Urbanek's 250

[jstuver]

Always love seeing your photos. I haven't had much time to comment my husband has had me busy looking for a new vehicle and I wanted to pull my hair out lol. At any rate we found one and now I can focus on salt again!

[urbaneks]

May 12th, 2016 - Response to Feedback

 

 

Love the stand and have to ask if there are any detailed pics on how they are hung and how you built them? Did you cut the wood down on the skin or ?

 

Starting a new build myself and would like to incorporate a few of your ideas into it as I love the distressed look myself!

 

Spectra - The doors are pretty simple to make. The fact that you do metal work will make them even easier. I built a frame the size of the door out of 3/4" angle iron. Once the frame was built, I used 1/2" plywood to fill the frame and attached to the metal with screws. Paint the plywood black so that light will not bleed through once you put the barnwood on. The barnwood just attaches to the 1/2" plywood.

 

Here is a shot of the doors while I was building them.

 

Here is a closer look at them attached to my cabinet.

 

 

 

Two things:

1)That pearlberry acro from a few pages ago is probably the coolest acro I've ever seen.

 

2)The photo collage of the 365 project should be a poster...and I'd like to hang one in my room! SOOOOOO cool.

 

ml86743 - Thanks so much. The Pearlberry is a very sweet coral. The collage would make a nice poster. May have to consider that at the end of the year.

 

Amazing work man. Even a poster would be stellar!

-Dave

 

Dave - Thanks!

 

Urbaneks, great shots!

1. Can share what's placed inside your sump with your skimmer?

2. What camera are you using for your shots? They look awesome!

 

Ancelot - I have a bio pellet reactor that is in the sump next to the skimmer. I run the AIO bio pellets. I shoot with a Canon 70d and most of the shots are taken with a 100mm Macro Lens.

[spectra]

May 12th, 2016 - Response to Feedback

 

 

 

Spectra - The doors are pretty simple to make. The fact that you do metal work will make them even easier. I built a frame the size of the door out of 3/4" angle iron. Once the frame was built, I used 1/2" plywood to fill the frame and attached to the metal with screws. Paint the plywood black so that light will not bleed through once you put the barnwood on. The barnwood just attaches to the 1/2" plywood.

 

Here is a shot of the doors while I was building them.

 

Here is a closer look at them attached to my cabinet.

 

 

 

 

 

So the wood on the doors is not that thick then? 1/2 maybe? Also any pics of the inside wondering how they attach?

 

Thanks! I like the simple design.

[ReefWeeds]

I always love checking out this thread, Urbaneks! Your photos are beautiful and I'm with Dave - I think your photo compilation would be an amazing reef poster - or reef calendar. Or something. I totally would want to hang that calendar in my office I love that you are capturing everything in photos like you are and it makes me want to do the same although my pictures are not as pretty to look at.

 

I also really enjoy the detail you provided on your stand. I love how you have your tank situated in the room and the stand really makes it look more like a beautiful piece of furniture that compliments your tank rather than a tank stand that is just there to hold the tank up. Not sure if that makes any sense!

[teenyreef]

Brad, I love the latest FTS and especially the low light pics. How do you set up the camera for the low light shots? Do you have to do a lot of post processing to handle white balance? I always have trouble with the blues blowing out all the other colors in low light.

 

Also, those acans are fantastic I'm on a (mostly fruitless) quest to get rainbow acans to color up properly in my tanks. How much PAR would you estimate they are under?

[urbaneks]

May 14th, 2016 - Response to Feedback

 

 

So the wood on the doors is not that thick then? 1/2 maybe? Also any pics of the inside wondering how they attach?

 

Thanks! I like the simple design.

 

spectra - Correct, the barn wood comes resawn at about 1/2" thick. When you add that to 1/2" plywood, you end up with the barnwood sticking out from the angle iron by about 1/4". When the doors attach to the cabinet, they sit on pieces of angle iron that run across the bottom of the cabinet and then magnet at the top. Since you will be going metal to metal, you should be able to just magnet all the way around.

