Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum and thought a good way to start out would be to start a thread about my tanks.

This is my 29g Biocube Reef

29g Oceanic BioCube (About 6-7 months old)
Oceanic BioCube Protein Skimmer
4 Nova 20" T5 Fixtures (in hood)
4 White LED Strips (9 bulbs per strip)
150wtt Visi-Therm Heater
Modded filtration with liverock instead of bioballs
Approx. 3-5 lbs of livesand
Approx. 21 lbs of liverock

Fish:
x2 Tank-Bred Ocellaris Clownfish
x1 Helfrichi Firefish
x1 Green Mandarin
x3 Copperband Cardinalfish

Inverts:
x1 Blood Shrimp
x1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
x2 Sexy Shrimp
x1 Grey and Orange Feather Starfish (2yrs old in captivity)
x1 Muscle

Coral:
Green and Grey Cyphastrea
Meteorite Cyphastrea
Purple Polyp Cap.
Pink Edged- Green Montipora
Montipora Sp.
Kenya Tree
Rhizotrochus Typus
Darth Maul Porites
Mind Bender Chalice
Red Fungia Plate
Brain Coral
Orange and Green Acan Lords
Green Tipped Toadstool
Green Star Polyps
Tan Star Polyps
Neon Green Candycane Coral
Pink and Green Candycane coral
Purple Tipped Table Acro
Acro Sp. (a few)
Orange Digitata
Pink Milli.
Milli Sp.
Blastomusa Wellsi
Tubbs Blues Zoas
Watermelon Zoas
Green Zombie(?) Zoas
Sunset Zoas
Red and Black Japanese Palys
Purple and Yellow Japanese Palys
A few unknown tiny frags I picked up for free.
And probably a few that skipped my mind for the moment.

FTS:


Fungia Plate:


Feather Star:
Now, before you go crazy about this, take into consideration that he is over 2yrs old IN CAPTIVITY.


Darth Maul Porites:


They look like this up close: (not my pic)


Copperband Cardinals: (there are three and this is a bad pic)


Rhizo:


What do you think?

Here are a few more pics:

i like it. i like it a lot. awesome starfish and fungia. do you really like that colt and athelia? looks like a lot of prime real estate there...

you don't have any bongo shrimp...

Sorry but which corals are you talking about "colt and anthelia"? I think you are mistaking them for something else.

And I do happen to have two bongo shrimp- see here: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...p;#entry2533381

Ok, one last pic for now:

awesome!!!!

and

omg sweet tank!

FEATHERSTAR! What's your secret?

serious! ^^^^^ let us know please. (i've always wanted one AND i have a bc29)

Wow you have some incredible livestock. It all looks so happy too.

I got the feather star from my LFS's wholesaler who had it in a display for about 9 months. We (my LFS, their wholesaler, and I) believe that it eats cyclopeeze. I also feed rotifers and DTs. It is just a freak thing that it is able to live in my tank. All feather stars (distinguishable by different colors) eat something different. Therefore it is almost impossible to keep one. Even if you found the exact same one I have, you may not be able to keep it alive for whatever reason. I really truly wish I had a "cure all" solution for how to keep a feather star. But I do not.

I know it is tough seeing that I am able to keep a feather star, but I and I'm sure many others agree that you should not try to keep a feather star. It is just a lucky, freak thing that I am able to do it.



Please feel free to ask me any questions about the feather star and I will do my best to answer them as fully as I can.

Tank looks great

You had me at feather star and red fungia

Beautiful collection!! and reef!!

is that a reverse sunset monti?

Oh okay, thanks for the info.

I love your rhizo by the way. Where did you get it? And do you mind me asking how much it cost?

I believe the monti is a tequila sunrise monti.

I got the rhizo at a LFS and I got a good deal on it.

I enjoy seeing this tank.... keep it comin'

Just bought a pair of Coral Croucher Gobies from Liveaquaria! Will post pics when they get here.

Your Tank is AMAZING!!! I LOVE the feather Star! When u said on ur other tank thread u let the Bongo Shrimps out of there cages, did u mean u put them in this tank? And u got 3 more for ur other tank? Anyways, both ur tanks ar absolutely amazing!!!


BTW: Coral Crouchers are really Awesome! I know somebody who didn't see them for a year at a time. SO if they are gone for a year don't think they are dead.

Wow thanks. When I said I let the bongo shrimp out, I meant I let them into the other tank, the lagoon tank. They were being kept in a specimen container so I could oversee them but now they are in the main display tank. I was getting three but one died before they were shipped out so now I will be getting two more. They will be going into the lagoon tank along with the others.

The only thing I'm worried about with the coral crouchers is getting stung. Although I heard it is unlikely to happen.

cool! I LOVE Bongo Shrimp even though i've never seen one until i saw ur threads.

