fishfreak0114 Posted July 10, 2017 Author Share Posted July 10, 2017 A couple more pics. I still haven't seen the second anemone shrimp or the Halloween hermit crab I'm going to see if the caulerpa irritates anything here. I think it's far enough away from the zoas P7102169 by orb1915, on Flickr P7102171 by orb1915, on Flickr I moved the mint trumpet (which was actually being stung by 2 of the duncans), and put the new one next to it. P7102172 by orb1915, on Flickr The red macro is filling a gap where the toadstool hangs over. No corals like it there P7102173 by orb1915, on Flickr 1 Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 10, 2017 Author Share Posted July 10, 2017 The yellow line and neon ate well, but the pink bar didn't leave the "burrow" 2 Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 Today alk was at 6.1. It seems to drop between .2 and .3 dkh/day, but I need to do at least a week more of testing to confirm because I missed a couple days while I was away. Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 Here's a video of my trip to the Vancouver Aquarium if anyone is interested. And yes, at this point I'm just putting random Ed Sheeran songs to all my videos... 1 Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Your nem shrimp are so pretty, and the pistol is so tiny! The fishes are adorable, though the pink bar goby has a very serious face lol. Nice haul overall! Oh, and that red macro looks like my 'branching red macro' that I think might have been a species of laurencia? Or I might be confusing it with another, I am pretty tired lol. 1 Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 24 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said: Your nem shrimp are so pretty, and the pistol is so tiny! The fishes are adorable, though the pink bar goby has a very serious face lol. Nice haul overall! Oh, and that red macro looks like my 'branching red macro' that I think might have been a species of laurencia? Or I might be confusing it with another, I am pretty tired lol. I thought it was a pretty good haul I'll look up that macro tomorrow. Whatever it is, it's pretty and I hope it does well. 1 Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 And here's my favorite pics from the aquarium P7081732 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081749 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081751 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081819 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081848 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081858 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081897 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081914 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081916 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081966 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081976 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081985 by orb1915, on Flickr P7082024 by orb1915, on Flickr P7082047 by orb1915, on Flickr My favorite Monet painting I saw P7082076 by orb1915, on Flickr P7082086 by orb1915, on Flickr And my favorite of Emily Carr's P7082090 by orb1915, on Flickr P7082118 by orb1915, on Flickr P7082126 by orb1915, on Flickr The supplies I ordered are here! I can't wait to get all the plates off the sand bed. 1 Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 12, 2017 Author Share Posted July 12, 2017 Well the frag rack was disappointing. When I looked at the dimensions, I made sure it would fit on the side of the tank, but I didn't look at how far into the tank it went. It was hurting the finger leather so I took it out. Also, only half of my plugs fit in it. Apparently the stems need to be super skinny. What I found really weird was that some of the plugs that were the same brand as the frag rack fit, while others didn't. All were from the same pack. Anyways, I'm going to see if I can return it or if not, sell it. I guess my sand shall remain cluttered Unless I figure out how to DIY something with egg crate. Pretty sure I have some kicking around... Alk was testing at about 5.9 today. My first test came out way lower, but the second and third were consistent. Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 12, 2017 Author Share Posted July 12, 2017 I'm so glad I kept my old magfloat. Now if only I'd gone DIY in the first place. I wanted a nice looking rack, but oh well. I'd like to get start getting rid of the plates soon anyways. Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 12, 2017 Author Share Posted July 12, 2017 Quick update on the fish, they're all doing well still. I plan on feeding today and a water change tomorrow. I've been dosing prime daily, and I put in a media bag from my DT in hopes of carrying some bacteria over. No signs of ich so far! I just dosed alk for the first time! I put in a very small dose, just to make sure I did my calculations and mixed it right. My goal for the first dose is to raise it by 0.2 dkh (daily consumption). Once I know if it works (I'll test in an hour or so), I can work on bringing alk to around 7. I think that's around where I'd like it to stay. @Lula_Mae, I looked up laurencia, but didn't find one that looked like mine. I'm not overly concerned with what it is, but maybe one day I'll come across a name. Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 12, 2017 Author Share Posted July 12, 2017 Huh. I just tested again, and alk is lower now? Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 13, 2017 Author Share Posted July 13, 2017 I tested again a minute ago and got 5.9. Dosed a second time, same amount as the first time. Will test again in an hour or so. Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 13, 2017 Author Share Posted July 13, 2017 Now it's reading 5.7ish. Maybe I'm just really bad at testing? I'm going to do a slightly larger dose to see if there is a noticeable raise. Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 13, 2017 Author Share Posted July 13, 2017 Hmm. I'm utterly confused. If I did the math right (which I'm thinking I didn't?), by this time I would have dosed enough to raise alk by 0.8, but it's still at 5.7... I made the frag rack, it's very sloped, oh well. I'm just hoping it doesn't break overnight. It's definitely not the strongest. Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 On 7/11/2017 at 4:31 PM, fishfreak0114 said: And here's my favorite pics from the aquarium P7081732 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081749 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081751 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081819 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081848 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081858 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081897 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081914 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081916 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081966 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081976 by orb1915, on Flickr P7081985 by orb1915, on Flickr P7082024 by orb1915, on Flickr P7082047 by orb1915, on Flickr My favorite Monet painting I saw P7082076 by orb1915, on Flickr P7082086 by orb1915, on Flickr And my favorite of Emily Carr's P7082090 by orb1915, on Flickr P7082118 by orb1915, on Flickr P7082126 by orb1915, on Flickr The supplies I ordered are here! I can't wait to get all the plates off the sand bed. Dart frogs! I believe those are E. anthonyi. I've wanted darts for a while now. Someday I'd love to have some Ranitomaya fantastica, the true nominal form is incredible. But I may go with much cheaper frogs to start out with lol. On 7/11/2017 at 9:05 PM, fishfreak0114 said: Well the frag rack was disappointing. When I looked at the dimensions, I made sure it would fit on the side of the tank, but I didn't look at how far into the tank it went. It was hurting the finger leather so I took it out. Also, only half of my plugs fit in it. Apparently the stems need to be super skinny. What I found really weird was that some of the plugs that were the same brand as the frag rack fit, while others didn't. All were from the same pack. Anyways, I'm going to see if I can return it or if not, sell it. I guess my sand shall remain cluttered Unless I figure out how to DIY something with egg crate. Pretty sure I have some kicking around... Alk was testing at about 5.9 today. My first test came out way lower, but the second and third were consistent. If all else fails, try a suction cup soap dish (the flat-ish kind). Won't hold really fat plugs but a lot of standard ones work fine. You do have to watch out for biofilm forming on the suction cups cus it'll lose grip on the tank wall lol. Regarding the alk test--could you take some water to the LFS to test? Not sure why you're getting such weird results. 1 Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 14, 2017 Author Share Posted July 14, 2017 32 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said: Dart frogs! I believe those are E. anthonyi. I've wanted darts for a while now. Someday I'd love to have some Ranitomaya fantastica, the true nominal form is incredible. But I may go with much cheaper frogs to start out with lol. If all else fails, try a suction cup soap dish (the flat-ish kind). Won't hold really fat plugs but a lot of standard ones work fine. You do have to watch out for biofilm forming on the suction cups cus it'll lose grip on the tank wall lol. Regarding the alk test--could you take some water to the LFS to test? Not sure why you're getting such weird results. I just looked up Ranitomaya fantastica and wow! Absolutely stunning ^I don't know how to remove all those bullet points that I accidentally put in...oops The rack has held up thus far so I'm happy. I plan to post an ad on the