ninjamyst Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 u sure they are both Acanthastrea lordhowensis, and the bottom one is not Acanthastrea echinata? Echinata are very aggressive against other corals. 1 Quote Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted January 20, 2015 Author Share Posted January 20, 2015 The orange one could definitely be echinata... Yikes, I didn't realize. Thanks for the heads up! Quote Link to comment
D Z Posted January 20, 2015 Share Posted January 20, 2015 Yeah, it looks like that is an Acan Echinata: http://cultivatedreef.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=19_2&product_id=740 Echinatas are nasty, which reminds me I need to move a bunch of frags away from mine.... Quote Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted January 20, 2015 Author Share Posted January 20, 2015 Yeah, it looks like that is an Acan Echinata: http://cultivatedreef.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=19_2&product_id=740 Echinatas are nasty, which reminds me I need to move a bunch of frags away from mine.... Thanks for that. They've been separated. I guess you learn something new every day. 1 Quote Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted January 21, 2015 Author Share Posted January 21, 2015 Disassembled the wet side of my MP10, and scrubbed out some of the muck (along with a couple Stomatella snails). What in the world have I been waiting for?! The thing is dead silent now. If you're starting to hear your Vortech, break it down, clean it up and enjoy! Click Here for Instructional Video! Quote Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 I think I rounded out my fish collection this weekend, and I'm pretty pleased with the tankmates now! I love wrasses, but never really considered having a Melanurus. I quickly reconsidered when I started finding zoanthid eating nudibranches romping around some of my z's & p's. These guys are supposed to be great hunters, and seeing as how my leopard wrasse is useless at picking bugs, I thought the Melanurus would make a nice addition. He's a little bigger than I wanted, but he's very personable. The Midas Blenny is one of those that is not rare or unique, but they're awesome. Good vibrant yellow, with bright blue eyes and a couple little eyelashes! I took care to release it where I wanted it to live, and it proceeded to make a very cool little hideaway. So when it's not swimming around the tank, it's perches here, guarding it's spot! 9 Quote Link to comment
Fnard Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Those are some nice color going on right thar! Congrats and keep up the good work. Quote Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted January 27, 2015 Author Share Posted January 27, 2015 Those are some nice color going on right thar! Congrats and keep up the good work. Thanks... will certainly try! Quote Link to comment
Dryland Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Cool fish choices! Quote Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted January 27, 2015 Author Share Posted January 27, 2015 Does anyone know if a BTA can/will sting a clam mantle? Quote Link to comment
picoreef78 Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Nice fish. I have been thinking about a couple more fish for my tank. I love the Midas Blenny. This guy is nice too. http://www.orafarm.com/products/fish/blennies/red-sea-mimic/ I saw a bit of Cryptocaryon irritants on by A. ocellaris All the other fish look great. The clownfish look healthy and happy otherwise. Going to set up a quarantine bin this weekend and treat with copper for a while. Quote Link to comment
sfg Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 love the progress man!! Watch that Midas! I also picked one up for my CL 45G and he went carpet surfing within a week.. sucks.. i'll be updating my thread here soon.. everything is online and tank has cycled awhile back.. just need to get off my butt and snap pictures! Quote Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 Nice fish. I have been thinking about a couple more fish for my tank. I love the Midas Blenny. This guy is nice too. http://www.orafarm.com/products/fish/blennies/red-sea-mimic/ I saw a bit of Cryptocaryon irritants on by A. ocellaris All the other fish look great. The clownfish look healthy and happy otherwise. Going to set up a quarantine bin this weekend and treat with copper for a while. The Midas Blenny is a super cool fish. I call it a she, even though I have no idea what sex it is. She's got a very cool personality, and after a couple hours of hiding, she's one of the most active swimmers in the tank. Good luck with your quarantine. Hope all turns out well! love the progress man!! Watch that Midas! I also picked one up for my CL 45G and he went carpet surfing within a week.. sucks.. i'll be updating my thread here soon.. everything is online and tank has cycled awhile back.. just need to get off my butt and snap pictures! Thanks! She's doing well so far. I was careful to pour her into the tank right where I wanted her to make her den. The little rock pile has a good sized void underneath it that she loves, and it only has one small access point. It had two, but I planted one of my BTAs into one of them, so she feels really safe in there. I also make sure to keep a lid on the tank when I'm not at the office. Glad to hear things are coming along, can't wait to see some photos! Quote Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 I've been away from the site for a couple weeks now... they retooled the network here at the office, and NR was flagged as a "potentially dangerous" site, and it was blocked. It said that it might have Mal-ware... so I couldn't log on for a while. It was a tough thing, considering how often I like to log in and check out