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H-Town Heights BC29 **now with UVL PC-Rs**


LogansRunRx

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Current FTS:

8-14-2010

IMG_1664.jpg

 

 

 

Hi, All.

New BC29 here in Houston.

This is my first stab at a SW tank. Kept FW tanks for years back in high school and college (mostly cichlids).

Went about 8 years without any tanks until my GF bought me a little BiOrb for Christmas... and the rest has snowballed :)

Been reading/asking questions/lurking for about 3 months now -> about time to put a tank thread together.

 

Well on to specifics...

 

Oceanic BioCube 29:

stock lighting -> upgrade to UVLs new PC-Rs

on a Solana stand (cuz the Oceanic stand looks like crap)

 

chamber 1 = 100w Jager Stealth heater, false floor removed, 1->2 spill way widened

chamber 2 = inTank media rack (floss, Purigen PhosGuard, Matrix Carbon)

chamber 3 = Rio HF6 Tunze Silence 1073.008 (211 gph) return

 

return nozzle modded to loc-line y -> large duckbill and Hydor Flo for random current

Hydor nano MP10es -> running in reef crest at about 60% power

 

magnetic frag rack from BlackRock Reef

 

30 lbs CaribSea OceanDirect Pacific Black Reef sand

35 lbs LR from LFS (T&T Fish and Reptile)

 

running Tropic Marin Pro Reef Seachem Aquavitro Salinity salt

dosing with Brightwells Reef Code A/B as the test kits dictate

test kits = mix of API, Elos, Salifert and Red Sea

 

lots of thanks to everyone here at N-R.com -> a constant source of information

lost of thanks to my LFS's -> Raymond and Paul at T&T and Donny at City Pets

 

on to pics...

 

day 1:

 

waiting for the dust to settle

day11small.jpg

 

ghetto DIY RO/DI unit

Photo_071909_007.jpg

 

one of the problems living in a 100 year-old house

Photo_071909_014.jpg

 

1 week in:

 

day81small.jpg

day8actinicsmall.jpg

day8nightsmall.jpg

 

LiveStock:

shrooms

zoas

LPS -> candycane, hammer, frogspawn

ricordia

mexican red-foot snails (Norrisia spp.)

red banded snails (Trochus spp.)

Nass snails

small conch

scarlet reef hermt

tiny blue hermit

 

Pics:

 

eagle eyes (i think)

DSC00266.jpg

 

inside outs (i think)

DSC00286.jpg

 

fat candycane/trumpet

[DSC00278.jpg

 

rics

DSC00270.jpg

 

frogspawn

DSC00282.jpg

 

input, comments, constructive criticism always appreciated.

happy reefing.

cheers...

:D

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looks like to me you have done ya homewrok and seems to be all in order to my opinion. And what a great start on your livestock. I really love those rics. And that does look like an eagle eye zoa, from what i can tell it looks like the one i have.

Sure is a fat trumpet lol.

 

Glad to see you jumped on in the reefing and will be looking forward on future progress reports on this beautiful tank

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...Sure is a fat trumpet lol.

 

Glad to see you jumped on in the reefing and will be looking forward on future progress reports on this beautiful tank

 

thanks for the kind words, redkneecoral :rolleyes:

looks like you're off to a good start yourself. don't even have my first tank filled in and already wanna try my hand at a pico. this could really get out of hand!

 

yeah... that trumpet swells up sumthin' fierce. i guess he's just happy. i wish it wasn't such a short/small frag so it actually looked like a "normal" trumpet.

just picked up another trumpet this weekend -> it's two tone and has like 15 heads

also picked up some super red shrooms

 

cheers...

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my coral thumb seems intact... which i'm glad to see as i don't have much of a green thumb.

however...

i can't seem to keep snails alive.

on batch 4.

tried astrea, star astrea (of which i have 1 left), turban/tectus, margarita, norrisia, and trochus.

i've only had any luck with the norrisia and trochus.

already got 1 dead trochus of the 5 i bought on Friday :angry:

 

dunno what the problem is??? :unsure:

another member on here suggested i drip acclimate the snails.

at the LFS was actually being helped by the owner when i got the snails.

asked if he had any of those rigid U lines to make a drip system and was sternly admonished for wanting to drip acclimate the snails. he actually said i'd kill more livestock by dripping it, than i'd save. further, he said if i dripped it, it would void the dead/return policy.

