Mitten_reef’s IM30L

[WV Reefer]

1 minute ago, mitten_reef said:

Insane shots of the Rics tonight

Wow!!! Great pics. 😍

 

makes me want some. 

[pricewayne]

AGH! Am just seeing your journal and it is stunning!!!

And thank you for your input on the IM tanks. I ordered 50g EXT lagoon earlier this afternoon and am SO excited.

 

Still need to figure out a stand solution, & wow I love yours -- it's very similar to what I've had in mind. Is it a welded steel frame? I've been looking at T slot aluminum as an option for my frame... if I can figure out how to order or get a quote on it that is lol.

Edited May 25, 2019 by pricewayne
typo

[banasophia]

25 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

Insane shots of the Rics tonight

Oh man those Ricordea Floridas are incredible... do you mind saying again what you do to care for them? Are you target feeding them?

[mitten_reef]

2 minutes ago, pricewayne said:

AGH! Am just seeing your journal and it is stunning!!!

And thank you for your input on the IM tanks. I ordered 50g EXT lagoon earlier this afternoon and am SO excited.

 

Still need to figure out a stand solution, wow I love yours -- it's very similar to what I've had in mind. Is it a welded steel frame? I've been looking at T slot aluminum an option for my frame... if I can figure out how to order or get a quote on it that is lol.

Thanks for stopping by.  Glad you enjoy the pics.  

 

I really don't think you could go wrong with IM especially if customization is what you're after.  I think you nailed it on the interior space.  The other one may have the right exterior dimensions, but you lose some space from the internal overflow going to the tank floor.

 

my stand?  it is the basic L-bracket stand for 40G breeder.  I put a nice thick plywood on top and sealed with some polyurethane.  Back when I was ambitious, I was gonna wrap the whole thing in nice plywood with magnet, but as you can see, that project didn't get far.  😅  Next tank, I'd probably start by building a stand first.  If you're handy, there's a good guide on ReefCentral by a guy named RocketEngineer (link) on how to assemble a stand using standard 2 by X lumber.  People adopted the structure design and then post various finishes that they've done on the linked thread. 

[mitten_reef]

6 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Oh man those Ricordea Floridas are incredible... do you mind saying again what you do to care for them? Are you target feeding them?

they catch the leftover from when I broadcast feeding my acro?  They do show feeding response then, they get all puckered up.  I've never tried target feeding them, should I? 

[pricewayne]

2 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

Thanks for stopping by.  Glad you enjoy the pics.  

 

I really don't think you could go wrong with IM especially if customization is what you're after.  I think you nailed it on the interior space.  The other one may have the right exterior dimensions, but you lose some space from the internal overflow going to the tank floor.

 

my stand?  it is the basic L-bracket stand for 40G breeder.  I put a nice thick plywood on top and sealed with some polyurethane.  Back when I was ambitious, I was gonna wrap the whole thing in nice plywood with magnet, but as you can see, that project didn't get far.  😅  Next tank, I'd probably start by building a stand first.  If you're handy, there's a good guide on ReefCentral by a guy named RocketEngineer (link) on how to assemble a stand using standard 2 by X lumber.  People adopted the structure design and then post various finishes that they've done on the linked thread. 

Coral and livestock you've chosen is wonderful.

Oddly, I actually love the open view into the sump area with the metal frame around it! I can get handy, but what gets tough is access to all the tools I'd need. I'm thinking a very similar metal frame of some sort and wood board top, covered sides in some sort of paneling and then possibly do a sliding door on the front. This all assumes I can make my dreams come true 😉

 

Gonna have to look into the L bracket stands -- I think the hardest part (or most costly part) will be finding the metal frame, at the dimensions I'm hoping for 🤞

[banasophia]

30 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

they catch the leftover from when I broadcast feeding my acro?  They do show feeding response then, they get all puckered up.  I've never tried target feeding them, should I? 

What ever you’re doing, keep doing it... I was only asking cuz yours look amazing! Mine look kinda neglected, so I wasn’t sure if I needed to do something different. 

[mitten_reef]

@banasophia here’s one that I missed the other night. 

 

[mitten_reef]

You can tell I took some pics last night

 

[mitten_reef]

Next up

 

[Melfy77]

On 5/24/2019 at 11:16 PM, mitten_reef said:

Insane shots of the Rics tonight

I'm drooling on my phone while looking at these pics!!!!! Nevermind Tinder rics is all I need😂

[mitten_reef]

5 hours ago, Melfy77 said:

I'm drooling on my phone while looking at these pics!!!!! Nevermind Tinder rics is all I need😂

Thank you!  

