Teresa's 10

[varanus37]

Did a WC tonight and got to look in from the top down for a bit. Lots of movement from the shrooms recently. The red zoas have been popping heads off at a good rate recently so that's looking good. I think the kenya tree in the corner is preparing to split as well. I really like these types of coral and loved the monster colt I had in GA. Have to make sure this piece stays a manageable size but I think they look great when they're big and small fish seem to love them. Teresa's newest ric took a little trip to avoid being buried by the pistol but other than that the rics and yuma are staying put pretty well. I adjusted the 2 HOB's so they wouldn't get directly hit and they seem to appreciate that quite a bit.

 

So that's the update.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

17000+ views! Thank you all for tagging along. One of these days I'll get Teresa to actually post in her tank's thread. LoL.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

Scraped the glass, cleaned the HOB's and fiddled with the lights a bit today. Decided to take a few pics while I was at it.

FTS. For some reason it looks a bit washed out. Not alot of height in Teresa's tank but the anthelia is spreading on the right side and that kenya tree is really growing nicely on the left.

 

The red zoas are doing really well and continue to spread.

 

Ric pile.

 

Pink ric off on it's own.

 

Teresa's tank always has ridiculous coralline growth. My 75 has nothing in comparison.

 

New orange shroom fighting it's way to the surface outside the pistol's home.

 

Anthelia on the right.

 

Kenya tree on the left.

 

Closer.

 

Well that's what's going on right now. The CMAS swap is in February so I may pick up a ric or two there for Teresa. I snagged a few deals there the last time around. The JARC swap is also coming up on April 24th so all of you IL people keep your calendars open.

 

We made a new home for the crested gecko and pics are in the 75 thread if any of you reptile nerds are interested.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

2 new frags in this tank today. A beautiful purple monti and a green softie of some sort. I'm looking into info on the softie and will post pics when everything is open and less annoyed. Never had SPS in this tank for any real length of time so I'm very interested to see if it holds the color. It's gorgeous so I hope it does.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

Neon green nepthea is the softie. It was just annoyed from shipping so I couldn't tell what it was. Fluffed out really well once the lights were going and I think it's going to be a focal point in the tank for sure. One of Teresa's rics went out in the swap and these two pieces came in. Not much of a change to the tank as a whole. Both pieces are situated around the center rock. The purple cap is near the red zoas and the nepthea is along the base of the rock. I'll get pics up this weekend.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

Any of you Chicagoland folks going to the CMAS swap on Saturday? If so, I'll be there with a good chunk of the JARC crew coming and going throughout the day as I understand it. Not sure what time we're showing up but probably right around noon. Hope to see you all out there.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

Went to the CMAS swap today and got Teresa some rics. A few nice blue and green mixes. I scored a pink yuma too. Scored a mini-size magnet for scraping the glass the other day. I'll try and get pics up of all the new additions before the Bowl tomorrow.

 

Bill

[latteslave]

Nice setup! Those Red Zoa really took off!

[varanus37]

Thank you. Yeah, they really do well as long as I keep the shrooms from covering them up. The interesting thing is that the base flesh spread under the shrooms and put out heads wherever there was light. All of this growth that we've experienced recently has been heads growing along the flesh that is now exposed to light. It was a really interesting growth pattern.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

The new yuma. Of course this piece is not facing in a way that makes picture taking easy.

 

This picture makes this guy look more yellow but it's really neon green.

 

I moved a few things around and in the process ended up placing this shroom closer to the front pane so now I can get better pics. One of those shrooms that looks insanely different from the front than it does from top-down.

 

The cuke is plowing through the ric garden at the moment so I'll get pics up of those when he's done annoying them all.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

A few new additions to this tank. A friend was breaking down a 28g AIO in order to make a dart frog viv so I traded some reptiles items for some reef items. Ended up with a really nice little clam and a neon green tongue coral. Really need to scrape the glass so pics will come later. For some reason, Teresa's tank grows coralline like mad. My 75 is nowhere near as much.

