Josh's 20L mostly SPS mixed reef

[PurpleUP]

That's what I am shooting for, ultimately. So far, mine definitely looks like a superman in every sense except the polyps are just the wrong color. It was very browned out when it was given to me (but very healthy despite its coloration) so I guess it just takes the polyps longer to color up than the rest of the coral. Thanks for that, Spanko!

 

- Josh

 

From your comparison photos, I can now see yours turning to the redder side. By the looks of things, I would bet on it happening much sooner than later. It's unbelievable how things become so happy so quickly in your tank!

[SPS20]

From your comparison photos, I can now see yours turning to the redder side. By the looks of things, I would bet on it happening much sooner than later. It's unbelievable how things become so happy so quickly in your tank!

 

It makes me nervous as hell, frankly. I have long been of the opinion that only bad things happen very quickly in reef aquaria. So, when I see sudden change in any of my animals, I get a little antsy. Of course, this is a positive change, but I wonder: if things can improve so fast in this tank, how fast would things fall apart if something went wrong? Of course, thats just paranoia speaking, but it still makes me nervous sometimes.

 

So, last night I noticed that my skimmer wasn't producing much foam at all. It has been producing less and less lately. So, I decided, its time to pull the thing out and take it apart and clean it to mint condition. HOLY MOLEY there was a ton of calcium encrusted inside the pump and plumbing! So I soaked all the parts in vinegar, scrubbed and scrubbed, and put it back together and in the system.

 

What a difference! The skimmer immediately began pulling some serious funk out. Unfortunately, it has had a side-effect. My tank, which normally only gets down to 78F or so at night, dropped to 76F last night. The massively increased air flow through the skimmer is cooling the water! So, I think i'll probably have to get an extra heater, maybe 75 watts or so, to keep the temp up at night in my chilly little house. Or, maybe i'll just hook the skimmer up to the same timer that controls the lights, so it turns off at night. Either way, dropping to 76 at night from a normal daytime running temp of 80-81 is too much of a daily fluctuation for my tastes. A couple of my SPS look a tad irritated, I think from being chilled last night. I'll keep a close eye on things tonight. If the temp drops below 78 again, i'm plugging the skimmer into the light timer until I can get a second heater.

[PurpleUP]

It makes me nervous as hell, frankly. I have long been of the opinion that only bad things happen very quickly in reef aquaria. So, when I see sudden change in any of my animals, I get a little antsy. Of course, this is a positive change, but I wonder: if things can improve so fast in this tank, how fast would things fall apart if something went wrong? Of course, thats just paranoia speaking, but it still makes me nervous sometimes.

 

So, last night I noticed that my skimmer wasn't producing much foam at all. It has been producing less and less lately. So, I decided, its time to pull the thing out and take it apart and clean it to mint condition. HOLY MOLEY there was a ton of calcium encrusted inside the pump and plumbing! So I soaked all the parts in vinegar, scrubbed and scrubbed, and put it back together and in the system.

 

What a difference! The skimmer immediately began pulling some serious funk out. Unfortunately, it has had a side-effect. My tank, which normally only gets down to 78F or so at night, dropped to 76F last night. The massively increased air flow through the skimmer is cooling the water! So, I think i'll probably have to get an extra heater, maybe 75 watts or so, to keep the temp up at night in my chilly little house. Or, maybe i'll just hook the skimmer up to the same timer that controls the lights, so it turns off at night. Either way, dropping to 76 at night from a normal daytime running temp of 80-81 is too much of a daily fluctuation for my tastes. A couple of my SPS look a tad irritated, I think from being chilled last night. I'll keep a close eye on things tonight. If the temp drops below 78 again, i'm plugging the skimmer into the light timer until I can get a second heater.

 

So many factors to monitor is what makes this hobby so cool. You must have some serious air flow in that skimmer to drop the tank temp by 2º! Now that it's operating more efficiently, it may not impact your water quality one bit by having it off at night.

[SPS20]

So many factors to monitor is what makes this hobby so cool. You must have some serious air flow in that skimmer to drop the tank temp by 2º! Now that it's operating more efficiently, it may not impact your water quality one bit by having it off at night.

 

The skimmer really isn't all that impressive. Its an ASM Mini-G, a rather small skimmer, all in all. The issue is, I think, that the heater was barely keeping up as it was. It only took a little extra "push" to make the temp fall.

 

I suppose you are right that it wouldn't really hurt to have the skimmer switch off at night.

