Diver's Paradise - The Original

[metrokat]

Etsy is my go-to for unique things like this! Check it out

 

http://www.etsy.com/search/handmade?q=bumb...&ship_to=US

 

Thanks!!!

[Felicia]

I really don't understand why I have so much black cyano algae right now. Last night I peeled huge sheets of it off the rocks and threw it away...nasty. My phosphates are reading zero and all my other parameters are in line. I cut my light cycle back to 9 hours last week, so hopefully that will start helping. My snails shipped from Reef Cleaners today so hopefully beefing up my CUC will start to get this under control. Blah...

 

Anyways, I'll try to clean up the tank tonight and get some decent shots of the new coral. I might even add a new FTS if I can get things looking decent...

[gena]

I really don't understand why I have so much black cyano algae right now. Last night I peeled huge sheets of it off the rocks and threw it away...nasty. My phosphates are reading zero and all my other parameters are in line. I cut my light cycle back to 9 hours last week, so hopefully that will start helping. My snails shipped from Reef Cleaners today so hopefully beefing up my CUC will start to get this under control. Blah...

 

Anyways, I'll try to clean up the tank tonight and get some decent shots of the new coral. I might even add a new FTS if I can get things looking decent...

I bet the duncan had something to do with it. Probably the nutrients from it's death. I'm no expert on cyano though. That stuff scares me

I've had it in the past and don't ever want to deal with it again...I know that's probably wishful thinking.

[Felicia]

I bet the duncan had something to do with it. Probably the nutrients from it's death. I'm no expert on cyano though. That stuff scares me

I've had it in the past and don't ever want to deal with it again...I know that's probably wishful thinking.

 

That's true. I had a cyano problem before that happened, but after the duncan died it was ridiculous! Its creepy stuff and the fact that I could peel sheets of black goo out of the tank and throw it away is just nasty. I'm really hoping my new CUC takes care of it. Otherwise I guess I'll have to switch to RO water even though my phosphates are still 0 with tap water.

 

So I moved everything around in the tank last night to make space for the new additions and one of the corals got really pissed and shot out its stringy tentacles all over the tank, which then set off all the other corals. Within a few minutes the tank looked like it had spider webs all over it it. What a mess. Luckily they all calmed down within a few hours and everything seems fine, but I didn't get to take new photos as a result I'll try to get some new shots tonight!

[Flexin5]

that picture with the carpet of purple urchins looks crazy.

[gena]

woohoo...new photos, maybe I'm glad things calmed down after the redecorating!

[Felicia]

that picture with the carpet of purple urchins looks crazy.

 

It was pretty crazy. They were just completely covering all the rocks and the surge was pushing us around pretty good, so we had to be careful not to get slammed into them.

 

woohoo...new photos, maybe I'm glad things calmed down after the redecorating!

 

Yeah I'm really going to try to get some new photos tonight because my current FTS looks quite a bit different than how the tank looks now. I thought I got rearrange last night and then get photos pretty shortly afterwards, but I wasn't expecting all the coral to get that mad.

[gena]

we had to be careful not to get slammed into them.

Been there...done that. ouch!

 

On my honeymoon, no less. I have pictures as proof too

[Felicia]

Been there...done that. ouch!

 

On my honeymoon, no less. I have pictures as proof too

 

If you say you have pictures, I think you need to post them

[gena]

If you say you have pictures, I think you need to post them

I'll have to go look They're somewhere around here

[surgicalsense]

I've decided to enter Phil Your Aquarium's contest for a free mystery frag pack. If you guys want to check out my entry its here:

http://www.facebook.com/WYSIWYG.KUSHCORALS...184343041637133

 

Mine is the one captioned "Red open brain with teal center."

You just have to like Phil Your Aquarium on Facebook and then you can vote in the contest once every day. If you like my "kush" coral please vote for me and help me win!

 

Voted!

[Flexin5]

It was pretty crazy. They were just completely covering all the rocks and the surge was pushing us around pretty good, so we had to be careful not to get slammed into them.

 

 

I guess they would hurt pretty good huh? lol i've been itching to go diving in the caribbean again. went once in barbados, saw a sea turtle and i've been wanting to go alot more...

 

do you grab anything when you go diving and toss it in the tank?

[Felicia]

I got sooo swamped in my lab and wasn't really keeping up with this for the last few days. Man I feel behind now, haha.

 

I'll have to go look They're somewhere around here

Let me know if you find them!

 

Voted!

Thanks!

 

I guess they would hurt pretty good huh? lol i've been itching to go diving in the caribbean again. went once in barbados, saw a sea turtle and i've been wanting to go alot more...

 

do you grab anything when you go diving and toss it in the tank?

I actually don't know if the spines would puncture all the way through a 7mm wetsuit, but I wouldn't want to test that. I actually haven't been diving in the Caribbean although I've been snorkeling a few times. I've only been certified to dive for just under 2 years now, so my only diving has been in Florida and California. Hopefully I'll get chances to go dive in some more exotic places. You should definitely dive more if you get the chance!

 

All the diving in California is cold water diving, so I can't put anything from diving in my tank. I'd need to have a cold water tank for that and running a chiller is beyond my budget/experience level right now.

