March 2015 reefer of the month (ROTM)---Dmorty

Nanook · 02/28/2015, 09:13 PM

I want to start off by saying how privileged and honored I am to receive this nomination from the Reef Central staff. I started keeping saltwater 16 yrs ago after getting a job at a LFS when I was 15. I started off with a 120g and quickly upgraded to 180g within a few months. I read as many books as I could at the time to try and learn as much as I possibly could. I dabbled in keeping corals of all kinds but my focused shifted toward fish because of the personality and interaction you get with fish that you don't get with corals. This hobby has brought me a lot of happiness and a lot of heartache to say the least. Back in November I had a ich out break in my tank and quickly setup several QT tanks and got my hands on some CP. Long story short I lost all of my livestock to secondary infections and was devestated, I thought about quitting the hobby to be honest all because of one mistake with one fish. Moral of the story is I will be very diligent in my QT practices from here on. Since losing all my fish except for my melanarus wrasse I have been focusing on getting the last few pieces of equipment for my 625g upgrade. Currently my wife and I are building a home that the new setup will go in so it's a waiting game until the late summer. Build thread to follow for the 625g. Here is a picture of the new (to me anyway) tank when I picked it up in North Carolina after 12 hrs of a 24hr round trip.

Thank you to the Reef Central staff for this nomination and everything they and this forum do for all of us saltwater fanatics. I for one have learned something almost daily. Thank you again and Happy Reefing! Derek

Future 625 gallon tank:

Description of RC ROTM:

In appreciation and honor of the members that regularly contribute to our discussion forums, we would like to acknowledge a Reefer each month that stands out as exceptional for their outstanding service to others. This person will be selected by the Reef Central Staff, based on their willingness to help others in response to questions, giving advice, and overall disposition. The honoree will be given the Reef Central ROTM tag, that will appear above their avatar and will follow them for one year after being awarded. This will not only demonstrate to others that you have been chosen as a trustworthy source of information, but also as a positive role model for others to emulate. Additionally, we are pleased to upgrade your membership to the premium level for one year.

We look forward to honoring one person, each month, by highlighting them here on Reef Central. This will include a recent photograph of yourself, or your avatar if you prefer not to show your actual face, along with what you love about the hobby of reef keeping and why you have chosen Reef Central to be your home. Each month the face and paragraph of the ROTM will change, but you can forever hold the honor of knowing that you were one of the chosen few to have earned this title and our respect as a member in great standing.

Best Regards,

The RC Staff

ca1ore · 03/02/2015, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nanook

Future 625 gallon tank:

Congrats Derek! And for the record, that's not a tank, it's a water bed

Zoinks, its going to be spectacular.

Pny · 03/02/2015, 11:02 AM

Congrats!

Dmorty217 · 03/02/2015, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ca1ore

Congrats Derek! And for the record, that's not a tank, it's a water bed

Zoinks, its going to be spectacular.

Haha thanks Simon, when I first saw it I was like "the wife will be pleased about this one!" You can say the tank is 7ftx6ftx2ft but until you see it, it's hard to visualize... Somehow I left out my 17 month old daughter in the write up i did... She commands all of my time, and kept grabbing the ipad out of my hand while doing the write up, yet i didn't mention anything about her

gone fishin · 03/02/2015, 06:42 PM

Congrats

Look forward to seeing that tanks setup.

ca1ore · 03/02/2015, 09:16 PM

How long have you had it? I commend you for your patience, regardless; I'd be jonesing big time to get it setup.

Nanook · 03/02/2015, 10:01 PM

Awesome dimensions!

30g · 03/02/2015, 10:20 PM

what are you putting in there to utilize the height and depth

Dmorty217 · 03/03/2015, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ca1ore

How long have you had it? I commend you for your patience, regardless; I'd be jonesing big time to get it setup.

I have had it a year now the end of May so jonesing to set it up is a understatement. Easy to not set it up though when the current home i live in literally has no place in it to make it work, especially with all of the equipment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nanook

Awesome dimensions!