 

so i didn't -> and 1 of 5 trochus are dead. guess i'm headed back on Monday pm for a replacement.

any ideas???

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thanks for the kind words, redkneecoral :rolleyes:

looks like you're off to a good start yourself. don't even have my first tank filled in and already wanna try my hand at a pico. this could really get out of hand!

 

yeah... that trumpet swells up sumthin' fierce. i guess he's just happy. i wish it wasn't such a short/small frag so it actually looked like a "normal" trumpet.

just picked up another trumpet this weekend -> it's two tone and has like 15 heads

also picked up some super red shrooms

 

cheers...

 

 

if you're talking about that 15 gal tank, i don't have that one anymore. I setted up a 30 gal long and transferred everything over. I'll get pix at some point cuz i don't own a cam yet.

 

You'll do fine with the pico. I set a 3 gal up and i did fine. I kept that 3 up just to see if i could do it annd once everything was stable and thriving. I'd gave it away.

 

I would love to see your red mushies when you get a chance. I love mushies

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as requested...

they're still in the QT tank right now, but here are the next additions to the tank.

 

tow-tone candycane/trumpet

DSC00314.jpg

 

super red mushrooms

DSC00306.jpg

(sorry... bit out of focus... workin' on a 4 year-old point-n-shoot here)

gotta chunk these off the big hunk of LR they came on so i can place them on the back side of the right side wall.

 

cheers...

B)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Happy Halloween!!!

 

tank updates:

1. lost a red-banded trochus (again)

2. added the new trumpet to the main tank scape

3. got my first fish

 

on to pics...

 

updated FTS

DSC00340.jpg

 

new trumpet in the main tank

DSC00337.jpg

 

first fishie... still in QT

DSC00333.jpg

 

yep, he's a yellow assessor (Assessor flavissimus).

not only that but he's one of the early release captive-bread ORA assessors.

got him at one of my LFS -> Fish Gallery

talk about right place at the right time... went in planning to pick up a Starry Blenny that i had seen there last week -> and then i saw this guy. had read about them previously, but didn't think i (1) would ever see one in person or (2) wanted to drop a bill on a fish (the first fish at that).

but here we are. they got 3 and he was the last one. and reasonably priced thanks to ORA.

 

cheers...

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good looking fish, he looks like he is dead or doing tricks lol

your tank is coming together well

It's an assessor trait. They love their upside down swimming. Awesome fish!

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He is a beauty!!!! My first question when I saw the title was going to be had you seen it upside swimming yet, but your picture answered that. I had a blue assessor for a while, traded it in for some store credit after going in a different direction with fish. It was a great fish. Very docile. Always out swimming around. Good score here!!!!!

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sounds like it

how big do they get and was it costly

he's been great fun to watch so far.

now that ORA breeding them they are much more affordable.

wild-caught ones were going for $100 when you could find one.

i've seen ORA ones advertised for $50 (on this site)

here's some more info on the Yellow Assessor

 

 

He is a beauty!!!! My first question when I saw the title was going to be had you seen it upside swimming yet, but your picture answered that. I had a blue assessor for a while, traded it in for some store credit after going in a different direction with fish. It was a great fish. Very docile. Always out swimming around. Good score here!!!!!

thanks, spanko!

so far, he's ONLY swimmig upside down.

he's in QT right now. maybe he'll experiment with right-side-up once he gets in the main tank.

more to come...

:D

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  • 2 weeks later...

uuuuggggghhhhh... flatworms (the little red/brown PITA kind).

Sunday -> spied two of them crawling over a little mushie i've been tring to revive. upon closer inspection... they were crawling round on my frag rack too. :eek:

yanked them out (frags and rack) and dipped everything in double-strength iodine dip (all i had). seemed to work. they vacated immediately.

read upon them at melev's reef and picked up some Flat Worm Exit. schedule's crazy this week so gonna be tomorrow before i've got time enough to do the treat->waterchange->carbon->waterchange.

