Naso tang sps adventure

[naso tang]

Hi reef2reef, i've been lurking here for awhile, looking back through my photobucket, realized i should try to share my journey into sps culture.

I've reef'd since about 1994 or so. Had a 30g acrylic long tank for almost 10 years, super low tech. Built from reading books. Got out for a year or two and my wife bought me this in 2007 or so.



24g jbj with a sunpod on it, my first metal halide. Goodbye powercompacts and trickle filters!

Went up to a 50g at that point i think and got my first sps.



Metal halide (phoenix 14k x 2) and t5s with this one i think. First t5 experience.

Simple sps, didn't know how to take pics then.







Cruddy pics, i know. Bear with me...

Another view if the 50 before i went to 75



I think this is the 75. Switched up to ati sunpower 6 bulb fixture. Conduit bent light hangers since i can't reach my 20' ceiling in this location.

 

[naso tang]

I think this is the 75 too in a different location



Getting slightly better at taking pics, growing colonies













At some point i upgraded to 3 ai sol blues

 

[naso tang]

This is about 2010-2012 by this point. I kicked out all my softies into a second tank at this point to be described elsewhere. Its currently a 90g zoa and chalice dominated frag tank.

Upgraded to a 90 next.









Fragging, trading, etc quite alot by this point. Had to keep trimming back the colonies to make space for new ones. Pushed alot of coral out of that tank, got rid of almost all montis, poccis, birdsnest, stylos and acan echinatas in favor of more sticks.





Same bonsai as i had up above





Got some t5s to supplement the ai sols as i learned about led spectrum.



Apparently did not know how to shoot in raw and white balance yet

 

[naso tang]

Tried biopellets and ulns for awhile. When i gave up on it, i had my first real crash cause i was stupid about it. Massive dieoff of bacteria made that tank quite toxic and unhappy.

 

[naso tang]

Ok, so here's the 90 before i broke it down.



And moved into this monstrosity. 125g, 48" x 30" x 20", at eye level on a 48" stand



By now i've learned how to handle the blue led photo problem, shooting in raw, white balancing using a dropper tool.









Pretty much packed from day 1. Had to thin out the collection by getting rid of some big colonies i was bored with.

This tank i was only in for a year. 3 ai sol blues and 4 x 54w t5s to add some white red and actinic. Won me tank of the month or quarter on one of my local forums. Not sure its allowed, but here's the link to the write up

http://www.socalireefs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68333

 

[naso tang]

Now, finally, the current tank.

Its a standard 150, 5 x 2 x 2. Upgraded lights to hydra52s (3) plus 4x54w t5s. Got an ati powercone 250 skimmer. And an xf150 gyre. Jaebao 9000 return and an mp40 and an rw15. Corals browned out after this switch, phosphate i guess got high so i took advantage to upgrade the lights during the acclimation period. Had a cool lightbar fabbed for me by a local welder.

 

[naso tang]

I'm about 2.5 months in at this point. Corals starting to get used to the hydra 52s at this point.

Purple slimer


Red dragon


The white balance is a bit off on this one but its maturing into something awesome



I don't know what this one is either


Rmf acid trip milli



Horrida


Spongebob spath

 

[4FordFamily]

Wow very cool! Thanks for sharing they're all beautiful! Progress pics are always so interesting!

 

[naso tang]

Thx, its alot of tanks in not so much time, but i still have some of my originals. Cali tort, bonsai, miami orchid, hawkins echinata, basic sticks like that. Slowly starting to collect named pieces but i go more for looks than nametag...

 

[onetire]

WOW beautiful!!!! Great journey hopefully mine progresses as beautiful as yours has ! Great job !

 

[naso tang]

WOW beautiful!!!! Great journey hopefully mine progresses as beautiful as yours has ! Great job !

Thanks, we'll see where this one goes. I love the lights so far, and coral is starting to grow and color up again after a somewhat stressful transfer. I usually rinse my sand in salt water when i do a transfer and for some reason i didnt this time...i paid for it when almost everybody browned out...

 

[naso tang]

Some pics

Tricolor valida


Red dragon


Unknown. Maybe pink lemonade?



Green purple blue acro


Sc orange passion. Waiting for this one to color up...


Rmf acid trip. Waiting a long time for this one to color up


Pro corals rainbow


Hawkins


Joe the coral and blue stylo


Unknown. Naming this one juicy fruit


Battle corals purple flamingo (i think)



Oregon tort


Light blue tenuis

 

[naso tang]

Ok i'm about 5 mos in this tank now. Lost my yellow throat chest wrasse to carpet surfing, gained a sailfin tang, need another wrasse i think. Here's some coral shots, sorry some of them are out if focus. I'm not so good at using the lookdown tube i have...

Vivid rainbow finally starting to color up



Bogg's spongebob spathulata




Reef raft monti. I only have a few montis know...



Smurfette


Red dragon


"Juicy fruit" (my name. Is it a tenuis? Spath?




Purple gatorade


Rmf acid trip (not so sure about this now, but that's what it was sold to me as)


Frags. Maybe a pink lemonade in there....


More frags


Aquamarine aussie acro


Blue matrix (i think). It doesnt get alot of light where it's at right now


Blue hoeksemi, maybe texas stunner. And a myagi tort in the back.


Some kind of bellina or bottlebrush ora piece

 

[Sahin]

Very nice tank. Subscribed.

 

[Tahoe61]

Enjoyed the progression shots. You have some great pieces.

 

[naso tang]

Thanks, it needs to fill out a bit but i'm pretty happy with the collection. It's getting there at least and i'm finally having to hack up some of the bigger colonies. I used to have some ancient colonies in my last tank, but i kinda turned the livestock over cause i was bored with em.

I don't typically go for named corals, i'm too cheap for that, but i am trying to enhance the stock. I have some things like cali tort and highlighter that are pretty vanilla. Miami orchid and such. But i do get good access to socal vendors who are pushing reef raft. And i placed my first battle corals order, which was outstanding.

 

[dieselkeeper]

You have some awesome acros. I'm so jealous. Awesome tank.

 

[naso tang]

Snapped some pics yesterday

Frag station 1


Shortcake and other frags



Purple gatorade


Blown out pink and green sarmentosa


Top shelf


Red dragon


Hawkins, pc rainbow, highlighter, joe the coral


Funky reef raft monti


Ppe cyphastrea


Miami orchid


Oregon tort


Miyagi tort


Cali tort


Milli frags


Jack o lantern and random acro


Frag city


Juicy fruit


Random blue purple acro


Another unknown


Frag city 2

 

[naso tang]

Frag rack


Cool yellow red milli


Frag rack again


Rasberry nasuta and blue aussie acro


Blue matrix?


Pc rainbow

 

[vic5hands]

Nicely done