Alright, I now have all sorts of algae growing from my rocks, and will probably stop by my lfs to pick up a few hermits, snails, and maybe even a small coral

Test Results:

PH: 8.2
trite: 0
trate: 0
amonia: 0.25

So what do you think, am I ready for some coral? (and maybe a small gobie )

I don't know. ammonia's kind of high. I'd wait 6 months or so to be sure your cycle is done.

So your saying I cant add a great white for six months?

Here are some fish that caught my eye on http://www.liveaquaria.com/:

Orange Lined Cardinalfish: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di...cfm?pCatId=1431

Red Striped Goby: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di...cfm?pCatId=1728

Trimma Goby: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di...cfm?pCatId=1968

Clown Goby, Citrinis: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Di....cfm?pCatId=161

Please post any comments about any of the mentioned fish. As you can probably tell, Im trying to get something out of the norm.

Just got back from the lfs! I bought 3 blue legged hermits, 3 cerith snails, and a hammer! pics will come soon.

Alright, sooo much to update!

First, a pic of my ATO. It works super well!


Next, a pic of one of the ceriths I picked up. My ceriths are so lazy! All they do is hang out on the top of the tank while the hermits do all the work .


Check out this cool cave affect I made while playing around with the rocks a little. Granted, I am not going to actually aquascape till the filter arrives (should come today), but w/e.


Heres a pic of the canopy all filled up with the gorgeous parobolic reflectors


heres my new stuff acclimating


Heres a macro shot of my hammer, Its still a litttle mad about being abducted from the lfs


And finally we have an fts


Whew, that took a while!

Test results:

PH: 8.2
Trite: 0
Trate: 3
Ammonia: 0 - finaly

Alright, I feel like posting some photos I took

first, a pic of my hermit in heaven


Next, a picture of the hammer. I was playing around with the camera settings and thought that this one came pretty good. (pretty good for not having actinics)

Thats it!!!! Ive given up on waiting for my filter! It was such a good one too ! It was HUGE; heres a link http://www.thatpetplace.com/Products/KW/F2...9/Itemdy00.aspx
Anyhow, im off to get an aquaclear 20 for like 20 bucks.

On another note, I ordered an actinic bulb and it should be arriving in a couple of days .

Ive been aquascaping alot lately (as in my hand has been in the tank for about three hours ) and I am never satisfied!

Aquascape 1


Aquascape 2


Aquascape 3


Aquascape 4


And finaly, a pic of a snail looking at his "god"


So, which aquascape do you think is best; 1, 2, 3, or 4? Take into acount that the last three aquascape pictures didnt come out so well because of the sand storm.

Still no replies huh? Thats cool, I will still post for you silent types - I know your reading this



Anyways.......

Test results:

trate: 0
trite: 0
ammonia: 2
ph: 8.0

another macro of the hammer - you guys most be getting sick of these


And, Ladies and Gentalmen, I present to you what I am beggening to believe is my final aquascape!!


And a frontal shot

To be honest all of those aquascapes looked good to me, the end product is smart.

Is Mr snail trying to make his escape after all the rock disruption then?

Keep the shots a coming, I love the Euphyllia coral.

Best regards

Ann

Update !!

I bought two corals! I got a galexia (i cheaped out: only $10) and a nice rock of zoos with about 25 polyps for $23 . But there pretty nice and I really like the store (dolphin pet village). The thing that gets me really mad, however, is that a rock with about 125 polyps only costs 10 more bucks! w/e I will get some pictures tommorow when the polyps open up.

New zoos! This is a pic without actinic... just imagin what it will be like with actinics


Hammer macro


If you havent noticed, I have much better/closer macro shots now. My scecret? Not a macro lense... A magnifying glass!

and an fts...

Quick update today: Actinic light came in a while ago, and all my corals have colored up nicely. The zoos really colored up with the actinics. The orange mouthed ones have a vibrant green center with red skirts. The hammer has been growing like crazy, and its nearly 2" across when fully expanded! Anyways, I am in the process of ordering a nimble nano and cant wait receive it. Thats all for today, and I will try to get some updated pics soon.