 

Here's to the comeback kid, Bird of Paradise!  It took nearly a year after my giant colony collapsed.

[pricewayne]

7 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

Thank you!  

 

Here's to the comeback kid, Bird of Paradise!  It took nearly a year after my giant colony collapsed.

Looks huge next to the frags around it!! I love birds of paradise 🙂

[mitten_reef]

3 minutes ago, pricewayne said:

Looks huge next to the frags around it!! I love birds of paradise 🙂

BoP will forever have a spot in my tank, it's a beautiful coral.  It is currently the biggest piece on the frag rack for sure, but it is far from what it once was. 

The colony collapsed last July, I placed a frag of hawkin echinata on it (thought temporarily).  and it started a major coral warfare within a few days that killed nearly the entire thing, and one other acro that caught the slime from the fight.  

[pricewayne]

1 minute ago, mitten_reef said:

BoP will forever have a spot in my tank, it's a beautiful coral.  It is currently the biggest piece on the frag rack for sure, but it is far from what it once was. 

The colony collapsed last July, I placed a frag of hawkin echinata on it (thought temporarily).  and it started a major coral warfare within a few days that killed nearly the entire thing, and one other acro that caught the slime from the fight.  

Woooooow, wow wow... ow.

Hawkins echinata is on my list for future stocking and someone was just telling me about how aggressive (and powerful) it is!! Do you still have the echinata?

[mitten_reef]

5 minutes ago, pricewayne said:

Woooooow, wow wow... ow.

Hawkins echinata is on my list for future stocking and someone was just telling me about how aggressive (and powerful) it is!! Do you still have the echinata?

nope, the hawkin also died in that coral war.    

[mitten_reef]

This should wrap up the last bit of May updates. The acro’s colors are coming in quite nicely, some are a bit too green still. 

 

[pricewayne]

14 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

This should wrap up the last bit of May updates. The acro’s colors are coming in quite nicely, some are a bit too green still. 

 

Love love love. I’m prob going to reach out for input//tips//recommendations on acro stocking once I get my lagoon wet and ready to start stocking!

[mitten_reef]

So, this happened this morning.  Can't be any happier with the communication and the corals I received from fellow member @pokerdobe.  Content arrived well packaged.  Thanks again!

I finally got my hands on the famous @metrokat's katropora, and it is as good as all the pics I've seen!!!  need to get real camera out for these ones.

[pokerdobe]

Looking good and thanks for the props! First time shipping, so I was really nervous. 

[metrokat]

Aww! I love it, thanks for tagging me and I'm glad the Kat went to you. 

[mitten_reef]

Went salmon fishing with some friends last Thursday out on the open water of Lake Michigan. A decent haul for 5-hour trip, 14 fish, 6 guys each took home 10+ lbs of salmon and lake trout filets. 

All in all, a good day of skipping work 😄🤪. 

 

 

[tanacharison]

5 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

Went salmon fishing with some friends last Thursday out on the open water of Lake Michigan. A decent haul for 5-hour trip, 14 fish, 6 guys each took home 10+ lbs of salmon and lake trout filets. 

All in all, a good day of skipping work 😄🤪. 

 

 

I'm totally jealous! I attempted salmon once out of Erie... I had more action going on in my refugium. Send fresh caught food pics. I need more encouragment to leave the house.😂

[FISHnChix]

14 minutes ago, mitten_reef said:

Went salmon fishing with some friends last Thursday out on the open water of Lake Michigan. A decent haul for 5-hour trip, 14 fish, 6 guys each took home 10+ lbs of salmon and lake trout filets. 

All in all, a good day of skipping work 😄🤪. 

 

 

Nice haul!!!! Sounds like you guys had a blast!!

[mitten_reef]

11 hours ago, tanacharison said:

I'm totally jealous! I attempted salmon once out of Erie... I had more action going on in my refugium. Send fresh caught food pics. I need more encouragment to leave the house.😂

according to our guide/captain.  Salmon was introduced to the lake to combat an overgrowth in population of alewives (small fish) a few decades ago. It then became a hit with the sport fishing fans.  Michigan Dept of Natural Resource since then has been very good at managing the salmon population by stocking the upstream waterways with baby fish.  All that said, I don't know who manage lake Erie.

 

I'll be sure to get some nice pics of the fish next time I cook one up 👍🏼

  

11 hours ago, FISHnChix said:

Nice haul!!!! Sounds like you guys had a blast!!

It was definitely worth taking the PTO for, the most successful charter I've been on.  I haven't been on that many though so it's easy to "beat the record".   I've done a few in south FL, but none of those trips had as many catch as this last one.