varanus37 Posted October 12, 2009 Author Share Posted October 12, 2009 So the 75 is now plumbed. Went and got PVC glue this time and everything seems to be holding up well. I moved my air pump to a different spot on the overflow and it seems to be getting better suction so now the overflow and return pump are both running full bore. The return pump is actually turned down but it matches the full run of the overflow. The overflow is advertised at 600gph. That's a good turnover for my tank in addition to the 2 Koralias that are in there. I'd like to get an MP40 someday but that's a ways down the road. I don't think I'm SPS heavy enough to require a pump like that. I'm more into montis and encrusters than acro forests so the Koralias work just fine for me. The sump has 2 bags of ceramic reef plugs that I won in a raffle some time ago and a pile of rubble from the move. I went with less rubble bits in the 75 display this time and tried to keep the rock 'scape to the larger, stable pieces. Rubble always freaks me out because of rock slides. Montis have a tendency to break into a million pieces when LR lands on them. The plan is to use a few pieces of that rubble to create the back wall of my pico when that project gets rolling. I wandered through Menards the other day and found the track lighting I'm going to use. Now I just have to figure out where I'm going to put it. More concerned with carpet and paint in the house right now than putting the new tank up but it will definitely get it's space soon enough. The cold months are a great time to work indoors and my pets always get first dibs on my projects. Bill Link to comment
varanus37 Posted October 18, 2009 Author Share Posted October 18, 2009 So I've had my pico tank drilled and hanging out for some time now. I got in on Evil's group buy for his LED Pico lamp and ordered 2 of the 12k version. With the move and all of that craziness everything kinda got put on the back burner. Still trying to decide where exactly this tank is going but I did assemble the lights today and started creating the back wall. I'll be making a thread for this tank in the Pico section so look for me there. At the moment the 75 is in a bit of a cyano fight. My phosphates are a bit high so a water change is in order and then we'll go from there. Everyone still looks good and nothing is fading or freaking out, just looks gunked up with the red slime. Mostly just wanted to update everyone and advertise the new pico tank. I'll get a link put up once the thread is made and the pics are up. Bill Link to comment
Nemo Niblets Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 Organism palys... Where'd you get em?! Link to comment
varanus37 Posted October 18, 2009 Author Share Posted October 18, 2009 I think those came from MrCoral but I honestly don't remember. They're a neat orange color but they're not nearly as big as PD's. They make me think of NG's instead. I like the color of them but I'm not nearly as impressed with them as I thought I'd be. I like NG's better than both those and PD's. Maybe I'm just weird. Bill Link to comment
Nemo Niblets Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 I think those came from MrCoral but I honestly don't remember. They're a neat orange color but they're not nearly as big as PD's. They make me think of NG's instead. I like the color of them but I'm not nearly as impressed with them as I thought I'd be. I like NG's better than both those and PD's. Maybe I'm just weird. Bill I got a purple death polyp in my tank and it's really ugly looking in my PCs. But I think it's coloring up a bit. Link to comment
varanus37 Posted October 18, 2009 Author Share Posted October 18, 2009 Yeah my PD's were annoyed so they were more tan than purple for awhile. Now that they're happy they're a nice light purple. I'm hoping to get new bulbs over the holidays and I'd like to see the PD's darken up a bit. My NG's and those Organism palys have been blindingly bright since the day I got them. Bill Link to comment
varanus37 Posted October 23, 2009 Author Share Posted October 23, 2009 29000+ views! Thanks for tagging along. Did a good WC today after fighting some cyano and it looks like things have cleared up nicely. Still fiddling with the overflow and pump rates but I think we're good to go now. The filefish is doing well and I'm getting pretty low on aiptasia. He's still eating brine and other frozen food just fine. I think I'll be moving my cynarina due to the change in flow from the return pump so maybe I'll be able to get better pics of it now. Bill Link to comment
varanus37 Posted October 25, 2009 Author Share Posted October 25, 2009 Random pic from tonight. Bill Link to comment
varanus37 Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 So I took plenty of pics today after some glass scraping. You can finally see the blue rim of the clam in these. The Filefish. Got some interesting ones of the six-line. Check out the lips on this little lady. And her fella. His Duncan. This guy seems to be doing really well, maybe a bit much flow here though. The view from the right side of the tank. Weird color change on this colony. This isn't the best picture of this coral but check out the polyp coverage. I seem to get tons of polyps on my monti pieces for some reason. Standard starving acans. And the micro too. Really bright shot of the war coral. The watermelon is doing really well and keeping good color. Neat pic of the brain. Love the feather duster. Furry as all get-out. I have successfully grown an acro and here is the proof, LoL. Montis. Assorted polyps. And that's the picture bundle. Bill Link to comment
Awolfa Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Love the variety in your tank thanks for sharing Link to comment
varanus37 Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 That's not even close to all of it, LoL. My wife and I were just discussing that today. I've got a frag jumble going right now and have been rebuilding pretty much since we moved back to IL from GA. With the assortment I have now though it should be really nice when things grow out. Now that we bought the house and can leave everything alone for awhile I hope to get growth similar to what I had in GA. If that's the case I'll be running out of real estate quickly. Bill Link to comment
varanus37 Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 So I think the bulb upgrade is coming around/for Christmas. Still wandering around looking at fish options though. I think I'd like to add a pair of gobies next. Not sure if I want perchers or shrimp-types. We'll see what I can come up with. Bill Link to comment
varanus37 Posted October 26, 2009 Author Share Posted October 26, 2009 Thank you. Bill Link to comment
spanko Posted October 26, 2009 Share Posted October 26, 2009 Is that byropsis in the background?? Link to comment
varanus37 Posted October 27, 2009 Author Share Posted October 27, 2009 Solid chance. My tank and I have been disagreeing on it's algae content for some time now. WC's and running the skimmer full crank are helping the tank to see things my way. Bill Link to comment
varanus37 Posted November 17, 2009 Author Share Posted November 17, 2009 CUC critters arrived today from LA. Nassarius, Astreas, Scarlet hermits, a serpent star, a cuke, an emerald crab, and 2 lettuce nudis. Hopefully this will be the recharge my crew has needed. I've still got quite a few snails in there but they're all very large and breed regularly so I'm wondering how much longer I'll have them. I've also dwindled down on the blue leg hermits over time with their infighting and snail killing tactics so I'm glad to have more scarlets. I like them much better. Haven't had a serpent since we lived in GA so that's another fun addition. They're always kewl to watch come feeding-time. I was looking in the tank today when I was opening bags and I think I'm going to do some top-down shots of this tank the same as I recently did for Teresa's 10. Be on the lookout for those soon. I'm doing HAZWOPER training this week so I get to work days, should be some evening time open for pics. Bill Link to comment
PBUEHH Posted November 20, 2009 Share Posted November 20, 2009 I enjoy your photos bill, keep em coming. I epsecialy liked the acans and that last colony of palys. Link to comment
varanus37 Posted November 20, 2009 Author Share Posted November 20, 2009 Thank you. Teresa really made a good choice when she went for that green acan and I've been fortunate to luck into some neat polyps. Can't wait to have things grow out and cover a bit more, should be some really nice splotches of color throughout the tank. Bill Link to comment
varanus37 Posted November 21, 2009 Author Share Posted November 21, 2009 No top-downs today but I was cleaning the glass and decided to get some pics. I was playing with the magnifying lens so some pics are a little blurry. Brain and clown. Nice blue. Some more blue/purple. Always hungry. Thought this looked neat because it looks like there's nothing in the background of the snail. It's actually crawling up the front glass. Interesting polyp shot. Hard to get how green these tendrils are compared to that purple flesh. I'm a big fan of montis and the polyps have alot to do with it. I like these macro shots and montis provide for some neat opportunities to get details on polyps. Obviously this shot is lacking in the detail but I dig the orange. This is actually a superman that had it's base turn almost black it was so dark and now the polyp coverage is so dense I'm not sure what color the skin is. It looks light blue whenever the crabs annoy it or something makes the PE recede. And here's what I think was the best shot. Just some pics to share. Things are going well with the 75. The Miami Orchid appears to be growing a bit and the tips are very purple right now but hard to catch in pics. Another of my acros has a nice green flesh with red/rust colored polyps and appears to be doing very well. I angled the Koralia on the right side of the tank so that it runs right over top of the LR, almost directly into it. The SPS are loving the change and everyone has really good PE. Other than that no major changes recently. Slower growth on the SPS recently but I would attribute that to water conditions and the algae fight. The softies are spreading and putting out polyps at a fair rate and the LPS seem to be doing so as well. The LPS in my tank seem to grow in spurts rather than at a regular rate. The micro in these pics has popped out probably a dozen baby heads this last week and one of my acans has popped 4 new heads in the last week right along with it. The green edge of the watermelon chalice is down around it's frag plug now and the favia is slowly spreading down to the clam shell that the colony is sitting on. That particular coral has grown really slowly for me. Eats well and has always maintained nice color, just not a big grower. So that's my update. I'd like to upgrade bulbs for Christmas or add a herbivorous fish to the mix. Doesn't have to be a tang or anything huge, maybe just a small blenny. We'll see. Bill Link to comment
imcosmokramer Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 No top-downs today but I was cleaning the glass and decided to get some pics. I was playing with the magnifying lens so some pics are a little blurry.Brain and clown. love it. Link to comment
ap123 Posted November 21, 2009 Share Posted November 21, 2009 These are amazing photos. I'm now hanging my head in shame at the pics I just posted on my own thread. Link to comment
varanus37 Posted November 21, 2009 Author Share Posted November 21, 2009 I like that one too. My male clown looks ridiculously dark in that pic. That picture is actually taken level. The brain is listing to one side, haha. Thank you for the compliment. I think there are quite a few photogs floating around this site who would make my shots look sad but I try. Most of it is luck and taking way more pictures than I post here. Bill Link to comment
varanus37 Posted November 27, 2009 Author Share Posted November 27, 2009 I was just recently made President of the Joliet Area Reef Club (JARC). Pretty proud of that so thought I'd share here. You can check us out at www.jolietareareefclub.com if you'd like. Bill Link to comment
Needreefunds Posted November 27, 2009 Share Posted November 27, 2009 Sweet shots Bill! Congratulations Mr. President! Nice job. Link to comment
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