[gena]

I noticed you haven't been around lately! I hope things calm down for you

 

I looked quickly for the photos, but didn't find them. I still have more albums to go through though.

[Felicia]

Ideas for my Secret Santa

1) A clip on or submersible light for my AC70 fuge.

2) Reef Nutrition Phytofeast, Oysterfeast, or Artipods, or Tiggerpods

3) Instant Ocean Reef Crystals

4) A good pellet fish food like Ocean Nutrition Formula 1 or 2

5) Chemipure Elite

6) An automatic feeder

 

 

I noticed you haven't been around lately! I hope things calm down for you

 

I looked quickly for the photos, but didn't find them. I still have more albums to go through though.

 

The semester is about to end at school so things always get a bit hectic. I'll get all caught up this weekend though Hopefully I'll finally get up new photos and the new FTS I've been promising. I need to do a water change first because I'm behind and the tank needs some TLC.

 

Don't worry too much about finding them. I just love seeing other people's scuba or snorkeling photos!

[gena]

The semester is about to end at school so things always get a bit hectic. I'll get all caught up this weekend though Hopefully I'll finally get up new photos and the new FTS I've been promising. I need to do a water change first because I'm behind and the tank needs some TLC.

 

Don't worry too much about finding them. I just love seeing other people's scuba or snorkeling photos!

It's basically just a leg (thigh) with two red circles on it. And it hurt like heck!!!!!!!! There were probably 1000 of the long spine black urchins right at the shore. A wave knocked me right into them. It basically feels like a wasp sting.

[Felicia]

It's basically just a leg (thigh) with two red circles on it. And it hurt like heck!!!!!!!! There were probably 1000 of the long spine black urchins right at the shore. A wave knocked me right into them. It basically feels like a wasp sting.

 

Ow! That definitely does not sound pleasant! Luckily I'm always in a wetsuit and gloves when I'm around them so I'd have to get slammed into them pretty hard for it to hurt.

[Felicia]

Finally! New photos, videos, and updates!

 

First off, new FTS 12/3/11

If you look at the bottom left side of the center rock, the YWG and his pistol shrimp buddy made an appearance!

 

And under actinics

 

Videos!

All of my fish made an appearance for this one. Look for the firefish over on the right side of the tank, the mandarin in the back just to the right of the xenia, and the YWG and pistol shrimp at the bottom left of the middle rock. Also, if you watch all the way to the end, there is an appearance by my diva cat who decided I should be filming her instead of the aquarium. She also provided the soundtrack for the video

 

Video of the YWG and pistol shrimp during feeding time!

 

New Corals!

Aussie Warpaint Scoly

 

Rainbow Acan

 

Valentine's Day Massacre Palys

 

Lavender Lace Duncan

 

Even more photos!

Finally a picture of the YWG and candy stripe pistol pair!

 

 

 

Finally a picture of the mandarin. I think he's looking a bit skinny Its so hard to tell if he's eating since he's so skittish.

 

 

 

Lily had to check out the tank.

 

"Why are you taking pictures of the fish when you could be taking pictures of me? I'm much cuter!" - Lily

 

And some updates...

ID please?

Got this as a freebie during my last trip to the LFS, but I don't know what it is. It looks kind of like a plate and has lots of little polyps that make it look fuzzy.

 

Beefed up my CUC!

My order from Reefcleaners.org arrived and seems to be doing an awesome job cleaning up my algae problems. Of course I got about 10 times as many snails as I ordered and a bonus hermit crab I also got more pods for the mandarin with my order.

 

Now the bad news...

Every single coral I've bought from Philyouraquarium has melted away. I lost the magician palys and the duncan right away, but now I've lost the rainbow yuma and the acan frag is almost completely dead. Everything else in my tank is perfectly healthy, so its got to be something with corals from this website. I'm never ordering from them again and want to give everyone else a heads up. What a waste of money! Ugh!

 

The other day, the yuma all of a sudden looked like this...

 

And now there's nothing left I'm upset because it would have looked awesome once it got a bit bigger.

 

The current sad state of the acans...

[dfcn07]

I love the quality of the pictures you took... They're so clear! Your tank looks great. I love how you spread out your corals evenly throughout your tank!

[Spirofucci]

Great pics and vids! Love the kitty sound effects! I kept expecting Gary the snail from Sponge Bob to appear!

[basser1]

Sorry to hear about your corals.

 

Palys and zoas can be temperamental. But duncans are usually hardier. What are your tanks parameters? I ask because one way to know how my tank is doing is how my corals are looking. If I see something that doesn't look right, I immediately start testing and take the needed steps to correct whatever problem(s) there might be.

 

Beautiful tank btw.

[gena]

Darling..if you think your tank doesn't look full..you are crazy!!!!! It looks incredible!!!!!!

 

I'm going to guess tongue coral on your mystery LPS.

 

I can't watch the videos yet because my son is downloadig something and my connection is soooo slow right now. Will watch those asap!!!!!

 

Big bummer on the PYA corals. Makes me nervous about my brain coral. So far it is doing great though.

[Felicia]

I love the quality of the pictures you took... They're so clear! Your tank looks great. I love how you spread out your corals evenly throughout your tank!

