Urbanek's 250
- Thread starter urbaneks
- Start date
choss
New member
Incredible shots and incredible tank. I appreciate the detail and beauty of the stand. For me building a custom stand with great design makes the build so much more rewarding. Simply stunning setup and amazing photos! The powder blue tang is my personal favorite but I'll need to wait until the fall to get one (post upgrade of my 40 gallon nano tank).
I'd love to see a few more tank shots to appreciate the scape and also I'd love to see the tank in a full room shot. But in any case this is one, if not the most amazing tanks I've seen.
I'd love to see a few more tank shots to appreciate the scape and also I'd love to see the tank in a full room shot. But in any case this is one, if not the most amazing tanks I've seen.
urbaneks
New member
February 14th, 2016 - Response to Feedback
Maxxll - thank you for the kind words. Nothing special for feeding the Goni. I feed a frozen mix 2x a day for the fish. I broadcast feed the tank reef pears or reef roids 2x a week.
Reefmutt - thanks for view and comment. I wish my eyes could see what the macro lens sees. [emoji1]
D2mini - thanks! That yellow background on the Hawkins shot was a nice bonus. Thanks for looking.
Choss - thanks for taking the time to view the journal and leave a comment. I think that nice cabinetry is sorely missing from the hobby. Sure lots of people design and build great cabinets but tank manufacturers kick out the cheapest and plain cabinets possible.
I'll work on getting some nice FTS and FRS of the tank.
Corey,
Thanks for the compliment. You may be interested to hear that my BK SuperMarin arrived broken. Of course they are out of stock now so I'm waiting for more to come from Germany. [emoji35][emoji1418]
Maxxll - thank you for the kind words. Nothing special for feeding the Goni. I feed a frozen mix 2x a day for the fish. I broadcast feed the tank reef pears or reef roids 2x a week.
Reefmutt - thanks for view and comment. I wish my eyes could see what the macro lens sees. [emoji1]
D2mini - thanks! That yellow background on the Hawkins shot was a nice bonus. Thanks for looking.
Choss - thanks for taking the time to view the journal and leave a comment. I think that nice cabinetry is sorely missing from the hobby. Sure lots of people design and build great cabinets but tank manufacturers kick out the cheapest and plain cabinets possible.
I'll work on getting some nice FTS and FRS of the tank.
Amazing photos my friend.
Corey
Corey,
Thanks for the compliment. You may be interested to hear that my BK SuperMarin arrived broken. Of course they are out of stock now so I'm waiting for more to come from Germany. [emoji35][emoji1418]
urbaneks
New member
February 14th, 2016 - Photo Update
February 14th, 2016 - Photo Update
February 14th, 2016 - Photo Update
I wanted to share a photograph of our living room. This room was quite a challenge to pull together for many reasons. First was the overall sales job I had to do with my wife. Where the tank is sitting was originally our formal dining room. You can imagine how that conversation went, "Honey, I'm thinking about putting a reef where your dining room table is."
After getting over that hurdle, the room is huge so the scale of the tank needed to be appropriately sized. It's difficult to tell from the photo but from the wall to where the cabinet ends is 9 feet. To help fill the vertical space and scale, I added the barn beam to help pull it all together. The project table in the foreground with the task lighting above it, really helped to pull the whole room together. What we ended up with was a room that is a focal point of the house rather than a dining room that was used 2-3 times a year.
Thanks for looking
Full Room Shot
February 14th, 2016 - Photo Update
February 14th, 2016 - Photo Update
I wanted to share a photograph of our living room. This room was quite a challenge to pull together for many reasons. First was the overall sales job I had to do with my wife. Where the tank is sitting was originally our formal dining room. You can imagine how that conversation went, "Honey, I'm thinking about putting a reef where your dining room table is."
After getting over that hurdle, the room is huge so the scale of the tank needed to be appropriately sized. It's difficult to tell from the photo but from the wall to where the cabinet ends is 9 feet. To help fill the vertical space and scale, I added the barn beam to help pull it all together. The project table in the foreground with the task lighting above it, really helped to pull the whole room together. What we ended up with was a room that is a focal point of the house rather than a dining room that was used 2-3 times a year.Thanks for looking
Full Room Shot
Reeferside
New member
Beautiful, absolutely amazing
urbaneks
New member
February 14th, 2016 - 45 Days of Project 365
February 14th, 2016 - 45 Days of Project 365
February 14th, 2016 - 45 Days of Project 365
I mentioned this here one other time but I'm doing a Project 365 over on R 2 R where I'm taking and posting a photo of my reef each day for one year. It's been 45 days since I started the project (New Years Day). The project has been a lot of work but when I see all the photos together like this it really makes it worth it.
