And in the beginning

[divecj5]

Cool...gotta love those deals. Unfortunately the LFS around here tries to sell browned out things just as much as nicely colored frags Looking forward to seeing your tank continue to progress.

[spanko]

Thanx. I think I am getting closer to a layout that will eventually turn into the reef flat look I am trying to achieve. As things grow I keep seeing the need to rescape to allow them to grow the way I want. But like I said it looks to me that it is getting closer to the point where I can quit rearranging.

[spanko]

Funny here I am now seeing some Caulerpa already starting to grow back. No a lot but non the less growing back. Thinking about getting another small Foxface now. The problem is will there be enough for him to eat or will I have to supplement his diet with other foods, nori, even purchase some macro algae to put into the fuge with the Chaeto to give him once in a while.

I love the challenge of trying to keep ahead of things. This is got to be the best hobby IMO. I make about 200 gallons of wine a year. It is one of the most happiest feelings I get sharing sharing the wine I make. I love to sit and have a glass with friends and family all throughout the year. (I make a kick ass Sangria to take out on the boat and drink with the other boats we raft up with and party with )but that feeling does not compare to the joy I get from 29 gallons of saltwater and the life it contains. Oh well I guess I better start looking for another small Rabbitfish and thinking about keeping it happy.

Oh yeah gonna look for a nice green Pocillopora too just like Dives.

[c est ma]

Sorry for updating so soon.

 

LOL! Henry, you never have to say that!

 

 

Sweet macro!!

 

 

I love my little geometric and am so happy when he does show himself.

 

 

I can definitely identify with that attitude. My pom pom, gobies, and brittle stars like to play hard-to-see, but that just makes the sitings all the more exciting. (The gobies only got so elusive once they started breeding, which I suppose makes sense.) All will usually make an appearance when they sense food in the tank, though. I know they're all in there, and seemingly thriving. Seems like very natural behavior to me.

 

 

Funny here I am now seeing some Caulerpa already starting to grow back. No a lot but non the less growing back. Thinking about getting another small Foxface now. The problem is will there be enough for him to eat or will I have to supplement his diet with other foods, nori, even purchase some macro algae to put into the fuge with the Chaeto to give him once in a while.

I love the challenge of trying to keep ahead of things. This is got to be the best hobby IMO. I make about 200 gallons of wine a year. It is one of the most happiest feelings I get sharing sharing the wine I make. I love to sit and have a glass with friends and family all throughout the year. (I make a kick ass Sangria to take out on the boat and drink with the other boats we raft up with and party with )but that feeling does not compare to the joy I get from 29 gallons of saltwater and the life it contains. Oh well I guess I better start looking for another small Rabbitfish and thinking about keeping it happy.

Oh yeah gonna look for a nice green Pocillopora too just like Dives.

 

 

Jeez, I dunno--that partying on the boats with the Sangria was sounding pretty sweet to me...decisions, decisions.

 

Nice life you've made for yourself, Henry.

 

--Diane

[divecj5]

I agree Diane....sounds like quite the life to me as well. My wife and I don't get a whole lot more enjoyment than popping a bottle of wine and sitting on the back porch all evening.

 

I was just looking back at some of your pictures above and was wondering what you did with the output of the pump from Chamber 3. It looks like you put a 90 degree piece on it and attached some locline to have it point toward the bottom of the tank. Is it just a straight shot down to the bottom and how do you have it at the end? I'm guessing you're using it to try and keep everything below the rocks stirred up.

 

Looking forward to the pictures of the Green Poccilopora that you got. Mine has started taking off lately and is one of my favs.

[spanko]

Did not get the Pocillopora yet just gonna keep my eye out for one that comes close to the beauty of yours.

Yeah my wife and I and neighborhood friends spend a considerable amount of time out in the backyard or our house and others drinking wine and solving the worlds problems. Funny how much you can solve like that. Maybe I need to send some homemade wine to Washington so they can get something done too!

Yeah the output from the Rio in chamber #3 does a right turn to the very bottom of the tank. At that point it has a Y connector that points flow across the back of the tank from left to right and the other points from back to front along the left side. As I am running bare bottom this tends to accumulate any detritus that is too heavy to be suspended in the water column at the back right corner under the bottom opening where water enters chamber #1. At weekly water change time it is very easy to siphon it out from that corner. Works good, I like it!

