Mike and Terry's 300g Reef

[revsgirl]

Stunning fish!!

 

[Mike&Terry]

Your making me want to give the Labouti another chance now, I'm just scared I won't be lucky enough to catch him twice.

I saw in one of your posts that you decided to give him another try. How did it go?

Stunning fish!!

Thank you Tonya!

 

[Aquaph8]

I haven't seen him yet, he dove for the rocks and never came out. I was trying to put him in the acclimation box and he escaped before I could close the box.

 

[Mike&Terry]

I haven't seen him yet, he dove for the rocks and never came out. I was trying to put him in the acclimation box and he escaped before I could close the box.

LOL! hate when that happens...


Thought we'd share a pic of our C. earlei:


nt 2666 by terryl93, on Flickr

 

[skinz78]

He's smiling!

 

[MarvinsReef]

very awesome Earlei. :marv

 

[Mike&Terry]

He's smiling!

Hahah, sure does look that way...

very awesome Earlei. :marv

Thank you Marvin!

It's been a while, so how about an updated FTS:


nt 2741 by terryl93, on Flickr

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

MMM Boom! Awesome!

 

[skinz78]

Looking awesome!

 

[Mike&Terry]

MMM Boom! Awesome!

Looking awesome!

Thanks Guys!

 

[swannyson7]

Looks great M&T!! It's really filling in nicely! 1smile1

 

[3Twinklets]

That is beautiful! I almost had the same mishap with my first 375 but luckily I saw the problem in time. The same with my second 350 made by a different company. The only thing that I can see that is totally wrong and horribly out of place and should be corrected immediately it that Flame Wrasse does not match anything in that tank, however, it would match mine perfectly.Besides it probably bites and is rabid. I would be happy to help you out and take it off your hands.
I love the cabinetry! Great job!

 

[Mike&Terry]

Looks great M&T!! It's really filling in nicely! 1smile1

Thank you Scott! We're really pleased with the growth we've had in just a little over a year, especially considering what all most of our corals went thru to get to where they are today. We're probably going to do a bit of pruning and rearranging this weekend before a few of them get too far out of control.

That is beautiful! I almost had the same mishap with my first 375 but luckily I saw the problem in time. The same with my second 350 made by a different company. The only thing that I can see that is totally wrong and horribly out of place and should be corrected immediately it that Flame Wrasse does not match anything in that tank, however, it would match mine perfectly.Besides it probably bites and is rabid. I would be happy to help you out and take it off your hands.
I love the cabinetry! Great job!

LOL regarding our Flame wrasse and thank you so much for the kind words - very much appreciated! We were fortunate to be able to salvage the skin from the original stand after our first 300g tank failed.

-M&T

 

[MarvinsReef]

Awesome M&T.

 

[Mike&Terry]

Awesome M&T.

Thank you Marvin!

 

[bige]

What do you attribute to your success? Your tank is amazing. I see these larger tanks and just wonder, what it is that makes yours and others so successful.

 

[Mike&Terry]

What do you attribute to your success? Your tank is amazing. I see these larger tanks and just wonder, what it is that makes yours and others so successful.

Thank you for the compliment.
We've had our ups and downs, that is for sure, but we try to take the long view. In our experience, the keys to success are the same, regardless of the size of the tank. In no particular order:
*) Be patient. Whether upgrading to a 300g, or deciding on the next fish to add to our nano, it always pays to do research, read the forums, ask questions, and research some more. The best moves in the hobby are ones that are well-grounded, and come from informed decisions.

*) It's better to keep up than catch up. This is not a hobby that rewards slacking. Whenever we get lazy and put off our daily or weekly chores, something suffers (usually us!). We try to keep a log of our maintenance and chores; we just write everything on a whiteboard in the fish room. That log serves as a reminder of the things we need to do, and how things are trending in the system. Just doing little routine things daily is so much easier than waiting until a parameter is way off, or the livestock starts to show signs of not thriving, or a piece of equipment is neglected to the point of failing or needing a major cleaning/overhaul.

