The Keep-Downsize Coming

[markalot]

Oh wow, I was catching up and had no idea what all had happened. Good luck with the restart, can't wait to see the pics. Might I suggest dosing Seachem Prime daily while ramping back up? I don't QT and I swear this stuff helps not only to keep stress lower but also to increase the fishes slime coat. I have no idea if this would help prevent velvet, but it seems to work well to prevent and/or reduce the symptoms of marine ich.

[spazizz]

I only have captive bred fish. I have two clowns and a dottyback. I had bangaii but lost him the other day. My captive bred fish have always been the healthiest. There are so many captive bred gobies out there.

 

Orchid dottybacks are pretty.

The damsel passed away last night.

 

The fallow period begins today.

 

The captive bred idea is really appealing. There are lots of small fun gobies that are captive raised. I could do:

 

A pair of clowns

orchid dottyback

red sea mimic blenny

neon goby

green barred goby

tiger goby

striped blanny.

 

Just no wrasses or jawfish which is what stops me.

[HVani]

Pictures didn't come out how I hoped. But here we are.

 

After 7 grueling weeks I finally have my first fish. I wanted to go with something totally different so I picked out a domino clown and an extreme misbar. I got them from Alpha Aqua culture. Kris was very patient as I went through thousands of clowns to find the right pair. I made a good choice too. They seem to never leave each other's side.

 

 

♥♥♥

 

I lost a few inverts due to not feeding as much. I still have my cleaner though. And my tube anemones.

 

 

 

Finally a full tank shot

[HVani]

Thing seem to be plugging along. The clowns are doing well. I added a randall's goby to go with my pistol shrimp but haven't seen it since.

I also picked up a super bright red bubble tip but it's moved to a place that makes it hard to get pictures of. I've been planning out this tank a bit. I'm thinking of moving my clowns to my new nuvo 8 and getting a pair of clarkiis for this tank

 

Anyway here are pictures from today.

 

I can never get enough pictures of this guy

 

My new frilly mushrooms. I LOVE these

 

Just behind this picture you can see the new anemone

 

Full tank shot

[Spiderguardnano]

What kind of gorg is that

[HVani]

What kind of gorg is that

I think it's a purple sea plume. I have 2 of them and they have done very well.

[jedimasterben]

What kind of gorg is that

Psuedopterogorgia bipinnata

[Spiderguardnano]

Psuedopterogorgia bipinnata

im guess its not photo?

[jedimasterben]

im guess its not photo?

It is a shallow-water photosynthetic gorgonian from the Atlantic.

[Spiderguardnano]

It is a shallow-water photosynthetic gorgonian from the Atlantic.

Awesome I'm going to look around and try to get one

[HVani]

Things continue to go well. I need to do a water change this weekend, hopefully then I can get a few more pictures.

 

I've been thinking a lot of stocking options. I've seen the pistol shrimp without the goby. I doubt it's still alive. Stupid fish.

 

Here is what I'm thinking

 

Pair of clarki clowns

Starry blenny-Have as of 8/15

Yellow coris wrasse

Flame hawlfish or Falso Hawkfish

 

I might try another shrimp goby if I can find a decent sized one. The blenny is cool but I might switch him out for a orange spot blenny.

 

I tried to pick fish that get a little bigger and are not colors that are already dominant in my tank, (green, pink, blue ect)

 

I think this time around I don't want to stock as heavily.

[HVani]

Ok I will say it,

 

 

I HATE HAVING A SUMP!

 

 

Since setting up my Nuvo 8 I have realized I really prefer an AIO.

 

 

AIO Pros:

 

QUIET, I am so sick of the constant water trickle sound into my sump.

No needed space under tank. I would love a nice bookshelf stand for my tank

No fuge light needed- my sump has a constant pink glow from my fuge light

More clearance for a skimmer-My sump has the clearance but I will never be able to get an insump skimmer in there without taking the tank out

Less salt creep-seriously I hate the stuff.

 

Cons:

 

Less space in the display

Price

 

 

Maybe when I redo the floors I will get a big all in one like the IM SR series.

[GHill762]

I REALLY love the IM SR tanks.. I want the 120.. by the time I'm ready for it there will be something new out I'm sure..

 

I'll more than likely get something with the IM SR120 dimensions custom made and have it drain to a sump.. I'm a sump person.. that would also cost like half as much.. lol.

[HVani]

Lots of stuff going on with The Keep. I work a late day tomorrow (stupid month end) but I should be able to get pictures on Saturday

[GHill762]

Month end for what? What do you do?

[1.0reef]

Nice clowns! They appear to have no deformities either! Beautiful

[ninjamyst]

I also love AIO but I never had sump before so I guess my opinion is moot. I like the simplicity and reduced risk of flooding. Having a stand is still cool though because of storage space for misc stuff.

