NC12: diary of an L.A. tank

[gena]

Bad morning! Found Darla spinning in my mp10 this morning. What a way to go

 

She wasn't sick either. I did my usual maintenance Friday and didn't hit the night mode on my mp10. Maybe that had something to do with her being sucked in.

 

Anyways....I'm officially done with YCG

[CoolNameGoesHere]

dang! sorry to read about the ycg

 

but on a positive note, the tank looks great! i think your "gsp" may in fact be neon or electric green encrusting gorgonian. i have some in my tank that looks exactly like it.

 

if i remember right, we're in the same neighborhood (i bought your mini mini nems and blue cloves way back)...did you get your "gsp" from aquarium works?

[gena]

dang! sorry to read about the ycg

 

but on a positive note, the tank looks great! i think your "gsp" may in fact be neon or electric green encrusting gorgonian. i have some in my tank that looks exactly like it.

 

if i remember right, we're in the same neighborhood (i bought your mini mini nems and blue cloves way back)...did you get your "gsp" from aquarium works?

 

Thanks for the sympathies. I feel terrible about it

 

You think it's an encrusting gorgonian? I'll have to look into that! I got it from someone here on nr. Someone from northern Ca.

 

I haven't been to Aquarium Works for about 2months. And it had been a year before that. I stopped in when I first set this tank up to get some of their Scripps water for my initial fill-up. The kid working said that they had been closed for a month or so prior to that day. I make my own water now so I haven't needed to stop in at all. They didn't have a whole lot for sale when I was in there.

 

How's the mini nems and blue cloves doing?

[CoolNameGoesHere]

the mini mini's are doin alright- i think there are a dozen of them now. the blue cloves haven't taken off like i'd hoped tho...but they still look good.

 

i thought maybe you'd gotten your gsp there, b/c if you had, it came from me, lol...i traded them a huge rock covered in it. but not the case a local reef club now has meetings at aquarium works...next meeting coming up is on May 1st. check out SFVR.net for details. if you can make it, you should go...get some prizes to stock the tank with

[gena]

the mini mini's are doin alright- i think there are a dozen of them now. the blue cloves haven't taken off like i'd hoped tho...but they still look good.

 

i thought maybe you'd gotten your gsp there, b/c if you had, it came from me, lol...i traded them a huge rock covered in it. but not the case a local reef club now has meetings at aquarium works...next meeting coming up is on May 1st. check out SFVR.net for details. if you can make it, you should go...get some prizes to stock the tank with

Have the minis killed any of your fish? That's the only reason I got rid of them. I was so mad when my clownfish accidently swam in (going for the food) and died the next day from the burns. Talk about feeling terrible!

 

I'll check out the reef club! Thanks for the heads up! Is Aquarium Works stocked with coral and fish again? It was pretty desolate when I was in there a couple of months ago.

[CoolNameGoesHere]

Have the minis killed any of your fish? That's the only reason I got rid of them. I was so mad when my clownfish accidently swam in (going for the food) and died the next day from the burns. Talk about feeling terrible!

 

I'll check out the reef club! Thanks for the heads up! Is Aquarium Works stocked with coral and fish again? It was pretty desolate when I was in there a couple of months ago.

 

haven't lost any fish due to the minis (*knock on wood*). but the tank the minis are in is very lightly stocked...only 1 clown in there.

 

aquarium works is still pretty lightly stocked. both steve and jose each have new additions to their respective families, so they don't spend as much time at the shop. tho, there was a pretty good size swap there last month and they had lots of fish and snails. i think they're focusing mainly on special/custom orders, but they try to boost inventory when SFVR has an event there (not just a regular meeting, like this upcoming one).

[gena]

haven't lost any fish due to the minis (*knock on wood*). but the tank the minis are in is very lightly stocked...only 1 clown in there.

 

aquarium works is still pretty lightly stocked. both steve and jose each have new additions to their respective families, so they don't spend as much time at the shop. tho, there was a pretty good size swap there last month and they had lots of fish and snails. i think they're focusing mainly on special/custom orders, but they try to boost inventory when SFVR has an event there (not just a regular meeting, like this upcoming one).

