My own piece of reef!

[phases]

 

Is that the sixline. It looks nice and fat.

[nematoad]

@Neb, expect a pm from me. I frag all the time, thanks to the growth I get from the doser keeping everything peachy.

Thanks for the heads up on the SA Half-onyx percs. I'll give them a little while longer to develop the black between the second and third bars, as they've been afflicted with viral lymphocystis for the better part of the last 8 weeks.

Interesting to know that Hubert is having problems with his stock - I've had other conversations about his stock with other reefers, but I won't go into that here.

 

@Phases, yeah the sixline is really happy, and knows her place in the reef. The bigger jawfish usually chases her away from his burrow, and she's nice to everything else, even the sexy shrimp (but it still goes insane with tail wagging when she swims by).

 

All in all, I'm pretty happy with everything in the tank. I'd like to tackle the fact that I have random desirable and non-desirable macros growing on the LR, but I think the use of GFO will help out a bit. Also considering adding a mithrax (emerald) crab or two to deal with some of the algaes.

Also, when I replace the lamps (I think I'll do it in Aug or Sept), I'm going to go with 4 crappy actinic and 2 daylights - might slow growth, but I'm hoping for better colour out of my beloved SPS.

[Paleoreef103]

This is a really sweet tank. The layout is great and the growth pattern is cool as well. You ever though about going halide? Something tells me a 150 Radium 20K would make this tank look breathtaking. I love the Jawfish!

[Brianbeck27]

Nematoad do you think its possible to get an update sometime soon , Id love to see some more pictures of this tank.

[spankyleatherlips]

Your tank is wonderful, I hope mine turns out so well.

[nematoad]

Nematoad do you think its possible to get an update sometime soon , Id love to see some more pictures of this tank.

 

I'll borrow my folks' DSLR sometime in the coming week, and hopefully I can put out a decent picture update. Stuff is growing like crazy since I kicked up my Alkalinity to 7.5 dKh. And since I haven't done a WC in 4 or 5 weeks, things are looking great

 

Thanks Spanky - There's still lots of room for improvement in my tank, so hopefully I can get it to where I want it to be

[nematoad]

Well, I'm not super proud of it, but I haven't done a WC in about 5 weeks now. I think my GFO (Which was due to be replaced last week) is exhausted as macros are starting to grow well again in my refugium/frag rack. Time to swap GFO tomorrow, and do a WC - I've had water mixing for a day now, so it'll run a few tests to get it to 8 dkh, 440 ppm Ca and then in it'll go.

 

I've also tried to keep my paws out of the tank the last 2 weeks, and things seem happier with me. They're growing like crazy - the millies/prostratas are visibly growing week to week. I can't be happier - wait, yes I can - I'd love to have my reds back!

 

No pictures yet - didn't get a chance to nab the DSLR this week; a bit too busy.

 

In other news, I took the first few steps to the tank upgrade this last week - I picked up my next skimmer:

[nebthet]

Any more updated pix of your tank yet?? I love looking at it.

[Brianbeck27]

Any more updated pix of your tank yet?? I love looking at it.

 

+1

 

Thats quite the skimmer you have there, what size tank are you planning on upgrading too?

[nematoad]

A friend came by today and took some pics of the tank tonight - I only have the FTS, but it's better than anything I've taken.

 

I'll try to take some pics tomrrow, but for now, without further ado:

 

 

You'll notice that I took out the big Monti cap and the purple tip digi that was on the top right side. They are the first SPS (cap) and first colony I grew out from a frag (purple digi) respectively. Now the colonies reside in another local reefer's tank. That opens up some space for recent acquisitions, which will be seen in a bit

 

Everything is growing well, encrusting or just plain being. Some of the reds are coming back here and there on a few corallites - which I find really encouraging.

 

The final tweaking equipment wise I'd like to do is upgrade the single sheet reflector on the Nova Extreme Pro to true single reflectors - but first I have to find a local place to get Ice Cap or Aquactinics reflectors, as the only way I can fit 6 reflectors in there is to use 2" wide reflectors.

 

I heard a rumor that Current is bringing out their own line of bulbs - hopefully they replace the crappy ones they have now and offer more choices that are better in the 18" platform. Crossing my fingers for a release soon....maybe MACNA?

