Looks like he held out on you... I guess he likes me better... lol j/k




thanks junyoungmin!

PS CL... update your freakin' tank!

I would, but there's nothing to see. lol. Just some algae, and the corals have been 1/2 way opening because I keep getting this stringy stuff on them, and it aggravates them. I can't really figure out what it is.

post it up then and get some expert help. your dilemma may save someone else a similar fate.

Lookin' amazing bro!!!
Nice work!!!

Thank you David. I'm trying to get on your level... lol.

Of major note... I've decided to remove the Jawfish house. It just wasn't working with my already too centralized scape. Mr. Man has dug two other holes that he doesn't spend any time in, but they are there. They are both at the front of the tank. I'm hoping he decides to adopt one. If he starts stressing, I'll add his house back.

On a sad note, I broke off a piece of my birdsnest while being clumsy. I epoxied it back to the rock... but it doesn't look as good as it did originally. I also was able to find my lost acan after removing the jawfish house and scooping sand from the back of the tank to the front. Only two shriveled up heads remain. I glued it in place. If it makes a come back, I'll be a happy camper... It's green on the outside with a red mouth. Completely opposite of my blasto.

On a happy note, I've added an ORA Red Planet. SPS stocking has begun!

Pics tomorrow (techinally later today)

Very nice, seems to be moving along fast/

Thanks Kraylen... unlike you... when I say I'm going to post pictures... I do it. lol.

I hope I'm not moving too fast. I check my parameters Wednesdays and Sundays. I'm tired of shaking little vials. I have 0 Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrate, and Phosphates. My magnesium is at 1600 ppm... Calcium at 440 ppm. Salinity is at 1.024. temp swings from 77/78 to 80/81 from morning to evening.

Everything seems to be happy. In a perfect world my clowns would host my torch coral. The one things is that my skimmer went from not making enough bubbles... to bubble overkill. the cup fills with water and the door is all the way down. I wonder if the epoxy i've been adding is causing it.

I forgot to mention I'm using Purigen and Chemi pure and activated carbon for chemical filtration. Those Marineland pads work SUPER well. I found a 6 pack of them at petsmart for $17 I think it was. I'm changing them out once a week. Something I really like is that it doesn't matter how much water is in your sump or how many bubbles your skimmer is making. It won't float like my filter floss has done a few times... and it doesn't clog like the blue sponge the tank comes with.

on a continuation of notes... My decision to remove the jawfish house was met with heavy resistance today. Mr. Man is skulking at the very BACK of the tank and refuses to come out... even for food. I had to work even harder to incorporate the house back into the tank. I'm hoping he finds it tonight or tomorrow/tomorrow night sometime.

Pics are delayed due to the water being slight cloudy from reburying the jawfish house.

Pictures as promised

So... the SPS stocking has begun! As you can see, I am NOT doing frag plugs. I know they are great for moving corals around until you can find the perfect spot, flow, and light for them... but I just can't do it. I want my tank to be aesthetic from the get go and get more so as everything grows in. Using epoxy is almost like creating your own frag plug as it only only takes a little bit of force to remove break the bond. I forgot to note that I've caught and removed 2 of my peppermints and I've added 1 Cleaner shrimp. I keep forgetting to take a picture of him. He likes to be a little poophead and work the back of the rocks until I put my hand in the tank. Then he runs over to clean my hands... He's out at night a lot as well.





New Red Planet:


The stylophora is bushy like hermione's hair!:


Ponape Birdsnest & Oregon Tort:


Forgot what this guys is. Encrusting coral that starts with an "S" I believe:


I have some of these guys on the way:

Dude, this is awesome, do you mind me asking how much you've spent on it now?

Thanks Jamo!, I only kept a spreadsheet of my initial setup. That total came to $1,997.71. I did no keep track of of what I've bought since then. I imagine I'm around $3,000 - $3,500 in at this point.

LMAO it is amazing how it adds up. I got around 2500 probally in my Biocube 29. I just got my Marco rocks and sand for my Solana that should be coming anytime this week. It was on backorder.I also purchased a Sunpod. WOW the money we spend. Hope my wife doesn't read this.

I hear you Lawnman. Luckily I'm single or I wouldn't be allowed to do such things I'm sure. A FW tank of similar size runs me about the same... and I have 5 FW tanks in this range. congrats on the new Solana!


I think my Clowns and Gobies may have velvet. The blenny and jawfish show no signs of it. The gobies definitely have something on their skin. I netted out all of the fish last night with remarkable ease and no damage to the tank. I'm going to go fallow for the next couple of months and leave everyone in quarantine like I should have done from the get go. Not sure how to go about treating yet. I will post pictures for a better diagnosis.

Egad... I hope things come out okay! I need to set up a QT soon...

i knew something was on the gobies a day or two after adding them to the tank. They drove 6 hours from a fish store, were placed in a strange tank that had fish in it for a couple of days, were bagged up overnight, and then went home 4 hours with me after the conference. I imagine they were pretty stressed. Even though i noticed something on the gobies... no one else showed any signs of infection so i thought it'd be ok. I know see a few super fine white white powder spots on the clowns that i can't be sure it's not something. If I took a picture of them... i doubt anything out of the ordinary would show up. the jawfish and the tailspot look completely fine.


