Urbanek's ADA Trio

[moosubi]

This is some beautiful work! I didn't expect the reefing scene to be as large as it is out here in the desert  kudos to your build, sir!

[DaveFason]

Great stuff as normal. Love the filefish pair. One of my favorite fish to date!

 

[Pjanssen]

There is nothing about this build that I don't absolutely  LOVE! 

[urbaneks]

12 hours ago, moosubi said:

This is some beautiful work! I didn't expect the reefing scene to be as large as it is out here in the desert  kudos to your build, sir!

Really appreciate that!  There are lots of reefers here in the valley.  If you have not been to one of the PROP auctions or FRAG events, you should consider it.  Lots of great people here in AZ and the hobby.  

 

4 hours ago, DaveFason said:

Great stuff as normal. Love the filefish pair. One of my favorite fish to date!

Thanks Dave!  The firefish are awesome.  I'm starting to think about an Exquisite pair for one of the other tanks.  

 

3 hours ago, Pjanssen said:

There is nothing about this build that I don't absolutely  LOVE! 

Awesome.  Thanks so much for the view and comment.  

[davy jones]

Stunning. Love how clean the tanks always look in the pictures, not a speck of algae or dirty glass/sand anywhere.

[lkoechle]

Not gonna lie, I don't know why I haven't clicked until now.  Gorgeous! Love the lids, don't take away from the tanks at all!

[urbaneks]

On 5/16/2017 at 11:46 AM, dirtrider225 said:

Stunning. Love how clean the tanks always look in the pictures, not a speck of algae or dirty glass/sand anywhere.

Thanks for the view and comment.  I'm glad someone appreciates the time I put in to keep the tanks looking that way. 

 

On 5/17/2017 at 1:47 PM, lkoechle said:

Not gonna lie, I don't know why I haven't clicked until now.  Gorgeous! Love the lids, don't take away from the tanks at all!

Thanks for taking the time to click.  Hope you find time to stop in more often. 

[urbaneks]

May 20th, 2017 - Photo Update

Not much change in the last week.  Corals are certainly growing and encrusting but color is not awesome yet.  Nutrient levels are very low (0 phos/0 nitr).  Working on getting those up just a bit while keeping alk stable.  Here are a few shots, on the coral shots I tried to get decent exposure of the skin of the corals to show some of the variation in the skin color.  Thanks for looking. 

 

 

 

 

[urbaneks]

May 21st, 2016 - Photo Update

I've been wanting to add a 3rd Goni to this little cluster.  I was able to find one that had a nice contrast in color to my other 2.  I think this will grow into a very nicely. 

 

[urbaneks]

May 28th, 2017 - Weekly Update

I made a trip to a couple of the LFS today and came home with a new acro.  This was a frag cut from a maricultured coral that was imported.  I typically don't buy wild or maricultured pieces but this one had 3 colors and nice contrast so I thought I'd give it a go.  It reminds me of the ORA Frogskin but with some blue and yellow to go with the green.  Here are 3 shots work out away from the coral.  Thanks for looking. 

 

 

 

[markalot]

Wow.  Thanks for alerting me to this thread, I had completely missed it.  

 

I love the three tank idea.  Easy individual pieces plus room for lots of acros ... and other corals of course.

 

The 3 different gonis ... with your artistic ability I can't wait to see how this fills in.

[urbaneks]

May 29th, 2017 - Gonipora Collage

I snapped a couple new photos of the gonipora.  While none of them were very sharp, I liked the artistic quality they had to them.  These are creating a nice center piece in the middle of the trio. 

 

[WV Reefer]

3 minutes ago, urbaneks said:

May 29th, 2017 - Gonipora Collage

I snapped a couple new photos of the gonipora.  While none of them were very sharp, I liked the artistic quality they had to them.  These are creating a nice center piece in the middle of the trio. 

 

 

I like these a lot! 

my favorite pic is top left.  

[urbaneks]

May 29th, 2017 - Full Room Shot

Current status of the project.  System has been running for 3 months and 10 days.

 

[urbaneks]

May 29th, 2017 - Photo Collage

I've mentioned a couple times that I'm trying to do a weekly collage that shows the progress of the tank.  Here are a few shots for today.  Thanks for looking. 

