The Dude Abides.

[Dooderino]

Well it's just over 9 months. I have gotten some pretty good deals IMO. Well they might not be good deals but I bought them either way. I started dosing Magnesium. The tank seems to be doing ok. I sold my Copperband. It wasn't attracted to the aptasia. I might get some peppermint shrimp later. I have been leaning towards invertebrates. I like the little critters. So I'm thinking about getting some different hermits, maybe a variety of shrimp. I'm not sure yet. I need to research what is compatible. I have also be on the look out for another fish. Oreo my B&W clown needs to find a new home. He is always being picked on. He does well and holds his own but he needs to go. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a Bluespot Jawfish. It will be my first expensive fish. I hope it does ok. No plans on it's arrival because I need to find Oreo a new home and scale back on some of my coral.

 

Well on to the pictures...

FTS

Right

Left

FTS w/flash

New Palys

Reddish Pink Zoas

Some new zoas, not sure what they are called. They have a light yellow center.

Flaming Star Zoa

The small Anemone Crab in his favorite position.

Huge green striped 'shroom

You can see some of my gorgonian, yellow polyps, blue mushrooms.

Side angle. Nice picture for a flash.

Home Sweet Home, you can see the flaming star in the background.

Sun coral w/ the big Anemone crab

Yellow polyps

Oreo

Gilbert

I think this is the first good picture of these Palys

[Dooderino]

Random shot.

Not sure what the brown coral is that is under the Fiji but it is growing!

Trapeziid Crab, It's name is Raabe, after the couple that named the species.

Soul mates

This is my favoite picture of the day, Gorgonian feeders.

[divecj5]

Congrats on making it 9 months....so when is she due

 

Tank looks great and I really liked the sequence of shots showing where it all started up until now. Definitely come a long way and just looks nice and healthy.

 

How are your SPS doing? Do you just have the one acro?

 

By the way, that last shot of the gorg feeding is a stunner.

[Dooderino]

Congrats on making it 9 months....so when is she due

 

Tank looks great and I really liked the sequence of shots showing where it all started up until now. Definitely come a long way and just looks nice and healthy.

 

How are your SPS doing? Do you just have the one acro?

 

By the way, that last shot of the gorg feeding is a stunner.

I have a small piece of birdsnest, and another frag that I just glued. I'm thinking about upgrading lights again so I might increase the acro after that.

[Dooderino]

I traded Oreo and some other excess corals into a LFS for a Royal Gramma. So far it is really doing well. It is younger and actually a little smaller than my Percs.No aggressiveness at all. My LFS should be getting some BSJ in today. I might also pick up a small firefish. They have some young ones at the LFS and I like to watch things grow. I will post pics tonight if I get some new inhabitants.

[Dooderino]

I suck at the intraweb.

[Dooderino]

Well as it turns out the LFS didn't get the fish in till yesterday. I also rescued some fish from a friend that was moving. I'm going to trade them in for credit. I did get the firefish last week. Tiny little guy. Cute as all get out. He disappeared for a few days and thought he was a gonner but he has been hiding in the pvc hole I built for the bluespot.

 

My plans with the bluespot is to cut the bottom of a 2 liter bottle and use it at a funnel to point the new bluespot to it's new home. That's the plan anyways. Wish me luck.

 

I also witnessed my mandarin eating pellets. So I have taken it the next level and started to use the baster to locate the pellets in a specific place in the tank. So far it eats about 10 pellets a day. Weird. It is kind of a pain in the butt but he seems to like them. The hardest part is feeding the other fish, crabs, and shrimp first. I found that my acro crab likes a pellet too.

 

I saw both my pom pom crabs out together again too. One has a clutch of eggs too! You never know!

 

I have noticed a little more algae growth than usual lately as well. So once a week I buy a new bulb and in a few weeks I will have new lights again. I also took the LR out of chamber 2 and shook the crap out of it in some siphoned water. Changed the Chemi-pure out and cleaned the back chamber floors. I cleaned the pumps while they we're out. Hopefully that fixes it.

 

I will post some pictures of the changes later then sooner. My PC is having issues.

 

Thanks for looking!

[Dooderino]

So I picked up the new Blue Spotted Jawfish yesterday. I installed the gutter guard modification to keep him out of the back chambers and drilled 10 half inch holes in the access lid for cooling purposes. All while he was getting used to my water.

