SlowGoing Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 Today was a snow day so I took the opportunity to do a lot of tank maintenance. I received my order from Marine Depot on Monday and was very disappointed with how much the Hydor Flo rotating flow deflector reduced my flow. So I decided to remove it, and instead just perfect which way I point my nozzle from the fuge return. I dosed the Chemiclean per the instructions, and hooked up a bubble wand to ensure plenty of aeration took place. By today, 90% of the cyano has disappeared. What a huge difference it is seeing your sand clean and white again!! I then replaced all of my PC bulbs with new ones, replaced both my Chemipure elite and Purigen with fresh bags, and replaced my 13w fuge light with a new one. All my bulbs were about 8 months old, no wonder I was having cyano issues! I performed a 20% water change, and already everything seems to be breathing much better. I even got the chance to feed the brown feather duster, who I haven't seen out in a few days. Last weekend I picked up a 6 line wrasse and a sweet purple/green monti frag as my Valentines Day gift. Tonight I finally received my shipment notification from my reefs2go order, so that should be in hopefully Friday. I'll get some pics up when everything from the order gets settled. I plan on starting a Vodka Dosing regiment to further contain my Nitrate and Phosphate levels. I look forward to seeing some good results and improved water clarity and parameters! Sounds like a very eventful day. Way to go! I've got to replace the bulbs in my 29g here in the next few days. I ordered a 28g nano this week from Dr. F&S with a stand for $315, so I'm excited to start that up here in the next little bit. Going really slow with it, though. Have fun with the 6-line and make sure he doesn't start poking around with your other fish. I'm always nervous about them. Link to comment
Edelmango Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 I then replaced all of my PC bulbs with new ones, replaced both my Chemipure elite and Purigen with fresh bags, and replaced my 13w fuge light with a new one. All my bulbs were about 8 months old, no wonder I was having cyano issues! Did you replace with Orig bulbs or do something different? I am about to order from Nanotuners. Trying to wait on the ones with internal reflector but not sure if it is worth the 3x $$$ Link to comment
rO.oster Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Have fun with the 6-line and make sure he doesn't start poking around with your other fish. I'm always nervous about them. I didn't know they are permiscuous, maybe ill get a new breed of fish. 6 line clowns! haha Is your NC28 a HQI? Your nem will definetly love the upgrade. Did you replace with Orig bulbs or do something different? I am about to order from Nanotuners. Trying to wait on the ones with internal reflector but not sure if it is worth the 3x $$$ I replaced them with another set of Coralife 36w bulbs I had. I called nanotuners too, and talked about the differences between their house brand PC and the PC-R. For all intensive purposes, I'm sticking with the house brand at 10 bucks a pop, and saving the extra $$ for a LED upgrade. The house brand is supposidly 20% better than Coralife, and the PC-R 20% better than the house brand.... So my order was shipped with FEDEX, and we had a massive snow event move through. Needless to say, they delayed my order twice because of the cold weather, but decide to ship out the day after we get 9 inches of snow. The Memphis hub is backlogged, and my poor order is still sitting there, 2.5 hrs away I'm trying to be optimistic, I don't suppose they make 5 day heat packs? Link to comment
rO.oster Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 As can be expected, 6 days of shipping and 3 with no heat, the entire order was DOA. Boy those bags were retched Link to comment
SlowGoing Posted February 16, 2011 Share Posted February 16, 2011 As can be expected, 6 days of shipping and 3 with no heat, the entire order was DOA. Boy those bags were retched I'm sorry to hear that. It's a tough time to order any livestock. I can't get new bulbs for my original BC29 because the LFS keeps getting back logged. I forgot to mention that my 28G was stuck in Chicago for 3 days before it moved. Never had a delivery from FedEx hang out at one spot for more than 12 hours. First time for everything! Link to comment
RayWhisperer Posted February 28, 2011 Share Posted February 28, 2011 Moving to members aquarium section as per OP's request. Link to comment
rO.oster Posted February 28, 2011 Author Share Posted February 28, 2011 Moving to members aquarium section as per OP's request. Thanks!! The new arrivals are settling in, pictures to come soon after I perfect placement, and baste off the rocks from duststorm I got after digging holes for stuff. New items: Large Featherduster, Rock Anenomie, Yellow Gorgonian, Pom Pom Crab Link to comment
