Josh's 20L mostly SPS mixed reef

[PurpleUP]

 

I'm diggin the new scape. What impresses me the most is the overall HEALTHY appearance in all of your coral, as shown by their brilliant color and polyp extension.

[c est ma]

So, it has been a little while since my last update, and there are a few new developments:

 

- I found the hitchhiker fish in my refugium, dead, mostly eaten by pods. I was kind of sad about this, but I suppose this is sometimes the way of things. Of course, his corpse was far to nibbled and decomposed to identify as anything other than the corpse of a small fish. He passed as mysteriously as he arrived.

 

Aw, too bad. I agree with you that we can't control these things, but it was such a cool happening...

 

 

- My gold neon goby has taken FIVE trips over the overflow since my last update. The last time I removed him from the overflow box I put him in the refugium, in the hopes that he will have better luck there than he has had in the tank. He seems more content in there, amd was happily munching pods when last I looked. He is tiny so I don't think he will have much of a negative impact on the refugium's ability to produce pods.

 

 

5! Slow learner. Was your hitcher the same size or even smaller?

 

 

- The new Favia I obtained recently was not doing so well where I had placed it. It was getting too much light and bleaching. It is really really hard to find a spot in the tank dim enough for this coral without shading it completely. I have never encountered a favia before that required the light to be so dim. It must have been collected from very deep water, as would be indicated by its plating rather than lobate morphology. I should have taken its shape as a hint that my tank is not the right place for it. For the moment, it is tucked in the far left front corner, partially shaded by an index card taped to the trim of the tank. If it fails to acclimate to the lights, I will ultimately have to get rid of it, as much as I don't like the idea. It really is a beautiful coral.

 

Interesting info about Favia morphology in relation to depth in the wild. Good luck with this one.

 

 

 

- My Heliofungia has, over the past month or so, gone from plate coral to dinner plate coral. Allow me to explain: Every single motile inhabitant of my reef tank has taken to stealing food from my heliofungia. The six-line wrasse, the hermit crabs, the peppermint shrimp... all of them have become so bold as to climb onto the coral, pry its mouth open, and pull its stomach contents out by force, or, in the case of the 6-line, wriggle into the mouth such that half its body is inside the coral and pull out the stomach contents. It has also become increasingly difficult to provide sufficient current for my SPS while maintaining very soft flow for this coral. I came to the conclusion that this coral needs to be placed in more suitable quarters before its health began to suffer. So, with great reluctance, I took my beloved Heliofungia to the LFS I most trust in terms of their husbandry habits. They took it, and promised to give it a good home, and refuse to sell it to idiots. I made the proprietor, whom I have known for years, promise me that. He kniows how much I love that coral, so I know he will do the right thing. Subsequent to this, I revamped the aquascaping a bit to fill the gaping hole left by the absent Heliofungia.

 

 

OK, this report just amazed me. I cannot imagine the inroads you describe, esp. the wrasse! If only you had a pic of that! Did your plate show stress? I'm sure sorry to see it go, and glad you were able to get some reassurance about its future. (I'm hoping my baby plate turns out to be a Cycloseris, just for space reasons! ).

 

 

 

So, here are some shots of the tank, and the revised aquascaping:

 

First, a couple of FTS's

 

 

Two views of the left end of the tank, where the most dramatic changes were made:

 

 

Some zoanthids tucked in among branching SPS colonies:

 

The middle of the tank:

 

The right end of the tank:

 

 

Stunning as ever IMO, Josh. If I hadn't known the plate was once there, I wouldn't have missed it. Have to agree totally with PurpleUP's comment about the vitality of your corals!

 

 

 

My acan in its new home, next to some orange palys I got when I dropped off the Heliofungia. I think the palys go by the common name of "Organism" palys. There are only a few on the rock, but they are a very nice color, so I hope they spread. The acan has never looked puffier and happier than in its current location, so I am going to let it stay there and encrust onto the base rock. I think I am going to get a few small frags of different colors of Acanthastrea and put them all in this area, and let them grow together into a multicolored carpet covering the rocks. I think that would look so cool in 6 months or a year when It all meets together and forms one multicolored colony. Acans grow very fast for an LPS, I have noticed, so it shouldn't take that long.

 

 

That will be very sweet! Gee, if they're such good growers, why are they still so expensive?

 

 

I don't think the tank looks quite as good without the Heliofungia (it really was a stunning coral), but removing it from the tank has given me alot more room to add new stuff. I am contemplating the next additions now.

 

Thoughts?

 

- Josh

 

 

This question is SO far beyond me. Hope this bump gets you some helpful replies.

 

Fascinating update as usual!

 

--Diane

Edited January 17, 2008 by c est ma

[SPS20]

I'm diggin the new scape. What impresses me the most is the overall HEALTHY appearance in all of your coral, as shown by their brilliant color and polyp extension.

 

Thanks! I have been lucky so far.

 

I have always considered your NTOTM winner to be one of the nicest nano-reefs I have seen, and your current tank is catching up fast! I suspect your 25 will be NTOTM soon enough.

 

 

Was your hitcher the same size or even smaller?

