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HOB 40 Breeder***Update 5/6.... New Growth Pics!


Roshan8768

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Lythophyllon SP, I have one it looks like a plate and is in the same family but it encrusts and has multiple mouths.

 

It won't let me post the pic while I am at work but the last page of my thread has a pic of him.

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Electrobes,

 

I hear you about the chromis. However, I think my filtration handled it fine because as I mentioned they were really small. One week after the purchase, the tank has no discernible algae growth and the tank looks a lot better than it did 3 weeks ago.

 

I started with tap water, and I thought about the rock work leaching nutrients... did a lot of reading on that. From what I understand, this is only really applicable if the rock has been exposed to these levels for a period of years. My rock was only in tap water for at most 3-4 months, also most of my rock is not that porous, so its ability to retain said nutrients should be fairly poor.

 

As mentioned in a previous post, I have regularly stirred the sand bed from the very first month of having the tank so I have no worries about that ever posing an issue :lol: . I have decided to not try any other sand sifting species of any kind because there is simply not enough food in my sand bed for them.

 

I think the algae problem is slowly going away with the increased level of water changes... I usually mix about 20 gallons of water at once, and then store it in 5 gallon containers that I use for each water change. I then store said containers in my garage. I bring them inside 24 hours before I change the water and throw a heater and power head in there to get it ready, so yeah I think I got the procedure down. B)

 

Just to clarify, I only did the daily water change think for one week, while I was home over Spring Break. I am currently doing a 5 gallon water change every week... thanks for your input/concern

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FLCandy,

 

That could be it as well, however mine is really small right now and only has one mouth, so we'll just have to wait and see. My gut instinct is saying that it's just a baby plate though

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  • 2 weeks later...

Alright guys, its been a busy week and I havn't really found time to upload pics for a while. The algae seems to be in good check compared to what it was like before, and I did a 6 gallon water change last weekend. Parameters looked good when I tested.

Here is a FTS:

 

IMAG0137_zps7e7fb4b5.jpg

 

And a crappy picture of the lone surviving chromis:

 

IMAG0139_zpsc662e21e.jpg

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Do you guys have any suggestions for new fish? I am looking for a center piece fish that has good color and can be seen from across the room (i.e. not too small)

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  • 4 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
Roshan8768

Alright guys, finals are over, and summer break has started! I have been feeding the anemone quite heavily (3-4x a week) with small pieces of raw shrimp and have also been target feeding my baby torch coral. As you can see I have a new fish, picked him up from the LFS before they had even acclimated him to their tank and brought him home. He took a couple of days to settle in, but has now started to accept frozen formula 1 as well as dry flake food. I apologize for the glare in some of the pics, will try to add better ones later next week.

 

temporary_zpsb8fda1a7.jpg

 

 

temporary_zps2139c6c4.jpg

 

 

temporary_zps80d479b6.jpg

 

 

Any thoughts/comments are welcome!

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Roshan8768

Also, ended up removing the large 200 watt heater as it was rarely on throughout the winter, and with the heat of summer rolling around it will probably never even turn on. I have added a 150 watt heater to my Aquaclear filter just in case. I also had to remove one of my Koralia's as the impeller had become damaged and the pump was no longer functioning. So far, the tank appears to be doing fine with the reduced flow, and my anemone and mushrooms have all definitely expanded more, making me think about holding back on putting the pump back in immediately.

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Roshan8768

So any suggestions on what new corals to try next? In the past I have been unsuccessful with keeping favia, multiple varieties of zoanthids, a plating montipora, and a hammer coral. Looking to pick a couple of frags of something that will do well in my setup, input would be appreciated

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*To combat algae problems, excess nutrients are present so you have to get rid of the that or you will have algae for a long time.....I really don't have a recommendation because I use biopellets but there are other forms of supplements to lower nutrient levels without harming the livestock.

*the reason you are having issues keeping Lps because your tank is stil unbalanced. You may read 0 on nitrates and phosphates but they are there in probably excess.

 

Zoanthids are pretty hardy so if you are losing those then there is a big issue. I once let a zoanthid frag in a tank with no light for 5 days, with a temp of about 65 degrees, and I'm pretty sure the water was toxic because I stirred up sand and that tank had no live rock or anything else to promote additional biological filtration.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Roshan8768

Marquiseo, you are definitely right about there being a problem. I am currently dosing sugar and skimming wet as a form of nutrient control. I am also running purigen in my hob filter. Also, this tank has been getting a 5 gallon water change every week. I know for a fact that there are plenty of people on here who have more heavily stocked tanks than I do, probably less equipment, and there are even a few that are newer than my tank, yet seem more stable. Any advice that would help me in tackling this issue without adding a bunch of new, unnecessary equipment appreciated!!!

 

Also, most of the zoas that I had die off, were from the early months of this tank when I was tackling major hair algae issues. I want to say that most of the pieces I lost were due to algae blocking water flow and light, suffocating the polyps. Hopefully, I can find a cheap frag to see how it will do in the present tank conditions

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Roshan8768

Nothing new going on with the tank, so I figured I'd post some pics of my other setups. I have a 20H and a "kettle" container pond that holds about 50 gallons... enjoy the pics!

 

IMAG0171_zps6d92057d.jpglilly_zps0428fec0.jpgIMAG0168_zpsc44a5f99.jpg

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  • 2 months later...

