copps May 19, 2006 Share May 19, 2006 What's up all? My local buddy Rik Leishman let me know about a photo contest at Congressional Aquarium and I started compiling some and thought I'd share here on WAMAS. While I'm at every meeting in the club I rarely post and haven't posted shots of my systems in years here at WAMAS and have been getting flack for some time. I'm copps at Reef Central and frequent there quite a bit for those who know me online there... I've been in the club for about four years now since moving to the area and getting married after college, and remember the small days of WAMAS. There's been excellent growth in the club and I feel like a stanger now at the meetings sometimes, a positve feeling if you look at the growth of the club. For those at MACNA, I was the guy who introduced Charles Delbeek and was grinning from ear to ear throughout the event... Anyway, to all of those I don't know (and those I do!) Cheers... Thanks to those who have made this an excellent club! I'll shutup now and share some pics :D My current setup has been going since 12/04 after having our house built in Leesburg and was an upgrade after moving. The display is a 180 gallon that I got about 12 years ago while working in high school at a fish place in Jersey, and was finally able to set back up. The total gallons of the system are over 400 as I have a custom built fish room with a 6 foot frag tank, large refugium and sump, and 5 dedicated 20 amp circuits as the 180 will eventually be swapped for a 500+ gallon display! For those who do know me I am nuts when it comes to the hobby, and God Bless my wife for dealing with me! Anyway, here are some semi-dated shots as I am still in the process of rebuilding after a minor meltdown while away on business earlier in the year. I lost some colonies but fortunately no fish... I had a bunch of people over during MACNA, and hopefully some time this summer I'll do a tank tour when I'm 100% happy with my systems... A shot showing coral development with the pumps off, thus scaring many of the fish away... Another fishless shot:D Before you think I'm one of those "where's the fish?" reef tank guys... here's some feeding time shots... This one's taken with flash under actinics, and it shows my trio of regal angels that I've now had for over a year... some other notables are Tongan bimaculatus anthias, a Christmas Island black tang, a tomini tang, and a pair of chrysurus angels from Kenya that have since been yanked after picking a little to much on my reef... they are awaiting a fish only system I'm setting up... the smaller of the two I've had for years since before the move and was grown from a squirt... Some more feeding shots with flash under actinics... the moorish idol I had for a while before he started eating a beautiful A. prostrata I have... away he went! I'm instead going to do a group of these in my fish only along with the chrysurus... Below are some shots under regular lighting... you could see my hybrid powder blue/goldrim tang... a beautiful combination of the two species resulting in a steel blue and characterisitcs from both species... Here are some shots of my previous 65 gallon from our old apartment near Dulles Town Center... I worked so hard on this small system and it was so hard to break it down (physically and mentally) and move. It won Tank of the Month at Reefcentral and was featured in Reefkeeping Magazine in September of 2004. You could read all you'd want to know about it at this link... http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/totm/index.php My original regal angel in this awesome shot... I have always loved this fish since getting a saltwater tank back in middle school over 15 years ago, but at that time they were considered nearly unkeepable... many people are now having success with this fish and it's demanding requirements I've always loved top shots as they show the truw beauty and suntan of the corals... here's some shots from left to right of my old 65... My old Ricordia florida bed... this species has unfortunately skyrocketed in price... Finally my old 10 gallon "kitchen nano" that I had in out kitchen in the apartment, again thanks to the go ahead from my excellent wife... Thanks to her she keeps me somewhat on this planet... without her I'd probably flood the house with water and fill it with corals ... This system was featured over three years ago at nano-reef.com where my username is Brooklyn Johnny (born in Brooklyn and raised outside the city in Jersey ), but unfortunately all of the photos didn't survive when they updated the boards... First shot with cabinet open above showing refugium... Front shot... Side shot... my Solomon Island onyx perc has now been paired up for about two and a half years... and the six line is HUGE and nasty... stay away from sixlines... they're only cute for a little... after that they won't allow any addition anywhere near their own size... even in a 180 gallon system... and it's not the tap tap welcome of some tangs... it's more the "I will hunt you until you're dead" welcome... A top shots... I successfully kept many sps and tridacnids in this system as the PCs were right on the water and I fed phytoplankton heavily for the tridacnids... I always thought this was a neat shot... with my clown getting taken by a UFO into the light... Anyway, I look forward to the meeting tomorrow and thanks again to all that make this club run... I'd be way more involved if not for a demanding job and this giant ocellaris clownfish that robs more time than any other fish (held by my father- Nicholas' grandpa)!:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatortailale May 19, 2006 Share May 19, 2006 Nice as always John. 1) I need to get digital copies of my old 125 from you some time 2) I would like to start a wamas member feature tank each month, (or a story on all of your systems & your background & history) or ever 2 weeks. How would you like to be first. Idea would be to feature it on home page with link to a separate web page, then it get's archived for the history directory that we will build as we add new spreads of member tanks. Let