My Atlantis - Wild & Woolly May 2015 Pictures!

[eitallent]

Gorgeous pics, Eitallent! And nice pecs, Skipper !

 

TY! I am loving these macro shots. Skipper flexes every time he sees the camera!

 

Just saw yer pics! Love the fishy pics. The sixline pic, Marty, must have taken hours to get!

 

Marty is really difficult to capture you are right about that. I was still playing with the camera settings to get the exposure right so that picture is a bit dark. When I finally got the settings like I wanted, he never posed again.

 

Did you get a new camera/lens or something????? Those pictures are amazing!!!!

 

Yes! I got a new-to-me camera for my birthday. It is a used T4i. I have been doing online tutorials and taking horrible pics! Out of 75 pictures I took on Saturday I kept five!!

 

Thanks for the complements on the pics. I have been working hard on those.

 

Everything looks great! I'm kinda jealous because I can't grow zoas to save my life. Maybe in this ten gallon....

 

I think it depends on the Zoas. Some took off for me. Others just slowly disappear. IDK why? I hope you give it a try with your new ten gallon. They are so colorful.

 

Great pecs!... er... pics! Purdy lookin zoas and your gorg looks beautiful!

 

Thanks! That gorg is the Arnold Schwarzenegger of all gorgs. The others only open for a little while every day. This guy stay open and fluffy all day every day. It only closes when eating.

[eitallent]

I found a piece of the Xenia floating free yesterday. I glued it to a small rock and placed it up closer to the lights. The mother colony does not look happy. The tentacles have become elongated and skinny. So we will see if the piece the mother released does well up closer to the light. The last time I placed the Xenia closer to the light it bleached a bit.

 

I could not get a good shot of the Xenia but here are some pictures of the other softies that are doing well.

 

 

 

 

 

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[eitallent]

A Saturday snapshot. You can see the large feather duster through the arch.

 

[gena]

Beautiful shot!!!!

 

I ended up pitching the candy red zoas yesterday. They looked terrible, brown and ugly. I didn't see ANY red on mine. Just a blah center with a bright yellow/green skirt. Are yours red? I think they sent the wrong one and ugly at that LOL. It was looking diseased and didn't want that spreading to any nearby zoas!

[eitallent]

Beautiful shot!!!!

 

I ended up pitching the candy red zoas yesterday. They looked terrible, brown and ugly. I didn't see ANY red on mine. Just a blah center with a bright yellow/green skirt. Are yours red? I think they sent the wrong one and ugly at that LOL. It was looking diseased and didn't want that spreading to any nearby zoas!

 

That is awful. You should write to them about that. They are always asking for feedback. I am sure that is something the owner, Christina, would like to know. I don't blame you for tossing them.

 

What I got as candy apple reds are red. I will try to get a picture of them today and will post it here.

[albertthiel]

Beautiful shot!!!!

 

I ended up pitching the candy red zoas yesterday. They looked terrible, brown and ugly. I didn't see ANY red on mine. Just a blah center with a bright yellow/green skirt. Are yours red? I think they sent the wrong one and ugly at that LOL. It was looking diseased and didn't want that spreading to any nearby zoas!

 

Wow ... sorry to read that ... and I would have called them too to get a refund ... but ... it may be too late now ... not sure

 

I found a piece of the Xenia floating free yesterday. I glued it to a small rock and placed it up closer to the lights. The mother colony does not look happy. The tentacles have become elongated and skinny. So we will see if the piece the mother released does well up closer to the light. The last time I placed the Xenia closer to the light it bleached a bit.

 

I could not get a good shot of the Xenia but here are some pictures of the other softies that are doing well.

 

Looking purdy for sure ... Nice !

[eitallent]

Here are the Zoas they sent I am assuming as candy apple reds:

 

Wow ... sorry to read that ... and I would have called them too to get a refund ... but ... it may be too late now ... not sure

 

Looking purdy for sure ... Nice !

 

 

Thank you, Albert!

[Felicia]

I always forget you have this other thread! It has now been "followed"! Those were some amazing shots of your fish. They definitely seem to be posing and have such personality!

