I totally agree. I'm a big fan of keeping plating montis near each other and watching them grow and work around each other. I've seen limited success with people getting frags to actually grow into one another but never on the colony scale. At some point the strawberry patch, yellow w/blue polyps and the green cap will have to interact as well. The yellow w/blue polyps and the strawberry patch will meet first but they'll eventually make it to the green. That green digi is off to the side of that group so maybe some of its branches will come into play but it'll likely just do its thing where it is. I really like that I have all these SPS interactions and plates and branches but at the same time I've got polyps and xenia and everything soft covering as well. It's a good mix. That little valley between the red and green caps is finally starting to fill in with polyps and some small shrooms. Getting closer to looking like the real thing.

Bill

Just posted in the 1/2 10 thread that one of the minis there has split and it's happened in here as well. The mini in the 55 was pretty mobile for awhile and looked odd-shaped. It has since split into 2 complete minis but they haven't moved away from each other. Both have eaten and look healthy.

Pics will be up after work.

Bill

Awesome Bill. Sounds like you are quite the nem propagator

Ya know, all I did was feed the little buggers. Not even that often really. They're in a good spot to catch bits when everyone else gets fed, same as the sun coral. I target fed them when I target fed the sun or micro. Same with the 1/2 10 nems. They catch partcles in both spots I placed them. The one is near the ric and gets alot from the HOB and the one that split is on Harrys rock and that spot is right where the flow from the 2 HOBs crosses so I'm sure lots of bits float by. The nem that split here in the 55 is right near the NG polyps and Strawberry Lemonade monti. I tossed some xenia onto the bottom of that same rock and it has taken off so apparently that's a good spot for filter feeders. The bright purple sponge that is so prevalent in my tank has also taken off from this rock. It's spread pretty well throughout the tank but on this particular rock there's enough of it that my cabbage leather is actually being held up by it. Very kewl to see.

Bill

Sounds cool Bill!

Can't wait to see some pics!

So no pics of the minis. They're on the move and I can't get a good shot where they're at. I did get a lettuce nudi today though so I took a bunch of pics of the tank and some of the new guy.


Awesome purple sponge that's spreading everywhere. Very happy about it.






Elkhorn digi just branching all over.


Polyps covering all around the feather duster.


If you've followed the growth pics of the cap you'll notice the difference here. See how close the bottom plate is to touching the top one?


Same with the green. They've completely grown together where I broke that piece and then glued it higher up.


RPEs putting buds out at a nice pace.


Sunset monti looking nice.


Nice little cluster of life with the strawberry patch nestled in.


Xenia may be weeds to some folks but I'm a big fan, same with GSP.


Meat doing well while hosting the cleaner. The clown will occasionally take up residence as well.


Good cluster of Duncan heads hiding in the back behind the grandis palys.


YWG pics.








Blenny staring out into nothing.


The clown hiding.


That's all I can fit in this post. More in the next one.

Bill

Big ol' honker of a snail.


Kept a head of the hammer when I did that trade and it's splitting already. Very happy about that.


Mystery coral just keeps growing. I like that it looks like an evergreen shrub from your front yard.


More RPEs.


The other mystery, also doing well.


Orange crush with some algae near it but expanding its base nonetheless and forming new mouths.


The kiwi confusa is going to rule the tank someday.


An FTS. It's from across the dining room so it could be in one shot so it's kinda dark. Sorry bout that.


So that's the update for the 55. Check out the 1/2 10 thread for more pics, including some of the new mini as well as some plant pics from the anole tank and see if you can figure out what the new shoots are. Oh, we got mushrooms to grow in the tank as well! Very happy to see the tank doing well, even if it is fungus.

Bill

I'm really glad to see that your tank is doing so well. Everything looks great!

looks really good.

Thanks to both of ya.

Bill

Very nice Bill.

A tank full of awesome, happy coral.

Great shots.

Thank you. We've got a few algae spots and whatnot but all in all everything is doing great. Pretty happy with it.

Bill

Tank looks great!

I know whats your mysterys are!

The first looks like green pocillopora, the second is green pavona!

