Surfer D's 5.5g 'I'm topless!'

[FlowerMama]

Figured I'd snap a quick FTS with the new lights.

Hard to get the actual color. It's fairly blue, I'd say similar to a 15000k halide. Everything is looking pretty good so far, staying clean and stable.

 

Shawn's place is coming along really well, looking forward to a lot of the changes she's going to be making. A lot of her corals are propagated from the same mother colonies so she doesn't get a lot of different stuff in. HOWEVER she said she's going to start getting corals and fish both from a different source so I think we will get better quality, better selection, and hopefully more reasonable prices. Sounds like she is also going to be using more LEDs in the shop too so colors and everything will be a bit more accurate. I'm hoping she gets some more fish too for when I upgrade in tank size after the move...

Wow, really hard to even tell what's in the tank with the reflection, I love having my tank right next to my computer by the window but it makes getting pictures really hard unless it's up close shots of corals. Guess I just need to take them at night once it gets dark out, I just don't want to turn my lights back on just to get pictures.

 

I'm going to go over to Shawn's right now to just look around before I do some grocery shopping- I hadn't been in there in over a month. More leds would certainly make everything pop for her.

[lnglostsurfer]

Just a heads up, she gets shipments in on Tuesdays and a lot of the good stuff is gone by the weekend. For future reference. Let me know if there's any other developments over there!

[FlowerMama]

Just a heads up, she gets shipments in on Tuesdays and a lot of the good stuff is gone by the weekend. For future reference. Let me know if there's any other developments over there!

Kinda stupid to get stuff on Tues because most people due to her hours wouldn't be able to get over UNTIL the weekend. Will do. It bothered me once she had an awesome fluorescent green mushroom the size of a dime, I asked abt it and she said it wasn't for sale. Was keeping it for herself. She could have said I'll call my supplier to get some in so I was thinking to myself, do you really want to sell anything? make some money? Cuz that wasn't a way to do it. Mushrooms are a basic coral in this hobby. Anyway, heading out. Just getting darker outside now. no wonder I slept in.....unitl 11:30!!!!

[lnglostsurfer]

Whew....came back from a bike ride and left the windows open. Didn't seem too warm inside the house but my tank jumped up to 83 degrees. Normally sits right around 77-78. Unplugged the heater and opened up the hood to start cooling it off. at 81.2 now, hopefully the heater hasn't gone bad on me. Most of the corals have shrank up a bit except for the GSP, I don't think that stuff ever gets bothered by anything.

[lnglostsurfer]

Hmm....Starting to think the heater is shot. Oh well, I have a backup thankfully. Hopefully we can keep this under control. I'm glad I spotted it at 83 degrees and not something much more drastic.

Yay for underpowered heaters!!

Also....finally got a picture that kind of shows the colors.

http://s1246.photobucket.com/user/lnglostsurfer/media/IMG_20130922_165402_115.jpg.html'>

[FlowerMama]

Your blasto does look really nice. And I see what you mean about your gsp, it's a little shorter, just likes light and flow. What's the coral down below? frogspawn?

[lnglostsurfer]

It's actually a bi-color hammer that I thought had pretty much died off when I had issues with my other tank. After a peroxide dip it slowly started coming back and it was only 1 head to begin with and has almost split into two now so things are looking good for it. Proof that peroxide is an important treatment to use against algae.

[FlowerMama]

no doubt, good to know.

[FlowerMama]

how soon before you get your monti?

[lnglostsurfer]

Tomorrow when the mail comes! Pretty excited for it, I will have to get the water changed and everything (even though it's probably fine).

[FlowerMama]

They like it clean. My red one is getting redder after my water change. Anymore I just do 2 gallons so I guess in this tank it's more like I do a 1/3 of it each time then but instead of once every 7 days or more like once every 9 now for water changes. Maybe one day if my red one grows out and yours does, we can just trade a piece. Was yours green?

