wildbill79's Reef - Lettin' It Grow Out

[wildbill79]

Super plump goby! That is pretty awesome that your son gets to watch Nemo all the time, he must have really great parents.

That cyano issue is a real pain, my tank is about a year in its current iteration and seems to be having an outbreak. This could be due to a cycle kick started from moving it, but I would wager it is from feeding more mysis shrimp than usual. Is it possible you don't have enough filtration to deal with this fatty food?

The goby is definitely a good eater. He is pissed right now because of the cyano on the sand. He usually looks pretty pissed all of the time anyway. Cyano sucks! Plain and simple.

 

grats on the new light and the new family member!

Thanks on both! I am sitting the the hospital as we speak. Healthy baby boy! 6 pounds 13 ounces. 19 inches long. Strong little fella! All of the the equipment with the exception of the actinic came to my house yesterday. I don't know when I will have time to do the upgrade, but I am out of here tomorrow(hopefully). I will get something posted when I get a chance.

[biev]

Congrats on the kiddo!

[wildbill79]

OK... Time for an update. Had a baby...Check. Water Change...Check.(Snuck it in today) Went to the LFS and got frags...Check. Had plenty of sleep... No Check.

I did make it to the LFS today and I got my water for the weekly WC and I also picked up a few more goodies. I picked up a frag rack(I needed it because I hated my frags just sitting in the sand. It is a tree style from Thrive.



I like the looks of it. A little large. I cut the vertical rod with my dremel and took four of the branches off. It will work for what I need it for.

I also picked up what look to be some sort of Rasta morph zoas. If anyone has an ID, enlighten me.





I also picked up a Rainbow Monti. I really liked this one and for $10, I had to have it.



Gratuitous torch shot.



Acro seems to be doing good. Not a really good shot, but it seems to be turning from doodoo brown to a blueish color. Just compairing the photos from last week it looks like it is starting to grow down to start to encrust on the rock.

Other zoas are getting puffy.



Everything was still a bit pissed because it was right after the WC.



Starting to see growth from all of my birdsnests.



Single Rasta in the rack.



I recieved everything for the LED upgrade except the blue LED bar. The dimmer, driver, splitter and diamond white 12k came in on Friday. I should have it done by the end of this week. If anything else happens, I will update. Have a good week!

[wildbill79]

I got the pacific blue actinic LED bar today from UPS. I plan on trying to get the upgrade done in the following days. I am completely new to LEDs. Does anyone have any advice for them. I have read that I should start at a more dim setting and work my way up in intensity. Anything else that I should know?

[owenj]

OK... Time for an update. Had a baby...Check. Water Change...Check.(Snuck it in today) Went to the LFS and got frags...Check. Had plenty of sleep... No Check.

 

I did make it to the LFS today and I got my water for the weekly WC and I also picked up a few more goodies. I picked up a frag rack(I needed it because I hated my frags just sitting in the sand. It is a tree style from Thrive.

 

 

I like the looks of it. A little large. I cut the vertical rod with my dremel and took four of the branches off. It will work for what I need it for.

 

Nice. I've been looking at that frag rack-tree thing too. May pick it up next time I'm at the LFS and trim it like you did.

[wildbill79]

Nice. I've been looking at that frag rack-tree thing too. May pick it up next time I'm at the LFS and trim it like you did.

 

I like it. With the other 4 long branches on it, it was huge. Definitely more manageable now.

[Shaggy2061]

Good looking tank! I hope your son loves it as much as mine kiddos love my tanks

[wildbill79]

Good looking tank! I hope your son loves it as much as mine kiddos love my tanks

Thanks! He does like it a lot!

[wildbill79]

I did my LED upgrade on Wednesday. I went with the True Lumen Pros. So far, meh, they are ok. They are not quite as bright as I thought that they would be. I may have to add another strip. I like that they are dimmable. That is a plus. I need to set them up on seperate channels so they can be dimmed individually. Right now, I have them going through the same dimmer. The SPS and the rest of the corals seem to be really happy with the lighting. That is another plus. I will probably get the storm controller and add another strip in the future, but this will do for now.

