From Wence it came...

[Wence]

It's been a couple years since I gave away my last tank to a friend when I moved across the country for work (it was the third, and probably not the last one I'll have to part with). Having finally settled into the new area and job, I decided it was time to immerse myself once again in one of my favorite hobbies.

 

When I started the tank at the beginning of June 2010, I had a very clear plan for what the tank would have in it based on my previous experience. Unfortunately, making plans is an invitation for chaos, and like most other things, nothing has gone quite the way I expected. The setup was pretty typical and uneventful. I'd made a friend here with a 240 gallon setup who was willing to "donate" some live rock and sand to my startup endeavors, so the initial cycle was over within a couple weeks. Being patient as the hobby demands, I added my CUC and took joy in the simple pleasures of watching the snails and hermit crabs doing their thing for a while.

 

One of the things I have done with my last two tanks is gotten a frag of something I had growing in the tanks that came before them and had to be left behind. Unfortunately, for the first time in starting a new one, the original tank that my parents kept growing up was gone, but thankfully both one of the other tanks still had something from it growing in them. So, among my first few corals were items from tanks I had kept in the past: a colony of Green Star Polyps and Silver Xenia (initially propogated in my parents' 55 gallon started in 1991), some Green Hairy Mushrooms (from a rock I got in the late '90s in college) and a piece of branching rock with Magician's Zoanthids (from a colony I bought in 2003).

 

Of course, when the end of June rolled around, I discovered my LFS was going out of business and needed to sell everything in a hurry. Having already received the Green Hairy Mushroom rock, which had been doing fine for a few days, I nevertheless was wary and decided to just try a colony of Zoanthids and a small frag of Blastomussa Wellsi despite the myraid of dirt cheap corals screaming at me to buy them. When a few weeks later I decided to go and see what was still left, I found the tanks in disarray, and surprisingly a lot of stuff still left. Scheduled to be closed in just 5 days and with most of the tanks already broken down and emptied, the owner made me a deal I couldn't refuse and I ended up with the vast majority of the other corals (and a most of the inverts) in my list for $100 (I'd paid $40 for the Blastomussa and Zoas I'd gotten the previous trip in).

 

In any case, while it could have been a huge disaster of my own design, thankfully everything worked out, my parameters stayed at zero, and I didn't even get much of an algae bloom. About a week after the corals, I bought my first fish, a Sixline Wrasse, to eat the 'pods running rampant in my tank. In the last two weeks, I have added the remainder of the stock, and everything continues to look happy and healthy.

 

So, without further ado, here's my setup and some pictures. I hope you enjoy!

 

Setup:

 

JBJ NanoCube 28 Gallon with default LED hood

-Using custom media basket with:

Chamber 1- Filter floss

Chamber 2- Purigen

Chamber 3- Chaeto (JBJ LED magnetic refugium light)

-JBJ ATO system with "Aqua Lifter" pump

-2x Vortech MP10 EcoSmart (initially forgot to mention this )

-AquaMaxx HOB Protein Skimmer (replaced JBJ stock skimmer 18AUG10)

 

 

Livestock:

 

Corals

-Various Zoanthid Colonies (Magician's, Eagle Eye, Safecracker, Candy Apple Pink, Dragon Eye, Fire & Ice among others)

-Blastomussa Wellsi

-Acanthastrea Ecinata

-Favites (not sure what kind)

-Green Star Polyps

-Green & Brown Hairy Mushroom Rocks

-Red Mushrooms (Actinodiscus)

-Red & Blue Mushrooms (Rhodactis)

-Xenia (one silver colony and a couple brown)

-Toadstool Mushroom

-Taro Tree Leather

-Kenya Tree Leather

-Green Palys

-Mystic Sunset Montipora (beautiful frag from FraggleReef.com)

-Various Ricordea Yuma (from FraggleReef.com)

-Green Porite Coral with Christmas Tree Worms

-Fungia

-Trumpet

 

Inverts

-Porcelain Anemone Crabs

-Emerald Crab

-Skunk Cleaner Shrimp

-Peppermint Shrimp

-Staghorn Hermit Crab

-Pom Pom Crab

-Blue-Leg Hermit Crabs

-Astrea Snails

-Cerith Snails

 

Fish

-Six-Line Wrasse

-Dracula Goby pair (with Candy Cane Pistol Shrimp)

-S'more/Black Ice Clownfish (a pair from hyperboy)

-Starry Blenny

-ORA Spotted Mandarin Goby

 

FTS 19DEC10

 

FTS 22OCT10

 

FTS 06SEP10

 

FTS 18AUG10

 

FTS 01AUG10

 

FTS 16JUL10

 

FTS 01JUL10

 

FTS 06JUN10

[Fishtails]

Nice tank. Is that a MP10 in the back? How do you like it on the tank.

[Wence]

Nice tank. Is that a MP10 in the back? How do you like it on the tank.

 

Thanks. Yes, that is an MP10 on the back. It's nice and quiet, but very strong, so I usually leave it on one of lower power settings at the back of the tank to eliminate the dead zone (and build up of debris) where the stock pumps don't circulate water well. It has the EcoSmart system on it, but I've never played around with it too much since everything seems happy with the way things are.

 

The other equipment omission I forgot to include was everything is running on a Neptune Systems AquaController with the Apex Base Unit. While it was pricey, it is very inuitive and easy to use, and having the ability to monitor everything remotely or get a warning (with the ability to shut things off manually) if something is going awry is great.

