hypostatic Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Wow. Such photography. Very color. Much impressed. Wow. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Wow. Such photography. Very color. Much impressed. Wow. Link to comment
urbaneks Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 January 13th, 2014 - Response to Feedback So beautiful man. Thanks for sharing. 4x5 - Thanks so much I really appreciate the comments. Wow. Such photography. Very color. Much impressed. Wow. Thank you! Amaze Much appreciated Wow. Such photography. Very color. Much impressed. Wow. Not sure what do say? Nice dog. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Not sure what do say? Nice dog. It's an internet meme Link to comment
urbaneks Posted January 13, 2014 Author Share Posted January 13, 2014 January 13th, 2014 - Photo update Dominating Corals As much as we want to chose which corals are the center pieces of the aquarium, often times it's the corals themselves that makes that decision for us. You can go back to the first coral photos that I posted and you will find both the Purple Rimmed Green Monti and the Blue Oregon Tort. It's not clear why these two corals have responded better than other corals that were added at the same time and have had the identical care over the years. This FTS really shows how much the Green Monti Cap and the Blue Tort dominate the tank The Monti actually dates back to my Nano Cube and when first placed into this display, it was pretty browned out. It's funny to view the old photos of this tank and see how many times I had to move the Monti Cap as it kept outgrowing it's location. The Monti has been locked down in that spot for almost 2 years now and is by far the largest coral I have. It's difficult to tell from the photo but Monti is now 18" from front to back. While many people frown on the Monti Caps, I love the growth forms and vivid colors that they provide. To me the Monti's have a classic reef formation to them. Here are a few photos of the Monti Cap that I feel highlight the coral. Close Up of the Green Monti Cap - Taken under MH's Only Another Shot of the Green Monti - Taken under MH and T5's I really like this photo, the Green Monti helps to frame the center trench and the big green reflection is a nice added benefit The Oregon Tort is one of only a handful of corals that I purchased through an online vendor (Rocky Mtn Frags to be exact). Most of the people who visit the house gravitate to this coral as their favorite, I too am very fond of the Tort. If you look at the FTS, you will notice that I've added pieces of this coral to multiple locations in the tank. I'm a big fan of a more natural looking aqua scape which includes using the same coral in multiple locations. If you think of in terms of landscaping, the best looking yards typically have duplicate plants in varying locations of the yard. Close Up of the Oregon Tort Another shot of the Tort, this one shows some of the varying color and texture you get with this coral This is a photo that I've posted once before, I thought it was a great addition for showing the beauty of the Tort In summary, the Green Monti and the Oregon Tort have become the focal points of my aquarium. In the beginning, I would not have hoped that the Monti would become a center piece for the aquarium but you don't always get to chose what does well and what doesn't. As the saying goes, when you get lemons, make lemonade. I think that is good advice for reefing, sometimes it's best to embrace what you have instead of always wanting something else. Another reflection shot that highlights the beauty of these two corals Link to comment
VABumpkin Posted January 13, 2014 Share Posted January 13, 2014 Hey urbaneks if I may make a suggestion I recommend using flickr. You'll see a huge difference in pixel density. Tank is beautiful as always! Link to comment
urbaneks Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 Hey urbaneks if I may make a suggestion I recommend using flickr. You'll see a huge difference in pixel density. Tank is beautiful as always! VABumpkin - Thanks for the suggestion. It's interesting timing, I just received an email this morning saying that my Photobucket account was close to being full. I will make the jump over to Flickr and try them out. I do always re-save my images down to 720 pixels wide so the files are not as large. This could actually be the reason you are only seeing the smaller pixel densities. At any rate, thanks for the views, comments and suggestions. Link to comment
markalot Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Tank is gorgeous as always, and I love seeing all the viewpoints. Question; have you ever tester PAR in this tank? A far as photo sites, on my tablet I am redirected to a mobile site when viewing an image and stuck with a very small version. Ok for a phone but a good site should be able to serve up a proper image. I pay for Imageshack and while it has issues I have yet to find a more reliable site for storing my photos. Link to comment
