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Coral Vue Hydros

El Fab's Pico Reef: 2007–2010


el fabuloso

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I was in Vegas last week for vacation...accidently happened upon Trop-Aquarium. My son saw the GameStop first. That little strip mall had something for everyone in the family...fish store, gamestop, and Savers (thrift store) :) Prices on the fish were good there...compared to here in L.A.!

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  • 4 weeks later...
el fabuloso

omgomgomg

 

The tank is doing good. SPS aren't growing as fast as I had hoped so it's still far from the lush SPS garden I was hoping for. Also I haven't really had the budget to add anything new. My good camera broke but I'll make an effort to get some shots done this weekend. Honestly I didn't think people were still interested. :)

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redkneecoral
omgomgomg

 

The tank is doing good. SPS aren't growing as fast as I had hoped so it's still far from the lush SPS garden I was hoping for. Also I haven't really had the budget to add anything new. My good camera broke but I'll make an effort to get some shots done this weekend. Honestly I didn't think people were still interested. :)

Well, i am always interested of seeing what you will do next.

Your pico is the best one i ever seen.

I know the feeling of not having the funds of adding anything new. I am about the same cuz I am needing surgery again

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omgomgomg

 

The tank is doing good. SPS aren't growing as fast as I had hoped so it's still far from the lush SPS garden I was hoping for. Also I haven't really had the budget to add anything new. My good camera broke but I'll make an effort to get some shots done this weekend. Honestly I didn't think people were still interested. :)

 

Of COURSE we're still interested you Doofus!!!

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el fabuloso
Of COURSE we're still interested you Doofus!!!

Well then, in that case I guess I should do a better job at keeping this thread updated. :P

 

Well, i am always interested of seeing what you will do next.

Your pico is the best one i ever seen.

To be honest there's been very little progress in my tank for quite some time now. And honestly there are a lot of newer, younger picos that are way better looking. My tank is an old hag in comparison.

 

I know the feeling of not having the funds of adding anything new. I am about the same cuz I am needing surgery again

Hope everything goes well. :flower:

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seeing how good your tank looked gave me the confidence to put up my first SW tank[2.5g], so i'm always wondering what's going on with it :D

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  • 4 weeks later...

Two Years, Nine Months and Too Late of An Update

 

I know everyone's been coming in here looking for updates only to leave disappointed. I've even gotten questions from some people wondering if my tank is even still up. To dispel that notion and satisfy demands, here at last is the long awaited update. And without further ado, the FTS:

 

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Still not quite the SPS garden I was hoping for but not too bad for what started out as a bunch of small frags. Not surprisingly, the fastest grower in the tank is my montipora cap. What started out as a small chip off of the mother colony that was moved over to the MAX has now quickly spread out.

 

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I know its present location will ultimately pose some problems once it starts expanding even more. But I kinda like where it's at right now. :happy:

 

The second fastest grower is the birdsnest frag which grew quickly from a couple of small tips.

 

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The millepora frag is still looking like a fuzzy acropora stick though it's starting to show signs of branching.

 

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The previously brown acro frag has now turned into a vibrant yellow specimen with steady growth.

 

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But the one with the most interesting growth out of all of them is the Aussie delicate which has now completely spread out beyond the frag plug and onto the glass.

 

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So far the other SPS frags haven't shown any remarkable characteristics but are growing steadily and expanding beyond their frag plugs. Maybe they'll color up later, maybe they won't. In any case they seem to be happy.

 

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The tank still isn't devoid of soft corals as patches of blue cloves, zoas, and ricordeas continue to dominate certain areas of the tank. Even the mushrooms that I've painstakingly made a point of eradicating still persist.

 

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Although the focus of the tank is now on SPS, having some patches of soft corals add some contrast and help in giving the tank a natural look and feel.

 

The crocea clam has really become quite the centerpiece in the tank and has colored up a lot. Although it may not look like much at eye level...

 

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...its real beauty can only be seen from the top which no photo can do justice.

 

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Especially when compared to how it looked when I got it back in March:

 

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Last but not least is my yasha goby and pistol pair. This dynamic duo have single-handedly rescaped the sand in my tank.

 

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What first started out as a bunch of random holes has turned into a complex and elaborate underground network of tunnels. For a while I was convinced that I had two pistol shrimps because I would see a shrimp peer out of two ends of the tank. It wasn't until I found the goby dart into a hole on one side of the tank and then reappear on the opposite side that I realized that they had created their own little subway system.

 

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Quite an impressive accomplishment for a shrimp that's nearly blind and a paranoid fish with bouts of anxiety. :lol:

 

So while this tank didn't exactly turn into the lush SPS garden I had hoped it would, its ability to survive and support life still amazes me and that in itself is motivation enough for me to keep it going. Over the years I've been pressured to upgrade to a bigger tank and while it's been tempting to just move everything over to the MAX and keep just one tank, part of me can't bring myself to put an end to the tank that started it all.

 

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Your tank is looking great Fab..I like this ric rock ya got going.

Thanks! And that rock is totally just doing that to itself. Oh and look! There's even a piece of xenia on that rock that I forgot to mention. Also notice all the nasty flatworms. I siphon, and siphon, and siphon to no end and they never go away. I have a brand new box of FWE that I'm afraid to use. :unsure:

 

De nada. Be sure to take photos of it!

Will do. ;)

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