everyone's threads. Apparently the danger has passed now, and the site is safe again... or something... Tank is doing really well. Everything seems happy, with the exception of one of my green birds' nest. It was perfect on Monday, and on Wednesday I noticed the base had turned white. Today (Friday), half of the (Big-Mac sized) colony is dead. I fragged off a few of the healthy looking branches and stuck them in a rock crevice. I'm not sure what happened, but it sure did happen fast. Strange thing is that the other half of that colony, which is on the other side of the tank looks 100%. I'll do a big water change today, and see what happens over the weekend. I've finally started seeing some PE on my new Oregon & Cali Torts. They haven't lost any color, but I hadn't seen any polyps for a week or so. Now, I'm just starting to see a their little tips popping out. Zoanthids are growing like weeds, BTAs are happy, stylo and birds' nests (minus the one above) are all looking good. The fish are happy, and even my refugium is looking sharp! State of the Fish Tank is strong! Quote Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted February 6, 2015 Author Share Posted February 6, 2015 My office & the tank get direct afternoon sunlight between 2:00-3:00. I usually keep the blinds closed so I can see my computer screen, but occasionally I like the tank to get some natural sunlight, which hits corals at far different angles than the artificial light can. I don't know if it provides any benefit at all, but I like it every once in a while. Here are some photos with the natural light on the tank. Sorry for the reflections in the glass. There wasn't much I could do about it! Here's my little Midas Blenny. I less-than-sign-three this fish. She looks like she's trailing fairy dust in this shot. You can see how much brighter yellow she is now that she's gotten comfortable in the tank. Here's the little male clown pretending that he owns this nem. It's his castle till mama comes around... Here's mama in one of her many domiciles... Purple stylo in the foreground is looking very good. Here are a couple shots of the melanurus wrasse. It's such an underrated fish. It's very pretty, is interesting in the tank, and it gobbles up zoanthid-eating nudibranches, flatworms, etc., with vigor. In the natural light, it really shines. I wish I was able to get these shots without the reflection, because they're pretty awesome! 4 Quote Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted February 6, 2015 Share Posted February 6, 2015 wow, natural light looks good! Quote Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 wow, natural light looks good! Thanks! It's kinda cool because it hits the tank at the same angle as the viewing angle, so you see some colors you don't normally see with light coming from the top down! I'm ready to see an updated FTS for your PiCo... love those dimensions... 1 Quote Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 So the birds nest coral went from 100% to completely dead in about 3 days. Nothing else in the tank looks distraught, including the other half of this coral (it used to be 1 big colony, but I split it into two pieces). Is this just how it goes with SPS? Quote Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 Purple Cap has been in the tank for 1 month 2 Quote Link to comment
Rehype Posted February 9, 2015 Share Posted February 9, 2015 Looks awesome chris....everything seems happy and healthy. Quote Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 Looks awesome chris....everything seems happy and healthy. Thank you sir! I'm really enjoying this tank. I still have that BM doser sitting in a box. I've been wanting to get it set up, but I'm a little intimidated. This'll be my first time really dosing anything, but as I keep adding SPS pieces, I think dosing two-part will be good for growth. I also think it might be time to crank up the Radion just a little bit. I'm still running it at 40%, and I thought I might turn it up 5-10% and see how it goes. Have you maxed out your intensity yet, or are you still playing with it? If you did max out, what % did you get up to? Quote Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted February 9, 2015 Author Share Posted February 9, 2015 Here are the two newest SPS frags from Reef Gardener. 1 Oregon Tort and 1 Cali Tort. Still not much PE, but their color looks pretty good. You can also see some Zs & Ps in this photo. Goblin's Fire on the left, Blue Hornets, Blondies and Space Monsters on the right. I'm not sure why, but the Blue Hornets are killing it in this tank. I fragged a bigger colony into about 6 smaller frags, and they're growing like mad... 2 Quote Link to comment
Rehype Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I also think it might be time to crank up the Radion just a little bit. I'm still running it at 40%, and I thought I might turn it up 5-10% and see how it goes. Have you maxed out your intensity yet, or are you still playing with it? If you did max out, what % did you get up to? Its funny you mentioned that I actually decided to change my lighting schedule. I added a few sps to see how they would do under the radion and changed the profile to the Radiant color preset. At this point im up to 75% on that profile and so far so good. Quote Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 Its funny you mentioned that I actually decided to change my lighting schedule. I added a few sps to see how they would do under the radion and changed the profile to the Radiant color preset. At this point im up to 75% on that profile and so far so good. Nice. I remember you had a pretty funky program that separated the whites and blues into almost their own cycles. Are you liking the preset you've got now? Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.