Violinist's 20 Long - 3 Years!

[amored]

You, lady, are far too scarce since you started punching the clock.

 

Sigs all around!

 

 

i know, i know. got to feed a baby snowflake eel the other day though, and we just got in a beautiful shipment of scollys which (if i could find the money) i could get at cost.

 

hopefully if i stick around the extra paychecks will come in handy.

[violinist]

Quick question. Are all those zoas on the right mounted to the LR?

 

I haven't bought zoas in a while, but I have to admit - I have walked away from many a cool looking zoa simply because it was on a frag plug. I hate how frag plus look, and I didn't want to butcher them trying to get them off of one.

 

So all those zoas were already mounted on little chunks of rock rubble or dead coral skeletons when I bought them. Then I epoxied them to my LR. About 1/3 of them have now grown their mat directly onto the LR.

 

The blastos are on a frag plug, fortunately they inflate so big you can't see it.

[bitts]

Pics as requested...

 

The obligatory FTS

 

Enjoy!

 

I hope that when i finally get my 29 setup it looks close to this good. wow.

[Billdemart]

I haven't bought zoas in a while, but I have to admit - I have walked away from many a cool looking zoa simply because it was on a frag plug. I hate how frag plus look, and I didn't want to butcher them trying to get them off of one.

 

So all those zoas were already mounted on little chunks of rock rubble or dead coral skeletons when I bought them. Then I epoxied them to my LR. About 1/3 of them have now grown their mat directly onto the LR.

 

The blastos are on a frag plug, fortunately they inflate so big you can't see it.

 

Awesome thanks. Looks incredible.

[violinist]

Finally, FINALLY, the blastos sprouted a new head. I was able to see it when they deflated a couple hours after the lights went out. Wow, I thought for sure it would just be these 6 heads forever and they would grow as large as dinner plates lol.

 

Couple baby yumas on the other end.

 

Blenny has shoved the yumas and rics all over the place. The rics are jammed up against the glass. Going to have to figure out a place to work them in during the WC that will hopefully keep them out of his construction zone.

 

Someone ate the little hitchhiker feather duster that had setup its home in the middle area of the tank. I thought maybe it just blew it's crown off but the tube is shriveling so I think it was a meal for something.

 

I need to buy a pack of razor blades and go to work on the front glass tomorrow. Got this algae, I don't think it's coraline, that has been slowly growing at the bottom for a long time. I've ignored it because it's covered with some sort of hard deposit and won't come off with the magfloat or my cheap little scraper. But it's grinding pretty good on the anal-retentiveness so hopefully the razor will get it off.

 

The 4-stripe seems to be holding his own in the murder box. No one has any nipped fins and everyone is out and about.

 

Think that's about it.

[Weetabix7]

Nice video!

My 4yo liked it too, he sat here and watched the whole thing with me.

Is that an MP10 or an MP20?

How high do you have it turned?

Just wondered, cause I noticed that it looked like just the right amount of flow, judging by the way the corals were moving in it.

When I first got my MP20 I had it in a 20L, but I think I turned it up too high.

The tank I have it in now is close to the same dimensions of a 20L, but 4" taller and I have it set at around 30% on the Lagoon setting, seems perfect for me.

[Degener8]

Been reading the thread for a while.. Grats on the new coral heads..

 

Tanks look great as always.. Keep it up:)

[couevas]

I think it is time for another FTS.......

 

Seriously, this tank is an inspiration. I know I have said it before, but I love this tank! The balance is nice, it is not simple by any means....but it isn't loaded solid with frags and coral just to see how much you can fit.....very nice.

 

+++1 for future TOTM

 

(also, very nice sig work......my wife even likes it, and she thinks this whole forum thing is "uber-nerdy") Thanks a million.....AGAIN.

[violinist]

Nice video!

My 4yo liked it too, he sat here and watched the whole thing with me.

Is that an MP10 or an MP20?

How high do you have it turned?

 

Glad you both liked the video! Wish I had one of those top notch cams like I saw in another thread.

 

I've tinkered with vortech placement and power off and on. It's an mp10. In part because the scape was changing a little bit here and there, and in part due to the addition of those sps.

