My visit to Austin, Texas

September 1, 2007: I decided to drive down to Austin to visit some of the gorgeous reef tanks I've only seen online. With the help of the Austin Reef Club, we were able to make it a Tank Tour for the day. Fortunately the weather cooperated.

Aaron's 90g SPS Reef

Aaron goes by bmwaaron on ReefCentral.com

This is the final installment of the tank tour: Aaron (bmwaaron) has a beautiful reef, uses the Tunze Wavebox & 12,000K Reeflux bulbs. A closet behind the tank is his fishroom. Under the tank, a sump and skimmer provide filtration.

For some reason, my camera really didn't work well with his lighting. I tried to adjust the white balance, but something kept throwing it off. Thus, you'll see various color combinations of the same corals. Some pictures were taken from above with a top down photo box, and the VHOs were unplugged, again changing the colors of the corals.

Full tank shots

End of tank shots

Zoanthus sp.

Superman Montipora, various

Xenia, pompom

Spaghetti worm on glass. This was a tiny 1/2" long worm.

Pocillopora

Ricordia

Clams

Lawnmower Blenny

Acanthastrea

Cleaner Shrimp

Efflo

Efflo & other Acropora sp.

Acropora sp. from above

Frag on FragMags (a magnet to hold corals as they grow.)

This next coral is nicknamed Incredible Hulk. So getting this coral photographed to depict true colors would be key, right? Well, I tried. Still a pretty coral.

A. sarmentosa

Tiny acro crab hiding in the same colony

Brain coral encrusting nicely

Various SPS frags

A beautiful acropora colony, but I don't know if the colors are even remotely close. Sorry

Acropora sp.

Green slimer (A. yongei)

Staghorn

Blue tort (A. tortuosa)

Blue tort (ORA probably since it has a green core)

M. capricornis

M. digitata

Various

Acropora sp. - called a Superman acro

A. millepora

Same coral as above, after Aaron poked it with a stick. LOL

That's it. I didn't take a picture of the closet behind the tank, as it is under the staircase and thus rather tough to photograph. It is small enough to Pink Panther your way in. :)

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