 

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The colors really pop under the new lights. A bit differently from the old PCs.

 

Shitty Picture. Zoas

 

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Rainbow Monti

 

http://s1177.photobucket.com/user/wmaldridge/media/monti1.jpg.html'>

 

My Ricordae attached himself to the rock(finally).

 

http://s1177.photobucket.com/user/wmaldridge/media/ric1.jpg.html'>

 

I picked a new mixed zoa/paly frag. Don't have the IDs, but there are three on one disk. You can see two of them from this view. Sorry for the snail photobomb.

 

http://s1177.photobucket.com/user/wmaldridge/media/new_zoa1.jpg.html'>

 

And here is my most recent FTS as of this morning.

 

http://s1177.photobucket.com/user/wmaldridge/media/fts_913.jpg.html'>

[uwdanno]

Looking good.

[wildbill79]

Looking good.

Thanks! I will be doing my WC this evening and hopefully pick up a new frag too. I will be updating tonight or tomorrow.

[wildbill79]

I did my Friday WC yesterday and I went ahead and took the rest of my bioballs out of my tank. There was all sorts of debris in there. I think that my tank will be better off for it. I think that this could be the root cause of my constant cyano outbreaks. I also picked up a frag of Soprano Zoas. It is one polyp with 2 new ones starting to form. I am in love with it.

 

 

 

 

I got a Tubbs Blue Zoa that was part of a 3 frag deal.

 

 

 

 

My first frag

 

 

SPS still loving the LED upgrade.

 

 

Birdsnest growing well. Lots of new little points. Acro is encrusting on the rock really well too.

 

 

 

 

I just liked this shot for some reason.

 

 

 

 

I cannot get a good shot of this rasta.

 

 

 

Zoas that I haven't taken pictures of yet. Can't really get a true color on them. They have pink rings and specks in them.

 

 

 

Rainbow Monti.

 

 

The LEDs have really started to bleach my Torch and Chalice. I think I started with them a bit too high. I didn't acclimate them enough.

 

 

Here is a shot from 8/24 of one of my birdsnest.

 

 

Here is one from this morning. A little under a month. Is this decent growth?

 

 

8/24:

 

 

9/20:

 

 

I am always looking for ideas to do things better, so if anyone has any ideas on how to upgrade my tank or any specific care for coral, please let me know.

[acrab78]

Sweet yellow goby.... I had one with a pistol shrimp but unfortunately they didnt want to eat and withered.... was sad. I have had them before and they ate great... nice setup and glad your boy like the hobby!

 

Oh, how do you like the frag rack with the suction cups? Have seen a similar one that is clear I would like but cant find it for sale... they sell yours on drs fosters and smith.... thanks!

[wildbill79]

Sweet yellow goby.... I had one with a pistol shrimp but unfortunately they didnt want to eat and withered.... was sad. I have had them before and they ate great... nice setup and glad your boy like the hobby!

 

Oh, how do you like the frag rack with the suction cups? Have seen a similar one that is clear I would like but cant find it for sale... they sell yours on drs fosters and smith.... thanks!

For $20, I like the rack. I wish it was a bit smaller, but I modified it and it's not so bad anymore. I may end up with something different eventually, but it works for now. I was thinking about a pistol for the YWG, but I am just going to stick with him for now. He eats really well and is a really cool fish. Sorry to hear about your pair.

[wildbill79]

I was bored this morning, so I decided to take more pictures. I don't know if it is the bow in the glass on the Biocube or my camera's lens is too soft. I am using a Nikon D3200 with the stock Nikkor lens. I really want a new lens, especially a macro. I my have to coax my wife into getting me one for Christmas. Anyways, here are the pics that I took this morning.

 

First up is the pic of my poor Chalice. It has been bleached. It at really good this morning, so it is healthy in that aspect, but I think the LEDs have stressed it out.