The green pavona is right on. We actually established that a bit ago but I'm too in the habit of calling them my mystery corals, haha. The other one very well could be pocillipora but I'm not totally sure. I think pocillipora is as close as anything to what it looks like though. I've just never seen pocillipora in someones tank to compare it and say yes that's what I have. I recently saw a huge pavona in an LFS and I was like, exactly, that's what is in my tank.

Thank you for the IDs and for checking stuff out.

Bill

So I've found an interesting way to put the 55 back together once I move. Saw a 450 set up like this. There's eggcrate on the bottom of the tank where the rock is gonna sit. That eggcrate is raised off the bottom of the tank by feet made of pvc pipe. Maybe an inch or 2. The outside edges of the eggcrate is lined in plastic and that plastic is sealed to the bottom of the tank. Resting on this eggcrate is a pvc frame which holds the LR. So the LR isn't sitting in the sand at all. Allows for maximum surface area of LR to be available as well as flow options. Guy had locline coming through the rockwork which I wouldn't have since this tank isn't drilled but it's a neat concept. Something to think about as I kinda get free reign to change when I move. Somewhat excited about that. I doubt major changes will happen but I'm sure some will.

Bill

Sounds interesting. Do you have any pictures or link to this thread?

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...hreadid=1436135

The pics of how he did it are at the bottom of the thread but his FTS is front and center first pic. Turned out really nice for him.

Bill

Wow thanks for the link Bill.

What an incredible system he built!

I think I know the answer to this one but....

Had any thoughts about an upgrade considering all that is involved with moving the tank?

I know this may not be possible as I'm sure you will have your hands full already with all you have going on, but seems like a good opportunity.

There's an upgrade for this tank already planned but it won't happen during the move. Realistically, I have the cash but the tank upgrade is far down the list of priorities considering our new baby and all the little costs of settling into a new place. The upgrade for this tank is a 190 wide. It's 48"L x 36"W x 25" H. It'll have the pond foam back wall, possibly with extensions out to the sides of the tank and the LR will be made into 2 large islands. I'd like to do a gigas in between the islands, pair up the fish I have and then look at some type of schooling fish. We'll see. I've also seen a system where the guy has a little cube tank plumbed in and it sits above his sump/fuge. The only thing in it is dendros and sun coral. Really basic. Little pump runs water from the sump up to the cube and then an overflow lets it back down to the sump. I think that's an awesome way to keep sun coral. Kinda sucks that only you can see it regularly but great for feeding them the way they need to be fed. Plus it's an excuse to bore your family with plumbing details while they look at the neat yellow coral. I may use another version of my 1/2 10 for something like this when I finally upgrade.


Bill

Thanks for the link Bill. That's really an interesting way of doing the rockwork. Seems very logical to me but the only thing that I was thinking was wouldn't there be a fair amount of detritus buildup underneath the egg crate? Since there is acrylic that blocks it off from sand creeping under the rocks, I would think that there would still be some floaters that would end up settling underneath everything. Maybe he has enough flow in there to keep it cleaned out. Other than that, I think it's awesome.

Your future tank sounds incredible. I am still amazed when I go into the Large Tank Forum on RC the size of some of these tanks. WOW

Detritus accumulation was an issue for me as well. If you look at his plumbing in the pics it looks like locline blows right into there but I'm not sure how it all gets out from underneath. I would think that even with good flow some stuff is going to accumulate in corners and whatnot. And you can't really get in there to clean. Not sure how to deal with that. The 190 size upgrade on this tank was important to me because I want to keep the lights I have. With the width of the tank I may add supplementation but I'm sticking with the dual 250s for MH. That will force me to limit myself in my SPS, which I intend to stick to. The only other reason I would even upgrade this tank is for fish. The clam will most likely wait until a future tank on down the road that's really big or I finally break down and get a different light setup. I just don't want to waste the lights I have when they work so well. The coral mix I have in this tank is perfect for me. I may get different morphs of the things I have but I really don't actively look for new types of coral. Cloves, a brain and a fungiid are about the only things I don't have that I want. Other than that it's color variants of the things I have. My main reason for the size upgrade on the tank is to watch my colonies spread to more realistic sizes and to incorporate some new fish and other critters into the habitat and teach my girls new things.

