annamarie421 Posted December 3, 2008 Author Share Posted December 3, 2008 More random pictures...4/27/08ish purple cap looking not so purple poobrown frags More uploading right now to photobucket! Link to comment
annamarie421 Posted December 3, 2008 Author Share Posted December 3, 2008 These are from 05/02/08... bad pic of my "real" Superman monti this one is from a local guy - dubbed as "Allen's Nuke Acro" not looking very nuketastic in this pic! "fake" Superman monti - sometimes it's pretty! tenius & glare the orange cap grew a little! rainbow monti! oh terrible pic...shows the S. calliendrum a little better I tried to color correct a picture, and this is what happened... tips of pink milli going green another awful attempt at color correction I'll upload more soon! Link to comment
annamarie421 Posted December 4, 2008 Author Share Posted December 4, 2008 So I got frustrated with my terrible photography skills, and didn't take any pictures for months. I started the tank with Zeovit from day one, and realized somewhere around September that I didn't really like the system that much (at least not for right now), and I wanted to start using a kalk reactor (which isn't advised with Zeo). Growth and colors were both good, but not as good as I had hoped/expected. I saw no negative side effects from stopping the Zeovit. I will say that I think the Zeo system helped me get the tank ready to go faster than normal cycling would have, or maybe I just pushed the envelope a bit - I went from filling the tank to adding a bunch of SPS in 5 weeks or so. Current tank equipment: ATI BubbleMaster 200 Skimmer Two Tunze 6100 Streams Tunze 6025 Nanostream AquaSurf module for AquaController III w/ pH & ORP probes AquaController III Heaters Eheim 1262 return pump Reef Fanatic ATO Precision Marine Kalk Reactor Two 400w Helios 20K MH powered by Coralvue E-ballasts I just added a little refugium area to my sump about a week ago, and I can see a little bit of chaeto growth, which I'm hoping will help clean the tank up! Here's a bad FTS from November 15th or so... Current non-coral stocking list: a pair of black & white ocellaris clowns - they're captive bred from a LFS near me Longnose hawkfish Scopas tang a pair of neon gobies - one of which is currently living in the overflow a magnificent foxface - this guy is 3" bigger than what I ordered, and since adding him, the tank has gotten pretty dirty with everything I've had to feed - this is the reason for the refugium! two peppermint shrimp some astrea snails More pictures later! Link to comment
Lalani Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Looks good! Are you going to add any more rock? Link to comment
annamarie421 Posted December 4, 2008 Author Share Posted December 4, 2008 Nope - I like having lots of room for the fishies to swim! It looks much better in person...that's what they all say though! Link to comment
annamarie421 Posted December 7, 2008 Author Share Posted December 7, 2008 OK, time for a huge picture update from 12/1/2008! Sorry they're so blue - the only photo editing program that I have is Picasa, and as you can see from the above pictures that I monkeyed with...I suck at using it. So, here goes! Magnificent Foxface Peppermint Shrimp A couple of additions from a recent frag swap! I absolutely love these zoas!!! My mandarin - he was soooo skinny when we got him, but he's fattening up nicely! Mr Foxy & the scopas tang...and of course some corals! various corals more corals This is his favorite corner of the tank - he uses it for pooing, sleeping, and people watching A few of the pretties - Oregon Tort & Sunset Monti the clowns more frag swap corals - mohawks, PPE, war coral, pretty orange skirted blues, watermelon chalice, big chalice chalices & an acro Scopas tang is not camera shy! tricolor valida, tort, grape cap, leng sy cap (sans purple edge) longnose hawkfish sharking for food topdown hawkfish & superman monti if you ignore the glare...sunset, ponape birdsnest, clam, pink & green acro The PVC was supposed to be temporary...oops Duncans - grown from a single head such an easy coral to take closeup pics of! sand is looking bad since we got the foxface (3" bigger than requested) - working on getting that cleared up! ponape birdsnest oregon tort my Chips acro, finally starting to color up - this one is a major encruster for me - wish it'd grow up! Link to comment
annamarie421 Posted December 7, 2008 Author Share Posted December 7, 2008 A. tenius, Aquarium Specialty S. calliendrum in the back pretty zoas, blurry purple haze monti in front of it hawkfish & weird brown/purple/blue/green stag Sorry if that was too many pictures! Link to comment
Lalani Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 Looks great, I love that foxface! Link to comment
annamarie421 Posted December 7, 2008 Author Share Posted December 7, 2008 Thank you Lalani! My next step is going to be ordering some of those frag mags to start filling in the rear glass (give the tank more dimension without taking away much swimming room!). Of course I'll have to get some new acros to go along with them!! I haven't ever used them before, but I'm hoping that they will work out how I want them to. I have a new tank in the works, so I'm pretty close to just letting this one go into grow mode and not making new additions. The duncans, zoas and chalices in the pics will go in the new tank. Link to comment
proraptor2 Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 wow what a nice tank....What bulbs are you running? Is it really that blue in person? Link to comment
annamarie421 Posted December 7, 2008 Author Share Posted December 7, 2008 wow what a nice tank....What bulbs are you running? Is it really that blue in person? Thank you so much!! I am running 400w Helios 20k bulbs, and it is nowhere near this blue in person - I'm just not so good at taking pictures yet. I think they look pretty similar to Radiums, and are definitely a lot less blue than 20k XM bulbs (hope that description helps). I don't run any actinics, just the halides. My bulbs are getting close to 8 months old, and I am thinking of switching them to 10k or 12k Reeflux bulbs this time. I haven't found my "perfect bulb" yet - I am in search of a very crisp white with no yellow hue bulb. Suggestions are always welcome! Link to comment