[Wence]

Some pictures of the new stuff added yesterday (17AUG10):

 

Clownfish, Chalices & Mystic Sunset Montipora

 

Ricordea Yuma

 

Staghorn Hermit Crab (hopefully I can keep his coral alive...)

 

 

And a couple of the additions from the week before-

 

Male Dracula Goby and Candy Cane Pistol Shrimp

 

Female Dracula Goby protecting eggs from a my voracious pair of Cleaner Shrimp

[Wence]

With the exception of a big rock of Green Porites with Xmas Tree Worms and a Pom Pom Crab that I added on 20AUG10 and a few frags I picked up while I was visiting some friends in the Bay Area, there haven't been any new additions.

 

Upper View

 

The female Dracula Goby is definitely laying eggs again, and this time she's picked a spot where the Cleaner Shrimp can't get to her (I've tried to get a shot, but shinging a light in her cubby hole really upsets her, and it's not easy). Speaking of the Cleaner Shrimp, the female is packed full of eggs and has been for almost two weeks. Maybe being a fellow mother will make her a little more sympathetic, but the realiy is they're both just making food since my tank isn't setup for breeding. It's interesting to see that the Dracula Goby adandons the tunnel system (and the male goby and pistol shrimp) when she lays the eggs.

 

Just Hatch Already...

 

My Staghorn Hermit Crab figured out how to climb today after about a month in the tank. Previously, he had been confned to a "run" on the left side of the tank, but now that he knows there's more to life than a sand bed, there's no stopping his exploration of the tank. The "shell" gets spot fed every day, and so far everything looks great and it always has its feeders out. A very fun addition to the tank that I'd been worried about. A month is hardly any time, but I'm hopeful I can keep the crab and his home alive and well.

 

King of the Hill

 

Hitting a Glass Wall

 

There were three minor disasters since the last update as well. One of the Clownfish swam through the grating and got in the back of the NanoCube. Thankfully he seemed eager to be rescued and let me put him back where he belongs and has been fine. The other two problems were related to somebady redecorating the tank. I've seen the Emerald Crab pushing on rocks several times, so I suspect it is the culprit, but I still blame myself for not securing things well enough. Anyway, the first time some zoas were knocked over on top of my xenia on the bottom, and while both of those pieces were fine, while putting things back together I put a plug of another colony of zoas up top next to my GSP and forgot about them overnight. They ended up with some white spots, but after a few days, they were back to normal. The other redecorating party was a little more serious and the bigger Tree Leather ended up on top of my colony of Blastomussa while I was at work. Two heads were showing skeleton and had extensive damage, but they are slowly healing (one is almost back to normal).

 

The clownfish from hyperboy are still doing great despite the little adventure the one had. I'm hoping they decide to host one of the large colonies of hairy mushrooms (or even some xenia) eventually. So far they don't seem particularly attached to anything or anyplace in the tank. They remain sociable and eat well though, so I guess I can't expect too much too soon.

 

Here's the current FTS:

 

Thank you for looking, and I'd appreciate any comments or questions!

[DaneMarx]

This tank is breathtaking!! TOTM kind of material! Wow! :-D

[Wence]

This tank is breathtaking!! TOTM kind of material! Wow! :-D

 

Thanks for the compliment! It's nice to actually get some feedback on the tank. With all the amazing member tanks on these forums, I'm not holding my breath on the TOTM, but maybe someday once things have grown out.

[Wence]

For my birthday, my friends got me some new corals and a fish. It was a nice surprise, but the tank is starting to get really crowded. They had asked me about a few types of coral, so I had a feeling they would be buying something, but I had insisted on no new fish. Anyway, here's the new stuff:

 

Starry Blenny and Tyree True Undata

 

Fungia... the picture doesn't do it justice, it's very bright orange with yellow and green tentacles

 

Mushroom Rock

 

Everything is doing well and the Fungia surprised me by being a rather voracious eater on the first day. The Starry Blenny is just huge though. It's hard to be upset with someone who is trying to do something nice, but I'm not so sure the tank can handle another fish. I'd seen the Starry Blenny when I was visiting this particular friend earlier in the summer and mentioned what a cool personality it had, so they bought him. I guess I'll play it by ear. One of my friends locally has a 240 gallon tank that he'd be fine in if it doesn't work out.

[Wence]

The tank is still going strong. At the end of October, I had to travel fo week to be in a friend's wedding across the country, and of course I came home to a minor disaster. Several rocks got knocked around by the person taking care of my tank, and they did not bother fixing things, so there was some chemical warfare and a few casualties. My orange fungia had my lager colony of blastomussa land on it and sit there for at least the day before I got home. The fungia was beyond hope, but the colony of blastos is still alive (minus a few heads), but has never fully recovered. The other blasto colony was face down in the sand and has lost a few heads as well, and now has some sort of red algae growing in it that I can't get rid of. It makes me scared to go out of own again. The Staghorn hermit crab also disappeared, and while his hydroid coral continues to thrive, I've never seen another sign of the crab itself (I got a new one about 6 weeks ago who is doing great though).

 

There have been a few new additions, most notably a clam and an ORA Spotted Mandarin I just got yesterday who is still not eating. Anyway, there's an updated FTS and a couple shots of the new guys.

 

FTS 19DEC10

 

Deresa Clam

 

ORA Spotted Mandarin Goby

[DudE31]

tank looks great that one ric looks unreal

[cameraman_2]

Your tank looks awesome.

[Mini-Dude]

O love the Daresa Clam it's so pretty. Also love the ORA Spotted.