Excellent pics Zoo girl. I'm glad to see that your frags are looking very healthy! Mind if I use that photo of the GPE's for FragPack.com? They almost look lavender and green, I love it! Keep up the excellent work.

Wasn't fragpacks.com the site that crashed a year ago? I thought they were out of AZ and Jim ran things. Either I'm confused or much has changed

Sure Todd, you can use the pic. I love those GPE's. They are so pretty. Oh and I'll be taking some shots of my new frags soon.

OK I finally have an updated FTS for y'all. I thought I would get to it sooner but I had an art show and with the holiday, things have been crazy!

Since my last update I've added quite a few corals, mostly zoas and palys. Unfortunately in this shot some of the polyps are closed. I had moved things around and glued a few corals in place so everyone was a little unhappy with me and didn't want to pose.



On the left you can see some denim zoanthids that are closed. They are so pretty when they are open but they seem to like a lot of light so we'll see how they like being in this tank.

I have noticed some color changes. The brown palys at the top were deep green but are now brown. Blah. I was going to move them to my other tank but they had already attached to the rock so I left them. Also I have some toxic zoos that aren't so toxic anymore.

Here's some close ups of some of the new additions.


Here's my dendro with some new "sparklies" from Platinum Reefs. They are just off to the side until I find a good place to put them. Aren't they cute!



Here's a close up of the dendrophyllia. Notice the babies!



This blasto sure seems happy.



I love my chocolate mint zoanthids. Here they are with some blueberries.



Here's a couple more additions from Platinum Reefs:
Pink and green zoanthids.



Ultra pinks...so beautiful! I'm in love!!!



One of the few members of the cleanup crew, a trochus snail.



Now last but not least...he may look like an acan but he's really a ham!! Smile for the camera!

great photos!

Looking really, really good!

awesome shots, again!

Looks awesome. I'm jealous.

Beeeeautiful!

Best regards

Ann

Thanks everyone!

I'll be adding a few more frags soon and then I'll take some more pics.

please do (add more pics)...

looks really good.

I really like the black sand. I was thinking about using for my 20 that I'm working on but I'm sure if I would get tired of it after awhile.

WOW!!!! .....im REALLY glad i am so glad your not in [CUSTOM] category...i'd be peein myself :thumbsup:

Yeah Tony I agree. This is my first salt tank with the black substrate. I like it, corals stand out, but for some reason I think I prefer the regular sand color, it's more natural. Now with my freshwater I prefer the black, don't know why.



What a nice compliment Fishfreak! Thank you, that's very sweet of you to say!!

i didn't notice the baby dendros before. very cool!

I have dark brown Flora base substrate in my fresh planted tank and love the dark color.

So since my post last week a few things have changed. I took out my denim zoos because they weren't opening. I don't know, I think they prefer more light than the pico has and I didn't want to leave them in just to let them die so they are out!

Last week I was expecting a shipment of frags, most of which were going into the pico, but that order was cancelled. There was a problem with some of their tanks crashing and I decided to hold off for now from that supplier. I do have a few more frags coming tomorrow but am unsure as to what will end up in the pico.

Also I've adjusted my salinity. It was around 1.024-1.025 and I've dropped it to 1.022-1.023. It seems to have made a difference, I dunno. Polyps are more open and everything seems happy.

One thing I've noticed is growth. Here's a FTS shot from today:



If you compare this image with last weeks FTS you can see how things have expanded and settled in. The red blasto will probably have to be moved over a bit because it's getting quite big and those pink and green zoanthind I bought from Platinum Reef are growing like mad. I already see new polyps! You can see how most of the zoos have opened up and spread out. It's very interesting, I've never documented a tank before and now I think I'll have to do this with all my new tanks.

Oh and my green palys that turned brown now have a green sheen to them (can't see it in the pic). They aren't that forest green like they were but I have my fingers crossed that they will get some of their color back.

I also wanted to show the dendro growth over the last month.

Here's a pic from 11-14-05:


And a pic from today, 12-14-05:


He's become much fatter, the polyps have expanded and the two little bumps on the sides of the larger polyp are now babies. I've even noticed today a small bump on the other polyp slightly under the substrate (you can kinda see it at the bottom right).

I gotta tell y'all, I love this coral!!

looks good.

Thanks ebin!

I had to share this image with everyone. My feather duster hitchhiker that left it's tube and swam to the rock to find a new home has moved. I guess he wasn't too happy with the zoos I glued next to him. So instead he's camped out right smack in the middle of my pink and green zoanthid colony right under the pump flow, go figure!

nice growth! the tank seems "grown-in" now.

how often are you feeding the dendros?

did you get the palys from seacrop? mine were the same, deep forest green from them, blah brown in mine, but now finally coloring backup to green. we gotta find out mary's secret.

looks great!

I wish that we could get a hold of Dendrophyllia in the UK. I really want one.

I'm lovin' this tank, it looks all stocked up now. Are you feeding the zoas at all?

Best regards

Ann

I spot feed the dendro twice a week with some yummy frozen thing, such as Prime Reef or straight mysis. I spot feed all the corals that eat that stuff like the blastos and acans as well. I also give them a tiny pinch of freeze-dried Cyclopeeze or Prime Reef flakes here and there during the week. For the zoanthids they get a couple drops of DT's once a week. I don't know if they eat it or not but it's something I do for my other tank, I have coco worms in that one, so they get a little as well. Basically I feed both my tanks the same way. I love spot feeding the corals! It's so cool how they grab the food. I'm simple and easily amused I guess.

