REEFERBOY Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Yo, Great tank first of all !! agree with the above poster that it looks like a 60 gallon i think ur rockwork is very good to create a big feel in a small tank. do like i wanna do and grow the xenia on the back wall instead maybe? you have added a fair bit in 5-6 weeks. maybe let it be for a bit in terms of additions. also maybe add another food/ plankton dosing or something cyclopeeze or maybe or marine snow or something .....maybe some things arent getting everything they need. this aquavitro "fuel" stuff is amazing, also since using aquavitro salt for 2 yrs now my tank has had amazing success i just wing a lot of stuff but its working for me 1 Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted December 14, 2012 Author Share Posted December 14, 2012 Thanks. Xenia have one foot on the back wall, and I'm about to trim them from moving forward. The family loves them, I'm rapidly getting annoyed by them. I'll get some new tank shots this weekend. I had refractometer issues and the salinity in here was running high, but fortunately not high enough to kill anything like it did in my 40. Everything is starting to look better again. I'll look into the food, right now I only feed some crappy flake food and frozen once a week. Quote Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Get some New Life Spectrum pellets. They're pretty much the best dry food you can purchase, and I've heard of people keeping a group of moorish idols feeding on them exclusively for many years. Quote Link to comment
chrssprngs Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Looking good Mark. Keep an eye on the Zenia. One trait that helps control it is that it grows up and moves to the light. Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted December 14, 2012 Author Share Posted December 14, 2012 (edited) Thanks for the comments. It's really something to force them to close up and see what they are doing. A foot has dripped down from an upper rock to a lower rock and they're moving both forward and back. I will probably move the green slimer SPS into my 40 this weekend and at the same time trim the Xenia back. I'm thinking the birdsnest, which is very small but doing really well, and maybe another montipora will be the only SPS I try and grow in here. I have all these plans, the plan for this tank was softie and LPS only, and then I don't follow them. My excuse for the birdsnest is it was a broken tip as I was losing the big one in the 40, so it's really all I have left. Oh, and I have bubble algae growing everywhere. Edited December 14, 2012 by markalot Quote Link to comment
chrssprngs Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Thanks for the comments. It's really something to force them to close up and see what they are doing. A foot has dripped down from an upper rock to a lower rock and they're moving both forward and back. I will probably move the green slimer SPS into my 40 this weekend and at the same time trim the Xenia back. I'm thinking the birdsnest, which is very small but doing really well, and maybe another montipora will be the only SPS I try and grow in here. I have all these plans, the plan for this tank was softie and LPS only, and then I don't follow them. My excuse for the birdsnest is it was a broken tip as I was losing the big one in the 40, so it's really all I have left. Oh, and I have bubble algae growing everywhere. Emerald crabs. They come with their own risks and like peppermint shrimp for aptasias, the ones you get may or may not do what you intended. Plus the ECs can go after things you didn't intend for them to go after. The good thing with them is that if things aren't working out or they are finished with the task, they are pretty easy to catch and remove. Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted December 14, 2012 Author Share Posted December 14, 2012 I may try one. I had one in my 40 but he molted and then vanished. I think my Flame Hawkfish might have enjoyed him. Quote Link to comment
chrssprngs Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 I had a pretty bad bubble algae in my 14 so I got a couple from John. He sent me two BIG emeralds and they took the bubble algae out in a manner of a couple of weeks. I would email John and ask his advice regarding size. Are big emeralds more likely to consume bubble algae than small ones. Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted December 15, 2012 Author Share Posted December 15, 2012 * click for full size * Latest FTS I have 2 24" T5HO fixtures on top of a glass lid. Could I have too much light? A few corals showing some bleaching. Some bleaching Pallys A broken tip off of the birdsnest in my 40 is starting to grow. Yo Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted December 15, 2012 Author Share Posted December 15, 2012 Changed some bulbs, re-arranged some, new FTS though a few corals are still upset. I liek this bulb arrangement, no need to adjust colors to make it look right. -front- ATI Coral Plus TruLumen 12K ATI Blue Plus PowerGlo (similar to Coral Plus but not as bright) * click on image for full size * Quote Link to comment
msscha Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Changed some bulbs, re-arranged some, new FTS though a few corals are still upset. I liek this bulb arrangement, no need to adjust colors to make it look right. beautiful! Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted December 16, 2012 Author Share Posted December 16, 2012 Thanks! :-) Quote Link to comment
Veng Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Looks really nice! Quote Link to comment
Markushka Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 This is a nice looking 20, I like how you scaped your rocks, very natural looking. how many fish do you have in there? I saw a flame angle, a purple firefish, is that it? I've been thinking of stocking ideas for my 20, naturally flame angels are one of favorite fish, but I've been hesitant about adding it to my list, I was hesitant about adding a pygmy angel.. Quote Link to comment
cindaec Posted December 18, 2012 Share Posted December 18, 2012 Awesome tank Mark! Loving the pretty firefish and flame angel I wanted to add one of those hidden led bars inside my 20g long too, but do they actually make any difference when your other lights are on or is that more like for night light usage? Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted December 18, 2012 Author Share Posted December 18, 2012 (edited) Hey, thanks for the kind words everyone. The Flame Angel was in there temporarily to see if it was nipping in my 40 ... it was, and was taken back to the LFS. Beautiful and active fish, but I like my corals more. 20 gallons is too small for a Flame Angel IMO. I have the accent LED (just like hidden except either red or blue). It makes a big difference, especially since I have a blue background. I use it for my morning and evening actinic lighting as well. Edited December 18, 2012 by markalot Quote Link to comment
