It hasn't been THAT long

[miwoodar]

Mods, feel free to move this to the build section if you see fit.

It's becoming apparent that I don't know many of the folks that are on the boards these days. I'm guessing that you don't know me either. Hi, I'm Mike. I got into saltwater when in college. I worked at a number of LFS's, had a bunch of tanks (my brother had twice what I had), operated a maintenance company for a few years, and then took a job on the road. I got back into the hobby after moving to Denver in 2001. That was a neat time to get back into it as SPS were just becoming available to the masses.

I was briefly on the metro area board a few years ago but work threatened a move to Belgium so I had to quit (frankly, being on the board wasn’t a good fit for me anyways). I’m very, very pleased to learn about what you guys have going on. The DBTC program is awesome. The science fair I just found this morning is extremely cool as well. Cheers, you guys have done a lot to improve the club! You guys have a lot to be proud of.

I'm an environmental engineer. My company cleans up hazardous waste and we are especially known for our groundwater expertise. An interesting fact, we carved our early success by carbon dosing groundwater. Yes, carbon dosing is real and we made a lot of money while our competition was laughing at us.

In short….since moving to Denver....
Had a tank:

Built some swirler steins:

Built a skimmer:

Built some reflectors:

 

[miwoodar]

Built a stand:

Built a tank to go on top of it:

Cut and glued some wood:

Had a helper:

Had an appetizer:

Had some dinner:

That ****ed me off so I put my tank on autopilot.

I sat around for a while and did a lot of this:

Which I then replaced with this:

 

[miwoodar]

Last year I almost switched back to freshwater (I really like it):

But I decided not to leave reef without driving my 140 to a successful version two first.

Thor’s tank made me interested in bonsai concepts. His scape opened up his tank so the fish could take the spotlight. (It always drove me nuts that people could look at a tank with a dozen fish and ask where all the fish were…uhhh…hiding in the rocks.) So I looked around for new ideas….

 

[KhensuRa]

Mike I just recently got away from Bonsai's. I cut them for years till I got a nasty bug and lost all my tress cept for one. I then just lost interest and forgot about watering the last one and I killed it. I still plan on geting back into it when I move from this house as it has the worst light for plants. Love that huge cube, how many gallons is it?

 

[Zooid]

Wow, your son has grown. I haven't seen him since he was just a newborn.

 

[miwoodar]

Mike I just recently got away from Bonsai's. I cut them for years till I got a nasty bug and lost all my tress cept for one. I then just lost interest and forgot about watering the last one and I killed it. I still plan on geting back into it when I move from this house as it has the worst light for plants. Love that huge cube, how many gallons is it?

My house is terrible for plants as well. One of these days I'm going to bust out the small window in our kitchen and put in a nice bow.

It's a ~140. I think I ended up with 37x37x26.

Here are some existing scapes I used in conjunction with the bonsai plants for ideas. If anyone can guess all four owners, I'll find you a frag from my tank. (not much in there right now unfortunately but I'll offer an IOU if you want to wait for something better)

(I turned up the color on this first photo so I could see the lines better.)

Wow, your son has grown. I haven't seen him since he was just a newborn.

No carp. They are like weeds! This photo is a year old:

 

[dv3]

nice re-intro mike .....welcome back!

 

[chrislorentz]

Mike when you going to be ready to come aquascape my 110?

 

[miwoodar]

I'm happy to be back Don. Happy to make the aquaintance!

I would be happy to help. I have the bit and plenty of extra mortar. This stuff is a lot of fun to work with.

Here is what I laid on the floor while I built the new scape:

Tonight I replaced it with this (more ORA than not! ):

And this:

Then I saw this

This:

And this (The center island will be dedicated to anenomes.):

It was a fun week!

BTW...thanks to the local reefer who hooooooooooooooked me up!!!!!!! I will give you any frag you want at any time. (really, thanks)

 

[chrislorentz]

I just flat out suck at scaping, always just looks like a pile of rocks !!!!!!! lol

 

[miwoodar]

I have no interest in a 'fruit stand' aquascape anymore. Been there, done that. If the day looms and you're ready to scape...if you need help...303 dot 250 dot 6223.

 

[chrislorentz]

Yea we will have to set something up. I can buy the beer and send home some nice frags for you. We need to talk about that some more some time.

 

[miwoodar]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...beer...either that or donuts and i'm an easy target every time.

 

[bsharpe]

I don't care who you are, that some funny chit.

+1 lol

 

[projectx]

Like the Bansai tree idea, looks good too.

 

[miwoodar]

I've been waiting for today for two years. I've been a happy non-smoker since 10/5/09. Celebrations include burgers (my favorite), time with the family, and a new fish (hopefully tonight).

Please tell me oh wise ones, thoughts on going DIY LEDs? Are you happy you did it? I'm looking at $300 in bulb replacements next month and I'm curious if it's time to pull the trigger on a new approach.

 

[Walter White]

Depending on how much it would cost for a good DIY you may want to consider getting the AIs that loosehip (Derek) is selling might be a little more cost wise but will also be better than most if not all DIY projects out there. Just my oppinion im sure everyone here that has done a DIY led will argue that.

 

[dv3]

I've been waiting for today for two years. I've been a happy non-smoker since 10/5/09. Celebrations include burgers (my favorite), time with the family, and a new fish (hopefully tonight).

congrats thats awesome ...its been about 10 days for me ...lol

i been trying to quit for months but i still do it once a week untill this weekend

 

[miwoodar]

Depending on how much it would cost for a good DIY you may want to consider getting the AIs that loosehip (Derek) is selling might be a little more cost wise but will also be better than most if not all DIY projects out there. Just my oppinion im sure everyone here that has done a DIY led will argue that.

I spoke to Derrick today actually. My spousal approval has granted me $500 to play with which leaves me a little short for my currently projected total of ~$700 DIY. His would be ~$950 for fewer stars but it's a top notch plug and play unit. Can the optics be replaced? I think 60* would fit in my hood much better than the 40's that came with those units. This might be moot point though. I'm thinking that I could take a flight to the dog house for $700 but $950 might take my butt all the way to the curb. [I have too many expensive hobbies.]

congrats thats awesome ...its been about 10 days for me ...lol

i been trying to quit for months but i still do it once a week untill this weekend

Congrats Don. Kick it. Kick it real good.

 

[Cake_Boss]

Just caught up on the thread, it's looking sweet. One question though, for your bonsai rocks, you just made a frame and covered with mortar?

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