Jaime's IM Fusion 20- June update

[wildbill79]

Your plates are so great! I wish I had more space in my sand bed. I would fill it up with them.

[vlangel]

The sponge idea is a good one for the future.

[TigerLily]

Great pics! You got a Tracy Morgonian! Yay - I hope you like it. Mine loves the light and being in the flow.

 

Sorry to hear about the ich - but it sounds like you're right on top of it.

[owenj]

The sponge idea is a good one for the future.

Thanks. I was surprised by the number of posts I read of people who do this, because I thought sponges were "bad" nitrate traps in reef tanks? Even with rinsing it out in tank water.

 

Your plates are so great! I wish I had more space in my sand bed. I would fill it up with them.

Moar plates! I'm restraining myself because I'd like the last bit of sand bed real estate to be for a clam.

 

Great pics! You got a Tracy Morgonian! Yay - I hope you like it. Mine loves the light and being in the flow.

 

Sorry to hear about the ich - but it sounds like you're right on top of it.

It's still sort of brownish, but all the polyps are out if not fully open. Trying to figure out where it's placement should be so that I can hopefully get a second gorg Because, even if peaceful they still shouldn't touch each other, right?

 

Channeled my inner fisherwoman and got all the fish moved into the QT tank. Even put the CCG from the Fusion 10 in since there's been lots of swapping back and forth between the two tanks. Sharkbait was dead easy to catch but I had to take two of the rocks out for Tug. Thankfully they all seem to be doing alright in QT so far.

[gena]

Love the new additions!!!!! That plate...WOW!!!!! Makes me miss my plates. Good luck with the QT treatment!!! Do you have one of those ammonia badges to keep track of ammonia levels? And a top for the tank for jumpers. I really don't want you to lose Tug (or any fish, but Tugs my favorite)

[kimberbee]

Good luck with the QT. Hopefully it all goes well!

[owenj]

Love the new additions!!!!! That plate...WOW!!!!! Makes me miss my plates. Good luck with the QT treatment!!! Do you have one of those ammonia badges to keep track of ammonia levels? And a top for the tank for jumpers. I really don't want you to lose Tug (or any fish, but Tugs my favorite)

I <3 plates. I ordered an ammonia badge. Usually am skeptical of these kind of things, but sounds like they work, especially with Cupramine making normal ammonia tests wonky. & yes, definitely a top! To keep fish in and cats out

 

Good luck with the QT. Hopefully it all goes well!

Thanks! Will be QT'ing from now on too, not going through this again!

[teenyreef]

I love this tank

 

How's the QT going? I just got a teeny tiny Morgonian Gorgonian frag at the LFS so I'm really interested in how you do with yours

[Mr. Microscope]

Holy bananas! Your plates are hot!

[owenj]

I love this tank

 

How's the QT going? I just got a teeny tiny Morgonian Gorgonian frag at the LFS so I'm really interested in how you do with yours

I love your little Morgonian! Be interesting to see how it grows up and gets the long polyps. Mine is still in the process of coloring up, not quite as pink as the dealer pictures, but it extends all its polyps.

 

Holy bananas! Your plates are hot!

Thanks! Still haven't decided if I'm going to try and squeeze in one more plate or try a clam.

 

Little update. FTS 1-19-2015

 

Sad to be fishless, but we're a little over a week in and so far they seem to be doing alright. Tug is back to being very skittish and he's being reluctant to eat unless food floats right past his face. Sharkbait has had the worst of the spots, but they're finally starting to clear up.

 

MOAR plates! Got this lovely violet-red one and it's huge! Probably 4" across when it's inflated.

 

Left rock, please excuse the terrible lighting and pod-riddled glass. The trumpets seem much happier over here.

 

RFA rock. There's been some shuffling around, as always

 

Urchin

 

Tracy Morgonian, fluffed out but the color is still a bit brown.

[cindyp]

i love your plates!! the color on the newest is amazing!

 

i think mine never ever inflated and weren't

in the best of health when i bought them.

having said that, i've had issues with plates, acans,

blastos, and favias--so i wonder if it's a alk calcium

issue? though i do weekly water changes with premium

coral water.

 

ah well. will be gun shy on any of those i listed

for a while.

 

critique group for me today!

[Mr. Microscope]

Thanks! Still haven't decided if I'm going to try and squeeze in one more plate or try a clam.

Clammage!

[TigerLily]

Beautiful plates - I'm jealous! And my sandbed is full, so I will live vicariously through your plates

[owenj]

i love your plates!! the color on the newest is amazing!

 

i think mine never ever inflated and weren't

in the best of health when i bought them.

having said that, i've had issues with plates, acans,

blastos, and favias--so i wonder if it's a alk calcium

issue? though i do weekly water changes with premium

coral water.

 

ah well. will be gun shy on any of those i listed

for a while.

 

critique group for me today!

Plates can be funny like that. My first two were doing pretty well except for some weird tissue recession in the blue one, then I did the tank change and they reacted very badly to that. So far these plates are doing well, though the sunset is finicky about extending all the way, and I've got one spot of sunken tissue on the OMG plate . It's not fully recessed and the rest looks good, so I don't think I'm going to prophylactic dip yet,

 

I've been having bad acan luck in my Fusion 10 too something is causing them to waste away in 24hrs, one mini-colony at a time.