Was out of town for most of the past 2 months, the tank has been getting minimal water changes and feedings... I'll have a pic up soon. About 3 months ago, the Flame Angel died and then everything started coming down with ich... I set up a temporary hospital tank in a rubber maid container and had the display fallow for about 4 weeks. Because I had to leave for vacation, I ended up having to put the fish in before the full treatment was up, but there was no way for me to arrange for someone to manage a hospital tank setup. So the fish were thrown in about 3 days before I left (at this point they all looked fantastic no signs of ich, but I was still hesitant) and to the best of my knowledge (according to the person feeding) they are all still alive. Now I mention all this, because I saw the tank a couple of weeks ago when I was on skype and it looks fantastic..... like WAYYYY BETTER than with all the maintenance and stuff I was doing. I'll have the before and after pics up soon, but maybe sometimes the best thing you can do is get your hands out of your tank?? :lol:

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So as mentioned, here it is as it looked when I walked in the door. Coralline growth anyone :D ?

 

http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/Roshan8768/media/temporary_zpsffd0c689.jpg.html'>temporary_zpsffd0c689.jpg

 

And here it is after about an hour of scraping: (excuse the glare)

 

http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/Roshan8768/media/temporary_zps97a28e6e.jpg.html'>temporary_zps97a28e6e.jpg

 

A shot under the night lighting:

 

http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/Roshan8768/media/temporary_zpscddd4dc7.jpg.html'>temporary_zpscddd4dc7.jpg

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the pic of the pond is really nice. as for the coraline well that got out of hand lol. i would scrub it all off and give the glass a good cleaning make it look nice and fresh. lol

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Yeah, I think I'm going to leave it on the wall on the right because the tank is in a corner and you cant look through that side anyway.

 

This baby plate coral has really grown over the past 3-4 months:

 

When I first noticed it on my live rock it was about the size of an eraser on the end of a pencil:

 

http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/Roshan8768/media/IMAG0127_zps4d0e6408.jpg.html'>IMAG0127_zps4d0e6408.jpg

 

Today its about the size of a fifty cent piece:

 

http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/Roshan8768/media/temporary_zpsf9cd8b77.jpg.html'>temporary_zpsf9cd8b77.jpg

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So here is a pic with just the actinics on:

 

IMAG0227_zpsad8b46c8.jpg

 

My bangaii cardinal didn't make it through the 2 months I was gone on vacation. I found this thing on my sand bed today, anybody got any ideas as to what it might be. It kind of looks like the rock flower nem that I have, definitely doesn't look like aiptasia so not sure. I wasn't aware that rock flower anemone's can propagate like this... thought they only reproduce sexually?

 

temporary_zps740b9637.jpg

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Could it be majano? Also tank looks real nice I liked seeing the progression of the aquascape over time each one was better than the last

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Maybe, guess we'll have to wait and see. If it keeps growing, then after a certain point I would think its a safe bet that its not a majano

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ihatesears18

Stupid clownfish!!! Decided to jump out of the tank the one night that I forget to put the top back on!!!

fish are so dumb. i've had 2 jump on me (firefish and a YWG).

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fish are so dumb. i've had 2 jump on me (firefish and a YWG).

I've had a diamond spotted goby jump on me, but that was through some miniscule gap in the back, so that wasn't as big of a deal. Just disappointed because I built the top to keep this from happening, but then I forgot to put it back on for the night

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Plan on adding some pics tomorrow of the Hammer frag that I got, and a devils hand frag that I picked up locally.

 

Also, in case anyone was wondering, your hammer coral will eat, just place a fleshy piece of fish or shrimp directly on its mouth and turn of all flow. Tried this for the first time today, I was under the impression that nothing would happen, but it ate a 1/8th inch piece if salmon in about 15 minutes.

 

In other news, I think my wrasse broke his beak? Mouth looked kind of funny today... still eating greedily. Will post pics tomorrow, hopefully it'll get better

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So here's my hammer:

 

http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/Roshan8768/media/IMAG0245_zps563972b0.jpg.html'>IMAG0245_zps563972b0.jpg

 

Plate:

 

http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/Roshan8768/media/IMAG0247_zps73609b45.jpg.html'>IMAG0247_zps73609b45.jpg

 

Duncan, which I previously had just buried the skeleton in the sand. Mounted the skeleton on a tile a couple of days ago, so it was pissed off, starting to look good again:

 

http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/Roshan8768/media/IMAG0248_zps317d4a5b.jpg.html'>IMAG0248_zps317d4a5b.jpg

 

Candy Cane, which I just fed last night for the first time in months. Anyone know how to get them to extend feeders during the day? I want to feed them at the same time as all my other corals

 

http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/Roshan8768/media/IMAG0249_zps6c741cc5.jpg.html'>IMAG0249_zps6c741cc5.jpg

 

http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/Roshan8768/media/IMAG0250_zpsd1555e37.jpg.html'>IMAG0250_zpsd1555e37.jpg

 

The mystery anemone:

 

http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/Roshan8768/media/IMAG0251_zps2d385f61.jpg.html'>IMAG0251_zps2d385f61.jpg

 

And the view from the side of the tank, thought it looked pretty cool with the sun shining through the coralline

 

http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/Roshan8768/media/IMAG0252_zps53cd86e5.jpg.html'>IMAG0252_zps53cd86e5.jpg

 

And as visible proof of the decrease in the amount of nutrients floating around in my system, this is all my skimmer has pulled in a week, and I have the water level in the neck at the same level as always. Before I went on vacation, this thing would fill up and need to be emptied every 3 days!!

 

http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/Roshan8768/media/IMAG0252_zps53cd86e5.jpg.html'>IMAG0252_zps53cd86e5.jpg

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