divecj5 Posted June 16, 2009 Share Posted June 16, 2009 Thanks for the information on the aquascape. I was talking about the actual rocks themselves. That must be one beast of a base rock I just asked because it looks incredible and wondered how it was pieced together. It looks like you definitely have some showstopper SPS in there....I'm sure they are going to be stunners when they reach the mini-colony size. Some of those colonies in your large tank were amazing...I bet they were hard to part with. Link to comment
34G Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 Thanks for the information on the aquascape. I was talking about the actual rocks themselves. That must be one beast of a base rock I just asked because it looks incredible and wondered how it was pieced together. It looks like you definitely have some showstopper SPS in there....I'm sure they are going to be stunners when they reach the mini-colony size. Some of those colonies in your large tank were amazing...I bet they were hard to part with. Thanks! Thats a big compliment I'm not sure I have any real 'special' SPS since I am not one to spend too much on LE frags but I try to get to the LFS when a new shipment comes in and get some of the nicer 'regular' SPS. You'd be pretty surprised what you can find if you get there first To me a beautiful tank is all about the tank as a whole and not individual corals. I love FTS and not so much individual coral shots. I honestly just can't really afford LE corals but I feel some of my maricultured stuff is just as nice Especially if you give the the right conditions...many of my SPS were bought as brown frags or small colonies that I liked the growth patterns of and hoped the color would turn out right. I also buy a lot of green SPS as I have found over the years that they gain color easiest and keep color easiest. For me anyways. I think if you saw the rocks without corals, you would not have even looked twice. The bottom rock is very large...over 10lbs. The top rock is about a pound or two. The top one just sits nice and snug on the bottom one. I decided to put some zoas and the low light birdsnest on the bottom rock (which also has the encrusted monti). Then epoxy the tabling acros to the area where the big rock meets the smaller top rock. Mostly so they don't shade anything and also to give them a lot of room to grow out. Aesthetically I also wanted the rock to look like a plateau. Then on top, I kind of just placed the acros in some kind of pleasing arrangement. Put some zoas in the middle of the SPS and they have filled in most of the empty rockwork now. Maybe I can get a good top down shot. None of the rocks are touching the back wall. Actually there are corals mounted 360 degrees around the island. So on the sides and back there are also corals. I just never took photos. My favorite SPS is not even in any of these pictures because I mounted it kind of in the back. I think that is also important to getting a natural look--putting corals around the sides and back of rockwork to get some depth. It kind of sucks when they are small but as they grow, they grow out from behind rocks and you get a real sense of depth. Anyways...just my opinions. Everyone has their own way and thats whats so great about this hobby! Link to comment
34G Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 I finally figured out how to adjust the whitebalance in photoshop with RAW files and I think my pictures are finally getting a more accurate color to them. I had been trying to figure out how to get all the blue out of the photos (that isn't seen in real life) for months and I never realized its as easy as using an eye dropper in the whitebalance editor in photoshop to select something white (sand) and it will adjust everything else accordingly. Here are some shots after whitebalance adjustment. I tried to get some top down shots but it was impossible so this is as close as I could get. They get a tiny bit distorted because of the angle I shot from but still kind of cool. Link to comment
RLC Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Keep the pics coming. Your tank is really rich in all the colors. I can't wait until I get my stocked. If only the Mantis would play nice. Link to comment
Kraylen Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Your tank sucks. omg opposite day. Link to comment
34G Posted June 17, 2009 Author Share Posted June 17, 2009 Keep the pics coming. Your tank is really rich in all the colors. I can't wait until I get my stocked. If only the Mantis would play nice. Do you have a mantis your trying to get out or is it something you put in the tank? Your tank sucks. omg opposite day. LOL...this is the best response I have ever had to the tank! HAhahahaa Link to comment
Kraylen Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 Seriously, I want to drink your tank water. Link to comment
RockinSmall Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 wow.. what a strange thing to say... funny tho.. Link to comment
davidr2340 Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 wow.. what a strange thing to say... funny tho.. Stick around this place... It'll get more "strange" then that!!! Link to comment
RLC Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 I built the Solana around him. He took a couple of frags of the plugs they were on. Click here to see the last page of our build and pics of the Mantis http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...1620&st=220 Link to comment
zjharva Posted June 17, 2009 Share Posted June 17, 2009 I think we might have a future totm! You have an amazing tank, and the room its in is amazing too! Link to comment
34G Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 Not feeling so great tonight, so home taking camera phone pics. Not the best quality but decent. They uploaded kind of small too. I found some Zoa eating Nudibranches the other day. Got the few I saw out and haven't found many yet but I am sure they are there, so I picked up a Sixline wrasse hoping he may eat them. As soon as he acclimated, I blew the zoas off and one nudibranch came off...he ate it right away! I found one more after that and he ended up eating it too. So far all my zoas look fine and are growing still. Pretty easy to tell when the nudi's are on them since they close up. Anyways, the wrasse (hes tiny): Some random shots: This is my favorite coral. Just so tiny still! Picked up 3 small Tuxedo Urchins for some of the hair algae I have and to hopefully keep the back wall a little cleaner. I hope they eat coraline! Link to comment
nano2u Posted June 20, 2009 Share Posted June 20, 2009 what a gorgeous tank. good job! Link to comment
34G Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 I think we might have a future totm! You have an amazing tank, and the room its in is amazing too! Thanks. It's been quite a lot of work (room and tank) so the compliments are nice to hear! what a gorgeous tank. good job! Thanks! Link to comment
atlweb Posted July 18, 2009 Share Posted July 18, 2009 any updates on this tank? Also, I skimmed through the entire thread briefly, and I was curious..... what kinda protein skimmer you got? And whether or not you like it? Your tank is extremely clean, and I want to model my solana very similarly. I pick it up next weekend, so I am just trying to do as much research as possible on it! Thanks a lot, and love your place! Link to comment
34G Posted July 18, 2009 Author Share Posted July 18, 2009 any updates on this tank? Also, I skimmed through the entire thread briefly, and I was curious..... what kinda protein skimmer you got? And whether or not you like it? Your tank is extremely clean, and I want to model my solana very similarly. I pick it up next weekend, so I am just trying to do as much research as possible on it! Thanks a lot, and love your place! I am not currently using a skimmer. I found it to be more of a pain than anything. I have a Tunze 9002 and it worked pretty well but did put some micro bubbles back into the tank. I also wanted the space for other stuff. I only used a skimmer for about 3 weeks. I do 5G water changes twice a week and that seems to be enough. The corals are growing incredibly fast and have all their color back. I will post some pics soon. Link to comment
E.intheC Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 That's an excellent looking tank! (Well, they're both great!) If you don't mind; what did you use to skin the stand for the Solana? That looks absolutely amazing. Thanks! Link to comment
npatching Posted December 18, 2010 Share Posted December 18, 2010 what kind of chiller are you using? where can I find plans to make a stand like this? Link to comment
edge121212 Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 amazing tank!!! so how many lbs of rock do you have total? Link to comment
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