cmaxwell39's 150

SeahorseKeeper · Aug 4, 2013

Looks great, but I think this thread is missing a FTS.

cmaxwell39 · Aug 4, 2013

Thank you. Most recent FTS:

TriggerThis · Aug 4, 2013

Wow I really like that Purple Thin Branched! Never seen one like that before. Nice tank, very minimalistic rock scape

cmaxwell39 · Aug 5, 2013

Thanks. That purple one has turned into a nice piece for what started out as a frag someone threw in for free when I was buying some corals from them when they were breaking down their tank. It was way browned out when I got it, but has turned into a real gem. I have actually been told that I should name that piece, but I am terrible at coming up with names.

revhtree · Aug 5, 2013

Great job!

cmaxwell39 · Aug 10, 2013

Sometimes this hobby, and the critters we keep still amaze me. 5 or 6 weeks ago, at least, my female rhomboid jumped into the overflow when I was feeding the tank. I tried to fish her out, but could not find her in the overflow, and never found her in the sump. I figured that she must have jumped out, or gotten stuck in the plumbing down to the sump or something, but had given up on her.

In fact, I had started to contemplate whether or not to order another female to replace her. That is how long it has been since I had seen any sign of her.
Today while doing some tank maintenance, what did I see swimming to the top of the overflow and quickly disappearing...you guessed it. That stupid fish has been in my overflow box this whole time. Finally got her fished out, and back in the display with all the other wrasse family.

Welcome home little girl...

Note: Picture is one from my archives as she went and hid as soon as she was released into the main tank. I would expect to see her in the next couple of days, but she will hide until then I am sure. She looked to be in good health though, so I will try and get some pictures of her up this week.

Mrfresh · Aug 10, 2013

Very nice I like the negative space.
It gives it a very clean look

kes · Aug 10, 2013

i love the length and depth of your tank. it's so gorgeous and your corals are responding so well

cmaxwell39 · Aug 11, 2013

Mrfresh said:
Very nice I like the negative space.
It gives it a very clean look

Thank you. It is still a work in progress, so hopefully I won't run out of room before I feel that it is done. I am sure that I will though, as I already am thinking that some spots in the tank are getting a little tight. Part of the fun I guess. Before long it will only be addition through subtraction.

kes said:
i love the length and depth of your tank. it's so gorgeous and your corals are responding so well

Thank you. I have always liked wide/shallow tanks. I think I would actually like it a little wider (30 or 36") but I have been very happy with this tank so far.

cmaxwell39 · Aug 11, 2013

Got a couple of more coral pictures uploaded the other day so I thought I would share. Here you go:

Rose Milli:

Pearlberry:

Bonsai:

cmaxwell39 · Aug 18, 2013

Thought I would share a couple of newer to me pieces. I know they are not the most trendy or newest, but they are both corals that have a proven track record, and most importantly, I like them.

PC Rainbow acro.

Appleberry Monti:

Thanks for looking.

cmaxwell39 · Nov 30, 2013

Well, it has been a long time since I have done an update. Life has gotten busy. Work has been crazy, duck and goose hunting season has started, and my wife and I had our third boy on August 30th. In the midst of all of this, the tank turned 3 as of the first of September. I had good intentions of getting a major update done around then, but it just did not happen.

I did finally get some pictures taken this afternoon. Here is a FTS from today:

The tank has been doing pretty well. It has just been on cruise control because of life's business lately. I did have a couple of minor mishaps over the last couple of months.

The first is my vinegar bottle ran out and I didn't notice for a while, so I had a phosphate spike. Phosphates went up to about .19 on the Hanna checker. While not the end of the world, I did lose a little color in some corals, although others seemed to actually color up better with the increase in nutrients.

The frag tank has become overrun with algae because of the spike. I lost some nice frags that I was trying to color up before bringing them up to the display, but other than the frag tank more resembling a refugium than a frag tank, and losing some frags nothing else seemed to be overly affected by the spike.

I have been running some GFO and increasing the amount of vinegar that is dosed daily to bring nutrients back in line, and they are getting there slowly. I was down to .08 at my last set of water tests on Friday evening. That is back to the range I consider acceptable. I still need to find time to clean up the frag tank, but the algae is dying off with the decrease in phosphates.

How about a few of the fishy inhabitants. No new additions in quite a while, and everyone seems to be healthy and thriving right now.

More to come in future updates.....

Sahin · Dec 1, 2013

Can you please tell us what is your T5 combo? This is a very beautiful tank. I see some very large colonies. Probably too difficult, but would love to see top-down shots of those pieces. Thanks.

cmaxwell39 · Dec 1, 2013

Thanks for the compliments Sahin. I often feel inadequate as a reefer when I see so many spectacular tanks on the forums.

My lighting is an Aquatinics Constellation. Current bulb configuration is:

Front:
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Purple Plus
ATI Blue Plus
Geisman Midday
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Purple Plus
ATI Blue Plus

I have though about playing around with the ATI Coral plus bulb the last couple of bulb changes, but when it comes right down to it I am pretty happy with where the colors are in my aquarium and I am afraid to screw it up by playing with the lighting to much.

I have a few top downs I took the last round of pictures I did. I can't remember if I was able to get any of the really big colonies, but I will post some top downs in a future update shortly.

cmaxwell39 · Dec 1, 2013

They are not top downs, but how about a few coral pics from the other day:

Sahin · Dec 2, 2013

Whilst colourwise this is not one of my favorites, it looks absolutely beautiful in your tank! I love the growth form of this one. Did you get this as a frag and how long did it take to grow to this size?

Keep the photos coming! Dont worry about flooding the thread with SPS coral shots LOL.

Jimbo662 · Dec 2, 2013

I would call that tank extremely adequate!

James

cmaxwell39 · Dec 3, 2013

Jimbo662 said:
I would call that tank extremely adequate!

James

Thank you. Sometimes when you look at it everyday and see all the flaws it is easy to get down on your own stuff. Especially when there are so many fabulous tanks out there.

Sahin said:
Whilst colourwise this is not one of my favorites, it looks absolutely beautiful in your tank! I love the growth form of this one. Did you get this as a frag and how long did it take to grow to this size?

Keep the photos coming! Dont worry about flooding the thread with SPS coral shots LOL.

Thanks for the compliments. I bought that acro as a 1"- 1.5" frag from a local reefer that was shutting down his tank about 2 1/2 years ago. It is a no name acro as far as I know. It took about 8 months to settle in and really start growing. Now it is growing like a weed and needs to be fragged as it is getting hard to clean the front glass. It has become one of my favorite corals in the tank. Nice delicate growth structure and a beautiful purple color.

I will try to get some more pics up later. Have to go to work now.