*) Start with a plan and think integratively (I know not a real word!). This is similar to the point made in the first bullet, but it really does work out much better in the long run to put pencil to paper before you plop down your credit card or make impulse purchases. Natural reefs are a complex web of parts that interact with one another. Our systems should be the same. These systems work much better (with better results for the livestock and for the maintenance and upkeep) if all the parts are designed to work well together. This can be as simple as choosing fish or corals that coexist well, or as complicated as a fully-redundant power grid design that protects the system during electrical utility failures. All this planning can be laborious and time-consuming, especially if you move into keeping larger systems with many more gallons, components, livestock, etc. But it is a tradeoff - pay me now or pay me later - type of situation.

*) Do what makes you happy. I know, you're thinking "these guys have a firm grasp of the obvious - it's a hobby, OF COURSE it's supposed to be fun". You all have probably seen Aristotle's quote "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit". We have had this quote printed out and hanging in the fish room for 10+ years. It serves as a reminder for many things, not the least of which is to avoid slacking (see bullet two), but also that we really should be enjoying this. Sometimes reefkeeping can seems more like a chore than an enjoyable hobby. We find ways to keep it fun and take pride in doing the excellent thing consistently.

Hope this helps!

 

[Saltgator]

Very nice write up M&T. Couldn't be more on the point!!! BTW, the DT is looking AWESOME!!! <<< As Always

 

[MarvinsReef]

I really like your Keys to Success in the Reef Keeping world. I'm stealing some ideas. LoL. Even more than 10 yrs of keeping a reef, I'm reminded that I only know a little still.

 

[Aquaph8]

Thank you for the compliment.
We've had our ups and downs, that is for sure, but we try to take the long view. In our experience, the keys to success are the same, regardless of the size of the tank. In no particular order:
*) Be patient. Whether upgrading to a 300g, or deciding on the next fish to add to our nano, it always pays to do research, read the forums, ask questions, and research some more. The best moves in the hobby are ones that are well-grounded, and come from informed decisions.

*) It's better to keep up than catch up. This is not a hobby that rewards slacking. Whenever we get lazy and put off our daily or weekly chores, something suffers (usually us!). We try to keep a log of our maintenance and chores; we just write everything on a whiteboard in the fish room. That log serves as a reminder of the things we need to do, and how things are trending in the system. Just doing little routine things daily is so much easier than waiting until a parameter is way off, or the livestock starts to show signs of not thriving, or a piece of equipment is neglected to the point of failing or needing a major cleaning/overhaul.

*) Start with a plan and think integratively (I know not a real word!). This is similar to the point made in the first bullet, but it really does work out much better in the long run to put pencil to paper before you plop down your credit card or make impulse purchases. Natural reefs are a complex web of parts that interact with one another. Our systems should be the same. These systems work much better (with better results for the livestock and for the maintenance and upkeep) if all the parts are designed to work well together. This can be as simple as choosing fish or corals that coexist well, or as complicated as a fully-redundant power grid design that protects the system during electrical utility failures. All this planning can be laborious and time-consuming, especially if you move into keeping larger systems with many more gallons, components, livestock, etc. But it is a tradeoff - pay me now or pay me later - type of situation.

*) Do what makes you happy. I know, you're thinking "these guys have a firm grasp of the obvious - it's a hobby, OF COURSE it's supposed to be fun". You all have probably seen Aristotle's quote "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit". We have had this quote printed out and hanging in the fish room for 10+ years. It serves as a reminder for many things, not the least of which is to avoid slacking (see bullet two), but also that we really should be enjoying this. Sometimes reefkeeping can seems more like a chore than an enjoyable hobby. We find ways to keep it fun and take pride in doing the excellent thing consistently.

Hope this helps!

Well said, especially the part about reef keeping seeming more like a chore at times than an enjoyable hobby. Sometimes it takes those 5 steps back to take 1 step forward but in the end its all worth it.