Love the new zoos! I never took much notice of zoanthids before this contest started, now I think that they are just fantastic with all the different colour combinations available.

I can't wait to see some updated pictures of this tank with the new lighting combo.

Best regards

Ann

Wow, im having the hardest time finding a good a site with good, free image hosting. I dont like using this site because I can only have up to 8 pictures. What image hosting site do u guys use?

I use Photobucket.

I use photobucket.com to BUT it gets full to...so i put my other pics. on www.tinypic.com ....its free...BUT make shure you resizew it before you upload it to tinypic and put the IMG code on ......use microsoft paint...then do strecth skew

ooooooooo thats how u resize!!!!! Thx alot Fishfreak!

plz work plz work plz work plz work......


yayyyyy!!! more pictures are coming!

Corner shot:


Front shot:


Zoas:


So, what do ya think? I know my camera isnt great, but its doing o.k. I think...

Dolphin has a lot of frags but you should try atlantis aquarium too, they have a lot of small frags also. I think they get new stuff on tuesdays. I like some of the people who work at aquatic gallery but Atlantis is my Fav these day's, I think it's because they get a lot of nice looking Yuma. I love Yuma's


Tanks looking good.

what kind of camera do you use? I want to get one but I don't want to spend alot. Your pictures look great in my oppinion.

Using a magnifying glass? Wow!

How are the prices? I couldnt imagine that there more than dolphin. Ill be sure to try that place this weekend. Thx for the tip! Are there any other stores i should check out around the bay area?



lol i know. Well your looking at pictures from the ultimate cheapo camera. I got it for christmas last year. It cost $200 brand new from frys a year ago (probably much cheaper now). Anyways, its a Samsung Digimax 360 with 3.2 megapixels. You can probably get one the same quality for about $80-$100 today.

ahhh!! I need a way to add iodine to my tank without causing it to crash! My hermits have been losing legs.. Does anyone now of a good product or way to increase iodine levels in such a small tank?

most tanks don't need any more than is provided by regular (at least weekly) partial waterchanges. But if you want to try, get Salifert's Natural Iodine... Slaifert also makes the only decent Iodine test kit out there. Got to love those Dutch...

Jared

Argh... I need help getting my new fish to eat... Its a small watchman goby (less than 1"). Every time I approach the tank he goes back into his hole and hides. If I put the food in the tank anyways, the food settles before he even comes back out of his hole. Its really bad because I have a bunch of food just decomposing in my tank and a very hungry fish. I have been trying to feed him frozen krill and flakes. I have had him for five days now. Does anyone have any good ideas?

See if he will come back out of the hole if you sit very still in the ready position. Then try and feed him.

Well I came home from skiing to find my tank at 70 degrees and the filter turned off. The heater was in the filter, and was exposed to air for what had to be days. Amazyingly enough I fixed the filter and the heater and they are both running perfectly fine. My tank is back up to 80 degrees and oscar (my watchman goby) and the corals are fine.

Heres a pic of oscar. This little guy is full of personality! I named oscar because he reminds me of oscar the grouch.


Also, I got an email from cjerome saying that my nimble will be shiped today. I cant wait!

Eeeek! Good to hear that your stock has not suffered any long term effects from the accidental winter chill. What was wrong with the filter anyhow?

I love those zoas, they have really orange mouths. .

Is Oscar eating OK now?

Best regards

Ann

Oscar is eating pretty well now, but is still really shy. Funny thing is he loves his formula 1 flakes but wont touch the frozen krill!

The filter had just turned off. I just unpluged it and repluged it back in and it worked fine. It does make me a little worried though. I was just about to get a bunch of expensive corals untill hat happened. Now I think I will have to replace the filter before I do that....

Good to hear that Oscar has settled in nicely, I'm sure that he'll get bolder as time progresses.

