Thanks dude! I have to attribute it to SWMBO "She who must be obeyed" -- My wife lol

I appreciate the feedback. It is nice to know people are following along. ;-)

Bump for comments?

you switch from MH to PC?

No, have always had PC .... bought the BC14 used with the nanotuner's 3 x 24 w upgrade .... MH I WISH!!! ;-)

oh, i must have read it wrong or maybe the switch from the LFS to your tank?

2) My Striped Green Mushrooms looked like they had patches of grey "dead" matter on it --> nope, much better now ... I believe it was the adjustment from a MH light to PC .. they are happier

Yeah, they were under MH lighting when I bought them as frags ... PC in my tank. ;-)

Nice pic updates. have you tried using the macro setting on your camera. It will help you get less blurry pics so you can show off your beautiful coral like they deserve.


Looking nice...keep up the good work

Yeah, it is a CyberShot point and shoot ... I tried the macro setting and that seem to be the best I could get ... waiting on a DSLR ;-)

Alright, today I introduced a small emerald crab into the mix ;-) Should be intersting. He went to work right away ....

Also added 3 snails .. unsure of the names: they are black with round shells. Climbin' all over the glass, sand and rocks ... I think they are the most effective so far!!! Any help with the name?

Also bought a phosphate test. Yup, just as I suspected: High Approx 0.5-0.75 ppm (hard to tell cuz it is a crappy API test) .... Also bought a phosphate sponge type remover so I will keep an eye on that ... I am going to guess that the high phosphates are from feedin once every two days .... gotta get this down pat ... (I don't really need to feed cuz I have mostly corals --and Mick the YWG)

I will keep you up to date.

Oh, also bought Coral Frenzy as food. Anyone tried it? The LFS said it was popular.

Update Update Update!!!

Alright, now for a much anticipated update with PICS! As you will see, there have been many additions since my last update. I am quite happy with everything and am now looking forward to watching the tank grow in.

And now for the pics. I will post some "growth" shots as well as I find them.

FTS – Nov 1, 2007


FTS – Nov 8, 2007


FTS - Dec 30, 2007


FTS (left side) - Dec 30, 2007


FTS (right side) - Dec 30, 2007



Here are some Zoos. I put the names I have for them above them. If you guys see any corrections, please let me know!

#1 - Whammin Watermelons - Nov


Whammin Watermelons - Dec


#2 - Tubb's Blues


#3 - Safecrackers


#4 - Purple Deaths


#5 - Bam Bams


#6 - Nuclear Greens


Again, if you think these are called something else, let me know :-)

Yellow Polyps - Nov


Yellow Polyps - Dec


Yellow Fiji Leather



Remember the GSP and Orange Zoos I was thinking of splitting? Here is the GSP with one leftover BamBam in the mix ;-)

Nov


Dec


Remember the Green Hairy Mushroom that had a hole in the middle?
Nov


Dec


Xenia - Nov


Xenia - Dec


Some Mushrooms




Sinularia - Nov


Sinularia - Dec

Here are some neon green palys?? Can someone confirm? One of my favorites. They light up amazingly under actinics!




Mick, the Yellow Watchman Goby is still alive and doing very well. Not as shy ;-)


Maze Brain


Devil's Hand


"Crabface" our Emerald Crab


..and some Green Button Palys that are growing like weeds ...

Nov


Dec


Trumpet Coral
Nov


Dec



Thanks again for looking. Any comments are definitely appreciated. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

PS - also, one of my favourite Christmas gifts from my loving wife - a Refractometer! ;-)

Nice job there HoomHow... good growth in the corals! Are you dosing anything to the tank?
Also, love the fiji leather frag... I want one!

In case some of you haven't been following some of my other posts on this site, let me introduce you to our two new little ones ...

Born Dec 11, 2007. A. Ocellaris A little young I know, but they are already growing like weeds and eating flake foods (and they really seem to enjoy Coral Frenzy every now and again ...)

Named: Tic and Tac










And just so you can get an idea of their size ... I own a BC14 (yes, they are a little bigger than TicTacs) ;-)





And a shot of their home within a home: a sour cream container with nylon stocking. This helps prevent them from being eaten by a) Mick, our Yellow Watchman Goby, b)some of the LPS corals, and c) sucked into the filter. ;-)



Thanks for your interest! Any and all comments are welcome. Have a great New Year!

Animan: nope, no dosing. Just keeping up with regular water changes once a week of about 2-3 gallons alternating between Instant Ocean and Reef Crystal salts. I am excited. I am beginning to see new coralline algae growth. Today I even found some on my back wall! Excellent ....