[divecj5]

I hear ya.....nothing like a little wine to help get the thoughts flowing...not sure there is enough red wine in California to help those in D.C.

 

Thanks for the explanation of the output....that's what I thought it did but thought it was a really good idea.

[johnr2604]

Very nice tank.

[spanko]

Very nice tank.

 

Thank you.

[spanko]

Bored tonight, took some pics.

 

FTS

 

Hawk taking a look

 

Another of the Hawk

 

Purple Stylophora

 

Found some shrooms growing.

 

Talbots Damsel

 

Another

 

Like I said, bored thought I would share.

[Lalani]

Beautiful tank, so many colors.

[Nick's Reef]

very nice pics Spanko, the colors really poped in these. I love the pic of the geo poking his head out. The guy at the lfs said he'd be fine and has been trying to get me one for the past 3 weeks. Also what spectrum bulb are you useing? The colors just look so amazing!

[spanko]

very nice pics Spanko, the colors really poped in these. I love the pic of the geo poking his head out. The guy at the lfs said he'd be fine and has been trying to get me one for the past 3 weeks. Also what spectrum bulb are you useing? The colors just look so amazing!

 

Thank you all, Nick running a 14k Phoenix HQI MH.

[Weetabix7]

VERY nice, might have to get some frags from you once I get the new system going well.

[spanko]

I have just found about a half dozen Pseudocorynactis in the rock work out of the light in my tank. I believe they are the Caribbean type as they close up in the light. I think this because with my MH on yesterday I fed the coral, (Coral Frenzy, Frozen Cyclopleeze, Seachem Reef Plus and some DT's), with the return pump off but the Koralia's on. I started looking at the tank with the magnifying glass and saw one tucked up in a shaded spot on the rock. As I looked around more found another then another until I came across about 6 of the little buggers. When the feeding was done and I turned the return pump back on they started closing up. When closed you cannot tell what they are except for a white spot on the rock. Here is something from Julian Sprung on them.

 

Pseudocorynactis

 

Pseudocorynactis spp. are like Corynactis but are much larger (to about six inches (15 cm) diameter, and usually not colonial. They also reproduce by fission, but it is unusual to find more than about six clones together as a group. The so-called orange ball anemones that can be observed on coral reefs at night are Pseudocorynactis spp. The column varies in color from cryptic shades of brown to orange, red and magenta. The tips of the tentacles are commonly bright orange, but they can also be white. These tentacle tips are extremely sticky, like flypaper, due to the presence of powerful nematocysts. This fact makes the larger species from the Indo Pacific region unsuitable for aquariums housing fishes, which they readily capture. They also can catch mobile invertebrates such as shrimps and snails, and sometimes "attack" sessile invertebrates growing on adjacent rocks, enveloping them in the gastric cavity through a widely opened mouth. Pseudocorynactis spp. can be fed daily, but only require twice weekly feeding to keep them healthy. If they are not fed frequently enough, they shrink. There is a marked behavioral difference between the common Caribbean and Indo-Pacific species.

The Caribbean species, Pseudocorynactis caribbaeorum mainly opens its tentacles at night, and closes rapidly when it senses light. The Indo-Pacific species remains open both day and night, and is not sensitive to light. The presence of food smells (dissolved amino acids) in the water stimulates either species to open up and extend the tentacles, and the Caribbean species can be trained to open in the light by feeding it during daylight hours. The mechanism for its apparent memory is not known.

 

Whether you have a large reef aquarium or a simple small aquarium, any of the corallimorphs can be easily maintained and enjoyed for decades.

 

Mine are small at this point and I am starting to get information that the Lysmata wurdemanni (peppermint shrimp) will not destroy these as they will with Aiptasia. One person said to try boiling water. I suppose some of the Aiptasia control stuff might do the trick too, but have not verified this yet.

 

I want to say this tank and the rockwork in it are now about 1.5 years old. The only recent addition to this tank is a pc. of Pavona varians about 3 weeks ago. It was a small pc. about 2" x 1" and I examined it for anything on it before I added it and saw nothing. WHAT THE HECK!

 

My plan is to now try to control these corallimorphs with whatever means may work short of ripping out the rocks and "cooking" them. If I cannot I may move on to a new biotope (no more reef flat:cry:bw) possibly a patch reef or an island with an anemone and some clowns.

