MatthewDVM's Fluval Edge - Happy Birth-tank-day

[Slowtwitch]

Glad to hear things survived the vacation. Now post up some Alaska pictures.

[Matthewdvm]

OK. So I'm really slow to deal with my photos. First, some Alaska picture, as requested:

 

Where we put in the river, after waiting through 2 days of snow (in mid June):

Utukok River, Alaska by Matthew

 

A mom and calf caribou (we saw about 15,000 caribou on the ground and 150,000 from the air):

Cow and calf Caribou (Rangifer tarandus granti), Archimedes Ridge, Alaska. by Matthew, on Flickr

 

A solo Caribou cow (caribou are the only deer species where cows AND bulls have antlers)

Caribou cow (Rangifer tarandus granti), Utukok, Alaska by Matthew, on Flickr

 

A muskox (the only one we saw on the trip):

Musk Ox (Ovibos moschatus) by Matthew, on Flickr

 

A little hoary redpoll sitting on her nest:

Hoary Redpoll (Acanthis hornemanni), Utukok River, Alaska by Matthew, on Flickr

[Matthewdvm]

And now, some tank update pictures. Been a long, long time since I posted a FTS, so we'll start there. The Monti-cap is growing like gangbusters, and the green hairy mushrooms are doing great too. I gave up on all the SPS except for the Monti Cap and the Forest Fire Digitata. The mushroom wall on the left side of the tank is doing OK - the Yumas are thriving, the Rics are existing. Not sure what I can do to get the pics doing better too. Suggestions???:

 

 

One of my newer corals, the orange and purple Yuma:

 

A bluet-green Yuma:

 

Leopard Disco:

 

This Zoa was in danger of being over-run by my hairy-green mushrooms, so I liberated it (in the process, I inadvertently managed to split the frag, which was purchased as a mixed Zoa frag, into its component Zoas, so Win-Win!)

 

One of my 2 remaining Sexy Shrimp (1 originally had 4, one went missing, the other died a nest death in the filter impeller). Also both fish are definitely no more, and I haven't seen buffy the pom-pom in quite a while either, so I'm pretty sure she is no more.:

 

Duncan, in all his glory - I bought him as a 2 headed frag. He now has 5 smaller heads growing off the top frag. Here's hoping the stalks get a bit bigger soon to differentiate the heads a bit more.

 

The toadstool leather is doing nicely. I love how the polyps are so long, but sometimes disappear entirely!

[Slowtwitch]

Great pics Doc. Alaska is definitely on my short list for vacation spots. Did you hunt?

[Matthewdvm]

Great pics Doc. Alaska is definitely on my short list for vacation spots. Did you hunt?

No hunting, except with a camera!

[Slowtwitch]

Hunting with a camera is fun too!

[Matthewdvm]

So on Saturday, based on the recommendation of Justin Fox ( http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/362497-justin-foxs-fluval-edge-2/)I pulled the trigger on one of these bad boys:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Custom-Fluval-Edge-UltraBrite-Reef-LED-System-W-optional-Automated-Controllers-/120940928934

I went for the Full Spectrum 36 W With controller. They made me an offer I couldn't refuse, and I got a shipping notification within 40 minutes of sending payment, which had me thrilled. but since then it has been sitting in Canoga Park, CA, in the "A shipping label has been generated" stage. The wait is killing me!!!

 

In other news, I was doing a small water change last night and somehow managed to knock the top off my Forest Fire Digi. (Grrrrrrr) So I glued that part down in a different location. Here's hoping it does well!

 

And lastly, my green star polyp is growing some long weird looking tentacles. I know they are supposed to be relatively benign, but something stung my acan a while back, and that is the only thing I can thing of that could have done it. I'll post some pictures of the tentacles a bit later.

[Matthewdvm]

Here are a couple of pics of the tentacles on the GSP:

 

In the second picture, you can see it has actually grown and attached to the other rock!

[teenyreef]

I've never seen gsp grow tentacles like that. Could it be something different growing out from underneath?

 

Beautiful pics of both Alaska and the tank

[Matthewdvm]

Thanks, Teeny! I attached a small piece of gsp to a piece of rock that had been out of the tank for months, so I would be surprised if it had anything living on it. When I do a big water change and piss everything off, and the gsp recedes, there is a smooth greyish growth beneath the normal level of the polyps. I'll get a picture of it tonight when I am home and post it up. Is it possible that what looks like gsp isn't gsp???

[Matthewdvm]

I started a new thread about the gsp growth here:

http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/364546-weird-growth-on-gsp/#entry5114356

But here are the pics:

 

 

 

 

[Slowtwitch]

Looks like a tunicate to me. Should be easy to remove.

[Matthewdvm]

Holy crap! Buffy (the Pom Pom crab) lives!!!

 

 

I was doing a massive water change (after treating the tank for flatworms (like the lovely ones in this picture)), and looking at the backside of the tank to see how things ahead fared, and how many flatworms I still had hanging out in the tank, when I saw two pompoms moving about. I haven't seen her in MONTHS and had assumed she was long gone. Turns out she is just hiding really well. Now the challenge is to try to get a better picture of her. I don't normally share pictures this crappy, I'm just too excited not to!

 

In other news, I removed the majority of the suspected sponge/tunicates thing from my GSP rock. There is still a bit left, which I'll get in a few days when I do the next water change.