Bump for comments?

i really like your tank. keep up the good work.

p.s. fellow canadian!!!

Thumbs up!!! Canadian eh! the only thing I'd say is ya gotta do something nicer looking then the sour cream container...Cause I'm sure when someone looks at your tank the first thing they see is that...with pantie hoes hanging off yet lol...hmmm reminds of fat camp yummm...

Thanks people. Yup, Canadian to the core ;-) and yes, I know the sour cream container has to go ... as soon as the baby Ocellaris grow up they will be gone ...

Hey love the tank! I was trying to figure out what that container was in som of the pics LOL kinda ghetto but it works I'm sure! Anywho the chaeto is to get rid of phosphates, right? If so you know GSP and Xenia do the same or so I've read and they look nicer!

With that said your tank is sweet and as they say in Canada "the power of the force has stopped you, you nobs" or do they just say that in Strange Brew???

Greetings Canada ! And thanks for your advice yesterday. I read your thread today and am impressed with what you have doene with the cube thus far !! Nice work. Im thinking now hat I need to add more LR to my own tank. Everything i have read says not to stack it against the rear wall for ease of cleaning but all the beautiful thanks I see on NR seem to back right up the rear wall. Maybe its because everything I have read is for more conventional rectangular tanks.

Any problems with the rear wall issue? Also, was it difficult to make the pump mod to your tank? Im just geting started here but fear that the stock pump will not be enough for some coral at roughly 10x

Cheers!

No probs, just dropped the MJ900 in and we were good to go.

As for the back wall, mine is stacked but I am not too worried about coraline algae growing on it (therefore no need to clean it). Actually, I am contemplating gluing some GSP and maybe my xenia to the back wall and allow it to spread from there ... still in the contemplating stage tho.

pprwngs: LoL, no I haven't seen Strange Brew, but it does seem like something we'd say. Interesting points about the Xenia and GSP ...

When you dropped the MJ900 in there do you believe the wattage increase was the cause of your temperature spike, in any way realted, or was it all the bad heater.

Im think I want to make as many of the upcoming mods as possible during the first couple days here so I do not upset the delicate balance of these things later.

Very nice. Another canuck here as well. I have some of those green zoos with the white stripe too. It all started when one of them morphed out of the center of a large colony of orange zoos. I fragged it, it spread a little, died, and then 3 little ones sprang up from the remnants. Slow growing so far, but it's really nice under the actinics as you said

Djbacon: nope the MJ900 is actually less wattage than the stock heater, therefore LESS heat introduced into the tank ... it was all the busted heater ... I don't think the thing would turn off. (do a search on here for an actual comparison of wattage for various pumps including the MJ600, MJ900, MJ1200 and stock pumps)

Mikellini: thank you. Where from? Do you live in an igloo too? ;-) yeah, I love the glowing green. I just have to be careful and try to add some different colours into the tank.

Pretty much. I live in Fort McMurray AB, and it's been around -30 C for the past couple of weeks. They no longer say "a high of -28" on the radio, they just say "28".

Ugh, sounds cold... here in Windsor we are protected by a dome of greenhouse gases from Windsor and Detroit. Keeps us a balmy -2 ;-)

Hey all, I had to write ... Well, today, Jan 24, Tic and Tac, the baby A. Ocellaris are a little less than two months old. I finally released them into the display tank ... after a little looking around and getting used to things they...

DECIDED TO HOST IN MY FROGSPAWN! :-D It is so cool! It is a two headed frogspawn and they are basically dwarfed by it. Very cute. SWMBO and I are very excited :-) I am definitely keeping an I on them ...

Pics to follow once I borrow the camera from the inlaws again ... (grrr, time to go out and buy that Nikon d40) ;-)

Whats Happening HoomHow? Got a silly question for you...How do you get those full size pics on your post. They look so much better thatn the reduced links that I get on mine.

Looking forward to some new shots of your tank :-)

Alright, it has been awhile and I thought I would update ...

Sadly, Tic and Tac only hosted the frogspawn the first day ... when it closed up at night the abandoned it :-( Oh well. They have since taken up residence on my Hydor Flo attachment in the upper left back corner of the tank ... let me say this is not HALF as exciting as them hosting the frogspawn :confused:


On a good note, today is the first day that Tac started eating small pellet food rather than crushed up cyclopeeze! Yeah! (Tic has been eating for a while!)

Thanks for your interest. Still waiting on the new camera ... doh! ;-)

This is one gorgeous tank, from a fellow Canadian lol

Can I ask where you got your tic tac (literally lol) size percs? I can't wait for them to grow bigger for you, and hopefully they host a coral again shortly.