 

I always love checking out this thread, Urbaneks! Your photos are beautiful and I'm with Dave - I think your photo compilation would be an amazing reef poster - or reef calendar. Or something. I totally would want to hang that calendar in my office I love that you are capturing everything in photos like you are and it makes me want to do the same although my pictures are not as pretty to look at.

 

I also really enjoy the detail you provided on your stand. I love how you have your tank situated in the room and the stand really makes it look more like a beautiful piece of furniture that compliments your tank rather than a tank stand that is just there to hold the tank up. Not sure if that makes any sense!

 

stellabule - Thanks for the views and comments. I've talked about a calendar at the end of the year. I will have see what the logistics would be to getting those out to people that would want them. Thanks again for taking the time to provide the detailed feedback. It's really appreciated.

 

Brad, I love the latest FTS and especially the low light pics. How do you set up the camera for the low light shots? Do you have to do a lot of post processing to handle white balance? I always have trouble with the blues blowing out all the other colors in low light.

 

Also, those acans are fantastic I'm on a (mostly fruitless) quest to get rainbow acans to color up properly in my tanks. How much PAR would you estimate they are under?

 

teenyreef - For the low light shots, you just really need a tripod since your shutter speed will be slow. I don't have to do any more post processing for a low light shot than I do for high light. Same work flow for either shot. I'm sorry but I can't be much help on the par value. I've never mapped my tank. What I can tell you is that the acans are about 2" off the sand and just outside the edge of the light.

[spectra]

May 14th, 2016 - Response to Feedback

 

 

 

spectra - Correct, the barn wood comes resawn at about 1/2" thick. When you add that to 1/2" plywood, you end up with the barnwood sticking out from the angle iron by about 1/4". When the doors attach to the cabinet, they sit on pieces of angle iron that run across the bottom of the cabinet and then magnet at the top. Since you will be going metal to metal, you should be able to just magnet all the way around.

 

 

Thanks for the info and do you have any pics of the bottom angle by chance? I kind get what you are saying just want to see it. And only the skeleton of my stand will be metal it will have a wood wrap over it.

[J-Ranko]

Whoa! How'd I miss this build.

 

Tank & stand - drool

Corals & fish - drool

Pics - drool

 

You take such amazing photos and have such an awesome tank, too! This hobby is now officially unfair.

[urbaneks]

 

Thanks for the info and do you have any pics of the bottom angle by chance? I kind get what you are saying just want to see it. And only the skeleton of my stand will be metal it will have a wood wrap over it.

 

Spectra - No problem, I hope the info was helpful. Here is a shot of my cabinet with the doors off. Look near the bottom, below the opening, you will see the angle iron. Look higher above the opening and you will see some small magnets, that is were the doors attach.

 

 

Whoa! How'd I miss this build.

 

Tank & stand - drool

Corals & fish - drool

Pics - drool

 

You take such amazing photos and have such an awesome tank, too! This hobby is now officially unfair.

 

J-Ranko - I'm glad you found me! Really appreciate the kind words.

[urbaneks]

May 15th, 2016 - Photo Update

 

 

 

Here is a more traditional FTS than the one that I posted the last go round. I hope this photo shows a bit better scale of the tank.

 

 

Here is a FTS from the back side of the tank. While I call this the back, it's actually the first view you see when you walk in our house. For reference, the photo below is the left most area of this shot.

 

 

 

Here is a shot of the back left side of the aquarium. I just recently did some rescaping to this side of the tank. This arch, which is a bit difficult to see here adds a nice element to this side of the tank.

 

 

 

Here is a shot of the arch that was mentioned in the photo above. From left to right, we have the Rocky Mountain Corals Skull Cracker, Unknown Wild, ORA Scripps Green Tip Stag, Pro Corals Rainbow, ORA Hawkins and ORA Blue Voodoo Stag.

[RollaJase]

Hands down, one of my all time favorite tanks. Tank is looking amazing my friend, phenomenal work.

