TigerLily's IM 30L - Happy Tankiversary!

[TigerLily]

I think that's a fabulous birthday present! glad things are on the up and up for your tank.

 

It is a fabulous present! He just doesn't understand.

[reefernanoman]

Thanks everyone! I can't wait to start making my own water.

Happy b'day. Those water jugs are very heavy, specially the SW ones! I even messed up my grill speaker cover on my front door of my car with one of them when I used to carry them. RODI made in my house is much easier.

[TigerLily]

So I was cleaning the tank and moving things around yesterday and I kicked up quite a mess. Look who came out to play!

 

 

 

I'm actually a little worried that the baby sea hare/slug is so visible. Thanks to the phosphate phiasco (ha!) I no longer have much algae at all. I hope he's not starving.

 

I treated myself to a little birthday coral from PEA yesterday. I got a small hammer to replace the one I lost as well as a birdsnest (lost one of those too in the phiasco). I also picked up a bunch of zoas and acans. They seem to do really well in my tank, so I figured I'd go with what works. I also rearranged things a bit. I wanted to clear up some space on the sandbed and move my rics a little out of direct light while they continue to recover. Here's a quick and dirty FTS of how things stand now….

 

 

The best news of the day is that my little katropora, which had turned rust brown in the phiasco, is getting its green back and hopefully the blue and purple will be soon to follow!

[DaveFason]

Tank is looking great!

 

-Dave

[metrokat]

Happy Birthday Ms. TigerLily

[TigerLily]

Happy Birthday Ms. TigerLily

 

Thank you!

[TigerLily]

Happy Friday!

 

 

I love snuggly coral.

[Sk8n Reefer]

Happy belated B- Day! RODI- ?

[TigerLily]

Happy belated B- Day! RODI-

 

Thanks! The RO/DI unit arrived today... Can't wait to set it up tomorrow...

[TigerLily]

Today, on this episode of "Reef Recovery"….

 

TigerLily's reef continues to improve, weeks after being nuked by phosphate removing filter pads.

 

Happy zoas and a happy clam.

 

The polyps are back and the color seems to be improving on my monti. There are even white growth areas again.

 

Shortly after I nuked the reef, my katropora turned an awful rust brown...

 

Now it's turned neon bright green! Still not right, but surely better than baby poop brown. The blue tort is from reefgardener.net and was added after the crash.

 

And because my reef is so long, I decided to try taking a panoramic shot just to see how it would turn out. It looks nice, except my flasher wrasse wouldn't be still for even a second! I promise you that my fish is all in one piece and doing well.

 

Finally, while I was busy nuking my tank… One of my critters has shown incredible growth! Porthos, at 5 months and 40 pounds is ready to play!

 

December's FTS will be updated soon...

 

On the next episode of "Reef Recovery" we will see what happens when TigerLily leaves her reef over the holidays… Will her attempts at automation fail? Will the cat sitter be called into service (lord help us)? Will the glass be so green upon her return that the fish cannot be seen? Stay tuned!

[Sk8n Reefer]

Love your purple cap- really nice color- that's one of my favorite corals! I got one from ORA but it's more brown that purple- hoping it colors up . Tanks recovering well- good luck on the vacation! Love your bull dog- what's his/ her name?

[TigerLily]

Love your purple cap- really nice color- that's one of my favorite corals! I got one from ORA but it's more brown that purple- hoping it colors up . Tanks recovering well- good luck on the vacation! Love your bull dog- what's his/ her name?

 

Thanks! I think the picture is a little blue. It's getting better but it's not quite that purple in person - yet. But how nice would it look next to that pink stylo of yours. Pink and purple!

 

I have everything automated for our trip. My ATO reservoir has been upsized and is big enough (I've tested it out a couple of times) and I have the automatic fish feeder hooked up too. I'm nervous about going without a water change while I'm gone, but it's not that long. Should be OK.

 

That is Porthos. He is the laziest but sweetest puppy ever!

[FishFrog]

Ahhh your dog is adorable! <3

The tank does look really great and you sound like you have planned your absence well. I'm worried about going away too but as you said, it isn't that long.

 

Where are you headed?

[gena]

Gorgeous! Soooo happy to see everything bouncing back so quickly for you!!!!

