LarryMoeCurly Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 This tank has been upgraded to a 20 gallon long, which begins on page 2 (post #41).I figured I'd start a tank thread, mainly so I can track my own progress, but any input or advice is much appreciated. It's nothing special, but I'm somewhat of a beginner, and a college student, and there is NO LFS within an hour drive !At the beginning of this year, I upgraded from a 5 gallon eclipse bowfront (which thrived, even though I neglected it for almost three years) to a standard 10g which used to be a freshwater tank. I simply moved everything from the 5g to the 10g (there was no cycle).Equipment standard 10g tank two of evil's par38s (12,000k), upgraded from 2x18 nova extreme penguin 150 powerfilter (with biowheel removed) koralia nano (240gph) generic heater Livestock some live rock and live sand Blue Damsel blue leg hermits various snails various hitchikers (red muchrooms, feather dusters, worms, starfish, sponge, clams) various zoas (if anyone knows the names, that would be great) 2-5-11:3-19-11:3-27-11:Zoas (from petco), along with some sort of clam hitchhiker:What the mushrooms looked like under the nova extreme fixture:What the mushrooms look like after a few weeks under the par38s :Lighting fixture (miniwhinny's design) made of pvc pipe, light sockets, zip-ties, electrical tape:Thanks and Enjoy. Link to comment
LarryMoeCurly Posted March 20, 2011 Author Share Posted March 20, 2011 Finally got a decent picture of my damsel, he's been skiddish and spooked all day for some reason. I could only coax him out with some food. I've had him since the original 5g, so 3+ years. This pic actually tuned out much better than it looked on the camera , the camera is cheap and I know very little about photography. Really excited I got a decent pic of him though, he really never sits still unless he's in his cave where I can't see him. Really a beautiful fish, its a shame that they get a bad reputation because of their agressiveness. The tanks lights were off and the flash was on: Link to comment
LarryMoeCurly Posted March 20, 2011 Author Share Posted March 20, 2011 Thanks, its certainly a work in progress. Its really slow going since I'm a busy college student, and I have to drive almost an hour to get to a pet store that has saltwater stuff. Link to comment
LarryMoeCurly Posted March 25, 2011 Author Share Posted March 25, 2011 three fifths of a starfish: Nice feather duster (picture doesn't do it justice, its a nice orangish-brown color), and a hermit: Link to comment
LarryMoeCurly Posted March 27, 2011 Author Share Posted March 27, 2011 Some new addtions, 3-26-11: Link to comment
Dobler132 Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 so whats up with your shrooms? did the par38s really bleach them out like that? Link to comment
LarryMoeCurly Posted March 30, 2011 Author Share Posted March 30, 2011 so whats up with your shrooms? did the par38s really bleach them out like that? Short version: yep, they did Long version: These mushrooms were originally hitchhikers on my live rock almost four years ago They were in a 5g lit by cheap screw-in cf bulb. The beginning of this year, I moved them to the ten gallon. For a few weeks they were under a standard 15watt flourescent, then they were under the nova extreme for a few weeks. Up until that point they looked fine and were brillantly colored (as the pic shows). Then I upgraded to the two par38s and they have pretty quicky (a couple weeks) lost their color. Now it looks like they might just be melting away. Link to comment
Mini-Dude Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 Have you ever thought of fragging the zoas? I would like some if you did....cant have any for a month though Link to comment
JulieR Posted March 30, 2011 Share Posted March 30, 2011 For being a college student with little money, those are some nice size zoa colonies! Also, college in southwest PA? Which school? I just graduated this past December from Clarion University (Southern - no, western - yes). I waited until after I graduated to start up my reef, since the school and home were 550+ miles apart. Too much traveling around over the years for a reef. Your little damsel is gorgeous, I love the black markings on its face. Damsels do hold some appeal for me, with their colors and size (and price tag), but if I were to get one it would either go in a (currently non-existant) sump of my main tank, or I'd set up a little side tank for it. I'm afraid of their aggressive reputation. Link to comment
LarryMoeCurly Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 Have you ever thought of fragging the zoas? I would like some if you did....cant have any for a month though If your talking about the big colony (with the brown clam-ish creature in the middle), then yes I have thought about fragging them. However, I have never fragged before. I will let you know if I decide to try it though. That colony is from petco (around $40). The other two colonies are from Elmer's aquarium in monroeville, PA. They were like $10 or $15. Link to comment
pyrocreep Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 If the mushrooms haven't melted yet then you still might be able to save them. Sense the par38's are so much more powerful you just need to reduce the light cycle. Try and reduce it to maybe a 4 hour photo period rather than what it's at now. Then every week when you go back home raise it an hour or so if they are looking better. They may be to far gone, but it's possible to save them. Link to comment
JulieR Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 I'm a second-year pharmacy student at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. I'm pretty sure I've heard of Clarion before. What was your major? Ah nice. I have a friend who I think is going into pharmacy, if I remember right. I got my BA in psychology. If I decide to go into clinical, you can bet that I'll have a fish tank in my office, haha. Link to comment