[lnglostsurfer]

Green monti cap is here! Looks like it had a hard trip but I think it should make it. 2 day shipping for an SPS is tough. I'll get pictures up when I get it in my tank. Trying to figure out how to mount it since it's on a frag plug now. Not sure if I want to just cut the bottom of the frag plug off or try to take the whole coral off the frag, it takes up pretty much the whole disk.

Now with the SPS I'm contemplating getting an extra circulation pump. Just not sure exactly where to mount it since the HOB filter takes up the entire back of the tank...Probably go with the koralia nano 240...unless anyone else has extra suggestions? I'm afraid of having too much flow since I want to have a lot of LPS as well as SPS. Kind of my first attempt at SPS in the 5 or 6 years I've kept reefs...I could use some tips

[lnglostsurfer]

http://s1246.photobucket.com/user/lnglostsurfer/media/IMG_20130925_140347_271.jpg.html'>

 

The flesh is a little dull in color but I think it will color back up. Good size frag too, probably an inch and a half long by an inch wide. Haven't mounted it yet, seeing how it does in that spot and then I will probably cut the post of the plug off and glue it to the rock to let it start growing out. Really excited! I hope it hangs in there

[FlowerMama]

 

The flesh is a little dull in color but I think it will color back up. Good size frag too, probably an inch and a half long by an inch wide. Haven't mounted it yet, seeing how it does in that spot and then I will probably cut the post of the plug off and glue it to the rock to let it start growing out. Really excited! I hope it hangs in there

 

Even there it's huge. Cool. Am watching. I'm curious to see how it changes in a week, I had mine in the middle and then I had finally moved mine up and it reddened up. So hope all goes well. I just got some Coral Frenzy and Reef Bugs in the mail. Going to try that twice a week to see how that helps. I hear it does. I know it's had to know if things like some corals are eating, getting nutrition as they sps don't have mouths really. I'll let you know if it works out.

[lnglostsurfer]

Already looking better today. Starting to get a little bit of polyp extension and the green is showing quite a bit more. Really excited to see how this guy does. As long as he's happy where he's at for the next week or so I will trim up the frag plug and glue him down. I think the rest of the plug should fit down into the rock halfway decent to where it doesn't show too bad. Really excited to see this thing start to thrive.

 

Still looking into a powerhead to get a little more random flow in here, just worried about where I can place it so I can get the most out of it.

[FlowerMama]

Great to hear it's already starting to color up. They had some neat colored montipora on Spikes - I checked them out yesterday just to see what they have.

[lnglostsurfer]

Yeah, everything looks pretty good on his site. Doesn't really have any crazy name brand type stuff but it all looks pretty good. The only thing is that his ricordias are about double what they are from salt critters, have to try to decide if it's worth the cheaper shipping.

 

Anyone out there have any experience dealing with spikes corals?

Also, one of my mushrooms is completely retracted and closed up today while the other one is looking happy as can be. I don't see anything around it or touching it to make it do that and I even hit it with the turkey baster in case there was something there. Not too worried about it as a lot of soft corals just have their days of not opening but thought it was a bit strange.

http://s1246.photobucket.com/user/lnglostsurfer/media/IMG_20130927_120603_501.jpg.html'>

[FlowerMama]

Yeah, everything looks pretty good on his site. Doesn't really have any crazy name brand type stuff but it all looks pretty good. The only thing is that his ricordias are about double what they are from salt critters, have to try to decide if it's worth the cheaper shipping.

 

Anyone out there have any experience dealing with spikes corals?

Also, one of my mushrooms is completely retracted and closed up today while the other one is looking happy as can be. I don't see anything around it or touching it to make it do that and I even hit it with the turkey baster in case there was something there. Not too worried about it as a lot of soft corals just have their days of not opening but thought it was a bit strange.

 

I agree, I wouldn't be worried. It could just be more sensitive than the other. Were they the same size?

