TONE's 500 Gal Piece of the GBR

[Rod the Reefer]

What can I say Tone?

Very, very impressive. :dance:

Little wonder you won TOTM on RTAW in April!!

Rod. :thumbsup:

 

[tonyf]

^ Rod, your display is one of the inspiring setups on RC LRT ... such meticulous planning. Like Alan's (EnglishRebel), Ed's, and Ching's (Chingchai) efforts, superbly planned and executed.

Tone

 

[tonyf]

New big ATB cone is somewhere in construction / transit and I'm looking forward to taking the display to the next level.

Currently battling these pesky pyramid snails eating my sps ... 'hoicked' out a half dozen or more each night after lights out but there's still more!

Some more reef pics:

<img src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y285/tfendt/Reef%20October%202009/Tank016.jpg">

<img src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y285/tfendt/Reef%20October%202009/Tank024.jpg">

 

[tonyf]

 

[ADMTyPeReEf-eR]

WOW stunning

 

[tonyf]

Some more recent pics ... compare coral pics to previous shots for growth

 

[Dave's Reef]

Hi Tony,

Haven't been by to visit your thread for awhile and was just catching up. WOW... very nice growth and GREAT pics of the corals! I'm quite envious of you friend!

Like the macro shots you took too! I know what I want for X-mas... Macro... Macro... Macro lens!

 

[Reeftanks6]

wow great tank.

 

[tonyf]

Thanks Guys ...

Dave, my missus gave me a Canon EF 100mm macro for my recent birthday and I'm having a lot of fun with it. I have great admiration for those blokes that can make music with the macro lens ... as a novice, I'm struggling with finding the 'sweet spot'.

Tone :artist:

 

[Jaffer Ali]

Graet tank and wish you all the best

Thanks for sharining

 

[EnglishRebel]

Great shots of some beautiful corals Tone

 

[tonyf]

Graet tank and wish you all the best

Thanks for sharining

Ta, Jaffer

 

[tonyf]

Great shots of some beautiful corals Tone

Thanks, Alan. I'm going to start experimenting with manual setting of white balance and focal depth to see if I can achieve the right colour rendering and better focus.

:jester:

 

[justshoe]

Beautiful tank. And super clean sump setup. Love the livestock as well.

 

[tonyf]

Came home from the traditional pre-Christmas week at the beach house to find that the tank had looked after itself rather well. No VSV dosing during this period and there was almost no algae build-up on the glass! Accordingly, I have now cut back daily VSV dose to just 15ml vodka : 0 sugar : 5ml vinegar and 4 drops of a local supplemental bacteria called Pro-Bac.

The big ATB Cone skimmer has also stopped foaming madly, indicating to me that there is now little or nothing to skim out of the tank ... water is absolutely crystal clear and smells 'sweet'.

The primary water params have settled to:

Alk : 8.3 dKh
Ca : 380 ppm - would like to maintain this up to 420-ish ppm
pH : I don't take any notice of pH except if there is a negative swing
Mg : 1350 ppm
Orp : 445 mv

I don't measure PO4 or NO3 any longer, preferring to rather observe the appearance of the livestock.

Dosing per week : 2ml of medical grade aqueous iodine, 40ml of Kent Marine Tech-M magnesium, and 20ml SeaChem strontium.

Assisting nutrient reduction with dosing 1ml of lanthanam chloride (swimming pool phosphate remover) into a cloth filter bag on the exit of the skimmer outflow at each change of the filter bag (3-4 days).

This method is consistent with that recommended for swimming pools ... supposedly, the lanthanam chloride settles in the fabric of the filter and attaches the nutirient. Or something along those lines. Given that this is now the first time that I have ever had a skimmer stop foaming, I'm inclined to think that the lanthanam dosing process has contributed to the quality of the water.

Livestock looks great ... fish colours are quite vibrant and the little Potters angel has taken on the blue colouring in its vertical bars. Coral colours are improving but I'd like to get those beautiful strong colours that I see on so many of the revered displays in the forums.

 

[tonyf]

Beautiful tank. And super clean sump setup. Love the livestock as well.

Thanks for the appreciation, justshoe.

Tone

 

[tonyf]

Messed around with the white balance to soften the blue hue and did some top down shots using an acrylic box with a clear bottom to it ... the lens sits inside the box and it is partially submerged into the water.

 

[tonyf]

 

[hul kogan]

Wow, what a great looking tank! Very nice work...and the entire setup is so clean and organized. I love it.

 

[CryptoFusion]

Beautiful tank! I love the controller setup!