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Aqua Lab Aquaria's Photo Dump, misc projects


kentmoney

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Hey guys,

 

My name is Kent Blakely and I love aquariums and "captive ecosystems" of all styles. My dream is to be a professional aquarist for the most discerning of clients because they will have the projects that challenge me to grow as a professional. If you're located in the Silicon Valley and would like to know more, please PM me. I offer a full line of retail goods like food, skimmers, lights, rimless low-iron aquariums, C02 injection equipment, soil, and other premium aquarium equipment. I don't mess around! Come visit me at my Mountain View, CA studio!

 

I've been doing aquariums for 10 years (with the member date to prove it :)), having my first legit reef tank my senior year of high school. I had aquaria before then, but this is when I took a serious interest. Nano-Reef has always been one of my main resources and I'm definitely indebted to the community!

 

I built my first custom AIO design which I took with me to college. It was an absolute hit in the dorms and it flourished. During my Junior year, I upgraded to a 29g with the AIO tank as the sump. It also did great, but I had to break it down while finishing up my Neuroscience degree from UCLA.

 

Since then a lot has happened, but as a teacher I was able to rekindle my love for aquariums and have now decided to take it to the next level.

 

I've recently been commissioned to outfit an entire Montessori elementary school campus with aquaria and other captive ecosystems. In the end it should be around 15 installations of varying sizes. Reefs, lagoons, planted tanks, paludariums, vivariums, and terrariums. A pond and a greenhouse as well.

 

I will also catalogue the installations at my design studio where I will have a variety of tanks.

 

Feed back and dialogue is always welcome!

 

 

Here is the tank that started it all. I built this after my hiatus from reefing, and after a year as a teacher. Super simple AIO design that was documented at this link: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/343922-my-classrooms-10g-mixed-reef-sps-clams-gorgs-more/

 

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Then I reconnected with an old high school buddy through reefing. He wanted an upgrade and I wanted to help him out! I ended up doing his DSA 65g for him and I'm really happy with the results. He scaped it himself, and I did everything under the hood.

 

That build was catalogued here: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/347650-marcs-dsa-neo-65g-custom-by-aqualab-aquaria/

 

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Here is a 10g freshwater installation in the kindergarten class. I hope you guys don't mind I'll be posting freshwater stuff too!

 

I run no C02 on this for the obvious safety reasons. Makes you a good aquarist real fast! :) The aquascape on this wasn't as dynamic as I would have liked in restrospect, but it still turned out good. Part of the reason is because I had students do the aquascape so we kept it simple.

 

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Here is a little planted aquarium I did for a home in San Francisco.

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Here is a betta tank I designed for the other kindergarten classroom. The concept was named, "Betta Paradise". I used one of those Eheim internal filters with LED light and put it on an ADA cube. hehe.

 

I purposefully chose hardscape features that would not risk a fin abrasion, so I ended up with this Japanese Pei Wei rock, I think it was called. Hygro simulates palm trees, and a little sandy beach where pods scurry around akin to those sand fleas we have here in California.

 

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I'm really excited about this project. It will be aptly called, "Jungle Reef". The system is "in wall".

 

Up above will be a rainforest vivarium wall/landing and down below will be a KISS ULNS reef system I'm designing. ~40g rimless low iron display, aluminum stand,

 

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Reef to be powered by Skimz oval DC pump skimmer, reactor, eshopps dosing, ATI T5s

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And a shot with the fishroom in the background

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Then this project materialized. This will be in the middle school lounge. 65g rimless, all custom. Refrigerated auto-feeding, floating lid design. This is high on the priority list so you'll see more in the coming weeks. This design allows the students to do classwork while sitting at the aquarium. I will be experimenting with a "cryptic tunnel filtration" feature.

 

 

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Another area I'm venturing into is carniverous plant bog terrariums. I've been collecting specimens in anticipation of this build. I've also designed a really cool internal filter/fogger design that I hope to unveil with this build. Here is some CP porn until then. Been getting good growth from everything.


We have heliamphora, darlingtonia, micro fly traps, sundews of different varieties, saracennias, and butterworts. And some utricularia too.

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Watch out buddy!

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The CP bog terrarium will live near my planted display. Please excuse the display, I recently ripped out the HC carpet for the betta aquarium so now I need to redo the foreground.

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And here is the 65g aquascape I've made. Really happy with how it turned out but I don't think the pictures do it justice. yet. Need to drill the tank next, eep!

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Here is a bonsai bowl I did

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What did you use for filter media in the little tank that u had first?

Hey, i've occasionally run ROX carbon, GFO, and those filterpads with chemical coating, but as of the last 6 months, I simply run chaeto and a mini cryptic section with no chemical filtration.