When I see it in my head, it's awesome. Hopefully I can make it reality. Meantime, trying to let this tank grow into itself and not mess with it too much.

Bill

Did a good wc yesterday and all looks well. The only bad thing I've noticed recently is the loss of the big feather duster in between the caps. The zoas have been covering that entire area as they grow and now that I look at it, the green mushrooms have grown to cover the opening of the feather duster. They had never encroached so much before. It's weird because the feather duster was out and looked good just the day before. The CBB may be the culprit but he's never picked at it before. Kinda sucks since the feather duster has been with me from the start but where one thing leaves the others are filling. Just the way it is I suppose.

Bill

So I hear tell that the frag swap up in TN is this weekend. Teresa and I can't make it but I recommend it to anyone who can go. The ladies of the Coral Kitchen will be there and it looks like they're taking some good stuff. You should all go!

Bill

I wish that SC had a frag swap of any sorts. It always gets me thinking that I should just start up a local club. We have one already but it's really pretty lame. Just don't have the time or energy to get involved with something else

Yeah, it always seems like a pretty daunting task when you think about it. I've had some contact with the club local to my hometown so hopefully that turns out well when we move.

Bill

So I tried to convince Teresa that we should buy Fraggle Reef using the VA small business loan since I'm getting out of the Army. Stuff like that always sounds like such an awesome plan. It would be a pain to pack the whole thing up and move to the midwest but it would totally be worth it. The site comes in the package as well as the full inventory. You wouldn't be able to just walk into the wholesaler like he can now but you would still have those relationships going and maybe every 6 months could go out there and handpick some stuff and in between just trust them to send you good stuff. How sweet would it be to have an awesome store like Fraggle Reef local to midwesterners?

Bill

Man that sure would be awesome!! I would love to buy it

Now if you and my wife agreed, I'd be set. Don't tell her but I also found an animal broker local to the midwest who has access to a pair of white rhinos. I'd have to get my backyard USDA licensed but I'm sure that's no big deal.

Who doesn't want a pair of rhinos?

Oh, and 16,000+ views!

Bill

NICE TANK.

I love your sandbed... 55 gallons are perfect, my next tank possibly Nice corals choices as well, im sure in person your tank is super colorful! The green pavona is dope.... one of my favorites.

2 whole comments from the santa robot? Rare.

Kraylen-Thanks. I really like the 55 size as well. It's worked out for me regarding the kind of coral I like to keep. I'd like to think it's beautiful in person and I've never had complaints so it looks like I'm doing alright.

Thanks all,

Bill

So I've been thinking about the move. I might snag a tank at the Petco sale and get an HOB overflow for the 55 here and try out the rock frame I linked earlier. I know I like it for the 190 upgrade and that tank will be drilled so it will be so much easier but I kinda want to work the overflow and sump into the move just because I've wanted to do it that way for awhile now and get the skimmer out of sight. I think if I'm going to make that change and do the plumbing I might as well try out the rock frame and put the plumbing into it like I want. Draining the 55 and tossing all the rock in coolers with all of the critters bagged is the perfect time to remove sand and make any major changes, obviously, so I think it'll work out ok. It would have to be a fairly quick job though just because things will be bagged and coolered and waiting for me to be done. That's what bothers me about the idea. Do I do this project and let the fish and coral chill in the 40br while the silicone and whatnot dries or do I leave things the way they are and wait for my crazy plans whenever I finally do upgrade? Hard choice.

