~ TJ's Reef, the new and much improved making of the 187gReeftank~

[mmw64]

Thanks... lol
It's what partially has kept me so interested and involved in the Hobby for the past 35 years. The creating of the system is almost equal to the outcome for me, so getting ready to add on a 60 Cube which will sit next to the 187g on the right. I need to build a matching stand for it that will also hold the ATO reservoir beneath. All plumbed together giving a 280 gallon total volume then. Probably a Softy tank with a Butterfly and a few others less friendly to SPS.

Please do another build thread. Love to watch your work.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Great thread, bro! I appreciate the time you took to catch us all up on the reef and life in general. I'm following along to watch this one as it continues to develop!

 

[TJ's Reef]

Great thread, bro! I appreciate the time you took to catch us all up on the reef and life in general. I'm following along to watch this one as it continues to develop!

Thanks bud, but my dang fingers are getting tired of all the "hunt & peck" mad typing skills I have... lol

 

[TJ's Reef]

It would help if I did NOT have such an affinity to words like Fellman does, or at least maybe Scott's typing skills...

(edit) I'm going to buy a Mega Millions ticket today so if I win can hire a secretary...

 

[TJ's Reef]

May must have been busy as I only took these 4 photos of the Reeftank... lol
Yet, really looking closely at the photos can see that this was after one of my dosing mishaps and had already lost a few colonies from RTN and a few fragged down. Demand was above 300ml each Alkalinity and Calcium daily so only the hardiest of Corals withstood the drastic drops in Alkalinity.

Did finish the deck project 100% finally and had great success in clamming. Showing our native Littleneck Clams on the left and imported Manila Clams on the right. Big daytime minus tides for exceptional beach walks...

 

[TJ's Reef]

My friend Duane (Trido) and I have Coral Banked with each other for several years passing on to each other our most important Corals for added security. We often purchase the same frags from a LFS or Frag Swap to increase our odds of success especially mariculture cut frags. And can see from photo on above post that I had recently received a few of my lost Corals back from his system and sitting in the frag racks. .. still in the display .

 

[TJ's Reef]

Most all of last Summer from end of June through September I was super busy with life and other than making a few changes in location for a few Corals after picking up a couple of new LPS pieces just let it run on autopilot. We went Concert crazy seeing many great shows, Fishing, Crabbing and tide-pooling at the beach house, gardening at home and over to North Idaho to continue working on the family property. Week long trip down the Oregon coast for the Solar Eclipse event and another out to the Olympic Peninsula. Here's a photo collage for late June through July.

 

[TJ's Reef]

And highlights of August followed by

September... then back to Reefkeeping season in upcoming October... lol

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[TJ's Reef]

Photos and text scrambled for some reason ???
Chris Baskins aka Skinz78 ? should recognize the second to last photo as nearly in his backyard...

 

[TJ's Reef]

September highlights... including a group of new Wrasses added to the group.

 

[Flippers4pups]

You are a "steely eyed missile man" with your build! Absolutely stunning work. Bravo!

I miss the Northwest at times. I was stationed at Fort Lewis for two years in the late eighties. Man what beautiful country up there!

 

[TJ's Reef]

October and Reefkeeping season has officially begun in the Pacific northwest... but for me there's still one BIG distraction of the Fall Salmon fishing season in the coastal rivers so you will have to indulge me one last post... haha

 

[Flippers4pups]

October and Reefkeeping season has officially begun in the Pacific northwest... but for me there's still one BIG distraction of the Fall Salmon fishing season in the coastal rivers so you will have to indulge me one last post... haha

Smoked salmon is a huge treat for me. Got hooked on it from my stay up there!

 

[TJ's Reef]

Smoked salmon is a huge treat for me. Got hooked on it from my stay up there!

I do a few batches a year and have modified or improved my brine recipe over the year's to be pretty danged good if I say so myself... I am rather particular in how I deal with harvesting any of Fish and Shellfish from as humanely as possible dispatching to keeping the meat clean and cold until it's processed then consumed fresh or vacuum packed and frozen. No different for what I end up smoking, if it is not table worthy it's not smoking worthy either in my book.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Getting serious about making some much needed improvements to the system and my husbandry practices so finished procuring the needed parts and media to be able to set up the Calcium Reactor, a new generation Ozotech Poseidon ozone generator and the new 2016 Apex system. And making lemonade out of lemons in prepping all the Coral death of past few months into reactor media.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Just some random Reeftank photos...
And the last batch of smoked salmon for the year.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Christmas preparation, a bit more involved than past several. Sunrise in the Reeftank 12/9, another upgrade project started and completed... yes, I said completed. Pushing 18 months on the "temporary" lighting bracket and even made a place specifically for the Neptune AFS. Better fish escape barrier and now have all three Ethereal fixtures mounted the same and no longer in direct contact with the sw.

 

[TJ's Reef]

The dog ear cutouts at the end are for the structural ribs/rails of my canopy to slide into. Building the canopy is buried in the 125g build thread somewhere. This was some of the scrap 3/4" acrylic from the tank build.

 

[TJ's Reef]

With the Raccoon Butterfly gone for past year the dag namned Mojanos made a mightier than ever attempt to be "the only one" and both the Montipora spongodes and KP Stag continually growing into the glass decided to do a BIG reaquascaping project to alleviate both issues. In preparation I borrowed a friends 40B to make a stand alone frag system, set uupa temporary 20g QT and cleaned out an ice chest then did a infrequent water change using the established water for the three

. So, with a little help from my friend Duane broke down the basketball sized Gree Stylo, KP Stag along with the XXL M. spongodes, Pink and Purple Stylo colonies to eliminate the most difficult places to get the Mojano Wand into. The ORA Green Stylo was nearly 15lbs by itself, kept a cantaloupe sized piece to restart with and made 75+- frags from 2" branching to fist size to sell/trade/gift. Fortunately I was able to cut out the large Cali Tort nearly in tact and managed to epoxy back in place for the final step.

 

[TJ's Reef]

Continued from above...