 

The Coralife quad has flickered a few times here and there so it may be getting close to time for a new light for this tank as well. Undecided at the moment as to what we want to do. Teresa really likes this light so a replacement may be in order but not sure. We'll see.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

Chicago Fish and Coral in Orland Park is having a huge sale. They just installed a new fish display system as well. Went by to check things out and of course didn't come back with anything cool for myself, LoL. I did pick up a sand-sifting star for this tank. Teresa is still undecided on her fish selection for this tank. She's a big fan of her pistol/goby combo but isn't sure about the rest. I think a purple firefish is at the top of her list so we'll see. This is only a 10 gal. so obviously it would be a single fish. She really likes my normal firefish for the color and was impressed by the purples we've seen in some of the local LFS's. We'll see how it goes. I'll try and take some pics of both tanks today.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

Well the sand-sifting star is either purposely dropping legs or has been attacked by the pistol shrimp. I'm looking at a starfish leg right now that is curiously right next to the entrance of the pistol/goby burrow. Didn't see the actual deed go down but I can guess that's what happened. I'll keep an eye out once it's dark and try to catch a sight of the main body.

 

Bill

[mbarton2010]

updates on the tank?

[varanus37]

I do need to get some pics up, sorry about that. No major updates to be honest. The neon green nepthea is growing really nicely as is the kenya tree. The kenya tree has dropped a few babies in it's corner that are doing well but otherwise it's not spreading them around so that's cool. The anthelia were annoyed for a bit there but have experience a bit of a resurgence and it looks as if they're spreading outward toward the toadstool, which has grown a bit but not all that much.

 

The really neat growth has been the monti cap. I put it in this tank because I thought my 75 was experiencing nudi issues (turns out I was wrong, I think it was one of my berghias). It's been slow to develop in this tank as I'm sure the params aren't up to SPS quality at all. We don't test this tank nearly as much and it's super low-maintenance with just regular changing of the HOB's and WC's when they 75 gets changed out. It has started to grow nicely though and has about doubled in size. Nothing crazy, just the size of two frag plugs now instead of one but it is progress.

 

None of the rics have split but all look good and puffed out when the lights are on. They red/pink yuma that we last got has been moving around a bit but I think has settled near the ric pile in the corner.

 

So that's a tank update without pictures, LoL. It's probably boring so I apologize for that and I'll try to get pics up soon.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

So Indira shoved the light into the tank. Looks like we're in the market for something different now. I may try to go MH on this tank just to see what I can do with it. Toss a 150w over it and let the softies soak it up. Not sure what we'll come up with but it'll have to be quick so I'll keep the thread updated on the changes.

 

Bill

[Weetabix7]

Uh oh.

Are the corals looking okay?

Did you get the light out quick enough?

[varanus37]

Yeah, everything looks fine. Teresa was right there when it happened and grabbed it back out quickly. The light was actually still running but she shut it down pretty well immediately and it's been a no-go ever since.

 

Bill

 

So I just posted that last comment then plugged the light in and fired it to see if it would go and it did. It'll keep us going for now but still in the hunt for a replacement.

 

Bill

[Degener8]

sometims it just needs to dry out. 150w Mh fo softies seems like overkill on a 10. Something like a 70w retro or viper maybe more suitable.

[varanus37]

Oh, I know it'd be way overkill. I was hoping to use it to grow that monti out really hard.

 

Turns out this tank may get consolidated into the 75 as opposed to buying a new light and whatnot. Teresa feels like she could get the same enjoyment out of the critters if she watched them in my 75 and I'm really the one who does the maintenance so it would make my task easier. Plus, it eliminates the expense of a new light. The option is on the table at the moment so we'll see how it goes.

 

The 75 may be going through some changes as well. We'll see what happens.

 

Bill

[varanus37]

So this tank was officially combined with the contents of the 75, sad to say. There may be a resurrection of some sort in the future but for now it's been shut down. The 75 is also going to be undergoing some changes in the near future so be watching for that thread to pop up with new pictures and info, probably this weekend.

 

Thank you all for tagging along.

 

Bill