Thanks Dave, it should look awesome in the basement of the home we are building

Quote:

Originally Posted by 30g

what are you putting in there to utilize the height and depth

The picture you see is with the tank laying on its side, the top is directly behind me in the picture. 7ft long x 6ft wide x 2ft deep as far as what im putting in there it still a work in progress. In the last 5 months or so I have been reading as much as i can about sharks, since prior to then i didn't know very much about them (still learning a lot) so thats a thought or the other route I may go is a FOWLR with some easy corals and LOTS of angels, tangs and butterflies. Still not sure yet though. QTing as many fish as I want will be a long process that will take at least a year to complete plus all the fish i want are expensive like Bandit angel prices so thats another issue. The system will be around 1400g total not including the QT system I will have so i have many options to say the least

ca1ore · 03/03/2015, 10:35 AM

Yeah you could go a lot of different ways. I've always envisioned a tank like that as a few rock and coral 'islands' with lots of open sand and swimming room. Maybe a group of convicts ......

Dmorty217 · 03/03/2015, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ca1ore

Yeah you could go a lot of different ways. I've always envisioned a tank like that as a few rock and coral 'islands' with lots of open sand and swimming room. Maybe a group of convicts ......

Thats the plan, some island features and LOTS of open swimming area. Group of convicts you say!! Still undecided on that but there will be groups of fish in there to say the least. I'm having Alprazo walk me thru the force feeding method he used on the Regal and Idol and see if I can have some success with it. I'm going to try force feeding on Ornate and Meyers BF and see if I can't get them to start accepting prepared foods. I have everything I need to FF but want to make sure I have my ducks in a row before attempting to do it myself. Practice makes perfect right?

koko maung · 03/09/2015, 11:20 PM

congratz! That an amazing tank!

myownlife · 03/16/2015, 07:03 PM

Nice tank

hedgedrew · 03/21/2015, 07:02 AM

Hey der. Congrats. You really are all over the forums helping !!! Great job

Sangheili · 03/22/2015, 02:39 AM

I sure hope your planning some catwalk or something above that tank. Looks like a real pain to work in, but also INSANELY awesome.

Dmorty217 · 03/23/2015, 07:43 PM

Thanks guys. Andrew, just getting inspiration from you and Ted...

02/28/2015, 09:13 PM	#1
Nanook Ancient Eskimo Legend Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Saint Louis, MO Posts: 41,852 Blog Entries: 11	March 2015 reefer of the month (ROTM)---Dmorty I want to start off by saying how privileged and honored I am to receive this nomination from the Reef Central staff. I started keeping saltwater 16 yrs ago after getting a job at a LFS when I was 15. I started off with a 120g and quickly upgraded to 180g within a few months. I read as many books as I could at the time to try and learn as much as I possibly could. I dabbled in keeping corals of all kinds but my focused shifted toward fish because of the personality and interaction you get with fish that you don't get with corals. This hobby has brought me a lot of happiness and a lot of heartache to say the least. Back in November I had a ich out break in my tank and quickly setup several QT tanks and got my hands on some CP. Long story short I lost all of my livestock to secondary infections and was devestated, I thought about quitting the hobby to be honest all because of one mistake with one fish. Moral of the story is I will be very diligent in my QT practices from here on. Since losing all my fish except for my melanarus wrasse I have been focusing on getting the last few pieces of equipment for my 625g upgrade. Currently my wife and I are building a home that the new setup will go in so it's a waiting game until the late summer. Build thread to follow for the 625g. Here is a picture of the new (to me anyway) tank when I picked it up in North Carolina after 12 hrs of a 24hr round trip. Thank you to the Reef Central staff for this nomination and everything they and this forum do for all of us saltwater fanatics. I for one have learned something almost daily. Thank you again and Happy Reefing! Derek Future 625 gallon tank: Description of RC ROTM: In appreciation and honor of the members that regularly contribute to our discussion forums, we would like to acknowledge a Reefer each month that stands out as exceptional for their outstanding service to others. This person will be selected by the Reef Central Staff, based on their willingness to help others in response to questions, giving advice, and overall disposition. The honoree will be given the Reef Central ROTM tag, that will appear above their avatar and will follow them for one year after being awarded. This will not only demonstrate to others that you have been chosen as a trustworthy source of information, but also as a positive role model for others to emulate. Additionally, we are pleased to upgrade your membership to the premium level for one year. We look forward to honoring one person, each month, by highlighting them here on Reef Central. This will include a recent photograph of yourself, or your avatar if you prefer not to show your actual face, along with what you love about the hobby of reef keeping and why you have chosen Reef Central to be your home. Each month the face and paragraph of the ROTM will change, but you can forever hold the honor of knowing that you were one of the chosen few to have earned this title and our respect as a member in great standing. Best Regards, The RC Staff __________________ The wind blew, the chit flew, and then they came two by two. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Current Tank Info: 375g Tanganyikan Tank & 470g mixed reef Last edited by Nanook; 03/02/2015 at 09:07 AM.