 

Then I took the sterilized 2 liter bottle and cut the lid off leaving a hole about 1 inch in diameter. I cut the bottom almost all the way off to keep it like a flip top. I inserted the bottle and put the small hole over the pvc hole/cave I built. I then flipped open the lid and placed the fish in the bottle.

Seemed like everything was on track. I put a rock on top of the bottle and walked away to let the BSJ settle down.

 

After an hour I came back and found that the BSJ had not taken to the hole. Hmm. So I pulled him out of the bottle flipped it upside down after taking the bottom completely off and put the BSJ back in the bottle. Now he had the hole and about 2 inches all around it to work with. I walked away for another hour.

 

When I returned I noticed that he had not moved. The firefish had come out of the hole but the BSJ had no interest in the home I made for it. So I reached in and removed the bottle. Instantly the firefish dove back in the hole. At least some one is going to use it. The BSJ slowly went into the rock cave. The rock cave is a natural cave I made using a rock with a bowl shape. My brittle star had taken up residency for the last 2 weeks. The BSJ (I'm going to name him Bob) almost instantly began to clean the cave. All the sand that was in there was spit out the front door. Then Bob started to use the rubble and shells I placed around the hole and built himself a wall. It took him about an hour but he finally convinced the brittle star to leave. This was a specticle in it's self. Bob tried really hard to be nice and move the star fish out one leg at a time. It was very entertaining. After about 2 hours he was tucked in his cave and defending the entrance from all crabs and snails. He actually picks up the small hermits and snails and moves them away.

 

When I woke up this morning he was still in his cave with the door shut. Very neat fish. I highly recommend a Jawfish to anyone that love to see action in the tank. I couldn't be happier with this decision.

 

Happy reefing!

[Cali-girl]

hey dood! (remember that show on Nickolodeon?)

 

very interesting about the jawfish. Never really knew about them until you posted. Looked it up and they seem like a really cool fish. I was wanting to add another to my tank, but wanted one that wouldn't compete with the other inhabitants in there now. I'll have to look into them a little more.

 

great pictures! you upgraded the lights on your cube, but do you have any advice on different bulbs for the stock set up? Time to replace mine and I want to brighted it up a little if possible.

[Gerber77]

Im glad you like the BSJ. Jawfish are great to watch and add a lot of personality to the tank. Youre tank looks great and you have a lot of really good growth.

[Dooderino]

hey dood! (remember that show on Nickolodeon?)

 

very interesting about the jawfish. Never really knew about them until you posted. Looked it up and they seem like a really cool fish. I was wanting to add another to my tank, but wanted one that wouldn't compete with the other inhabitants in there now. I'll have to look into them a little more.

 

great pictures! you upgraded the lights on your cube, but do you have any advice on different bulbs for the stock set up? Time to replace mine and I want to brighted it up a little if possible.

The BSJ can be a bit pricey but the Pearly/Yellowhead Jawfish is a good alternative for about 1/3 the cost. My LFS has one in their show tank that is pretty cool. I tried one awhile back and the first one went onto the filter pad in chamber 2 and the second one died a day after I got it for mysterious readons. So I gave up fro awhile.

 

You are pretty limited on the bulbs but I use "CORALIFE" with good results. If I were in your shoes and had a stock hood I would get on Full Actinic and one 50/50. That should add some blue to the tank and make your colors pop. But ask your LFS if you can try the 50/50 out and see if you like it. Maybe they will take it back if you don't. It's a lot of work taking the bulb cover off twice but if that what needs to be done then so be it.

 

If I had my way I would blow the $400+ on this fixture. http://www.aquacave.com/24-current-usa-out...ights-1166.html I think this would be the way to go!

 

 

Im glad you like the BSJ. Jawfish are great to watch and add a lot of personality to the tank. Youre tank looks great and you have a lot of really good growth.

Thank you! Your 20L should be stunning with all the cool frags you have.

[Dooderino]

Last night I was pretty busy with house work for a party tonight but I did get a chance to observe the tank for a while.

 

If you remember in a previous post I made I rescued a couple of fish from a friend. He had a Pajama Cardinal and a yellow tail Damsel. I really liked the bright blue of the damsel so I decided to keep it for a while and see how it does. Turns out that this fish is the "Village Idiot" of saltwater aquaria. Maybe not all damsels are this dumb but this one takes the cake.

