Urchinhead's CADLights 39G Pro

[SeeDemTails]

That stinks. Nems are hard to get acclimated with pumps going sometimes. I cant tell you how many nems I have seen sucked into pumps.

[Urchinhead]

That stinks. Nems are hard to get acclimated with pumps going sometimes. I cant tell you how many nems I have seen sucked into pumps.

 

Thank you. Yes it does. It seemed to acclimate ok then hid then I found it this morning. My guess is that as it was moving out of the cave it got caught in the undertow and sucked in. Lesson learned is no more 'nems. Period.

[SeeDemTails]

I wish I could have a BTA or RBTA in my tank. I just dont have the room. Plus there is always the chance of them drifting around!

[Phixion]

With the Vortech, it sounds like that was inevitable unfortunately.

 

I understand what you're saying now, I will indeed try that. She DID pick out a coral once, which is how us having 2 tanks came to be. The 10g AGA I had before the SCNRS tank was supposed to be a FW tank, lol!

[Urchinhead]

I wish I could have a BTA or RBTA in my tank. I just dont have the room. Plus there is always the chance of them drifting around!

 

Yep. Me too except for the danger of accidentally killing the poor thing. Perhaps when I finally get around to setting up my office tank which will be a 20 gallon I will put one in there and do a species specific tank...

 

With the Vortech, it sounds like that was inevitable unfortunately.

 

Interestingly it was doing fine where I put it initially. Unfortunately it decided it needed to adjust to my lighting and hid in a cave. I suspect that when it came of of the cave it did it during the peak cycle of the Vortech and got sucked in. Lesson learned I guess.

 

I understand what you're saying now, I will indeed try that. She DID pick out a coral once, which is how us having 2 tanks came to be. The 10g AGA I had before the SCNRS tank was supposed to be a FW tank, lol!

 

Cheers. Its a bit underhanded but it does make them a bit less jealous of the 'other woman' in the house.

[Phixion]

lol, no doubt!

[Urchinhead]

Swimmingly fantastic news to an otherwise crap week!!! The reports of my poor anemone's death were actually largely exaggerated!

 

This morning at 6 am when I found it face first in the foam filter of my vortech I was about 95% sure the poor guy was a goner but decided to put it in a 'safe' place and take a wait an see attitude with it anyway because the foot was intact and it still had its tentacles. I put it in a tupperware container with holes cut in it and a rock in a low flow area of the tank with good lighting and I came home at lunch to check on it afraid that I would find a tank full of goop.

 

At lunch it was still pretty PO'ed but no slime ball...

 

As of 28 minutes ago its showing life again!! Its attached to the rock, the mouth is firm, the tentacles are extended a bit, and the foot is intact. Its just all shrunk up...

 

 

If anyone who reads this and has any good advice on how I can care for this guy and help it make it through please post!

 

Thanks!

 

UH

[Urchinhead]

More good news! A superman monti frag I bought from StanD appears to have survived the FS7 heat fiasco and has come back from death's door. Its bluing up again and it extended its red polyps today!

[WindCloudWRX]

Just try feed it or give it time.

[Urchinhead]

Just try feed it or give it time.

 

Thank you. I am keeping it in the container for the next few days just to be safe then I plan to redo my blast o garden to accommodate it on that side of the tank. Hopefully it will be ok.

[SeeDemTails]

I would put some foam over the other intakes and turn off the vortech if possible until it gets situated!

 

Glad to hear good news!

[Urchinhead]

I would put some foam over the other intakes and turn off the vortech if possible until it gets situated!

 

Glad to hear good news!

 

Aye. There in lies the rub. My Vortech is my only power head in the tank so if I shut it down I have only 200 gph of flow from the returns which is far too little to keep other things happy. Its a Hobson's Choice. Risk harm to a single animal or risk harm to all of the others in the tank due to possible hypoxic zones forming due to lack of flow. Either way something gets hurt.

