iglowce Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 wheres the latest FTS? hehe Link to comment
Reefmack Posted August 10, 2008 Author Share Posted August 10, 2008 Yep - I've been lazy with pics - just very busy. Today was water change day, and I siphoned out some cyano in front, and moved things around to get better flow on the front substrate. Added a couple pounds of new aragonite base too. Not much else has really changed, other than some growth on the Montiporas and a nice coloring up of one of the acros, since I put the new 14k MH bulb in. I did pick up a deal on a bright green Palau Nepthea frag - have it on a frag rack in the tank for now till it attaches to the frag plug. I'll try to get some pics soon. Link to comment
Reefmack Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 Ok - 6 pm FTS. I moved a large piece of rock with a nice green zoa colony to the right side (not visible), moved some things around on the substrate to get better flow and get rid of some cyano. Things were too cramped, plus I have a tendency to overfeed. Having my timers get messed up after a recent all night power outage resulted in my MH lamp being on for 12+ hours instead of 8 - I noticed that mid week. Put all these together and they promote cyano. Top left is a small magnetic frag rack. My new frag of neon green Palau Nepthea - hard to photograph fluorescent green corals - too bright I guess. Liveaquaria wants $80 & shipping for this size frag. I got mine for only $19. Some new Montipora digitata. The orange piece on the right broke off while mounting it, so I mounted it on the right side of a new purple digitata in the middle. In just a bit over a week there are new branch shoots popping up on both the orange and purple, Lower left is a German blue digitata only a few weeks old & doing great. Bottom middle is a superman monti that has doubled in size in 3 weeks - much prettier than the pictures show. In the frag pack with the above new digitata I got a piece of nice green Monti cap - mounted it below my orange piece that is starting to form plates after a few weeks. Green & Orange digis about a month old and really growing! The other two Montis in the frag pack were two encrusting types - I think the first is a M. danae type, with hard to see small, bright blue polyps, and no idea what the one in the second pic is. Pics are a bit fuzzy but I was in a rush to eat dinner I guess that's it for an update on what's happening in my tank. Link to comment
lilredneckman Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 Beautiful!!! I loved how your tank looked without all of the coralline so i decided to scrape mine too. I am very happy with the results and i am glad i did it! Link to comment
Lalani Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 How did I miss this one??? Gorgeous tank. Link to comment
Sexy Shrimp Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 So jealous of those new frags! I really should get some more SPS... Link to comment
Reefmack Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 lilredneckman - I'm glad you agree on the look after scraping the coralline off the back. Most, if not all of us, couldn't wait to see the coralline start to grow, but IMO when it covers the whole back wall it takes away from the beauty of the corals, and destroys the contrast between the corals, aquascaping and even the fish, But that's just my opinion. Looks great on the rock, but after getting rid of mine on the back & sides of the tank I really prefer the clean look. Now all I have to do is not let it get so bad again! lalani - thanks for the kind words. Leanne - as you probably know, the Montipora SPS types are easy SPS compared to the Acropora, and they grow like crazy with good water quality and aren't quite as "light hungry" as Acropora. Go for it! Your tank should be able to easily accomodate any SPS. Link to comment
fierceseaman Posted August 11, 2008 Share Posted August 11, 2008 I know urchins are reported to eat coralline. Have you ever thought of using one? I would love to keep my tank nice and clean and it seems like urchins might help. Link to comment
Reefmack Posted August 11, 2008 Author Share Posted August 11, 2008 I've avoided the urchins as they can knock corals off of the rockwork, and they'll munch on coralline on the rock as well as on the glass. Plus I don't want to have to worry about getting stuck by a spine if I'm working in the tank. They're good in a fuge though. Link to comment
Reefmack Posted August 19, 2008 Author Share Posted August 19, 2008 Well hello Mrs. Peer! Great to see you stop in here! Link to comment
Brent F Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 I know urchins are reported to eat coralline. Have you ever thought of using one? I would love to keep my tank nice and clean and it seems like urchins might help. I have an urchin in my RSM and find it great for controlling coraline. I also have one in my clam pool. The tuxedo and priest hat urchins are bad for knocking things over. Other varieties seem to leave corals alone Link to comment
MrsPeer Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 Hey guys I have a question. Do your clowns often have black dots on them? I have two true percs that are still pretty small but lately there are a lot black dots on them. I was told that it's probably due to stings from corals, but it seems with each passing day, there are more. Link to comment
