TJ_Burton Posted June 7, 2008 Author Share Posted June 7, 2008 Well it has been a while since I have posted an update, so I figure it about time I do. Things are looking a lot better, and I am truly impressed with my 6 bulb HOT5 set up! I have also began to add more Magnesium as it was more then a little low (hovering around the 1000 mark). My corals are looking a lot happier, and are starting to regain the color they once had. I have swapped out the 6,700 bulb with another 460nm actinic, and I must say it is leaps and bounds better. I do miss the shimmer a bit, but I am getting used to the fact that it isn't there, and enjoying the coloration of the aquarium. The prop tank should be running soon, and I will finally be able to aquascape my tank the way I envisioned it! I also snapped some shots of my new corals - the ones in the bucket are for the Solana at my office. First the tank shots. And now some of the new corals (as well as my cespit's first stolon!) Thanks for looking! Link to comment
animalrie Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Your tank is beautiful! Why do you have 4 mag-floats, though? Link to comment
j'field Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Wow TJ_Burton, that is one nice looking tank! And also some nice blastos and acans as well! Very colourful! Link to comment
TJ_Burton Posted June 7, 2008 Author Share Posted June 7, 2008 Your tank is beautiful! Why do you have 4 mag-floats, though? The mag-floats are actually modified into frag racks. They are currently holding some frags that I don't really have room for just yet. I am trying to get my prop tank up and running so I can get them all out of there and do some nice coral placement! Wow TJ_Burton, that is one nice looking tank! And also some nice blastos and acans as well! Very colourful! Thanks for the kind words but the tank looks like a mess to me And I actually don't have any blastos! Just acans Link to comment
j'field Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Haha, my mistake. Looks like some blastos from far! But is nice! Link to comment
TJ_Burton Posted June 18, 2008 Author Share Posted June 18, 2008 I just got back from a one week vacation in Alberta, so I will be updating soon. Tank is a bit of a mess right now so I may wait until I get the prop tank running and I clean things up a bit. Link to comment
TJ_Burton Posted June 23, 2008 Author Share Posted June 23, 2008 UPDATE US TJ Sorry for taking so long - been busy setting up the prop tank. I don't have any real updates or photos for my 40 just yet, however my Solana at work has a lot more in it then it did before I left for Alberta! Take a peek! Link to comment
TJ_Burton Posted June 28, 2008 Author Share Posted June 28, 2008 Update time! I finally have something worth posting about, and some pics to follow. My prop tank is fully functional and ready for frags!!! It took me a while to decide on the simplest way to do it, as well as the quietest and most functional way. My biggest road block was the standpipe. I am not sure if anyone remembers the video I posted of my 20L when it was holding all the livestock for the 40br, but it was crazy loud! So I knew one way around that problem was to place a 3" PVC cap with a hole drilled in the top, over top of the 1.5" drain pipe. This really quiets down the pipe, almost silent, but it stops the surface skimming which is a big no-no. So I came up with a solution, borrowing an idea from another hobbyist. I went out and got a 4" PVC cap, and drilled a 1.75" approx hole in it, cut a large notch out of the PVC standpipe, and well - I am sure you will understand better if you just look at the pics so here they are: And one more thing worth mentioning. I got a new clam! A fairly large crocea (actually it is more then twice the size of all my maximas). I wish it photographed well, but it is just one of those things you have to see in person. The crocea looks fairly bland in the photos, but it is actually the nicest violet color I have ever seen! It looks as though it was sprinkled with gold dust, and has a gold border. I will try my best to get nicer shots of it some time, but this is the best I could do for now. To end, a FTS actinics only! Link to comment
Gerber77 Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 Thats a sweet tank. great FTS. Where are youre favorite places for coral?? Local/OnLine Link to comment