VABumpkin Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Flickr is free up to 1 Terrabyte and no automatic image resizing. You can also set it so no one can copy and paste or download your photos. Food for thought. Link to comment
TheKleinReef Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 +1 on Flickr! Beautiful shots! I need me some Oregon and Cali Tort. Link to comment
Cameron6796 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Is the tort naturally a fast grower i know the monti is Link to comment
urbaneks Posted January 14, 2014 Author Share Posted January 14, 2014 January 13th, 2014 - Response to Feedback Tank is gorgeous as always, and I love seeing all the viewpoints.Question; have you ever tester PAR in this tank? Thanks much on the comments. I have never ran a PAR meter on the tank but I've seen readings from the same light on other threads. With an 18" tall tank and the light 12" above the tank, the readings were about 550 at the surface and 300 at the sand bed. I'm able to keep SPS on the lowest rocks in the tank without any issues. Flickr is free up to 1 Terrabyte and no automatic image resizing. You can also set it so no one can copy and paste or download your photos. Food for thought. Thanks for the info. I will be giving it a go after I fill up my photo bucket. Beautiful shots! I need me some Oregon and Cali Tort. Thanks! I know it's said alot with most SPS but the Torts especially love flow. The big piece in my tank petty much gets a direct blasting from one of my MP40s. I think heavy flow is a key to me having success with this coral. Is the tort naturally a fast grower i know the monti is I would not classify it as a fast grower. If you look back a couple pages in my journal, I have some progression shots of this coral. It's been growing in that spot for almost 3 years now. I have fragged it many times to place in my tank and give to friends but it's typically been off the back of the coral. Link to comment
East1 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Wow, great tank! also posting that pic to the gallery I think inadvertently caused nano-reef to DDOS your photobucket Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Gallery photos are actually hosted on N-R, they aren't linked. He's just popular Link to comment
PODPIMP Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 I never realized that was an oregon tort before. Looking at your pics I always thought it was some type of stag or cali tort. Looking at the close up I can see it is indeed the oregon. Thant's awesome! I can't wait for my little guy to grow up I just read through your entire thread and I am blown away. When you started this tank I took a leave from the hobby. I needed a break since I cared for reefs since 1996. I didn't really start following until recently. Your attention to detail is what separates this from other nice tanks. Your house must be spotless lol The only thing that I would do to improve this display is to get a little more color contrast. Blue and green are the predominant colors since the cap and tort took over. It would really showcase the corals if you had a nice size red table or milli growing on the right formation. A fast growing large red table trimmed with white growth tips would be my first choice (maybe even throw in a hot pink stylo pistillata as well) Regardless, you tank is an inspiration and a model that I will follow for sure. Beautifully done. Link to comment
Sunar357 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Love the monti! That thing is gorgeous! Link to comment
East1 Posted January 14, 2014 Share Posted January 14, 2014 Gallery photos are actually hosted on N-R, they aren't linked. He's just popular yeah buuuut he had a link to the thread on the descriptor and I assume it drove people en-masse here! Link to comment
urbaneks Posted January 15, 2014 Author Share Posted January 15, 2014 January 14th, 2014 - Response to Feedback Wow, great tank! also posting that pic to the gallery I think inadvertently caused nano-reef to DDOS your photobucket Thanks for the view and comment. I guess there has been some good traffic on NR lately sine I exceeded the bandwidth. Gallery photos are actually hosted on N-R, they aren't linked. He's just popular Popular! I feel so cool. I never realized that was an oregon tort before. Looking at your pics I always thought it was some type of stag or cali tort. Looking at the close up I can see it is indeed the oregon. Thant's awesome! I can't wait for my little guy to grow up I just read through your entire thread and I am blown away. When you started this tank I took a leave from the hobby. I needed a break since I cared for reefs since 1996. I didn't really start following until recently. Your attention to detail is what separates this from other nice tanks. Your house must be spotless lol The only thing that I would do to improve this display is to get a little more color contrast. Blue and green are the predominant colors