Thanks for looking!
45 Days of Reefing
February 14th, 2016 - 45 Days of Project 365
February 14th, 2016 - 45 Days of Project 365
I mentioned this here one other time but I'm doing a Project 365 over on R 2 R where I'm taking and posting a photo of my reef each day for one year. It's been 45 days since I started the project (New Years Day). The project has been a lot of work but when I see all the photos together like this it really makes it worth it.
Thanks for looking!
45 Days of Reefing
choss
New member
I love the full room shot. It definitely looks like a room I'd spend all my time in! Is that left over wood that you have on the wall behind the tank? Also, I think early in the thread you mentioned being worried about the light spill from the tank into the room. Has that been a problem now that the tank is stocked?
urbaneks
New member
January 15th, 2016 - Response to Feedback
January 15th, 2016 - Response to Feedback
January 15th, 2016 - Response to Feedback
reefmutt - Thanks for the kind words on the house and tank. Modern/Rustic are definitely a good description of our style.
Reeferside - Thanks so much!
adubson - Thanks for the kind words. Feel free to hit me up here via PM if you ever have questions. I'm always happy to give my opinion.
choss - Thank you. I spend more time in the living room than any other room for sure. The wood on the wall is from a different trip to Porter Barn Wood. I do quite a bit of wood working and love working with the barn wood. That particular piece was inspired from something my wife had seen at a craft show for $300. Made that for about $60.
I'm impressed that you read with enough detail to know about my light spill concern. I definitely get light spill from the fixture. I don't think it can be prevented when you have that much light without a hood. I can minimize the spill by lowering the fixture but that comes at a cost too which is less light on the edges of the aquarium and splashes to the fixture. 9" above the water seems to be the great compromise between spill, splash and light getting to the edges of the tank.
January 15th, 2016 - Response to Feedback
January 15th, 2016 - Response to Feedback
reefmutt - Thanks for the kind words on the house and tank. Modern/Rustic are definitely a good description of our style.
Reeferside - Thanks so much!
adubson - Thanks for the kind words. Feel free to hit me up here via PM if you ever have questions. I'm always happy to give my opinion.
choss - Thank you. I spend more time in the living room than any other room for sure. The wood on the wall is from a different trip to Porter Barn Wood. I do quite a bit of wood working and love working with the barn wood. That particular piece was inspired from something my wife had seen at a craft show for $300. Made that for about $60.
I'm impressed that you read with enough detail to know about my light spill concern. I definitely get light spill from the fixture. I don't think it can be prevented when you have that much light without a hood. I can minimize the spill by lowering the fixture but that comes at a cost too which is less light on the edges of the aquarium and splashes to the fixture. 9" above the water seems to be the great compromise between spill, splash and light getting to the edges of the tank.
urbaneks
New member
February 16th, 2016 - Photo Update
February 16th, 2016 - Photo Update
February 16th, 2016 - Photo Update
I think that a good FTS is the most difficult photo to capture. When taking a photo of an individual coral, you can tailor the light and exposure that best suits the coral. When taking a FTS, you have so many colors and light sources coming together that it makes for a give and trade situation. I've found that taking FTS of my peninsula style aquarium is even more difficult than my tanks that had a black background. After multiple attempts, I've decided to share these two images.
The first image is of the right side of the aquarium. I would call this the front of the aquarium if I had to pick a front and back. I like lots of open space on the sand bed with the top 1/3 of the water column open for swimming. It's difficult to see from the photos, but there are 3 channels that go from one side of the tank to the other. The center channel is viewable in both photos.
The second image is of the left side of the aquarium or what I would call the back of the tank. It's really hard to declare it the back because it's viewable from the main hallway that runs between the kitchen, living room, front door and a couple of the bedrooms. For that reason, I work hard at making sure this side of the aquarium looks as good as the other. Again, I try to keep the sand bed clear which is mostly the case with the exception of a small zoa/paly garden on the right as well as a couple lobos. This side of the aquarium has an added challenge of photographing due to the wall of glass doors that are behind the tank. So you get a bonus picture of our backyard.
Both images were taken one day from each other but the first was with KZ T5 Bulbs and the second was taken with Giesmann Bulbs. I just made the switch to Giesmann yesterday. It's early in the process but I'm liking the change to Giesmann.
February 2016 - FTS Right Side
February 2016 - FTS Left Side
February 16th, 2016 - Photo Update
February 16th, 2016 - Photo Update
I think that a good FTS is the most difficult photo to capture. When taking a photo of an individual coral, you can tailor the light and exposure that best suits the coral. When taking a FTS, you have so many colors and light sources coming together that it makes for a give and trade situation. I've found that taking FTS of my peninsula style aquarium is even more difficult than my tanks that had a black background. After multiple attempts, I've decided to share these two images.
