Megan's BC14 Journal

[meganistkrieg]

Nice Journal How many clean-up crew members do you have in there? The polyps on that mystery hitchiker coral look like Goniopora polyps.

 

Hey, thanks! I'm not sure WHAT that hitchhiker is! I've alternately thought it could be an encrusting monti, an entrusting porites, or even maybe some type of goniopora like you said. Some kind of SPS at any rate!

 

My clean-up crew "base" came from johnmaloney at Reefcleaners - I've got 2 nerite snails,4 Florida ceriths (who have also just laid eggs all over the place, or at least I think it's them...) and about 5-10 dwarf ceriths. I also have 3 scarlet reef hermits, an emerald crab, and a tuxedo urchin who is the hardest worker of my whole crew! The urchin is also a lot of fun to watch, like the crabs, so even after their clean-up is complete I plan on keeping them well-fed on nori - their entertainment value is unparalleled!

[Kittysnax]

I cant believe I fell behind on this! I love your misbar!!!!!

[Mr. Microscope]

I'm sorry I've missed this tank. You've got a great start here! Good choice on the LR too. I wish I had gone with that company. You've got some amazing stuff there. 'Can't wait to see more.

 

BTW, we seem to be pretty close to each other. I'll be selling/trading some zoa frags soon if you're interested.

 

Good Luck!

[meganistkrieg]

I promised new pics, and slowly but surely deliver!

 

Accomplishments and milestones since my last update include a victory over GHA (except for the clownfish's host patch) and cyanobacteria, which was trying to say the least. I followed all the "rules" though, cut back on the photoperiod, changed out my filter pads every few days, and kept a close eye on feeding, but it was adding a Koralia Nano and aiming it slightly towards the sandbed that really made a difference. Within about five days it was negligible and now has completely vanished. It is so unbelievably nice to have a clean sandbed... for the first time since I added it!

 

I'm thrilled with how things are coming along, and finally feel like I can just sit back and relax with the tank rather than furiously glare and fret over every little thing. Being patient has paid off in spades!

 

I'm also giddy to announce that just yesterday, I finally bit the bullet and got a second black and white ocellaris and both seem to be taking to each other right away. A few other new friends have joined as well... on to the pics!

 

FTS!

 

Left side!

 

Right side!

 

Urchin hiding amongst the mushrooms

 

Zoas, with babies galore

 

Pink anthelia action shot

 

Galaxea frag, not doing especially well. I actually moved it to a lower-flow, higher-light area just after I took this pic - I'm concerned this is my first "mistake" purchase

 

Clownfish drive-by!

 

Poking around their new host, the patient mushrooms...

 

My little convicts, up to no good

 

Stealth crab

 

My first clown, who's the queen of the tank - she bites me if I get too close to either of her hosts! (note to self - scrub back wall before taking pictures!)

 

I mentioned that my clowns have taken to "guesting" in the mushrooms lately, which I don't mind and the mushrooms don't seem hugely bothered by, either. I'm looking at getting a hammer coral soon so they may migrate to that, but in the meantime, a few pictures of my girl waggling her way into comfort. This is also the point at which we discovered the camera has an "underwater" setting, so the colors improved vastly...

 

 

 

 

 

And a few more pics of the shrimp, who we've dubbed "The Little Prince" for all his prancing and strutting about.

 

 

 

That's all for now, but now that I've figured out this new camera mode, I'm sure I'll have more pictures up sooner rather than later. Plus I just bought a few new frags from mmelnick on the Livestock Classified, which will be here next week and will certainly merit a slew of new photos.

 

Thanks for looking and remember - a comment a day keeps bryopsis away!

[Mr. Microscope]

 

Awesome! I wish my tank was big enough for a clown. Congrats on the pair. They look great together! Tank is looking great too! Can you frag the anthelia?

[meganistkrieg]

Awesome! I wish my tank was big enough for a clown. Congrats on the pair. They look great together! Tank is looking great too! Can you frag the anthelia?