[pgrVII]

Your dog is really cool,love squishy faces. And your tank is really nice,the anemones are my favorite.

[Sk8n Reefer]

Thanks! I think the picture is a little blue. It's getting better but it's not quite that purple in person - yet. But how nice would it look next to that pink stylo of yours. Pink and purple!

 

I have everything automated for our trip. My ATO reservoir has been upsized and is big enough (I've tested it out a couple of times) and I have the automatic fish feeder hooked up too. I'm nervous about going without a water change while I'm gone, but it's not that long. Should be OK.

 

That is Porthos. He is the laziest but sweetest puppy ever!

 

 

Porthos- is a cutie! Yes the pink and purple would be a winner! Good luck- I am sure everything will be fine!

[TigerLily]

December's FTS:

 

The first post is updated. I've done my water change and have scraped all the algae from the front and sides of the tank - including under the sand line (I hadn't done that before taking the FTS). It will be interesting to see how much builds up while I'm gone!

[Nano sapiens]

Glad to see things improving.

[teenyreef]

Good luck on your trip! The tank looks great! I swear every time I see an FTS of your tank I think it's about 135 gallons

[TigerLily]

Good morning reef people! I am back and the reef is still in one piece... More or less.

 

 

I had a few frags knocked over by my monster crabs and I think I've finally lost the Duncan that was limping along since the phosphate pads fiasco, but a few other things are looking better. My torch has recovered enough to make it back to the front of the tank. It's smaller than it was but looking good. My feather duster looks huge. It built about 2 inches of new tube to propel itself out of its cave a little more and it's really looking nice and feathery.

 

The other corals are looking about how they were before I left. The katropora is still fluorescent green and the other SPS is looking good except for the monticap, which had some die off around the edges. I trimmed it back and will keep an eye on things. I don't see any pests, but who knows.

 

The fish and inverts seem to all be fine except that my flasher wrasse has been in hiding. He pokes his head out of his cave and he's come out to eat, but he's not out swimming like usual. Before I left he was pretty aggressive, especially with the 6-line. Maybe he got the tables turned on himself? Another thing to keep an eye on.

 

And finally, what would you do about this sponge? It's interesting looking and has been growing like crazy on my back glass and under the monti. Generally I leave sponges alone, but I'm afraid this one may get out of control. Would you yank it out? It looks a little like demented spaghetti... You can see it in the middle of this picture under the monti.

 

[FishFrog]

Yesss! I am glad to hear everything is looking good

I have no idea about sponges.

 

Are you doing very large WC's as a coming home party for the coral?

[ninjamyst]

zoas look fantastic! i would remove the sponge if it can start spreading onto the rock. they can cover up corals.

[kimberbee]

yum... demented spaghetti...

 

Yeah I have no idea on that one. I have funny pink sponges that form in fuzzy patches, nothing like your spaghetti one.

[TigerLily]

Yesss! I am glad to hear everything is looking good

I have no idea about sponges.

 

Are you doing very large WC's as a coming home party for the coral?

 

 

I did just a 3 gallon WC today - vacuumed the sand bed a bit. I'll do a bigger one in a few days, but I didn't want to shock anything by moving too fast.

 

zoas look fantastic! i would remove the sponge if it can start spreading onto the rock. they can cover up corals.

 

Thanks! The sponge is already on the rock under the monti - I will pull as much of it out as I can when I do my next water change in a few days. I read something on these forums - maybe Nano Sapiens thread - where there were sponges toxic to close by corals. I'll have to go back and see if I can find that. Maybe that's why the monti had some die-off on the edges?

 

yum... demented spaghetti...

 

Yeah I have no idea on that one. I have funny pink sponges that form in fuzzy patches, nothing like your spaghetti one.

 

I have the fuzzy pink sponges too! These are definitely weird and different though. I'll try to get some better pics when I go to clean them out.

[TigerLily]

I see you!

 

 

I still don't know what this idiot wrasse is doing - hiding out from the world. He does come out to eat, and in the brief moments I've seen him he doesn't look injured or anything… I wonder if the damsel and 6-line have teamed up to give him a beat down. I know my Clarkii never liked him, but Tony the clown stays in his anemone and doesn't stray far. He's really easy to avoid. Cinderella really seems like he's hiding. Maybe it's a gender identity crisis brought on by being named "Cinderella."