metrokat Posted December 19, 2012 Share Posted December 19, 2012 Yo look at that face. Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted December 19, 2012 Author Share Posted December 19, 2012 Everything up front is slowly bleaching, so I need to change my lighting. I have 2 sets of T5HO lights, both 30 inch fixtures using 24" bulbs. The one in back sits on legs about 4 inches above the glass top while the one in front sits on the glass. I had put a ATI coral plus and 12K TruLumen bulb in the front fixture which looked great but obviously too bright. I've moved my ATI bulbs to the rear fixture and only using the less bright TruLumen Actinic and 12K in the front plus lowered the time the front fixture in on from 8 hours to 6 hours. I'm really really tempted to go with lower power LED strips on this tank, I just wish I knew exactly how much light I needed. Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 Well, I purchased a Court Jester Goby (Rainford) as the final fish. Beginner fish supposedly according to Live Aquaria ... and now that I've done more research I'm going to have to come up with a creative way to fatten this guy up. Stomach area is concave so he's starving. He's sifted most of the sand on both ends of the tank, and I have a ton of pods in the tank since I don't have any pod predators, but even with seeded rock and sand I think the tank is a bit too new. I'm going to take out a small amount of sand, mix it with mushed food, and place it back in the tank to see if I can fool him into getting some nutrients when he sifts this sand. I've seen conflicting information about whether or not he will eat hair algae, which I have, or if it's simply eaten to get at the pods. There are plenty of algae covered rocks in my 40 that can be moved if needed, or he can be put in my 40. No pictures yet. Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 He looks just like the one pictured in this article, concave stomach and all: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2011/1/fish#section-0 And note the fact that they are not recommended. I am wondering why, since 2000, the minimum tank size for this fish was adjusted down from 30 to as low as 10 (LiveAquaria)? Here's another article from Advanced Aquarist mentioning that it does well in smaller tanks. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/3/fish There's more out there and they seem to ping back and forth from fairly easy to impossible. Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted December 21, 2012 Author Share Posted December 21, 2012 Colored up a lot since yesterday, but still appears starved. Quote Link to comment
msscha Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Colored up a lot since yesterday, but still appears starved. Beautiful fish!!! I used to have a rainfordi goby -- it was my favorite fish! I actually asked on the "pests" thread how to cultivate algae since they are "algae" eaters. Turns out that is not precisely the case. They are more likely EAM -- extra-algal matrix -- eaters. They comb through the algae and sand ingesting small bits of life contained within. Mine thrived for months -- was a beautiful fish with tons of personality -- then I spotted what looked like a chiton riding his back one day, went to get a picture of it, missed the pic, so could not confirm what it was, though it might have been a bad blood-sucking type. Within a couple of weeks, the rainfordi wasted away. Mine dug a huge hole in the sand at the back, and went out of his way to dump the sand on the rics! It was pretty funny. From what I read, the key to feeding is to have lots of different marine "surfaces" for him to pick at. Eventually, mine learned to eat out of the water column which was pretty gratifying. I hope yours thrives! I miss mine greatly, and would love to live vicariously through your pictures . Quote Link to comment
PiscesBoy Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Hey so does your liverock rubble hold a lot of detritus? Because I want to add it to my refugium. Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted December 21, 2012 Author Share Posted December 21, 2012 (edited) Hey so does your liverock rubble hold a lot of detritus? Because I want to add it to my refugium. Yes, a lot of it. It's a bad design really, and someday I'll have to re-arrange everything to get the detritus out. I'll probably upgrade to a 29 in a year or so. Same footprint, just taller. Beautiful fish!!! I used to have a rainfordi goby -- it was my favorite fish! I actually asked on the "pests" thread how to cultivate algae since they are "algae" eaters. Turns out that is not precisely the case. They are more likely EAM -- extra-algal matrix -- eaters. They comb through the algae and sand ingesting small bits of life contained within. Mine thrived for months -- was a beautiful fish with tons of personality -- then I spotted what looked like a chiton riding his back one day, went to get a picture of it, missed the pic, so could not confirm what it was, though it might have been a bad blood-sucking type. Within a couple of weeks, the rainfordi wasted away. Mine dug a huge hole in the sand at the back, and went out of his way to dump the sand on the rics! It was pretty funny. From what I read, the key to feeding is to have lots of different marine "surfaces" for him to pick at. Eventually, mine learned to eat out of the water column which was pretty gratifying. I hope yours thrives! I miss mine greatly, and would love to live vicariously through your pictures . Thanks, I hope it does well. Right now I have plenty of small bits of algae but no dense turf. I'm looking into getting some pods or other similar foods that will bump up the pod population. I hope the rock rubble design and all the surfaces I have make it better for him. Edited December 21, 2012 by markalot Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted December 23, 2012 Author Share Posted December 23, 2012 I've re-arranged my lighting again. The back T5HO fixture is now sitting on the glass and running with a ATI Blue Plus and ATI Coral Plus bulb. That's a lot of light in back, and I'm running this fixture for 6 hours. In front I pulled out an old Coralife 24" T5NO fixture, horrible reflectors, and I'm running actinic and Power Plus HO bulbs. These simply produce NO brightness when run in a NO fixture. I'm hoping this gives me a nice spread of bright light up in back and rather medium to low light in front and on either side. Regardless, this will be temporary as I plan to replace the front fixture with a dimmable BuildMyLED fixture once it arrives. A couple of pics, click for full size. 1 Quote Link to comment
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