Now I know that Damsels are aggressive and clown fish are in that family. When I released the yellowtail into the water column he went and hid, for about 30 seconds, then went exploring. First off he goes straight for the clown fishes Frogspawn and they bolt home to protect their digs. No biggy right? Well the yellow tail didn't get it and let the percs kick it's ass. No fight from the yellowtail. Now the Royal Gramma's(named Grammy for reasons described below) cubby is just below the percs in the rock. It is already holding down his fort because he doesn't like my hand. Being the friendly newcomer the yellowtail goes over to say hello. The Gramma flipped out. I didn't know he had such a big mouth. That's how it got it's name. So Grammy goes ninja on the yellowtail. So yellowtail is more like no tail he got his ass chewed so bad. I thought it was strange to see a fish go back for more. Now Bob does't tolerate anything near his home. What does the yellowtail do? You guessed it, it got right in Bob's face. Bob has a huge mouth but no bite, Bob shows his teeth and charges. This works pretty good because the yellowtail always retreats. The damsel never really hangs out in one spot. I have no idea where it goes when it gets dark. Maybe one day it will settle down but right now it's pure entertainment.

 

Happy reefing!

[Dooderino]

Well I finally got around to snapping some shots. I'm not going to bore you with another long post.

 

FTS

FTS Right

FTS Left

The new baby Firefish Goby

The new young Royal Gramma (Grammy)

The new Yellowtail Blue Damselfish

The new Blue Spot Jawfish ( Bob )

And some of my favorite shots of the day...

 

And as a bonus here is a little video of feeding the fish with pellets. Bob goes nuts but the interesting part is the mandarin goby. I guess I don't have to worry about starving this fish.

[cjscott]

Love the tank! Have you upgraded your lights at all? If not have you seen significant growth with the sps because it is up high enough?

[Dooderino]

Love the tank! Have you upgraded your lights at all? If not have you seen significant growth with the sps because it is up high enough?

The SPS is growing. Slowly, but it is growing. I have the 4.36 Nanocustoms hood.

[Dooderino]

I re-did my aqua-scape for the fist time in a LOOONG time. Everything is doing well. My BSJ, Bob, is digging holes everywhere. My little firefish didn't make it. That was a bummer but other tan that all is well. Here are some pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dooderino]

Well I had a bit of bad luck. My BSJ caught some kind of skin disease. In 2 days he was dead. Then a day following that my mandarin died. The other fish were fine but I did have a huge Ich outbreak. So I set up my hospital tank, caught the remaining fish and tossed them in. So far everything is back to normal. The Ich cleared up after a few days and everyone is eating. I'm pretty bummed out about my two favorite fish dying. It really sucks about the mandarin, it took a lot of time to train it to eat sinking pellets.

[Dooderino]

All the fish are still well. 40 days and 40 nights in QT will get old quick.

[TUDIZZLE]

Nice pics......your euphyllia's look really nice.

 

They sure have grown in well, its amazing how much room they can take up when fully inflated!

[Godsmack00]

Very nice tank setup....

 

I like how you added the stock pump to chamber 1. I wanted to upgrade my pump to something around the 350gph range and was wondering how the 29bio would handle it. Seeing you have both stock and the Rio6hf, is there enough water flowing into the grate in chamber 1 so chamber 3 isn't drying out. I guess what I am asking is there enough water constantly flowing into chamber one to keep up with the demand of two pumps?

[Lalani]

Ooh, great tank. Nice amount of diversity!

[Dooderino]

Nice pics......your euphyllia's look really nice.

 

They sure have grown in well, its amazing how much room they can take up when fully inflated!

Thanks TUD, your tank is coming alone quite well too. It was an inspiration in the beginning stages of my own cube. The FS is growing like crazy. The torch hasn't grown much and the hammer is new. I started with 6 FS heads and since November last year it has grown to 16.

[Dooderino]

Very nice tank setup....

 

I like how you added the stock pump to chamber 1. I wanted to upgrade my pump to something around the 350gph range and was wondering how the 29bio would handle it. Seeing you have both stock and the Rio6hf, is there enough water flowing into the grate in chamber 1 so chamber 3 isn't drying out. I guess what I am asking is there enough water constantly flowing into chamber one to keep up with the demand of two pumps?