rO.oster Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 Finally, the long awaited update for both you and I. Firstly, a shout to reefs2Go for a few reasons. First, I emailed them almost 5 months after receiving my clown fish, which turned out NOT to be True Perculas, and they gave me a credit for the difference. Next, they re-sent the order which was DOA and what arrived was truly awesome. The flower rock anemone and yellow gorgonian are HUGE and quite a sight to behold. The rock anemone took some finessing, but once I placed it in a suitable spot, it sat right down and spread out. Since then, I've fed it twice with silversides and it has colored up with green and purple florescence on the disc. I received a tan/brown feather duster, which brings me to 4 different individual colors. I also received a Pom Pom crab, which is very elusive until the lights go out. After dark, it comes out and waves to and fro, catching particles with its poms. I am quite pleased and once again in this hobby, patience is a virtue. FTS March 06, 2011 7.5 months old I have added a great maroon monti to the left, which brings me to 3 types of montipora's. The original one does not have much texture to the plate, and seems to be fading ever since I dosed with Chemiclean. I still see polyp extension, so that's good. The view from the right hand side: The new featherduster took a while to house properly, it kept pushing its tube out of the hole i would bury it in. It's interesting when a coral does not like the placement, you can tell pretty easily. They remain agitated, half open. But place it in a area where it likes, it relaxes and opens right up. Thus far, my favorite addition is definitely the Yellow Gorgonian. Especially this specimen, its huge! I actually cut the base off of it so I could secure the main branch to some LR with putty. I am hoping the base chunk will grow some new shoots for me. Inspector Wrasse has been busy picking every nook and cranny clean, I have not seen the monster pods that used to roam around. Unfortunately, it has not taken care of these small white snails I keep seeing. They are multiplying, so I hope they do not start to bother my coral. He is quite the character, and gets along with the clownfish quite well. Only the YWG seems to take issue with him, flaring up his gills and making mock charges to ward him off. Full of hot air, that goby is. With all these recent additions the tank is quite full. Now to let it all grow in some more, and enjoy it fully. I find myself captivated for hours in front of my tank, and wish I had more time to experience it. Here is a I took of all the action. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do! Link to comment
rO.oster Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 Great additions ;-) Merci beaucoup!! You should start a tank thread so we can follow along on your BC14 rise from the dead! Link to comment
rO.oster Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 More pictures... Everything continues to thrive. The pom pom crab comes out at feedings, it has no fear and boxes away the others to scavenge at any food that has made it to the sand bed. I moved the dark red monti to the right side, after it fell from the left. Ever since I reattached it, it has grown crazy amounts, I wouldn't think a monti cap could grow that fast. My frogspawn and rock anemone keep their distance, living peacefully next to one another. The rock anemone is pretty big, like 7 inches diameter. The feather dusters are thriving with the micro filter feeding food and are starting to get noticeably bigger. I wonder if/how/when they would reproduce. The purple and green monti really pops, and the edge has a flare/curl that is starting to re-circle in, it's doing quite well. What was like 7 heads is now 50+ heads of watermelon zoas View from the left side of the tank: Getting an open brain and some other additions this week. Stay tuned! Link to comment
badbad Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 First My aquarium never died, the population was reduced that' all. Nice, I really like the monti. :-) PS: At leats you got one post pretty quickly this time... Link to comment
rO.oster Posted March 29, 2011 Author Share Posted March 29, 2011 First My aquarium never died, the population was reduced that' all.Nice, I really like the monti. :-) PS: At leats you got one post pretty quickly this time... Haha yeah, and your now up to two posts! LOL Thanks, that is my favorite monti How much harassment will it take to start your own thread, so we can all drool over your impressive LED array. Link to comment
badbad Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 I can not wait for it to be up and running. As soon a the tank will look like something I like I will post a pic or two and if it does really look like something I like I will add a few pics of the different steps I had to go through to get to that result. But we are far far away from being there. For example last week end was based on two failures: * my PWM did not work as weel as expected (the pump were only humming and not turning) * I want to build a refugium for my tank to do so I bought another aquarium having in mind to cut it down in size. The sad part being that the glass was tempered (which not the case in France, most of the time...). Link to comment