proraptor2 Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 2 400 watters on a 90? AWESOME! Ill bet the SPS love that.... Too bad phoenix doesnt make a 400 watt bulb Link to comment
champ23 Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 wow...that tank looks crazy, i wish my stuff would grow like that...but i also need a bigger tank (dont we all) Link to comment
annamarie421 Posted December 7, 2008 Author Share Posted December 7, 2008 2 400 watters on a 90? AWESOME! Ill bet the SPS love that.... Too bad phoenix doesnt make a 400 watt bulb I love the 400's! They're nice and bright, and the corals do seem to thrive under them! I was worried about heat this Summer, but with the AC running on hot days, one fan was enough to keep the temp in check. Now that it's super cold here (14*F today ), the halides help keep my living room a little warmer when they're on! wow...that tank looks crazy, i wish my stuff would grow like that...but i also need a bigger tank (dont we all) Thanks champ! Where's your tank thread?! Link to comment
champ23 Posted December 7, 2008 Share Posted December 7, 2008 i think i'm gunna start a thread since i'm on here quite a bit now. i pm'd you on girs about fragging your duncans so let me know.lol. thanks! Link to comment
annamarie421 Posted December 7, 2008 Author Share Posted December 7, 2008 i think i'm gunna start a thread since i'm on here quite a bit now. i pm'd you on girs about fragging your duncans so let me know.lol. thanks! Awesome! Send me a link when you start your thread! I'll PM you about the duncans. Link to comment
annamarie421 Posted December 8, 2008 Author Share Posted December 8, 2008 Nice pics! Thank you!! I really love your tank! If you see anything you like, maybe we could do a trade in the Spring? Link to comment
smarsh Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 Nice pics! Your SPS looks really healthy. Link to comment
annamarie421 Posted December 8, 2008 Author Share Posted December 8, 2008 Nice pics! Your SPS looks really healthy. Thank you! Ever since I added the Kalk reactor to my system, the growth and and health of the corals has been significantly improved. I really don't miss dosing cal/alk twice a day either! Link to comment
annamarie421 Posted December 8, 2008 Author Share Posted December 8, 2008 Ew. This page doesn't have any pics. Better fix that. Who has nutrient issues?! Me. This beautiful clump of chaeto has grown from the size of a baseball to this since opening day of my refugium on Thanksgiving day. The display is looking better each day though. I'm running 24/7 light schedule at the moment. Oh! Ghetto 'fuge is a Sterilite storage bin sitting in my 75 gal sump being fed by the T off of my return pump, it overflows from the handy lid attachment spots on both sides. I got two lights for the refugium - they're working well. I'll just run the big CFL once things get cleaned up a bit more. Skimming wet, trying to clean it up. This is about 14hrs worth of yuck from the BM200. No bubbles in the neck because I had my hand in the 'fuge spreading out the chaeto. I'll post better skimmer action shots some other time. My Kalk reactor! Link to comment
Rocket Posted December 8, 2008 Share Posted December 8, 2008 Neat. Got a FSS? (Full Sump Shot)? Link to comment
annamarie421 Posted December 8, 2008 Author Share Posted December 8, 2008 Neat. Got a FSS? (Full Sump Shot)? No FSS right at the moment. I need to do some cleaning first...it's...uhh...not pretty... Link to comment
annamarie421 Posted December 12, 2008 Author Share Posted December 12, 2008 So I really hate to admit when my tank is dirty (does everyone?). It'd be easy to just avoid posting pics for awhile, and start up again once it's better...but instead I'm admitting it. MY TANK IS DIRTY. There is nasty algae growing on my sand (not cyano). I'm working hard on getting it cleaned up though. I'm increasing water changes, siphoning detritus, and being mindful of what & how much I feed. It's going to get better, and I'm really looking forward to sharing pics of it looking nice & clean again! I just got done doing some maintenance. Very small water change - I used my turkey baster to do detritus removal from the sump. It's unbelievable how much funk I managed to get out...and I can't believe I let it get that bad, I definitely won't let that happen again. I hope this will help a bit with getting the tank cleaned up. I also refilled my kalk reactor - I always know it's time to refill when my pH starts to run a little lower than usual. Next time I think I'm going to completely empty the reactor, and start with 100% fresh kalk. That will be in about two weeks. I use ESV Kalkwasser Powder in the reactor. I chose it because it seems to be more finely ground than Mrs. Wage's (which I've always used to kill aiptasia). Since it's more finely ground, I hope that it is a little easier on my impeller. Gross! So glad I got it out. Some moron forgot to turn off the return pump while siphoning detritus from the sump = cloudy display Sandbed algae...ugh. It's clearing up slowly but surely since adding the chaeto. The algae started soon after the addition of the foxface (doesn't he look smug in this picture?). We had some trouble getting him to eat, and completely overfed the tank for a couple of weeks after adding him. A bit of halimeda has sprouted out of nowhere after a year (got this rock about a year ago from Dr. Mac) frag rack shot w/ flash without flash - clearly I still haven't figured out my white balance This chalice frag seems to be growing (and coloring up) very quickly - just a shot do document growth. I've had it just under 4 weeks, and it's nearly doubled, and gone from brown to this! OK, that's it for today! Link to comment
kgehrke Posted December 12, 2008 Share Posted December 12, 2008 Very cool. Who did you get the chalice from? I'm jealous of your set up. It's time for the pvc to go though. lol. Link to comment
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