Speaking of the 190 upgrade...Teresa and I were discussing how to do the back wall and I think I've found a way I like. I'm going to do the pond foam like I talked about earlier but angle it so that it's farther from the back wall at the base. More light coverage this way for coral toward the bottom. I'd also like to curve it at the corners instead of having 90 degree angles. The 190 is 30" deep so I don't think this will detract too much from the overall swimming area of the tank and will give alot more places to let encrusters grow. What I would like to do with that back wall is cover it in encrusting montis. I want to have my plates in the middle to upper section of the tank with the digis and birdsnest growing up out of them. Softies and LPS will fill in the rest of the spots. I still like the 2 rock island idea with some larger LPS scattered about the sand bed. Try to keep my big plates and SPS to the larger rock island with some softies mixed in and then LPS and softies mostly on the smaller island with just a few montis. Encrusters on the foam wall and the sun coral in the cube over the sump like I discussed earlier. I would also like to put the duncans on the backside of the softie dominated island and let them just cover it. How kewl would it be to see an 8" patch of sunset monti on the back wall of a tank? Or pokerstar or hispida or morningstar? All of those encrusters that I have. Just big patches of them growing on the wall. I think it'd be an awesome background of color. Multiple colors of plating monti spreading with branches growing up through the middle of them. The purple with blue polyps and the ATL blue polyp cap are next to each other right now with a birdsnest frag in the middle. It looks awesome right now just as frags. Can you imagine in a tank with 30" of depth for plate growth? 2-3 years in and it should be pretty impressive.

So enough dreaming. Think I should get the overflow and do the framing when we move or leave my craziness for an upgrade in the future?

Bill

Sounds good. Advice on the move, put the fish in a bucket and all the coral in one tub. Bagging takes too much time, been there, tried that, then ended up dumping everything into a rubber maid tub which worked great for my larger corals.

Good luck with everything!

Messing with a tank like yours while you have all the live stock out is like russian rulet.....What if it breaks?

Be careful!

Dude I help my boy set up his plumbing n ish on his new 275 so I may not go the 55 route! Im stuck on these large tanks now

We've been thinking about the rubbermaid and bucket idea as well. My fish don't really fight so a bucket isn't a bad call. Tubbing the LR is happening anyway and the LR that has coral definitely attached is going in the tub just the same as the LR with no coral on it. Bagging is really just happening to those frags not encrusted to LR. There aren't alot of them but they'll need bagged just the same. Stuff like that elkhorn I would like to bag because I see it shattering on the car ride in a tub full of LR. The caps scare me too. I'd be severely angry to get to IL and find cap pieces all over my rubbermaid. I'd glue the crap out of it and watch it regrow and that would be kewl too but starting over like that would suck. As for breaking the tank, I'd just get the 190 if that happened. I don't want to do it now but financially I'm able so that doesn't scare me all that much. And really if the 190 isn't available what Petsmart doesn't have 55s or 75s laying around? I mean it would suck but it's not a disaster if it happens.

Thanks for the input,

Bill

Montis are all looking nice so I thought I'd share.




Sunset looking good.


Hard to see but this cap is growing well and the edges have all grown over. The opposite side is grown straight to the LR.


Kiwi confusa just chuggin along like usual.


Nice polyp color and coverage on the new growth here.


Another year or two and this should look really neat.


Nice assortment of polyps.


And some fungi popping up in the anole tank.




And that's the update for the 55. Meat coral is sucked in a bit and not sure why just yet. All of the pieces that came in from the 1/2 10 are open and look great. Interesting to see the color difference under the light blast in the 55 compared to the 1/2 10. Can't wait to get it all moved and re-setup. Still debating how to move the sand and whether or not to do the eggcrate plan from before.

Bill

So I've got a new idea for the egg crate plan. I still want to do the original plan when we upgrade to the 190 but I've modified it for this move. What if I use the PVC feet holding the eggcrate but don't seal it off. Just fill the whole thing in like a normal sand bed but with those elevated platforms in it. That way none of the LR is sunk down in the sand. That seems to be a large issue with my tank. I've got quite a bit more LR than is visible in this tank but it's holding up the LR that has life on it. I'd like to make more of this surface area available for growth. My only concern is that the engineer goby is going to move it all. I've read that they enjoy caves and overhangs quite a bit so I'm wondering if I can build him something from the LR to keep him out of the sand so much. We'll see.