[Matthewdvm]

New light shipped today!!! Here's hoping it comes quickly (and that Customs Canada doesn't hit me up for duty)

[Slowtwitch]

Good luck with customs.

[Matthewdvm]

Good luck with customs.

Good luck with customs.

Thanks! But to quote Malkovich in Dangerous Liasons, "it's beyond my control"

[Matthewdvm]

New light arrived at the end of last week. Great build quality. The spread of light is not as broad as my previous solution, so I will have a period of transition when I am moving things around a lot to make sure they are happy. But in the end, it will leave all of the glass of the Edge clear of lights, is ultimately brighter, so I might be able to grow some more varieties of SPS, and has WAAAY more control of the light, so I think it will be a great improvement. It is just going to be some work to make it awesome. Had some fun with just the actinics tonight. Thought I'd share some new pictures. After Labour Day, I hope to have more time to spend adapting the corals to the new light, and maybe filling in some gaps with more life!

 

The Nuclear Green People Eaters were up high under the 3 W stock light and were thriving. Didn't so much care for the Nuclear blast of the 36W Cree LED. So I had to move them most of the way down the tank. Here's hoping they continue to thrive in the new location:

 

The Orange and Purple Yuma is getting a bit bigger:

 

Superman Mushroom! Really seems to like the new light

 

The leopard disco is moving to the left, off the frag plug and to a place that it can call home.

 

This 2 mouthed Ric I named Salvador because he looked like one Dali's melting clock faces when I got him. He has shrunk slowly since, but I hope he likes the new light and grows bigger

 

Here's one of the two baby Yumas from my second mushroom. Pretty cool looking, I think

 

A mixed Zoa rock

 

Purple and green Yuma looks pretty happy where he has settled out

 

The ORIGINAL Hairy Green Mushroom from my tank

 

A microbus that has just sort of existed since going in the tank. Really hope it establishes.

 

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All for now

[teenyreef]

Wow! Looks like your corals like the new light! It's always fun to figure out how to get it set, and then move all the corals around that don't like the new regime

[Matthewdvm]

Wow! Looks like your corals like the new light! It's always fun to figure out how to get it set, and then move all the corals around that don't like the new regime

Wow! Looks like your corals like the new light! It's always fun to figure out how to get it set, and then move all the corals around that don't like the new regime

True. Though I'm about to head out of town for the last week of the summer. Here's hoping everything is "happy enough" until I return (I initially said I wouldn't set up the new light until after this trip, but I knew that was a lie)

Hahaha. Just looked at the photo dump. Autocorrect change micromusa to micro bus!

Also, check out the flatworms in the micromusa photo. That's the challenge for the return. Trying to decide on a flatworm killer product, or waiting for a blue velvet nude ranch. (Again with the autocorrect! Nudibranch, not nude ranch. Tho, come to think of it, a blue velvet nude ranch...)

[Matthewdvm]

So I realized recently that the tank is now about 9 months old. So far the new light is doing well. Currently at 35% of full power, will slowly try ramping it up.

 

I decided to celebrate the 9 month anniversary with a few new critters.

 

I thought I needed some more flow-y things, and couldn't pass up this Red Metallic Flower Pot Goniopora. It has nice movement (I'll just have to capture it in a video some time soon):

 

I also picked up a Chocolate Chip Mint Sunflower Zoa (I'd been lusting after one ever since I saw Slowtwtich's). Not the best picture, but it was a bit slow to open after going in the tank:

 

I added a third new frag of a bird's nest - no photo of it yet, but I'm hoping it likes the new light.

 

And then (drum roll), I decided it was time to try my hand at another fish, so i picked up a Purple Firefish!!! No name as of yet, but I fed some cyclops and he had a blast, zooming around eating it all up:

 

And a few top down pictures for fun, now that I don't have the big LED array on the top glass:

The Duncan, slowly getting bigger and bigger:

 

A few zoas (not sure of the name - if you are, please let me know):

 

All for now!

[Slowtwitch]

If I had known you wanted them I could have sent you a couple. Feed them and they grow like mad. They will take pellets if you drop them near enough to catch. They also move themselves if they don't like where you put them. Almost like a nem. I've had several move up to a few centimeters off of a plug as they grow out.

[vlangel]

I loved your Alaskan pics and the close ups in your tank are really beautiful!

[mpad]

Very nice pieces!

FTS

[Matthewdvm]

If I had known you wanted them I could have sent you a couple. Feed them and they grow like mad. They will take pellets if you drop them near enough to catch. They also move themselves if they don't like where you put them. Almost like a nem. I've had several move up to a few centimeters off of a plug as they grow out.

Thanks for the offer. I think getting frags across the border into Canada is probably more hassle than it is worth (though I should check it out). I'll keep an eye on him moving - my mushrooms like to do that, too!

I loved your Alaskan pics and the close ups in your tank are really beautiful!

Thanks! I need to post up more pictures of Alaska. I came home with thousands, and finding time to edit them is a challenge!

[Slowtwitch]

Thanks for the offer. I think getting frags across the border into Canada is probably more hassle than it is worth (though I should check it out). I'll keep an eye on him moving - my mushrooms like to do that, too!

 

Thanks! I need to post up more pictures of Alaska. I came home with thousands, and finding time to edit them is a challenge!

I live on the border. I could potentially mail from Sarnia. :-)