[eitallent]

Thank you, Felicia. I am really have a great time with my new-to-me camera.

Those fish are really great. Even Marty Feldman the wrasse is well behaved. He only jumped into the back chambers once!

 

I had to separate my two BNG's b/c they did not like eachother at all! I have one in the fuge with the fostered clowns and a green chromis.

 

You can see them in this video of my DIY fuge (Gena calls it my Disco fuge). I remembered to turn off the air toward the end so you can see the fish then. I am always amazed at how clear the water is when you are not looking at it through glass.

 

[Felicia]

Thank you, Felicia. I am really have a great time with my new-to-me camera.

Those fish are really great. Even Marty Feldman the wrasse is well behaved. He only jumped into the back chambers once!

 

I had to separate my two BNG's b/c they did not like eachother at all! I have one in the fuge with the fostered clowns and a green chromis.

 

You can see them in this video of my DIY fuge (Gena calls it my Disco fuge). I remembered to turn off the air toward the end so you can see the fish then. I am always amazed at how clear the water is when you are not looking at it through glass.

 

Well you're getting some awesome photos with that camera! I really enjoyed all the macro shots.

 

Sorry to hear you had to separate the BNG's. Looks like they're doing well in their separate tanks though. Luckily mine are still getting along fine. I hope that doesn't change though.

 

I really like the disco fuge! Thanks for sharing the video of it. You have great fish in all your tanks

[gena]

 

That is awful. You should write to them about that. They are always asking for feedback. I am sure that is something the owner, Christina, would like to know. I don't blame you for tossing them.

 

What I got as candy apple reds are red. I will try to get a picture of them today and will post it here.

Yeah..mine were not red at all! And they had bright yellow/green skirts. Looked totally different from yours!!!! I'll have to drop them an email about it. Thanks for the suggestion and for posting the picture!!!!

[metrokat]

Here are the Zoas they sent I am assuming as candy apple reds:

These look like kedd reds. CARs have green in them. These grow fast for me, I like them a lot.

[eitallent]

These look like kedd reds. CARs have green in them. These grow fast for me, I like them a lot.

 

Thanks for ID'ing those. They look healthy so far. I am glad to hear that they are fast growers for you. I hope I have the same experience.

[eitallent]

I have had an a diatom bloom on the sand bed and increased growth of slime on the glass of the tank. The sand is white in the morning and becomes more brown as the day goes on. I am assuming diatoms b/c of the color and location. Am I correct?

 

So I have stepped up my maintenance regime. I have increased from 4 to 8 gallon WC weekly and I have added Polyfil floss to the filter chamber and removing it daily. When I remove the dirty Polyfil I replace it with fresh. I see lots of discoloration in the floss and little bits of dark brown matter.

 

I did a water change on Saturday. Here are my parameters today.

 

SG 1.024 :: pH 7.86 :: Temp 76.5 :: Ca 460 (RSP) :: Mg 1560 (RSP):: dKH 9.5 (RSP)

PO4 not det. (API) :: NH3/NH4 not det.(API) :: NO3= 5 (API)

 

I have also noticed that my Nassarius snails have all disappeared. This is strange because the Nerites have all survived and still doing their thing. Do you think the Nassarius just did not get enough to eat? It is doubtful to me that this is the case considering how much I feed my fat little fish.

 

The softies have all been growing well and showing excellent polyp extension. The Xenia is still looking peaked but not worse than the past few weeks.

 

That is all I have to report. If anyone has any ideas on the diatom bloom, high nitrates, or the mystery of the Nassarius snails I would love to hear.

 

Thank you all for reading.

[metrokat]

If you can get your water tested for Phosphates and Nitrates by the LFS then use the option. API kits are not reliable, salifert is a better product. Water changes to get your nitrates down is a good idea. Also siphon the sand bed, a little at a time with each water change.

Adding Dr Tims and/or Microbacter7 can help with the high nutrients.

I may have missed it but is your source water RO/DI? I would check TDS on that too.

