The Routemaster - slow build ...

[castiel]

Mmmmm? maybe you won't get one! Didn't you also throw some live sand in there from the other tank???

Hrm no I didn't, just new sand. Might try that tomorrow too! I would rather cause something of a cycle just for piece of mind before I transfer that rock with a bunch of corals on it.

 

I did place a sacrificial paly in there earlier ... it's all alone on a piece of coralline covered rock, so I figured I would see how it goes.

[Spirofucci]

Hrm no I didn't, just new sand. Might try that tomorrow too! I would rather cause something of a cycle just for piece of mind before I transfer that rock with a bunch of corals on it.

 

I did place a sacrificial paly in there earlier ... it's all alone on a piece of coralline covered rock, so I figured I would see how it goes.

 

I hear ya on the piece of mind. I'd definately throw in some sand from your other tank. IMO, there is just as much or more going on biologically in the sand bed than on the best live rock.

[castiel]

Everything is still a little pissed off from the move ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Spirofucci]

Oh man! NICE!!! Gonna look great!!

 

Is that an elegance??? ........very cool.

[castiel]

Thanks!

 

Which, the last but one pic? No that's a frogspawn.

 

Spotted two cucumbers this morning .. one little turd barely half an inch long, the other I could only see its feeders sticking out of the zoa rock.

 

I'm going to have to tackle that zoa rock with tweezers I think ... there's as ####load of algae poking out from inbetween the zoas.

 

Pistol shrimp seems to be making himself at home, every rock in there was 'excavated' overnight, little piles of sand around each haha. Can't wait to get him a goby partner ... just need to see if I can get one for less than $150 (what the LFS is charging for a YWG)

[jgpico]

$150 for a ywg!!!!????? Omg that's insane

[castiel]

Indeed ... shrimp gobies are hard to come by for some reason (a YWG and yellow pistol pair goes for $250!).

 

Considering whether those two pointy rocks would look better facing each other and touching at the top - thoughts?

[castiel]

 

 

 

 

 

This was in the bargain bin at the LFS along with a few nice morphs and a tiny zoa frag ... all for $17. So although I wouldn't normally have bought this so soon, I figure I'll give it a shot.

[chippwalters]

You need to take a full pic of the front of the tank if you want comments on the scape. It's hard to make out exactly what's happening from the current angles.

[castiel]

haha fair point I guess. I'll take both sides and the end square to show at some point.

[Spirofucci]

Your scape did suck, but looks great now! I do agree with Chip, we need more pics!!!

[castiel]

Did a little shopping today ..

 

 

Small frag of green Monti ($10)

 

Small frag of blood red chalice ($10)

 

A few baby morphs ... one blue, two red ($10) and a green mouthed persian carpet ($20)

 

A tiny torch that at the store looked quite plain, but under my lights appears to have gold stems! ($5)

 

Two frags of acan ($15+$20)

 

And another type of acan ($25)

 

Overall pretty happy with the purchases and prices paid! Also spent $60 on a hammer for the wife's tank ... though it is gorgeous (pics of that to come)

[Spirofucci]

Nice score on those coralz!!!

[Jessy-Ray]

Awesome, scape is nice. Looks like you got some bargains!; I love tiny torches for some reason

[castiel]

Thanks. The torch under the Radion is insane, almost glows gold! Can't believe I got it for $5 ... I am tempted to go back and get the full size version they had for $40.

[castiel]

Picture whoring ... I did some tone adjustments quickly to try and capture real colours, but some might be overdone or done badly

 

One side

End

Other side

Nice blue morph from the bargain bin haul

Also from the bargain bin

Green chalice and palys

Love this zoa rock full of fire and ice plus a couple of others

Piece of red chalice and green monti

Froggie

Stuck a few other types of zoa on the other side, hope to have them take over this rock too to create a zoa arch

My current favourite coral ... maybe all time favourite, and $5!

One side of the centre arch starting to take shape

 

While I was fragging I collected a few of each zoa, a couple of pieces of chalice, a hunk of acan that fell off, and front row second from the left is I think a piece of orange monti that was on the bottom of the zoa rock. Oh and this is how many frags you can fit on a small blackrock reef rack

 

Finally maybe the one decent shot I got ... loving acans at the moment, need more, need lots more

Closeups

[Spirofucci]

Whoa, nice clean crisp pics! I like that you can see both side of the tank! It's like having two tanks!

 

Everthing looks nice and healthy.

[Jessy-Ray]

I see why you love the frogspawn, sickest colour

[castiel]

Whoa, nice clean crisp pics! I like that you can see both side of the tank! It's like having two tanks!

 

Everthing looks nice and healthy.

Yeah it's going well - a bit of algae on the sand still but nothing major. I took tweezers to the zoa rock and pulled off a ####load of racemosa that was intertwined plus a piece of bubble algae, so hopefully got it all.

 

Jess - assume you mean the torch (gold) - the frogspawn is nice but not wow like that is.

[castiel]

Lost that beautiful torch coral to bjd ... guess I damaged it when I fragged the dead head off.

 

[Jessy-Ray]

Yeah it's going well - a bit of algae on the sand still but nothing major. I took tweezers to the zoa rock and pulled off a ####load of racemosa that was intertwined plus a piece of bubble algae, so hopefully got it all.

 

Jess - assume you mean the torch (gold) - the frogspawn is nice but not wow like that is.

Yes you are correct haha, spewin bout the loss though , go get the big one mate.

[castiel]

Three fish just purchased were (the pics in bags are mine,the others are not!)

 

Yellow coral goby - Gobiodon Okinawae

 

Gold assessor basslet - Assessor Flavissimus

 

Linear/Klauswitz/Lined blenny - Escenius Lineatus

 

 

The blenny has already made itself at home, the clown goby is cowering in the corner at the moment ...

 

The assessor initially dived for the cave the pistol shrimp lives in which led to a fair bit of clicking ... then swam around the tank a bit, then disappeared, I assume back into the rockwork somewhere ... I heard they are very shy to begin with and hide a lot (read a few reports of them being MIA for weeks to begin with!).

 

Hope they all get on okay.

[InvaderJim]

Love this tank. Everything looks so neat and clean. You've got quite an assortment of colors going on too.

[castiel]

Thanks =0)

 

Blenny found the ideal perched as I hoped:

 

And the assessor is out this morning after a night of hiding under a rock (could see part of his tail sticking out). He has a mark on his side where I assume the pistol showed him who is boss, but looks okay thankfully.

[castiel]

Went to the LFS's monthly BBQ last night (they time new stock to arrive so you can often grab the good pieces).

 

Anyway, saw a small gold stem torch, almost identical to the last, hanging out unpriced. So I nonchalantly gestured to it and said "that little torch, I assume $30 like the other pieces that size". So not quite $5 but still a bargain, I reckon if they had spotted the gold stem they would have upped the price

 

Also got an amazingly vibrant acan frag - was tempted by a full colony but it was $100, so I got a 2" piece instead.

 

And finally the biggest polyp + brightest GSP I ever saw!

 

I'll get some pics this weekend.

 

Assessor has finally grown some balls and is out most of the time - still hides if I approach the tank suddenly or quite often when I feed which is annoying, but getting better.