TJ_Burton Posted June 28, 2008 Author Share Posted June 28, 2008 Thats a sweet tank. great FTS. Where are youre favorite places for coral?? Local/OnLine I get 99.9% of my stuff local. I have only had livestock shipped to me once, and it was from a hobbyist a couple cities over, so not a long trip at all. Since I am in Canada, the US shippers like clamsdirect etc. wont ship to me. Thanks for the kind words Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 TJ, I have to tell you, you tank is my favorite reef......Besides mine! Great clam, and you have gonads keeping all that livestock and that nem in the 40. Wish I had room for one for my clowns! Sweet Idea on the overflow. I have to show you how I did mine to make it silent and still surface skim on my custom 15h that I spent $500 and ran for 5 months lol. It didnt block snails though, and eventually all the snails were in the sump. Anyone want a custom 15h with a scwd closed loop and a sump? Link to comment
TJ_Burton Posted June 29, 2008 Author Share Posted June 29, 2008 TJ, I have to tell you, you tank is my favorite reef......Besides mine! Great clam, and you have gonads keeping all that livestock and that nem in the 40. Wish I had room for one for my clowns! Sweet Idea on the overflow. I have to show you how I did mine to make it silent and still surface skim on my custom 15h that I spent $500 and ran for 5 months lol. It didnt block snails though, and eventually all the snails were in the sump. Anyone want a custom 15h with a scwd closed loop and a sump? Well, that really means a lot! I know there are a ton of really great tanks on this website I only have the gonads for the livestock I have put in, because I have faith in my system design. I also use as much overkill as I can (within reason) to make up for the fact that I stock my tanks heavily, so that really helps. The drain system I made will block any snails other then babies, and stomatellas. Link to comment
TJ_Burton Posted July 8, 2008 Author Share Posted July 8, 2008 *Update* Alright,so I have been battling two different pest nudibranchs for over 2 months now. I am sure everyone remembers my sps eating nudi thread from a while ago (got some monti eating nudis off of my rainbow monti), and I have to sadly report they came back full force infecting more then half of my montiporas. They managed to infest my Purple Digitata, Unknown encruster, Sunset Montipora, Purple Danae, Green cap frag and Purple Cap. The only montiporas not infected (thank god) were my Palawensis, Toxic Green Cap and Orange Cap. I have moved all the infested montis to the prop system until I am sure the nudibranchs have been eradicated. I have been manually removing them, and the egg clusters I can actually see, for the better part of a week; all adults seem to have perished from the very strong lugols dip. I am not sure how much longer I am going to have keep this up before they are gone, but I am hoping it's sooner then later. On the other hand I have also been dealing with Zoa Nudis... These little bastages have been around for a while and I have finally decided to kick them in the face with a freshwater dip since I have tried just about everything else. I took every last zoa out of my display and dipped each of them in adjusted RO water for 5min. I have never seen so many dead nudibranches in one spot! I also took the time to try and remove whatever egg cases I could see. I am not sure if that battle is over, but I sure do have the upper hand after that FW dip! I spent a little time rearranging the main tank - not sure if I am %100 fond of how it came out so far, but I will take a snap of it later and get some opinions. I also decided that the rainbow bubble is coming out for sure. I just need to convince him to let go of the rock he is on. I will be replacing it with either a bright Red, Blue or Green carpet anemone. They tend to be less of a PITA with corals. The bubble keeps stinging the hell out of everything around it, and it is in prime coral location so I decided enough is enough and it's getting the boot! Alright, I will post pics in a little while. Link to comment
TJ_Burton Posted July 9, 2008 Author Share Posted July 9, 2008 Pics as promised! Here are the pics of the new coral scaping, as well as the full hospital tank. I really need to sit down with my camera manual soon and figure out how the heck to white balance properly, as well as learn how to control exposure better etc. and the recovering montis and zoas Link to comment
SeeDemTails Posted July 9, 2008 Share Posted July 9, 2008 Well, at least you are killing them. Did you try the monti nudi removal method I told you about? A carpet nem would look sweet in your tank. I really wish I have a new in my system, besides the stupid flower I have. Link to comment
TJ_Burton Posted July 9, 2008 Author Share Posted July 9, 2008 Well, at least you are killing them. Did you try the monti nudi removal method I told you about? A carpet nem would look sweet in your tank. I really wish I have a new in my system, besides the stupid flower I have. I haven't tried it yet, but if I see a rash of them again, I certainly will. I would have done it the first time but I was out of glue and I didn't have time to go to the store that evening. Link to comment