me know if you want to be first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copps May 19, 2006 Author Share May 19, 2006 Nice as always John. 1) I need to get digital copies of my old 125 from you some time 2) I would like to start a wamas member feature tank each month, (or a story on all of your systems & your background & history) or ever 2 weeks. How would you like to be first. Idea would be to feature it on home page with link to a separate web page, then it get's archived for the history directory that we will build as we add new spreads of member tanks. Let me know if you want to be first. Speaking of guys who work their butts off for the club... Sounds great... we'll chat tomorrow, and I'll shoot you an email with the few images I could dig up of your system... See you tomorrow Craig... John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leishman May 19, 2006 Share May 19, 2006 Show off. Now go back in to hiding for another 18 months so we can feel like we don't have muddy puddles for tanks -Rik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copps May 19, 2006 Author Share May 19, 2006 It took you 15 minutes to reply Rik! Wow! I'd love to have the time to peruse multiple blogs while at work like some people I know... Cheers... as you Brits say And enough of the "muddy puddle"... you're system rocks and the only reason many people don't know it is because you can't take a picture for ****... ... Oh... and you're a "master reefer" and I'm just a "reefer" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leishman May 19, 2006 Share May 19, 2006 It took you 15 minutes to reply Rik! Wow! I'd love to have the time to peruse multiple blogs while at work like some people I know... Cheers... as you Brits say Not @ work today, took the day off to be w/the kids while the wife is away for the w/e (the reason I can't make the meeting) And enough of the "muddy puddle"... you're system rocks and the only reason many people don't know it is because you can't take a picture for ****... Agreed, I can't take pics for $***! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatortailale May 19, 2006 Share May 19, 2006 After looking over the webmaster audition thread, got me thinking we need something more to website & home page. What better way to teach people then to have a feature story of member tanks/systems; background & experience .... The featured person can write as little or as much as they want (same for photos) and hopefully this will give the site some nice content. Now to get the ball rolling on installing some new webmasters OK Rik, you want to be #2 in line for the featured member section of site? ? is, should the officers just pick a member, or do you want to vote on it? Or we can make a committee who manages & selects the next in line. Proper management means that we should develop the 2nd story at same time as first and then begin process of selecting 3rd in line so it can be published in a timely fashion with little or no delays and they featured person would have time to write their bio/story and either take, gather pics, or we can send out a camera crew if needed. Call it a totm if you want, but just thinking of it more as a way to show off our members & their tanks. You don't have to have a big or fancy setup. Just starting with copps because, how can you not start there with that eye candy. :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seppler May 19, 2006 Share May 19, 2006 BOTH of you have gorgeous tanks!! John, yours was one of the very first tanks I saw featured on RC and when I saw that you were local I was so excited!! I sent you an e-mail ( you must have received tons!!) and you very kindly responded and directed me to WAMAS.. I've learned so much from joining the club. And your pics are great!! Thanks so much for sharing.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copps May 19, 2006 Author Share May 19, 2006 An excellent idea Craig, but it will require alot of work. At the most it would be every month... every two weeks would be too much. There are so many beautiful local setups that we could show... many not big or fancy... This will require a lot of preparation, but we could get the ball rolling soon... of course a chat over a couple beers is necessary...:D BOTH of you have gorgeous tanks!! John, yours was one of the very first tanks I saw featured on RC and when I saw that you were local I was so excited!! I sent you an e-mail ( you must have received tons!!) and you very kindly responded and directed me to WAMAS.. I've learned so much from joining the club. And your pics are great!! Thanks so much for sharing.. Thank you Sharon! What has always inspired me is people with a passion for this wonderful hobby... thoe who know me know I could talk for hours on end about it... and there is no better way than in a local club. As for my pics, I know very little about photography and owe everything to Nikon's macro abilities... I hope to see you at the meeting... one of the issues is putting a face to screen names... we need a seperate thread maybe for this? Have we met? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gadgets May 19, 2006 Share May 19, 2006 Beautiful tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seppler May 19, 2006 Share May 19, 2006 John, I met you briefly when I was at Rik's house actually...I came with Eve who was looking for some frags. Not long before MACNA. I had picked you out by your name tag at one of the previous WAMAS meetings..but I admit I have been too shy to really introduce myself. I still consider myself pretty much of a beginner. And I am so much in awe of your experience and your beautiful tanks.. I don't know for sure if I'll be coming to the meeting tomorrow. Things are so busy right now.. But I know that there's SO MUCH I could learn from you...I may pick your brain at some point.