varanus37 Posted May 17, 2007 Share Posted May 17, 2007 So I've been lurking on this site for some time and posted a few times. I know its not a nano but I've got a standard 55 gal. Its got ~75 lbs of live rock in it and a good 3" bed. 2 250w mh and 4 65w actinics on top. At night there are 8 blue LEDs. My critter list: Fish: Lawnmower Blenny Mandarin Saddleback Clown Watchman Goby Engineer Goby CBB 2 Serpent Stars and 2 Brittles Misc. CUC and a good size feather duster thats somewhat a centerpiece Corals: Montis (red and green cap, Tyree LE strawberry patch, strawberry lemonade, purple cap, elkhorn digi, superman. yellow w/blue polyps, kiwi confusa) Purple Polyp Birdsnest Hydnophora Mystery coral x2 ( 1 may be pavona) Candy cane Duncan Sun coral Meat Branching Hammer Galaxea Pulsing Xenia and Red Sea type GSP Plain 'Ol Polyps Big green mushie Acan (red&white) Micro (Doobisberry and Green Sativa) Echino (hot pink) Orange Crush Acan Chalice (toxic flonk) Zoas (bubblegum taffy, grape parfait, RPE, Cherry Dble Edge, French Silk Pie, NG,other frags) Let me know what you all think of the menagerie so far. Pics will follow shortly. Just wanted to say hello to everyone and let you all know what I've got. And flame away about the mandarin, I welcome the discussion, LOL. Bill Link to comment
maniac03047 Posted May 17, 2007 Share Posted May 17, 2007 Bill, I am also a "lurker" hahaha. I would really love to see some pictures of you tank and especially your dresser crabs. Link to comment
Deleted User 7 Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 Yah! Let's get some pics! You tease. Link to comment
varanus37 Posted May 18, 2007 Author Share Posted May 18, 2007 So the pics are in the works but I made some additions today. I picked up the other tiny clam that my LFS had, a white bubble thats a nice size, a little 'tree' of colt coral, and a red and green brain. I think we're going to leave it at that for awhile. I've run into 2 good deals on tanks recently so that might shift where my $ goes, haha. One is a 47 gal column and my wife has really been studying up on seahorses so thats of great interest. The plus to that is my big interest is tree sponges and gorgonians, so I think it would be pretty interesting. Maybe have the back wall covered in xenia or anthelia? I think it'd be pretty neat to see. The other was a 125 with a free stand (not matching colors). Its a Petsmart buy so its still a little pricey but not bad with a free oak stand, standard lights though. The lighting wouldn't really be that much of an issue because it'd be fish only. My wife fell in love with a big 'ol puffer that one of our LFS's has had for some time. Time will tell what direction we go but for now my efforts are all on my 55. Like I said, pics are coming. Thanks for reading. Bill Link to comment
varanus37 Posted June 2, 2007 Author Share Posted June 2, 2007 Pictures are finally here! I think I understand the photobucket hosting idea. Lets see if I can make it happen. Turns out my wife likes to take quite a few pics while I'm at work so I'm sure there will be more to come. Bill Link to comment
varanus37 Posted June 2, 2007 Author Share Posted June 2, 2007 Side note, the skimmer I'm running is an Odyssea. Just so my list of equipment and critters is somewhat complete. Link to comment
varanus37 Posted June 3, 2007 Author Share Posted June 3, 2007 Hey, thats me! The bebe in the rucksack is Milana. Link to comment
varanus37 Posted June 4, 2007 Author Share Posted June 4, 2007 No replies on the pics at all? I guess my ugly mug scared them all away, haha. Maybe I messed up the photobucket, can you all see them? I can but of course I can, I put them up. Bill Link to comment
Pickle010 Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 No replies on the pics at all? I guess my ugly mug scared them all away, haha. Maybe I messed up the photobucket, can you all see them? I can but of course I can, I put them up. Bill Ha ha... no you did it right... Looks like you've got some nice stuff going. Ask the Mrs. if we can get a full tank shot! Link to comment
dsoz Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 I do like the pics. The last one was a little scary, but the baby softened up the picture to make it OK. Just kidding. What kind of clam is that? I have heard that small clams sometimes don't make it. I hope yours does OK. dsoz Link to comment
varanus37 Posted June 4, 2007 Author Share Posted June 4, 2007 The LFS actually wasn't sure. Yes they are very small and it can be difficult to keep such young critters. I have the 2 and they're doing wonderfully. Both stay open very well and are in good flow and light areas. It was tough to keep my blenny and clown from disturbing the one clam so we had to move it. They follow me back and forth around the room and they kept butting into it! Thanks for all the comments on the pics. I'll try to get more soon. Bill Link to comment
varanus37 Posted June 5, 2007 Author Share Posted June 5, 2007 So one of the clams is basically just a cleaned out shell now. I didn't notice any difference this morning on the way to work but I wasn't looking that hard either. I don't know who could've killed and eaten it. It may have died at some point in the night and then just been cleaned out by the various critters. Noone has ever really pestered the clams as far as nipping or anything. Some sand kicked up by tails was about the worst it got. Having such small clams was a gamble in any case and I realize that. The other clam, thankfully, is still doing quite well. Hes open and fully extended so we'll see how things go. Bill Link to comment
varanus37 Posted June 23, 2007 Author Share Posted June 23, 2007 Did a thorough cleaning tonight of pumps and some problem areas with algae. Going to go through the skimmer and do a good scrubbing tomorrow. Picked up 2 new frags as well. One is a pink and green echino and the other is a nice group of acans. In the process of changing up some of the flow my tall sponge decided to fall over. That led to a change in the aquascaping so theres quite a few differences now. I'll try and post some FTS's so you all can check it out. Bill Link to comment