I wouldn't worry about gettin stung by them. They hide a lot especially when u are doin mainteneace. If they do sting u just wash it out with warm water and soap. It hurts no more than a bee sting.

Very cool tanks. I'd never heard of coral crouchers OR bongo shrimp until I read about your tanks.
Thanks
-Tim

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_di...amp;pcatid=1425
Coral Croucher

So here are the Crouchers!

How did they do their first nigh?

They did fine. Now they have moved into different areas of the tank and are waiting to be fed. Will be uploading video of feeding soon.

AWESOME!!!!!!!

Can't Wait!

Your crouchers are
Sweet looking tank & shrimps!

This tank is awesome and needs an update. How are the crouchers faring?

I'm cleaning today or tomorrow and will get some pics up today or tomorrow. Just got a bobbit worm out of the tank last night.

That worm is HUGE! CAn't wait for pics!!!!!

Well one clown is officially MIA and is presumed dead. I will get another when I come back from vacation in two weeks from saturday. Feel bad for him. Also still battling cyano on the sand.

On the other hand two of my copperbanded cardinals are spawning and I will be getting my Cree LED retro kit when I come back too!

New pics:

I really like your livestock selection, but have one critcism; no mermaids?

aAwesome pics! I didin't know u had a sexy shrimp.

Sorry about the clown.

Thanks guys. And if you can find me a mermaid that will fit in my 29g I'll add it in.

Bongo, please tell me more about your feather star. I just got one, it had been doing well at my LFS for 6 months... they said that they did not feed it anything but cyclopleeze. So kinda similar to yours. How often do you feed? Do you use frozen, freeze dried, both? Do you spot feed or broadcast feed? What is flow like during feeding? What about when not feeding?

Lots of questions, I know Thanks!

Ok, first of all, I would not have bought it unless it was already a year old in captivity. Most will do fine until the 1 year mark when they just start to fall apart. It's hard for me to believe that it eats cyclopeeze unless it is the exact same one I have. Only reason is that each different one eats something different. When I feed, the flow is the same, it never changes and I never turn it off (except for water changes). And I always spot feed separate from feeding the rest of the tank. Hope yours lives. We'll know how well it is doing on the one year in captivity mark. The reason is that they usually die very slowly, usually taking a year before you notice how it is doing. All we can do since you bought it already is to do the best we can to keep it healthy.

Thanks for the info Bongo. I am also skeptical about the cyclopleeze, its just what the LFS said. I did try to spot feed, it caught some and looked like it wanted to eat it but I don't know if it did. I know it released a lot that it caught but some were carried towards the mouth. I feed the rest of my tank cyclopleeze anyway so I'll continue to try it but otherwise just hope that the other foods I am dosing are being eaten.

You dose so much food, if you can't keep a featherstar nobody can... except Bongo Shrimp of course

Well I'm a little discouraged right now because if they take a year to show deterioration it could already be too far gone to rescue no matter what I do. I have emailed Claude of Fauna Marin for his advice. He has kept several of these successfully for years and since I dose a lot of his foods I'm hoping he can help.

I would add more variety to your food in the reactor, if you can.

Such a unique livestock selection and great selection of corals.

My LFS has a multicolored (really looks like a rainbow) feather star and have always been wondering about it.

Feather stars are very unique because they will "taste" the food meaning they will grab it, and if it is too big, too small, tastes bad... they will let it go. They are very selective of their foods. Heck, mine might not even be eating the cyclopeeze and may be eating something else in the water that I don't even know about. Just feed different things and see what happens. I wish I had some magic solution to keep them but I really can't tell you much. A lot of it is luck.

And socaldude, get a pic of the feather star at your LFS and post a thread with it. I always tell people as a rule of thumb- Take your camera to the LFS when ever you go because you never know what you may see.

bongo are u going to the MMMC fragswap ???

In lansing? Probably not.

yea i was hoping you would go lol

Sorry, but I will be at the MMC in May.

ok

just sent u a pm

Well the feather star seems to be doing better after moving across the tank. And I'm so excited!!! I just ordered a new toy!!! A Reefkeeper Elite!!!

I'm getting the 5.6 nanotuners upgrade for my reef and the RKE will control the lights to do everything from sunrise and sunset to the moon cycles with the lunar lights. It will also do auto top off too. AND- I will run chords across the room to the lagoon tank so I will be able to control and monitor it as well- all with one RKE.

Eventually, when I regain all my $$$ because this is not a cheap investment, I will get the NET module for the RKE which will alow me to monitor and control both tanks on the computer wherever there is an internet connection!

I'm so excited!

show off

sending a pm