[HVani]

Month end for what? What do you do?

I work for an insurance company and we always have to bust our butt at month end. We have premium goals we have to meet each month.

Nice clowns! They appear to have no deformities either! Beautiful

Thanks! They were bred by Alpha Aquaculture. I love being local, I just called up and get to go pick out clowns from literally thousands. It's a cool place.

 

I also love AIO but I never had sump before so I guess my opinion is moot. I like the simplicity and reduced risk of flooding. Having a stand is still cool though because of storage space for misc stuff.

I'm on the fence. There may be an upgrade next year so I'm looking around.

[GHill762]

I work for an insurance company and we always have to bust our butt at month end. We have premium goals we have to meet each month.

gotcha, when people say month end I think accounting, lol.. my month end starts next week

 

 

 

oh, and the tank is looking good by the way, love that porcelain crab..

[HVani]

Wow the 2 year anniversary of this tank flew by me! As of August 23rd, the tank is 2 years old

 

Things going on with The Keep:

 

I got a chance to get a clarkii pair for a good price so I did it. It caused my occ clowns to be moved faster than I liked but things have gone well.

 

I too out the starry blenny. He was cool but didn't show up in the tank at all.

 

I picked up a horned blenny which is ADORABLE, but very small. I don't see him much. Hopefully that changes.

 

I made an order with K&P aquatics due to arrive next week. I got some more gorgs and rock flower anemones for this tank.

 

 

Also as mentioned, there is planned upgrade for this tank. Not until next year so it's a ways away but I've been looking at tanks anyway. I'm almost 100% certain this tank will be replaced with a Cadlights 100g Artisan II tank.

 

 

SO that's the updates! Here are some terrible pictures of the new clowns. The "female" is a pearl eye Clarki while the "male" is a black clarkii. They are working on pairing up. The other night i caught them sleeping in the anemone together. And yes they associate with my bubble tips. Within 5 minutes of being in the tank, they were in the anemone.

 

Here's a few pictures I snapped last night. Clowns are so hard to get pictures of!!

Hopefully more pictures later today.

[HVani]

So you know how I said there were big changes coming for The Keep?

 

 

So this happened

 

 

Yup the rock wall is gone. It had shifted quite a bit and was taking up a lot of space. It also was causing a lot of shadows. For months now my corals would be doing fine then would suddenly die. My parameters always checked out so I started to wonder if the wall was related. It came out yesterday. I tore my hands up doing it so litterally this tank is a product of blood sweat and tears.

 

 

Things are doing well so far. Several things are angry. It opened up a TON of floor space and less shadows so coral was easier to place.

 

Some more pictures

 

[Dr.Brain Coral]

Hello HVani. This is a very nice tank. I have some questions about your tube anemones. How large are yours? I am really interested in one for my ten gallon I am planning which will have alot of sand room If I set it up like I want but I didnt know if they would get to big.

[HVani]

Hello HVani. This is a very nice tank. I have some questions about your tube anemones. How large are yours? I am really interested in one for my ten gallon I am planning which will have alot of sand room If I set it up like I want but I didnt know if they would get to big.

 

Thanks!

 

They need a lot of space especially if you have fish and corals. My purple one really stretches out at night. It's probably6-7 inches across at night. During the day it doesn't spread out as much.

[Felicia]

Wow! So many changes and I'm so behind!

 

A potential upgrade sounds exciting! I love the new clarkii clowns! They're so tiny and cute. Good move on the rescape. I liked the rock wall but it did look a bit bulky and like it was creating too many shadows. It looks much more open now. Oh, and I love that solid blue/black tube anemone. I have one that color but with a green mouth. I really love how yours has the same color mouth.

[HVani]

Wow! So many changes and I'm so behind!

 

A potential upgrade sounds exciting! I love the new clarkii clowns! They're so tiny and cute. Good move on the rescape. I liked the rock wall but it did look a bit bulky and like it was creating too many shadows. It looks much more open now. Oh, and I love that solid blue/black tube anemone. I have one that color but with a green mouth. I really love how yours has the same color mouth.

Thanks!

 

I kind of had an "Oh my. What did I do moment??" moment this morning. But still feeling good about it over all

 

The purple tube anemone is incredible. It has green flecks in it's tentacles. It's so pretty and loves to eat. I've been thinking about getting one more but I haven't seen one that I like. I would like an orange one, but it seems a lot of orange ones end up really being pink.

 

 

 

 

OH I forgot to mention in the previous post, a couple weeks ago I lost my shrimp. I found a partial molt and never saw him again. He was pretty annoying when feeding coral and I won't be replacing him. Anyway due to my loss I put in an order with live aquaria for a flame hawkfish and a yellow coris wrasse They will be here on Saturday.