ESPI 37 gallon 4/1/04

[Stingray]

Originally posted by Von digity

Forgive me, but I thought this tank was trying to capture the essence of a natural tropical lagoon system.  I have no knowledge of what a natural lagoon looks like, but can only imagine that it is much different from what a natural pristine "reef" looks like.  

 

Oh yeah and stingray, you obviously are a little prick. You think having short-term success with a 99 dollar POS nano-cube, keeping hardy corals gives you the right to talk alot of smack, don't you?

 

Wow, how ironic Von retarted? (or retarded), after you just smacked him down for having a far from natural looking pristine reef. Brilliant.

[Armadildo]

Originally posted by Stingray

Thank you for clarifying the concept of REEFKEEPING to me. I should be hoping my tank looks that good in 4-6 years then.

 

As far as adjusting the saturation Hues etc. come back in 4-6 years when you grasp the concept of photography and post editing for overexposure. It is an art, like your REEFKEEPING mastery.

 

Hey toolboy, I was ripping on the jokey Smurf comment you made in another persons thread about the dither on their pics.

 

Learn some history...

 

If you have never seen what a real lagoonal reef or shallow tidial flat reef looks like, then you have no frame of referance.

 

A pile of pristine rocks and anal retention is not reefing..... it is Micromanagement

 

Good luck with that receeding hairline in a few years d00d.

ps: and how long has your tank been running ?

oh, and DROOL dork. TOTALY UNREALISTIC on your 15 gallon..... but a nice "holding tank" for corals to be sold out of.

[Von digity]

Originally posted by Stingray

Wow, how ironic Von retarted? (or retarded), after you just smacked him down for having a far from natural looking pristine reef. Brilliant.

 

WTF are you talking about moron. The post above mine was the ONE talking about diving and natural reefs.

 

Your face belongs in my avatar.

[Armadildo]

StingNOOBIEray came out of the closet in January 14th to say......

 

Question: How often do you top off w/ water

Yes, this question means I'm a newbie.

 

I want to get the JBJ Nano Cube that you guys either love or hate.

 

Will I have to top off everyday? or every other day?

 

What is your routine?

 

 

 

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01-14-2004 11:19 AM

 

HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAH 3 month nano ### telling me my ###### is ugly........

 

CLASSIC.

 

Thanks d00d... made my night now I remember WHY I don't share here anymore.

[Stingray]

Originally posted by Arma#####

StingNOOBIEray came out of the closet in January 14th to say......  

 

 Question: How often do you top off w/ water  

Yes, this question means I'm a newbie.

 

I want to get the JBJ Nano Cube that you guys either love or hate.

 

Will I have to top off everyday? or every other day?

 

What is your routine?

 

 

 

Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged

 

01-14-2004 11:19 AM

 

HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAH   3 month nano ### telling me my ###### is ugly........  

 

CLASSIC.

 

Thanks d00d... made my night now I remember WHY I don't share here anymore.

 

Right, because a newbie can surpass what it took you 4-6 years to.

 

Oh, and it was dirty, not ugly. But it is what you say it is, Nano master.

[Armadildo]

you know nothing GRASSHOPPER

 

I look forward to your future " HELP ! I'm having a problem with.....(INSERT DILEMA HERE)" post.

 

oh, and PS you put way too much stuff in that small of a tank too soon. I hope you do not suffer a 3 months crash, or a nast outbreak of anything "bad" and "Dirty".

 

 

perhaps if a few of your other post don't have such a TROLL ring to them, you would be recieved better

[Undertheradar]

WHAAAAAADUP ESPI?!!!

Yeah, I had to register under a new name again too...(worx here). Tank looks nice, natural, and cluttered with critterness...like my desk after servicin' the woman.

Nice to see the entertainment is back!! It's been a while since I have fell out of my chair after reading a thread...and for the first time...Dave, you didnt start it this time!!! Stingray did!!! Heck, you're not even in the middle of it!! Von and Sting are!!!

 

"Your face belongs in my avatar."

-Von

 

That quote is so going in my sig space, if it's alright with you.

[matt the fiddler]

dave, if you were to start a talk show- i woudl buy stock in the brodcast company ;-)

 

really interested in where you got your fire coral.. have not seen that in any stores... [no wonder] auctually 4 years ago i ws diving in the keys, [wiht my usuall 3" all the time from the reef] and had a n00b diver go above me that couldn't control their boyancy, and fell into me.. pushing my left leg into a big stinking colony of firecoral. just past where my wetsuit covered.. man that welt lasted for ages...

 

=Þ so yea.. i watch for that stuff carefully..

 

will i be able to look forward to high end pics of this tank someday?

