JP's Standard Issue Tank thread

[animalmaster6]

I talked to Chingchai yesterday.

He gave me his fish list

 

- Blue Eyes Cardinal Fish (apogon leptacanthus) x 6

- Resplendent Angelfish (Centropyge resplendens) x 1

- Wyoming White Clownfish (Ocellaris clownfish) x 2

- Bartlett Anthias (Pseudanthias bartlettorum) x 7

- Ventralis Anthias (Pseudanthias ventralis) x 1

- Helfrichi Firefish (Nemateleotris helfrichi) x 6

- Achilles Tang (Acanthurus achilles) x 2

- Gem Tang (Zebrasoma gemmatum) x 2

- Candy Basslet (Liopropoma carmabi) x 2

- Spotted-Gill Cardinal (Apogon chrysopomus) x 13

- Japanese Pygmy Angelfish (Centropyge interruptus) x 2

- Rhomboid Golden Fairy Wrasse (Cirrhilabrus rhomboidalis) x 1

- Plectranthias pelicieri x 2

- Earles Fairy Wrasse x 3

- Naked False Percula Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) x 2

- Red Saddled Anthias (Pseudanthias flavoguttatus) x 2

- Crosshatch Triggerfish (Xanthichthys mento) x 2

- Chrysiptera rollandi (Rolland's Demoiselle) x 2

- Peppermint Hogfish (Bodianus masudai) x 2

- Snowflake Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) x 2

 

Hope that helps.

[bitts]

WOW

[animalmaster6]

Iknowright!?

[bitts]

these should be recognizable to most, but just in case none are mine. their simply some of the best bonsai tanks that I've found.

 

 

these are mostly examples of coral choice & placement.

[animalmaster6]

Those are all stunning. The Reef In The Sky is stunning but is it really a Bonsai scape?

[bitts]

this one

I'm thinkin that it has to be based on the coral placement & minimal rockwork.

 

 

 

since its the top of the page reposting the pretty

 

these should be recognizable to most, but just in case none are mine. their simply some of the best bonsai tanks that I've found.

 

 

these are mostly examples of coral choice & placement.

[animalmaster6]

Nevermind I was wrong

 

Definetly Bonsai.

[bitts]

I'm in the middle of writing up a definition as to what the bonsai methodology seems to be & then basing the 75 off of it . this is what I have so far.

 

 

a tank should be perceived as a whole while maintaining

proportion among elements. there should be a sense of

incompleteness combined with an certain asymmetry, to

create the whole. its transcendental nature should never over

shadow its simplicity. but while adhearing to these aspects.

there is also a need to yield to its inherently cyclical nature,

allowing for it to be viewed as a single living entity.

 

the greatest force working aganist this propper sence of

proportion is in fact found in this sence of incompleatness.

weather it arises as the misspecification that all space must be

filled. or simply the dissier to collect just one more coral.

when in fact the elemnts of rockwork, coral placment,

void, stocking selection build off of one in other. to

create a much greater effect when allowed to embrace this

incompleteness. forcing the veiwer to invision the potential

that shall be found only in the

 

so on & so forthe

 

 

 

I'm going to try & finish it up over the next couple of days. but any input would be welcome.

[animalmaster6]

I like it a lot.

 

Also if you can add it, I think smaller schools of fish stand out in Bonsai scapes more than a bunch of huge fish like tangs everywhere.

[pyronus]

Its all, like Zen and ####.

[bitts]

exactly all aspects must be in proportion.

 

other things that seem necessary are limiting coral types & numbers. increasing the amount of empty space or void. plus many others. its probably going to take a little while to set it all down but I think it will be fun to try to design the 75 around this methodology & see if it can actually be followed. then if it is what the results are.

[animalmaster6]

Yep I agree with that remark.

 

In Bonsai scapes you should have fewer frags, and more colonies.

[bitts]

I'm thinkin the most challenging aspect may be the part about incompleteness. limiting the corals to maybe 2 or 3 type's, then not adding anything else. like maybe monty & acro sps. then only a few frags of each.

 

the up side is it requires you to allow the colony's to become much larger than in a normal setup.

 

at this point I expect to set the 75 up as a bare bottom. which may or may not work well with this premise but I expect it to.

[animalmaster6]

So the 75 is going to be a Bare Bottom Bonsai? Gonna be cool

[pyronus]

Please starboard it at least. I barely put 1/2" of sand back in after I drilled my tank. BB is all well and good but looking at the glass all the time spoils the actual reefiness to me. You might actually have to dive on a few reefs to have my point of view though.

[bitts]

I actually love the look of a good bb. hate starboard, tile, so forth. personally like them best when the bottom is all reflective.but my two reasons for going this way would be with the stand top being open. I would be able to skip the light for the fuge, & if I have to move every 6, 9, 12 months while I go back to school it will be just so much easer. the 29 already has a 5"-6" dsb. making it a !#@#$% to move. thing is that sand is just so much more natural. filtration level is so much higher. if I could I would do a dsb but for now I think it best to hold off. one other benni of the bb is that for the first part of the tanks life it will probably be fish only, so i'll finally be able to have a tank with the amount of flow I like vs what the corals dictate. mmm. wonder if I can save up for an mp60. never happen. i do like the look of just a little sand with a few spots where its blow clear though so will see.

[animalmaster6]

Remember having no sand limits your fish choices dramatically.

[bitts]

defiantly a maybe

http://blog.fragd.it/2010/05/03/a-common-b...cropora-valida/

[bitts]

sorry for the unnatural color was having a little fun

 

mmm...

tabling acropora milipora

 

now how could this fit into everthing.

[pyronus]

Tabling acro's are so stunning. Having a cube is probably the easiest way to get great growth out of one. More people need to go diving, Acropora is so stunning in person. Its a shame the carribbean acro forests are dwindling.

 

I am already designing my next tank build, so you need to stop giving me all these ideas

 

 

Where can I find a build thread of that tank?

[aaron1987]

I'm flattered to see my tank in the post of the best bonsai tanks you've seen. I'm not sure it qualifies as I always found it to be a touch busy to be true-bonsai, but I did enjoy that it seemed to mimic a reef in that there was something jam-packed into every corner while still managing to maintain some form other than a jumble of rock with coral growing off it. Above all the whole composition should give the impression that the viewer could look for hours and not see everything I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[animalmaster6]

Table acros can add whole new features to aquascapes. Milleporas aren't usually tables.

[bitts]

pyro

as to the tank not sure as to the tank thread there is probable one some where but here are some things

http://www.reeftalk.com/forums/showthread....tone-coral-tank

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?d...TrUrl=Translate

http://new.ultimatereef.net/forums/showthread.php?t=332395

http://glassbox-design.com/2009/coral-maga...contest-no-t5s/

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.p...mp;pagenumber=1

 

 

 

 

 

Aaron

I'm so sorry to hear of your tank coming down. it was always one of my favorite tanks much like tigahboys.

 

please let us know when you start the next one.

[bitts]

ok so just acropora. no millepora, as far as tabling goes. mmm...

 

am which of the tabling corals will have the most vivid colors. aparently I need to do quite a bit of research still on sps. any sugestions. for the most part I'm being pretty consistent in hating everything like aways & only liking acro/miile. so that at least helps to limit things. I assume that once again a lot of this has to do with water flow. correct.

[spanko]

Here is a tabling Acro I got from calvin415. It was just a small frag and has grown well. He may have more as well as some different colors if you contact him. A great seller with some incredible packaging of the coral he sells.