Amphiprion1 Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Beautiful rose corals! I love the 4 (closer to 3.5) that I received. Mine are either green or orangish under 250w 10K halides. Link to comment
Mirya Posted February 4, 2015 Author Share Posted February 4, 2015 Beautiful rose corals! I love the 4 (closer to 3.5) that I received. Mine are either green or orangish under 250w 10K halides. Nice! Do you have any pictures of them? I'd love to see the orange ones. I stalked your Seagrass tank thread and saw you mention them, but wasn't sure if they were going to a separate tank. Did you get them from Gulf Live Rock? Link to comment
Amphiprion1 Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Nice! Do you have any pictures of them? I'd love to see the orange ones. I stalked your Seagrass tank thread and saw you mention them, but wasn't sure if they were going to a separate tank. Did you get them from Gulf Live Rock? No pics, but I can get some--will post in my other thread. Was hesitant to post anything due to dinoflagellate issue. Yes, all came from one (extremely nice) shipment of gulf rock from Dan @ gulfliverock that I had air-freighted. Link to comment
TheElysia Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Hi sorry to sneak in - but I was just wondering if you really want some Carribean corals, if you could special request a few pieces of live rock that have hitchhikers growing on them? Link to comment
Axiomatic Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 My guess is that it is Diploria labrynthiformis, the Caribbean grooved brain coral. It isn't available through a retailer, you need to luck out on getting it on some live rock cultured in the Gulf. Ouch, thats a a real bummer. Must be due to the law against pulling stony corals from Caribbean. These type of grooved brain corals are exactly what got me interested in corals in the first place. Well I'm still planning my first tank so lots to learn and experience before I try SPS. Link to comment
Mirya Posted February 5, 2015 Author Share Posted February 5, 2015 Tiny conch says, "Om nom nom nom." Hi sorry to sneak in - but I was just wondering if you really want some Carribean corals, if you could special request a few pieces of live rock that have hitchhikers growing on them? That is my understanding. Gulf Live ROck seems to be the best coral hitchikery vendor to go to from my understanding. Link to comment
TheElysia Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 That is my understanding. Gulf Live ROck seems to be the best coral hitchikery vendor to go to from my understanding. I've heard of people getting some rare Atlantic LPS from LR, like Diploria or something. And some vendors in the Eastern Atlantic sell Montastrea from that region. If at any point there is a market in aquacultured Atlantic stony corals I'd be super interested. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I know my live rock from KPA was awesome. No gorgs on it but many colors, 3 mantis shrimp, a pistol, urchins, a sea spider that I had to remove. So I was happy. Link to comment
Spenseriana Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 I know my live rock from KPA was awesome. No gorgs on it but many colors, 3 mantis shrimp, a pistol, urchins, a sea spider that I had to remove. So I was happy. Sorry to threadjack, but how many pounds did you order when you got all that, 1stime? I'm ordering some Gulf Rock soon, and I'm wondering how crammed with life it will be. Also, Mirya, have you heard that it's bad to buy gulf rock at certain times of the year? I don't know if I can wait until spring since the I've caught the reefing bug. And I'll let you know before I order any and will ask Gulf-Rock about cherry picking some Caribbean corals, in case we wanna tag team the shipping charges. Link to comment
gena Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 Wow...that rose and the brain . They look awesome! Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Sorry to threadjack, but how many pounds did you order when you got all that, 1stime? I'm ordering some Gulf Rock soon, and I'm wondering how crammed with life it will be. Also, Mirya, have you heard that it's bad to buy gulf rock at certain times of the year? I don't know if I can wait until spring since the I've caught the reefing bug. And I'll let you know before I order any and will ask Gulf-Rock about cherry picking some Caribbean corals, in case we wanna tag team the shipping charges. I got 25 lbs for this tank but since it was mostly going into the sump I told them I only needed small grapefruit size pieces and they didn't even have to look nice. They delivered. I didn't want many rocks in the 60, just some for some rock flowers to sit on, not really part of the landscape, just for filtration in the sump as I wanted the most room I could have in the display. For my 34 I got 35 lbs and told them to give me unique shaped pieces. They delivered. Link to comment
Mirya Posted February 10, 2015 Author Share Posted February 10, 2015 Happy happy RFAs. They recently moved around on their rock a little but to snuggle up. Zed likes being in the center of them all though. (He is the white zebra one.) Link to comment
kimberbee Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Oh! That's exactly what I hope to emulate someday with an RFA tank! Link to comment
owenj Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 That rose coral is . Loving the RFA rock too. I can't wait for my white zebra to grow up big and look like yours Link to comment