 

Hope your crit group went well!

 

Clammage!

I'm so tempted! The original goal of this tank was to get one in February since the tank will have been set up for about 6 1/2 months then. Well, at least two pieces of the original rock and sand have been wet since then . And since I can't have fish at the moment, why not a clam

 

Beautiful plates - I'm jealous! And my sandbed is full, so I will live vicariously through your plates

I'm living vicariously through a lot of you for all the things I can't stuff into this tank Like your beautiful big nems and clowns.

[ninjamyst]

Clam would be great! I love mine but keep worrying about it. I can't tell if it's gaping or not.

 

That new plate is HUGE. Very nice color too. Mine are very moody. Sometimes they stay deflated the whole day or half is deflated.

[teenyreef]

Looks very nice! It's hard to tell the real color on your morgonian since it shows purple in the picture. But it looks like it's fluffing out nicely! The plates are awesome and I also like the duncans on top of the mountain, with the trumpets moved up just below them they look like they match

[owenj]

Clam would be great! I love mine but keep worrying about it. I can't tell if it's gaping or not.

 

That new plate is HUGE. Very nice color too. Mine are very moody. Sometimes they stay deflated the whole day or half is deflated.

I thought I was over the clam thing, and could just ogle everyone else's clams, then I saw your new one and the bug hit again. Hard I'm paranoid about it either not getting enough light, or too much flow, or having pinched mantle and not being able to get it unstuck from my tank bottom for a FW dip

 

I thought the plate would be half that size. It was $100, that's less than the sunset was! Was not expecting it to be such a beast. Mine are weird about lighting; they only fully extend for a few hours a day when the lights are pretty much at full (I'm working on bumping the lighting a few percent a week, currently only maxing out at I think 30% whites/40% blues). Once the lights start to turn and the blues take over the whites the plates start to recede at the rims.

 

Looks very nice! It's hard to tell the real color on your morgonian since it shows purple in the picture. But it looks like it's fluffing out nicely! The plates are awesome and I also like the duncans on top of the mountain, with the trumpets moved up just below them they look like they match

Yea, it's sort of pale pink/purple with much darker tips. The polyps look pretty brown to my eye, though I guess it could just be a much darker, muddier version of pinky purple . I've been using a pipette to "shower" them in Oyster Feast or Reef Roids once or twice a week with the pumps off, but it's hard to tell if they're actually eating or just reacting to having the water suddenly sprayed at them.

 

The trumpets are so much happier over there! I'd read that they're moderate light, moderate flow type of corals, but mine didn't seem to like that much light when I had them more toward the center of the tank. They've puffed up quite a bit more and extend feeder tentacles regularly now. Just hope they don't grow too big and sting the duncans

[ninjamyst]

yea, my clam is giving me anxiety attacks....haha. i really hope it's healthy.

[teenyreef]

Yea, it's sort of pale pink/purple with much darker tips. The polyps look pretty brown to my eye, though I guess it could just be a much darker, muddier version of pinky purple . I've been using a pipette to "shower" them in Oyster Feast or Reef Roids once or twice a week with the pumps off, but it's hard to tell if they're actually eating or just reacting to having the water suddenly sprayed at them.

 

The trumpets are so much happier over there! I'd read that they're moderate light, moderate flow type of corals, but mine didn't seem to like that much light when I had them more toward the center of the tank. They've puffed up quite a bit more and extend feeder tentacles regularly now. Just hope they don't grow too big and sting the duncans

Mine has a very purple skeleton, and purplish-brown polyps. I know what you mean about feeding them, too. I do the same thing with with same foods, and wondered the exact same thing

 

Since you're still ramping up your lighting intensity, I wonder if they will want to move back down in a while after the light gets more intense? But they look great for now

[kimberbee]

Mine has a very purple skeleton, and purplish-brown polyps. I know what you mean about feeding them, too. I do the same thing with with same foods, and wondered the exact same thing

 

That's how I would describe the gorgonian in my tank... I wonder if if a a Morgonian? I thought the Morgonian would be more pink-ish...

 

Jamie, how big are/were your RFA's when you first got them? I have two that I bought at about quarter sized and they aren't looking the best. They keep shuffling into tiny crevices and holes and generally away from wherever I can feed them easily. I was thinking/wondering if small RFA's are like small clams, and have a harder time surviving...

[owenj]

Mine has a very purple skeleton, and purplish-brown polyps. I know what you mean about feeding them, too. I do the same thing with with same foods, and wondered the exact same thing

 

Since you're still ramping up your lighting intensity, I wonder if they will want to move back down in a while after the light gets more intense? But they look great for now

Glad I'm not alone then!

 

I hope they don't move! Big Red left his hole when I was fussing with the flow so I changed it back to the way it was and managed to move him back to his spot. He was really easy to move; huge contrast to the lost battle I had with the green skirt earlier on. Rubbed his foot a bit with my finger and it let up really quick. I thought nems liked light, so I'm hoping that if I ramp it up slowly enough it'll adapt and stay . Ordered a Duo for the tank and am not sure how Dave's recommended settings compare to what I have the Razor at, so I figure I'd rather have them acclimate to the light going lower than the other way around. Plus, the pink zoas seem to be reaching, and the potential clam is going down on the right side of their rock...so, moar light!

