SteveM

Yes, I do have a large window in the room that I will be able to open as needed. I also have an exhaust fan dedicated just for the tank room. I think that between the window and the vent I should be okay.

I have thought about Ozone but honestly do not know anything about it. I would like to learn more about it. Those tanks are initially going to be quarantine tanks. Eventually I will turn one into a frag tank. I haven't decided on the sizes of the tanks yet.

I do have floor drains, one in the center of the roofm for "just in case" and one at the end of the sump for my water changes. The walls are green board and all the paint will be water proof. I also have an exhaust fan built into the ceiling. Thanks for asking about those things.

Thanks Eric, yes it's good to be retired!!

I thought I would stop by and say hello to everyone. It's been a while since I have been on. I have moved to Florida and my wife and I are currently building a house in Parrish and I am including a 410 gal reef tank. The tank is 96x36x28 and will be viewable from 2 sides. This will be a long process as the house will not be done until around the end of November but I am looking for some feedback on the design and layout of my set up. Here is a list of some of the planned equipment: Skimmer

Sweet.... very nice Hunter

Francis, the pics look great. Glad that blue table is doing so well, I already miss it. : )

Dan, the tank is looking great.

Stay away from the "close-up-lens-kit" type of stack-able lenses. The quality is not very good and I don't think you would be happy with the results. With most reef tank type of macro photography you need some reach. The 105mm length works well for most all fish tank type of photos and I have one that I am very happy with. The Sigma 105mm is an excellent lens and I believe almost as good as the Nikon version at about half the price. That would be my recommendation.

I am going to make a post today in the for sale section about details of the tank break down. I have had a number of PM's already about people interested in items. I have responded to all of those as of now.

20 months and counting towards the BIG move. Yes, going to Florida to retire and build our dream house. The current plan is to put our house on the market this spring, hence the tank break down, and then start building the new house by the end of 2010. Planning on about a 300+ gal in wall tank in the new house with an entire fish room behind it to support it.

I am planning on starting my tank breakdown this weekend. I wanted to give everyone a heads up in case you are interested. I am going to try to sell off the corals and some of the live rock first and then move to the fish, tank and equipment. I have had one person express interest in a package deal on most of it but as of yet I have not heard back from her. I am not exactly sure how I am going to go about selling the corals. Several of them are quite large and encrusted on the live rock. If anyone has done this before please let me hear your suggestions. Here is the link to my TOTM thread to see what I have. TOTM Several of the corals are much larger now and again; I am not sure how I am going to get them out. I will provide a complete list of everything that I have for sale in the For Sale section in the next day or two. My tank is a 110 gal Perfecto with a corner overflow. Along with the tank will be the stand, lights, sump and skimmer. I am hoping to sell those as a package deal. If you have any questions please fell free to PM me. For those of you that have asked in the past, I am not leaving the hobby. I am just relocating and planning on a bigger and even better tank. I will be selling my house soon and can not have the worry of keeping up with the demands of the tank during the selling process.

Yes, it's so. I am thinking it will be the weekend of Dec 4, 5 and 6th. We are putting the house on the market in the spring and I dont want to have to worry about the tank during that time. I am not leaving the hobby though, plan to have a 300+ gal tank in my new home we are going to build in Fl.

Thats my tank in the link. I actually plan on breaking it down next month so the tank will be avail soon if you are interested. I am planning on selling just about everything off. Shoot me a PM if you'd like to stop by to see it.

About the lenses, yes the Nikon lenses right now are quite a bit higher in price than the Cannons. As the Nikon prices level out the Cannon prices will catch up at some point. It is inevitable due to the economy and the price of the dollar against the yen. I am a Nikon shooter and have a D80 and a D300. I don't even want to tell you what I have spent on lenses to this point and I still have a couple of more high end lenses to pick up. Personally I don't think you can go wrong with a Nikon or a Cannon and the bottom line is what you feel most comfortable with and can afford. Like reef tanks, photography is addictive and expensive. Don't be discouraged that your pictures don't look great. Taking tank pics is not easy and to be honest with you a lot of it has to do with the processing of the photo after you take the pic. Getting a sharp image is one thing but getting the color correct is a totally different animal. No DSLR on the market can take a color correct image of a tank that is running 20K metal halides and blue actinics. that is accomplished in post processing. A good photo editor is a must if you are going to be taking a lot of digital images. Since you are in Fairfax I would be happy to help you out. I am close to Manassas and if you want to stop by I can show you my set up and my computer software to give you an idea of what can be done.

It's been a while since I posted any pics so I thought I'd throw these up.

I have to agree with dshnarw, either a Nikon or a Cannon is a great choice. I personally use Nikon as do some of the other professional photographers on the board. I do not know that much about Cannon but I will say one thing about the Nikons, they are getting more and more expensive. The cost of lenses has skyrocketed. From what I understand the Cannon lenses are not quite expensive but then again it depends on what you get. A good beginner choice in Nikons would be the D5000. I have heard some great things about it as well as being able to shoot video. Nikon has also just released a D3000 which is about $150 less than the D5000.

Amazing............ Excellent job Justin.

I'll see what happens tomorrow after the Lobo has had time to "digest". Not sure what will come of the shells.

A few days ago i reloaded my tank with a clean up crew. Part of it was some dwarf snails that are pretty small. They sometimes get blown around in my tank due to flow and you never know where they are going to end up. This evening I was checking out the tank and notice my Lobo was "eating" two snails. I had never seen anything like this so I took a few pics. First snail being eaten Second snail being eaten Series of the first snail

Submitter: SteveM Location: My 110g reef tank Camera Used: Nikon D300 Subject: My Flame Angel smiling for the camera

Welcome! Nice set up, Good luck with the frags.

I guess the answer is to go home and look from there... : ) Thanks everyone.

Thanks guys... I shot it with my Sigma 105mm f/2.8 in Aperture Priority Mode. Settings were ISO 400, f/2.8, 1/160 no flash.

I picked up a new Nikon D300 on Monday and was able to get a few fish pics today. If anyone is interested in photos of their tank or fish shoot me a PM.