 

All in all, I'm very happy with the tank.

 

Thats quite the skimmer you have there, what size tank are you planning on upgrading too?

 

I'm planning on a 90g display with at least a 30 - 40g sump + frag tank or other accessory tank. All said, about 140g in volume (hopefully). But it doesn't look like this is happening anytime soon, or in the time frame I had in mind.

[Brianbeck27]

Great new FTS everything looks to be doing pretty good. I especially love the pearly jawfish you have in there. Whenever I upgrade I will definitely being looking to get one of these. Sorry to hear you won't be able to upgrade as soon as you would like to but the system you have in mind sounds pretty good.

[Weetabix7]

What a beautiful, healthy tank.

[illuminano]

Hey buddy just checking in, i'll be hitting you up for frags sooner or later, as you know i'm in kingston so it's hard to arrange. Placed an order for frags from fragalot and they were nowhere near the quality you deliver. Hope things are well. Tank looks swell, loving that FTS from the 15th

[nematoad]

OOh, the great Weetie has graced my thread!! Thanks for the compliments

 

Illuminano, thanks for the kudos - hit me up anytime. You know where I am - just give me two weeks notice and I can hook you up. Hope Kingston is treating you well. I've only been to Queen's once - slept over at Ban Righ

 

Some new things:

 

Two bulbs died on the Nova Extreme Pro, so Idecided just to replace them all at once - and when I did, boy was the colour different!! Everything is so crisp! Probably a colour in the 12 - 14k range. It's really nice, but made me realize another thing: these bulbs are pretty crappy. They've obviously colour shifted in less than 10 months, and died in 10. Oh well, what can you do when they have no competition at this size.

 

I've also decided not to retrofit the fixture. I'm saving those funds for the new light fixture.

 

Not much else is new. I got two new frags today. I paid for another mysters HOTNESS frag that I've always wanted, but it won't arrive for a whie. All I'll say about it is that it's super frigging HAWT.

 

Photo updates to come soon - I'm crazy swamped right now with scholarship applications and thesis revisions - which have dragged on since May....if only I could work as fast on my thesis as my tank, I probably would have finished before the damn strike at York...

[nematoad]

Old FTS, but new PAR numbers:

Numbers are in umol/m^2/s, measured on an Apogee QMSS-S quantum meter. Number is an "average" over a 5 second period or so; stats done with the Student's interocular test.

 

Fixture is right on the trim, about 3" off the surface of the water.

 

I'm pleasantly surprised at the amount of PAR coming out of these little bulbs. Comparable to other larger fixtures Now to work on the colour they give off, and we'd be set.

 

Hopefully it'll colour up the corals good. Either that or I have nutrient issues

 

I'll try to do these measures once a month - we'll see how the bulb degradation progresses.

[nebthet]

Illuminano, I know what you mean about the poor quality from Fragalot.ca. He clips and ships so that when you receive your frags they are really stressed out and have lost a lot of color. Out of 3 orders I placed with them, of at least 6 sps frags each, only 3 of them survived past 24 hours.

 

Out of the frags I got from nematoad from one order of 6, all of them have survived. Now that is a difference in quality.

So I would not suggest to ever shop through fragalot.ca ever again, not unless you go to his place and pick the frags yourself.

 

also, I found it cheaper to take the bus up to pick up the frags from nematoad myself from Belleville ($39 taxes included same day round trip with greyhound), than it would cost for overnight shipping. It also gave me a reason to do something different. It was much more enjoyable to do it that way.

 

I am going to find it interesting to see the differences in the par reading Nematoad. It has always made me wonder about my own system. I need to replace two bulbs from my 6 light fixture right now because they are old.. gotta do that at the end of the month.

[nematoad]

Some new pics from yesterday. I never realized the difference in colour some ofthese guys have before I moved the light to get a top down in the back section. The photos are crappy as per usual, but I hope you get the idea

 

Blue cespitularia (Xenia) with pink polyps - they can only be seen as pink from above:

 

Blue/green millie:

 

Purple tipped acro frag (newest addition):

 

Purple stag from a local reefer - I got this last year, and it died back a bit and really sturggled, but recently it's started to really colour up and is sprouting a few new sprouts:

 

Wonderful purple cap (I hope the first little frag is doing well):

 

Blue tenius looking sharp:

 

Blue tipped stag. This came to me as all green, and has changed nicely. Now if only I can get the lower corallite to not be brownish green....

