Urchinhead Posted June 4, 2009 Author Share Posted June 4, 2009 Sir... Sir... Please sir... The plumbing is operating nominally and performing to design specifications. Was there ever really any doubt? Oh and moved in, cycled, and almost fully stocked with fish. Link to comment
Kraylen Posted June 4, 2009 Share Posted June 4, 2009 Tank is looking awesome man... you know Im super jealz of the wrasse family. My mystery so far has taken out, 1 mccosker, 1 lubbocks fairy, 1 candy hogfish, 1 longnose hawkfish. None killed by him, but jumped. New top in the worx haha. I think Im just gonna throw 2-4 full grown fairies in there and cover it. haha Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted June 6, 2009 Author Share Posted June 6, 2009 Nice Kraylen! Sounds like Thunderdome Tank! 5 fish enter 1 one fish leaves! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted June 9, 2009 Author Share Posted June 9, 2009 The velvet wrasse went back to the LFS. He had gone from being a perfect citizen to an absolute thug that cost me a blue spotted jawfish. He would chase each and every fish in the tank including the clown which caused allot of darting which contributed to the BSJ jumping right through the screen and onto the floor. The other contributing factor was that the BSJ decided the jawfish condo wasn't to his liking and made a home under the Derasa. Of course with all the rapid darting of fish the clam would close quickly which would freak him out more since he was right under the clam... This of course lead to a complete removal of the rocks and a redo of the rockscape. I present Urchinhead rockscape 2.0... Happened to be in when the actinic lights were on and snapped a few photos plus two "after dark" one's that kind of struck my fancy... Sunset (?) monti growth has been good as seen here plus I was sure this guy had died but using the PGA smell test[1] it smelled alive. Lo and behold its alive... It used to be a nice dark green with light blue tips. Now its all light blue. Odd but somewhat pleasing. Lets see if it stays that way based on where it is. The change in color is obviously from the intense lights it was under relative to what it was used to by my guess. The SPS crew. Including the frag from Wes and Organism. You can see the growth of these suckers! General shots of the bottom layer of the tank... An odd shot of one of my blasto's. I happened to like how it looked under actinics... UH [1]PGA Smell Test© Pull coral from water, Wait 20 seconds Sniff If smells like ocean its alive If smells like nothing or rotten eggs dead) Link to comment
Kraylen Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 What do you think of this UH: Pylei Solarensis Exquisite Labouti Link to comment
Maeda Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 I use the PGA smell test too. Classic. Looking GOOOOOOOD Carson. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted June 9, 2009 Author Share Posted June 9, 2009 What do you think of this UH: Pylei Solarensis Exquisite Labouti I think you are asking for trouble. That is allot of fairy wrasse for a 56. I think part of my problem was there were two terminal (super) males in the tank. At first the Rhomboid went after the Velvet then it was status quo for a few weeks then it was Velvet against *EVERYONE*. Even with me feeding 3-4 times a day, which did help, the aggression he was showing was just way to high. Perhaps if you didn't get fully developed and terminal males who were of different sizes it would help. But you would have to put them in there all at the same time and feed like crazy. Link to comment
Kraylen Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 I think it will work out ok. Survival of the illest. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 Like I said... Fairy Wrasse Pit Fight! Four wrasse enter! One wrasse leaves! Gonna be about as much fun to watch as howler monkey's dressed up in clown suits going at each other with straight razors! Er... Ah... *IF* that's your thing that is... Link to comment
Kraylen Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 muahahahahaha Wait, no wrasse leave! Must stay. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted June 10, 2009 Author Share Posted June 10, 2009 Good luck with that man! I think you might be ok if you get zero super males and put them in at the same time... If not its going to be on like Donkey Kong! You may want to liven things up by giving each one a weapon or something... Then you could do pay per view! Oh and you better cover the tank! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 And now for some updates! Some shots of old friends from the old tank who survived the tank crash and some new friends. The new friends are the Red Planet and the couple of ORA SPS I can't remember the name of... And the new wrasse to replace the old one who had to go... She's a female Hawaiian Flame wrasse. Lastly my poor clown who is about to loose her clam. The clam is just too big for the tank and causing dead spots where nasty stuff is growing so I am going to donate it to a good home. Sigh. Link to comment
Kraylen Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 YOU SAVVY BASTIDDDD ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Looks frickin great man... I took some shots of the new stuff last night I'll have to update tonight. Maddd fragging going on man. Your RP looks amazing, mine grows and has color but minimal PE .. strange Link to comment
spanko Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 Wow Wow and Wow. Good stuff Urch!!!!!!!! Link to comment
Paleoreef103 Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 This is one killer tank. Starfire+2 MP40ws+powermodule+expensive wrasses? You've got to be kidding me man! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 Thank you gents. Kraylen, I think its the light combo I am using. I usually see the little gobs turn into rose milli's pretty quickly though. Time will tell with this one. Paleofreef- Its allot less expensive than you might think. The tank and stand were $700 total. The other equipment didn't come in anywhere near retail and the fish were 1/2 to 1/3 the price you would normally pay because of a 15+ year relationship I have with a LFS owner. For example the Rhomboid pair cost me $150. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 Well Mr. Clam has gone home to Fraggle Reef. He was just too damn big for the tank and was growing like a weed. In the last month he put on over an inch in growth! Thank you Brian! Good to meet you today! Love the dogs and the house! As a consolation to myself I gaffled a few nice pieces from Brian who was just back from the wholesale folks including a staghorn that I had been looking for for quite a while! I also, against my better judgement but because She Who Must Be Obeyed (the wife) loves them, picked up a nice seven head sun dendro and a rose anemone (who looks exactly like the one I lost in the tank crash) from another LFS I don't usually go to because the price was scary cheap. Pictures in the next few days as I am going to be swamped this weekend with work/family/tank stuff. For those who are interested a nice trick on keeping nem's where you want them is to use a strawberry basket (the green plastic ones). Put it on top of the nem in the area of the tank you want them to stay in and that will keep them in place, keep them from being bugged by fish and inverts, and keep them slightly shaded by the lights so they don't get shocked. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted June 20, 2009 Author Share Posted June 20, 2009 Strangely appropriate what with your avatar having that big disk in his bottom lip and trying to talk on a cell phone! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted June 25, 2009 Author Share Posted June 25, 2009 The obligatory update... All of these shots are just natural sunlight. No other lighting. I shut the lights off from 2 pm to 7 pm and just let natural light in... Old saying in Hollywood that goes something like never work with animals... So of course after my oh so clever posting on Anemone cages mine had to make me look like a an a$$ because, of course, I didn't properly secure the cage and she promptly snuck out. Here is a shot of her with her crab enjoying the natural sunlight the tank gets in the afternoon. Here is a shot of one of the blasto's enjoying the Salifert pellets. Best darn coral food in my book. And a quick one of the Carpenter Wrasse. Sadly the Helfitch firefish didn't make it. I found it last night floating in the back. It was just too scared of the wrasse who would dart around during feeding time and thus wasn't getting enough food. I am a sucker for these damn fish and will most likely try again. Sigh. You would think I would have learned by now... Link to comment
TJ_Burton Posted June 25, 2009 Share Posted June 25, 2009 Very impressive aquascaping. I really like how it turned out - might have to steal the concept! lol... Link to comment
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