Since I had to go through all the pics on Photobucket to find those missing pics for my cube I made note of where the pics were for my other tank...the 120.
Again with this tank I'm going to start at the beginning to get you up to speed. I originally started with a 75g tank that I pretty much stuffed full in short order and had to (yeah, twist my arm) upgrade by the time it was a year old.
I would have liked to have put something bigger than a 120 up but I was limited by space as both of these tanks are in my basement office, where I spend an awful lot of my time...but can spend more time with them that way.
A 6' tank would have been great but I would have needed to chuck...my desk.lol
First a few pics of the original 75 ..I bet you'll see why I needed to upgrade..I might get a little too passionate about the things I enjoy...
This was the 75g 5 days after it was put up. I was lucky enough to get rocks that were already fully cured from a reefer who was getting out. Never has an ammonia spike at all. I'd kept the rocks in a 55 while all of the plumbing & gathering was done for the 75.
Since I think finding my fish on the floor heartbreaking, the 75 started off early in life with a cover. This was the original design of the mesh covers before I went to the acrylic edging. It was made of aluminum screen edging and it was pitted about 29 seconds after installation..the salt creep was almost the 8th wonder of the world.
And so it evolved...
Here is what it looked like shortly before the upgrade to the 120. Do note what slacking on my water changes the last fews weeks added to the tank...I'd also consider it full at this point..lol
And now the 120 kicked in..fast forward to Aug 2007
This was the day it was set up. I had corals EVERYWHERE ...there is a huge closet next to my office and I'd set up a bunch of 10 & 20g tanks in there to house my corals while the move took place. The lighting glowing out through the louvered doors made it look like a mad scientists lab. The fish were in another room stressing over the entire mess and the rock was moved into so many totes that it looked like a store...and all that was done with planning. Scary at best!
I took this pic at around 3AM ..I was dead on my feet and couldn't add another rock to the tank
I used an AGA stand for this tank and built a simple canopy
Like my cube, the lighting for this tank hangs from the ceiling, so it is basically hollow in the middle. The fixture itself has 2 x 250MH's and PC's. Attached to the canopy itself are 4 48" T's with 1 daylight and 3 Blue Plus bulbs and a set of moonlights.
...And then I loaded the canopy with lights!
I did build a new cover for this tank too. I do have a bunch of wrasses and want to keep them for a long time to come!
A few shots showing the progression of time..
Aug 2007
Sept
Also Sept...
Oct..had started to understand a little about white balance by now..just a little though.
The bulbs had been changed at this point to the 14K Iwasaki's I'm using now. I'd gone earlier to 10K Ushios but despised the yellow color, so I switched those out after a week. Much happier with the whiter lighting, but unfortunately I'd incinerated my favorite leather during the changes (even with screen & photoperiod reduction acclimation to the new lighting). For that, I'm still kicking myself.
After previewing this thread and before I do hit the post button..I have to say this tank seems to be full already..argh! All of the frags that are on the sand are no longer there due to the addition you will find in the following pic..seems these guys like to turn over anything they can...
Just one more pic for now..he's my favorite fish in this tank and I do have a thread around here somewhere of when I first got him from Aquatic Obsessions.
I still sit in amazement looking at him and wonder why I should be so lucky to have such a beautiful creature share my world...
He does keep me on my toes. My relationship with my fish can be found here:
http://www.reefsmagazine.com/A_fish_tale_part_2.html...
Thanks for looking!
Again with this tank I'm going to start at the beginning to get you up to speed. I originally started with a 75g tank that I pretty much stuffed full in short order and had to (yeah, twist my arm) upgrade by the time it was a year old.
I would have liked to have put something bigger than a 120 up but I was limited by space as both of these tanks are in my basement office, where I spend an awful lot of my time...but can spend more time with them that way.
A 6' tank would have been great but I would have needed to chuck...my desk.lol
First a few pics of the original 75 ..I bet you'll see why I needed to upgrade..I might get a little too passionate about the things I enjoy...
This was the 75g 5 days after it was put up. I was lucky enough to get rocks that were already fully cured from a reefer who was getting out. Never has an ammonia spike at all. I'd kept the rocks in a 55 while all of the plumbing & gathering was done for the 75.
Since I think finding my fish on the floor heartbreaking, the 75 started off early in life with a cover. This was the original design of the mesh covers before I went to the acrylic edging. It was made of aluminum screen edging and it was pitted about 29 seconds after installation..the salt creep was almost the 8th wonder of the world.
And so it evolved...
Here is what it looked like shortly before the upgrade to the 120. Do note what slacking on my water changes the last fews weeks added to the tank...I'd also consider it full at this point..lol
And now the 120 kicked in..fast forward to Aug 2007
This was the day it was set up. I had corals EVERYWHERE ...there is a huge closet next to my office and I'd set up a bunch of 10 & 20g tanks in there to house my corals while the move took place. The lighting glowing out through the louvered doors made it look like a mad scientists lab. The fish were in another room stressing over the entire mess and the rock was moved into so many totes that it looked like a store...and all that was done with planning. Scary at best!
I took this pic at around 3AM ..I was dead on my feet and couldn't add another rock to the tank
I used an AGA stand for this tank and built a simple canopy
Like my cube, the lighting for this tank hangs from the ceiling, so it is basically hollow in the middle. The fixture itself has 2 x 250MH's and PC's. Attached to the canopy itself are 4 48" T's with 1 daylight and 3 Blue Plus bulbs and a set of moonlights.
...And then I loaded the canopy with lights!
I did build a new cover for this tank too. I do have a bunch of wrasses and want to keep them for a long time to come!
A few shots showing the progression of time..
Aug 2007
Sept
Also Sept...
Oct..had started to understand a little about white balance by now..just a little though.
The bulbs had been changed at this point to the 14K Iwasaki's I'm using now. I'd gone earlier to 10K Ushios but despised the yellow color, so I switched those out after a week. Much happier with the whiter lighting, but unfortunately I'd incinerated my favorite leather during the changes (even with screen & photoperiod reduction acclimation to the new lighting). For that, I'm still kicking myself.
After previewing this thread and before I do hit the post button..I have to say this tank seems to be full already..argh! All of the frags that are on the sand are no longer there due to the addition you will find in the following pic..seems these guys like to turn over anything they can...
Just one more pic for now..he's my favorite fish in this tank and I do have a thread around here somewhere of when I first got him from Aquatic Obsessions.
I still sit in amazement looking at him and wonder why I should be so lucky to have such a beautiful creature share my world...
He does keep me on my toes. My relationship with my fish can be found here:
http://www.reefsmagazine.com/A_fish_tale_part_2.html...
Thanks for looking!