Jump to content
Top Shelf Aquatics

LebaneseDlight AKA Greg's Solana 34


LebaneseDlight

Recommended Posts

LebaneseDlight

After more than a year perusing this forum and looking at all of your nanos, I thought my tank thread is overdue. This Solana started off as a seahorse reef tank in the summer of 08, with a 250w MH Sunpod, AquaEuroUSA 1/8HP Chiller, and a couple Koralias. After about a year of raising my 3 pairs of orange and yellow H. Reidi, I left for a weekend vacation last August and had a friend watch my nano. My chiller's pump broke, and of course during our worse heat wave in Los Angeles. By the time I got home, my seahorses and most of my corals had perished :tears: The survivors were a Golden Tongan Blenny, Pair of Black Ocellaris. and my Rose Banded Shrimp Goby and Pistol, Janss' Pipe, my Cesptiularia colony, denros and sun polyps. At that time, I was battling a horrendous GHA outbreak, due to the bioload, with these feesh and the 6 seahorses which grown to about 6-7" each, I decided to let things be for a while....

 

A few months ago, as my GHA became more manageable, I began restocking my nano slowly. Starting off with a MP10 for flow. Adding a GARF bonsai (my favorite coral ever, encrusting and about doubling in size since 3 months ago :D), ORA Bird of Paradise, ORA Red Planet (just last week), two rainbow acan lords, ricordea, a few zoa frags, giant clove polyps, two maximas (one ORA 1 3/4" Maxima which was never happy and was found dead and being scavanged by snails and hermies today :rant:) a Dragonface Pipe, and a few pairs of ORA Cleaner Gobies (red headed, sharknose, yellow stripe, and tiger).

 

Two weeks ago, I did a little bonsai trimming, removing about 1/5th of my live rock to produce more coral space. I moved my Cepistularia, which at over a year old had grown into a huge colony being the focal point of my reef. It looked happy for a week, then within a day of me being at work, had melted to about 50% of its size. My apartment smelled foul, and in fear of losing the other half and causing my tank to crash, I threw away the rock containing the remainder of the melting colony. A few water changes later, here we are. My tank:

 

FTS:

P2230047.jpg

 

The dendro started off as one head a year+ ago, and has over 10 now :lol:

P2230075.jpg

 

ORA Tiger Goby:

P2230081.jpg

 

ORA Red Head and Sharknose Gobies:

P2230088.jpg

 

Sideshot of RBTA and Occelaris:

P2230085.jpg

 

Other side, I want to get some kind of favia or low light encrusing lps for the middle shelf:

P2230089.jpg

 

Sun polyps:

P2230090.jpg

 

Top down:

P2230098.jpg

 

My fave GARF Bonsai:

P2230105.jpg

 

Second faves ORA BOP and RP:

P2230107.jpg

 

But the Acans aren't far down the list....

P2230108.jpg

 

And they might not be fancy, but I couldn't have a tank without Palm Trees - I

m a Cali guy

P2230114.jpg

 

OOPS, almost forgot my Vanuatu Maxima and Dragface Pipe!

P2230110.jpg

Link to comment

Very nice selection of corals. Too bad about the seahorses... we do not get heatwaves over here in SB :P

 

Any future stocking plans or are you going to let things grow out?

Link to comment
LebaneseDlight
Very nice selection of corals. Too bad about the seahorses... we do not get heatwaves over here in SB :P

 

Any future stocking plans or are you going to let things grow out?

Yeah, I love SB - go camping there at least once each summer (Jalama is my favorite - though it always stayed so windy there!)

 

Very nice, the clam looks great.

Thank you, I want to see how this one does, and then add more once I'm sure I'm not a clam killah :)

 

 

Tank looks great! You still got alot of real estate. Can't wait to see what else you add.

 

I know, right! Not having the Cepistularia has really added a lot of room to the display. Definitely no more feesh, but as far as other stocking, next on the list:

 

- Favias/War Coral/Encrusting LPS for the middle areas

- SPS frags for the top: ORA Pearlberry and Belina; I would really like to find a SILVER BULLET BONSAI frag :)

- Down the line: more maximas

- More Acan lords for the sand bed

 

Just realized my ORA Red Planet photo link got missed. I'll have to upload it when I get home from work. Also need to take a clear photo of the Janss' Pipe and a photo of the Golden Tongan Blenny (didn't realize how camera shy she was before).

Link to comment
LebaneseDlight
(one ORA 1 3/4" Maxima which was never happy and was found dead and being scavanged by snails and hermies today :rant:)

 

So called DFS about my :rip: baby maxima, and they issued me an immediate credit, no questions asked, no pics required. Sad about the clam, should have known better than be lured by the beautiful tiny clam, but it's a tough lesson.

 

Looks like my next additions will be the AOGs, Nuke Green Paly and Tubs frags that should be arriving momentarily. And to followed by the 2" Strawberry Shortcake Acro frag. Oooh, this clam credit will be burning a hole in my wallet if I dont spend it soon, but certainly going to wait to see how my vanuatu maxima does over the next few weeks+ before getting another clam.

Link to comment
LebaneseDlight
Tank looks great! You still got alot of real estate. Can't wait to see what else you add.