I do water changes twice a week, unless I forget. I usually do the change the day after the spot feeding. I also change filter floss at that time because it gets all full of gunk after the feedings.

Tiny, I didn't get my palys from Seacrop. Actually haven't ever received anything from them yet (that was the order that fell through). My palys came as an extra coral from an Ebay item. The coloring was really cool at first and I love the size. I think they want a ton of light to stay green or maybe the opposite, I dunno. We'll see if they get back all their coloration with these lighting conditions or not.

Ann, they sometimes sell Dendros on Ebay. Is it possible for you to get one from there or would the shipping cost be too great?

Here's a pic of the piggy bugger after dinner:

WOW....your tank looks GREAT..i think i want to change my sand out and add black sand now....lol....high maintenence but w/ my stocking hopefully there poop wont be to big and harder to see on the black sand....i absoultly love your tank...if you were local i would make an offer after the contest... (even if it wasnt for sale....lol...) ...anyway i can stop looking at your tank.......im in amazment....

Oh thank you FishFreak, that's very kind. I like the black but I don't have any hermits or fish to dirty it up so it's working for me so far. I only have the tiny feather duster that poops like a madman!

Oh and I'm sorry about your fishies. Very sad.

OMG Zoogirl your tank is fantastic. You have beautiful corals. Very nice.

great tank

hey! im impressed, freakin awesome tank. and i bet your as beautiful as your tank is haha, nice job, keep up the good work!

Oh wow...thank you sandlot! Now I'm really blushing.

Wow... looking really good. What camera are you using? That last dendo shot is AWSOME.

Thanks Maxvan!

I'm using an Olympus E-300 with the 50mm macro lens. I really like it, it works for me!

Soooo....the night before last my oaf of a trochus went and knocked a few frags off of the rocks. He's a brute! I know he's the culprit because the only other critters in that tank are worms, pods and a stomatella. So I had to reglue a couple frags last night and while I was doing that I figured I'd move the red blasto over a bit. I had recieved a few more frags yesterday that I was considering adding as well. So of course while I have my gigantic man hand in this tiny tank all the rocks decide to move! ARRRRGHH! I nearly lost it! Fortunately no big disaster but it does look a bit different. I guess I'm going to have to stare at the tank for a while to decide if there needs to be another rearrangement. Everyone is pretty angry right now so no pic, but I will take one as soon as things settle down.

"man hand"? haha.

I'm sure you'll make it look even better.

^^^ nows your chance to make it better

I just reaquascaped mine too. =)

Copycat.

I think I need more glue!

i dont use glue for the LR tho. just try to get things to naturally fit in place. kinda limits the possibilities tho for rockwork.

Yeah, neither do I. That's why I almost knocked the whole thing over!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Here's my final update for the year. Since the last rearrangement my trochus knocked over a few frags again, so he's outta there! Well, I also took him out because I just don't have that much algae in this tank and I was afraid he'd starve. I still have my stomatella though he's seldom seen.

So a couple weeks ago I got a few frags. I bought a couple from Platinum Reefs and a new supplier I found, Aquarium Specialty. Dennis is always super to buy from. Every coral I ever get from him is pristine and beautiful! Scott from Aquarium Specialty was really great! Very nice and helpful. All of the corals from both places are perfect! I was only planning on putting a couple more frags in this tank but ended up putting the two blastos, acan echinata and blue xenia I received. I just couldn't help myself!

Here's a closeup of the lavender and neon green blasto from Platinum Reefs:


And the peach blasto from Aquarium Specialty:


Here's the blue xenia from Aquarium Specialty. It was such a deep blue when it arrived but has since faded a bit :


The gorgeous hi-liter green acan echinata from Platinum Reefs:


Oh and I forgot to mention, I added a couple more little acan frags in the front. Not so much because I wanted to fill it up but out of necessity. My other tank contains Monster my giant jerk of a zebra hermit. He constantly takes little frags and man handles them then leaves them upside down in the sand. Grrr. He makes me so mad! Anyway, I decided to put my tiniest acans in the front of the pico. Here they can grow and be happy!

Here they are:

Oh and yes that acan is THAT green. It's actually brighter but I don't think the camera can capture it.

And lastly here is the current FTS shot:

Wow, stunning.

man. awesome stuff! I think you got the stock category in the bag.

I have to agree with Tigah on that one^^^ i love your tank...one of the best pico's i have seen

Oh thanks guys! I appreciate it, that's really sweet.

We'll see how it goes, I'm trying my best!

that's an amazing green! i especially like the contrast with the black substrate (reminds me of acoustic's old setup in its prime).

how about a downward angle shot? or true down-view shot? i think that would really show everything off against the dark substrate/"background".

i agree with the other comments, i think you're really starting to pull away from pack and build your lead. 'panic time' for the rest of Stock category.



hey waitaminute, i'm in Stock too!

Haha...thanks tiny!

Ya know, I tried taking an angled shot but the image came out blurry. I need to take a little time and try it again. The acans look cool looking down on them, you can really see their coloration. Another thing I could do or would like to do is get one of those acrylic boxes for the lens, then I could stick it in the water. I guess I'd have to make it though. Blah.

Here's a group shot from today:


My red blasto looks much happier! He hates it when I stick my hand in the tank.

AWWWWWWWWWWWESOME!!

Fabulous!

Best regards

Ann