 

Right now I'm happy with where it's at and the power setting, and the sps are digging it too judging by the polyp extension. The flow is unobstructed and the setting is 75-80% on reef crest. That's enough to get a lot of good movement on the digi and birds nest on the right island w/o beating them to death, still get a nice amount of movement on the green birdsnest on the left island, and the undertow is at a level which does not bother the torch or the zoas.

 

but it isn't loaded solid with frags and coral

 

Of course the upper left corner keeps whispering to me every time I look at the tank 'put something here, put something here...' heheh. I might move the frogspawn up there. It's coming dangerously close to the blastos when both are fully puffed up.

 

Only coral I regret buying is that favia. Drives me nuts. It's skeleton is like half a football in shape making it impossible to securely place anywhere. It gets irritated when on the sandbed, but it always seems to end up back there. I was thinking if I move the frogspawn maybe I could set it on top of the shroom rock where the frogspawn currently resides. Hmmm...

 

(also, very nice sig work......my wife even likes it, and she thinks this whole forum thing is "uber-nerdy")

 

Not a problem at all. I still owe Armored one.

 

My wife calls it 'fish porn'...

[couevas]

My wife calls it 'fish porn'...

That's funny.....funny but true.

 

I really covet your MP-10. Just need to figure out how to convince the wife that I "need" it and that I "need" to buy new bulbs for the Aquaticlife T5 fixture I just bought that came with bulbs......

[violinist]

Does anyone forsee any issues with yumas and rics sitting on top of metallic green shrooms? They're all shroom nems, right? No stinging?

[latteslave]

I have seen them all growing together in other tanks - but I can not speak from personal experience. Tank looks incredible!

 

...and the new sig - I like it, I like it a lot!

[violinist]

Thanks dude. You need one!

 

I'm gonna find out tomorrow with the shrooms. The blenny has everything jacked up. Looks like the yuma have adhered to the right island though, where he shoved them. So that's ok, but the rics are just jammed up against the glass lol.

[guia x]

Very sweet tank. The island scaping is always nice to see. The video was great. I enjoyed watching it alot.

 

The sig looks great too. I think that's the best one you've had yet.

 

As for the rics, I've had regular mushrooms, rhodactis mushrooms, and st thomas mushrooms all touching rics and they seem fine. I don't have any yumas.

[violinist]

I'm sure it's the engineer in me, but I take a perverse pleasure in formulating and then executing a plan.

 

So today was the big cleanup of the long. 10g WC (about 70% of volume) sg and temp matched precisely.

 

Drained out a few gallons water so my big arm wouldn't overflow the tank, then went to work with a razor scraper and got all that crusty algae off the bottom of the glass by the sand. Came off like butter and looks 100% better. It was really eating at me.

 

Also snapped off the piece of zoa frag that had a little bush of hydroids growing on it. They zapped my knuckle while I was scraping which reminded me to take care of them, and I got them all in one fell swoop.

 

Yuma rock and ric rock got relocated to where the frogspawn was. Frogspawn is perched up top a comfortable distance from the green birdsnest. This left the thorn-in-my-side favia.

 

I know it's far too early to put corals in the hex, but the phosguard has kept the glass in the hex algae free for a few days now and the snails are working it down on the rocks - so I moved the favia to the hex. Maybe the coral beauty will eat it, hopefully not. It's a temporary move, I don't want it in the hex but I just got tired of dealing with it in the long. Headache temporarily relieved. I'll ask MCF if they might take it off my hands for some small credit.

 

Gave the skimmer a good cleaning as well.

 

Lights are still out for a couple hours, but FTS later today.

 

Also noticed that both those mermaid algae's have started to grow a completely second plant (?). Not that I want or need a second pair, but cool to see!

[violinist]

As for the rics, I've had regular mushrooms, rhodactis mushrooms, and st thomas mushrooms all touching rics and they seem fine. I don't have any yumas.

 

Thanks! They are already spreading out so looks like my experience will be the same as yours. Looks pretty cool, got a 'mushroom cave' going.

[harpua02]

Love the new sig and the tank looks fantastic! I've never been able to pull off the island look myself, but you've done an amazing job with it.

[violinist]

Because 20,000+ views is insane, and all you folks who follow the thread and leave tips and compliments and just generally keep my enthusiasm for this tank at its peak ROCK - here is a ####load of pics!

 

The FTS. Short of a clam addition or maybe some freaky zoa colony I stumble across, this is probably the way things are going to stay. I find myself putting my hands in the tank less and less and it responds by growing more and more, so that works for me.

 

 

Left island, sporting the new Shroom Cave resulting from this morning's clean-up. Frogspawn up at the top left.

 

 

Zooming in for a closer look. Feather duster worm doesn't seem to have a problem with the green shrooms growing over his tube. The orange yumas sit behind the worm with the blue and orange ric rock to their right:

 

 

Crazy shrooms. They have a sort of metallic appearance and blue dots on the green. Once in a while (every other day it seems) one will blow off and set up shop somewhere else in the tank. There are a few shrooms growing inside caves on the right island now.

 

 

Ricssssssssssssssss:

 

 

Here's the frogspawn's new spot. Still a bit po'd at being jostled about, but starting to puff up. The other feather duster is poking out of the rock. This worm didn't like the shrooms one bit and pulled itself back into the cave and extended its tube a couple inches to reach back out the top of the rocks.

 

 

We're walking... We're walking... Here's the right island. Nothing much has changed here:

 

 

Because life is better upside down:

 

 

Some generic polyps that have sort of claimed a little valley in between some of the larger rocks:

 

 

These are my fastest growing zoas by far. There were 8 polyps on this dead coral branch when I bought it a couple months ago, at last count there are now 18. Does anyone know what that little hitchhiker is on the upper right?

 

 

More zoas:

 

 

More zoas. Both of these colonies are pretty fast growers too, and have grown their mats down onto the island:

 

 

More zoas:

 

 

In that cave on the bottom of the right island, where the shrimp hangs out upside down all day, there's this little sponge (?) HH which has been in it for the long haul. It's tubes just gradually get longer and longer.

 

 

This is what is sprouting up from the base of the Mermaid Fan (or cup or brush or whatever, I forget) algae. The one by the left island actually has two of these coming out of the sand next to it. Maybe when these get bigger I can trade them off to someone.

 

 

Last stop on the tour - the junkyard. This is the back corner behind the right island. I'd call it the graveyard, but fact is things don't come here to die. They just get blown here and start growing. This polyp, a couple of little zoas which I have no idea where they came from because they don't look like any of the other zoa frags, and of course wandering shrooms.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

edit:

 

What lives here?

 

Purple Dottyback

Two Azure Damsels

4-Stripe Damsel

Eyelash Blenny

Bunch of margaritas and turbos and stomas

A tonga nassarius

Bunch of hermits

Harlequin shrimp

Peppermint shrimp

Two feather duster worms

[Arkayology]

Not bad. You are getting some awesome growth in there. What do you dose again?

[violinist]

I toss in a teaspoon of phyto once in a while for the worms, that's it. 5 gallon weekly WC seems to keep things happy. Tried dosing 2 part last week and turned the water into milk so for now I'm sticking with dosing water and light...

[adam87]

Very nice pics!!! Your Rics look really nice.

And your tank keeps getting better looking, every time I look at it.

[OClownsandNanos]

My end goal is to have a tank as awesome as yours without dosing! Which salt mix do you use, Violinist?

[violinist]

I was using oceanic but I switched to Brightwell's NeoMarine about a month ago.

[animalmaster6]

Tank looks very awesome Violinist!!!!!!!! I love the Ric Garden! Awesome!

 

What camera are you using and if you don't mind me asking how much was it?

[violinist]

Canon 5D. I've had it for a long time now, I imagine they can be had for significantly less money these days. Usually I'm lazy and just shoot jpegs for posting here, but for these I worked the raws in lightroom and then resized and saved to jpeg in photoshop.

 

Most FTS are shot with 16-35L lens. All macros are with the generic canon 100mm macro. This FTS with the 50mm just because it was sitting there. If things are moving around, shots are at iso3200. If things aren't moving around, shots are at iso800. Macros are tripod mount, slow shutter, small aperture, lowest iso possible to still get the shot.