 

Don't have pics yet as when I saw them last night I was in shock that they have appeared so suddenly. Will get some as time allows.

 

Thanx all for listening.

[divecj5]

Wow...interesting that they sort of cropped up all of a sudden. So, although they look to be really cool creatures, they become a nuisance? I google'd the name and they are really kind of cool looking but it sounds like they spread rather quickly.

 

If they do, are you planning on changing your design again just because of these or starting a new tank?

[spanko]

Well they are cool looking aren't they? Couple of problems though:

They grow to six inches

They are fish eaters

They are multiplying

 

If I cannot control them, I am gonna work hard though so that this is not the outcome, I will tear this tank down and start over. I will not use anything that is in the tank now, none of the rocks or coral or Chaeto in the sump. I will use dry sand and Tufa rock. No life at all. Start the cycle with a cocktail shrimp, scrape a little coralline from a rock into the tank and go from there.

[divecj5]

Wow...didn't quite realize they were such PITA's.

 

I completely understand what you mean about tearing down and building new. There are certain things, vermitids for me, that have driven me to tear down a tank and these sound like one of them.

 

Best of luck in controlling them...hopefully you can keep them in check.

[spanko]

Thanx Dive. I will keep this thread updated with progress or lack there of.

[PodRod]

This tank is one of my favorites so I'm glad you posted some new pics. I simply love your coral selection and the colors. As for the Pseudocorynactis, I'm glad you finally gave me an id. I had a couple in my last tank and never knew what they were. I only observed them at night and noticed they were slowly multiplying before I broke the tank down.

 

Great tank!

[Nick's Reef]

Well they are cool looking aren't they? Couple of problems though:

They grow to six inches

They are fish eaters

They are multiplying

 

If I cannot control them, I am gonna work hard though so that this is not the outcome, I will tear this tank down and start over. I will not use anything that is in the tank now, none of the rocks or coral or Chaeto in the sump. I will use dry sand and Tufa rock. No life at all. Start the cycle with a cocktail shrimp, scrape a little coralline from a rock into the tank and go from there.

damn that stinks spanko! It would suck if the did get big enough to eat your fish, especially the geo. I finally got mine about a month a go and just love him!

[spanko]

This tank is one of my favorites so I'm glad you posted some new pics. I simply love your coral selection and the colors. As for the Pseudocorynactis, I'm glad you finally gave me an id. I had a couple in my last tank and never knew what they were. I only observed them at night and noticed they were slowly multiplying before I broke the tank down.Great tank!

 

Thank you for the kind words. Have been following along with Dive and you and the two of you are lucky to have each other so close together. I am now thinking like Diane might ( C est Ma) and may just leave them to see what happens. Maybe if - as they grow I will take some action down the road.

 

 

damn that stinks spanko! It would suck if the did get big enough to eat your fish, especially the geo. I finally got mine about a month a go and just love him!

 

Congrats on the Geo Nick. Have been following along with your tank also. It has come a long way since the beginning. Thank you for looking in here. I'm gonna keep an eye on things and see how they develop. The only things I would keep from this tank if there is ever a need to start over are the Geo and the Pom-pom. Even though I don't see them often they are my favorite critters.

[spanko]

Well I have been reading about Radium 150w 20k bulbs recently. Not as blue as other 20k's with higher PAR, so I got one to try out. Here are some comparison pictures. The pics are taken on full automatic setting on my camera with no photoshop or other enhancement. I really like it. Not as dark blue as the Phoenix 14k I was running and much brighter.

 

14k #1

 

14k #2

 

20k #1

 

20k#2

[spanko]

So here are some new pics as of 24 June 08. Mostly top down with a new 20k Radium HQI bulb.

 

Green Slimer

 

Green Monti

 

Hispada Monti

 

Orange Monti

 

Orange Polyped Digitata

 

Porites worm rock

 

Purple Stylophora

 

FTS

 

Thank you for looking.

[basser1]

IMO, I still like the Phoenix. In your pics #1 and #2, your corals' colors look more vibrant. Whereas the other pics, the corals color looked washed out. For example, look at the red cap monti. The red pops out in the first 2 pics. Just my 2 pennies.