Bill

Well it's our wedding anniversary on the 1st and I think I'm finally wearing on Teresa. I was being my usual animal nerd self and looking online when I showed her some panther chameleons. She immediately asked for one as her anniversary present. This is the same woman who stood on the toilet while I gave my red-tail boa a bath one time. Now she wants a lizard. Very kewl for me. We decided to go with a veiled instead because they're a bit easier to care for and about a tenth of the price. Good choice for her first lizard.



And there ya have it. A little more stress during the move but it's what she wanted so I'll make it work.

Bill

So, in preparation for the move I've gotten supplies together. We hit up Home Depot and got the PVC feet and egg crate for the LR stand project. I wanted to have it all here and cut so I could get crankin' as soon as I got to IL. Lowe's had no idea what I was talking about when I said egg crate until I pointed it out on their freakin ceiling so we bailed on that place. Stepped into HD and the first guy I asked took me straight to it so he got my business. Picked up some dowel rods to make a lattice work for the new cham too so that should turn out nicely. Still uneasy about the move but I do feel better prepared after counting up bags and all that good stuff. A few more coolers and we should be set.

So that's the update.

Bill

Snapped a good shot of Teresa and myself just a bit ago so posting it up.


Good shot of the chameleon too.


Bill

Can you roll up that tongue? Only 50% can do that.

BTWI love that chameleon shot you posted in Weetie's Lounge!

Nope, sure can't. Teresa can though so I guess we make the 50% mark. She can do all the cherry stem tying and all that stuff and I got nothin. I can get hit square in the jaw and not fall over and that's about it, haha.

Bill

So, I'm in IL. Got the critters and remaining stuff moved from GA, waiting on the moves to get here with the rest. Let me tell you about this wonderful trip I had. The apartment complex I moved out of was horrible to deal with to start off. Didn't get packed up until after dinner and started the trip like 6 hours after we'd planned to. So we get close to Nashville and something smacks the front end of my wifes car. We need gas so we get off to fill up and check out the car...oil is spewing out of the bottom of it. Yeah, whatever she ran over punched a hole right in that 3 month old brand new oil pan. So we get on the horn to the insurance and apparently get the new guy who tells us they won't tow it and/or fix it and all this craziness. Oh, did I mention that while we were packing my daughter took one of my main credit cards and we had to cancel it? Yeah, that too. So we're in Nashville at like 3 AM, find a hotel about 5 AM and crash for a bit. Get back on the phone to the insurance at like 7 and find someone who knows what's going on. They come to tow the car and tell me they'll cover the rental. Too bad I didn't know that so I already paid for a rental through Monday. $300, no big deal. They'll fix the mistake and reimburse me though, on Monday.... . So, the hotel is a no-go for pets. So we slept from 5 to 7 and then turned the truck on to get the AC going a bit and keep everyone cool. Worked really well for the ferret, dog, bird and chameleon. This was when we discovered that every single one of our fish was dead. . So, get the rental and repack. Now we're going home. Get to within 30 miles of home and it starts to pour...with my luggage on top of the Expedition and no cover. Get to IL and there's no DI water. Buckets but no water. So we open up the cooler and buckets and get pumps going and then get some sleep. Wake up and get water first thing this morning and start to rebuild the 55. It looks like a good portion of the softies and LPS will make it but the SPS is a crap shoot at this point for everything. The hydno looks alright but the rest could die right now or live another century...no clue which it will be. The tank isn't totally full because I ran them out of water but there's about 35 gallons in there right now. 4 pumps are crankin as much as they can to help get rid of the slough and goo of travel. Pretty well the entire cleanup crew is gone as well as the cleaner shrimp. Urchins are gone and all but one cucumber. One conch may make it but the rest are done. So that sucked entirely and I'd like to never do it again. On an interesting, but not entirely positive, note....the Engineer Goby was almost the length of my forearm when he died. It was insane to finally uncover him from the rocks. No kidding, he was easily over a foot.

Final thought...if you're going to own a large saltwater tank and at any time think you will ever move for any reason...sell it.

Oh, and I'll be in Nashville some time this week likely to get my car if you know of anything fun going on.

Bill

Hey Bill !

So, how did everything go?






Sorry Buddy, just trying to give you a chuckle.

That really sux, the losses. After all we put into our hobby to lose that much at once stings a bit I'm sure.