[lnglostsurfer]

Yep, the mushroom is back to looking normal again so I'm not really sure why it got pissy. I think I may try to anchor down that monti cap today before I head into work as well. Have to try and see if I can break down that frag plug a little without destroying the frag, looks like it's on there pretty solid though so I don't think I can get the frag off completely.

 

All I need now is some money to purchase corals....I hate seeing all this money in my savings that I can't touch because we are buying a house.....it's so tempting!!

[FlowerMama]

Yeah, that IS really difficult.

[lnglostsurfer]

So the mushroom is back to normal......with a little baby popping up under it. I guess it was squeezing out a child. Glad those mushies are doing well.

 

On a side note I'm already trying to plan out a bigger tank once I move into my new house. From what I'm finding, I'm really liking the dimensions on the 33 long, I just have no idea where to find one! I love the cubes but my eye always comes back to the super long/narrow/shallow tanks. I want more volume than the 20 long and there's a good chance I would go with a 40breeder but it's kind of wide. I love the look of the 12gallon long as well but just way too small. Hoping to find something fairly unique. Saw somewhere a 27 long? Which essentially looked like a 55 with the top lopped off (same footprint cut in half). I think lighting a 36" tank would be easy to accommodate but a 48" might push the expense up quite a bit having 2 fixtures.

 

Just in the early planning stages so we'll see what happens. I need to find a good source for unique tanks like this that isn't going to be custom work and insane shipping prices.

[FlowerMama]

This store Fintastic is in Charlotte- they give quotes on tanks other than the normal sizes but they give a fantastic list of typical tank sizes whether they be rectangular, bowfront, corner and hexagon. And there's a link to getting a price quote if you want to ask about a size that's different. but they list some sizes anyway that you might like. I don't know if it means they can get those sizes but it's worth calling them up or doing a Contact Us with them.

 

They have one listed 33 — Long 48 x 13 x 12. Sounds nice. And look how different it is by 1 gallon for mine 30 x 18 x16

 

http://www.fintastic.us/standard-aquarium-size-chart/

 

Hey, that could be a little roadtrip we could do on a Sunday with Randi. Had tons of aquarium stuff and displays of tanks, even a cylindrical shark tank.

[lnglostsurfer]

That would be a blast. I may try to see what Shawn can get tank wise. I love the dimensions of that 33 long though. 48" tanks are awesome, I would just have to figure out how to light it. If the lady lets me keep it in the living room of the new house then I know she would make me get a light that looks good for it, not a DIY light...

 

I also plan on doing a drilled overflow to a sump so a DIY stand will be in the works too. Although it has the same footprint as a standard 55g so I may be able to find a pre-fab one. I just wish I knew when our closing date was already...

 

I tried to convince her to let me put the tank in the wall and have the 3rd bedroom as our equipment room but that got shot down quicker than I could finish saying "wall."

[FlowerMama]

That would be a blast. I may try to see what Shawn can get tank wise. I love the dimensions of that 33 long though. 48" tanks are awesome, I would just have to figure out how to light it. If the lady lets me keep it in the living room of the new house then I know she would make me get a light that looks good for it, not a DIY light...

 

I also plan on doing a drilled overflow to a sump so a DIY stand will be in the works too. Although it has the same footprint as a standard 55g so I may be able to find a pre-fab one. I just wish I knew when our closing date was already...

 

I tried to convince her to let me put the tank in the wall and have the 3rd bedroom as our equipment room but that got shot down quicker than I could finish saying "wall."

 

"but honey, what if I used the 3rd bedr". If you do a DIY stand and need tools by the way, I obviously have some. not only a hand saw but a table saw as well. And a dremel type jigsaw which was only bought 2 yrs ago. Also you may want to see how they are because I'll have a sale in the spring if you're into tools.

[lnglostsurfer]

So I picked up 3 par38 bulbs for $35 a piece used (full spectrum too!)....I guess I'm starting to piece together a bigger tank already.

 

I really wish I could get a good picture of this thing but my shifty phone won't focus right. Getting some really good polyp extension out of my monti cap so it looks like it is doing well where it's at.