[burrito]

i like stingrays cube alot, your "real lagoon reef" is nice for you but not for all, dont diss on stingrays cube as it is quite nice and he has been pretty helpful to other with nanocube.

[Reefer_Buddha]

so dave, is this the worst newb month yet?

[MrKrispy]

ESPI, don't you miss this?

[Armadildo]

bah. I find it funny.

 

Aparently people are "mindset" in what looks good thesedays what with all the pictures of pristine Dutch minireef pics.

 

Anyone who has seen it in person knows it is indeed a "nifty tank"

 

oh, and Just for giggles, I tested my stuff across the board wiht every Salifert test kit on the market... AND then borrowed a friends LAMOTE kits....

 

results from both : NOMINAL and DEAD ON THE MONEY.

 

thats fairly l337 in my world

 

maybee this tank is more of what somepeople are looking for.....

 

 

10 grand 75 gallon tank. sorry, TOTALY UNREALISTIC, and I can no longer afford to have a "car" sitting in my living room

 

 

 

THIS IS WHAT SHOULD BE AIMED FOR.

 

As biotopes.

 

http://www.paticat.com/underwater/

[qfour20]

Dave,

 

I've read many of your posts since first finding this site. You are a prick. We all know that. A very knowledgable prick, mind you. But that's ok. At least you're a funny prick. Really funny, with a darn skippy tank, too.

 

I know that someday, when I finally get my tank together enough to post some pics, I'll get roasted by you on how it's just a box of rocks and corals, and looks nothing like a real reef. I'm sure you'll be right, too. Anyways, I wanted to know if you could direct me to some resources (online, books, etc.) that I could look into about aquascaping and species placement, so that I have a fighting chance to not get flamed by you when I post pics of my tank.

 

Oh, and please take some high-res pictures of your tank. I would really enjoy looking at them.

 

Sorry if this post is rambling and disconjointed. It's late on a friday and my brain is already out for the weekend.

 

-q

 

**edit** Left out something very important: The tank looks spectacular, Dave. I hope you and the "kittah" enjoy it.

[JLTRUK]

Building on what Abs has stated, not everyone is fortunate enough to live in an area where corals are readily available. So they are limited by the LFS stock, or if they can afford it buy online. I am very lucky to live in SoCal and within in driving distance to multiple fish stores, even major wholesalers.

 

Many are not, and unless you want to go online and pay someone 75 bucks for a zoo rock with 4 freaking polyps and then 40 bucks to ship to you, you'll go broke before you know it.

 

So yah, I just wanted to rant on how expensive the online retailers are...and also say Espis tank is probably older than many of the tanks of those criticizing them.

 

I would also like to say that for a tank that is 4 years old, if those that critiize have even seen 4 year old tanks, is looking really great. I'll tell you this much, I maintained my highschools bio tanks for the 4 years I was there when you are trying to create a specific biotope this is exactly what it looks like.

 

Different strokes for different folks.

[Fishtails]

Kris just summed all this talk up in his paragraphs he wrote, and he's totally correct.

 

I would say that more than 95% of the reefkeepers tanks are not natural looking, but rather an 'artificial reef'. And, I'd say to have the natural reef biotope would be much more difficult than our tanks.

 

Dave has put many years into his tank, and everytime I see it, it marvels me, as he was one of the 1st inspirations to me when I joined here, close to 2.5 yrs. I believe.

 

The so called 'dirty look' most of you descibe, is how an actual lagoon reef looks. Start ya' researching peoples and maybe you'd learn. In most pictures I've seen, the lagoon has that 'dirty' look, but then test the water, it is some of the best considering it's one of the less 'messed with' part of the reef.

 

burrito i like stingrays cube alot, your "real lagoon reef" is nice for you but not for all, dont diss on stingrays cube as it is quite nice and he has been pretty helpful to other with nanocube.

 

Haha. Now that the reef in a box is out, everyone is gettin one. Try you a lagoon setup and see if it's as easy a so called reef tank. Also, no matter how much he's helped peoples with nano-cubes, reseach on this guy Dave, he's helped 100's, if not 1000's of people. I see so many nano-cubes, it disgust me. It's just another fad for those who are to lazy to actually 'start from scratch' as I call it.

 

Right, because a newbie can surpass what it took you 4-6 years to.

 

As for this, anyone can buy a Nano-Cube and make it look good. I'd love to see you Mr.StingRay, go start up a lagoon reef, or any 'advanced' reef for that. Anyone can fill up a box with water and rock and then plug it in.

 

I miss the old NR days.

 

Edit: Not everyone who buys a Nano-Cube is lazy, so I am not trying to get onto everyone w/ one, as you prolly know what ur doing.