Move forward from here. With everything you have been through you probably have people tell you that all the
time huh?

What a long strange trip that was. I bet you have the 55 looking awesome again in a few months.

Hang in there and I hope things are looking better already today.

All the best to you and yours Bill.

--Richie

Pretty sure all of the SPS are toast. The softies and LPS look 80% ish. Going to test tonight and do a WC in the morning.

Bill

So most of the softies look like they may pull through. All of the SpS and LpS look done for. We may put a 10 gal. together using the lights off of the 1/2 10 and throw all of the softies in it while we get the 55 straightened out. If we do that my plan is to shorten the halide portion of the light cycle a bit but run the tank as if it were normal. Let what SpS can recover do so and put in a monster CUC very soon. I may also add some macro to start chewing up the nutrients that skimming and WC's can't get fast enough. A good deal of my bright purple sponge is shot too but I'm hoping that will make a comeback using the nastiness in the water column as good filter food. Another thought I had was to get a good order of feather dusters in with the CUC and get them going on the water filtering as well. So long as the parameters of the water are safe for them I'll put them in. Skimming and WC's should keep the water in check. It's really not that bad right now considering all that has happened. No fish obviously so no worries on that end. Pretty well just going to get a monster CUC, bag of pods, macros and some feather dusters and just let them get after it. Get the softies in a holding tank with some good light and HOBs rockin and go from there. I'm pretty upset about the losses but some of the Sps could still come back and this means I get to start fresh. Shake up the rock scape a bit and get frags in and really plan things out this time so I don't have to frag as much and worry about competitive growth. It'll take some time but it'll be sweet again. It's never finished, remember?

Bill

Pulling the remaining softies out of the tank and moving them to the 1/2 10. I'm also pulling the candy canes and 2 or 3 of my new montis as they look like they could possibly recover. The big rocks with zoas on them will have to ride out the 55 as it takes its lumps. Not sure how I'll get the grandis palys off of their rock so they may have to take the beating too. My large caps are definitely fried but the purple and the strawberry patch still have bits of color and flesh here and there. The yellow with purple polyps and the sunset just look horribly faded but not dead. Everything else looks shot. I'm going to get the softies out and settled in the 1/2 10 and then I'm going to aquascape the 55 how I want it. Skimming and Wc's as I go. Once the aquascape is settled and the temp and params have become stable I'll get in the CUC and other stuff. I'm thinking by Christmas I should be ready for a few BOC's or some frag packs, we'll see. The 1/2 10 will pretty much be a frag tank until then and some of the softies will stay there afterward to restart that tank as well. So that's where we're at right now.

On a different note, I had an interview yesterday and it went really well so hopefully I'll be getting a real job here shortly. The kewl side to that is I'm still getting paid by the Army until Oct. 20th and then I get my severance package, so I'm double dipping. My family still owns my grandmothers home so we're staying there rent-free and pretty well just piling up our money until we get Teresa a job and figure out school for the two of us. Still have to get back to Nashville and get the car but they said it should be done soon.

AND....I've got my tiny pico tank sitting here waiting to be cut up and messed with. It's a .6 gallon cube from Petco that was meant for Bettas or some nonsense like that but it's going to be a midget SPS forest with a 70w halide over it when I'm done! You think that's overkill or could I do SPS with less light in such a tiny tank? I'm really against the monster SPS forest tanks of acro on RC but I do love the color and top-down pictures they can achieve with their coral so my plan is to make a midget one for a 100th of the price of one of those and see if I can get pictures that look just the same. Then I'll post the pics up and when someone asks about my 450 gallon monster that I keep those crazy acros in....I'll post pics of my midget tank. . Either way it's going to be fun to cut it up and plumb it. I'm thinking an overflow on the back to a 2.5 or 5.5 with LR, chaeto and LS in it. Maybe a nano skimmer or just 2 HOB's and then run the return line to the side of the tank and cut that to put the outlet of the nozzle right in the side of the tank. That way there's absolutely nothing in the tank but coral. It'll be BB by the way and probably have a few tiny snails and some asterinas as a CUC. The other critters could be in the sump/fuge. So that's my crazy project while I try to rehab my real tanks. It probably won't happen until Christmas either but I'll start chopping the tank up soon enough.