 

I have the foam cover on the vortech though and I switched from the high (3,000 gph) flow reef crest setting to the lower and gentler lagoon setting so the flow isn't as strong but still doing the job.

 

She's out of the container as of Saturday evening and is on the far side of the tank right near the blasto garden which is the lowest flow area I have. She colored back up even brighter than before, she has nice bubble shaped tentacles, and most importantly she ate 4 mysis at a shot.

 

She stayed put most of Sunday under the lights but as of Sunday night she has crawled into a rock crevice. I am hoping this is just to set herself right. She pokes out just enough to get hit by the light but not too much.

 

So I am guardedly hopeful.

 

I also completely redid the blasto garden and re-aquascaped the bloody tank (again!) as there was a piece of SPS that I have been hunting for for over a year at a reasonable price and like a bloody crack addict had to purchase... Sigh.

 

Oh and I added the Tunze Nano Cleaner 3165 to get a better handle on carbon filtration to (hopefully) help with my nitrate issues that seem to keep cropping up and to pull more junk out of the w/c. Its a nice piece of kit that provides a good bit of surface skim plus holds a bit of wadding and a chemipure bag nicely and fits nicely in the corner of the tank. Running it all day Sunday (and scraping my glass ) showed a marked improvement on water clarity. I had to replace the filter floss Sunday evening which tells me I am not doing a good job on keeping gunk out of the tank, I had way too much gunk on the glass including allot of coraline, and that I need to soak my skimmer in white vinegar because its not doing the job it should be.

[SeeDemTails]

I also completely redid the blasto garden and re-aquascaped the bloody tank (again!) as there was a piece of SPS that I have been hunting for for over a year at a reasonable price and like a bloody crack addict had to purchase... Sigh.

 

Ok, well your amongst fellow crack heads so post up some pics biotch!

[Phixion]

New SPS ehh?? Please do share pics, mate!

[Urchinhead]

Update with no photos due to Carbon Based Unit Failure (my lovely and patient wife has misplaced the bloody camera charger!)...

 

The anemone is alive and well as well as ALLOT more colorful! She turned from that light pink to a bright pink and is eating 1/4" sized pieces of silverside twice a week. And the anemone crab is hosting her again.

 

The only problem is the bloody !@#$%^&*(!# thing has placed herself at the back of the cave I have in the tank right up against the overflow box wall where she gets a good bit of direct light somewhat filtered by the live rock and not as much flow but makes it an absolute pain in the arse to feed her! I have to take forceps and maneuver them into the cave while running the gauntlet created by my clowns, brittle star, skunk shrimp, peppermint shrimp, and three pom pom crabs to get a pice of silverside to her! :ph34r:

 

The final 1 1/2" of ice blue SPS has succumbed completely to RTN. This was exacerbated by it falling behind the rocks and me not finding it for a couple of days. I kept looking at the tank and saying to myself "something is missing..." before I finally realized what and by then it was too late.

 

All the other SPS seem to be doing very well as they are all extending their polyps pretty much all day unless I do something to mess with them, they are keeping color very well, and I am seeing growth on them. So... Is polyp extension all day long a sign of happy SPS?

 

I got a great deal on a huge Acan rock from PGA that is awsome but ended up killing a burgundy candy cane head. Man those guys can be mean! I have seen one beat up a mushroom too!

 

One of my pom pom's is 80% trained to take food from my forceps and hopefully will do so by hand... I know... I know... Photos or it didn't happen. Well I had good photos I thought but the battery was so low on the camera that they only took the top 1/8th of the picture so I will take them again next change I get.

 

And lastly I rescued some kind of ORA Acro from a buddy. When I get the bloody camera back on line I will take a picture for ID.

 

UH

[Urchinhead]

Yet more updates.