The hitcher was about the size of a small neon goby. What I ultimately found was little more than a tiny skull with some tail left unnibbled.

 

Interesting info about Favia morphology in relation to depth in the wild. Good luck with this one.

It seems to be adapting fairly well now, thanks to the index card. It is eating a couple of times a week now, so I expect it to ultimately recover fully and grow. It's a tough case, but with a good prognosis, so to speak.

 

OK, this report just amazed me. I cannot imagine the inroads you describe, esp. the wrasse! If only you had a pic of that! Did your plate show stress?

It was pretty crazy. Unfortunately I never took pictures of it as I was usually trying to fend off the critters so the coral could swallow, wielding a mixing spoon, LOL. It was beginning to not inflate as fully as before, so I decided to get it out of the tank before it's health really started to suffer. I was at the LFS to which I took the coral today, and am happy to report that it looks nice and happy in their tank.

 

Stunning as ever IMO, Josh. If I hadn't known the plate was once there, I wouldn't have missed it. Have to agree totally with PurpleUP's comment about the vitality of your corals!

Thank you! I'm glad that you like it, as I have always admired your tank.

 

Gee, if they're such good growers, why are they still so expensive?

I suspect it is a combination of the fact that they require power tools to frag and that they're a relative novelty to the aquarium hobby. I think prices ultimately have to come down, and they will as more and more hobbyists learn to frag them successfully.

 

So, I took a few pictures today...

 

You can see the feeding appendages of one of the hitchhiker cucumbers that came with my rock. They don't move around much, but they are always actively feeding. Sadly, most of them are hidden from view. They are reproducing by division, slowly. I started with 3 and now I have 5 that I can find.

 

My orange Palythoa and some interesting coraline growth. You can see my little Acan peeking over the rock.

 

Here you can see my new Stylophora, purchased today. It's brown atm, but won't be for long, if I am lucky.

 

A few random shots:

 

 

 

 

And a current FTS:

 

More to come,

 

- Josh

Edited January 24, 2008 by SPS20

[brshriver]

Very nice!

[TJ_Burton]

Man, I still eyeball that "TJ's Slimer" lol...

 

Your tank is overall quite amazing. I can't wait to see it grown in! Best of luck with the brown stylo!

[VannReefer87]

yo man the tank is looking good, I went back to school now so I won't be seeing you at the LFS anymore till summer but I did get to set up my tank at my apartment now..check it out and let me know what you think!

[spanko]

Hey Josh, looking as good as it always does. How long have you had the Briarium? Have you noticed any growth on it yet? It doesn't look like it is encrusting the epoxy yet.

[Withers]

Wow, this tank looks GREAT!

 

What area of the country are you in?

[VannReefer87]

Josh to my knowledge lives on the eastern boarder of PA.

[SPS20]

Very nice!

 

Thank you! I take that as high praise indeed having just reviewed your 110 prop thread. You have some amazing stuff, I wish you were my neighbor and that I were rich, lol.

 

Man, I still eyeball that "TJ's Slimer" lol...

 

Your tank is overall quite amazing. I can't wait to see it grown in! Best of luck with the brown stylo!

 

I still have the "cutting" of the slimer, which is rapidly becoming more like a second colony of it, lol. I'm sure your 40B will put my little 20L to shame! I wish there was a "fast forward" button on my tank so I could see what it will look like when all my corals get huge. I suppose this hobby is all about patience, so i'll just have to wait

 

yo man the tank is looking good, I went back to school now so I won't be seeing you at the LFS anymore till summer but I did get to set up my tank at my apartment now..check it out and let me know what you think!

 

I looked in your tank thread, and it is looking like you have recovered nicely from your mishap. We should get together sometime and trade some frags, as you are basically right down the road from me. Send me a PM sometime.

 

Hey Josh, looking as good as it always does. How long have you had the Briarium? Have you noticed any growth on it yet? It doesn't look like it is encrusting the epoxy yet.

 

Thanks!

 

You mean the gorgonian? I think it's a Plexaurella or a Pseudoplexaurella, but I could be wrong. I haven't researched it much, TBH, since it has always done so well for me. I generally biust out the books when I can't figure out how to make something happy, and when it looks content, I just leave it alone. My ignorance is their bliss, lol.

 

It has grown quite a bit at the branch tips (an inch or more) but it seems to be slower at encrusting down over the base, I suspect because the base doesn't get nearly as much light as the tips. It is trying to encrust a bit, but the current blows it around so much I think it is having trouble growing over the epoxy, since it flexes alot at that spot, if you know what I mean. I have confidence it will cover the epoxy in time. It has started to creep over the epoxy in some spots, so it'll get there.

 

Wow, this tank looks GREAT!

 

What area of the country are you in?

 

Thank you!

 

I live about 45 minutes north of Philadelphia, in PA right on the Delaware river. I can see NJ from my window in the winter, when there are no leaves on the trees. I live about 5 minutes outside a little town called Easton, PA. Allentown is right down the road.