Chamber one is always the same water level as the display. Chamber two and three are always the same level. Chambers 2&3 are the ones that drop due to evaporation. I keep these chambers full. When I say full I mean within 1/2" from the bottom of the drip tray.

 

There is always enough water in chamber 1 to supply the pump in chamber 1. To do this mod you need to buy some loc-line, a bulk head, a couple of fittings (one for the loc-line and one as an elbow) and some tubing. Take out the false floor in chamber 1. Drain some water from the tank and install the bulk head into the false wall. Attach the fittings to the bulk head. One side will have the loc-line fitting and the loc-line configuration of your choice. The other will have a 90 degree elbow fitting. Just hook the tubing up to the fitting and then to the pump. My pump is at the bottom of chamber 1. It is almost indentical to the return set up in chamber 3.

 

 

Ooh, great tank. Nice amount of diversity!

Thank you!

[Dooderino]

I was looking at the tank the other day and thought I should make a list of all the critters and corals. So that's what I'm going to do, inventory. My fish are still in the medi tank and doing well.

 

Fish:

2 - True Percula (Amphiprion percula) Romeo& Juliet

1 - Firefish (Nemateleotris magnifica) Ember

1 - Royal Gramma (Gramma loreto) Gurgle

1 - Yellow Clown Goby (Gobiodon okinawae) Gilbert

1- Yellowtail Damsel (Chrysiptera parasema)

 

Invertebrates:

1 Blood Shrimp (Lysmata debelius) Sparks

1 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (Lysmata amboinensis) Jacques

2 Peppermint Shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni) Andre & Pepe

2 - Emerald Crab (Mithrax sculptus) Oz and Bruno

2 - Pom Pom Crab (Lybia tesselata) Claire & Wilber

3 - Anemone Crab (Neopetrolisthes ohshimai) Fatman, Jake, Neb

1 - Sally Lightfoot Crab (Perchon gibbesi) Nibbles

1 - Blue Knuckle Hermit (Calcinus elegans) Tyson

1 - Halloween Hermit (Calcinus elegans, Hawaii) Jack

1 - Blue Eyed Hermit (Calcinus laevimanus) Frank

2 - Scarlet Hermit (Paguristes cadenati)

3 - Blue Legged Hermit (Clibanarius tricolor)

3 - Mexican Red Legged Hermit (Clibanarius digneti)

1 - Acro Crab (Tetralia nigrolineata) Raabe

 

2 - Turbo Snail

2 - Margarita Snail

3 - Cerith Snail

2 - Large Nassarius Snail

3 - Small Nassarius Snail

 

1 - Brittle Starfish (Ophiomastix annulosa)

1 - Fromia Starfish (Fromia imdica)

 

Corals:

Frog Spawn LPS (Euphyllia divisa)

Hammer LPS (Euphyllia ancora)

Torch LPS (Euphyllia grabrescens)

Staghorn Acropora (Acropora yongei)

Yellow Scroll (Turbinaria reniformis)

Yellow Monti (Montipora digitata)

Pink Xenia (Xenia elongata)

Red and White Acan (Acanthastrea echinata)

Pink Candy Cane (Caulastrea echinulata)

Ricordea (Ricordea florida)

Sun Coral (Tubastrea faulkneri)

Yellow Fiji Leather (Sarcophyton elegans)

Blue Mushroom (Actinodiscus sp.)

Green Stripe Neon Mushroom (Actinodiscus sp.)

Yellow Polyp (Parazoanthus gracilis)

Prizm Favia (Favia sp.)

Zoas (Epizoanthus scotinus)

-Ring of Fire (Flaming Stars)

-Radioactive Dragon Eye

-Wham’n Watermelons

-Cherry Bombs

-Galaxy Blues

-Incredible Hulks

-Orange Delight

-Oreos

-Peach Nipples

 

Palys

-Green Implosion

-Organism Palys

-Unnamed Palys

[spazizz]

I just read your whole thread, the jawfish was awesome. Id like to have one myself Ill have to research them suckers. You take good pictures to, I was impressed by some of the pics of your fish.

 

Are you going to replace your Jawfish or Mandarin?

 

Oh and the brine you fed your mandarin, were they adult brine or fresh hatched babies?