 

Thank you! I just use my little point and shoot so I have to take a lot of photos and really play with the settings to get photos I'm happy with. I think I took 300+ photos last night to get the ones I posted. I just rearranged everything again and I think I'm pretty happy with where the corals are now. I'm glad you like it too!

 

 

Great pics and vids! Love the kitty sound effects! I kept expecting Gary the snail from Sponge Bob to appear!

 

Thanks! Lily (the cat) is so needy. She really doesn't like me looking at the aquarium and she gets really jealous. She was sitting next to me just whining trying to get attention, which is what you hear in the video, haha. (If you're concerned, trust me, she's spoiled rotten and gets plenty of attention.) I would normally put music with the videos, but I decided to leave the meowing since it was just too entertaining. I think now I need to name one of my snails Gary and claim it was him meowing!

 

 

Sorry to hear about your corals.

 

Palys and zoas can be temperamental. But duncans are usually hardier. What are your tanks parameters? I ask because one way to know how my tank is doing is how my corals are looking. If I see something that doesn't look right, I immediately start testing and take the needed steps to correct whatever problem(s) there might be.

 

Beautiful tank btw.

 

Yeah, I'm really frustrated with the corals and don't know what's going on. The thing is I did test my parameters every time one of them started looking bad and all the parameters (pH, salinity, temperature, amm, nitrates, nitrites, alkalinity, phosphates, and calcium) have been perfect. I'm new to saltwater, so of course at first I assumed I was doing something wrong, but everything is within the acceptable ranged and all of my other corals look happy and are growing and thriving. Its only the coral from PYA, so there must be some sort of issue there. I really wish I could have figured out something to keep the corals from dying, but since everything looked great I didn't have any ideas of what I could do. If you have any suggestions, maybe I can still save the acan.

 

Darling..if you think your tank doesn't look full..you are crazy!!!!! It looks incredible!!!!!!

 

I'm going to guess tongue coral on your mystery LPS.

 

I can't watch the videos yet because my son is downloadig something and my connection is soooo slow right now. Will watch those asap!!!!!

 

Big bummer on the PYA corals. Makes me nervous about my brain coral. So far it is doing great though.

Thanks! Its is beginning to look full finally isn't it? Of course I just have to be over critical because I'm a perfectionist, so I'm always going to see the flaws. I just want some of the tiny frags that you can tell are just glued onto the rock to grow out and just look more natural. It is definitely very full though...as evidenced by what I woke up to this morning...

Sorry for the bad picture, the lights in the tank aren't on for the day yet and light from the window was reflecting off the glass. That's the lobo trying to eat my new tongue coral (thanks for the ID!). I moved the tongue coral a couple more inches away and it seems to be no worse for wear.

 

Yeah, I really can't figure out why I have such crappy luck with corals from PYA. I wouldn't worry too much about your brain since joeyhatch ordered a ton of stuff from them and it all seems to be doing great. Everything I bought besides the magicians (which obviously were finicky) was brand new on the website, so maybe they had just been fragged and then the stress of shipping just made it so they never recovered...although, I think the duncan had been posted for a while too, so unless they were fragging it to order...I really don't know. What annoying is I have three very healthy, happy acans right next to the one from PYA that is wasting away. I have brand new duncans and magicians that are doing great in my tank. And I have three other ricordeas that have been thriving for months, but the rainbow yuma just disintegrated. I really don't get it...blah!

 

Oh well, I'm really happy with the corals I have now, so its ok

[basser1]

Just for kicks..... What are your parameters? Don't take what I'm saying the wrong way, but what you think is fine, may be different, just trying to help. For example, the pics of the scoly and the rainbow acan looks like they are stressed. They should be plump and full like the brain coral in the lower left, yours look a little shriveled.

 

BTW, did you contact PYA? What was their response?

 

The id on your freebie coral your asking about from your LFS looks like a frogspawn.

 

Again, just trying to help.

[Felicia]

Just for kicks..... What are your parameters? Don't take what I'm saying the wrong way, but what you think is fine, may be different, just trying to help. For example, the pics of the scoly and the rainbow acan looks like they are stressed. They should be plump and full like the brain coral in the lower left, yours look a little shriveled.

 

BTW, did you contact PYA? What was their response?

 

The id on your freebie coral your asking about from your LFS looks like a frogspawn.

 

Again, just trying to help.

 

As of two days ago everything was in line, but I haven't tested yet today. Todays my water change day, so when I do that later I'll test parameters right before and after and post those. I'm pretty sure I know why the scoly and acan look mad. They're new and had been just sitting wherever I had space in the sand to acclimate. Right before the picture I moved them to their new spots, so they were a bit ticked. I'll post parameters though as soon as I have some today.

 

I did contact PYA when I lost the first magicians and their policy is to replace it or give you something of equal value with your next purchase. I made another purchase and got the acans as the replacement for the magicians that never opened and then wasted away. I'm not even going to bother this time because I don't want more coral from them and I'd just have to pay more shipping to get coral that will probably die on me again. Not worth wasting more money, I'll just cut my losses.

 

Thanks for the help!