 

Christmas millie. This thing is growing like crazy. Finally on the back where it gets more light it's turning into a nice green on the older areas, and hot pink on the tips, with whitish/brown polyps. Should be a stunner soon!

 

The obligatory ricordea garden shot (the acro in the foreground is a frag from Sea U Marine's display tank - it's a sweet tabling acro with really short corallites and lots of PE):

 

That's it for today's update folks

[illuminano]

Things are looking excellent, as usual. I'm saving up for some new lighting so your SPS frags don't look so awful in my tank. Where have you been getting your frags? Locally?

[nematoad]

Yeah, almost all of my SPS frags have come to me locally, but I have ordered a few from a guy in Calgary, and will soon hope to be recieving some more from a guy in Vancouver. Some sweet coral is on the way

[nebthet]

Very nice new frags. I am adding to my wish list each time you get something new, even though it may take a year or two before they can be fragged.

 

I got my nice clam today, and elegance.. which I am in love with.

 

All the frags I got from you are all still doing really great!

[nematoad]

Nebthet, good to hear everything is looking happy! Let me know what interests you so I know who to keep it for

 

About two or three weeks ago, I dropped down my vodka dosing to 1 ml from 2 ml/day. I don't know if it's athe vodka or the new lighting, but my pinks are starting to come back. The pink stylo is showing some new growth and more pink, and the Christmas millie is starting to pink up for sure. I even noticed today that part of the blue tenius is turning pink!

 

I bought a new addition this weekend. Something I've done a lot of reading on, but still was somewhat of an impulse buy. I got it because of the general lack of availability and the size. It's going to remain a mystery though

[TJ_Burton]

Tank is looking great! Love that blue xenia

[nematoad]

Thanks TJ!

 

Well checking up on stuff I just chanced on this. I thought it was hilarious.

 

Little guy, for your help eating detrius, you get a star!

[nematoad]

Introducing my little Centropyge potteri (Potters dwarf angelfish):

 

 

Sorry for the crappy pics, but in the second one you can see how nice the colours are on her.

 

She's in week two of qt, and so far so good. She's getting fatter and eating pellets and macroalgae, but nothing out of the water column yet. I'll be putting some LPS and zoas in with her to see if she eats them, or if she's going to ignore them for now. Yesterday I gave her a FW dip, and today the cleaner shrimp and her are buddies, so she's finally getting the cleaning she's been wanting the last few days.

 

While 20g is on the small side for a centropyge (most places recommend a 30g), I think she has plenty of rock to forage off of, and the rock is mature with lots of macro algae growth on it. I'm also able to supplement with more macros (not chaeto) from the fuge, as well as offer lots of foods

 

She's small in that she's about 2.5" - a bit bigger than the (timid) six-line wrasse in the DT. I'll introduce her slowly into the DT isolating either her or the sixline and let them get used to each other first. She should ahve no issues with the jawfish and vice versa.

 

In terms of nipping at corals, not too worried about my zoas - she can eat them all if she wants LPS, I only have 3 kinds, so no big loss. If she takes a chunk of clam, no harm done. But if she's becomes a SPS nipper we may have a problem.

 

The display tank is looking good - noticed after a WC that the water looked slightly yellow so I changed the carbon (1 cup) and the GFO at the same time (to absorb any phosphates leached by the carbon). At the same time I refilled my Alkalinity buffer solution - 3.5 L lasted me since April or May. At this rate 1 kg will last about 1.5 years. The ca and Mg solutions aren't running anywhere near low.

 

So without further ado, here are a few shots from tonight:

 

The Jawfish:

 

Picked this up from reef raft. used to be all brown, but the new growth is pale blue or purple, and the rest of the coral is starting to turn a lighter colour too:

 

Since I started to do WCs regularly again (1/week, 5g) the christmas millie has really coloured up. Pink is coming back, and the lower areas are greenish! Pink, green, white/brown polyps says it's christmas time!

 

Here's a top down of the back half of the reef wall. kinda dark, but I like the top downs, and the back half isn't one I usually take:

 

Close up:

 

FTS:

[Nanobuds]

awesome tank!