FlowerMama Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Ha, came over here now after seeing your comment on my rock flower tank. I forgot this is your crazy beautiful tank that I started following a week ago. Yep, I demand to see a spawning vid!!! I wonder too if your flowers are benefiting from any food feedings you're doing for your gorgs. Link to comment
michael_cb_125 Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 I do believe that the multiple daily feedings benefit the anemones in a big way. The key is Finley shaved foods. I have found that any food over a quarter inch causes my nems to shrink up for a few days. I am working on uploading the spawning video Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I do believe that the multiple daily feedings benefit the anemones in a big way. The key is Finley shaved foods. I have found that any food over a quarter inch causes my nems to shrink up for a few days. I am working on uploading the spawning video Wonderful, can't wait to see it. I love seeing videos like this. I think they're extremely important to the hobby. Link to comment
macleod82 Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Beautiful tank Michael! I'm plotting my return to the hobby and am also leaning Caribbean biotope. May I ask where you sourced your live rock? I've done a little investigation but the sources I remember and trusted most are pretty much exclusively Pacific. Link to comment
Mirya Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I "blame" this tank for me picking up a few different gorgs for my Florida tank over the weekend! Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Ha! I've thought about it too but would rather spend some money I don't have on nems. And I have to get another Jebao pump. He makes it very convincing though Link to comment
gena Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 And it has me thinking about starting a Florida tank LOL. I won't really, but what an inspiring tank Michael has . Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Spawning video? anemone porn!!! we want anemone porn!! Link to comment
michael_cb_125 Posted February 28, 2015 Author Share Posted February 28, 2015 Good Morning Everyone!Sorry for the delay in video. I am having a hard time uploading it. That said, I am uploading new pictures of the tank.I managed to catch my slipper lobster out in the open and got a decent picture of him before he swam away. Yes, he swims, backwards like a crawdad. I also scored two very nice rock flowers for the tank. and a new purple candalabra. Pictures and hopefully video soon. ~Michael Link to comment
michael_cb_125 Posted February 28, 2015 Author Share Posted February 28, 2015 So here are a few more pictures. St. Thomas Bubble Mushrooms Slipper Lobster Baby Rock Flower (Spawned in this system) Commensal Brittlestar Side Shot (Daylights) Side Shot (Night, with higher Kelvin) New Rock Flower Anemone In the tank after the pederson's decided to clean it Another New Guy Working on the video ~Michael Link to comment
MikeTR Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 nice rock flower garden.. just somethin about the garden idea in general that I really like. I've got several in my 180 (acan, ricordea, zoas).. maybe it's the idea of clustering them together without stinging each other. Did you harvest any of that yourself? I took a trip down late last year and those rock flowers were near impossible to get. Firmly attached and suck right into the substrate. Could have just been our location as I didn't see any bigger than 1-2". Nice job overall. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 I love St thomas mushrooms but I could never get them to survive. They'd be fine for a week or two, then shrivel up and disappear. Link to comment
michael_cb_125 Posted February 28, 2015 Author Share Posted February 28, 2015 Thanks not so nano reefer. All of these were purchased. But I have collected them in the key before. I had to get pretty far away from any "popular" spots before we saw any Rock Flowers. We were only able to collect maybe 1 out of every 10 we saw due to attachment. Jedi- The St. Thomas have always done well for me under lower lighting. In higher lighting they often melt on me. ~Michael Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 Jedi- The St. Thomas have always done well for me under lower lighting. In higher lighting they often melt on me. I've tried keeping them in the shade under a rock and they still didn't like it lol. Also could have been the toxic dinoflagellates I was plagued by. I plan on making an order with Aquascapers or ReefGardener to get some more and give it one more go! Link to comment
zooman72 Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 Nice to see another "gorg-heavy" tank on here (and lit by a Razor too!), and I agree with all of the others that the rock nems look cool clustered together like that - looks like I am going to have to add more to my 40B. I also like the masked gobies, and I am planning on a trio of them for my upcoming small gorg tank in my office - love how they stay out in the open so much for such a small fish . Overall, very nice tank (although I would still run the skimmer ), and the darker substrate really works well here IMO. I've tried keeping them in the shade under a rock and they still didn't like it lol. Also could have been the toxic dinoflagellates I was plagued by. I plan on making an order with Aquascapers or ReefGardener to get some more and give it one more go! KP Aquatics also carries them. My favorite LFS has a really large teal one under a Kessil A150 Ocean Blue in an 8g cube, and it is fantastic looking, so I think they can handle the light, but just need to be acclimated very slowly... Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 KP Aquatics also carries them. My favorite LFS has a really large teal one under a Kessil A150 Ocean Blue in an 8g cube, and it is fantastic looking, so I think they can handle the light, but just need to be acclimated very slowly... They actually come from fairly shallow water, too, like 30', so that's still hitting 800ish PAR. I know I was giving them less than that I saw the ones from KPA, and I love the price (and supporting their biz), but I want to get a few of them and don't want them to all look like clones Link to comment