Mirya Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 So, some good news and some bad news... The good news is that I talked to Chris at CoralVue and he said I could just take one cage off my Gyre and run it that way. The kit to put over the exposed axel comes out next month. Now, I know there is some concern that I am unbalacing my Gyre's motor by doing this, but I wanted to give it a whirl. It fits great in the tank and the flow is FANTASTIC. It really kicked up a lot of detritus. I did turn it up all the way to high briefly just to put it through its paces. Really nice flow. My neon goby was really having a blast "surfing." Was super cute to watch. Meanwhile my Basslet was all "WTF." So I dialed it back to 30% for now. Speaking of my Basslet, it is so hard to get a good picture of him since he is so fast. But, I wanted to share a pic since he is such a cool fish. After having him for a few months, I'm convinced that if I ever had tank space and cash to blow, that a candy basslet would be worth it. And a few other pictures, just cause I felt like it... Grumpy jawfish and one of my rainbow Rics: The Discosoma neglecta I got this week, first chilling in my frag tank after I unpacked it: And now in the tank: Now for the bad news... My brain coral is not doing well. You can see it on the edge of the picture above -- it isn't inflating at all and the skeleton is showing. I've tried moving it to a new spot and target feeding it oyster eggs. I'm pretty worried about it. Everything else in the tank is doing great though. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Someone on my local saltwater club facebook page also had a problem with their gyre- after 10 mins it stopped and I think it was something with the cord. I hate hearing about problems with new products especially after there is so much hype. Maybe it's like purchasing a car- never get the first yr model as the kinks haven't been worked out. Sorry to hear about your rose coral, I wish I knew more about them. Link to comment
Dr.Phil Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 I love your rose garden, Guits. Thanks for sharing. I'm subscribed to your thread, so I hope I can see an update in a few days that your move went smoothly. As for things on my side, after yet another 60+ hr work week, I knew I needed some zen time working on the tanks. I had checked ammonia/nitrite/nitrate a few times during the week when just the rock was in the tank. I never saw a blip at all and I was starting to grow diatoms. So, I'm assuming things were cycled. So I figured I needed to decide on a rockscape for this tank. This is what I finally settled on (ignore ugly turkey baster/detritus blaster): "What," I'm sure you are asking yourself, "Is that PVC doing in the tank?" It's going to hopefully be my jawfish house: I had thought about sectioning off an area in the scape with rock that I could keep a deep sand bed in for the jawfish. I decided with how narrow this tank is, I wasn't going to be able to scape that successfully. So, I put in some PVC that my future jawfish will hopefully take too. I'm not running barebottom, so I added my substrate once I decided I was settled on the scape. Then I started moving over some corals. There are a number of people in my local reef club breaking down tanks or selling frags right now. So I scored a huge purple brush gorgonian from one member. He also threw in a large colony of what he called Palythoa grandis, but I suspect is really some Protopalythoa sp. From another member I bought 6 polyps of true P. grandis in two different color morphs. Then I started moving livestock from my Nuvo8. My own 2 polyps of P. grandis I had bought from Tidal Gardens, as well as the Ricordea florida and St. Thomas mushroom I bought from SaltCritters. I rescued my two other tiny gorgonians that have been injured by my RFAs and moved them over too. Finally, I managed to snag 5 RFAs because they were either on the sand or on a rock that I could move and put them in the 24. This is my end result: I'm still not quite happy with the placement of things, but it is a start! There will probably be some shuffling around of the gorgonians and Palys/Protopalys as time goes on. It was just so nice to start to get things out of the Nuvo8 -- it was too cramped in there! Here is softie island which is on the right: And here is RFA island on the left: There are still 4 more RFAs in the Nuvo8 to move over to this tank, but they are all pretty firmly attached to my base rock right now. Next time I see them start to move though, I'm grabbing them! Mirya, I see that you didn't remove paint markings(bar code) off the PVC pipes that you used for home? Will the paint leach after sitting in saltwater ? Im trying to build one like this myself and was thinking if should remove paint off pvc. Thanks PS Beautiful tank ! Link to comment
Mirya Posted February 28, 2015 Author Share Posted February 28, 2015 Mirya, I see that you didn't remove paint markings(bar code) off the PVC pipes that you used for home? Will the paint leach after sitting in saltwater ? Im trying to build one like this myself and was thinking if should remove paint off pvc. Thanks PS Beautiful tank ! Hmm I think the only way to get those bar codes off would be to sand them off. Honestly the thought never occurred to me! I didn't leave the PVC Jawhouse in the tank long. Grumpy Jaw decided it wasn't a grumpy enough for him and decided to dig his own house. So then I just unburied it and took it out. Thanks! Link to comment
Dr.Phil Posted February 28, 2015 Share Posted February 28, 2015 Hmm I think the only way to get those bar codes off would be to sand them off. Honestly the thought never occurred to me! I didn't leave the PVC Jawhouse in the tank long. Grumpy Jaw decided it wasn't a grumpy enough for him and decided to dig his own house. So then I just unburied it and took it out. Thanks! My pearly jaw fish is not digging at all. He makes craters and just sits there. Sand bed is up to 5" on one side of the tank. He doesn't even want to be on that side. I have plenty of rock rubble and I have a reef grade sand. So it's not a fine sand. He is the only fish in my 30g. I'm not sure what's going on with him. That's why I want to try out pvc house. Maybe it'll work. Thanks for your reply Mirya. I will try to sand the paint of pvc. Wish me good luck )))))) Link to comment