Glad to hear you haven't had any losses. My fatal mistake was feeding the nems first, before the fish. My clown just got too excited and went after the mysis. So, for anyone reading, feed the fish first, then the mini anemone.

 

I knew Steve had a baby...didn't know Jose did too!

 

I'll keep an eye out for the SFVR events.

[gena]

Little update on things. I pulled out the red gracilaria macroalgae because it looked like it had cyano growing at the tips of it. I didn't want to take any chances with that since I've had trouble with cyano in other tanks before.

 

The halimeda is starting to grow. The new tips are a beautiful green. The original is still pale green/white. Here's a few photos I shot today.

 

Petey and his irresistable expression

 

 

Tubbs Blues (luv them!)

 

 

The blue striped mushroom in this photo is sprouting babies..woohoo. I love this color!

 

 

[gena]

I think the little patches of bryopsis I had growing were just a part of New Tank Syndrome. They are almost non-existant now...yay! I was hoping it would just burn itself out. I certainly didn't do anything differently to make it die off. In fact, I have been feeding more frequently. Maybe it's making the chaeto grow which in turn is using up all the nutrients and killing off the bryopsis. Whatever it is...I like it. Hmmmm...wonder what nuissance algae I will encounter next? Oh well, just part of the cycle. I'll take the bad with the good...it's all just nature.

 

Here's one of my reefcleaner snails. Not sure what type it is, but he's a great worker:

 

 

Purple rhodactis. I love, love, love my mushies

 

[Macron]

I can't believe how quickly your tank got so nice. Keep up the good work.

[gena]

I can't believe how quickly your tank got so nice. Keep up the good work.

Thank you, Macron!!!! It's really come together well for me. Still bad luck with fish (RIP Darla), but the tank itself has been very healthy and it's thriving, which is all I could ask for.

[gena]

I added two Pederson anemone shrimp. I saw on another thread someone recommended this shrimp. I've been wanting to get shrimp but I wanted to try something new. I will never add a sexy shrimp to a mixed reef again. I think the only tank that it is safe to add them to would be a strictly mushroom tank or a maxi mini tank. I've experienced coral chomping myself on previous tanks and I would never take that chance again.

 

These little guys are awesome! They are staying mostly to the side of the tank. I hope they decide to venture out of there before too long. I have lots of mushrooms for them to sit on which is something they like to do.

 

 

 

After I added the shrimp to the tank, my pom pom crab decided to make an appearance. He had to check out the new inhabitants I guess. Of course, today he's no where to be seen. You can see the anemone or aptasia he found. He definitely did not arrive at my house with anything in his hand. It was either really tiny and grew or he picked it up somewhere in the tank.

 

 

I recently changed my bulbs to PC-R bulbs. I chose the actinic white since that was all I could find. It's definitely much brighter. And the color is a very warm shade of pinkish white. I've lost some pop with the blues in my tank...but I still am liking the new look a lot. I think you can see the difference in the FTS.

 

[OCREEFLOVER]

I added two Pederson anemone shrimp. I saw on another thread someone recommended this shrimp. I've been wanting to get shrimp but I wanted to try something new. I will never add a sexy shrimp to a mixed reef again. I think the only tank that it is safe to add them to would be a strictly mushroom tank or a maxi mini tank. I've experienced coral chomping myself on previous tanks and I would never take that chance again.

 

These little guys are awesome! They are staying mostly to the side of the tank. I hope they decide to venture out of there before too long. I have lots of mushrooms for them to sit on which is something they like to do.

 

 

 

After I added the shrimp to the tank, my pom pom crab decided to make an appearance. He had to check out the new inhabitants I guess. Of course, today he's no where to be seen. You can see the anemone or aptasia he found. He definitely did not arrive at my house with anything in his hand. It was either really tiny and grew or he picked it up somewhere in the tank.

 

 

I recently changed my bulbs to PC-R bulbs. I chose the actinic white since that was all I could find. It's definitely much brighter. And the color is a very warm shade of pinkish white. I've lost some pop with the blues in my tank...but I still am liking the new look a lot. I think you can see the difference in the FTS.

 

 

Tank looks great Gena. Whats next?