 

That's how I would describe the gorgonian in my tank... I wonder if if a a Morgonian? I thought the Morgonian would be more pink-ish...

 

Jamie, how big are/were your RFA's when you first got them? I have two that I bought at about quarter sized and they aren't looking the best. They keep shuffling into tiny crevices and holes and generally away from wherever I can feed them easily. I was thinking/wondering if small RFA's are like small clams, and have a harder time surviving...

I got mine from Uniquecorals so I'm guessing it's a Morgonian. May just need more time to settle in.

 

I haven't noticed noticeable growth in the RFAs, but some have "shrunk" after disappearing for a while. My first RFA was the green skirt and it wandered off out of sight & feeding line for a while before coming back. It's a bit smaller now and not showing as much of a feeding response, but the color is slowly getting better as it's in I think better light now. Several of the RFAs are only an inch, inch and a half across, but they feed just fine. I've found that ones that wander off for a little while before coming back don't show as active a feeding response right away. The green zebra and the freebie cream/brown with the neon inner ring both went on the other side of the rock for a while and it took a few weeks for the cream one to start actively taking food when offered. The green zebra perked back up in just a few days.

 

My orange skirt one was gone for months before showing up in the front of the tank. It doesn't show any feeding response, and recently moved itself more into the shade. It doesn't look great, but it closes and opens (somewhat) every day so I offer it food whenever the tank gets fed. Then, I have a tiny one (maybe nickel-sized) that came with my rogue orange one and it has been easy to care for. As long as the food is small it takes whatever it can get, so I'm not sure that size really matters ( ) once they're big enough to be fed. They do seem to "suffer" by not being target fed, but they choose where they want to be so to a certain extent I think you need to let them go on their travels and work with them when they come back. You feed a lot of filter foods and stuff to your tank too, right? I'd guess that they're scavenging even when they're where we can't see them. I should probably step up how much I feed the tank.

[cindyp]

gosh, i'm sorry for the RFA troubles. did you get

them smaller? mine have all been at least 1.5 inches

when i bought, and eat and are growing like champs.

i'm afeared my really big one will outgrow the tank soon.

 

i hope your wandering nems all do okay! i do have

one that wanders, but he always comes to where there

is light and i can feed him.

[gena]

LOVE that giant purple plate!!!!! Hey...pod-infested glass would be pretty awesome to have to apologize for...congrats on that .

 

Oh....I'm now blasto free in my big tank . The last two died on me...what the heck . No more blastos for me. Only merlettis if I do them. They are thriving in my little tank.

[owenj]

gosh, i'm sorry for the RFA troubles. did you get

them smaller? mine have all been at least 1.5 inches

when i bought, and eat and are growing like champs.

i'm afeared my really big one will outgrow the tank soon.

 

i hope your wandering nems all do okay! i do have

one that wanders, but he always comes to where there

is light and i can feed him.

I'd say all the nems are around an inch & a half too at least, except for Big Red who's huge, and the tiny orange one that was sort of a freebie with the rogue orange one. The green skirt was bigger when I got it and has noticeably shrunk, but it's staying back in the open now so I'm hopeful. Not sure how the wandering orange skirt one will do since it never seemed to get settled in this tank. I shoot food its way when the tank gets fed and will just hope for the best. Only the little red one is unaccounted for after it wandered away due to an urchin molestation, but I'm guessing it's somewhere on the other side of the rock and I just can't see it.

 

I think my short story is about ready to start earning me some rejections . How'd crit group go?

 

LOVE that giant purple plate!!!!! Hey...pod-infested glass would be pretty awesome to have to apologize for...congrats on that .

 

Oh....I'm now blasto free in my big tank . The last two died on me...what the heck . No more blastos for me. Only merlettis if I do them. They are thriving in my little tank.

I imagine Tug will take care of the pod-infested glass once he gets to come back from QT . I dumped a bottle of tsibe pods in the other day so I'm hoping the population has time to establish a bit.

 

Boo on being blasto-less I broke my rule and bought some for the 10. It made me qualify for free shipping, so, you know...I had to. I'm totally one of those people who knows it's illogical to spend X more to get free shipping, but I'm such a sucker for it. So far they're ok, but I expect them to go sudden death on me at any moment. I'm having huge acan wasting away issues in the 10 right now and not sure what it is.

[kimberbee]

That makes me feel a little bit better about the RFA's.

 

Pinky came out last night and this morning, but was MIA tonight for dinner.

 

Brain has been moving towards the front of the tank a little making it easier to feed him. Phew!

 

I think I need to invest in some long tongs and some slightly bigger pellets. That way if I catch them (and my sun coral) out and about looking hungry I can give 'em a quick bite no matter what time.

 

As it is, I have to thaw food, mix in a little water, and reach my arm all the way in the tank to spot feed. Big hassle to do more than once a night for dinner, but I think they would benefit from a little more food...