I was going through a few old pics of things and I have to say that some things have had a great deal of change! Like the firetruck, this was what it looked like in it's prime before I restarted the tank under leds:
Which was pretty damn cool but no where near the same level of intense red that it is now, even if it's a little unhappy in this pic. Which is a give away from the lack of any green pigment and a bit of unhappiness on some edges lol:
When I restarted the tank I managed to slice most of the nail of my index finger off about 3/4 of the way through moving everyone across which meant my beautiful t. maxima was left to suffer in the tub for an extra two weeks or so and it not only nearly killed me seeing her in such conditions but she did not fair so well. After a two hour acclimatisation to the tank and lots (LOTS) of water shot everywhere she finally landed back into her old spot in the tank and a proper environment. Next time she get's moved a little sooner lol. It was also the first go I'd had at cutting the byssal threads to remove her from her old rock for a new one in the tank! Here she is, looking a bit sickly just after moving:
To her now, back to the absolute beauty that I fell in love with three years ago!! And the reason she gets a quarter of the floor space of the tank haha
Now for a bit of an explanation why I'm persisting so hard with this stubborn bastard!
This lovely little cherub has been a pain for a while now as the best colour that I could achieve was a measly fraction of the state it came in and I will continue to persist because I want to bring it back into the colour it should be! Basically this was the best I could get, bleachy-blue looking dips and a super dark almost black looking brown everywhere else lol largely because growth has been fairly non-existent in my tank over the last however many months but it's coming back again finally!!
Let's see if you can spot what it came in like...
This. This stunning thing is the reason why I'm going to continue pouring effort into this piece because I want this colour back lol
I have to say that over the three or four years (I forget when I first started lol) I've had one of the most awesome experiences in keeping a reef tank and it's really going to be something that I keep with me forever! Whether that's continuing with tanks the size I have or needing to go right down to a pico, I think there will always be a place for a tank no matter where I am or what I'm doing. And of these years the last year and in particular the last 4-5 months have been some of the biggest learning curves I've had and the most success with the tank I've had. There's been a lot of up and down but I like to think I've come a long way in the last year!
Here's the tank just after restarting (led's then too), oh how clean and simple it looked!:
To this a couple of weeks ago, while I still have a few issues that need some sorting, I'm pretty happy with where I am now as a reefer and how my tank is going!
All you guys have been a huge inspiration to me and I've learnt HEAPS from reading all the threads here and from the input you've all had as well. So thank you to everyone!!
They are insane.
