LogansRunRx Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 Current FTS: 8-14-2010 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 ghetto DIY RO/DI unit one of the problems living in a 100 year-old house 1 week in: 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) inside outs (i think) fat candycane/trumpet [ rics frogspawn input, comments, constructive criticism always appreciated. happy reefing. cheers... Link to comment
redkneecoral Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 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 Link to comment
LogansRunRx Posted October 19, 2009 Author Share Posted October 19, 2009 ...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 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... Link to comment
LogansRunRx Posted October 19, 2009 Author Share Posted October 19, 2009 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 dunno what the problem is??? 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??? Link to comment
redkneecoral Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 thanks for the kind words, redkneecoral 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 Link to comment
LogansRunRx Posted October 20, 2009 Author Share Posted October 20, 2009 as requested... they're still in the QT tank right now, but here are the next additions to the tank. tow-tone candycane/trumpet super red mushrooms (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... Link to comment
redkneecoral Posted October 28, 2009 Share Posted October 28, 2009 those trumpets sure is a good size colony. I really those that red mushy. good start with corals bro Link to comment
LogansRunRx Posted October 31, 2009 Author Share Posted October 31, 2009 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 new trumpet in the main tank first fishie... still in QT 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... Link to comment
redkneecoral Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 good looking fish, he looks like he is dead or doing tricks lol your tank is coming together well Link to comment
Paleoreef103 Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 good looking fish, he looks like he is dead or doing tricks lolyour tank is coming together well It's an assessor trait. They love their upside down swimming. Awesome fish! Link to comment
redkneecoral Posted November 3, 2009 Share Posted November 3, 2009 sounds like it how big do they get and was it costly Link to comment
spanko Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 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!!!!! Link to comment
redkneecoral Posted November 4, 2009 Share Posted November 4, 2009 I'm going to remember this fish when i get my bigger tank set up Link to comment
LogansRunRx Posted November 4, 2009 Author Share Posted November 4, 2009 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... Link to comment
redkneecoral Posted November 5, 2009 Share Posted November 5, 2009 thanks for that tip and the lil info you provided. Link to comment
LogansRunRx Posted November 17, 2009 Author Share Posted November 17, 2009 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. 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 anybody got any good advice beyond the directions in the FWE??? Link to comment
Maddevil1 Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 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. 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 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. Link to comment
LogansRunRx Posted December 24, 2009 Author Share Posted December 24, 2009 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: and a bad pic of my Assessor hiding -> need to ask Santa for a DSLR to get rid of crappy P&S he's in there... look close Merry Christmas, all! cheers... Link to comment
Arkayology Posted December 25, 2009 Share Posted December 25, 2009 Get a 6line Wrasse for the flatworms. As for the snails dying, what is your tank temp and salinity? Link to comment
Drift Monkey Posted December 25, 2009 Share Posted December 25, 2009 Always good to see a fellow Houstonian's tank! Link to comment
LogansRunRx Posted December 25, 2009 Author Share Posted December 25, 2009 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... Link to comment
Drift Monkey Posted December 25, 2009 Share Posted December 25, 2009 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! Link to comment
googoomas Posted December 28, 2009 Share Posted December 28, 2009 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. Link to comment
LogansRunRx Posted December 28, 2009 Author Share Posted December 28, 2009 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. stay tuned for the next upgrade -> likely gonna add an orchid dottyback to the mix and looking for some nice elegance coral cheers... Link to comment
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