since the cap and tort took over. It would really showcase the corals if you had a nice size red table or milli growing on the right formation. A fast growing large red table trimmed with white growth tips would be my first choice (maybe even throw in a hot pink stylo pistillata as well) Regardless, you tank is an inspiration and a model that I will follow for sure. Beautifully done. Thank you very much for the kind words and the suggestion for improvement. I've been on the lookout for some of the corals you mentioned in your post. I actually had a wonderful piece of Red Planet that was doing amazingly well and just one day started to STN. As for the Tort, the Cali and Oregon look very much alike depending on the light. Give yours lots of light, more light equal more blue. I have some pieces lower in the tank and they have a bit of green at the base. You nailed it on the house, we run a pretty tight ship around here. I have two teenagers so you got to have clear expectations. Lastly, welcome back to the hobby! Love the monti! That thing is gorgeous! I appreciate that. It's one of the corals that grows on you. No pun intended. yeah buuuut he had a link to the thread on the descriptor and I assume it drove people en-masse here! I guess I over estimated the effectiveness of that tactic. I really do seek for feedback on the tank. It's the sharing with each other that makes this hobby great. Link to comment
urbaneks Posted January 16, 2014 Author Share Posted January 16, 2014 January 15th, 2014 - Photo Update I had a few photos in the photo bucket that had not been posted yet so I thought I would add them to the journal. This first photo is of one of my two Barlett's Anthias. I originally purchase 3 of them, one male and two females. Shortly after I brought them home, one of the females jumped out of the tank. For what ever reason, the remaining female went male and the two fought for dominance. Now the one pictured remains in hiding underneath a Monti Cap and among the Zoas. As long as he stays in this spot, he does not get chased. As soon as he comes out the other one chases him back. I've considered adding more Anthias to see if it will reverse but I'm afraid it may do more harm than good. Anthias in Hiding Someone recently posted a thread here on NR about being ready for SPS and were looking for an easier to keep SPS. I strongly recommend that first timers try their hand at birdsnest. A green birdsnest that I still have to this day was my first SPS and has been a very productive grower for me. I added this pink birdsnest about a year ago. While it does not grow nearly as fast as the green, it's been a good hardy coral. Birdsnest - An good starter SPS One of my bigger regrets in the aquarium is the addition of these Clove Polyps. While not my biggest, it ranks up there in the top 5. I originally added the cloves low in the aquarium towards the back of the center trench. It took them about 3 months to slow move like a snail from the position I put them in to the top of right island. While the corals themselves aren't aggressive with stinging, they will attach to about anything and then begin shading SPS. These have outgrown and smothered 3 pieces of SPS on me. Just in the last month, I've stared pulling out large chunks of it and trading it in at the LFS. Clove Polyps - One of my bigger regrets I'm not sure what kind of acro this is, I purchased it from the LFS as a Maricultured coral. What I find interesting about this coral and coral in general is how much lighting impacts their coloration. While cleaning the tank, I broke off about a 2" section of the coral (what you see in the photo). I ended up mounting it about 2" higher in the tank the original piece. The higher piece is this beautiful blue that you see while the other piece is more gray and green. You would not think that 2" of placement would make that much of a difference. Unknown Acro - Lighting difference with just 2" higher in the tank Link to comment
daletu Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 No matter how many times I have visited this thread, it always impressed me and making me drool every time! This really is the most beautiful tank I have ever seem. Link to comment
urbaneks Posted January 17, 2014 Author Share Posted January 17, 2014 January 16th, 2014 - Response to Feedback No matter how many times I have visited this thread, it always impressed me and making me drool every time! This really is the most beautiful tank I have ever seem. Even if you only mean 1/4 of what you said there, I'm deeply flattered. I love the hobby, love to share and love to get feedback on the tank. Much appreciated. ^^^^ This Just as I said above, thanks so much for the encouraging words. Very cool updates! Thanks! Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Always a pleasure visiting here Very healthy SPS and that blue Acro is a beauty. Amazing how sensitive/reactive some of these Acro types are. Link to comment
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