 

Well, while we are waiting for Tuesday's Strawberry Shortcake, my AOGs and Nuke Greens are hopefully getting ready to open up (acclimated them yesterday). Today, I stopped by Vivid Aquariums - I work in the valley one day a month, and they are on my way home (dangerous). A trip to pick up frozen foods turned out a bit damaging to the wallet :eek: I ended up picking up a a couple pieces I've been wanting... Lunar Eclipse Palys (7 good sized polyps and 4 tinies), ORA Hawkins Echinata and Pearlberry :wub: and a nice sized green milli frag. Real estate is filling up. Pictures to follow in a couple days once things are looking happy :lol:

Link to comment
LebaneseDlight

Got a shipment in from Mr. Coral yesterday. Had purchased the Strawberry Shortcake Acro, and then they were having the Acan sale.... so I HAD to spend another $75 to get a free Acan....

 

Here's the lowdown:

- The packaging was very good. Nice, tight insulated box

- The hand warmer - no so good. I got the shipment around noon overnight, and honestly there was NO HEAT coming from the pack.

- The Strawberry Acro frag was MUCH SMALLER than the 2" promised. Sonny had sent an email that some turned out to be a little under 2", and for those he was giving a free Mellow Yellow Bottlebrush Acro frag. I though "no biggie", I wouldn't mind an extra frag. Well.... the strawberry was just barely over 1"

- The Mellow Yellow is one HOT frag! It glows almost neon yellow in my display

- I got a blue stag acro frag that is very nice, and at $30, a good deal IMO

- 4 Nuclear Green Palys (one shipment of zoa frags I got last week didn't fare well, my three zoa/paly frags pretty much just deteriorated and melted), very happy opened up immediately

- The free Acan is really nice! Especially for free

 

So of course, I had to rearrange everything to fit the new arrivals, and in the process, accidentally fragged a piece of my Hawkins Echinata (which i mounted) and my GARF Bonsai (which fell into the deep crevices never to be seen again). And now my Red Planet is partially shaded - I'm going to have to move it :(

 

I HATE doing any work in my tank these days, cause my b!tch Black Occy ATTACKS me hand as soon as I put it in, especially if I need to use the turkey baster for blasting rocks and not food. I swear, she ALMOST jumped out yesterday with how violently she was bashing my hand - like a bull and matador. I'm really tempted to sell the pair (female >2" and male around 2") - but they are hardy, I've had them for a year, and they are awesome misbars. UGH! I guess I'll need to buy some rubber gloves. -_-

 

Pics to follow - I'm just giving things a chance to settle down, since there's been a lot of movement in the DT over the last month or so.

Link to comment
LebaneseDlight

Well, it's been a couple weeks almost, and my MR. Coral frags are hanging in there. Blue Tort and Strawberry Shortcake showing moderate polyp extension, and acan is very healthy - not so sure how the mellow yellow frag will do in the long run though. Still not impressed with strawberry shortcake, but only time will tell....

 

I got another order for DD yesterday: ORA Bellina, pink Mille, ORA Peach Digitata (although I'm convinced this is Orange Digi - as it's def brighter than peach), a sweet Pink Sun Polyp colony, and a HOT BLUE Porcelain Crab :D A pretty nice sized branch off the Bellina was broken when I received it. Thankfully, DFS gave me a $30 credit on it (making this 2" frag about $49, a steal IMO, as it is a stunning piece). I love ordering from DFS cause everything looks MUCH better in person than on the site, and the ORA frags come in much bigger frag disks then when you get ORA frags elsewhere (Vivid had mentioned that DFS has a special arrangement with ORA for the bigger pieces).

 

Also got an order in from Coral Morphologic yesterday. Very pleased with their packaging and even in the bag, the rics looks BRIGHT! I got a couple bonus rics too, a very pleasant surprise. But what I'm most excited about at the two St. Thomas morphs I got ;) Hopefully the rics will all make it - as I was having a really hard time tryin to glue them down yesterday. Damn they are slimy and slipperly little creatures.

 

Waiting for 3 frags from Atlantis and my stocking will be COMPLETE. Real estate is quickly diminishing. I have a multi-colored Tort, Tyree Pink Lemonaid, and a Blue Tipped Rasberry Mille on its way for tomorrow's delivery. Very excited about this :)

 

On a sadder note, I found the skelleton of my dragonfaced pipe yesterday. I knew it wasn't eating frozen food, and had done my best to supplement the display and fiuge with pods, and was feeding enriched live brine every other day, but it wasnt enough. RIP little guy :tears:

 

Pictures to follow - probably this weekend, or early next week.

Link to comment
LebaneseDlight
Looking very nice :) Can't wait to see pics of all the new stuff!!

 

Thanks, Bamato -_- What am suppose to do now while I'm waiting for the growout? Wait? HAHA. Nah, I'll have to start a sick tank like yours!

Link to comment
Thanks, Bamato -_- What am suppose to do now while I'm waiting for the growout? Wait? HAHA. Nah, I'll have to start a sick tank like yours!

 

You're supposed to take some pics of all the hot new frags!

