Nick's Reef Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 How did I not see your tank! It looks great, and that rhomboid is sick! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 6, 2009 Author Share Posted August 6, 2009 Sweet setup! When you get rid of that middle rock its going to look spectacular. Keep up the good work, and I would like to know what kind of food you used to help nurse your nem back? Mine is a little light and im thinking its not digesting the DeMysis and Mysis shrimp im feeding it. Thanks UH. Phixion, Feel free to hold on to it. Kyle- Silversides are the preferred food for anemones. Mysis will not give it what it needs long term. This is per Karen and her site. If she's below 4" in size use a 1/4" piece and go up from there. She recommends feeding a piece at a time until the nem spits it out. You will want to do this daily. I have been and you can see how well mine has colored up over the last couple of months. Nick- Thank you. There is a local dealer who gets them in for $150 a throw. All super males. Link to comment
Phixion Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Phixion, Feel free to hold on to it. lol, alright... Just let me know when you need it back, or where to deliver it to, to whom else that might need it. I just realized that while the tank will fit in my car, the light stand will not. Question for ya, how long has the tank been set up now and what's your Ca level?? I ask because damn, that's some serious coralline build-up thus far for not being setup that terribly long! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 13, 2009 Author Share Posted August 13, 2009 Phixion- Its been up about 4-5 months now I think. My Ca ranges between 360 and 420 (low end when I get lazy) and dKH is 7-11 (see above on lazy) Kraylen- Why sad? Oh and updates... This guy started out as that little nub on top. The mili and digi family cluster. Very fast growers all things considered... Just cause I was experimenting with shooting as close as I could get... By far my favorite coral of them all. The ORA pearlberry... Nom nom nom nom all gone... As you can see yes blasto's do eat. That was a full sized PE Mysid by the way. And the latest addition to my tank... She is a tube anemone. Non-photosynthetic so she has to be fed regularly. She is absolutely fascinating to watch and she is bioluminescent so when she is startled she will light up green and bright orange. This is her with a bundle of mysid in her tentacles. She *DOES NOT* eat fish! This per an article in advanced aquarist as well as from my own experimentation and observation. She won't take even a small bit of silverside only mysid, she also enjoys filter type food (reef chili), and several of the wrasse have run right into her tentacles and were no worse for wear as she just let go. I am cautiously optimistic about her as she came to me as a rescue but seems to be eating. And lastly a two shots of my fish. Again experimenting with white balance and close up shots. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 14, 2009 Author Share Posted August 14, 2009 Thank you Zo0k. Sadly the tube anemone didn't make it. She got sucked into a Voretch and lost 90% of her tentacles and expired *RIGHT* after I moved her from where she was comfortable... Boy do I feel like $hite and a N00B. Oh and to compound my general feelings of N00Bishness I came home from a short work for me vacation for my wife to find a massive diatom outbreak. I thought my mom (who was watching the tank) was responsible... Nope! Not her! *ME*! As in n00bcake has his tank *RIGHT* next to a window that I left open while I was gone! *WITH* fan's running! Fans that sucked a whole bunch of dust into an open tank! Absolutely *BRILLIANT* move on my part! Window closed, GFO going in tomorrow, lesson learned. Link to comment
pismo_reefer Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 i really enjoyed those pictures.... Link to comment
Kraylen Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 Damn Urchin, killin em! Send me a frag pack Link to comment
spanko Posted August 14, 2009 Share Posted August 14, 2009 Guarding the shot glass!!!!!! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 14, 2009 Author Share Posted August 14, 2009 Sweet setup! When you get rid of that middle rock its going to look spectacular. Keep up the good work, and I would like to know what kind of food you used to help nurse your nem back? Mine is a little light and im thinking its not digesting the DeMysis and Mysis shrimp im feeding it. Thanks UH. Thank you. The rock is gone and I will post a FTS when I get my <dirty words> diatom problem under control. I used frozen silversides to bring her back. Very small pieces. I would switch to PE Mysis if you can. Higher in fat and other amino acids due to the way they are raised. Damn Urchin, killin em! Send me a frag pack Oh ho my son! Wait till you see what I picked up today at Vivid! Think joker paly's coloration except on an SPS! And the <dirty word> tube anemone had her revenge on me. Stung a blasto colony of mine to death. Sigh. Thats why I moved her in the first place. Link to comment