[JLTRUK]

hey now....I have a 100gal reef and a nano cube...dont hate. I dont make fun of people because their tanks are smaller than my 100gal or because they didnt do what I did with my tank.

 

Your tank is smaller than my sump...I dont clown on you for that

[Fishtails]

Edit: Not everyone who buys a Nano-Cube is lazy, so I am not trying to get onto everyone w/ one, as you prolly know what ur doing.

 

You would happen to be one of them. I know you, and I've seen you're works, you are doing things right.

[JLTRUK]

ok cool:)

[john76]

Back to the original point......

 

Great looking biotope. Looks like it belongs in a state aquarium.

 

How are you controlling/inhibiting the coral growth(polyps, gsps, aptasia etc...). Manual removal I guess? Or limiting specific nutrients maybe?

[Armadildo]

I am limiting and rationing the dosages of nutrients through waterchanges and skimming. I run a DIATOM FILTER on it once a month for a few hours with a super heavy load of .02 micron powdered activated carbon and some Diatomacious Earth for polishing. I scrape the glass about twice a month, and harvest Caulerpa once a month ( unless it is showing signs of melt, and I remove strands that are going sexual. I had an entire section die out only a few weeks ago, and it made soup out of my tank LOL.

 

I actualy did a 5 gallon W/c today since some of my GSP looked a tad under expanded. They perked right up

 

as to the Aiptasia, they are being "watched" very carefully. I nuked the first one in a year lastnight as it decided to crawl into a patch of zoos and wage "turf war".

 

too bad... LOOOZZERRRRR !

[MrKrispy]

BWAH!

[DitchPlains]

I have to say its really very good to see someone doing something besides the typical reef and I applaud your unique approach. I would love to try something like this myself, but I have to disagree with your specimens, and maybe its wrong to subject them to this enviroment. Firstly, from your fuzzy pic it looks like you have a Tomato Clown or a Melanopus Clown and two Blue Damsels. All of these fish although hardy are not found anywhere near a lagoon. They are Western Pacific fish, usually Australia (Great Barrier Reef) Marshall, Soicety, and Cook Islands, all of these places have reef's which do not have the same algae that a lagoon would have. The water in these regions and reefs are generally impeccably clear. I'm not knocking your attempt, I just think your fish are not native to these conditons, and although the Damsel's might do fine (minding that they two aren't normally found in this water) could be subjecting them to shorter lifespans just for viewing pleasure. Thats my two cents. :nerd:

[DitchPlains]

What I was saying is that these fish come from high surge zones, not intertidal zones such as a lagoon. Most of these Island are Archepelagos, except for Indonesia, and the way your lagoon looks seems much more Caribeenesque then Western Pacific and this is from my Surfing, Diving experience. Thus your fish being Western pacific don't look like they belong in there. I have surfed and dived in both the Canary Islands, Mentawi's (indonesia) as well as Fiji (Tavarua, Cloud Break, Resturanst etc..) all of these are high surge (extreme wave action) and in all of these places I have seen at least one of these types of fish on dives or snorkeling. :nerd:

[Armadildo]

^^^^^^^^^^^^

yeah.

 

Thanks for your words

From a purist stand point I can agree, but I have seen Blue Damsels on very very shallow flats and in rock pools before too.

as to the Clowns ( mated pair of tomatos) I have had them in 3 tanks for 5 + years. They were in a large 75 gallon, a 10, and now the 37. The 37 has had a lot of current before at times, and it can actualy be considered the back side of the "break zone" to a fringeing reef that protects a lagoon if I increase some of the flow. They seem really happy and at home in this tank and actualy they have cleaned a few patches of rocks and laid eggs 3 times to my knowledge. The Female Tomato is "queen bee" in the tank too. She tends to "represent-represent yo yo yo "

[DitchPlains]

Thanks for the reply, yes a fringing reef makes more sense, but I can't argue with results, if she has bred and if she feels at home, the enviroment may suit her, as far as Blue Damsels are concerned I haven't seen them in tide pools, but thats not to say their not there...lol (they are a very hardy fish) I never liked walking across tide pool areas, especially in Indo(afraid of stone fish), was easier to take a boat trip then be stuck on mainland with mosquitos(doesn't want malaria), etc... The only lagoon I really rember swimming in was in the Bahmas on Salt Key island, I was on a cruise years back, it was semi-clear and had many tide pools as it was enclosed or encicled by rocks(possibly constructed), I think its murkiness might have been man made by the rocks. Anyways, good luck with your very unique tank. You might want a emerald crab for that Bubble algae in the pic, unless you got one already. take care...ciao;)