[gena]

Tank looks great Gena. Whats next?

 

Thanks, OC!

 

No other plans at the moment. If I had to guess what would be next, I'd say more mushrooms

 

I'm debating on one I saw online today. Shipping is such a killer though!

[Clavius85]

Very nice, gena! Lots of colors!

[Cheapreef27]

So this tank is all LPS, and softies? I like that gorgorian (spelling fail)

[gena]

Thanks guys! I really like my gorg too. It's a purple sea plume gorgonia. I've never had one before so this is a first for me. It's photosynthetic. I turned up the flow on my mp10 so it's moving nicely in the current. I read they like stronger flow. It did get some injury in shipping. One branch is sloughing off it's 'skin'...for lack of the correct term It's just at the tip though. I'll snip that part off eventually.

 

My tank runs 82-84 degrees throughout the day so hopefully water temp. won't be an issue for it. The white polyps are mostly out and it looks happy but I guess time will tell.

 

Yep...all softies and a couple of LPS. It's mostly a tank of mushrooms.

[gena]

Close up of my new purple sea plume gorgonia

 

[gena]

My new pederson shrimp are coming out a lot now. Especially when I feed the tank. I noticed the bigger of the two is sporting some eggs!!!! Pretty cool!!!! Not the greatest photo but you can see the eggs at the abdomen, they are white. It's pretty cool how she fans the eggs.

 

 

Wideshot:

 

[OCREEFLOVER]

My new pederson shrimp are coming out a lot now. Especially when I feed the tank. I noticed the bigger of the two is sporting some eggs!!!! Pretty cool!!!! Not the greatest photo but you can see the eggs at the abdomen, they are white. It's pretty cool how she fans the eggs.

 

 

Wideshot:

 

 

How is the Reefkeeper working out for you?

[knoxvegas]

Cool.

[gena]

How is the Reefkeeper working out for you?

Pefectly. It makes my life so much easier

 

Cool.

Hi, Knox

[gena]

Things are going well. With the warmer weather we're having, I'm having to leave the feed door open and the fan running. Temps are staying 82-83 degrees. But, this also means having to top off. Only about a 1/2 to a cup of fresh water a day though. I don't have to top off at all when the feed door is closed.

 

Thinking of buying a salinity probe, but it's costly and I guess not always accurate so we'll see. For now I bought one of those suction cup oceanic mini hydrometers. The thing is swinging all over the place with the current but does settle briefly at times. The packaging says to give it 24 hours to "season" before taking your first reading. Guess we'll see what my $9.99 investment will get me tomorrow (just bought it today). I do have a refractometer, but wanted something to tell me the salinity at a glance.

 

Picked up a small frag rack too. It suction cups to the wall as well. It works perfectly! It's holding my grandis paly right now. Which, by the way, is growing a new head.

 

Took this picture yesterday. The gorgonian is doing GREAT! I absolutely LOVE it. I wasn't sure about it's placement, but it's really grown on me. The purple color with white polyps is so pretty too.

 

5-3-11

 

 

Frag Rack

 

 

Squirt

 

[gena]

Full tank shot looks blurry to me. Hopefully this one I just took is better.

 

5-4-11

 

 

[gena]

The tank is 3 months old today!!!!!

 

I added a couple of pincusion urchins. I only ordered one and they gave me two. One is a pretty light pink and the other is pure white. I also got two more St. Thomas mushrooms. The darker mushroom wants to move though I keep putting it back in the front and every morning I find it tried to make a run for it in the night....LOL. I hope it decides where I want it is a good spot!!!!!!

 

Petey is looking really thin I've decided to try New Spectrum pellets. He'll eat those...the tiny ones. It will probably wreak havoc on my water quality. I guess it's a good thing I have two urchins. Hopefully feeding pellets twice a day will fatten him up. He may have a parasite and I can't catch him. If I lose him, I'll be so sad. I had a TSB before and never had a problem with skinniness.

 

Thinking of getting a possum wrasse but want to wait and see what happens with the blenny. If it does die, than it probably has a parasite which I'll probably remove squirt and leave the tank fishless for 6 or so weeks.

 

Here's the 3 month old FTS: