Oceanic Angles

[varanus37]

Missed a fish pic. And you may notice no pics of the engineer goby. He's a hider and just wasn't posing today.

 

Shroom from wildernesstank...already has two baby heads.

 

Hot pink echino. purplish new growth on it though.

 

Feather duster that's been here since the start.

 

Cherry Double Edge zoas from Mvite.

 

Green Funk palys from Mvite.

 

Group shot of a bunch of stuff. Candy cane, green shroom, Cherry Double Edge, Pink zoas, Elephant ear, some kind of hairy shroom, and xenia...that's galaxea there in the corner too.

 

My galaxea cluster...see I have a head of this that came off that's bigger than the mystery coral when it started. And I mean the whole colony started out smaller than that one head. So I don't think it's galaxea.

 

Green shroom

 

Scarlet hermit on the green cap

 

The last round will be close-up shots.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

Close-ups

 

Superman Monti

 

Purple Cap w/ blue polyps

 

Tyree Strawberry Patch...kinda blurry but shows the polyp coverage well.

 

Hydno I got in the last swap. Doing wonderfully and encrusting down the rock.

 

Feather Duster from earlier.

 

Hairy Shroom, it's hard to see but there are lots of colors in there. Oranges and greens. Very kewl piece.

 

That's all she wrote for this one. More pics after the swap to show my new stuff and placement after I ship things out.

 

Bill

[Needreefunds]

Everything looks fantastic Bill !

 

Great stuff!

[varanus37]

Thank you.

 

Bill

[c est ma]

Wow, sweet pics! You have some gorgeous stuff in there and the shots are amazing. Sure seems like you didn't have much trouble with things adapting to the new light.

 

I can't believe the growth on that mystery coral! Great job nurturing that one.

 

I love the color pattern on that clown.

 

--Diane

[varanus37]

Yeah, the mystery coral is going strong still. It's starting to grow down the epoxy onto the rock around it. I'm excited about it.

 

That clown has been hard to find a friend. My LFS got some tiny babies in just recently but they sold in a flash and I missed out. The guy was good enough to tell my that I missed them though .

 

Thanks for followin' along.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

5000 views! Double the views of my other tank and 11 times the water volume!

 

Bill

[varanus37]

So a coral I just got may have been exposed to AEFWs. I don't have acropora in my tank but I do have a number of montipora and one other SPS. So, I dipped it in FW for 2 minutes and swished the crap out of it. Got a bunch of dead pods, several dead stars and one flatworm looking guy. Doesn't look like the pics I've found online but I thought I'd put it up for you all to see and judge. If it looks horrible let me know. It's on a zoa frag so I'm not that worried but if they get an appetite for some monti it will be war.

For size reference here are the 2 original pics. It was just a normal lil rubbermaid buttertub.

 

 

And here is zoomed in as best my cam can do.

 

 

Like I said, plenty of other critters and just this one suspicious looking fellow. Let me know what ya think. I think no but I'm no acro expert either. I don't even like them, haha.

 

Thanks for lookin'.

 

Bill

[Weetabix7]

It's hard to say for sure, but that guy looks a little suspicious to me.

It wouldn't hurt to check with some of the Socali folks like ezcompany and SbCaes, they'd know.

I'm gonna go look up some pics myself right now.

[varanus37]

Do they only eat acro? I don't know much about them to be honest. That was the only guy I got off and I think if I'd have shaken it or jetted it any harder I'd have knocked polyps off. I got a bunch of other critters but that was the only thing even close to a flatworm. I've seen pics where they can be really tiny but there wasn't even that much miscellaneous sand and particulates. You'd think if there were babies or eggs it would at least appear as dirt or sand. Dunno. I'll keep an eye on everything though. Haven't had any problems so far. Everything is open and doing fine. There was even a polyp or two open when the rock was sitting in fresh water, haha. Resilient lil buggers.

 

Better question, does anything eat them?

Bill

[Weetabix7]

This may be of interest:

 

http://www.3reef.com/forums/coral-diseases...eggs-45006.html

 

http://www.zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11576

[c est ma]

Meanwhile, I was finding pics here:

 

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthre...threadid=756327

 

--Diane

 

From the 1st post on the 2nd pg of that thread:

 

FWIW a guy in my reef club was playing with these flatworms. He says it takes them 5 days with no acro's to die. They will not touch pocillipora or digitata either.

 

If I remember correctly ...14 days for the worms to hatch and another month or longer before they get big enough to see with the naked eye. They can reproduce before they are visable also.

 

Nothing kills the eggs either and they will lay eggs on soft corals and rocks as well so you are NOT safe if you just scrape the eggs off dead coral areas and dip the coral! You MUST QT all incomming corals for 3 MONTHS to be sure you do not introduce them into your system!

[varanus37]

Interesting about the camel shrimp. Some have had success with them and others have seen disasters occur. A few of those posts said the shrimp ignored their coral entirely but those shrimp were fairly well fed. Another post said the shrimp ate the coral polyps, flesh and all. Not much of a trade-off for the potential losses. From what I've read though the worms are solely acro eaters. Takes 5 days or so for them to die with no acro in the tank. I should be good even if I do have them. Don't have acro and wasn't planning on gettin any. Even if I should receive some in the frag swap, I've got another tank .

 

I'm going to try dipping in some Lugols and see if I can get some more gunk to fall off the rock. Maybe I'll spot something in the leftovers.

 

On a side note, all polyps are open this morning on that rock.

 

Bill

[Weetabix7]

When you dip in the Lugol's, try 1 drop Lugol's to 1 cup tankwater for around 3 mins.

If you use FW for the dip, watch the palys closely and maybe only dip for 2 mins. since those particular palys get more stressed by FW dips than most zoas.

Actually, I've heard recently that PE's don't handle iodine dips all that well either, so exercise caution.

[varanus37]

Will do. Thanks for the info. Like I said before, there were polyps open in the FW while I was dipping. Pretty resilient lil guys. Everyone is open today and looks fine. I expect my mandarin will demolish whatever little critters are left on that rock. He's a very thorough picker.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

So Teresa spotted one of my tiny snails releasing I think sperm into the water yesterday. It was at night so I couldn't get a decent pic of it. If you check the pics that show the baby conch, it's the same type of snail that is in that pic. I've got bunches of them in the tank but this is the first time I've seen the active reason why I have bunches of them. .

 

Moved the large shelf rock on the right for cleaning purposes and after some shifting decided to leave it turned. I'll post pics tomorrow. It puts the strawberry patch a bit more in the path of the halides but still not directly. It also puts the Grandis palys toward the back of the tank as opposed to the side. They'll get more light this way.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

So I moved some stuff around to make room for growing corals and to get some stuff into lower flow areas that needed it.

 

Here's an FTS in 2 halves.

 

 

Showing the new placement of the galaxea cluster...now well over baseball size.

 

Not quite clear but you can see both frags of the purple undata here. I'm hoping that the frag that is facing the camera will grow in an interesting pattern with the way its placed.

 

A close-up of those frags

 

New spot for the green sativa micro

 

Candy cane and frogspawn still under the halide but much lower now and in lower flow.

 

You'll notice that you can't see the Duncan or the Grandis palys in the FTS shots. That's because with the shelf rock on the right turned the way it is they're now facing toward the back of the tank. I think it's kewl because when they're extended their tops are visible from the front of the tank and from the side of the tank they are completely visible. The Duncan is also in a spot now where the 3rd head will be able to grow outward and not hit rock. Another change was the rock full of palys that used to be where the galaxea is now. That rock was placed down behind the green cap in the back of the cave under the shelf rock. The fish like to frequent that cave but the back of it is open to almost direct halide contact. I figured those palys could stay back there and just grow wild as they want. It can be seen from the side view of the tank and will make the fish more comfortable with more hiding spaces.

 

I'll get more close-up shots tomorrow when the halides are back on. I really like these 14k's.

 

Bill

[c est ma]

Sweet! I'm trying to imagine a tank that needs 2 shots to get the fts!

 

Take some of the side view, too, so I can visualize what you're talking about.

 

I would agree that that light is a huge improvement, esp. in the colors of your pics. Love the galaxia.

 

--Diane

[varanus37]

It would probably only take one if I could just stand right where my dining room table is. I have to work around it so I take 2 shots. I'll try to get some of the side view today when the halides are on. The polyps should be less angry and filling up that back area nicely.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

So I moved the frogspawn out of the tank today. I had seen my pep up on the rock near it before but wasn't sure it was bothering it. This morning early when the LEDs were still on I saw the pep picking at the spawn now that it's low and easier to get at. The spawn got moved to Harry's 1/2 10g. It's near the cats eye zoas in the corner. Moderate flow there and moderate light so should be good for a frogspawn. I may move it to a corner with a bit less light but for right now it looks like a good spot for it.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

Side shots as per request. Also some misc. shots of things going on in the tank right now.

 

Lookin in a bit further over the top of that shelf rock.

 

Lookin over the top of the toxic flonk chalice at the cave the engineer goby has dug.

 

Better pic of that cave he's dug under the hammer.

 

Polyps visible from the side. That's the back of the fish cave made by that shelf rock.

 

Same polyps thru the cave.

 

Little closer

 

Random climber from the side shots

 

Starting to finish out the zoa garden around the feather duster. Pinks from Weetabix

 

Closer

 

So you can see how the shelf rock is situated. You can see the Duncans and Grandis in the back.

 

The back side

 

Duncans with heads and new stalk growth

 

Grandis with baby heads.

 

Remember the 3 polyps of RPE I got from Mvite?

 

Side shot of some babies of that.

 

A scarlet hermit was sitting on this cap for like 3 days. He would move a bit but basically stayed there. There's alot of flow in between these caps and he was just grabbing bits of stuff that landed on the cap. This is the result.

 

So that's how things are situated right now. I'll be sending some frags out next week and receiving some frags as well. I'll put more pics up after that or if anything significant should happen before then.

 

Bill

[Weetabix7]

Yay, my babies!!! I'm glad they're doing well.

Those greyish blue zoas with the green skirts in the center look familiar too.

I'm really glad you like the new light, I think your tank looks better with it.

[varanus37]

They should. They're from the kitchen. Not exactly fresh but still from the kitchen. And yeah I'm a huge fan of the new light.

 

Bill

[dshnarw]

Looks nice! I like how you have stuff on the backside as well - very natural looking.

[varanus37]

Thank you. That's what I was going for. Not everything in the real reef is up front and visible to a diver or passing fish/predator. I like finding things you didn't expect to be there or at least watching visitors find those things that I've placed there. I don't use crazy expensive or flashy stuff for the backside or cave stuff but that's not what you buy the expensive flashy stuff for. Just plain polyps and stuff that I know will eventually grow to where I can readily view it without searching or using some crazy angle. Should look great with a little time and luck.

 

Bill