 

- Josh

[Weetabix7]

There is one possible issue, though... Can you ship corals through customs? Are there any Canadian or American laws against this? And if it is legal, can it be done quickly? (i.e., the coral doesn't end up waiting at some inspection center for days, dying) We'd have to sort these issues out first, obviously.Regardless, I'm sure people do this, I just don't know how to do it in such a way that the corals arrive at the other end intact and in a reasonable timeframe. How long can SPS live in a bag before they start to die anyway, assuming the temperature is ok?

Thanks for looking! I'm glad you like it!

 

- Josh

 

I don't know if it's illegal to ship coral through Canadian customs, but I do know that it can't be done quickly.

I know that shipping through customs to Canada can be a real hassle.

You'd really have to check into it more yourself though.

Unfortunately this probably means that you can't ship sps to Canada, since you really need to ship sps overnight. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm pretty sure I'm right on this.

If you check into it and find a way to ship to Canada overnight I'd be more than happy to tell you more than you ever wanted to know on how to ship coral. I've done it many times with a pretty good success rate. See post #70 on pg. 4 here for info, and if you have any further questions feel free to ask me.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...38231&st=60

 

On another note, I really like your tank and would love to get some sps frags from you someday. I can either trade you for nice zoas or green encrusting gorgonian or I can just buy them from you. If it's a sale rather than a trade it might take me a little while to come up with the $$ though, since I just spent my Christmas $$.

I do have some Delicate Coral frags that I made not long ago. I also have some blue polyp purple monti cap that is very healthy.

Here's my prop tank thread if you want to see some of what I have, although there's more that isn't on there:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...t=0&start=0

 

Keep up the good work, this is one of the tank threads that I enjoy visiting!

[SPS20]

I don't know if it's illegal to ship coral through Canadian customs, but I do know that it can't be done quickly.

I know that shipping through customs to Canada can be a real hassle.

You'd really have to check into it more yourself though.

Unfortunately this probably means that you can't ship sps to Canada, since you really need to ship sps overnight. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm pretty sure I'm right on this.

If you check into it and find a way to ship to Canada overnight I'd be more than happy to tell you more than you ever wanted to know on how to ship coral. I've done it many times with a pretty good success rate. See post #70 on pg. 4 here for info, and if you have any further questions feel free to ask me.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...38231&st=60

 

On another note, I really like your tank and would love to get some sps frags from you someday. I can either trade you for nice zoas or green encrusting gorgonian or I can just buy them from you. If it's a sale rather than a trade it might take me a little while to come up with the $$ though, since I just spent my Christmas $$.

I do have some Delicate Coral frags that I made not long ago. I also have some blue polyp purple monti cap that is very healthy.

Here's my prop tank thread if you want to see some of what I have, although there's more that isn't on there:

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...t=0&start=0

 

Keep up the good work, this is one of the tank threads that I enjoy visiting!

 

Hmm thats going to bum TJ_Burton out. Now I feel kinda bad for ever saying anything. Well, TJ, lets look into this a bit more over the next couple of months, and see how tricky this really is. I believe Wheetie though, and thats grim news for our plan. Well, the green slimer (which I shall now call TJ_Slimer, lol) will be with me, and ready to frag whenever if we figure this out. There has to be a way, but now i'm sot so sure its something easy to arrange. I'll call UPS and fedex customer support on monday, and see what options they have for same- or next-day shipping between US and Canada.

 

As for frag trading and whatnot, I will let you know when I have some frags which I feel are ready to be shipped. (i.e. healed onto their plugs, colored up and growing nicely.) You have some very nice stuff Wheetie, I'll take a look over the next couple of weeks.

 

So, I went to the LFS today, and got a damaged yet beautiful Favia, rich deep red polyps with dark green in between. Its really upset-looking right now, since I just put it in the tank; i'll post a pic of it later tonight or tomorrow, when it doesn't look like its about to die, lol. Its just one of those pieces that sucks the tissue all the way into the cracks of the skeleton when you transport it, it'll look normal tomorrow. Right now it looks like hell, hehe.

 

- Josh

Edited January 6, 2008 by SPS20

[SPS20]

Here's a pic of my new favia, taken with flash. You can see some damage; It was clearly handled rather roughly somewhere along the way. But, I think it'll heal and re-encrust over the damaged portions, or at least I hope it will. My algae blenny has apparently decided this coral is his new favorite perch.

