Violinist's 20 Long - 3 Years!

[violinist]

Thanks for the kind words!

 

Will have some new pics up shortly, got some new additions.

[HernandezJ35]

another member of the 20L club lol love the scape and the blastos cool looking tank

[violinist]

Ok an update.

 

Had a snail die yesterday. One of the nassarius snails was the first opportunist to reach the corpse. After a few minutes it was an orgy of nassarius snails and hermit crabs with the damsels hovering about snagging the occasional piece of flesh that got tossed up into the water column.

 

 

Visited a new (to me) LFS yesterday and scavenged some small stars and a clump of sea grass from them. Want to see if the stars multiply and if they do I'm going to add a harlequin.

 

The sea grass was a pain in the ass and I just plucked it all out of the tank a bit ago. Every time I looked there was another scrap floating around or hanging out of the vortech. I accept the blame for not being patient and properly planting it, but it didn't really add much to the look of the tank anyway.

 

However, found some bonus items in the clump of grass which were worth keeping. A small piece of LR rubble covered in tiny little zoa's. Two large paly's, one with a really neat coloring. Also a couple starfish of a different sort which I tossed back in.

 

Couldn't get a good angle on this w/o the focus going to #### due to the refraction of the glass but here is the first one

 

 

... and the second

 

 

Here's a bunch of random tank shots. Just wanted to take some fun snaps from odd angles. You can see the cool red flame algae Nanoyed shipped in a number of the shots, center of the tank in the back. Lots of stuff is pissed off looking because I also moved a few corals around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also got a serpent star, about 3/4" across, in one of Nanoyed's algae clumps. He worked his way into a rock hole already so maybe a pic later on.

[Seiryoku]

Love your tank! Some times I really wish I went with the two island scape

[Arkayology]

I don't think you will get a sustainable population of stars for a harlequin. What kind of starrs did you pick up? Astreas or serpents?

[violinist]

I don't think you will get a sustainable population of stars for a harlequin. What kind of starrs did you pick up? Astreas or serpents?

 

Astreas. There had to be 500 climbing the glass of this small tank at the lfs, so I just asked if I could get a bunch. They scraped off maybe 20 or so and gave them to me for free.

[nemmy]

Thanks titos!

 

Any takers on the Alk level/need to dose? Been reading and reading the thousands of posts on it, but can't really tell if alk of 7 is worth dosing to raise.

 

Sorry, bit late to this question.

As long as your in the range of 7-11 your fine, most natural sea water is 7.

If you have some SPS though you might want to bump it up some.

[Arkayology]

I would watch out with those stars. They are known for eating zoas.

[violinist]

I would watch out with those stars. They are known for eating zoas.

 

We'll see how it goes. From what I've read no one is really able to id the tiny starfish with any accuracy, so it's a bit of a crapshoot as to which species they are and what the behavior is. I like the diversity of life in the tank and none of my zoas are expensive enough to get worked up over really. But I have tweezers and a complete disregard for their continued existence should they pose a problem

 

 

Sorry, bit late to this question.

As long as your in the range of 7-11 your fine, most natural sea water is 7.

If you have some SPS though you might want to bump it up some.

 

Cool. I'll keep an eye on it. I do weekend WC's so other people suggested that should be enough to keep things balanced in the near term.

[nemmy]

We'll see how it goes. From what I've read no one is really able to id the tiny starfish with any accuracy, so it's a bit of a crapshoot as to which species they are and what the behavior is. I like the diversity of life in the tank and none of my zoas are expensive enough to get worked up over really. But I have tweezers and a complete disregard for their continued existence should they pose a problem

 

 

 

 

Cool. I'll keep an eye on it. I do weekend WC's so other people suggested that should be enough to keep things balanced in the near term.

 

I've got tons of asterinas and i have never seen them on a coral. They stay on the rocks or the glass. Never had a zoa loss.

 

And yes waterchanges should keep up on it fine. But massive coralline growth will use up alk, along with LPS and SPS. So it all depends on what corals and how many and how big/fast they are growing.

[violinist]

The torch coral has been growing like mad, I wonder if that is what is pulling the alk down over the course of the week. Little tiny birdsnest frags are also growing, but they are pretty darn small. Blasto growth is slower than hell, and I can't see that the favia has grown at all really.

 

Do have specks of coraline showing up as well.

 

When does dosing become a necessity? When the need for WC's becomes too frequent?

[HernandezJ35]

mine is opposite...my coralline has been popping up faster and my montis are growing slowly but my torch has doubled from 2 to 4 heads in like a month...not to mention my clam lol...do you dose anything?

[violinist]

I dosed one time, about a third of the recommended amount, to see if it would kick the alk up. That was the only time, so basically no I don't. You?

[HernandezJ35]

not yet lol...wc usually keep my levels up i might have to end up doing it soon though...where did you get your blastos?

[violinist]

not yet lol...wc usually keep my levels up i might have to end up doing it soon though...where did you get your blastos?

 

LFS. I shouldn't say they grow slow as hell. Each polyp has grown, two in particular have almost doubled in size, but there are no new polyps growing that I can see. Guess they just don't make new polyps very often or quickly.

[HernandezJ35]

i have been wanting to pick some up but my lfs suck and i dont really wanna ship em in the cold lol...your tank makes mine look really lame and empty lol

[violinist]

Actually the thing I like most about yours is how open it is without looking empty. You should post another FTS, but get a little closer so it fills the frame of the picture. Also what's that stuff in your last fts that looks like its blowing out of the powerhead on the left side?

[got2envy]

Wonderful reef! I love everything so far

[HernandezJ35]

Actually the thing I like most about yours is how open it is without looking empty. You should post another FTS, but get a little closer so it fills the frame of the picture. Also what's that stuff in your last fts that looks like its blowing out of the powerhead on the left side?

 

 

chaeto lol...got sucked into the powerhead happens a lot...ill take some pics when i get home and post em tomorrow...and thx for the kind words

[violinist]

Wonderful reef! I love everything so far

 

[amored]

those new blastos are SWEET! frankly, totally cooler than mine.

 

let me know about the harleys. we can coach each other through i! haha.

 

tank looks great!

[violinist]

Actually those blastos are one of the first corals I bought in my bc8!

 

Do yours show much growth?

[spanko]

IMO this is the best shot of your tank on this thread. I love the way the valley looks!

 

[violinist]

I like that shot too. 16mm ftw!

[adam87]

Nice 20L