zooman72 Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 They actually come from fairly shallow water, too, like 30', so that's still hitting 800ish PAR. I know I was giving them less than that I saw the ones from KPA, and I love the price (and supporting their biz), but I want to get a few of them and don't want them to all look like clones If you email them and ask them to, I am certain they would work with you to have some diversity in appearance with multiple specimens - Kara is awesome to deal with, which is why I usually recommend them first for Caribbean specimens... Link to comment
michael_cb_125 Posted February 28, 2015 Author Share Posted February 28, 2015 Thanks Zooman. I have the skimmer sitting ready to go. But I have tried several times to get it up and running. Within three days of installation of the skimmer, all the gorgonians close up completely. Upon removal of the skimmer they open back up (typically within 48 hours). What could be causing this. I have tried three times with the same results. My nutrient levels are right where I want them so I am not worrying about the skimmer too much. The rock flowers seem to really like being close together. They have not moved at all from where placed. ~Michael Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 If you email them and ask them to, I am certain they would work with you to have some diversity in appearance with multiple specimens - Kara is awesome to deal with, which is why I usually recommend them first for Caribbean specimens... Oh, I know how awesome they are, I actually got to meet Phillip and chat with him for quite a while when I picked up some rock from them last year, I just haven't asked them yet lol Link to comment
zooman72 Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 Thanks Zooman. I have the skimmer sitting ready to go. But I have tried several times to get it up and running. Within three days of installation of the skimmer, all the gorgonians close up completely. Upon removal of the skimmer they open back up (typically within 48 hours). What could be causing this. I have tried three times with the same results. My nutrient levels are right where I want them so I am not worrying about the skimmer too much. The rock flowers seem to really like being close together. They have not moved at all from where placed. ~Michael Well, as the old saying goes - if it ain't broke, don't fix it! Seriously though, I should have been clearer that I would run the skimmer because I found algae growth to become problematic with my fish bioload and feeding, but I do not have the water change regimen that you do either (too busy and too many tanks going), and water changes always make things better! Most of my gorgs stay open even with my skimmer going, but I do have a couple that seem to be closed up more often than open, and they have not grown much either, so maybe you are on to something after all. I have lost a couple of the Muricea (spiny sea rods) in this tank, and I did have success prior to my latest tank when I kept them in a skimmerless system. As I said, what you have going seems to be working quite well, and I applaud you for it... Oh, I know how awesome they are, I actually got to meet Phillip and chat with him for quite a while when I picked up some rock from them last year, I just haven't asked them yet lol Well, you have no excuse then, so get to it... Link to comment
Mirya Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 If you hadn't said that was a picture of the slipper lobster, I'm not sure I would have seen it, instead of just thinking it was another rock! I'm also super jealous of your two face RFA. Very cool. And neat that you have an offspring RFA in your tank too. As for one other place to consider getting St. T mushies from -- you can see if Reef Systems Coral Farm will ship them. They are a LFS to me. They honest to goodness are a coral farm -- located out in the farmlands outside of Columbus. They have a green St. T that has been making babies like nobodies business. In their greenhouse they are used to high light (natural sunlight) and moderate flow. They've done well in my system. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 I so love the pile of rock flowers, it's a bouquet of loveliness. That's one thing I love about RFAs. They love touching. Aside from the pic that Mirya has denoting the Rock Flower Info Thread I' not seen a 2-toned split like that. Link to comment
snowprince Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 Wow, simply beautiful, and from the Keys no less! I was there a few years back on my honey moon. Saw a whole bunch of chicken roaming the streets and iguanas. Definitely a reefer's paradise! Where did you collect your specimens? The colors are simply amazing! Link to comment
michael_cb_125 Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 Hello Everyone!I have made a few new additions to the system. I managed to snag a few really nice ricordea. Two more Caribbean collected sexy shrimp, and three peppermint shrimp. I will work on getting a few new pictures taken today. I am happy with the way things are going so far. snowprince- Most of the specimens I get are from online retailers and my LFS. I have also collected a few things along the east coast, and the florida keys.~Michael Link to comment
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