 

My superman monti that was damaged in the heat fiasco at a local frag swap but was on the mend was attacked by something nasty and is now dead. Link to photos and thread asking for id:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=169504

 

Did yet another tank revision and added several new SPS. Anyone know what the coral is in the last photo? Is it paly's or zoa's and are the AOG or something else? Here are the photos:

 

 

A couple of FTS's including my blasto garden with new blastos:

 

 

A couple of shots of one of my pom pom's including me training it to be hand fed:

 

 

The anemone didn't react well to my rock redo and has since disappeared AGAIN hopefully she will resurface in a place that is allot easier to feed her! Here are shots of her in the hospital bowel, and when she was in the rocks:

 

 

And lastly the sump that I designed:

 

[Phixion]

I think those zoas are AoG's, or did you happen to get any from Johnwah at MNS7? I have some of his "A.S.S." polyps he was selling then, similar to the ones that Scrapz had, except they are more salmon pink in color than neon/bright pink. Still very bright though. I think in the end they are one variation or another of AoG's...

[Urchinhead]

Thank you sir! I don't remember who they were from. But then I just scored a rock with smaller head size but about 45+ polyps on it that looks identical except for size to the ones in the photo from Mr. "For you...?" for $40 and wanted to see what I had.

[Phixion]

Steve and AoG's?? No way!!!

[SeeDemTails]

Everything is really looking good, love the SPS!

[Urchinhead]

Boy have I turned into a slacker and idiot!!!

 

With that said let me introduce you to the newest member of the Urchinhead family...

 

 

Mr. Pseudochromis Fridmani. I say slacker and idiot because instead of following my usual super anal fish QT system this guy went right into the bloody tank!

 

Actually he came from a local LFS who's owner is more about growing corals and having cool fish in display tanks then he is about actually selling coral and stuff. Some here will know who I mean. So I was actually not worried about the fish coming in with diseases and the like because I know how he treats his own tanks and fish.

 

I had my heart set on a Blackcap Basslet but when I saw this guy I just couldn't pass him up. The photo doesn't do him anything close to justice in terms of color and the like. You can see him again in the side view shot of my tank.

 

I also found Rose (yeah I know. Silly and unoriginal name but take it up with my wife please) aka the <dirty names> anemone completely by accident last night. I had my hand in the tank for some odd reason and managed to knock over a major amount of rock which lead to a 3 hour ordeal while I rebuilt things and of course moved things around. In that process I found her hiding in the cave with her paladin the anemone crab in attendance and on guard. He actually fought with me this morning as I was trying to feed her! As in brandished his pincers at me and tried to push the forceps away! It was kind of cute and funny actually.

 

She took two 1/4" pieces of sliverside this morning (she was hungry after over a week of no food I am sure), her color is good, and she is inflating so at least now I know she is healthy and ok. As well as where she is! Here are a couple of shots of her as well as one of me hand feeding her. Its a bit of a pain as I need to maneuver around the purple gomezi (who is much happier where he is now than before it seems based on the polyp extension I saw in the photo and hadn't seen for a while on him) to get food to her but I can live with that.

 

 

Here is me feeding the star fish before I feed the anemone because if I don't he will try to steal the 'nems food which leads to him getting stung, the crab getting pissed, and the 'nem possibly not eating.

 

 

 

And what the tank now looks like after the re-aquascaping I did last night. Sigh. My tank went from a rather minimalist one to far too busy with far too much in it and I am not happy with how it looks. I am NOT going to buy any more corals and am just going to let these grow out by themselves. And this time I mean it! Damn hobby is like being addicted to crack! And for sure costs more!

 

 

Now if I could just conquer my alk problem I would be set! Can't seem to keep it above 7 dKH and don't want to dose anymore than I am now because I don't want to set myself up for a major pH spike because of too much base going in. Looks like the solution is going to have to be kalkwasser reactor. Sigh.

[Phixion]

Doesn't look too much different than I saw tuesday night when I was over picking up the DBTC cat's paw. I'm guessing the Fridmani isn't from Steve by how you described the shop, so I'm actually not sure who/where you got it from... But everything is looking good Carson!

