monkiboy's 265g build thread

revhtree · Dec 11, 2013

WOW love those fish!

monkiboy · Dec 14, 2013

my custom synergy reef rack arrived. smoked acrylic tiers so that if i need to see underneath for fish or frags, i can easily but will inhibit algae growth on bottom and on tiers with solid black cylinders for legs. wonderful experience and will continue as a custom on some other goodies we are working on. looks awesome!

[video=youtube;XuxJ6fGNW4k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuxJ6fGNW4k[/video]

monkiboy · Dec 14, 2013

revhtree said:
WOW love those fish!

thank you, sir!

monkiboy · Dec 20, 2013

ok the choat's wrasse is out of QT. it's been about 36 days to today. it's been in my display for two days now. upon introduction it surprisingly didn't dive into the sand which most of my wrasses have done. it meandered for about an hour and was under the sand for the next 24 hours. the next day it was "awake" around 3pm and only out for half hour and back under the sand. today, it was out for three hours swimming calmly in a slightly larger than the day before but still not exploring the 7' fully.
for those that aren't familiar with this species, a quick search will describe how so many are filled with dismay and bad luck trying to keep these guys alive in captivity - it is one of the most difficult leopards there are. the fish isn't one of my favorite aesthetically despite its gorgeous coloration and sheer stature but the allure of doing something that very few can do was instantaneous and i just had to try. being as successful as i've been thus far has increased my interest in the fish a million-fold. seeing it come out the very next day and not spend an extended siesta in the sand napping away brought so much excitement to the house and had me running all over the place trying to find a video camera. most attempts start with successful qt or acclimation and the introduction where the choat will dive the sand and never be seen again so you can imagine the goosebumps i got seeing it the next day swimming about it's new home.

it ate a few enriched blackworms without much excitement, but did eat. ate some PE enriched mysis and hikari mysis and spat a few pieces back. his activity and length of life thus far has me excited as i hear that the two week to 1 month mark is the life clock on this species in captivity. once after that hurdle everyone i talk to that has one has kept them successfully long term.

i'm feeding small amounts as many times as i can while he's awake to take advantage of those few hours but so far so good. no aggression from the other tank inhabitants and he does seem more active and willing to search more of the tank every day.

here's a quick video of him a minute or so after waking mid afternoon in my tank for the first time:

[video=youtube;ONjLIC6sqkY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONjLIC6sqkY[/video]

monkiboy · Dec 24, 2013

i had asked about them a bit earlier and got some good suggestions. did some more research and found my new solution for lighting in the fish room.

i had a 2x54w t5 fixture and the bulbs and the look were just not a pleasant experience. i went off in search of a brighter, cleaner looking setup that would be less of a hassle. i found an LED panel light i liked from ledwholesalers in california. after speaking to their customer support and getting great feedback from other buyers, i closed the deal on a 48x12" LED panel light.

i took that annoying t5 unit out of there and installed my super slim and sexy LED panel light. results are fantastic - incredibly bright, very unobtrusive, controllable by the apex, and no maintenance.

back side:

front side:

testing - silly bright at full intensity!

installed and on:

installed and off:

howaboutme · Dec 30, 2013

So...any new videos???

monkiboy · Dec 30, 2013

howaboutme said:
So...any new videos???

haha...

the choati is still alive! eating better but still not eating blackworms with any interest really. goes through brine, mysis, squid, etc very enthusiastically. still not staying awake beyond 4 hours but hopefully that'll increase more in the next weeks.

[video=youtube;Cg3wPsxxtOw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg3wPsxxtOw[/video]

howaboutme · Dec 30, 2013

Need to keep up with the updates on the national scene!

monkiboy · Jan 15, 2014

i've been taking some photos lately of other member's tanks so thought i'd use the momentum to take some photos of some of the frags in quarantine. i haven't lost any and a few are growing nicely with new branches and corallites. thankfully haven't found any pests in qt yet either.

i'm really trying to work on the quality of photos but i think my gear just gets me by and i need to read up on some of the great articles available on DoF and perhaps getting a new body or tips on lighting so these aren't too great but better than i could do with my phone's camera i think. any tips are welcome!

monkiboy · Jan 16, 2014

so thanks to the advice given i started experimenting and here are the results from one example. i tried to use a multi-branching frag so as to have more depth to capture and keep in focus. the results indicate an awesome success.

i found working with the tripod over a tank really difficult. how is this achieved normally without putting a plank across the tank and using a miniature tripod to access anything wider (away from you) than the first 6" of the tank?

thankfully my shutter speed didn't have to drop too slow as i got pretty good results at f9 (in aperture priority) which put me at 1/15 second shutter speed for the given shot below.

i tried to edit the photos identically to make it easy to tell the change in depth of field.

given what was shared about how my focus point changes the area of depth of field and how the f9 photo came out while focusing on the center of the acro, i know i can take the focus point and move it the point closer to me of the acro and very well get the entire colony in focus. you can see the epoxy on the bottom of the frag plug even starts to become in focus so moving the focus meter closer to me while taking the shot will keep the entire frag in focus at f9 it appears.

here's the first shot at f5:

here's the second shot at f9:

monkiboy · Jan 24, 2014

so the plan was to get the tankless water heater installed today. i have a buddy that owns a commercial HVAC design/build company, pierce associates and he sent his superintendent and his best tech out for the install bright and early this morning at 6am. after evaluating the situation and placement to maximize the space for my water change station and in my fish room we are going to have to get a bit creative. more details to come...

awesome news is that the guy doing the install is a divemaster! he's telling me about all his dives all over the world and his tanks and his 2500g outdoor catfish and koi ponds and turtle breeding projects. this guy has all kinds of stories and connections. we spent about an hour just talking fish and about his dives. it's awesome!

monkiboy · Jan 27, 2014

some recent pick ups in qt. these are from our local reefing club's latest meeting thanks to some awesome members:

howaboutme · Jan 27, 2014

Looks good, buddy! The shots look nice. The colors are true to form.

SeahorseKeeper · Jan 27, 2014

Great pics!! Keep them coming!!

wrasseluver · Jan 27, 2014

Great looking choati. I have a pair and they are both eating SA .5mm pellets aggressively. I hope this helps if he's still not eating.

monkiboy · Feb 17, 2014

haven't updated in a while - sorry!

have a few colonies and frags out of qt so took the time to take some photos. these aren't super nice but i'm working on it - i liked these as they came out as very good representations of the coral subject. things are growing pretty quickly and some of the wild colonies are growing very nicely even in qt and adapting to my system great which is exciting.

have lots more to update on system-wise but thought in the interim i'd toss these up while i still had energy to do so. let me know what you think and any feedback is helpful - thanks!

revhtree · Feb 17, 2014

Nice job!

monkiboy · Feb 17, 2014

revhtree said:
Nice job!

thank you, sir and thanks for checking in - i knew someone had to be out there, haha!

monkiboy · Feb 23, 2014

stupid windows phone records it's amazing video and quality in some format that youtube doesn't like so it gets compressed into "240p". i tried vimeo and it's slightly better but not by much as all the detail and colors are off - sorry.

[video=vimeo;87404264]http://vimeo.com/87404264[/video]

i need a dedicated water proof camera for tank vids - next on the list!