Hmm, perhaps the filter developed an airlock? It's worrying when an essential piece of kit like that stops working for whatever reason. Don't these things always seem to happen when we are away too.

Best regards

Ann

Wow, its been a while since i last updated. Well, theres not much to update really. I got my nimble nano and my tank is sparkling clean (thank you cjerome). Oscar is doing fine but he is still very shy . The zoas are growing and coloring up like crazy. Still havent bought any new corals, but probably will soon. Im thinking about ading a whole bunch of corals within a couple weeks (acans, yumas, zoas, ect...). Anyways, thats it for now!

Pics, pics, pics.

Best regards

Ann

Ill give you pics when I have something to take a pic about!! Im *hopefully* getting a bunch of coral and will update then. I found a place where I can get a great deal, so we'll see how that goes.... In the meantime, I will have to keep you in suspense . Besides, I have finals that I have to study right now (I hate polyatomic ions )

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Wow!! oscar is only getting more shy! Could any of you fish people please tell me how to make him less shy? I mean, ive had him for a couple months now!!

I don't know what to suggest really. If the tank were larger I would have said add a 'dither' fish such as a Chromis or some other bold open water swimming fish. Such species can make shy fish feel safer and give them the confidence to come out into the open more. What's Oscar like at feeding times, does he come out then?

Best regards

Ann

I see oscar once every couple days. However, if I get close to the tank, he bolts back into his hole. For now, I have just been shuving food into where he generally stays. He doesnt seem to be starving, as he never comes out for food. I dont know what to do!! He used to not be so shy, as in he would watch e for hours and come out if fooddrifted really close to his hole. Now I rarely see him!!!

I guess Ill move him into a larger tank where I can get an active fish at the end of the contest.

I'd say maybe get Oscar a pistol shrimp. Most of the Gobi that I have seen in person are either more bold or just more visible when paired up with a shrimp.

Tanks looking good man. Nice to see a little watchman in there.

Well, I think my tank is in real need of an update. Oscar is still very shy and will never come out for me. I did buy some new corals from yourreef.com. I bought a frag of green nepthia, the 5 zoa frag pack, a green ric, pink zoas and a chalice. The chalice was really a really nice purple with pink eyes. However, the galexia fell on it while I was on vacation, and by the time I could rescue the poor chalice, there where dead spots all over it . The galexia died, but not without nearly bringing my beloved chalice with it. Any sugestions of what I can do to help my chalice out would be great.

Heres a pic of my favorite frag in the tank right now, my pink zoas. (the pinks zoas and chalice used to both be my favorite, however the chalice isnt looking so hot right now.)


Heres a pic of the chalice before the galexia fell on it.


And here is a recent pic of the chalice. I dont know much about chalices, so if someone could tell me the chance of survival on this guy, along with what I should be doing to improve its chances, that would be great.


And finaly a couple fts's. The first is just actinic


And here is an up to date picture of how it stands today.


I dont know what my camera has a problem with the zoas in the center that look brown. In real life, there green with orange mouths and are actually quite nice.

Just keep your water quality in tip top condition and the chalice will pull through. Is it possible to feed it? I don't know as I've never kept one of these corals before.

I really like the pink zoanthids.

Best regards

Ann

Tank looking good. Nice Pink Zoas, I have two pink morphs that are very similar. One I got from Reefer Madness and the other from a fellow reefer. Need to add a frag to my tank

I wouldnt mind having another morph of pink zoas . Sigh, the chalice is making me agrivated. It was the center piece of my tank, but at the moment it is nothing but an eye sore. I just keep telling myself that the weird white stuff growing on it at an insane rate is just a form of it healing. What can I say, im an optimist .

Heres an updated pic of the chalice:


GGOOOOOODDDDDDD!!!!!! I hate galexia.

Alright, the public has spoken. Surgery has been scheduled for 10:30 tonight :'(. On the meantime, I will hate all @#%%$% %^&*( GALEXIA.

5 min before surgery :'(