Mirya Posted March 4, 2015 Author Share Posted March 4, 2015 So... I'm just going to wallow in self-pity for a moment in this post. Feel free to skip it if you want to. You know how sometimes you think "Enough is enough! My luck has got to change!" Well, that is where I've been at recently. I've been miserable at work in the position I was changed to in June of last year. I've spoken to HR and the faculty ombudsman about things. I've nearly turned in my resignation even though I don't have another job lined up. But, I'm still working, since a paycheck is a paycheck. I do have a job interview lined up for the end of the month though. My crappy job schedule contributed to me not training well for my first marathon last fall. While I'm proud to have finished it, it came at a cost. I had (unbeknownst to me at the time) stress fractured my leg about a month before the marathon. Yup, thought it was just a shin splint so ran on it anyways. I spent all fall in an aircast and on crutches. Just as I got the clear from my doctor to take off the aircast and start rehab, I passed some gall stones. That landed me in the hospital for 4 days. I had my gall bladder removed, and a few other procedures. One left me with pancreatitis, so I spent a few weeks recovering on a diet of Saltine crackers and Percocet. Once I was finally up to going back to work, I knew I needed to bring my 16 year old cat to work (I'm a vet) to figure out why she had been losing weight despite acting relatively normal. I had actually planned on this a month prior, but then the darn gall bladder went south on me. I expected I would find something routine and curable like hyperthyroidism. Instead I diagnosed her with leukemia. Fortunately, it is a relatively slowly progressing form of leukemia that she will likely be able to do OK with for awhile. We did start chemo about a week and a half ago. Her chemo protocol is all pills, and she is the world's easiest cat to pill, so that hasn't been too bad so far. Which finally brings us to last week Monday. I had taken my husband to the airport that morning - he was gone on business all last week. I was feeding all the tanks around 9pm. I saw a little bit of water on the stand of the 24 gallon tank... and thought that was odd because I didn't think I spilled anything... and then realized the tank had split a seam! The first gen Nuvo24 are known for cracking their glass on the end. This is a second gen tank though and a seam failure. The kicker is though -- I'm 95% sure the seam failure is my own damn fault. The cord for the Gyre has a tight fit between my drop in screen lid and the glass. I kept on meaning to burr out a little space for the cord to run so it wouldn't pinch so much, but hadn't gotten around to it. Something had felt a little weird when I snapped the lid into place after I had fed the tank, but I didn't think much of it at the time... not until 10 minutes later when I saw the little puddle of water. FML I spent the next several hours draining the tank and rearranging my livestock, and trying not to cry because I knew I didn't have time for that! My recently acquired Helfrichi firefish which had been in pseudo-quarantine in my frag tank was moved to my Nuvo8. (He passed away yesterday. ) The neon goby and Peppermint basslet and all the corals that weren't attached to a rock were moved to my frag tank. The large chunks of live rock with my RFAs and Rics as well as my gorgonians were moved to my Brute salt mixing container. Jawfish went in there as well as I figured the frag tank would be too small for him to be packed with the other fish since he is territorial. Other than the Helfrichi, things have been holding up so far. Over the weekend I dug all the silicone out of the popped seal in the tank. I decided I'd roll the dice at trying to repair that one seam rather than resealing the entire tank. I applied the world's ugliest silicone job to the newly cleaned out corner. I let the silicone cure for 48 hours. Yesterday I filled the tank with water. We are at the 24 hour mark and it is holding water without leaking. I think I'm going to let it sit until the weekend. (To be honest I don't have time to deal with it before then anyways.) If it is still holding... I guess I will restock the tank? If you have made it this far through my pity party, I will gladly take any advice you have! Overall, I know things could be a lot worse. I'm still relatively healthy. I have a job. I have a wonderful husband and an insane feline. But would it be too much to ask for something like winning the Powerball right about now? Link to comment
owenj Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Hang in there! Sorry to hear about the never-ending cycle of crap that's happened. Glad your kitty has a manageable (if not curable) illness. And that she's an easy to pill cat! Link to comment
kimberbee Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Sorry the Universe is poopin' on you recently. Feel better, and take care. I hope your luck will turn around! Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug. Things will turn around. Keep your chin up. Link to comment
natalia_la_loca Posted March 4, 2015 Share Posted March 4, 2015 stay strong! This too shall pass. Link to comment
Spenseriana Posted March 5, 2015 Share Posted March 5, 2015 I know what would cheer you up...a rock full of manicinas. Link to comment
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