[michaelrzachmann]

^^ agreed. Do you have any videos of the whole tank? That would be cool to watch

[urbaneks]

May 17th, 2016 - Response to Feedback

 

Hands down, one of my all time favorite tanks. Tank is looking amazing my friend, phenomenal work.

 

RollaJase - That's a really nice compliment. Thanks so much for the kind words. The recent shots have been pretty good captures of the tank.

 

^^ agreed. Do you have any videos of the whole tank? That would be cool to watch

 

michaelrzachmann - Sorry but no videos. I guess that will have to be an upcoming project for me. Thanks for the kind words.

[spectra]

Ok one last question I think I saw the Briwax on the reclaimed stuff but what did you use for the rest of it? I thought I read it somewhere but can not find it.......

 

Thanks and looking awesome as usual!

[Matteo]

this is literally exactly my dream build when I start mortgaging a house.

[HarryPotter]

this is literally exactly my dream build when I start mortgaging a house.

Mortgaging your soul more like! This tank must be crazy $$

[Matteo]

Mortgaging your soul more like! This tank must be crazy $$

Gotta set your goals high!

[urbaneks]

May 18th, 2016 - Response to Feedback

 

Ok one last question I think I saw the Briwax on the reclaimed stuff but what did you use for the rest of it? I thought I read it somewhere but can not find it.......

 

Thanks and looking awesome as usual!

 

Spectra - I painted the stand with Annie Sloan's Graphite Chalk Paint and then put the Annie Sloan Dark Wax over the top of the paint. If you google Annie Sloan, you will get a sense for the colors, options and techniques you can use. The paint goes on gray but then gets near black after the wax goes on. Here are a couple pics of the products and one when I first painted.

 

 

 

 

this is literally exactly my dream build when I start mortgaging a house.

 

Matteo - Appreciate that! I'm happy to provide an opinion when you start your build.

 

Mortgaging your soul more like! This tank must be crazy $$

 

I did sell my soul to the devil in order to finance the tank. Cost is relative to everything else you spend your money on. Some people are car people, some people golf 4 days a week, I reef! Oh and I have 2 teenage boys, that's where the rest of my money goes.

 

Gotta set your goals high!

 

[spectra]

Ok I thought I saw pics but could not find them.....

 

Thanks!

[urbaneks]

May 19th, 2016 - Pano FTS

 

 

I had these 3 images of the tank and thought it would help show the coral density if I pieced them together how they look in the tank. Thanks for looking!

[urbaneks]

May 25th, Photo Update

 

It's been a bit since I last updated but here are several new photos.

 

Front Left

 

Front Middle

 

Front Right

 

Abstract Top Down

 

Black Cap Basslet - Holy Crap Pose

 

Unknown Monti

 

Unknown Acro

 

Unknown Acro

 

 

[teenyreef]

That Basslet cracks me up!

Beautiful pictures as always. I think that last acro shot is my favorite. The colors are just gorgeous.

[uwdanno]

Awesome work. Whats your favorite piece in the tank?

[Hexadron]

I don't comment nearly enough on your beautiful photos, but I do have a question for you!

 

Are you still using the AIO Biopellets?

and

Have you considered any other probiotic-type media/methods? (Aquaforest, Zeovit, Carbon dosing/Vodka etc?)

[urbaneks]

May 26th, 2016 - Response to Feedback

 

That Basslet cracks me up!

Beautiful pictures as always. I think that last acro shot is my favorite. The colors are just gorgeous.

 

Thanks so much!

 

Awesome work. Whats your favorite piece in the tank?

 

That is a very difficult question but... It's probably my Oregon Tort and Pearl Berry

 

 

but there's always the Hawkins!

 

 

I don't comment nearly enough on your beautiful photos, but I do have a question for you!

 

Are you still using the AIO Biopellets?

and

Have you considered any other probiotic-type media/methods? (Aquaforest, Zeovit, Carbon dosing/Vodka etc?)

 

Thanks for the comment and question. I have ran regular bio pellets on my previous tank and now the AIO. I've never done AF, Zeo, etc as it just seemed like too much money and too many products to keep up with. That's not to say, I don't think they are good, just not practical for me.