debbeach13 Posted March 12, 2009 Share Posted March 12, 2009 Today's project: A clear mesh cover. My fish hasn't jumped but a previous clown jumped twice and both times I was home and heard the splash of her leaving the water. I bought some clear mesh of a user here on NR some months ago but I never got around to getting the screen frame and spline. I was at HD today and decided to pick up the necessary parts and it cost me ~$6. I could have paid $10 and got the spline tool that would have saved me a hour of work. And my budding scientist; no I didn't put him up to this. He did it all on his beautiful own. This picture is just too cute. Was he hoping to put some stickers on Daddy's tank! Almost forgot to say that I found both shore shrimp safe and sound in the sump. I moved them back to the display and they were back in the sump in less than a hour. If I am going to keep them in the display they need to be bigger than the teeth in my overflow. Hopefully they will find plenty to eat in the sump and will grow big and strong. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 He was comparing the fish in the tank to the fish on the sheet. Note the big clownfish. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 14, 2009 Author Share Posted March 14, 2009 So treygarz stopped by today and I showed him around the big tanks and whatnot. We had a fun little time. Here are some new pics. The purple chalice I picked up on the way home today. The red chalice I picked up while I was getting the purple. The new hammer. Still not extending big but I think it's just tight by nature. The cabbage leather, toad and what I thought were palys. Perhaps they are button polyps? The pretty zoas. Still doing great and reproducing I think. The Dark Vaders, reproducing fairly well. The orange monti. Polyps are starting to come out and the flesh has grown over the sharp edge where it was fragged. The kenya; much happier now. The orange zoas; looking a lot better than when I first got them. Finally the more crowded of the ric rocks. I think I need to put these guys on a bed of rubble and see if they spread out some. I tried out some new post-processing techniques on these photos to bring them more in line with how they look to my eye. It worked fairly well but they still look a lot better in person. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted March 14, 2009 Share Posted March 14, 2009 Wow, some very nice new additions! I've been wanting to get more nice chalices myself, cool score on that! Link to comment
AdriftQuasar Posted March 14, 2009 Share Posted March 14, 2009 The new stuff looks great! Happy and healthy all around. Link to comment
mkregs Posted March 14, 2009 Share Posted March 14, 2009 You've been busy I love the new additions. All of your corals look great! I love the Vaders...strong with the dark side are they. When they grow out a bit, I might try to talk you into a frag swap. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 14, 2009 Author Share Posted March 14, 2009 Thanks for the kind words guys. It's nice to have a tank that doesn't kill all the stuff you want to keep (unlike my 20L). I'm all about frag sawapping, btw. Once these things grow out some, I'll be happy to frag and swap. It's great to finally have some stuff that is worth trading. Link to comment
Needreefunds Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 The purple chalice I picked up on the way home today.....The red chalice I picked up while I was getting the purple. I lol'ed- not sure why I found this so funny, but I did. Could be because this sort of thing happens to me all the time. Everything is looking very happy Sir. You sound like you are finally enjoying the hobby again and this is great to see. Link to comment
bonsai reefer Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 Good to see everything is doing great . Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 18, 2009 Author Share Posted March 18, 2009 Bad news peeps... The lab tank seems to have developed a slow leak. The weight from the tank is causing the shelf it is on to bow. It is bowing only in the center though leaving all the weight of the tank supported by the two short sides. I wouldn't have noticed except that the shelf is wet in one of the corners and it seems to be seeping up from one of the seams in that corner. I haven't decided what I am going to do with everything yet... I am thinking that I might move all the rock, sand, etc into one of the tanks that I am warehousing here at the school. I don't think that I will try to set it up in the lab again though because we don't have the space. The only place I could put a new system is on a shelf above a lab bench and that is what's causing the current problem. Suggestions? Link to comment