Lalani Posted August 15, 2009 Share Posted August 15, 2009 Pretty stuff! I used to want a tube anemone until I found out how big they get and the stinging. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 16, 2009 Author Share Posted August 16, 2009 Funny thing about that Lalani... The sting is the least harmful of all the anemone's out there. I researched the little bugger before committing to taking her and found her to be the least dangerous of the lot and actually not a true anemone. They do get big though. Part of the plan was that both her and the rose are my wife's 'corals'. Meaning they are things she initially picked out. When they both get too big I was going to explain that I needed a bigger tank for 'her' 'corals'! Clever of me, no? Sadly my plan was foiled by my own bumbling and a Voretch! Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 Hey, don't feel bad. We were having an ant problem before I left for MamaSue's house for a 1 week vacay, and I got some stuff for hubby to spray outside. I didn't realize he was supposed to spray it around the windows as well, and of course the new tank is right next to a window. Windows stayed closed but I suspect a little seeped in, tank looked worse than ever when I got back home. Link to comment
Nick's Reef Posted August 16, 2009 Share Posted August 16, 2009 urchin, i want your fish, and your corals, hell ship me your whole tank! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 17, 2009 Author Share Posted August 17, 2009 Weet's - Oh bugger! Thats not good! Nick, Come on down! For the right price its yours! Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 Meh, I'm in one of those "everything happens for a reason" mindframes right now, I just need to do some hard work to get things restarted methinks. Are things looking any better in your tank? Love that pic of the Angel, btw. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 17, 2009 Author Share Posted August 17, 2009 Thank you. I agree with you. Everything does happen for a reason. It can be frustrating as all get out but that's when I repeat one of the four following mantra's: 1. Thank you Lord for teaching me humility 2. I don't mind 'cause it doesn't matter 3. The only easy day was yesterday 4. Not dead! Can't quit! I try to use them to calm myself as the Irish temper in me gets ramped up by whatever happens to be frustrating me to the point where I am seeing red and ready to do serious bodily harm to inanimate objects or my fellow humans. As of late I have that bloody diatom bloom that is still going but has gone from a nasty carpet down to a moderate dusting. Seems closing the bloody window helped quite a bit! Still got a PO4 reading of .25ish so I swapped out the old carbon/GFO with some new Chemipure Elite and Rowaphos and did a 20% water change which tanked my pH but hopefully it will knock down the remaining PO4. How about your tank? Still having problems? Link to comment
spanko Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 .......Still got a PO4 reading of .25ish so I swapped out the old carbon/GFO with some new Chemipure Elite and Rowaphos and did a 20% water change which tanked my pH but hopefully it will knock down the remaining PO4........ Three words, Vodka dosing, hiccup! Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 17, 2009 Author Share Posted August 17, 2009 Oh aye. .5 ml for the tank and 200 ml for me. Just don't dose and drink at the same time. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted August 17, 2009 Share Posted August 17, 2009 Thank you. I agree with you. Everything does happen for a reason. It can be frustrating as all get out but that's when I repeat one of the four following mantra's: 1. Thank you Lord for teaching me humility 2. I don't mind 'cause it doesn't matter 3. The only easy day was yesterday 4. Not dead! Can't quit! I try to use them to calm myself as the Irish temper in me gets ramped up by whatever happens to be frustrating me to the point where I am seeing red and ready to do serious bodily harm to inanimate objects or my fellow humans. As of late I have that bloody diatom bloom that is still going but has gone from a nasty carpet down to a moderate dusting. Seems closing the bloody window helped quite a bit! Still got a PO4 reading of .25ish so I swapped out the old carbon/GFO with some new Chemipure Elite and Rowaphos and did a 20% water change which tanked my pH but hopefully it will knock down the remaining PO4. How about your tank? Still having problems? Lol, yeah. I'm kinda hovering around #1 right now. And yeah, still having problems. Like you, I'm working on it. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted August 17, 2009 Author Share Posted August 17, 2009 Fast is slow in this game. Sounds contradictory but it really does apply. As in go slow and take the time to do it right. Kind of fits with my slacker mentality of late. And I use #1 most of the time except when I am having a bad day at PT then its 3-4. Two is used when someone is up in my face and I need to really resist the urge to yell back. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted September 16, 2009 Author Share Posted September 16, 2009 Its been a hectic gaggle of weeks for me. Between a high amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth at work plus a boat load of high priority (at least in She Who Must Be Obeyed's mind) other things to do and a general feeling of apathy I have let things sit far longer than I should have with the poor tank. My very bad cyano outbreak was successfully treated with 3 days of lights out total darkness plus Blue Life Red Slime Control followed by a polyfilter and 30% water change. I know I should have had the new skimmer and carbon/GFO/UV Sterilizer modules operational and that was the plan but what can I say...? Here is a Full Tank Shot taken yesterday after a water change: And speaking of that new skimmer... It went on line on the 11th. Only 3+ weeks late but again... Sue me if you don't like it. Here is a photo of it plumbed into the system. Its a Small External ATB Cone Skimmer with Eheim pump and needle wheel. It is fed via the breakout line from my return pump, the Posideon P4. I do love that pump! 700+ GPH and 24' head height! Dialing it in to not wet skim too much was a bit tough and I wish I had gone with a gate/ball valve combination instead of just a ball valve but thats the breaks. Oh and finding a Metric to US Standard Inch conversion was a <dirty word>! Fortunately customer service from ATB was outstanding and he sent me the converter free of charge. The skimmer was skimming within the hour. Hopefully this will help me with my overfeeding/overcrowding (keeping wrasse on wrasse aggression down is via over feeding) problem... And yes... Yes, I do need more knobs and wheels to turn... Saw the move of my RBTA as an excuse to redo my rockwork a bit as you can see from the FTS above. She is coming along nicely from where she was as you can see... As a part of that move I moved all my (and Omen's since I am holding several for him) Ricordia Yuma's and Florida's to the low light area of the tank under the overflow where I had planned on putting a Yellow Fiji... After drooling over Phixion's Watermelon chalice and waiting (like a 34 year old woman feeling the ticking of her biological clock and desperate to get married and have kids) for him to frag it I finally broke down and tracked down a decent priced single eye. Hopefully I will have the same sucess he did in terms of growth/color on it. At the price I got it for though it was a steal... I don't remember the name of this SPS but I was in a joker paly color mood and again got a spanking price on this so here it is in its final resting place. Hopefully it will keep its color so high up. Its been in the tank through the blackout so it seems to be doing ok... Followed by another joker acquisition except this time its an Acan... My latest pickup courtesy of Chigga... A pink jade Acropora. Again hopefully I will have the same growth he did on his. For some reason I have been getting allot of chalice frags in from folks that are totally random and not solicited or purchased. So as a part of my rock rescape I made a little acan/chalice area. The alien eye chalice has exploded in growth as you can see... An updated shot of that nice Cali Tort (?) from Omen. Happy as a clam in its new spot as you can see from the feeder tentacles... Onto my fish... Velvet Wrasse: Rhomboid: Orange Clown: Fat Arse Mystery Wrasse: McCosker's Flasher Wrasse: Blue Chromis: I am giving some serious thought to totally redoing my fish load so if anyone is interested in the Mystery, McCoskers, Blue Chromis, Velvet Wrasse, and possibly the Rhomboid for very very fair prices please PM me as I want them to go to a good home If I decide to pull the trigger and move them out. Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted September 16, 2009 Share Posted September 16, 2009 He's back, YAY!!! Missed ya, UH. Tank is looking good. Really likeing that Joker Acan and the Wrasses. Hey, what place did you get the acrylic rods you used for your 'scape from? Got a linky? Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted September 16, 2009 Author Share Posted September 16, 2009 Cheers love. I got the rods from... http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/category....CFSn6agodRFvDag Oh and you will probably see a Pink Stylo that has what looks like RTN... Its not. Acans can and will eat *ANYTHING*! Including an anemone! I had to pull an acan off of my nem! It was trying to eat one of her tentacles! The Stylo fell on the Acans and I didn't notice until too late. Hopefully it recovers. Link to comment
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