Reefmack Posted August 19, 2008 Author Share Posted August 19, 2008 Brent F, Arreola - hello guys! Nice to have you stop in! Mrs. Peer - I got concerned about the black dots on my clowns at first, thinking it was something called Back Ick. It turned out to be caused by the clowns trying to host with a frogspawn and the dark areas caused by stings from the frogspawn - no harm done. Are the spots distinct raised spots or more like small smooth blotches. If it's the later I doubt it's anything to worry about. Kraylen - I'm confused by the "omg@frags" post? I can get confused easy - old age thing lol! Link to comment
StevieT Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 we get confused at a lot that kraylen says, but that is why we love him Link to comment
Reefmack Posted August 19, 2008 Author Share Posted August 19, 2008 Good to know StevieT! Then I'll love him too Link to comment
MrsPeer Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 Brent F, Arreola - hello guys! Nice to have you stop in! Mrs. Peer - I got concerned about the black dots on my clowns at first, thinking it was something called Back Ick. It turned out to be caused by the clowns trying to host with a frogspawn and the dark areas caused by stings from the frogspawn - no harm done. Are the spots distinct raised spots or more like small smooth blotches. If it's the later I doubt it's anything to worry about. Kraylen - I'm confused by the "omg@frags" post? I can get confused easy - old age thing lol! The spots seem to be smooth. I sure hope they're not black ich. Link to comment
StevieT Posted August 19, 2008 Share Posted August 19, 2008 My guess would be from the clown starting to host a coral, or playing in one. It is pretty common at first for them to have sting marks. They go away pretty quickly depending on the coral they are hosting. The question is, do you see the clown hosting or playing in a coral? Link to comment
Reefmack Posted August 19, 2008 Author Share Posted August 19, 2008 Hello Mrs. Peer: If the spots are smooth it should be a good sign that they're fine. Keep an eye on it, but I think it's just a reaction thing and not a disease. There's a word for the spots from coral stings - hypermelanism may be the term I was given when I posted once about the spots on mine, but I may have that term wrong. Do a Google search on "Clownfish black spots", and you find some information on both black ich, and the harmless black spots from corals. Link to comment
kveille Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 Reefmack - The tank looks great. I am just setting my RSM now and trying to decide how much LR to put in. You tank looks like the perfect amount for the corals and fish. I know originally you had put in 50 lbs of LR, but decided to remove some of the LR to another tank. Are you still at 50 lbs? Link to comment
rhogeo Posted August 21, 2008 Share Posted August 21, 2008 Reef, have you been to Nemo since they re-opened? I was thinking about heading up there today at lunch to check them out. BTW, I found a great little Saltwater store in Durham (right near Chapel Hill) called Salty Waters. I picked up a couple of $5 and $15 frags which are great. Here's the $5 frag: Here the $15 frag: Not bad, eh? - geoff Link to comment
Reefmack Posted August 21, 2008 Author Share Posted August 21, 2008 kveille - I started at 50 lbs., and probably added about 10 with corals. I pulled some rock out in April, but then put some new rock back in to replace it and get some new areas on which to attach more money. Oops - I meant more corals LOL! Actually I may be at 50-55 now, but 50 is a good number. But, keep in mind that a lot of the corals you get may come on a piece of liverock, so it might be better to start at around 35-40 so you have room for more rock later. rhogeo - Nemo had it's Grand Reopening last Saturday. I didn't go since I figured it would be packed based on the number of people in RASOC that said they were going. Based on some posts in RASOC it sounded like a lot of his new stock was purchased. No idea if they've had a chance to fully restock yet or not. It might not be the best time to go, but still worth a visit. Chris does have great prices, even without a sale going on. I'll have to wait till tonight to see your pics - they're blocked here at work. Thank goodness they haven't blocked forums altogether yet. Link to comment
snake plissken Posted August 22, 2008 Share Posted August 22, 2008 Brent F, Arreola - hello guys! Nice to have you stop in! Mrs. Peer - I got concerned about the black dots on my clowns at first, thinking it was something called Back Ick. It turned out to be caused by the clowns trying to host with a frogspawn and the dark areas caused by stings from the frogspawn - no harm done. Are the spots distinct raised spots or more like small smooth blotches. If it's the later I doubt it's anything to worry about. Kraylen - I'm confused by the "omg@frags" post? I can get confused easy - old age thing lol! Mrs Peer - i had a false percula that started developing black spots. the wife was pretty concerned with nemo but i wasnt. he was swimming and very active. he ate well and appeared to be happy and healthy. the spots developed about the same time my frogspawn started to take off and get really large in size. i never saw him trying to host, but it seems to correlate with what reefmack said. He did disappear from the tank about a month ago. but i am not convinced it was from the black spots...I went on vacation for a week and when i came back i could never find him. he was also 4 years old. whats the life expectancy on a false percula? he survived 6-9 months after the black spots first showed up just my 2 cents Link to comment
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