LarryMoeCurly Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 If the mushrooms haven't melted yet then you still might be able to save them. Sense the par38's are so much more powerful you just need to reduce the light cycle. Try and reduce it to maybe a 4 hour photo period rather than what it's at now. Then every week when you go back home raise it an hour or so if they are looking better. They may be to far gone, but it's possible to save them. That sounds like a good plan, but would that short of a photo period have bad effects on the zoas and frogspawn? I thought about maybe moving them to a darker spot in the tank. Link to comment
LarryMoeCurly Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 Ah nice. I have a friend who I think is going into pharmacy, if I remember right. I got my BA in psychology. If I decide to go into clinical, you can bet that I'll have a fish tank in my office, haha. Very cool. I had an intro to psych class last year. It was more interesting than I expected, at least moreso than some of the other off-major classes everybody has to take. My mom has always said that she would have liked to been a psychologist, or at least study psychology. For being a college student with little money, those are some nice size zoa colonies! I doubt that I'll ever buy a single polyp, or even 5 polys at a time. I like a larger colony so its more visible. Also, these colonies were cheap (except for the one from petco, but I still think it was a good value since it was so big and had two different kinds of zoas on it). Link to comment
pyrocreep Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 That sounds like a good plan, but would that short of a photo period have bad effects on the zoas and frogspawn? I thought about maybe moving them to a darker spot in the tank. Not really, shortening the photo period is actually a pretty common thing to do. Most of the time it is done when adding new corals to a tank that has much stronger light than where they were kept before, think pc's vs halides. It is also generally done when switching to new bulbs because in generally the older a bulb is the less powerful it is. It is also done when, much like in this case, you add a newer/more powerful fixture to a tank. Link to comment
LarryMoeCurly Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 Alright, you convinced me , I'll start this weekend at 4 hours I guess. Also, maybe it'll cut down on the amount of algae I have to scrape off the glass every weekend. I figure I'll have to leave it at 4 hours for a few weeks since the shrooms are so far gone. Then gradually increase it every week. Does that sound like a good plan? Are you saying that this will possibly make the shrooms adapt to the large amount of lighting, and eventually they will be able to survive a complete photo period under the par38s? Link to comment
pyrocreep Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Your plan sounds good, basically if they look good after the first week you can bump it up by an hour. If they don't look good, then leave it be. And yes, they can adapt to a larger amount of light. That being said though, they are still technically a low light coral. If you can move them to somewhere that isn't directly under the lights then that would be a good idea too. Link to comment
LarryMoeCurly Posted April 2, 2011 Author Share Posted April 2, 2011 I just fed the forgspawn for the first time. I got some mysis shrimp from petsmart and just sort of stuck a few of them on each of the two frags. It seems like both of them at at least one, maybe more. Also, the Damsel went nuts when I fed them to her since she is used to flakes, not meaty foods. I'm hoping feeding the frogspawn will color them up, and aid in growth. I removed the koralia nano, so now the frogspawn have little to no flow, and they both seen to be more inflated today. I would really rather have more flow in the tank, but no matter where I put them, they kept getting blown around. Maybe if they grow a little, I'll put the powerhead back in. I'll probably give up on the mushrooms and leave the photoperiod around 8 hours. However, some of them are still opening up, its just that they have completly lost their color. Link to comment
LarryMoeCurly Posted April 2, 2011 Author Share Posted April 2, 2011 New pics of the two forgspawn frags, niether one of them look anything like other pics of frogspawn I've seen. It's been a week now and they just aren't inflating. I moved them last night and they now have almost no flow, so I'll leave them another week and see what happens. Link to comment
Mini-Dude Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 New pics of the two forgspawn frags, niether one of them look anything like other pics of frogspawn I've seen.It's been a week now and they just aren't inflating. I moved them last night and they now have almost no flow, so I'll leave them another week and see what happens. Stop moving them.... Link to comment
Mini-Dude Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 I am not constantly moving them. I let them sit where they were for over a week, and they still did not look happy, so I moved them today and am going to leave them for another week. ok...well I guess they are just pissed from shipping....they'll get over it... Link to comment
Mini-Dude Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 They were not shipped, I got them at an LFS about an hour away. I don't think it should take over a week to get over a 1 hour transport. ok then, I dont know..maybe they are just pissed at life...sell them and get more Link to comment
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