03/02/2015, 06:42 PM	#5
gone fishin Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Wyocena Wi Posts: 6,936	Congrats Look forward to seeing that tanks setup. __________________ Tony Current Tank Info: 180gal DT, BM NAC77 skimmer,3 Maxspect razors, Maxspect Gyre 150, 30g QT

03/02/2015, 09:16 PM	#6
ca1ore Grizzled & Cynical Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Stamford, CT Posts: 17,319	How long have you had it? I commend you for your patience, regardless; I'd be jonesing big time to get it setup. __________________ Simon Got back into the hobby ..... planned to keep it simple ..... yeah, right ..... clearly I need a new plan! Pet peeve: anemones host clowns; clowns do not host anemones! Current Tank Info: 450 Reef; 120 refugium; 60 Frag Tank, 30 Introduction tank; multiple QTs

03/02/2015, 10:01 PM	#7
Nanook Ancient Eskimo Legend Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Saint Louis, MO Posts: 41,852 Blog Entries: 11	Awesome dimensions! __________________ The wind blew, the chit flew, and then they came two by two. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Current Tank Info: 375g Tanganyikan Tank & 470g mixed reef

03/03/2015, 10:35 AM	#10
ca1ore Grizzled & Cynical Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Stamford, CT Posts: 17,319	Yeah you could go a lot of different ways. I've always envisioned a tank like that as a few rock and coral 'islands' with lots of open sand and swimming room. Maybe a group of convicts ...... __________________ Simon Got back into the hobby ..... planned to keep it simple ..... yeah, right ..... clearly I need a new plan! Pet peeve: anemones host clowns; clowns do not host anemones! Current Tank Info: 450 Reef; 120 refugium; 60 Frag Tank, 30 Introduction tank; multiple QTs

03/02/2015, 11:02 AM	#3
Pny Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Sweden Posts: 169	Congrats!

03/02/2015, 10:20 PM	#8
30g Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 121	what are you putting in there to utilize the height and depth

03/09/2015, 11:20 PM	#12
koko maung Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: San Jose Posts: 212	congratz! That an amazing tank!

03/16/2015, 07:03 PM	#13
myownlife Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 13	Nice tank

03/21/2015, 07:02 AM	#14
hedgedrew Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,159	Hey der. Congrats. You really are all over the forums helping !!! Great job

03/22/2015, 02:39 AM	#15
Sangheili Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2013 Posts: 59	I sure hope your planning some catwalk or something above that tank. Looks like a real pain to work in, but also INSANELY awesome.

03/23/2015, 07:43 PM	#16
Dmorty217 Saltwater Addict Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Vandalia OHIO Posts: 11,624	Thanks guys. Andrew, just getting inspiration from you and Ted... __________________ Fish are not disposable commodities, but a worthwhile investment that can be maintained and enjoyed for many years, providing one is willing to take the time to understand their requirements and needs Current Tank Info: 625g, 220g sump, RD3 230w, Vectra L1 on a closed loop, 3 MP60s, MP40. Several QTs