 

WOWZA!

Incredible systems! Really excited to see some of them mature!

 

 

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Epic thread here. Love it all!!!!!

 

 

I don't even follow threads anymore but u bet I'm following this one. Good work man!

 

 

Thanks a ton guys! It feels awesome when other people dig your work! :)

 

I'm frankly along for the ride as much as you guys because a lot of the planned concepts will be my first attempts. We'll see what happens and hopefully everyone can learn from my mistakes.

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No, they are able to photosynthesize all of their vital needs, but feeding will definitely encourage growth at a faster rate. However, you actually want to do everything opposite of typical plant care:

 

No fertz in the soil. The planting substrate should be sitting in standing water, these plants come from bogs so it's very wet. And they love good, intense light. I have them under some 10k LEDs, which I thought would be too weak, but they seem to be doing fine.

 

I've found that in the kitchen, they get a nice supply of fruit flies that just seem to come from no where. I've also seen that freeze-dried blood worms can be used if you rehydrate them and then place a little chunk on the trap. Make sure to trigger it closed. And finally, a light pinch on the closed trap will encourage it to seal which is a requirement to begin digestion.

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No, they are able to photosynthesize all of their vital needs, but feeding will definitely encourage growth at a faster rate. However, you actually want to do everything opposite of typical plant care:

 

No fertz in the soil. The planting substrate should be sitting in standing water, these plants come from bogs so it's very wet. And they love good, intense light. I have them under some 10k LEDs, which I thought would be too weak, but they seem to be doing fine.

 

I've found that in the kitchen, they get a nice supply of fruit flies that just seem to come from no where. I've also seen that freeze-dried blood worms can be used if you rehydrate them and then place a little chunk on the trap. Make sure to trigger it closed. And finally, a light pinch on the closed trap will encourage it to seal which is a requirement to begin digestion.

THank you, that is just how i have them.

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No, they are able to photosynthesize all of their vital needs, but feeding will definitely encourage growth at a faster rate. However, you actually want to do everything opposite of typical plant care:

 

No fertz in the soil. The planting substrate should be sitting in standing water, these plants come from bogs so it's very wet. And they love good, intense light. I have them under some 10k LEDs, which I thought would be too weak, but they seem to be doing fine.

 

I've found that in the kitchen, they get a nice supply of fruit flies that just seem to come from no where. I've also seen that freeze-dried blood worms can be used if you rehydrate them and then place a little chunk on the trap. Make sure to trigger it closed. And finally, a light pinch on the closed trap will encourage it to seal which is a requirement to begin digestion.

I forgot to add that tap water is also a big no-no, used distilled or RO/DI water as well.

 

What kind of overflow are you thinking of getting?

I will probably go with a slim overflow box of my design and and it should be pretty neat! :)

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Fun tanks! Awesome that you are making a living as an aquarist! Do you shop at California Carnivores? If not you should go ASAP.

 

http://www.californiacarnivores.com/

 

Had no idea about cali carnivores, I will definitely need to talk to them! I've been getting my stuff from Worlds Rare Plants in Half Moon Bay, nice people but the prices are pretty high.

 

Still working on the "make a living" off it part. :) But I'm starting to get traction and business is picking up. Being the STEM Director/Teacher for a Montessori School (barely) pays the bills for now. But I love teaching and my boss has really allowed me to experiment with bringing modern, high-tech aquaria into educational settings to inspire science learning. I am very interested in creating an NPO that deals specifically with science education, aquaria, and curriculum development. There are so many ways to learn from aquariums wether it be biology, ecology, technology, chemistry, organic chemistry -- shall I go on? For example, this year I am hoping to build a computerized kreisel with the kids so we can raise sexy shrimp larvae from our reproducing pair in the nano tank. I also want to culture phyto, bbs, and other live feeds with them as well. Really hands on stuff that forces working knowledge of science. And I've noticed that kids this age (4-6 grade) are very drawn to the idea of animal reproduction!

 

Really, what I want to do is build an aquarium empire and change what an aquarium is supposed to be in the mind of the average American. I've found that most people have never seen a modern reef tank and realized the gravity it possess. And they have outdated notions about care and aesthetics. ADA was allowed to display at a public aquarium in Tokyo; I think we need more exposure like this of the modern, conscientious "designer aquarium" in America and people will bite. Unfortunately, most discussion of aquariums in America goes to one of the reality shows installers, and I think we all know how serious hobbyists feel about their practices and principles.

 

I have ideas for product development, education, retail, wholesale, consultation, design, and more, and it extends beyond aquariums into any kind of "nature design". But I'm starting to talk a bit too much. :)

 

Very happy to talk to investors!

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