 

[urbaneks]

May 30th, 2017 - Maintenance Routine and Parameters

 

Maintenance

I've been asked for my maintenance routine and parameters a couple times so I thought I'd do a quick summary on them.  For maintenance, I follow a pretty basic routine but I'm religiously anal about it.  Anyone can log onto AquaticLog.com and view my full routine on that site.  If  you are not familiar with AquaticLog, it's a great site that allows you to set reminders, track parameters, keep track of livestock, equipment, etc. etc.  I use to track all of this with an excel file that I created but AquaticLog is a much better option.  The photo below shows my full routine.  The only thing that is missing here is my Cal, Alk and Mag dosing which is automated through my doser.  I also don't have my skimmer and pump maintenance logged yet.  I will complete these at the 6 month mark and create a reminder at that time.  I estimate that I spend about 15 minutes per day and then once a week I spend about an hour on the bigger maintenance tasks.  I've found that for myself, smaller more frequent tasks keeps the tank looking optimal and allows me to enjoy it more the rest of the time. 

 

 

 

Parameters

As for my tank parameters, you can see below via the charts where I like to keep my parameters.  The red lines on the graph shows my upper and lower control limits with the dotted lines showing my actual test results over time.  I test Alk once a week unless I'm dialing in my doser than I will test more frequently.  All other test are done every 2 weeks.  I treat Alk as heart beat of the aquarium.  Once I've dialed in my Alk dose, I simply set my Cal dose to match.  This results in much stable results for both.  In the past, I use to chase individual Cal and Alk numbers and struggled to keep them on track.  Now, I get Alk where I want it, set Cal to match and let Cal go where the dose takes it.  For me, with an Alk of 8.0, my Cal naturally goes to about 450.  This is a bit higher than I would prefer but again, as long as Alk is stable, I don't mind so much where the Cal sits as long as it's within my upper and lower control.  The handy charts below are also a product of AquaticLog.com. 

[Bowen1022]

Do you tend to try and keep po4 at 0 or at least undetectable? 

[Squared]

Very cool tanks dude. I wish I could show half as much focus and foresight as you do with my builds lol.

[mpsti05]

How are the hydra 52's working out? I think that's what you were using 

[urbaneks]

3 hours ago, Bowen1022 said:

Do you tend to try and keep po4 at 0 or at least undetectable? 

Thanks for the question.  I don't sweat my phosphate unless it gets above that .06 upper control limit that I have set.  In these new tanks, I started out with really high phosphates.  I added the BRS recommended amount of GFO in my reactor and let it bring the phosphates down.  That was 10 weeks ago.  I've continue to test phosphates expecting them to start registering.  I continue to be surprised by the 0's.  You may have noticed that my nitrates are also at 0.  I for sure like these where they are just barely registering on the test.  Again, I've not been able to get my nitrates to register yet. 

 

3 hours ago, Squared said:

Very cool tanks dude. I wish I could show half as much focus and foresight as you do with my builds lol.

Thanks for the view and comment. 

 

2 hours ago, mpsti05 said:

How are the hydra 52's working out? I think that's what you were using 

So far so good.  All of my SPS are showing color improvements and are encrusting nicely.  I also love how easy the light is to set and make changes. 

 

On 5/29/2017 at 9:25 AM, WV Reefer said:

I like these a lot! 

my favorite pic is top left.  

Thanks so much.  I've taken a keen liking to the Gonis. 

 

On 5/29/2017 at 5:39 AM, markalot said:

Wow.  Thanks for alerting me to this thread, I had completely missed it.  

 

I love the three tank idea.  Easy individual pieces plus room for lots of acros ... and other corals of course.

 

The 3 different gonis ... with your artistic ability I can't wait to see how this fills in.

Thanks for stopping by.  I have to tell you that your tank had me working on a hybrid from Dave.  In the end, I could not justify the cost of 3 separate units vs. the cost of 3 Hydras that I could source used from a local reefer. 

 

[urbaneks]

June 3rd, 2017 - Photo Update

Here are a few new shots from the last week.

 

Blastos - This coral dates back to my original Nano.

 

ORA Borealis

 

PC Superman

 

Misc Acans

[urbaneks]

June 4th, 2017 - From Concept to Reality

Just noticed that my latest full room shot was from the same angle that my original concept sketch up was from.  I'd say I got pretty darn close.

 

[mitten_reef]

20 hours ago, urbaneks said:

June 3rd, 2017 - Photo Update

Here are a few new shots from the last week.

 

Blastos - This coral dates back to my original Nano.

 

ORA Borealis

 

PC Superman

 

Misc Acans

Speaking of "legacy" corals from your other tanks, I hope to see the pearlberry making an appearance here soon. Do you still have access to that colony or its lineage?

[Rehype]

3 hours ago, urbaneks said:

June 4th, 2017 - From Concept to Reality

Just noticed that my latest full room shot was from the same angle that my original concept sketch up was from.  I'd say I got pretty darn close.

 

 

you forgot to stand in the picture with the same outfit as your avatar lol 

[Asureef]

Another masterpiece in the works! 

 

I too still have my blastos from my very first nano!! 

 

It hasn't grown much, it was getting its butt kicked in my 40g by a Yuma.