[Urchinhead]

Yet more updates... Redid the aquascaping *AGAIN* so I can now see my anemone and reach her for feeding. Still joust with the bloody crab though every time I try to feed her. I feel like I am at an ultimate fighting contest. He knocks the forceps away hard and I have to Gracy Jujitsu his arse then get the silverside past him into the 'nem's tentacles at which point he leaves it alone. This last time he actually hit the forceps so hard it knocked the siverside out of them!

 

A shot of him filter feeding and a FTS with the new aquascape as well as the usual coral shots. The blasto's are pissed because I moved them around a bit. I *REALLY* need to stop doing that! Plus a closeup of Phixion's monti feeding.

 

I think I finally have a handle on my dosing. Its 10 mg of part 1 in the AM and 10 mg of part 1 in the PM plus 5 mg of part 2 (Ca) in the AM and 10 mg of part 2 in the PM. Going to be ordering a kalk reactor today so I can automate this. Plus a replacement pH probe for the RKE as mine isn't working right nor is the ORP probe. You can see them in the FTS as I was testing them and wanted easy access to them. RKE is a good unit and allot cleaner then the ACIII Pro in terms of function and the like but still a bit buggy. Works good for me but others have been having problems.

 

If anyone is interested in an ACIII Pro with salinity probe as well as ORP, pH, and Temp (all lab grade) and 2 DC8's plus a break out box LMK I will be selling it cheap.

 

 

 

[Urchinhead]

Doesn't look too much different than I saw tuesday night when I was over picking up the DBTC cat's paw. I'm guessing the Fridmani isn't from Steve by how you described the shop, so I'm actually not sure who/where you got it from... But everything is looking good Carson!

 

Think Orange County and a guy who always wears a ball cap.

[Urchinhead]

Its been only about two months now which of course means that I *MUST* do something to stress myself, my fish, my inverts, and my corals out! I got to thinking the other day that my tank was far too crowded and needed to be reaquascaped... Well last week after working 40 hours of Overtime in four days I did something (I can't remember what because I was so tired) and ended up staying up until 2 am redoing my aquascaping!

 

I managed to redo things to a way that I actually am pretty happy with, gives the tank a more open feel in my opinion, and works better for me.... Except for the fact that my SPS is now super crowded, I am going to be needing to setup a separate frag tank or selling/giving away a bunch of corals, or just get out of the bloody hobby all together since I am getting too old to put myself through these stress periods.

 

The only good thing that came out of this (other than the tank looks better) is that I am not going to grow corals in my tank to frag anymore. Where they are is where they will stay and hopefully grow out to the point where the cover the rocks where they are. *IF* I do grow stuff to frag its going in a separate tank. Period!

 

Speaking of which... In trade for some micromussa and $ I got a very nice AdvanceAcrylics frag tank! Now I have *NO* reason not to setup that display/frag tank I wanted with the black sand and all... Well no reason except for She Who Must Be Obeyed putting the kibosh on it!

 

Welcome with me please the Urchinhead Cadlights 39G Pro Redux Tank 3.0!

 

 

The Dirty Name aka the pink bubble tip anemone managed to survive the ordeal and, of course, relocate herself to the most inconvenient spot to feed her possible! You can see her slightly with her crab here:

 

 

 

And I hadn't seen my Staghorn who has been with me over a year for a while. Yesterday I find his empty shell stuck under a rock way back by the anemone much to my horror! Only to find him in a new shell! I didn't think they could do that! So its off to wwm to ask about that. Here is a shot of him in his new shell:

 

 

One of my blasto's didn't make it through the change sadly. I am treating it with iodine dips but am not hopeful.

 

Lastly, and of course, I had to pickup a coral on my last trip to the LFS so if I haven't posted a shot before here is my plate coral with its new home...