local fb group a day or two before my next trip to kamloops/Kelowna so I can sell/give away some. Then I can continue breaking them off the main skeleton. The rack is near capacity right now. Unfortunately the nearest LFS that does salt is an hour and a half away, and I'm not even sure if they offer testing. I think I'm just bad at testing, although I usually get fairly consist results when testing multiple times in a row. With further additions of alk today, I've got it up to around 7. Instead of shooting for a specific number, I think I'll just test regularly and make sure my dosing is ballpark 7. I did a water change on the QT today. They're all still happy and healthy. I plan to QT for 2.5 weeks ish. I'm really only looking for ich. So far, the pink bar hasn't eaten while I'm watching, and I've discovered that the neon and yellow line love mysis, but are picky when it comes to mussel and flake. The pink duncan has been somewhat retracted lately. I thought it was just because Jacques likes to hang out there, but turns out there were 5 vermetids on/near it! They have been tweezed to nonextistance I need to go hunting again. 1 Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted July 14, 2017 Share Posted July 14, 2017 19 minutes ago, fishfreak0114 said: I just looked up Ranitomaya fantastica and wow! Absolutely stunning ^I don't know how to remove all those bullet points that I accidentally put in...oops The rack has held up thus far so I'm happy. I plan to post an ad on the local fb group a day or two before my next trip to kamloops/Kelowna so I can sell/give away some. Then I can continue breaking them off the main skeleton. The rack is near capacity right now. Unfortunately the nearest LFS that does salt is an hour and a half away, and I'm not even sure if they offer testing. I think I'm just bad at testing, although I usually get fairly consist results when testing multiple times in a row. With further additions of alk today, I've got it up to around 7. Instead of shooting for a specific number, I think I'll just test regularly and make sure my dosing is ballpark 7. I did a water change on the QT today. They're all still happy and healthy. I plan to QT for 2.5 weeks ish. I'm really only looking for ich. So far, the pink bar hasn't eaten while I'm watching, and I've discovered that the neon and yellow line love mysis, but are picky when it comes to mussel and flake. The pink duncan has been somewhat retracted lately. I thought it was just because Jacques likes to hang out there, but turns out there were 5 vermetids on/near it! They have been tweezed to nonextistance I need to go hunting again. Yeah, the Ranitomaya genus are stunners--they're called "thumbnails" or "thumbs" because they're literally about as long as a thumbnail. Josh's Frogs has some pics of some with other objects (like camera lens covers) on their individual pages and it's amazing how tiny they are! I'm an hour away from a salt store--I feel your pain lol. 1 Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 16, 2017 Author Share Posted July 16, 2017 Time for an FTS with all the new stuff and the frag rack! Excuse the rack's crookedness P7142187 by orb1915, on Flickr P7142216 by orb1915, on Flickr The white spot shrimp has been sighted multiple times now. Still no sign of the ghost, so I'm thinking it may have died P7132178 by orb1915, on Flickr P7142214 by orb1915, on Flickr The baby plates are enjoying the extra light, as well as not being constantly walked on and flipped over. P7142195 by orb1915, on Flickr P7142240 by orb1915, on Flickr P7142241 by orb1915, on Flickr Had to throw in some blasto pics. I love how they all smoosh together when they're puffy P7142204 by orb1915, on Flickr P7142250 by orb1915, on Flickr P7142253 by orb1915, on Flickr P7142260 by orb1915, on Flickr P7142261 by orb1915, on Flickr P7142266 by orb1915, on Flickr P7142267 by orb1915, on Flickr P7142207 by orb1915, on Flickr P7142208 by orb1915, on Flickr P7142217 by orb1915, on Flickr P7142225 by orb1915, on Flickr P7142232 by orb1915, on Flickr P7142236 by orb1915, on Flickr P7142238 by orb1915, on Flickr The dendro is well on the way to a full recovery P7142268 by orb1915, on Flickr The lobo continues to recede, despite regular feeding and iodine dips. I don't know what else to do. Suggestions? P7142269 by orb1915, on Flickr I don't think the head of the trumpet that was stung will recover P7142209 by orb1915, on Flickr I'm still trying to think of a name for this guy P7142212 by orb1915, on Flickr 3 Quote Link to comment