Bill

Almost all of the coral is now out of this tank and in the 1/2 10. There are 2 large pieces of LR that have coral but were too large to move. One has zoa polyps all along a slope and the other is covered in shrooms. They both look to be faring well so I'm not too worried about them. Even if I was worried, I think smashing the LR up and taking the polyps would only traumatize them further. The Grandis palys are also still in this tank as I couldn't remove the from the LR and was worried that cutting them would just push them over their limit. They look pretty alright considering how bad things went and they open up nicely when the MH's kick on. I think I've got the 'scape figured out for in here but I'll be moving 2 pieces of LR to the 1/2 10 when the params are stable in here and we actually get to starting over. The look is going to be quite a bit different than it was before, in part because we have to entirely restock but also because I changed the scape quite a bit. I've elevated the LR using the egg crate like I talked about before so now alot more LR is exposed to view instead of being buried. It turns out I had a boatload of LR, haha. The right side of the scape will be significantly higher than the rest with a nice low flat area next to it and then it's somewhat of a jumble as you scan across to the left side of the tank. Once I get those 2 pieces moved out for the 1/2 10 it may look like a slope from right to left but I'm not sure how much I like that just yet. It could be really neat with some plating montis sticking out from the slope and spanning across but I might put some LR spikes up along the way to get digis and other plates to compete and interact. Once we do start restocking the livestock will be more or less the same but a few LPS that I've traded off I'll try to replace. I'm going to start rebuilding my monti collection as soon as my water params will allow it. I'm thinking Christmas will be my first coral buying time. The params should be stable long before then but I'm going to give it time and get these softies back in and established before I start getting crazy with the stocking again. Teresa and I are still deciding what we want to do as far as critters and fish go. I really enjoyed the fish we had but I'm debating going BB with this tank and I don't want to deprive an Engineer goby by not having sand for him. Who knows, I may try and get creative with the fish and go for something weird. We'll see how that all plays out but I'm sure it'll be down the road a bit. For the next few months it'll be a softie and one or two LPS tank with some really sweet lights.

Sorry for the crazy long posts recently but alot has been happening so I'm trying to relate it as best I can.

Bill

Things are settling a bit in this tank. Going to do a WC tomorrow morning and then test tomorrow night and see where we stand. The zoas and palys that are still in this tank are still alive but they don't look great. I guess ugly is better than dead though. Nothing else in the tank made it. No SPS or critters of any kind. Some asterina stars and bristle worms and stuff but nothing that I actually purposely put in the tank. As soon as the params are good a CUC will go in and then we'll start mapping out the rebuild. I've got some ideas floating around right now but the basic plan is a redo of what we had before. The fish list may be different but we'll see. Still in the planning stages of the pico as well but that's looking like it'll be really neat when it's done.

So that's what I've got for now.

Bill

Tested today. Dkh and Calc are good but Ph is a bit low. Phos, Ammo, Trites and Trates were all measurable but on the low end of the scale. It pretty much just looks like the readings toward the end of a cycle. Some bad stuff is present but not in major amounts and there's algae growing here and there. No crazy red slime outbreaks or anything just the GHA and stuff that was in the tank before getting a bit bigger because of no CUC and plenty of nutrients. Keep up with the WC's and get the skimmer cranking full-time and it should be smooth sailing in another few weeks. I really think that the levels in the tank are impressive considering the move and the massive amount of die-off that occurred. I'll try and get some pics uploaded so you all can see the scape as it stands now. It's sitting on that egg crate base and Teresa and I are really fond of that. Right now we're thinking BB for this tank but we're not totally sure. The kewl thing is that if we do go with the LS we can just fill to the top of the egg crate and not lose any surface area on the LR to being buried. I'm very impressed with that. It also allows for a bit more height to the LR structure as it's already sitting on a 1" high base. I'm a planner so I can already see it all decked out again in about 5 different ways. It'll be impressive again in a year or so.

Bill