Lalani Posted March 18, 2009 Share Posted March 18, 2009 Oh crap, that's definitely not good. Not sure if I would trust it on another shelf... Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 21, 2009 Author Share Posted March 21, 2009 Well here's a brief pictorial update of both the home tank and the lab tank. First the lab tank. I moved it off the shelf and onto a desk. One of the girls was kind enough to volunteer her window space. The skimmer is unfortunately right in the sunlight and it's clear so... I'll rig up some masking on Monday or Tuesday that'll keep the algae down. Now for the home tank. Three zoa frags from Lalani. The first pic is just a min after I popped them into the tank and the others are from today (~28 hrs). Note that the little bit of macro stuck between polyps on the right frag is gone in the later pic. They are still struggling to open as you can see, but I guess that's what happens when the water gets up above 100F in the shipping box. As we have discovered, there are times to use styro + heat pack and then there are times to ditch the styro. If you come by can you re-identify them for me Lalani? One of the emeralds doing his algae destruction thing. I am very happy with the job they are doing. The only thing I would change is their ability to tackle the larger bubbles... I guess I'll have to remove those manually. An FTS. The little frag garden behind the date stamp is coming along nicely. I've gotta do some mounting because I am running out of sand... I hope I can get my hands on a few more chalices and monti caps. PS: I've been breaking one of my own rules over the last couple days... I've been dosing ~125 mL of kalk each evening and I haven't been testing my Ca/alk/Mg. I need to buy myself those kits b/c I currently don't own them. I know I need Ca/alk in the tank b/c I have more stony corals than I have ever had and I want to keep them growing. The good news is that I just got my federal tax refund so I have the $$ to buy them and a few other things ( ;) Weet & Sue!) Link to comment
Lalani Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 Yup, rethinking packing methods. The pinkcenters are Daytrippers I bought from brshriver, the red-skirts I originally got as a freebie from a local reefer, and the blues are from Sealife. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 21, 2009 Author Share Posted March 21, 2009 Awesome, thanks for the names/origins. I hope the daytrippers open up soon... I've only had the smallest peek so far. They are the only ones that still look fairly pi$$ed. Link to comment
GiantBen Posted March 21, 2009 Share Posted March 21, 2009 Awesome, thanks for the names/origins. I hope the daytrippers open up soon... I've only had the smallest peek so far. They are the only ones that still look fairly pi$$ed. Do you have any trouble with the emerald eating corals? I'm thinking of getting one for my CUC as I have some small bubble and sponge algae developing. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 21, 2009 Author Share Posted March 21, 2009 Not at all. John Maloney says that juvi crabs are generally better behaved and that his experience of emeralds eating corals was more of an overzealous thing... They were trying to get some algae and took a little coral with it. Link to comment
BKtomodachi Posted March 22, 2009 Share Posted March 22, 2009 I want that lab tank on my desk! The zoas/chalices look great. You've got awesome coralline going on in that display tank also. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 More pics b/c some zoas opened up and I bought a new frag but mostly so I can practice my post processing. First, Lalani's (now my!) zoas. Sealife blue's, red-skirts and the Daytrippers. Next, the rest of the zoas. Eagleye/Dragoneye frag, orange creams, Darth Vaders, What I've been calling palys... Are they button polyps? Right next to the cabbage leather. A couple of the less-seen rics. The toad. The hammer. You can't see it in this pic but it is already splitting. The chalices. Lava red and grapeape. The monti caps... That's right; plural. The plain orange and the tropical sunset. I can't wait until that little guy grows out! Finally, a couple progress shots. First my largest (and oldest) astrea. Note the huge white band of new shell. It has laid all that down in just the last couple months. And finally a comparison of before and after the emeralds in just one area of the tank. You can use the vermetid snail to orient you. Now for some interesting water chemistry findings. I borrowed some salifert tests from school (Mg, Ca & Alk) and one AP kit (Ca). I tested the water of the lab tank, the home tank and the NSW I use. Here are the results: Holmes-Farley says they should be Ca - 380-450 ppm Alk - 7-11 dKH (2.5-4.0 meq/L) Mg - 1250-1350 ppm Home (30 ppt) ----- Ca (salifert) - 330 ppm Ca (AP) - 380 ppm Alk - 8.6-9.0 dKH (3.09-3.20 meq/L) Mg - 1520 ppm Lab (35 ppt) --- Ca (salifert) - 350 ppm Ca (AP) - 380-400 ppm Alk - 7.4-7.7 dKH (2.63-2.74 meq/L) Mg - ~1590 ppm NSW (39 ppt) --- Ca (salifert) - 340 ppm Ca (AP) - 400 ppm Alk - 9.6-9.9 dKH (3.43-3.54 meq/L) Mg - ~1710 ppm Interesting, no? I'm not big into forcing chemistry but I am happy that I have a line on some B-Ionic and some salifert test kits of my own. I think it is clear that I need some more calcium... It is also clear that dosing 100-200 mL of kalk every evening hasn't been a bad idea. Link to comment
Lalani Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Holy crap... everything looks awesome. Link to comment
airman_verde04 Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Hey Fosi, you tank is rock'n the free world! haha, you know when I get back, would you possible be willing to offer up some of your skills when I come up to Cola? I could use some help laying out the new frag tank/sumpfugium/ and overflow on the new tank design. check out my thread to see what I'm talking about. Link to comment
Mr. Fosi Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 Helping is what I do best. I left you a post on your tank thread. Link to comment
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