 

(I am trying out Flikr, Photobucket was acting up this morning, so I don't know how the formatting will be. Sorry if it looks crappy)

 

 

I took a few of the Soprano changing the settings on my camera.

 

 

 

Here are a few of some of the unknown Zoas that I have. Maybe you could ID them for me.

 

 

 

 

Here is a couple of the Birdsnest and Acro on my top rock. The Acro is starting to encrust. It is growing around a Vermatid Snail that I clipped off.

 

 

 

And this is how my Ricordae attached to the rock.

 

 

That is all. I will post more as boredom continues. I am on vacation this week, so I should be able to get the tank all cleaned up and mount a few more frags.

[uwdanno]

Great pics. I have that same camera. Total noob with it. Still trying to figure out how to use it.

 

 

Awesome deal on that Rainbow Monti. I see those go online for close to $40-$50. Steal of a deal on a great looking piece.

[wildbill79]

So, I hadn't seen Grumps, my YWG, in a day or so and I was heading out of town for for work. I really didn't think anything of it. He sometimes goes in his lair and chills out. I was heading to Tampa for work and packed up the family and made a vacation out of it. We went to the Florida Aquarium and it was really cool. Here are a few shots from it:

 

 

Speed shot:

 

 

Lobsta:

 

Jelly:

 

My son was stoked with the whole thing:

 

 

 

 

Moray Eel:

 

 

The we came home. I was cleaning the tank and I found a decomposing Grumps in the the 3rd chamber. I really liked him. A very cool fish.

 

 

I did my water change today and went to the LFS for some frags. I got a good deal on 3 pretty decent ones. I got 3 for $25. I got a Green Staghorn Acropora. It RTN'd from the LFS to my house, which is about 10 mins away. It lost all but the top 1/3 of the tissue on the skeleton. The polyps still look OK. We will see how it goes.

 

 

 

A Superman Monti(still really new to the tank):

 

 

And some type of Zoa/Paly(looks a bit darker in person):

 

 

FTS from this afternoon:

 

 

That is all. Carry on!

[kimberbee]

What a bummer... Poor Grumps

[owenj]

Aww! Sorry for your loss.

[uwdanno]

Ill never forget you Grumps.

[wildbill79]

What a bummer... Poor Grumps

 

I know! He was cool. Will be missed.

 

Aww! Sorry for your loss.

 

Thanks. May go look for something today. I am kind of thinking Firefish.

 

Ill never forget you Grumps.

 

There will be a vigual tonight from 6-8pm. Lotsa singing and sharing stories about Grumps.

 

I was baffled because I don't know how he got in the rear chambers. He had to have been back there for several days because of the way he was decomposed. There hasn't been a spike in ammonia or nitrates. Weird.

[Lizz]

aww poor grumps, he had so much character!

 

i'm into your new monti. i just got a purple ora monti frag that looks like it's around the same size. i'll be watching to see how each of ours grow in comparison to each other.

[wildbill79]

aww poor grumps, he had so much character!

 

i'm into your new monti. i just got a purple ora monti frag that looks like it's around the same size. i'll be watching to see how each of ours grow in comparison to each other.

Grumps was awesome, but I picked up a Firefish yesterday. They have some character too! Cool little guy!

 

Your Monti looks awesome. This is my second one. I may start a collection. I really like them. I really stressed my Rainbow Monti out when I mounted it.

 

Here is the new Firefish. Have to come up with a name for the little guy. He has some personality, but he is pretty skittish. Hides in the little cave when he is scared. I like it.

 

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http://s1177.photobucket.com/user/wmaldridge/media/ff1.jpg.html'>

 

My clown seems to get along well with him too.

[Proudgeek]

Great! Love the variety. Can't wait to see this all grown.

[wildbill79]

Great! Love the variety. Can't wait to see this all grown.

 

Thanks! I can't wait for it all to grow either. That's why I keep buying more! Once it is grown I will definitely need another tank.