juin21 Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 You need to get a grey card and set the white balance on your camera! Your pics are too yellow, but your stuff looks ok, except for the clam. Good work and keep us updated. Link to comment
varanus37 Posted July 22, 2007 Author Share Posted July 22, 2007 So I had a fight with some cyano. Chemi-clean and good water changes and everything is back to being peachy. The orange tree sponge didn't make it though. Seems to be the only one negatively affected. I've also got 3 small conchs in the tank now and they've completely scoured the place of algae. I actually had a rock with some algae on it that I thought of as ornamental and had taken a liking to. Yeah, its gone, haha. I'm thinking 1 possibly 2 of the conchs will go to a diff LFS for credit and I'll just keep the 1 for maintenance purposes. Some new aquascaping is in the works as everyone is growing and expanding. The bubble and the colt are getting quite large so they've been separated a bit more and with the loss of the tree sponge that creates an open spot. We'll see how it goes. Thanks for looking. Bill Link to comment
varanus37 Posted October 18, 2007 Author Share Posted October 18, 2007 Soooo. Update on the tree sponge is that its still kicking. Lost some tissue in the great cyano war but is still standing and has its tubes extended for feeding. So everything is spreading or multiplying wonderfully. Unfortunately so are the majano anemones! I personally like the way they look but I've just got too many of them and they're annoying one of my green mushrooms now. Looks like they've got to go. Several updates on new frags and pieces. Got some small orange with green rim zoas and a toxic flonk chalice frag from mvite. Had a creamsicle frag as well but there was some shipping confusion and it didn't make it. Sweet skeleton though. Got another shipment from AA today. RPE's, Cherry Dble Edge zoas, Doobisberry micros, Green Funk palys, Grandis palys and a new monti. Tomorrow I'm expecting some frags from the ladies of the Coral Kitchen. A mix piece of Grape Parfait and Pie as well as a frag of the bubblegum taffy. Those are all zoas for those not familiar with the Kitchen. I've also apparently got a "surprise" frag coming as well, pretty excited about that. I'm fighting off some GHA right now so I also got an emerald crab and some more CUC guys, including a sweet yellow cucumber. And Teresa picked out a porcelain crab. And I think that rounds out the updates for the 55. All the params are good and stable, everyone is growing like mad. Pics will follow this week as I'm having surgery and won't have much else to do. Bill Link to comment
varanus37 Posted October 24, 2007 Author Share Posted October 24, 2007 So I posted these new FTS pics in a thread of someone who was asking for ideas on a 50 or 55 and then I realized I haven't updated my own! Heres a couple to give you the general idea of whats going on right now. The engineer is constantly digging and moving so the sand shifts as he pleases. Bill Link to comment
varanus37 Posted October 25, 2007 Author Share Posted October 25, 2007 Bump for the start of the late night crew. Any comments, questions? Are 55's with HOB stuff just that lame? LOL. Bill Link to comment
lanceleaderx Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 your tank is holy YELLOW ?? what happened ? flash ? 10k light bulb ?? Link to comment
varanus37 Posted October 25, 2007 Author Share Posted October 25, 2007 10k's and I don't have a card to set my white balance. I haven't really dug in and played with the settings on my digi cam yet. I know it does look crazy yellow. Bill Link to comment
fewskillz Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Looks nice. I've been toying with the idea of a HOB only 55 FOWLR (cheap is the goal). I've got a bunch of extra LR and don't want to get rid of it. Link to comment
varanus37 Posted October 25, 2007 Author Share Posted October 25, 2007 Yep, that was the goal with this one too. It wasn't drilled and I don't have the equipment so HOB it stayed. Its working rather nicely for me. Everything is growing and splitting so I can't really complain. I don't keep hardcore SPS though, I'm mostly an LPS guy and my wife likes softies and critters. Thanks for the comment and good luck on yours. Bill Link to comment
varanus37 Posted October 29, 2007 Author Share Posted October 29, 2007 So another update. I moved my bubble to my 1/2 10 gal. and rescaped the 55. I've got more flow hitting the caps this way and I think all my corals will be much happier in this arrangement. The colt and the branching hammer may still be swapped, I haven't completely decided. These shots are all just with actinics so please forgive the blue tint. FTS Left side Right side The colt and some others were mad at me for moving everyone so I'm expecting them to be open nicely in the morning. Check out my 1/2 10 thread, the bubble looks really nice in there. The green striped mushie got the transfer too. Fortunately he left me a baby to grow out in the 55. Bill Link to comment
BibleSue Posted October 30, 2007 Share Posted October 30, 2007 Nice! How deep in your sand in there? I like the simplicity of your other tank. You bubble is showcased there instead of kind of lost in this one. Good idea! I love the bubble & goni I got from C7. I have them in my 10g & they make the tank!!! Keep us posted. Link to comment
varanus37 Posted October 30, 2007 Author Share Posted October 30, 2007 Yeah, the engineer goby moves the sand as he pleases so he ends up piling it rather deeply in the front. It was about 3" evenly around the tank and now its good and high in some spots up front and really thin in some places beneath the rocks. I personally like the look of both tanks. This tank is what I would imagine I'd see if I came upon some rock somewhere in a reef. A fairly even covering of rock with corals spread throughout. Its not a crazy SPS forest although some of those do look amazing. The 1/2 10 is more stark and (possibly) artistic looking although thats not what I was going for. I just wanted it to be simple and I thought the bubble would look nice against the dark sand. Judging by the comments I was right, LOL. Thanks for the input and for looking, Bill Link to comment
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