I'm going to set fish only and a coral only Quarantine tanks. I'll continue building the reef while it's fallow.

So I treated with Maracide in the QT tank like I would with FW. Only after, did I realize Maracide says fW only. Is there any worry with using Malachite Green and Chitosan in SW? I elevated the temperature to 84 degrees to speed up the lifecycle. Looks like it was just ich and not velvet. Marine Ich is smaller than FW Ich in size and I didn't realize that until viewing some pictures.

Only the clowns and gobies showed any sign of it. And it was just a very, very light peppering. I was still trying to decided if it was or wasn't something when I pulled them out. Better to be safe than sorry (should have taken my own advice and QT'd from the beginning). Jawfish and Blenny show no signs of it. Everyone looks healthy and have no signs of stress. No clamped fins, no sulking in a corner. I plan on leaving the main tank fallow until October 26. In the mean time... I'll continue building the reef.

hopefully all is ok med, hey what is this "house" for your jawfish you speak of ?? my jawfish seems fine where he is now but i wondered if you meant you did a pvc setup or something like that for him?

yes... a pvc house... Everyone is fine sitting in quarantine. no signs of ich anymore. I have to treat one more time today... then they will be done with medicated water. I've added a few more SPS to the tank. I should take some pics tomorrow maybe.

Those new sps frags you have are sickk!! Man reefing can be an expensive hobby very fast! and so addicting!

Great job.

Thank you! and just wait until tomorrow's pics

Can't wait!!

lol

ok... i didn't get to take pics today... tomorrow for sure.

The "We don't need no stinkin' sun edition":
I've added a few SPS if you haven't noticed . I'm already debating removing the Leptastrea, the open brain, and 4 of the SPS. I need to frag the large pink acan. I only want a piece of it. I also found some rainbow monti. Finally! I've added a new dendro and a non photosynthetic gorg. I just ran out of my first bag of IO/RC. I'm probably going to switch to seachem.






SPS Diadem:




Rainbow Monti:


Lime & Lavender Favia (not it's permanent home):


Ric Roc is finally complete:

STUNNING!!!

Thanks David! that means a lot coming from you.

WHA??? Your tank blows mine AWAY bro!!! No contest!!!

don't be so modest. Your tank is awesome. I wish my hammer would extend like yours does.

If all I have going for me is my hammer...



Thanks bro!

Dayum! i see you got your swag-on! keep them coming med.. i like that dro u got there! i call first dibs on them when you grow and frag them out bro. cool!

lol no! but it and your white tipped gorg are a point of jealousy for me. lol




lol! Thank you d'Espresso.

You probably didn't know about my 3gallon pico huh? i just put it on my signature haha.

I'd just noticed it. I thought "3 gallon pico? what?" lol

DO WANT!

WOW <3

Awww... thanks guys!

Love ric islands!

Ha ha thanks! I saw you had one in your tank. I can't wait for mine to grow out as nicely as yours.

I would have to agree...the ric rock is sweet!

Nice tank!

Time, lots of time. The back of mine is almost full, the front, not so much, go figure that the part that everyone sees never grows..

Drool over your rics wish mine was colorful as yours!

Thank you guys!



I'm surprised ricordeas are so slow growing... I thought mushrooms were supposed to grow at plague proportions. Do you feed your ricordeas directly? mine never seem to eat if I do place something on them.

On another note. The dendro polyp to the left is MASSIVE! I'd not seen it fully open until last night.

Haha wow u should take a picture when the dendro bloom out. How much u paid for that?

I know! Something compelled me to check out the tank long after lights out. The one Dendro polyp was massive. I checked it this morning and it'd shrunk down again. I need a camera that can take pictures of a tank on moonlights.

My Gorg is opening up more during the daytime



I'd also been wanting to add a crab to my tank really badly, but I wanted something reef safe. I was worried about hermits eating my snails and emeralds eating everything else. I was at my LFS yesterday and noticed a couple of curious crabs. They'd come in with their emeralds. I scurried home and looked them up. Porcelain crabs! I bought both of them today. I'm happy to have crab representation in my tank.





Here's a quick, crappy video of one of them immediately filter feeding after being added to the tank.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRVnebiaRNw

Rics are very slow growers, they are not like other mushrooms like yumas. The only way to speed them up would be to cut across the mouth them and force propagation. See it done here, never done it myself.

Porcelain Crabs are awesome. I have one in my tank and it's alot of fun to watching him try to get the best spot during feeding time. It took mine a while to get use to the the tank. Now he eats straight from the syringe when ever I feed.

SCARY!!!

I'll let them grow out naturally




That's awesome! They're currently out, but around the side of the tank.

What coral is that pinkish red with the white hair looking things? That is beautiful. I really love your set up. It is make me re think my current scape a little bit. Also, how do you keep your black wall so clean? Toothbrush it?

yea i have to toothbrush mine awhile ago when i was doing waterchange.. thats our secret!

Hey atlweb, that's a non photosynthetic gorgonian. I'm scraping the back wall and using a toothbrush. I'm losing the coralline war. The back wall is textured and is a nightmare to keep clean. I will not be able to keep it free of coralline. I wish i knew about the smooth acrylic wall mod ahead of time.

WOW your tank is smokin. I haven't checked it out in a while. It's looking awesome and clean. I really dig your scape and that gorg.