pictures:

Best shot I got of the Chevron is actually in this picture....

 

[Taqpol]

As far as the red bugs go, I have a plan. I am leaving for the weekend, but the moment I get back on Sunday I am going to treat the two individual corals (tricolor and Bonsai) with interceptor in a 1 hour dip-like fashion. My reasoning for starting with a dip instead of a whole system treatment is that Melev's site says that these red bugs only infest smooth skinned acroporas. If thats the case i'm pretty sure these are the only smooth ones I have and I really don't want to risk my three cleaner shrimp if I can't catch them all.

That being said, I will monitor the corals very carefully over the next few weeks and if i see any recurrence I will go ahead and treat the whole system.

 

[Taqpol]

Alex, those pics are sick! :thumbsup: What lens(es) are you using with the dslr? Refresh my memory again, what camera are you using?

Also did my best to help you out with your Apex issue over in my thread. Hope this solutions helps.

Thanks! I saw the Apex stuff, I'll have to try it out when I get back.

The FTS were shot with a Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 lens, the coral shots were done with my Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro, and the fish were shot with a mix of my 100mm Macro and the Canon 50mm f1.4 Prime. My camera is a Canon Digital Rebel T1i, which I adore.

 

[gatorchem]

Alex- Very nice looking tank! I really like the Acropora desalwii. I used to have one in my last tank, but lost the colony in tank crash. It's nice to see a nice large LED tank in the RDU area. I'll have to find an excuse to see it in person lol!

 

[patrickbush]

Hey awesome tank. I just moved to raleigh and would love to see it in person some time!

 

[Taqpol]

Alex- Very nice looking tank! I really like the Acropora desalwii. I used to have one in my last tank, but lost the colony in tank crash. It's nice to see a nice large LED tank in the RDU area. I'll have to find an excuse to see it in person lol!

I first saw a desalwii in Leonardo's reef tank and new I had to have one! I like the fact that LiveAquaria's Diver's Den has species names listed, and they almost always have at least one Acropora desalwii for sale under the maricultured section.

Hey awesome tank. I just moved to raleigh and would love to see it in person some time!

I really need to get with Blitzburggirl about this, but I would like to get involved with the local reef club (TRAC- Triangle Reef Aquarium Club) and host a meeting at some point in the future when my corals have grown out a bit more, once I get the stand finished, and once I finally take the time to clean up.

 

[Taqpol]

In other news, I treated my two problem colonies with interceptor last night. They seemed fine this morning, but I'll check again tonight when the lights are on. I also took pictures of the process I used.


I am in the last two weeks of my first grad school rotation so I have been getting home so late I haven't felt like doing any work on the tank besides general maintenance. That being said I completed the skin of the tank stand two weekends ago, and all I have to do is trim it out and create a template for my stone top before I can stain it and throw it on the tank. Then I need to make the canopy and install my splash guards/fans on the LED lights so I can finally ramp them up to full power. I plan on starting most of the above this weekend as I want it to be done before family comes in for thanksgiving.


Last little plug, LiveAquaria Divers Den really does have AMAZING customer service. Last week the new Acropora samoensis I got from them started RTNing really bad. I kept trying to save it by fragging off still living pieces and putting superglue around the affected areas, but three days later it was completely gone. I emailied Live Aquaria on the 18th day after I got the coral and told them that it had started RTNing on the 15th day, even though their arrive alive only guarantees the first 14 days, figuring it couldn't hurt. Well, they gave me a full refund of in store credit and even asked if I would like it directly refunded to the credit card. What a great business!

 

[Dejavu]

Looking good Alex! How's the angel doing for ya?

 

[Taqpol]

Look at the picture above where you can see the Angel face on and the Chevron down in the corner, the angelfish is FAT! Even though my Naso tang is physically wider, I would definitely say the angel is my fattest fish because it is nearly as wide and about 1/4 the total size!

He does like to taste test some of my corals, especially the green pavona, green turbinaria pagoda, green birdsnest, potentially the green polyps on my Cali Tort.... Is there a correlation here? That being said, the respective corals will suck in their polyps for a few minutes and then everything goes on living like normal. I even have two (non-green) Acans in the tank that he has never bothered. The one thing I won't try again is a clam in the main tank. I think they are more picky in general about being nipped on, and my black and white squamosa clam was in there for two days and the entire second day it was shut up because the angel kept picking on it....

 

[Taqpol]

Double post

 

[Taqpol]

I got a LOT of work done on the stand skin this weekend. My legs and back hurt from basically being in an awkward squatting position for two days straight...

Hopefully pictures tonight after I put on a coat or two of polyurethane.

 

[Dustin1300]

Let's see some pics

 

[Taqpol]

Finally, here is the skin for the stand! Construction is made entirely out of select pine boards (1x8 for the top, 1x6's for the bottom and sides) all held together by pocket hole screws and wood glue.

Since my doors can not fit an object that is 30" wide I had to design this stand to be taken apart and reassembled "in situ". Here you can see the pocket holes I will use to attach the sides back to the front panel once I get it inside.

I have a very cheap miter saw, and as I found out with the last stand I built (for the anemone tank) it makes horrible angled cuts. Instead of dealing with that nightmare again I decided to use a trim system that is designed for only straight cuts. I picked up the corner piece crown molding at Lowes and the normal crown molding at Home Depot.

Another shot of the overall molding effect. To keep with the three part design the corner pieces are only attached to the front piece and the side crown molding just sits flush against it without being connected in any way.

The other tool I desperately wish I had for this job was an air powered trim nailer. I ended up using regular trim brads, a brad punch, and a hammer for all my trim securing needs. Needless to say, I ended up using a lot of this stuff:

The entire thing dyed:

I got my inspiration from an RC thread which has sadly died, but the above is not paint. It is called india ink, and actually dyes the wood black through a process called ebonizing. The result is that if you look closely you can still see the wood grain.Close up detailing the wood grain appearance:

Today I disassembled it for some touch up dye. Here it is in three pieces.

Hopefully tomorrow it will get some coats of polyurethane, and I plan to have it on the stand by Wednesday!

 

[aquaph8]

Alex, that looks great. Is the final product a flat black or will you make it glossy with the poly?

 

[Taqpol]

As it stands right now I don't know if I would call it flat black but it is definitely not glossy. I plan on making it glossy (which i think will make the wood grain pop out more) with poly.

 

[drummereef]

Great work Alex! Let's see it on the stand.