Jaime's IM Fusion 20- June update

[ninjamyst]

that rock flower island is really cool!

[owenj]

I wish my LFS down the street would get some awesome plates like that in stock. I may have to ask him to be on the lookout for me. As well as the fathead anthias .

 

Yeah, I read online about people dipping their plates in coralrx, and it works. So hopefully mine isn't too far gone. Both still stick their tentacles out and puff up a little, but they won't eat anything . Plus the orange is losing more flesh daily starting from the mouth. Just have to see what happens. So far the green hasn't lost any flesh. But it's definitely not well.

 

I hope your LFS still has the green .

 

Thanks about the pumpkin .

They didn't have the green but that's probably for the best. I ended up taking most of the nassarius snails & both crabs back. Got paranoid when I saw them picking at the scolys, plus the snails stole food out of the blastos mouths . I did pick up a cutie citron clown goby for the cube though . Hope your LFS finds some goodies for you. Are you looking at one or a trio of the anthias?

 

that rock flower island is really cool!

Thanks! So far most of them are staying put, the little buggers Found my other orange one tucked on the backside of the rock next to them, facing the wall .

[gena]

They didn't have the green but that's probably for the best. I ended up taking most of the nassarius snails & both crabs back. Got paranoid when I saw them picking at the scolys, plus the snails stole food out of the blastos mouths . I did pick up a cutie citron clown goby for the cube though . Hope your LFS finds some goodies for you. Are you looking at one or a trio of the anthias?

 

When I saw you had a red mithrax I was worried. My experience with them has been coral picking. But not everyone has that issue. But since you and I seem to have the same reefing luck LOL. My nass snails were stealing food too .

 

Can't wait to see the goby .

 

Just one fathead for my tank. I'm going to try getting it at my LFS instead of ordering online. It would be over $100 to order online where I bet the most I'd pay locally would be $50.

[owenj]

Finally, an update! This tank has had some ups & downs. Getting used to the increased evap was a learning process and unfortunately cost me a couple corals, but everything is back on track. I think blastos just hate my water or something this time around because I don't recall having this many problems with them two years ago (different water system). I thought I might need to start dosing, but params are good two days before water change day, so at least for now I can avoid the dose monster.

 

I think this tank is going to become an RFA/zoa/softie tank over time. I won't remove the duncans or any hard corals (maybe the acans) to the 20 cube unless it looks like they need to, but I don't think I'll be adding any more stony corals. A rampaging RFA took out some gorgeous yellow rainbow acans , lost my orange plate even though for a while it looked like it might make it, lost the scoly...ugh, this hobby is brutal sometimes. Oddly, the orange-mouth plate, sitting all of 3 inches away from the orange one, did fine. Also never could figure out who/what was kicking sand on the orange one, despite moving it over a few times.

 

In slightly happier news, my orange skirt RFA that I got from KP Aquatics back in the summer has finally moved back into a viewable area of the tank. It's small and the colors are pale, but now I can feed it (and see it!).

 

FTS

 

 

A bad pic of my white velvet zoas, being photobombed by Tug the PSW. They're more white in person.

 

Ric rock. I just had my hands in the tank before taking the photo so some of them are scrunched up.

 

Superman merlettis. Got this as a single polyp back in July.

 

Duncans. Started as 2 heads, I think there are 5 now.

 

Green with orange mouth plate. I love plates, even though I've had so-so luck with them.

 

Some of the RFAs. This pic is a week or two old and some of them have moved positions on the rock since then. The big red skirt is the only one that hasn't moved an inch since I got it (knocks on wood)

[gena]

Love seeing an update .

 

I forgot you have a PSW . Is he less shy than when you first got him?

 

I think sand is the death of plate corals. If it gets on them it's bad . In my experience anyways. Luckily I didn't lose my open brain, or scoly when I first introduced the leopard wrasse. She was getting a TON of sand on them. A plate would have croaked already. I would love to have another plate, but perhaps the next tank . For now I'll enjoy your orange mouth plate .

[cindyp]

the tank looks great, jaime!

 

my fungia plate is officially dead, i think.

i've heard sometimes their skeletons can

grow another plate? i dunno. so i'm keeping

it in there for now.

 

how is the revising going?

my rough drafting at a stand still now

that kids are home for holidays. wah!

[ninjamyst]

yay for zoas and softies! i really like orange lightning clove polyps. very hardy and grows fast. and more rics!

[owenj]

Love seeing an update .

 

I forgot you have a PSW . Is he less shy than when you first got him?

 

I think sand is the death of plate corals. If it gets on them it's bad . In my experience anyways. Luckily I didn't lose my open brain, or scoly when I first introduced the leopard wrasse. She was getting a TON of sand on them. A plate would have croaked already. I would love to have another plate, but perhaps the next tank . For now I'll enjoy your orange mouth plate .

Yea, Tug is way less skittish now. He still runs from sudden movements, but overall he's out and about a lot more. It kills me that I can't figure out what was dumping sand on the orange plate, but not on the green one. My PSW isn't a digger or anything like that, but sand always seemed to be ending up on the orange plate and I'd have to get the baster out to blow it off. I might try my luck and get another plate for the corner of the tank because I'm a sucker for green and would love a neon green one Are you thinking about getting another tank?