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copps May 19, 2006 Author Share May 19, 2006 Thanks Chris! No worries Sharon, we all started as beginners and we can all learn from each other regardless of experience... anyone with a passion for the hobby I enjoy talking too! Being a beginner in this day and age is much easier with all of the resources and clubs... when I started the method unfortunately that we learned by resulted in a path of destruction resulting in misinformation provided by books and bad LFSs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocko918 May 19, 2006 Share May 19, 2006 Sweet tanks John, I remember seeing it as totm on RC as well. I also remember seeing the person who you sold it to try to sell it as well. Your tanks are awesome, thanks for sharing them with us and we would love to see you more on these board if you find the time. thanks agian for the pics. when is the tank tour? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dzekunoi May 19, 2006 Share May 19, 2006 Wow, fantastic! Thanks for sharing, I hope to see more info and pictures! Can I use one of them as a desktop background? I remember seeing it all on RC, still amazed! But I still like big ocelaris clownfish the best! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmward99 May 19, 2006 Share May 19, 2006 John your tank looks awesome.I really love the clownfish costume do you mind me asking where you got it?LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbartco May 19, 2006 Share May 19, 2006 John, When are you ever going to be 100% satisfied? I would give that a big never... What would you do with yourself and the spare time. Rocket Science, Brain surgery, Quantum Physics? Just prepare yourself for the hundred or so when you have your tour. I had 3 show up by the way.. Nice new pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copps May 19, 2006 Author Share May 19, 2006 Thanks Bob... I'll try to contribute more here... This is a warm board with friendly members and it really makes you feel good about the hobby. I clicked on your webpage and very nice! Few people know I'm a zoo nut as well, yet my love for regal angels and zoos do not mix, so I have my entire collection in the frag tank. This is a small slice of it below. I'm FINALLY getting going my two corner 54s going which will be for my two clownfish pairs, zoos, and other softies, lps, and a ritteri anemone... that and a 7 1/2 foot long fish only in our kitchen... when these are chugging along I'll have the tank tour! Inna thank you... that's mine and my wife's favorite fish of course too! Below is a more recent shot of the three of us and my wife's family last week when Nicholas was baptized in Quito, Ecuador (I'm holding Nicholas and my wife Virginia is hanging onto me). We met 8 years ago when I was studying and living in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands (fish of course!) for around 2 years total... we've been married now for just over five now and travel back yearly. My four grandparents were Italian immigrants (surprise surprise... an Italian from Brooklyn!:D), but I learned my Spanish fluently there and found our cultures very similar and family oriented... dmward99 thanks... my wife found the costume on Ebay actually I think... We completely decorated his room with... well... you could see below... if he doesn't like fish he's going to have a rough life! Here's a shot with my mother-in-law showing his room... Come on Doug! This hobby is much more exciting and is evolving faster than the things you mention... and there's more to be pioneered! I'll be satisfied when my house looks like the Georgia Aquarium... maybe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caribbean Jake May 19, 2006 Share May 19, 2006 awesom John., good to hear from you again, it has been quite a while. and congratulations on your new son again,.. I think I already said that in a previous post, perhaps when you were breaking down. Anyway, I run into you again at Fed Ex earlier this year, hope that livestock is doing great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copps May 22, 2006 Author Share May 22, 2006 awesom John., good to hear from you again, it has been quite a while. and congratulations on your new son again,.. I think I already said that in a previous post, perhaps when you were breaking down. Anyway, I run into you again at Fed Ex earlier this year, hope that livestock is doing great. Thanks Jake... I just shot you an e-mail in response to our conversation this weekend... John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocko918 May 22, 2006 Share May 22, 2006 Hey John, Yes i have a thing for zoo, the 54 corner tank sounds sweet. I updated my site this morning because they were some really old pictures up there. You can see more of my zoo collection. We will have to trade soon, i see some that i don't have in your pic. BTW that Ricordia florida bed was really cool looking. If you remember, were they slow growers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowardofNOVA May 22, 2006 Share May 22, 2006 Excellent Tank and story John! Congrats on Tank of the Month for RC and it seems for WAMAS!! Will be waiting for your tank tour soon! Don't wait until ITS PERFECT for you, Already is for us!!!!! Howard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scott711 May 22, 2006 Share May 22, 2006 Hey John, It was good talking with you on Saturday about Ecuador. I also enjoyed your Tank of the Month Thread and I look forward to seeing your tank soon. Scott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dschflier May 22, 2006 Share May 22, 2006 Wow I am speechless. It really lets you see what can be accomplished. I hope one day my tanks look half that good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tygger May 24, 2006 Share May 24, 2006 OMG! That's an awesome tank man! Good job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keeperofthefish May 25, 2006 Share May 25, 2006 John, What can I say except that you are an inspiration and cemented my involvement with this hobby! Coming over to check out your tanks with Ian was enough to give me a model to aspire to--and a bank account to empty in pursuit of such perfection! I can't wait to see the FOWLR and the two 54s set up! Sam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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