TJ_Burton Posted July 13, 2008 Author Share Posted July 13, 2008 So I decided to spend some money today on goodies for the tank, and I was in the mood to add some fish (which is a rarity for me since I usually only care about my corals). I looked at my tank the other day, and I thought to myself "why am I still unhappy with how this looks? I have some pretty nice corals now, the scape is pleasing, I am getting good growth." and I realized what it was... My "reef" doesn't have much action to it. I needed some more fish! So I spent some time trying to figure out what I wanted to put in, a small tang for a while, an angel, etc. Problem being I was looking at fish that would just be one large blob moving about my small reef aquarium. So I just figured I would go down to the LFS and see what they had. After browsing for about an hour and a half, I finally decided. I bought 14 new fish!!! 13 green chromis and an exquisite fairy wrasse. I have kept small groups of chromis before (3-5) and they never lasted too long. Eventually one by one they would pick each other off. This aggression amoungst themselves seemed difficult to get by in small groups, so I said "teh hell with that" and I bought all the chromis they had at the place! The look absolutely amazing schooling amongst the sps. They have brought a very pleasing element of "reef life" to my aquarium. I am really hoping that they do well. Right after acclimating, I figured I would try and feed some cyclopeeze - they went bananas for it! I am glad they are feeding since that is a good sign that they should do well. The wrasse looks very pretty in the tank, but it is pretty much in hiding right now - the Orchid Dotty HELL RAISER OF DOOM seems to want to kick some serious butt right now, hopefully the shear number of new fish will disperse the aggression, otherwise I will have to find a way to take him out of the tank until the newcomers settle in. As for corals, I picked up 3 new sps. A nice yellow/purplish birds nest, a very light pink (hopefully will get darker) stylophora, and a yellow/green acropora sp. maybe milli - not too sure on that one. Pics will come shortly! (I am going to go play with the camera right now) Link to comment
abe Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 hehe nice. that overflow idea is good. they use it alot for ponds. if i'm not mistaken, the 4" pvc pipe ending floats with the water level, correct? Link to comment
glennr1978 Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 I'll definitely be following along now that you added all of those fish!! Not that i wasn't already anyway. I've been wanting to get a school of chromis myself. What do you think, maybe 7 with my little tang, pseudochromis from hell, and 2 small clownfish? That would give me a total of 11 fish so you will still hold the title for most fish ina 40 breeder. Link to comment
TJ_Burton Posted July 13, 2008 Author Share Posted July 13, 2008 hehe nice. that overflow idea is good. they use it alot for ponds. if i'm not mistaken, the 4" pvc pipe ending floats with the water level, correct? It should since it isn't glued down in any way, however there is a little suction which causes it to sit tight. Here are the pics +vid! Chromis: Fairy Wrasse: And some FTS + Vid Link to comment
nanoty Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 Awesome chromis army, ::puts hand to chin and thinks:: Link to comment
iglowce Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 i <3 your school of chromis. for my 30g tall, how many do you think i can get? im thinking 3. or 4. man, one chromis is not pretty at all but a school, they show the true beauty Link to comment
iglowce Posted July 13, 2008 Share Posted July 13, 2008 i am curious. are you using the magnet cleaner to hold the eggcrate? if not, how are you doing that? Link to comment
TJ_Burton Posted July 13, 2008 Author Share Posted July 13, 2008 Awesome chromis army, ::puts hand to chin and thinks:: Yessss an army! Well put i <3 your school of chromis. for my 30g tall, how many do you think i can get? im thinking 3. or 4. man, one chromis is not pretty at all but a school, they show the true beauty i am curious. are you using the magnet cleaner to hold the eggcrate? if not, how are you doing that? Thanks - but to be honest 3 or 4 chromis might not last too long. As I said, I have tried to keep them in groups less then 6 before and they just picked themselves off. You may need to get 6 or 7, but I am not sure how they would fair in a 30g. Really it depends on dimensions I guess. As for the eggcrate, it is super glued to the mag float - I have a walk-through on how to do it in this thread, go to the first page of the thread and there will be a link in the 1st post that takes you to it. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.