 

My tank is at that phase where updates are becoming less frequent, because there isn't a whole lot to "do" at this point but keep up on maintenence and wait for things to grow. So, I figure i'll take some pics here and there, and wait for the inevitable point that all SPS-dominated tanks reach, where I have to hack everything back to nubs to end the coral wars, LOL. I figure I have about 6 months or so before its a total free-for-all battle, then i'll step in with the clippers. I'll be doing some light fragging here and there before then, but I really want to have a "full" tank with mature colonies, and that just takes time, time, time.

 

- Josh

[TJ_Burton]

I still have the "cutting" of the slimer, which is rapidly becoming more like a second colony of it, lol. I'm sure your 40B will put my little 20L to shame! I wish there was a "fast forward" button on my tank so I could see what it will look like when all my corals get huge. I suppose this hobby is all about patience, so i'll just have to wait

 

I have my work cut out for me! I am trying to plan a trip with a buddy to PA for a day or two. I will let you know if it is going to happen, maybe we will be able to meet up and swap frags.

[SPS20]

I have my work cut out for me! I am trying to plan a trip with a buddy to PA for a day or two. I will let you know if it is going to happen, maybe we will be able to meet up and swap frags.

 

If you are going to be in the area ever, give me a heads up 2 or more weeks in advance so I can make sure I have some nice frags all ready for you. It would be best if you aren't travelling with freshly-glued frags, as they tend to be a bit more sensitive than fully-healed ones. I'll hold on to the slimer "frag" as long as I can. I won't get rid of it unless it becomes a problem in terms of space.

 

I really like that tri-color acro, hint hint.

[TJ_Burton]

If you are going to be in the area ever, give me a heads up 2 or more weeks in advance so I can make sure I have some nice frags all ready for you. It would be best if you aren't travelling with freshly-glued frags, as they tend to be a bit more sensitive than fully-healed ones. I'll hold on to the slimer "frag" as long as I can. I won't get rid of it unless it becomes a problem in terms of space.

 

I really like that tri-color acro, hint hint.

 

Thanks for holding that slimer; I understand if at some point it must go. As far as the tricolor goes, there will be a frag with your name on it! I will wait to frag it though since I just got it and it needs to recuperate. Do you even know which one the tricolor is? lol (they are all pretty brown right now).

[SPS20]

A few pics I snapped off today.

 

The Stylophora nestled in behind the SPS on the back right of the tank. It seems happy here, so I think this is where it will stay.

 

A new Fungiid I got the other day. Maybe a Fungia scutaria?

 

A frag of the lilac-tipped Acropora colony, starting to grow in. I love the color on this coral, it almost seems to glow from within.

 

A random shot of the 6-line zipping behind my gorgonian. The gorgonian may not be very colorful, but it is so fuzzy and bends with the changing currents. It adds a nice vertical element and some movement to the mix. This is definitely one of my favorite pieces. As the branches grow closer to the surface, I am going to prune the branch tips from time to time and glue the frags to the same base as the parent colony. I want this thing to be a multi-stalked monster that dominates the little cove in the center-right of the aquascaping. I can't let it get too tall in this tank, but it can get wide. I'm going to approach it like a sort of coral bonsai.

 

More to come,

 

- Josh

Edited January 25, 2008 by SPS20

[aspinn]

wow really nice bud love the setup =) good job!

[jeremai]

For crying out cheeseburgers, this thread should be a sticky - more info on here than in the whole Beginners section.

 

Great looking tank, Josh. It was 12 pages worth reading - and you could really tell that your photography skills have been improving!

[TJ_Burton]

Josh, where you at man? I'm craving some updates! Besides, I have pics of my stand up now! GET YER ARSE ONLINE!

[SPS20]

Josh, where you at man? I'm craving some updates! Besides, I have pics of my stand up now! GET YER ARSE ONLINE!

 

LOL sorry i haven't been on here as much lately. I'll take a look, post-haste.

[TJ_Burton]

I'm itching for some new pics man... or at least to hear from you!!! Where you at?!

[nUgZ]

Me too!!

[SPS20]

Sorry guys I haven't been on for awhile.

 

The tank is doing well now and is what I would call fully mature. It is very stable, and has required less and less maintenence lately. The corals are growing in nicely, and there are few changes to the aquascaping. There are a couple of new additions, but basically the tank is the same as before, but with larger corals. This is the sit-and-wait part of making a reef.

 

So, here are some pics:

 

 

 

 

 

This is the formerly brown stylophora today:

 

Here it is when I got it:

 

A small acro I got a few weeks ago, nestled in among some larger corals:

 

A close up of the same coral:

 

 

 

There you go, I'll post more soon.

 

- Josh

[BKtomodachi]

Excellent polyp extension on that acro!

[Weetabix7]

This tank is so beautiful, if I were there in person I could sit and stare at it for hours.

I hope to someday have a tank as beautiful as this.

Just WOW.

How is that Christmas Favia doing, is it recovering any?

I've been wondering where you were lately too.

[TJ_Burton]

Josh, it is great to have you back man!!! I have been dying to see your updated shots. To be perfectly honest, your tank makes me want to use 10K bulbs and skip the 20,000K all together.

 

If you haven't already, you should take a peek at my thread. I have some pics of the plumbing (not quite completed) up. I had decided to use your overflow method.

[Maco]

I'm not going to say wow...but wow the tank look beautiful.