DB's Miracles 110 Journal

Reeflogic · Jan 13, 2016

Hey Rev, unfortunately, no. None that I'm proud of lol. I will soon! We relocated to Tennessee and I lost all my SPS and several of my LPS and a few fish, tank took a turn for the worse and I kind of gave up hope for awhile. It's rebounding slowly now that I recommitted my time and energy. Once it's turned the corner I will start showing my progress again

Thanks for stopping by Rev!

Reeflogic · Feb 3, 2016

Ok, first FTS in quite a while. Tank is doing much better, it's been roughly 6-7 months since I relocated and got the tank set up. I revamped the rock work to start adding SPS and I am currently dosing Tech M to battle a little bryopsis outbreak, other than that it's just cruise control as it grows out.

Future plans:

1.Stockpile SPS!

2.Kill this bryopsis!!!

3.Possibly supplement my Kessils with T5's.

4.Pick up a few fish I have been wanting to add.

5.Learn to work my DSLR camera better and get a macro lens!

If anyone that happens to stroll across my journal and has a Nikon D3200 and knows how to use it lol, share your secrets, please!!

CastAway · Feb 3, 2016

Sweet!
Really like the blue. May have to try that.

Reeflogic · Feb 3, 2016

The background Jeff? It's actually white and changes to whatever color the lights are, deep blue at night

I thought I would give it a try since I always went black before and I really enjoy it, but you have to clean the back glass or it does get ugly. You can pick it up at HD or Lowe's, it's frosted window tint. I could easily scrape it off with a razor blade if I wanted to go with black or something else.

CastAway · Feb 4, 2016

I use two large sheets of colored card stock from Hobby Lobby, and scotch tape. LOL Just have not seen the right shade of blue...

Great pictures. It really is awe inspiring. Thanks for sharing.
Looking at the pictures on my computer at work is ten times better than my phone!

Reeflogic · Feb 4, 2016

Lol, I didn't even notice you had cardboard on the back Jeff, that's just how pimp your tank is!!

CastAway said:
Great pictures. It really is awe inspiring. Thanks for sharing.

Don't go getting crazy on me lol, it's getting better, but not quite "great or awe inspiring" !! Haha, I do appreciate that, though! My problem has always been having to start with frags, as I cannot spend a ton of money on colonies, so you can imagine losing my little 2-3-year-old SPS mini-colonies, was pretty rough, it literally set my tank back 3 years :mad: But hey, it will get there eventually!

revhtree · Feb 4, 2016

Looks awesome!

Reeflogic · Feb 4, 2016

Thanks Rev!

Reeflogic · Feb 5, 2016

Some photos I took a few weeks back, edited with Lightroom to get MUCH better, truer colors. Thanks @urbaneks for the tips and recommendations! Your 365 Journal inspired me to be a better photographer! Now I just need a macro lens lol.

victornator333 · Feb 5, 2016

Can you share how you built your light rack? I have a pair of kessils too and like what you did to hang. Currently I use the goosenecks but want to integrate some T5s so I think I will have to hang.

Thanks!

Reeflogic · Feb 5, 2016

victornator333 said:
Can you share how you built your light rack? I have a pair of kessils too and like what you did to hang. Currently I use the goosenecks but want to integrate some T5s so I think I will have to hang.

It's aluminum extrusion. It's been a few years since I purchased it, so I cannot remember exactly where I got it, but I just googled it and found a place that had the extrusion, plus all the fittings. You can purchase it by the foot and have it cut exactly the lengths you want, so I measured everything and had it cut, was literally the easiest thing I put together on my whole fish tank lol. It's light weight, strong and I love the look. I'm in the process of wanting to supplement T5's and thinking about how I'm going to do it, let me know if you go this route and what you do as far as the T5's go. If I find anything showing me where I purchased the extrusion, I will post it up!

Reeflogic · Feb 5, 2016

Found the receipts for the extrusion, this is where I ordered it:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#t-slotted-framing/=10zvcqf

Hope that helps! Love this stuff.

victornator333 · Feb 5, 2016

Reeflogic said:
Found the receipts for the extrusion, this is where I ordered it:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#t-slotted-framing/=10zvcqf

Hope that helps! Love this stuff.

You. Da. Man.

Thanks!

victornator333 · Feb 5, 2016

@Reeflogic Hollow or solid? Any chance you remember what size?

Reeflogic · Feb 5, 2016

victornator333 said:
@Reeflogic Hollow or solid? Any chance you remember what size?

Pretty sure I went with solid, but I am not 100% on that, you might call them and tell them what you are planning and see if there are any weight concerns, using the hollow vs. solid. Mine is VERY strong, I wish they had a picture showing the difference between the two, I could go look at mine and probably determine which I have, but mine just looks like the picture lol. I used 2".

http://www.mcmaster.com/#47065t108/=10zwtxy

Reeflogic · Feb 5, 2016

One thing I might add, for you or anyone else interested in ordering this stuff; these guys have several warehouses and oddly enough, I ended up with like 4 shipments from 4 different places, to complete my order. I was charged the shipping for EACH ONE!! I contacted them about it and they said there wasn't anything they could do... It didn't add up to a whole lot, but it did increase the overall price of my order. It's pretty expensive once you add in the bolts / connectors, etc. There may be cheaper options out there, but this was the only place I could find exactly what I wanted and they sold the pieces in the lengths I needed, so no cutting on my end.

Reeflogic · Feb 5, 2016

I took a close up of the main portion for you to get an idea of what I did. Basically, it is adjustable (height wise) two ways. The rear main vertical support can be raised or lowered by the mounts on the rear of the stand, which obviously, I'd need to drain the tank to adjust that portion, well I guess technically I could just take out the sump and crawl in the stand to do it, but the more important adjustment is the small support arm that comes out to the "T". That angled support can be loosened and I can drop or raise the height roughly 6-8" either way. So that way, I'd really never have a need to adjust the main brackets holding the vertical support. Hope this helps!

Also, they sell the black plastic strips that you see running down the front horizontal support, as well as plastic end caps, to kind of "finish" it out. You can tuck wiring behind the black inserts.

Reeflogic · Feb 6, 2016

I was looking at old photos and found some of a 29g Biocube I had back in 2005-2007, really loved that little tank. It was my first experience with keeping SPS, notice how brown they were lol.

Reeflogic · Feb 6, 2016

@victornator333 - I was able to find the actual order invoices, it is solid extrusion! I'm not sure of the strength differences between hollow and solid, so you might call them

Reeflogic · Feb 11, 2016

Sooo, on day 8 of Tech M dosing, bryopsis starting to change colors, but still there. I pulled some larger clumps out and had the pumps off, so thought I'd try my luck getting some photos. I think I went backwards in my ability to focus properly. I'll get it eventually but figured since I took them, I'd share a few, excuse the blurry images. I still do not have a macro lens and I still cannot take photos of fish lol.

Everything is growing well, starting to get a few starter SPS and loving my tank again. Picked up a large piece of a birdsnest colony, which was the lower, shaded portion and was pretty much solid white, but still has PE, so figured I'd toss it in, as is, and watch it color back up, thanks Jeff!