The first image is of the right side of the aquarium. I would call this the front of the aquarium if I had to pick a front and back. I like lots of open space on the sand bed with the top 1/3 of the water column open for swimming. It's difficult to see from the photos, but there are 3 channels that go from one side of the tank to the other. The center channel is viewable in both photos.
The second image is of the left side of the aquarium or what I would call the back of the tank. It's really hard to declare it the back because it's viewable from the main hallway that runs between the kitchen, living room, front door and a couple of the bedrooms. For that reason, I work hard at making sure this side of the aquarium looks as good as the other. Again, I try to keep the sand bed clear which is mostly the case with the exception of a small zoa/paly garden on the right as well as a couple lobos. This side of the aquarium has an added challenge of photographing due to the wall of glass doors that are behind the tank. So you get a bonus picture of our backyard.
Both images were taken one day from each other but the first was with KZ T5 Bulbs and the second was taken with Giesmann Bulbs. I just made the switch to Giesmann yesterday. It's early in the process but I'm liking the change to Giesmann.
February 2016 - FTS Right Side
February 2016 - FTS Left Side
choss
New member
Amazing FTS! I have to say this is one of the most incredible tanks and builds I have followed. I'm really starting to contemplate a peninsula build down the road. I really like how you did the scape. It looks really natural and I think keeping the sand bed uncluttered really is critical to keeping the clean look you have achieved.
urbaneks
New member
February 17th, 2016 - Response to Feedback
February 17th, 2016 - Response to Feedback
February 17th, 2016 - Response to Feedback
choss - Thanks! I really appreciate the kind words and following along with my build. I've stated it a few times now but there are pros and cons to the peninsula. The jury is still out for me on whether I would go that route again. I guess ultimately, it depends on the room setup. As this tank sits in my living room, a peninsula was really my only option.
February 17th, 2016 - Response to Feedback
February 17th, 2016 - Response to Feedback
choss - Thanks! I really appreciate the kind words and following along with my build. I've stated it a few times now but there are pros and cons to the peninsula. The jury is still out for me on whether I would go that route again. I guess ultimately, it depends on the room setup. As this tank sits in my living room, a peninsula was really my only option.
urbaneks
New member
markalot - Thanks! It's hard to compare to the two photos since there is so much extra light coming from the windows in the 2nd pic. Here is the new bulb combo. All are Giesemann Bulbs
Aqua Blue Azure
Tropic
Super Actinic
Super Purple
Actinic Blue
Aqua Blue Azure
Super Actinic
Aqua Blue Azure
I hesitated putting the Actinic Blue in my scheme but that bulb is very much like an ATI B+ or KZ Superblue
Have a couple of questions for you. I read in "another place" you used to have the Lifereef skimmer, any thoughts on it? Is it as good as advertised and how quiet is it actually, I'm looking for a quality skimmer while trying to keep noise as low as possible. The other question I had is related to the noise. With your doors hung onto the side of the stand, does it increase noise levels, any hidden tricks you put in place to keep it insulated and quiet?
urbaneks
New member
MrRBW - I started this system up with a full LifeReef System which included the sump, skimmer and media canisters. I was sold on it by what I had read and talking to Jeff, the owner. Jeff is one of the nicest guys I've ever dealt with.
With all of that said, I was never happy with the system. The sump was undersized for my system despite being designed by Jeff, the media canisters were only good for carbon since they did not do up flow. This rendered one of the two worthless since I bought it to run GFO. The systems are designed as an all in one solution which makes adding any thing including a heater difficult. The skimmer was effective but in the end, it was easier for me to sell the entire system with the skimmer.
As for noise, the life reef skimmers are only as loud as the pump you drive them with. Jeff sells the skimmers with Mag pumps which I would not use. Yes they are built like tanks and run for 20 years but they suck down the energy, add excessive heat and are noisy compared to other pumps on the market. If I were to still have my life reef skimmer, I'd be running it with a DC pump.
As for my entire system, one common thing I get when fellow reefers come over is they can't believe how quiet my system is. The loudest thing on my tank are my MP40s. If I ever upgrade these to the QDs I don't think you'd hear my tank at all. The doors as they are designed help with noise if anything. They are made of 1/2" plywood with 1/4" Barnwood over the top. The doors overlap the stand some which gives complete coverage. As for tips/tricks, I'd go with nice DC pumps all the way. My return, skimmer and closed loop all run off DC pumps. I'm a believer in the DCs.
Hope this helps.