 

I'm jealous that you have such a teeny tank - I wish I had one at my work! And yeah, I'm going to have to figure out how to frag it sooner or later, as I'm already seeing its spreading capabilities. Want to reserve some super LE (completely ordinary) pink anthelia ahead of time?

[Mr. Microscope]

I'm jealous that you have such a teeny tank - I wish I had one at my work! And yeah, I'm going to have to figure out how to frag it sooner or later, as I'm already seeing its spreading capabilities. Want to reserve some super LE (completely ordinary) pink anthelia ahead of time?

 

Sounds good! Perhaps we could trade.

[meganistkrieg]

Sounds good! Perhaps we could trade.

 

Excellent! Guess I'd better read up on how to trim this stuff! I've still got a while before I'm ready to reign in it but when I do, you'll be the first to know.

 

Cheers!

[Primeval]

Looks like your algae problem is improving. Congrats

[reefbike]

Looks like things are coming along well! I have the same tank that's been running

now for about the same amount of time as yours. I'll have to start a thread soon as well.

[Kittysnax]

I just grabbed me a skunk shrimp today ;3 Does yours clean your hand when you put it in the tank? LOL

[Mr. Microscope]

Thanks for the Anthelia frag! It's the first coral I have in my tank with any movement to it aside from my GSP. BTW, I think you are missing one of your shells. You said that the frag fell on the sand bed? Well, it attached to a shell and there was also a piece of LR with it. This made for easy placement and it looks great under the PAR38. I'm getting a very nice purpley-blue.

[meganistkrieg]

Thanks for the Anthelia frag! It's the first coral I have in my tank with any movement to it aside from my GSP. BTW, I think you are missing one of your shells. You said that the frag fell on the sand bed? Well, it attached to a shell and there was also a piece of LR with it. This made for easy placement and it looks great under the PAR38. I'm getting a very nice purpley-blue.

 

I forgot to mention the shell! That's actually how that piece came to me, and at the time (before it encrusted) provided a nice "holdfast" for the stalks. I'm glad it served the same purpose for you, and I can't wait to see how it ends up looking under your lights!

 

I actually carried your zoas home in my sweater-pocket! The acclimation was smooth and they're already opening up nicely. The colors on the Zombie Eyes seem like a very deep, rich red, and the Watermelons are AMAZING. Can't wait to trade frags again in the future! Thanks again!

 

Going to put up more tank pics soon, once I can stop rearranging everything and let it all settle in!

[Mr. Microscope]

You can see a little movie I took of the Anthelia on my thread. I think it's the latest entry. My sig links to it. The camera is making it look a little more blue than it is but actually pretty close.

[meganistkrieg]

More new pictures! No big changes since last time. I picked up a few new frags from the Livestock forum here, including a kenya tree that I'm waiting to see in its full glory (leathers get shy!), a few beautiful blue marbled mushrooms, and new zoas! Everything's been getting along great, and I haven't had any scary stories lately, which is a relief!

 

I do have one funny story, though! I was dropping a few sinking pellets into the tank for the nassarius, hermits, etc. when my newer clownfish grabbed one up in his mouth, and dropped it on top of the mushroom that he and the lady have been hosted by. I thought he was trying to eat it and just kept dropping it, but then he did it a second time as well, and the pellet fell to the sand. The third time, he grabbed the pellet, put it firmly on the mouth of the mushroom, and poked it with his mouth a few times as though to say, "Okay, you got it? You got it? Okay." and then swam off. I realized he was trying to feed the mushroom, like he would an anemone! Silly clownfish.

 

On to the pics!

 

FTS!

 

Leftside!

 

Rightside!

 

Super bright GSP frag from NanoReefNovice (pardon the smudgy glass, that's a dirty corner, heh)

 

New zoas from Mr. Microscope! Zombie Eyes on left, clownfish in the middle, Whammin' Watermelons on the right - far brighter than the camera makes them appear!

