vlangel Posted August 10, 2015 Author Share Posted August 10, 2015 I am liking the new corals. They are all on the right side of the tank. A fairly big colony of yellow polyps, a purple gorg with larger brown polyps (than my other purple gorg with brown polyps) and the yellowish monticap. I got all that for $50 so I consider that a good deal. The yellow is adding more badly needed color to the reef. Please ignore a very dirty tank at this time. Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 11, 2015 Author Share Posted August 11, 2015 It would appear that King Midas emerged the Victor in claiming the mushroom conch. Baby seems to have resigned to accepting beneath the hammer coral as his abode. Things are more or less peaceful in the reef once again. Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 Poor baby haha- lost the battle of the Conch Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 11, 2015 Author Share Posted August 11, 2015 Looks good to me! Thanks Mark. If it looks good to you it must be good! Poor baby haha- lost the battle of the Conch I know. I feel kinda bad because Baby should have had seniority. Baby was born in my prior tank in 2009 and is my oldest fish. I have only had King Midas since around February of 2014. I will say King Midas is really adorable peeking out the hole in the top of the conch though. Link to comment
markalot Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 The midas always wins. My midas and male Anthias get into an argument once a day it seems, the only fish that seem to be well matched. My midas has lived in the same hole since I got him in my 40 gallon and I have to be careful to position the big rock he lives in so he has access to it. High maintenance. Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 11, 2015 Author Share Posted August 11, 2015 The midas always wins. My midas and male Anthias get into an argument once a day it seems, the only fish that seem to be well matched. My midas has lived in the same hole since I got him in my 40 gallon and I have to be careful to position the big rock he lives in so he has access to it. High maintenance. My quasi male anthias was also king of the tank until I got King Midas. In fact Romeo the anthias wasn't just king, he was a ruthless dictator until Midas arrived. King Midas quickly established dominance but for the most part is rather benevolent. I guess when I re-homed the anthias pair and the RBTAs, Baby thought he could seize an opportunity. Alas, it wasn't to be. Sigh! Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 My husband and I are going camping for a week and hoping now that I am using RO/DI water that the tanks will be looking not too over run with algae when we return. I am doing fairly big WCs, (50% ) this week to get ready. I will test the phosphates and nitrates at the end of the week to see how the RO/DI water is affecting the system. My theory was that the skimmer and WCs were helping my nitrates (they were down to 5 or 10) but could not help the phosphates that were always being added by phosphate laden tap water, especially since I do big WCs. If they are reduced drastically is it possible my macros and corals could suffer from not enough or is the heavy bioload from the seahorses going to assure there will always be plenty. I guess if things begin to look as though they are suffering I could maybe still use tap water for top off? I worry a little about less CA, alkalinity and Magnesium being available now since I am using the RO/DI too. I of course can dose but enjoyed having enough in the past just from WCs. Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 A close up pic in the SH tank, just because... Link to comment
Felicia Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 I like the stealth seahorse in that last photo The reef tank looks great! Good price on the new frags! I hope switching to RO/DI helps with the algae issues. Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 I like the stealth seahorse in that last photo The reef tank looks great! Good price on the new frags! I hope switching to RO/DI helps with the algae issues. Ha ha, I like that...stealth seahorse. She is very subtly hitched to that old coco worm tube. Thanks. Finally my reef is not embarrassingly empty nor as drab and boring. Most things in it are pretty healthy but the RBTAs took up the entire right side and between stinging tentacles and all the shade they made nothing else could grow there. Re-homing them left quite a void but it's shaping up now. Link to comment
Felicia Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Seahorses are good at being stealthy. I remember having such a hard time locating all of mine sometimes. I have that same issue with the lionfish. They like to perch and sit still, so sometimes it can take a while to find them. Yeah, BTA's are beautiful but they can be difficult in smaller tanks. I'm glad I managed to get mine to stay put on an island of their own. Your tank is definitely looking much more filled in now! Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 Seahorses are good at being stealthy. I remember having such a hard time locating all of mine sometimes. I have that same issue with the lionfish. They like to perch and sit still, so sometimes it can take a while to find them. Yeah, BTA's are beautiful but they can be difficult in smaller tanks. I'm glad I managed to get mine to stay put on an island of their own. Your tank is definitely looking much more filled in now! The reefer I got the corals from had some beautiful sun corals. I was really tempted because I could have made a nice spot for them but decided that I didn't need more yellow or something that needed hand fed. He also has a nice green slimer that I keep thinking about but keep talking myself out of it because I don't want to move toward things that require monitoring CA, alk and Magnesium. I like to do my big WCs and call it good. Link to comment
Felicia Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Probably bad to encourage, but I bet the slimer would do great in there. If that clam is doing so well without you monitoring Ca and Alk, I bet yours levels are pretty perfect. Plus you do more frequent, larger WC's than most people, so I bet you're replenishing your levels. I used to not test anything or dose back in my 30 gallon and I had a slimer that did great for me. It was when I got some of the more touchy SPS that I had issues. Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 Probably bad to encourage, but I bet the slimer would do great in there. If that clam is doing so well without you monitoring Ca and Alk, I bet yours levels are pretty perfect. Plus you do more frequent, larger WC's than most people, so I bet you're replenishing your levels. I used to not test anything or dose back in my 30 gallon and I had a slimer that did great for me. It was when I got some of the more touchy SPS that I had issues. O man Felicia, you would have talked me into it but I checked his posting and it's gone! Probably just as well, it might have just wet my appetite for sps and then I would be heading down that slippery slope! Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share Posted August 14, 2015 I spent my morning doing a 15g WC and gluing down frags that I have gotten in the last 2 months. (I know, I must really be lazy if it takes me 2 months to epoxy some of my frags). The corals are not too happy but I am. I moved some more stuff off the sandbed to accommodate my vision of gorgs and RFAs. I have decided that the gorgs will go on the outsides of the tank and the RFAs will go in the center. I still have good spots for more corals on the rockwork as well, so i won't be frustrated that I am running out of room. (Of course for me running out of room is never the problem, it running out of $) LOL Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share Posted August 14, 2015 My prizm pro HOB skimmer is going nuts with spewing micro bubbles in the seahorse tank. Then I remembered that it does that when I use the 2 part coral epoxy. I guess it will eventually settle down. Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share Posted August 14, 2015 I know everything is ticked off but here is a new FTS. Can you visualize fuzzy gorgs and colorful RFAs? I might as well include both tanks. Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted August 14, 2015 Share Posted August 14, 2015 So cool. Most natural seahorse tank Ive seen... It just looks so calming and natural Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share Posted August 14, 2015 So cool. Most natural seahorse tank Ive seen... It just looks so calming and natural Thank you Harry. That is the effect I was going for so appreciate your input. Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share Posted August 14, 2015 I moved the duncan to the other side to give the orange monticap more space plus to showcase the duncan a little better. Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share Posted August 14, 2015 Don't ya just love that freshly clean crisp sparkly look of a tank that was scrubbed down but then 5 hours later all the sand has settled and most of the corals are at full PE? This is when I should have taken my FTS! Too bad it only lasts a few days. :-( Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share Posted August 14, 2015 The last pic is a distorted view from near the top of the tank but not a top down. Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share Posted August 14, 2015 I still have some cyano but it's getting better. This is a similar view in the reef. I can never capture the color of my duncans though. Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 15, 2015 Author Share Posted August 15, 2015 Both tanks together looking pretty clean and crisp. Link to comment
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