msscha's 24 gallon office cube

[eitallent]

@ msscha

 

TY for this thread. It just so happens to be the first thread in NR that I stumbled upon. Lucky for me too b/c your reef is an inspiration in water gardening. I have been creeping on here for months looking at your beautiful pics. So I thought it was time for an appreciation post.

 

BTW I love your writing style.

[msscha]

@ msscha

 

TY for this thread. It just so happens to be the first thread in NR that I stumbled upon. Lucky for me too b/c your reef is an inspiration in water gardening. I have been creeping on here for months looking at your beautiful pics. So I thought it was time for an appreciation post.

 

BTW I love your writing style.

eitallent, not to get to odd here, but thank you so much for your kind words. Truly. Much appreciated right now! BTW, love the sig pic -- that is truly a fine photo of a peppermint shrimp. I find them difficult to get b/c the combo of transparent bodies with bright light in the tank so frequently washes them out. Nicely done !

[msscha]

Shots from around the neighborhood -- took a few minutes with the magnifying glass today!

 

Turbo -- hard to see against the black background -- love the velvety burgundy body

 

Brittle Stars

 

Tube Coral in the back -- the stony part of the polyps mouth is bigger in this clump which gets little light. Compare to tube coral in second brittle star pic above.

 

Red Plate something -- algae? coral? I think it's an encrusting coral of some kind. Is growing very slowly.

Fireworm -- ugh.

 

Feather duster on back wall

 

Feather duster on front, right rock face

 

Sexy Mama down under

[msscha]

Gee, totally forgot! It's my one year tank-i-versay! Here is the first and current FTS. And this before I add the LEDs!

 

9/04/2011

 

9/05/2012

[eitallent]

Gee, totally forgot! It's my one year tank-i-versay! Here is the first and current FTS. And this before I add the LEDs!

 

Happy Tank-i-versary! It is looking beautiful. Congrats..

[RedStang]

Tank is still looking good! Good luck with the LED's. I love the color of mine. The blue makes coral pop so much. That and with just blues my clowns look black and white which is what I originally wanted .

[phoenix91]

Happy Anniversary (yes, i'm a bit late). Tank looks great, those mushrooms are huge!

 

Can't wait to see pics of the tank under LEDs

[eitallent]

9/05/2012

 

It looks so pleasant I find myself wishing I could snorkel in your tank! LOL

 

Wishing you well...

[chevyjlewis]

wow i love those mushrooms. I have always wanted mushrooms but how do you get them to attach?

[msscha]

wow i love those mushrooms. I have always wanted mushrooms but how do you get them to attach?

Thank you. These pink mushrooms began as a single mushroom which was attached to a bit of shell. It migrated immediately and wandered until it found a place it liked. I think the original is the one on the right side of the tank, on the side "ledge" of the rock, behind the duncan (the picture doesn't show this well, but its foot is plastered just underneath the rock). The other 4 are all spawn of this one! There are 3 other babies that don't show up b/c they are still little. I'm starting to get a bit worried -- the tank isn't big enough to support bunches of 3-4" diameter shrooms!

[msscha]

Thanks, Everyone, for the compliments/tank-i-versary well wishes! I've been out of town, occupied with my mother who has been newly diagnosed with cancer. It's amazing how fast things progress once the diagnosis is made and I've been scrambling to help care for her and work and kids! I've decided that I don't have the mental energy for a real DIY LED experience, so I'm going to take the LED parts and hood to a friend (the former owners of the lfs I go to, now in the tank maintenance business instead of retail) who will help do the work. I feel a bit guilty, like I am disappointing the stalwart DIY NR community who down a couple of brews, then take out their screwdrivers and soldering irons and get to work ! But I just can't spare the neurons right now and absolutely could not handle the stress of screwing it up.

 

There are strange goings-on in the tank, too. The ocellaris's behavior has changed somewhat and she seems a bit less bold than she used to be. The lime green sponge/tunicate was decimated by something, too. My last astrea is dead, and I desperately need some ceriths or other algae-eating snails. The lone turbo is not able to keep up or is just uninterested in the back wall. Mama Sexy off-loaded her brood last week, but I have not seen baby sexies swimming about; okay, I really didn't expect to! I think the description of female sexy shrimp as being "bigger" is not quite accurate; maybe she's a tad longer, but it's more like she's got more junk in the trunk, so to speak, hence looks heftier than her male counterpart !