 

the tank looks great, jaime!

 

my fungia plate is officially dead, i think.

i've heard sometimes their skeletons can

grow another plate? i dunno. so i'm keeping

it in there for now.

 

how is the revising going?

my rough drafting at a stand still now

that kids are home for holidays. wah!

I kept my old blue-green plate's skeleton in the cube, but I don' t think it's going to grow any babies. It was pretty well shot by the time I put it in there anyway. Hopefully yours has some surprises tucked up its sleeve; from what I've read it can take months and then, babies!

 

Revising is plugging along. Just a little more to do and then off to trudge the path of rejection

 

yay for zoas and softies! i really like orange lightning clove polyps. very hardy and grows fast. and more rics!

I'm scurred of the clove polyps because I read they can take over if conditions are right and be a huge pest to manage...but they are pretty I'm not sure how happy my rics are, because they keep getting floaty skirts from the flow, but they haven't tried to detach from their rocks. ?? I don't have much ric experience but I've read that if they don't like their spot they'll just slime off and relocate. They haven't relocated, so I guess they're ok?

 

My helfrichi has been hiding the last two days, which was worrisome because that's very unlike him. Finally coaxed him out today with some food and it looks like he was attacked by something visible scratches down both sides of his body and some clouding on his pectoral fins (am I naming these right? The little flappy ones on either side near his head). Going to do small feeds twice a day coupled with small water changes every other day in hopes that he heals. He's back out in the open now, so I'm taking that as a good sign. No idea what could've attacked him since I got rid of the mithrax crabs ages ago and don't have hermits. There's never been any aggression with the PSW, and the wrasse stayed in the same hidey hole with him at times during the hiding period. I'm wondering if a nem grabbed him?

 

Not great pics, but you can see the white discoloration/scratches on his sides

[gena]

No, not another tank for awhile. I'm thinking after we make the big move in a few years. I'll either keep the current cube or I'll get something smaller. But I won't be able to move a lot of the coral, if any, so it will be like a new tank .

 

My masked goby had something similar to your helfrichi. Looked all roughed up on the skin, like scrapes. But it went away. I still have no idea what that was. I thought I was going to lose him because of it, but he recovered in a few days time.

[owenj]

No, not another tank for awhile. I'm thinking after we make the big move in a few years. I'll either keep the current cube or I'll get something smaller. But I won't be able to move a lot of the coral, if any, so it will be like a new tank .

 

My masked goby had something similar to your helfrichi. Looked all roughed up on the skin, like scrapes. But it went away. I still have no idea what that was. I thought I was going to lose him because of it, but he recovered in a few days time.

That's exciting about kinda getting to start over, but sad that you won't get to take most/any of your current tank.

 

Hoping the helfrichi makes it. He's back to hiding again today

[TeamIM24]

Love the plate coral!

[dormreefer]

How do you like the Sicce 1.5 pump? Did you use the stock pump originally or go straight to the Sicce?

[Begow]

Here's some Blast porn for ya!

 

 

[cindyp]

Here's some Blast porn for ya!

 

 

gorgeous! so christmasy! glad you have

luck with them. ha!

 

jaime, good luck with revising! i think that's what

i'm going to try to do during the break for sequel--

i'm probably 15-20k from finishing? jeez, i hope

more like 15k, haha!

 

i don't have brain power or zen to rough draft when

bubs are home full time, but i can revise.

 

here's to 2015! my editor said my novel publication

date is officialy 9/8/15. i'm excited!

[owenj]

Love the plate coral!

Thanks! Me too I'm a sucker for plates.

 

How do you like the Sicce 1.5 pump? Did you use the stock pump originally or go straight to the Sicce?

I'm liking it a lot. I went straight to the 1.5 instead of the stock, and am still using the Y fitting and just one pump. If I kept SPS or high flow corals I'd probably get rid of the split tube and run both the Sicce and the stock pumps.

 

Here's some Blast porn for ya!

So jelly! Gah, I wish I'd had better luck with blastos this time around, but now I'm feeling a bit gun shy after having them go sudden death on me.

 

gorgeous! so christmasy! glad you have

luck with them. ha!

 

jaime, good luck with revising! i think that's what

i'm going to try to do during the break for sequel--

i'm probably 15-20k from finishing? jeez, i hope

more like 15k, haha!

 

i don't have brain power or zen to rough draft when

bubs are home full time, but i can revise.

 

here's to 2015! my editor said my novel publication

date is officialy 9/8/15. i'm excited!

Good luck with the revising! I'm slowly working back up to "revise mode." I'd rather be working on the novelish version of this story.