HIppieRose Posted July 16, 2017 Share Posted July 16, 2017 I love your tank. Well done. 1 Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 16, 2017 Author Share Posted July 16, 2017 49 minutes ago, HIppieRose said: I love your tank. Well done. Thank you! Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 17, 2017 Author Share Posted July 17, 2017 You know, I though ORA fish were supposed to eat just about anything, but the two won't eat krill either. Mysis it is... Alk had dropped to 6.1 by yesterday. That seems like a really fast drop. I ended up dosing a randomly selected amount that will hopefully give it a little boost. I'm getting sort of frustrated, because sometimes my dosing seems to have no effect whatsoever, yet I as able to raise it to 7. And then it dropped back by the next day. Maybe I'm just missing something? I'll re-read the instructions when I get home. I'm in Kelowna for the weekend (but with my dad so no getting rid of plates), and last night we went to the drive in an hour away from Kelowna. What a blast! They were playing a double feature of Despicable Me 3 and Transformers 5. We didn't get back to my grandma's until 3am! Back at my mom's house, we have family visiting from Poland. That includes my two little cousins, ages 6 and 10 (I think). Naturally, the cat was terrorized, the gecko was woken up, and rules around all my fish tanks had to be set in place. I'm so worried about my reef, I keep texting my mom to make sure everything's ok. I can just picture them "feeding the fish" with human food, or some other catastrophic event. One of them knocked over my frag rack yesterday, the little girl I think, and my mom said she went for the magnet again. And the boy loves starfish, so I took an asterina out for him to hold. The lid was up, and he plunged his hands into the tank!!!! My mom had to step in and tell him that that wasn't allowed because I was frozen in horror Worries aside, I'm super happy to see them! It's been three years since we visited them in Poland. Because I like pictures (can you tell?), here's my latest baking creation. Yesterday was the girl's 6th birthday, so I made these chocolate with raspberry frosting unicorn cupcakes. She loved it! 20170715_120028_resized by orb1915, on Flickr 2 Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 19, 2017 Author Share Posted July 19, 2017 I was kind of worried about the neon goy tonight, but I've decided he's alright. He was really fat/bloated looking. He's swimming fine, however, and acting normal. I fed a blanched pea in case he is constipated. Tomorrow I really need to do a water change on the QT, as well as several of my freshwater tanks. Water change for the reef this weekend Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 The neon goby was super adorable today. He clung to my hand and nibbled a bit during the water change I think next Wednesday or Thursday is the day they'll go in. I still haven't figured out the whole alk think, I guess it'll just be trial and error. I hadn't trimmed the GSP in ages, an it spread to the rock! I think I'm going to leave it for now and see if the mushrooms can keep it in check. One thing I have considered for a long time is putting GSP on the back wall of the tank and getting rid of the island. I'm not sure if it would make the corals pop more (because most towards the back are pinkish) or make them disappear. Thoughts? It would be nice to free up that sand space, and expose the rock behind. Room for a euphyllia or something. g by orb1915, on Flickr As expected, the head of trumpet that was stung couldn't make a comeback. So I had two heads for the longest time, then it finally split to three and like a week later I'm back to two h by orb1915, on Flickr Progress pic of the dendro k by orb1915, on Flickr I've been looking at the Fluval EVO 5 lately. I'm actually considering setting up another tank. I'm really just trying to figure out if I can afford it, what I would put in it, and if I really want another salt tank. Because it is more maintenance than freshwater, and I have my hands pretty full as it is. I would have to take down a freshwater, because I have a 6 tank limit at my mom's house, but that's alright. I could just take down my betta's 3g, and move him into my 5g planted If I got another tank, I'd put it on the table right next to where I sit on the couch. This requires some serious thought. If it happens, it won't be for quite a while. And for those of you with freshwater planted experience: Any suggestions for plants to go on either side of the red ludwigia? And are there any red plants that don't need much light? I plan to replace the alternanthera reineckii because it hasn't grown at all in 6 months, but I don't know with what. Sorry for the post-water change haze. best by orb1915, on Flickr 2 Quote Link to comment
fishfreak0114 Posted July 20, 2017 Author Share Posted July 20, 2017 I forgot to mention, but the ghost anemone shrimp lives! I had a pleasant surprise when I when to trim the GSP this afternoon. That must be where it lurks. 2 Quote Link to comment
Lula_Mae Posted July 20, 2017 Share Posted July 20, 2017 Tank looks great! Only fw plants I really mess with are java fern and anubias haha. 1 Quote Link to comment
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