 

Corals are doing well -- I don't quite like the arrangement of everything, though I haven't figured out exactly how I want to change it. Mostly, I want the duncan back on the sand where it doesn't take up so much of the rock face visual real estate. The smaller yellow ball sponge would be happier in a shadier spot, too. Placing the ricordea next to the duncan doesn't work; after a few days, the rics win the chemical war and whatever head is nearest begins to look fried. The heads recover, which is great, but look pretty sad in the meantime. I am loathe to move the toadstool leather b/c the tiny yellow baby appears to be thriving and has grown clearly visible polyps with their own tiny little tentacles! Since it is doing well in that spot, in that spot it gets to stay. Finally, the acans on top are starting to look a bit silly. At first, the whole "Acan Rock" concept was attractive, and both animals are doing well. Now, after a few months of growth, the rock looks like a French poodle! I just can't figure out what I should be doing. We need tank interior designers! yes, I know, I've read the article about tank design, but seriously, too many of them propose a particular look, with lots of negative space. That would be beautiful in a small tank, but it would also mean giving up most of what is in there, and I'm not prepared to do that. I would get rid of those pink shrooms, though -- anyone know how to do that ?!

 

Baby Toadstool -- overexposed, but sort of see polyps!

 

Sideview

 

Proposed LED array (B=blue; CW = cool white; NW = neutral white)

Edited September 18, 2012 by msscha

[gena]

Sorry to hear about your mother.....

 

Your tank is looking beautiful

[msscha]

Sorry to hear about your mother.....

 

Your tank is looking beautiful

Thank you, Gena. Hugs much appreciated .

[gena]

Thank you, Gena. Hugs much appreciated .

Well...here are some more. Hang in there...

[msscha]

Something clicking this way comes.

 

Haven't heard this for at least 3 months, but something is clicking in the tank again! Another rogue pistol or a worm? Hmmm. I'll be feeding the Friday afternoon blitz, maybe I will see it come out for a snack .

[eitallent]

Something clicking this way comes.

 

Haven't heard this for at least 3 months, but something is clicking in the tank again! Another rogue pistol or a worm? Hmmm. I'll be feeding the Friday afternoon blitz, maybe I will see it come out for a snack .

 

uh oh Hitchhikers are always so much fun. They add mystery & suspense to the hobby.

[msscha]

uh oh Hitchhikers are always so much fun. They add mystery & suspense to the hobby.

Lots of the life in my tank is hitchhikers -- they do indeed add zest of the unknown, as well as some time spent panicking !

[msscha]

I am procrastinating, and here are the pictures to prove it!

 

Basketstar -- one of 3 or 4

 

Small White Brittlestar -- I have a sudden exploding population of these. I see them moving across the rock which is different from the red/white striped ones which choose a spot and stay. Don't know if this is a good or bad thing and what I should be doing about it.

 

Pink Shroom -- took this during a water change -- that sucker is at least 4" across! My first fragging experiences will come with these -- I am going to cut them off the rock, put them in a basket with some rubble, and bring to lfs.

 

Baby Toadstool Leather -- it's yellow!! Very cute .

 

Trumpet Coral -- cool and puffy

 

Mama Sexy -- preggers again

 

Daddy Sexy -- do sexy shrimp gloat ?

Interesting white speckles on coralline algae -- these come and go. I have no idea what they are. Micromussa in background seems to like its spot and has been spreading onto the rock.

 

The Blastos

[msscha]

I am getting a Seaweed Blenny next week. Woo hoo!

[msscha]

Life as it happens in a tank

 

I am amazed daily at how the life in my tank continues to evolve. I wonder if there is any sort of article about this -- something that traces the likelihood of this kind of life versus that given the aquarist's choices about live rock, corals, fish, etc. For instance, yesterday I spotted for the first time in months a feather duster hitchhiker who was a favorite when I first got my tank. The side of the rock it is on got turned to the back, and I simply haven't seen it since. Now, it has tripled in size! The pictures didn't turn out because of the angles, but I am thrilled nonetheless. Up front, where I can see, is either offspring or brethren, a smaller version of the same feather duster. On its rock, a bristle worm is becoming increasing large and bold! And today, I discovered a new hitchhiker! Over a year after the tank was established! I believe it is a "blunt armed sea star" -- the picture turned out okay, but it is so small, that I'd need a better camera to get a good look. The adult size is only 1/2" - 1". However, in the picture, six arms are clearly visible, and the blunt armed sea star is only supposed to have 5! Maybe this is a kind of urchin, perhaps a variegated? (it is white with some green, and may have little tiny spines). I had to shift the acans' rock back yesterday as I discovered the impact of chemical warfare -- the sides of the acan were being touched by the toadstool leather, and it would appear the leather was winning.

 

Blue Feather #2

 

Bold Bristle Worm

 

Blunt-Armed Sea Star -- or Urchin?

 

Acan with Battle Wounds

 

Fat Duncan at Feeding Time

 

Update: query on the ID forum suggests that the star is probably an asterina anomala. I have just spotted three more. They're not quite as irregularly shaped as the asterina anomalas shown in many pictures. All four are about the same size, too, with six symmetrical arms which seems less likely given asexual reproduction by tearing off one half of the body and growing a new one (unless all of these are adults). Some sites state these are bad, probable coral eaters, depending on size. Thus far, the four I see are on back wall and rock or dead coral (coral that has been dead). I would hazard that my generous feeding regimen has once again changed the life in the tank.