 

Mushrooms are getting bigger and starting to bipedally lacerate into new ones

 

Beautiful blue marbled mushrooms from mmelnick - really wild looking, I'm crazy about them

 

Blue xenia frag from the LFS - going to be mounted up by the anthelia at some point so they mix

 

Hitchhiker porites showing some polyps

 

Original unnamed zoa colony, with babies!

 

Another picture of the new zoas, because I like them so much (note the toppled over hermit in the back!)

 

Emerald mithrax chowing down on some unsuspecting algae

 

Shrimp taking a breather

 

The (questionably) happy couple

 

Poor little lad's been taking a whipping from the lady lately

 

"Don't tell her I'm over here..."

 

Terror of the deep!

 

That's all for now - hopefully the urchin and shrimp will come out later and I can get some pictures of them!

[Mr. Microscope]

Cool. Nice mushrooms. That's a funny story about the clowns.

[Mr. Microscope]

BTW, those WWs were under some pretty intense lighting. I'd recommend putting up higher in your tank so that they don't lose any color.

[meganistkrieg]

BTW, those WWs were under some pretty intense lighting. I'd recommend putting up higher in your tank so that they don't lose any color.

 

Part of it may be that I tend to white-balance a bit high on the camera and it makes things look more washed out than they are, but really, I need to get over my fear of epoxy one of these days. I might as well start by moving those up higher. Thanks for the tip! And glad you like the clown story. They're such dorks.

[Mr. Microscope]

Hey Megan,

 

Sorry to hear about your torch. Good luck with the hammer.

[meganistkrieg]

Hey Megan,

 

Sorry to hear about your torch. Good luck with the hammer.

 

Thanks. I've had a bad week (two weeks?) of it. Been trying to get it all under control hence no thread updates! Anthelia meltdown, BJD-infested torch, shrimp lost a leg, urchin has been causing a ruckus... just lucky that the torch was a small, inexpensive frag and that my hammer seems fine!

 

I'm trying to stay positive! There's no overarching problems that I can pinpoint from either testing or observation, parameters are all acceptable, etc. - hopefully just a bit of bad luck all in a row. Will try to post some pics this weekend! And your mini-mushroom should be good to go if you want to meet up next week during lunch again.

[Mr. Microscope]

Updates? Let's see the hammer. Also, how are the zoas and palys doing?

[meganistkrieg]

Finally! Pictures and an update!

 

I can't believe it's been a month since my last update. I'm pretty bad at this whole "keeping a log" thing on here, I suppose. I've had a bit of a rough time of it, honestly, since the city started getting warm (like, really warm - really fast!) back at the beginning of May and continuing on since then through the "growing pains" of my aquarium as we approach the five-month mark of my Biocube. Significant events have included:

 

- sudden heat spike which caused me to lose my anthelia colony (just after trading a frag of it to Mr. Microscope, more on that later!) and take a day off work to get the parameters straight again

 

- purchasing/trading for a whole lotta soft coral! New mushrooms, zoas, GSP, etc.

 

- buying my first LPS coral (a branching hammer frag and a torch frag)

 

- losing the torch coral two days later due to brown jelly disease, which was heartbreaking. I had been moving it around more than I should have but I suspect that the damage occurred with the way they packed it for transit, and that it was already susceptible by the time it got too my tank. Really sad as it was a beautiful frag, but I'd definitely like to try another in the future.

 

- various attempts at temperature regulation (first a big box fan, then a clip-on fan, and finally my Azoo which you'll see below) which would have been mighty boring to document, but have occupied most of my brain-space in regard to the tank

 

- set up a simple ATO to make my life simpler after the new fan set-up caused ridiculous amounts of evaporation

 

- my clownfish finally pairing up, though the female is still rough with the male at times. The other day she dragged him out of "her" mushroom by the fin, and halfway across the tank before she let go! But earlier when he swallowed a bit of mysis that was too big for him and was "coughing" it up, she seemed distinctly concerned, even panicked that he was in trouble. Goofballs.

 

- the urchin spawned! Twice! Ewwwwww!

 

- our emerald crab (aka Macho Crab) died unexpectedly. Nothing had been amiss the previous night, when he had eaten his usual chunk of nori from the safety of his "crab cave", but the next morning I awoke to find one of his claws lying on the substrate, and him struggling to climb the side of the rock. Neither he nor the claw were near anything menacing (there's only one thing that might have gotten him, the dreaded Eunice Worm, but she lives on the opposite side of the tank) and no sooner did I run to get my boyfriend than we came back and he was dead.

 

- while Macho Crab is still being mourned, we did find another little emerald a week later that wooed us into being purchased, as well as a magnificent little porcelain crab alongside. We love crabs!

 

Enough talk - onto the pictures!

 

Current FTS!

 

From a few weeks ago: lady-fish with Macho Crab in the background

 

From a few weeks ago: urchin hiding amongst the mushrooms, and carrying one as well!

 

From a few weeks ago: the lovely shrooms I got from mmelnick

 

Amazingly bright GSP that I love... except that it's about two days' growth from encroaching on the hitchhiker porites underneath...

 

GSP frag I'll be looking to trade in soon.

 

Branching hammer coral. The tips are purple and the "stalks" are sort of iridescent green, which I would love to show you if I could figure out how to balance the colors better on this camera. Please note the two baby-branches underneath! And there's a third in the back! I can actually see the teeny polyps extending from them!

 

Blue Cepistularia which has also just sprung up a new "branch" in the back. I didn't think this type of coral pulses but mine does, not all the time and not to the degree of Xenia, but enough that it's noticeable.

 

(EDIT: I keep switching as to what I think this is but the more I look at it, the more the growth pattern DOESN'T match cepistularia, despite most "blue xenia" actually being cepistularia in the marketplace. I think what I have is actually blue xenia, which would explain the pulsing motion. Anyway, looking at moving this guy soon so I can cover that rock in ricordea - not sure where to move it though!)

 

Whammin' Watermelons, Zombie Eyes, and one type whose name I don't know - all of these were traded from the fabulous Mr. Microscope! Again, the camera deceives as the colors look SO washed out in these pics and in real life they're incredibly vivid, especially the WW's (which have made babies!).

 

They're in the sand now because I haven't found a good base rock to add in yet and make my "Zoa Rock" - the beasts will knock down any frag plug not glued down and since they're going to be moved, I didn't want to glue them yet!

 

Remember how I just said that Mr. Microscope is awesome? He traded me back a frag of my anthelia colony that I traded to him, after mine got wiped in the heat! Super thrilled to have it back, I love the movement of it. So lacy and delicate!

 

Porcelain crab! Thinking of calling her Fanny.

 

Handsome shrimp whose longest whiskers - tip to tip - are probably five inches long.

 

Creeping out of hiding to eat eat eat!

 

Being hosted by mushrooms

 

Lady on the right, gentleman on the left!

 

So ferocious.

 

Urchin hanging out under the Koralia Nano. Note the little piece of anthelia that he's been toting around!

 

This poor little guy was hiding atop the Magfloat and I didn't realize it (thought he was a snail...) until I looked up and saw him hanging on for dear life!

 

Hello again you handsome devil

 

Some patchy epoxy work I did to block off big holes out of which the dreaded Eunice Worm was hunting. After I saw her rear up and take a vicious swipe at my urchin, I knew I couldn't let her cave entrance be in a high-traffic area. The top one I did first (starting to be less bright white, thankfully) and the second one I did only a day or two ago. I feel like I'm putting a bandaid on the situation (almost literally) but that rock is a vital piece of the tank and I can't flush her out of it without killing my coral, bristle worms, and pistol shrimp that live there too.

 

Dual Azoo fan, which is a blessed lifesaver in my inconsistently-temperatured apartment. I had to remove the feeding lid (it pops right off) to get it to attached and aim at the water rather than away, but it's doing an amazing job and keeps the temperature at a steady 78-80 degrees all day.

 

Side view of the Azoo fan (with my water change bucket brewing at the bottom left!)

 

Another FTS!

 

Phew. Rather than furtively abusing the Search function whenever anything happens in my tank, I promise to start posting more consistent updates here! Coming up next, my plans are:

 

A. enjoy my tank again rather than being a stressful mess about it all the time - I've become quite a worrywart about it and I'm looking forward to just being able to sit quietly and watch rather than furiously analyze (and overanalyze... and worry about... and fret about... ) every little thing that happens...

 

B. get my Zoa Rock set up so they're on display and I can show them off as they deserve to be showed off

 

C. look into getting some ricordea for that big flat rock where the blue spotted shrooms are. Mushrooms are kind of my thing right now - lucky for me they're plentiful and cheap! Time to diversify with some ricordea

 

Thanks for looking - any questions/advice are highly encouraged!!

 

PS: just because I know if anyone will be sympathetic, it's the boardies here - last night I had an all-night nightmare that I was trying to keep a batfish in a ten-gallon AGA and cure it of ich. Signs that you worry WAY TOO MUCH about your aquarium, haha

[meganistkrieg]

Super psyched about this video! Even though it was taken on my cellphone, it shows our lovely new porcelain crab in action, going to town on the oyster eggs I just broadcast into the tank. Enjoy!!

 

Porcelain Crab - Om Nom Nom!

 

Full Tank Video Bonus!

 

In other news, guess who learned to shoot video on her phone tonight...

[Mr. Microscope]

Hey! What happened to that zoa frag I traded you recently? It looks like there's only one on the plug. Did the other fall off? I have more if it did.

 

Second, did you say you are looking to trade the GSP? I'll take it. What do you want? Check out my inventory on my first post of page one. If you can't find an image of it, let me know.

 

Third- I've read that emerald crabs have a tendency to kill porcelains. Keep an eye on those two.

 

Fourth- Those zombie eyes look awesome in your tank! Way better than in mine. I see you can see the blue ring and peach centers now. Also, your WWs are about twice as big as mine. Awesome! I guess that's what I get with LEDs; little zoas.

 

Awesome update BTW! Congrats!

[meganistkrieg]

Hey! What happened to that zoa frag I traded you recently? It looks like there's only one on the plug. Did the other fall off? I have more if it did.

 

Second, did you say you are looking to trade the GSP? I'll take it. What do you want? Check out my inventory on my first post of page one. If you can't find an image of it, let me know.

 

Third- I've read that emerald crabs have a tendency to kill porcelains. Keep an eye on those two.

 

Fourth- Those zombie eyes look awesome in your tank! Way better than in mine. I see you can see the blue ring and peach centers now. Also, your WWs are about twice as big as mine. Awesome! I guess that's what I get with LEDs; little zoas.

 

Awesome update BTW! Congrats!

 

It's funny, the most recent one you traded me... I swore there were two on it but no sooner did I get it acclimated and situated than I looked at it later and only saw one. Thought maybe I was just losing my mind! No clue what happened to the other but no stress about providing another, you've already traded me a lot! I'd be happy to send the GSP fragrock your way in exchange for all the nice extras you've given me - can you meet up on Monday or Tuesday?

 

I'll keep an eye on the crabs - I''ve read about 50/50 as to whether or not they'll be okay together, so I figured I'd give it a shot. It probably helps that the emerald is about a third the size of the porcelain, so hopefully they'll continue to be amicable for a while.

 

Told you that the zombie eyes looked amazing!! I'll put up better pictures once I fumble with the camera settings some more, but they're a very intense and subtle array of colors - dark crimson around the outside, then dark blue, with little peach mouths. Striking! The WW's are my favorite, though. They've spread out nice and big and bright and are reproducing happily. Love love love!