 

 

- Josh

Edited January 6, 2008 by SPS20

[klarion]

Here's a pic of my new favia, taken with flash. You can see some damage; It was clearly handled rather roughly somewhere along the way. But, I think it'll heal and re-encrust over the damaged portions, or at least I hope it will. My algae blenny has apparently decided this coral is his new favorite perch.

 

 

- Josh

 

 

LOL, didn't see the blenny right away. It's like one of those "can you find?" puzzles from childhood. LOL again.

[Weetabix7]

Looks like a nice piece of Christmas Favia.

I have a frag of it and it's one of my favorites.

FYI, when I drastically increased the flow in my tank, this favia went nuts and just took off. Apparently it totally loves high flow. It's on a frag plug right now and is about to grow down onto the eggcrate if I don't move it soon.

Nice find.

[SPS20]

LOL, didn't see the blenny right away. It's like one of those "can you find?" puzzles from childhood. LOL again.

 

Sometimes I can't find him until he moves. He blends in incredibly well. I didn't even notice he was in the picture until I went to crop the photo.

 

Looks like a nice piece of Christmas Favia.

I have a frag of it and it's one of my favorites.

FYI, when I drastically increased the flow in my tank, this favia went nuts and just took off. Apparently it totally loves high flow. It's on a frag plug right now and is about to grow down onto the eggcrate if I don't move it soon.

Nice find.

 

Mine has been in the tank 2 days, and not a single feeder tentacle. I'd like to feed it, but I can't feed what won't open its mouth, so to speak. I hope its ok. I have been watching the area with recessed tissue like a hawk, so far it hasn't moved at all. I think it is still recovering from mishandling.

 

How much light is yours getting? I have tried to shade mine a little but I am afraid it might still be getting too much light. Thanks for the tip regarding flow; I adjusted a powerhead so he'll get plenty, following your experience. This one is nowhere near as "puffy" as my green Favia, which makes it harder to tell when its happy.

 

- Josh

[c est ma]

Sweet pic, Josh.

 

--Diane

[Weetabix7]

Sometimes I can't find him until he moves. He blends in incredibly well. I didn't even notice he was in the picture until I went to crop the photo.

Mine has been in the tank 2 days, and not a single feeder tentacle. I'd like to feed it, but I can't feed what won't open its mouth, so to speak. I hope its ok. I have been watching the area with recessed tissue like a hawk, so far it hasn't moved at all. I think it is still recovering from mishandling.

 

How much light is yours getting? I have tried to shade mine a little but I am afraid it might still be getting too much light. Thanks for the tip regarding flow; I adjusted a powerhead so he'll get plenty, following your experience. This one is nowhere near as "puffy" as my green Favia, which makes it harder to tell when its happy.

 

- Josh

 

Okay, I just measured it for you.

Mine is 14" below 150w MH w/a 14k Phoenix bulb and no shading.

It is also 12" away from a Koralia 1 that is pointed directly at it in a 10g tank.

I suspect you're right, that it is still recovering from rough handling.

What kind of lighting was it under at the LFS and how far beneath the lighting was it?

One thing I've found to help get a coral extend feeder tentacles is to turn off circulation and take a mysis shrimp and squeeze it right by the coral so that the "shrimp juice" is squeezed out right in it's vicinity. It doesn't work on everything and it works better after lights out, of course.

[klarion]

He blends in incredibly well. I didn't even notice he was in the picture until I went to crop the photo.

 

Hmm, He blends well.....Maybe that's why they call them blennies...

[c est ma]

Whereas gobies go by frequently...

 

 

 

(Groan!)

 

--D

[spanko]

Alright you two quit "Clownfishing" around!

Or I might have to pull the "Trigger"

 

Double groaaaaannnnnnnnnn

[TJ_Burton]

Hmm thats going to bum TJ_Burton out. Now I feel kinda bad for ever saying anything. Well, TJ, lets look into this a bit more over the next couple of months, and see how tricky this really is. I believe Wheetie though, and thats grim news for our plan. Well, the green slimer (which I shall now call TJ_Slimer, lol) will be with me, and ready to frag whenever if we figure this out. There has to be a way, but now i'm sot so sure its something easy to arrange. I'll call UPS and fedex customer support on monday, and see what options they have for same- or next-day shipping between US and Canada.

 

As for frag trading and whatnot, I will let you know when I have some frags which I feel are ready to be shipped. (i.e. healed onto their plugs, colored up and growing nicely.) You have some very nice stuff Wheetie, I'll take a look over the next couple of weeks.