Also, where did you get your Biocube 14g?

Flick

Sent PM :-)

Looking awesome HH !! -

Bummer that the clowns arent into your FS...maybe in time. I just picked up a clown and it wont get OUT of my hammer coral...crazy.

A sad sad day

Well fellow reefers, yesterday was a sad day in my household. I came home from work and couldn't find Tac, the smaller Occie. After much searching I pulled out the MJ900 from the back chamber and found him dead on the intake valve ... apparently he jumped over the back wall into chamber 3 and was no match for the pump intake ... :-(

Tic looks very lonely. I didn't think fish could look sad ...

Oh, that's so sad! My condolences...

I have been following along on your thread and just wanted to say thank you for the great info, pics and updates--your tank is beautiful and definitely something to aspire to for me!

Oh man. Im sorry Hoomhow, I've read about people modifying the cube after such disasters somewhere on here. You'll have to find tic a new tac

Alrighty then! A happy update! As of last week Tic has a brand new pal! Let me introduce you to “Tactoo” ….!



Born in Feburary this little guy was purchased last week amongst all his brothers and sisters from Choice Aquariums (thanks Brent!) Currently he is in the sour cream container until he gets a little bigger …. Here is a top down shot to show his size relative to the tank ;-) So tiny! So cute!



Last night he hoped out of the container and had his first foray into the main display. He and Tic got along great! It was interesting, Tic normally keeps to herself in the top corner by the Hydor Flo. After Tactoo jumped in Tic was all over the place exploring

Here is an updated FTS (April 1, 2008) Sorry it is kinda crappy. Still getting used to the new camera. Lol




The pics were taken with a Nikon D40, with the kit lens (18-55mm)

Hey congrats on the new addition, (and the new camera) tank is looking great - I finally taking the plunge and buyiong that lighting upgrade you have.

hahhaha tactoo - shouldnt it be tacTwo? priceless

Thanks

PS - I figured "TacTwo" would be too obvious

Alright, it has been a little while since my last update. Here are some shots taken with my NEW Nikon D40 (great camera, but a LOT of things to learn about)

Tank Parms are all in order. I had an issue with my Trochus and Cerith snails dying ... don't really know why ... Astreas are doing well though. I have a bit of an algae problem as you can see from some of the pics (trying very hard to keep that under control -- have modded a fuge onto the back of chamber 2 and the chaeto is growing like crazy!! It is awesome!)

Here are the pics! Enjoy! And feel free to comment ... (my next step is to set the white balance parameters on my camera).

FTS - April 30, 2008
***Note: you can see Tic (the bigger one) and Tactoo (the smaller one in the back corner) They are great, swimming all over the tank now. Still haven't hosted anything ... I may try posting a pic of some clowns hosting a Frogspawn ...


My Blasto Merletti eating some mysis ...


Caulastrea engorged after eating some mysis ...


Maze Brain ... it was recently bothered by my emerald crab crawling all over it, so it is a bit retracted ... anyone know why it seems to be "lifting up" from the rock on the right hand side? Kinda odd ...


Nuclear Greens


Whammin' Watermellons


Bam Bams??? (I love these)


Purple Deaths (I kinda expected them to be more purple ...)


Devil's Hand


and Hollywood's "Infernos" (Picked up as a single polyp at the Lansing Swap back in February) and a Flourescent Red 'Shroom


I hope you enjoyed the pics. I am loving the saltwater hobby. Thanks to all who have helped and given great information. I appreciate it! I am already looking forward to upgrading my tank ;-)

Great work hoomhow !! Love the pics, especially of the blasto eatiing mysis half their size :-)

your zoas look great

yeah amazing how fast the lsst 4 months went by !!

Beautiful tank, everything looks healthy.

I had same thing happen,one morning woke up couldnt find my black clown so looked in back and he was hanging out with pump.....After like 5 mins of trying to get him out he was back where he was supposed to be.The next day i took a piece of plastic from a cheap lid deal from walmart and cut it so would extend the back wall on my bio so could never happen again.Can get pic if want to see

awesome tank HoomHow... thanks for the tank btw.. its doing well... I still gotta get you some pics

A very quick update for those of you following along ....

FTS - June 26, 2008





Mick






I will post more whenever I find some time! LOL

Very nice that yellow watchman is really cool

FTS - August 1, 2008


Tarzan (little orange dude) and Jane (bigger reddish chick)








Mick

A few more ...

A Crab Eating Polyp ... (or was it a molt?)




Hungry Blastos


A Hungry Chalice


Anyone have any idea what this thing under the rock is????? -confused

Wow, your tank is gorgeous, very healthy.