[markalot]

I've always ASSumed that the brown showing up after lights on, get's worse till a couple of hours before lights off, then seems to fade, was cyano. Does your fade at all late in the day?

[eitallent]

If you can get your water tested for Phosphates and Nitrates by the LFS then use the option. API kits are not reliable, salifert is a better product. Water changes to get your nitrates down is a good idea. Also siphon the sand bed, a little at a time with each water change.

Adding Dr Tims and/or Microbacter7 can help with the high nutrients.

 

I may have missed it but is your source water RO/DI? I would check TDS on that too.

Hi, Kat.

Yes my source water is RODI and I tested it just alast week to make sure it is clean. TDS is zero.

 

My LFS uses API test kits and another bigger LFS near me uses test strips! I will be upgrading my API test kits for sure.

Will do on the sand bed cleaning.

 

I guess it is time to recharge the bacteria. On a hunch, I just so happened to have ordered some DrTims Nitrifying bacteria booster from DrsF&S last week. I am going to give that a shot. Hoping it will come in the next few days.

 

Thanks for the input. I appreciate it.

 

I've always ASSumed that the brown showing up after lights on, get's worse till a couple of hours before lights off, then seems to fade, was cyano. Does your fade at all late in the day?

 

Hello, Mark.

Ha ha. You know what they say about ASSuming!

 

The sand is clean in the AM and progressively gets golden brown through out the day. It is still brown when at night when the lights go down. It may very well be cyano, but I thought cyano was more red. No?

[eitallent]

On further reading it seems lighting has something to do with Cyano and nuisance algae growth. Hmm...

 

Here is my lighting situation:

 

>1 white 12K (8 leds)/magenta (16) - 6w

>1 403nm ultraviolet (24) - 6w

>1 445nm Royal Blue (24) - 6w

>1 white 12K (8)/ 445nm R. Blue (4) - 16w

 

Here is what I read regarding cyano and light spectrum:

 

 

... improper light spectrum can also contribute to cyanobacteria and nuisance algae growth.

... Avoiding heavy warm colors, like red and yellow, may help some.

 

If any of you LED peeps can help me out I would appreciate it. Do I have a light spectrum that is good for coral growth?

 

I can deal with the nuisance algae as long as corals grow.

 

Thanks!

[Spirofucci]

I'm try to start a new nano reef theme since everyone seems to have it all of a sudden.................................Cyano is beautiful........

[metrokat]

I changed out my GFO just this morning.

[jedimasterben]

If any of you LED peeps can help me out I would appreciate it. Do I have a light spectrum that is good for coral growth?

Yes, and don't worry about algae. Algae grows using any and all spectra from 400-700nm. Red light won't magically cause algae, that's been a myth for a very, very long time now.

[gena]

I'm try to start a new nano reef theme since everyone seems to have it all of a sudden.................................Cyano is beautiful........

I don't have cyano! (knock on wood LOL)

 

It does sound like cyano if it is worse at the end of the day. I never did contact reefs2go today..it's on my to-do list!

[FlCandy]

Tank Looks awesome! Those look kind of like my eagle eye zoas. All the Kedds Reds I have seen look like this

 

And my Eagle Eyes/whamin Watermelons (they have all different names) look like those, their the blue centers, red then yellow skirts. Watermelons have green skirts.

 

Love the corals and the tanks are coming along. Exciting to see my macro growing well too!

[eitallent]

Tank Looks awesome! Those look kind of like my eagle eye zoas. All the Kedds Reds I have seen look like this

 

And my Eagle Eyes/whamin Watermelons (they have all different names) look like those, their the blue centers, red then yellow skirts. Watermelons have green skirts.

 

Love the corals and the tanks are coming along. Exciting to see my macro growing well too!

 

Thanks for the clarification Randi. It seems R2G do not know their Zoas!

 

Since I do not have those yet I do not care what they are. However, if I already had those and I wanted a different morph I would really be hopping mad!

 

BTW all your Zoas look beeeeautiful!

[gena]

Wow...look at that zoa garden