 

So, I went to the LFS today, and got a damaged yet beautiful Favia, rich deep red polyps with dark green in between. Its really upset-looking right now, since I just put it in the tank; i'll post a pic of it later tonight or tomorrow, when it doesn't look like its about to die, lol. Its just one of those pieces that sucks the tissue all the way into the cracks of the skeleton when you transport it, it'll look normal tomorrow. Right now it looks like hell, hehe.

 

- Josh

You can not comprehend the number of tears this broken heart just cried... Well, maybe this calls for a road trip?! lol. If there is a will there is a way. Nothing is impossible - usually just impractical!

 

*edit*

Come to think of it, I am pretty sure I can have something delivered and held at a UPS office in Buffalo... If that were the case we could just set up a date for you to ship when I will be able to make it down that way.

I guess I would just have to be careful coming back with it.

Edited January 8, 2008 by TJ_Burton

[SPS20]

Hmm, He blends well.....Maybe that's why they call them blennies...

Whereas gobies go by frequently...(Groan!)--D

Alright you two quit "Clownfishing" around!Or I might have to pull the "Trigger"Double groaaaaannnnnnnnnn

Oh man.....You three need to meet my dad and have a pun-off. He is stiff competition, I assure you, he provides at least one groaner per hour whenever I hang out with him.Yes, I did laugh. And groan. And cry a little inside, LOL. I love this website.

 

You can not comprehend the number of tears this broken heart just cried... Well, maybe this calls for a road trip?! lol. If there is a will there is a way. Nothing is impossible - usually just impractical!

Ohh man. I feel bad! Your slimer cutting is still here, and if for some reason I have to get rid of it (to make room, most likely) I can always make another one at a moment's notice. If you should EVER find yourself anywhere near Philadelphia (the closest major metropolis to me) I will gladly meet you with whatever frags you want. There must be a way. I neglected to call fedex/UPS today, i'll try tomorrow. In the meantime, your frag is here, growing fast. I may have to frag the frag soon, lol.

 

Ok here's a question: is it impossible to turn a sizeable profit propagating corals in the home? I love reefing so much, I wonder if its possible to build up to a full-time propagation job, or if electricity and supply costs will keep profits from being sufficient to actually live on.

 

Yes, its a pipe dream, but man, wouldn't that be an awesome job? I'll stick to my day job for now, lol.

 

- Josh

Edited January 8, 2008 by SPS20

[SPS20]

*edit*

Come to think of it, I am pretty sure I can have something delivered and held at a UPS office in Buffalo... If that were the case we could just set up a date for you to ship when I will be able to make it down that way.

I guess I would just have to be careful coming back with it.

 

That might work. We would have to get the timing right, so it would actually be there when you get there, without having to have waited long before you got there, but it seems workable, in principle. If you could arrive in buffalo with a couple of buckets and some fresh seawater, you could get the frags out of the bags and into some clean water for the drive back up. That would go a long way toward assuring they make it to your tank in good condition.

 

With the lighting system you are going to use, I imagine you will get some INSANE growth out of a green slimer. They grow so fast already, I can only imagine what it would do under your lighting. This is truly one of those corals you can throw everything you have at in terms of light and current, and it just smiles and asks for more.

 

EDIT: This seems more and more like something that would be best attempted in march/april/may, when the weather isn't too extreme either way. It gives us some time to plan, too. Plus you need time to get your 40 up, running, and stable.

Edited January 8, 2008 by SPS20

[TJ_Burton]

That might work. We would have to get the timing right, so it would actually be there when you get there, without having to have waited long before you got there, but it seems workable, in principle. If you could arrive in buffalo with a couple of buckets and some fresh seawater, you could get the frags out of the bags and into some clean water for the drive back up. That would go a long way toward assuring they make it to your tank in good condition.

 

With the lighting system you are going to use, I imagine you will get some INSANE growth out of a green slimer. They grow so fast already, I can only imagine what it would do under your lighting. This is truly one of those corals you can throw everything you have at in terms of light and current, and it just smiles and asks for more.

 

EDIT: This seems more and more like something that would be best attempted in march/april/may, when the weather isn't too extreme either way. It gives us some time to plan, too. Plus you need time to get your 40 up, running, and stable.

 

Sounds like a plan,

Yeah, best to wait till my main tank is up. I mean, the 20L could hold it no problem, if there was room... (Gotta do those pics tonight)

[SPS20]

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.

 

- 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.

 

- 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.