 

gave the tank a pretty good once-over after the directed attack. only see 3 or 4 on the glass... but i'm sure there are more. we'll see on wed night after work.

i'm'onna drop a bomb on 'em fingerscrossed

 

anybody got any good advice beyond the directions in the FWE???

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uuuuggggghhhhh... flatworms (the little red/brown PITA kind).

Sunday -> spied two of them crawling over a little mushie i've been tring to revive. upon closer inspection... they were crawling round on my frag rack too. :eek:

yanked them out (frags and rack) and dipped everything in double-strength iodine dip (all i had). seemed to work. they vacated immediately.

read upon them at melev's reef and picked up some Flat Worm Exit. schedule's crazy this week so gonna be tomorrow before i've got time enough to do the treat->waterchange->carbon->waterchange.

 

gave the tank a pretty good once-over after the directed attack. only see 3 or 4 on the glass... but i'm sure there are more. we'll see on wed night after work.

i'm'onna drop a bomb on 'em fingerscrossed

 

anybody got any good advice beyond the directions in the FWE???

 

 

I wouldnt use FWE unless it was necessary or any chemicals for that matter. If you have only a couple, I wouldnt worry to much, just pick them off or siphon them out during your weekly water changes. I had them really bad in my other tank and this seemed to keep them in check. You could also get a sixline wrasse. This also helped me in never seeing them again. Unless they are covering your corals and preventing them in getting sufficient light, I would try to get rid of them naturally, i.e. water changes and sixline wrasse. I actually have some in my tank now and really not worried.

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  • 1 month later...

happy Christmas Eve, everyone!

 

just a few pics to update the thread. no major changes. got a bunch of schrooms in the QT tank that need to be fragged up and added to the scape.

hopefully some updates to be made in early 2010 -> debating the nanocustoms.com mini-T5HO upgrade, but my just wait for the PC-R's to be available and try those out. not really interested in getting into SPS so not looking for a HUGE lighting upgrade.

nanocustoms mini-T5 teaser thread

 

anyway... just a few pics:

 

DSC00368.jpg

DSC00369.jpg

DSC00376.jpg

 

and a bad pic of my Assessor hiding -> need to ask Santa for a DSLR to get rid of crappy P&S :huh:

he's in there... look close

DSC00380-1.jpg

 

Merry Christmas, all!

cheers...

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Get a 6line Wrasse for the flatworms.

 

As for the snails dying, what is your tank temp and salinity?

 

thanks for the recommendation, but...

i've already FWE'ed the tank x2 and everything looks great. had absolutely no issues -> other than i'm pretty sure FWE kills micro brittle stars.

still have a few random flatworms on the glass but all the corals seem happy. i'll just have to keep any eye on everything.

will consider the 6-line in the future, but hadn't really planned to have a wrasse in the mix.

any other flatworm eating fish???

is it just the 6-line, or do other wrasse eat flatworms too?

Merry Christams.

cheers...

 

Always good to see a fellow Houstonian's tank!

 

hey, howdy...

you got a tank thread on here???

Merry Christmas.

cheers...

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hey, howdy...

you got a tank thread on here???

Merry Christmas.

cheers...

Howdy, I added a link to my tank thread in my sig. Thanks for reminding me to do that! Merry Christmas!

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Been pouring over a lot of BC29 threads as I'm getting ready to start my own. Yours is looking awesome and is similar to what I want to do with mine.

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Been pouring over a lot of BC29 threads as I'm getting ready to start my own. Yours is looking awesome and is similar to what I want to do with mine.

 

thanks, googoomas... it's my first tank and i'm still very much a noob at this... but with a lot of help from n-r.com, i'm very happy at the way things have turned out.

:D

 

stay tuned for the next upgrade -> likely gonna add an orchid dottyback to the mix and looking for some nice elegance coral

 

cheers...

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