Link to comment
LebaneseDlight
:welcome: i will put you on the Solana list! your tank is rocking with beautiful stuff there..

 

Sweet! I've made it on "the list" :)

 

DANG :mellow: Nice corals

Love the garf acro!

 

Thank you! I got the GARF frag from Eric/CALVIN (he's got some in the livestock classifieds)

 

You're supposed to take some pics of all the hot new frags!

 

So I finally got around to doing this yesterday. I really need to figure out how to take better pics, cause everything looks sooo white in the photos. I can't get the colors to show through. It's so frustrating - especially all the SPS cause they are way up top near the MH. But, here goes with what I have:

 

Here's a FTS as of 3/14/10:

P3140181.jpg

 

And a Top Down shot:

P3140199.jpg

 

The upper right corner and the top half:

P3140253.jpg

P3140269.jpg

 

Here are a Blue Tipped Rasberry Prostrata (coloring up a little each day), Teal Acro frag, ORA Bellina, and another view of the GARF Bonsai:

P3140238.jpg

 

That same Teal acro and damn hitchhiking superman disc. that's popping up here and there (better take care of that ASAP):

P3140232.jpg

 

Lunar Eclipse, ORA Red Planet, Tyree Pink Lemonaid, and this awesome Red/Pink with Teal base St. Thomas morph:

P3140240.jpg

 

Another view of the St. Thomas with ATL Multicolored Acro to the left:

P3140204.jpg

 

My other St. Thomas morph (love Coralmotphologic!), teal base with neon green:

P3140192.jpg

 

ORA Pearlberry, starting to color up after about 3 weeks (out of focus is Strawberry Shortcake and Vivid's rainbow Delight):

P3140179.jpg

 

My new Crocea (need to take a better photo, cause this thing is insane in person):

P3140184.jpg

 

And my RBTA, which wasn't very impressive when it arrived, but is now getting a neon green base (and first 1/3rd of the tentacles are turning green), so I think I'm gonna keep it for a while and see if how much coloring up it will do (it looks insane the day after eating, when it shrivels up and poops, but then loses color when fully inflated).

 

 

Gotta get around in taking some pics of the Vivid Rainbow delight, Strawberry Shortcake (showing some polyp extension and coloring up a little, not impressed as of yet), ORA Peach Digi, my new rics from Coralmorphologic (they havent fully expanded yet, but looking good already).

 

 

NOW TIME FOR THE GROW OUT!!!!!

 

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Greg

Link to comment
LebaneseDlight
Very nice! Those St. Thomas mushrooms are badass.

 

Thanks nUgZ! I figured out a way to take more accurate colored pictures last night. My camera has a "Beach & Snow" mode that helps with white balancing. Just a slight difference in the photos, but much more true to life color. I took some pics last night but this day light savings time BS is killing me. I'll post tonight.

 

On a sadder note, I found my year old Janss' pipefish dead last night :tears: It was really my favorite fish. Two theories:1, my DFS dragonfaced pipe (which only lasted a month) gave it a parasite, or 2, it's been slowly starving to death since I've reduced feedings to twice a week. I think these guys truly need to be fed daily, since their stomachs are so small (even though mine chomped down pretty aggressively duiring feeding time).

 

Greg

Link to comment
OClownsandNanos

Sorry to read about your cespitularia. How quickly did it grow in your tank? I'm thinking about eventually getting a frag when my tank is a little older. Really like your Bonsai a lot. I also like that pic with your tongan blenny peeking out on the left. He's looks like he's posing. :)

Link to comment
LebaneseDlight
Sorry to read about your cespitularia. How quickly did it grow in your tank? I'm thinking about eventually getting a frag when my tank is a little older. Really like your Bonsai a lot. I also like that pic with your tongan blenny peeking out on the left. He's looks like he's posing. :)

 

Thanks! I LOVE my bonsai - I think it's my favorite frag, but then again, lets let things grow out and see if that changes ;)

 

Cepistularia grew VERY fast, especially when it's blasted by flow. When I got the MP10, it doubled in a month. In the year that I had it, it grew from about 1" frag to 7-8" colony, with smaller colonies spawning around the tank (which I would remove and toss out). Yeah - a pretty invasive coral!

 

After two months or so:

xenia.jpg

 

It was ultimately like 4 times this size. Adn when it died, WOAH! Smelled like a rotting fish market in Bangkok in my apartment.

Link to comment
LebaneseDlight

BTW, here's a pic I found on my iPhone from BEFORE the chiller crash, back when it was a seahorse dominated tank. The only things that survived were the Cepistularia and tongan blenny + black occys.

 

seahorses.jpg

Link to comment

Man you ran out of real estate fast! Time for a bigger tank. :lol:

 

Nice additions Greg, especially the clam. If you ever decide to sell it, let me know first. :D

 

Your Strawberry Shortcake looks worse than mine. Could just be the blurriness. Mine is darkening a little and showing more polyp extension. I will start moving it up soon so that the real color starts showing up. Right now it's just pinkish brown all over. Yeah still not impressed yet either but I am really hoping it will turn out the way I expected it to and be one of my favorites.

Link to comment

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...