Edited October 3, 2012 by msscha

[msscha]

LEDs Are In!

 

And what a freaking pain in the arse it was . I am so glad I didn't attempt this on my own. I paid a friend (former owner of LFS) and it took him 3 hours -- granted, he is a perfectionist and did all this fancy re-wiring, screwed my original moonlight into the new heatsink b/c the moonlight kit wasn't going to work as well, and got all the wired nicely taped together. I could not have figured this out on my own.

 

I still do not know how to program the dimmable switch and potentiator thing-y. I turned the lights on this morning, turned the intensity down quite a bit, and waited to see if anything fried. So far, all the corals look happy enough, though the baby toadstool has turned white; I will move it to a shadier spot while it matures. The clown seemed pretty spooked by the shimmer effect, though she's calmed down somewhat.

 

The impact on the color has been unexpected. Greens and purples are really popping; reds and pinks are muted; yellows have turned gold or orange. The shimmer is pretty intense and a bit distracting. The tanks certainly looks "bluer" but not cold -- I can see how warm the fluorescents were. I don't know if the before/after pics below really show the color change. Temperature wise, the tank is running about 1 degree F cooler than what was normal with the other bulbs.

 

Before

 

After

[nwin]

Looks great! I completely know what you mean about the shimmer...it's the same way on my tank...I guess I just sorta got used to it after a bit.

 

For that picture do you have the blues turned up at all? I know you went with rapid, but they have two separate knobs (one for the whites/one for the blues), right? Just curious as to your settings as your picture came out a lot better than some of my first pics!

[atomic_dog]

Congrats on the lights! I've been waiting to see how they look on your tank with the cool white/neutral white mix before placing an order of my own.

 

I'd be curious to know what the issue was with the RapidLED moonlights that made them unusable? I'd also love to see how you handled reusing the old lights.

[msscha]

Looks great! I completely know what you mean about the shimmer...it's the same way on my tank...I guess I just sorta got used to it after a bit.

 

For that picture do you have the blues turned up at all? I know you went with rapid, but they have two separate knobs (one for the whites/one for the blues), right? Just curious as to your settings as your picture came out a lot better than some of my first pics!

As far as I can tell, I have all 6 blues, and all 6 whites (mix of 4 neutral and 2 cool) going at 70%. The 70% is a guess because I eyeballed the intensity...I just read the manual carefully and found out that each button press is a 5% difference, and I'm estimating that I pressed it about 6 times. (I'd read in so many places that you have to be careful not to fry coral when LEDs are first installed.). As for the lighting in the picture, the difference is the automatic setting I used. I have 2 macro settings, one for bright light and one for regular light. I'd been using the "bright light" setting because it compensated better for the light blazing down from the top. For some reason, the regular light macro setting seems to do a better job of capturing what the tank looks like now, though truly close-up shots have been kind of blue (actually, everything has a blue tint -- it's the oddest thing--I never thought of the clfs as being yellowish until the LEDs went in!). I wish I could tell you why the standard macro setting works better -- I really don't know. Panasonic makes a version of the Lumix that I am going putting on my Christmas list -- it actually has a "water" setting for taking pictures in or under water! I would love to see what impact that has.

 

Here are a couple of pictures that show what I mean -- these are all taken on the regular lighting macro setting.

 

Blue-Green Rics -- this is how they looked when I bought them and they never looked this good under the cfls -- however, they don't look quite this crisp to the naked eye, so the LEDs are having an impact on the photo!

 

Orange Rics -- now, the green eye really pops

 

Orange Ric with stuff -- what the hell is this stuff? Never seen it before, don't know if it's reaction to light, it looks like little legs, and the picture came out amazingly well -- I used a 10x mag glass, too. Is that a molt of something? If so, what???

Edited October 8, 2012 by msscha

[nwin]

Hmm, maybe a molt from your sexy shrimp?

 

As for the camera, that's good to know! Thank you! I've been using my iphone for all my pics. I do have the Panasonic Lumix that can go underwater though...not the newest one, I think it's about 2 years old now...I'll have to try and snap a shot or two and see how it comes out!

 

Also, besides the lighting, I was looking over your tank and it doesn't look like you have a powerhead in there at all. Is that correct? Just curious more than anything...have you upgraded the stock sump in the back? My ricordea seem to hate me because I have a koralia 240 in the display and an upgraded sump pump so there's not really a place in my tank with low flow. One of the ricordeas went MIA a week ago and hasn't turned up since! Have you had any problems with algae forming in low flow areas in your tank? Just curious more than anything-it looks great!