Thrassian Atoll Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 Great looking tank man! Link to comment
rO.oster Posted April 29, 2011 Author Share Posted April 29, 2011 Great looking tank man! thanks! I really have to update, I have added a lot more coral, went through a tank move, and whatnot. Update comming hopefully soon, I have a shipment arriving sometime next week. Link to comment
RedStang Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 Nice tank! Love the coral variety. Link to comment
rO.oster Posted May 2, 2011 Author Share Posted May 2, 2011 Nice tank! Love the coral variety. thanks a lot, you can still get a nice filled variety even under PC lighting, i am still only pushing 72w Acitinic and 36w 10k. That extra blue makes it pop a little more. Link to comment
rO.oster Posted June 5, 2011 Author Share Posted June 5, 2011 Well it has been two months since my last update, and quite a lot has transpired. Life continues to move forward, as life always does. During the course of the last months, I had a tank move that was 45 minuets across town. Quite an ordeal, it was very successful with only a few losses, the brown and green feather dusters are MIA. A monti cap received a shattering blow in the bucket, in the end it is starting to encrust and make a come back. I have added some to my collection, and it has occured to me that I do not have a complete list of my livestock, so here goes: Fish 2 Ocellaris Clownfish; Pair, Six Line Wrasse, Yellow Watchman Goby, Randalls Goby Invertebrates Pom-Pom Crab, Anemone Crab, Blue Hermit, Red Hermit, Randalls Shrimp, Hawaiian Featherduster, Caribbean Featherduster Coral Sun Coral, Duncan Coral, Rock Anemone, Frogspawn, Mini-Mini Anemone, Green Toadstool, Leather, Toxic Green Trumpet, Wellso Brain, Strawberry Cactus Coral, Yellow Gorgonian, Pulsing Xenia, Kenya Tree, Red Monti, Purple/Green Monti, Tan Monti, Green Star Polyp, Various Red/Green/Watermelon Zoas, Orange/Green/Blue Ricordias, Green Mushrooms Cleanup Crew Various Ceriths, Dwarf Ceriths, Nassarius, Ninja Star, Astraea FTS June 01, 2011 To say everything has grown would be an understatement. Right now, I still Vodka dose 0.8mL daily, as best as I can remember too. The Aquaticlife 115 skimmer continues to churn, today I mod'd it with fishing line around the impeller to produce a more consistent foam. I am still pulling dark green skimmate from it. My chateo has to be trimmed every two weeks and the sun coral and meat eating LPS are eating twice a week. My two clown fish are deeply into the "keeping spots on the rock clean" phase, they aggressively maintain some spots at the base of the frogspawn they host clean. They like to flick the rock with their backs, brushing off any soot and debris, then shake and twitch towards each other. I really hope they start mating, that would be really cool! The gorgonian and feather dusters are on a diet of rods coral food, cyclopeeze, and kents microvert food, they seem to be doing really well. I really dig how the Anemone crab has taken over the Rock Anemone, he basically controls it and has free rein to make the anemone expand, contract, or do whatever the crab wants. He usually rides it, filter feeding away at all the nice particle food I feed. The view from the right side, either Goby is usually battling it out for the spot where Randalls burrow comes to the top. The Suncoral needs constant attention and has a voracious appetite. This guy will not let us go on vacation, it eats a ton! About three times a week I like to feed it frozen Mysis, or Formula 1 frozen cubes to it after it has expanded at lights out. This one colony eats the entire cube no problem each time! This is a neat pic of an encrusting type that came in on a frag, the blue on it is pretty cool. All in all, everything is thriving quite well. I bought another box of Reef Crystals, since it has been a very balanced and good salt mix to me. I am dosing 1 drop of Lugols iodide per week, and doing a 3mL/3 days Purple Up regiment, since I lost all of my coralline on the back wall of my tank during the move. So far I am seeing great results of new light purple coralline growth on the rocks, we'll see if it transfers to my back wall again. Link to comment
Yves Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Good looking cube! Keep up the good work. Link to comment
rO.oster Posted June 6, 2011 Author Share Posted June 6, 2011 with some dramatic youtube music playin in the background, experience the experience while you experience it. Link to comment
rO.oster Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Good looking cube! Keep up the good work. Nice ;-) Thanks guys Link to comment
Gromit1710 Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Nice! I wish I had room in my tank for a Gorgon like that. Link to comment
rO.oster Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 Someone's got all the pieces to make one hell of a LED build Link to comment
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