 

Going to change things around a little bit with the tanks. Decided to downsize from the PicO 20 to an IM Fusion 10, so Clifford the Swissguard Basslet will be going into this tank. No sign of the helfrichi so I'm assuming the worst. I'll be moving this tank from its spot on the right side of my desk to the left (where the cube is), so I've got a weekend full of tank moving to look forward too

[owenj]

Got the tanks all moved. I really need to invest in a big pump and water mixing container--but, this should be the last time I do something like this so I wouldn't need it anyway. Or so I tell myself. Didn't find any sign of the helfrichi...so I guess the nassarius ate him? Very sad about losing that fish, but I may get another one and keep it in the cube where nothing can grab it. Given the scratches the only thing I can think of is a nem maybe grabbing him?

 

Happily, everything appears to have weathered the move just fine. Clifford settled in immediately and appears to get along with Tug without a problem. Tug hid the first night, but he's out this morning and they both scarfed down some flakes. The urchin has been mowing down some hair algae growing on the rocks so I think we're both happy I need a mini tuxedo for my 10g.

 

Since I have my Vortech just sitting around spare at the moment I'm thinking about putting it on this tank. But, I'm worried about creating too much flow for the cynaria since the Vortech would be pointing its way. It looks ok in the corner, but it's still getting blown around a bit so I may try swapping spots with the rics.

 

New FTS: wondering how long that stalk of dragon's breath will last with a nem in the tank. Little sad because I got a big clump from the LFS only to have it die off/float away. This was the only stalk to anchor down.

 

Left side

 

Centerish

 

Right side- Cynaria opened up this morning, but I'm still worried about it getting blown around. I can see a bit of the skeleton showing through when the flesh gets carried up.

 

RFA rock. Still having some shuffling going on. I'm hoping the white zebra comes back into view.

 

Looks like this plate wasn't fazed by a tank move. Still miss my blue one and the little purple-white one

 

Clifford

[reefernanoman]

Everything looks good after the move.

[Kijho]

Such a beautiful tank

[DocReef]

Not great pics, but you can see the white discoloration/scratches on his sides

Nice tank. I have the same one.

 

Just got my Helfrich's Firefish yesterday. Very excited about this guy. He seems to love his new home. His other buddy is a Randall's Goby.

 

I'll be following your updates.

[kimberbee]

Looks good!!

[owenj]

Everything looks good after the move.

Such a beautiful tank

 

Thanks all! Still puttering around with the big rock on the right side and the cynaria's placement, but overall I'm liking this layout. I think taking out one of the rocks helped open it up a bit more.

 

Nice tank. I have the same one.

 

Just got my Helfrich's Firefish yesterday. Very excited about this guy. He seems to love his new home. His other buddy is a Randall's Goby.

 

I'll be following your updates.

Nice, I hope your helfrichi is as bold as mine was. I'm really bummed mine disappeared, so I may have to replace it. Sounds like he's got a good-lucking tank buddy too!

 

Looks good!!

Thanks Kimber!

 

Still gluing stuff down since the urchin is in here now and some of the zoa rocks were just sitting on top of the main rocks. Have a few goodies coming from UniqueCorals on Tuesday so I need to make some space

[cindyp]

looking great, jaime!

 

sorry about your fishie.

 

i'm gun shy about another. but if the green

banded gobies come in, i might consider.

 

can i ask if you have some of those rics on actual rock?

and how so? unless they didn't come on frags?

 

i'm hearing mushrooms are impossible to take off frags.

 

thanks for well wishes on revising. my goal is 20 pages

a night. so far so good. but it's really just reading through.

not any sort of intensive revising for now.

 

good luck to you too!!

[owenj]

looking great, jaime!

 

sorry about your fishie.

 

i'm gun shy about another. but if the green

banded gobies come in, i might consider.

 

can i ask if you have some of those rics on actual rock?

and how so? unless they didn't come on frags?

 

i'm hearing mushrooms are impossible to take off frags.

 

thanks for well wishes on revising. my goal is 20 pages

a night. so far so good. but it's really just reading through.

not any sort of intensive revising for now.

 

good luck to you too!!

The blue and green rics came from KP Aquactics (Sealife) and were glued to tiny bits of rubble, so I just glued those rubble bits to the overall rock I wanted them on. One of the blue ones isn't glued down anymore, but it seems happy there so it stays put. I couldn't get either of the orange rics off their frag plugs, which would've been preferable, but I'm hopeful that one day they'll slime off and move on their own

 

I'm torn on what my final fish purchases will be for this tank and the IM 10. I'd love another helfrichi, but am worried about putting one in this tank again after whatever happened to the first, even though it may have been some freak accident. But, I'm also taken with the idea of little gobies in the 10, so the helfrichi would have to go here.

 

Oh, and I got a double headed dendro for this tank! Pics probably tomorrow after my uniquecorals order comes in.

[cindyp]

Oh, and I got a double headed dendro for this tank! Pics probably tomorrow after my uniquecorals order comes in.

 

 

i can't wait to see, yay!

 

and i believe in fishie kismet. so we'll see what

fishie we pick up next.

 

i picked up a neon green trumpet coral (?) and also

my first tiniest one inch lobo at the LCS sale yesterday.

i mean, i won't pick up until tomorrow but excited!!

 

can't wait to see fotos!!

[ninjamyst]

would love to see a top down of that plate! such a unique yellow mouth