 

- 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.

 

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:

 

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.

 

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

Edited January 14, 2008 by SPS20

[TJ_Burton]

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.

 

- 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.

 

- 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.

 

- 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.

 

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:

 

 

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.

 

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

 

I think it was wise to remove the plate coral, that thing was gorgeous but too big IMO for an SPS tank of your size. Other then that, it's a shame your favia is having a hard time adjusting, but no worries. I have seen many types of corals (in my systems and in others) bleach out almost white and bounce back 110% after getting used to the lighting. The coral just needs to start regulating the light it is getting by producing more pigments to fend off the extra UV lighting.

 

Your tank still looks great! One suggestion, get a black background to cover the back of the tank. The part that is black looks awesome, so I think the corals on the left side of the tank will 'pop' more if they had a similar backing.

 

Every time I look at your pics, I check up on that slimer frag! lol...

[spanko]

I don't think there has been any adverse effect on the total beauty of your tank at all Josh. I am sure I don't like the look of whatever that is in the front left corner though.

[SPS20]

I think it was wise to remove the plate coral, that thing was gorgeous but too big IMO for an SPS tank of your size. Other then that, it's a shame your favia is having a hard time adjusting, but no worries. I have seen many types of corals (in my systems and in others) bleach out almost white and bounce back 110% after getting used to the lighting. The coral just needs to start regulating the light it is getting by producing more pigments to fend off the extra UV lighting.

 

Your tank still looks great! One suggestion, get a black background to cover the back of the tank. The part that is black looks awesome, so I think the corals on the left side of the tank will 'pop' more if they had a similar backing.

 

Every time I look at your pics, I check up on that slimer frag! lol...

 

Yesh, it was time for the beast to go. He took up fully 1/3 of the tank when fully expanded, and was from a totally different environment than the rest of my corals. Having to get rid of him was inevitable; Eventually he would have simply been to large to fit. It was SUCH a neat coral though.

 

As for that favia, I don't know what to do with it. It looks terrible, and only puffs up and opens when it is in almost total shade. The colors are wonderful, but I am beginning to wonder if it wasn't really beaten on in some way on its way to me. It isn't responding like any favia i've had before.

 

Regarding the black background: My eventual plan is to drill a 29, put an internal overflow in it, and hard plumb it in PVC, on the same stand I now use. The cross section of a 29 is the same as my tank, but the extra height would allow me to let my corals grow huge. As it stands now, I have alot of corals getting very close to the surface. I will need to start hacking them back soon unless I can get the taller quarters. I fully intend to paint the 29 on the back. I will also plumb the refugium so I can put it somewhere besides on the back of my tank, and drill 3 extra holes on the 29 for a closed loop with SCWD.

 

I like the small footprint of the 20L, so a 29 seems like the perfect next step. It won't require a new stand or other gear, and will give me the ability to build some fun vertical rockwork. I will NOT be going for the rock-wall-leaning-against-the-back-glass look or the mound-of-rocks-island-in-the-middle look. I want most of the rockwork to stay low, with one or two steep spires reaching up in the water. I think so many people end up with aquascaping like that because they fail to account for the fact that the corals need room to grow, and empty space makes the shape of the rockwork take form and stand out. Most people just get way too much live rock, IMO.

 

I don't think there has been any adverse effect on the total beauty of your tank at all Josh. I am sure I don't like the look of whatever that is in the front left corner though.

 

Yeah, that thing in the corner you refer to is the unhappy favia. I put it there not because it looks good, but rather because it is one of the dimmest spots in the tank. It has such an awkward shape I am contemplating sawing it into pieces and putting the pieces in various low-light nooks around the tank and see which piece is happiest. Once I find one that starts really looking happy, i'll sell the rest off. That is, if it doesn't start to look better soon. I find it very odd that this coral has SO much trouble adapting to bright light. I mean, its not like I have 400w bulbs, they are lowly 150w coralife bulbs, not some kind of PAR monsters.

Edited January 14, 2008 by SPS20

[nUgZ]

The tank still looks great Josh. Does the favia look like it would eat at all?? Sometimes when they're very stressed they won't put out any feeders, but if it will accept food you should try.

[SPS20]

The tank still looks great Josh. Does the favia look like it would eat at all?? Sometimes when they're very stressed they won't put out any feeders, but if it will accept food you should try.

 

Thanks!

 

Last night about 1/3 of the polyps put out their feeders, so I fed them. Hopefully, that should help it perk up.