Orangutran Posted November 25, 2015 Author Share Posted November 25, 2015 Good job eating that lionfish haha and nice sump pic I can't wait to go back just to eat more! Lol Thanks, I'm trying to add some sort of mechanical filtration to my sump. Too much crap settling in it. I don't know if a single clown always stays small but mine may have because he was in with his mom and dad for a couple of years. He had a sibling with him but mom was very aggressive and killed that one. Baby however was being hosted by a large thick finger coral and mom couldn't get into where he was. Killer mom! Nature is cruel! As for staying small, I'm sure it's all those factors! But seriously my clown now is bigger than the old one. Unless I didn't feed my old one enough......... Quote Link to comment
Orangutran Posted December 4, 2015 Author Share Posted December 4, 2015 Early Christmas present to me. New equipment After plugging in the new neo therm heater, I find out my digital thermometer is way off, like by 6 degrees! The digital thermometer showed 76F when tank was actually 82F, and I thought my jagr was crap cus it was cranked up to 82F to maintain the 78F I was aiming for… Might need a new battery in the thermometer. Also picked up a few new frags: Forest fire digi Orange (tyree) setosa Red zoas that glow (doesn't have a name) Found a local frag dealer that will be my main supplier from now on! All the photos he takes look exactly the same in real life, cus he shoots under T5s, so there is no blue / actinic glow in the pics. No buyers remorse when I put them in my tank!! 2 Quote Link to comment
Orangutran Posted December 17, 2015 Author Share Posted December 17, 2015 I just did something I thought I would never do… got a bunch of "fancy" zoas! Couldn't resist, 9 frags for $75! I was never into zoa names either, but they include.. Candy apple orange Red hornetBlue hornetSunnyDPineapple expressFrankenstein Blue eyed blonde Photo of them sitting in my sump, with crappy sump light, till I decide on where to place them in the display. Good thing, cus I found an aiptasia, which I burned off with a butane lighter. Sheesh, now that I have all these zoas, I'm hesitant to add any sexy shrimps and a dwarf angel, which was my original plan… 3 Quote Link to comment
vlangel Posted December 17, 2015 Share Posted December 17, 2015 I just did something I thought I would never do… got a bunch of "fancy" zoas! Couldn't resist, 9 frags for $75! I was never into zoa names either, but they include.. Candy apple orange[/size] Red hornet[/size]Blue hornet[/size]SunnyD[/size]Pineapple express[/size]Frankenstein[/size] Blue eyed blonde[/size] Photo of them sitting in my sump, with crappy sump light, till I decide on where to place them in the display. Good thing, cus I found an aiptasia, which I burned off with a butane lighter. Sheesh, now that I have all these zoas, I'm hesitant to add any sexy shrimps and a dwarf angel, which was my original plan… I love zoas but they frustrate me because they will stop opening and just recede and I can't pin point why. Still I also have some although I did not spend much. 2 Quote Link to comment
Orangutran Posted December 17, 2015 Author Share Posted December 17, 2015 I love zoas but they frustrate me because they will stop opening and just recede and I can't pin point why. Still I also have some although I did not spend much. Same thing happened to me in my old tank, when my tank started going downhill… I sure hope these ones survive a long time, or no more zoas for me! I have been eyeing your yellow polyps! Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted December 30, 2015 Share Posted December 30, 2015 Nice zoas! I'm like Dawn, I have a love/hate relationship with them. I love the fancy ones and can't resist buying them. They seem to do great at fist but then half of them close up and die for no apparent reason. Getting zoas to thrive in my tanks seems to be my biggest challenge as a reefer right now 1 Quote Link to comment
Orangutran Posted January 21, 2016 Author Share Posted January 21, 2016 Nice zoas! I'm like Dawn, I have a love/hate relationship with them. I love the fancy ones and can't resist buying them. They seem to do great at fist but then half of them close up and die for no apparent reason. Getting zoas to thrive in my tanks seems to be my biggest challenge as a reefer right now Ok well half the zoas from that batch I posted aren't doing so well... so I think I'm in the same situation you are. FTS Update: Don't know why my pics always look so dark. Not too much change, except for the frags. Can't wait to fill up with more corals! And I really like my chromises... #chromis 3 Quote Link to comment
Orangutran Posted January 21, 2016 Author Share Posted January 21, 2016 Just a few vacation photos taken in Curacao from last year.. The beach we went to was littered with dead corals, wish I could have brought some back! They used all these dead corals as rocks to place around each parking spot at the beach! Noooo....! Here's the beach I went to, Cas Abao. My daughter doing a little yoga pose. Saw some fishies but no corals at all. Ok coolest thing was the saltwater swimming pool at our hotel, which had a man made beach, so the bottom of the pool was covered with sand! And in the pool, were tons and tons of snails! Mostly nassarius and ceriths! Here's a group of nassarius chowing down on something, or breeding... I had my snorkels on, but no one knew the "pebbles" they felt under their feet were snails... 4 Quote Link to comment
4x5 Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 Tank is looking great. I'm a big fan of Chromis, I think they are underrated fish. Lots of food and other fish to keep their brains occupied works well for me to stop aggression. 3+ seems to be a good number. 1 Quote Link to comment
Orangutran Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 Tank is looking great. I'm a big fan of Chromis, I think they are underrated fish. Lots of food and other fish to keep their brains occupied works well for me to stop aggression. 3+ seems to be a good number. Thanks dude! Appreciate it. And yeah, I want to get another chromis, but the two I have now are buddies, so I don't wanna add a third wheel. I enjoy them more than my clowns. Quote Link to comment
Orangutran Posted February 9, 2016 Author Share Posted February 9, 2016 Update: I was getting a lot of shadowing under my digi, so I took off the lens from the reef breeders LEDs, and it's just a tiny bit better. Now I understand why people go with T5-LED hybrids! Also, last week I went to pick up a couple of frags from my "dealer".. and walked away with 6! It's like, the more I buy, the cheaper he makes it! How can I say no? Got the following… red digi, teal bird nest, duncan, pokerstar monti, sunset monti, acan… I hope my weekly water changes can keep up with the needs of these corals... 3 Quote Link to comment
4x5 Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Very nice frags. That acan looks great, what colours are in it? And those montis are really beautiful. 1 Quote Link to comment
Orangutran Posted February 10, 2016 Author Share Posted February 10, 2016 Very nice frags. That acan looks great, what colours are in it? And those montis are really beautiful. Thanks! I was so stoked about them, I woke up early the next morning to stare at them! lol Here's a better pic of the acan, taken by the guy I bought it from… And at the moment, those encrusting monti's are my favourites! I'm trying to borrow some extension tubes for my camera to take macro shots. Read your tips about taking pics, we'll see how it goes! 1 Quote Link to comment
vlangel Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Great looking frags! Those are going to be wonderful additions to your tank. So how is your basement sump working out? I thank you again for your advise when I did mine. I am glad I used 1" ID line on the return as I have excellent flow. The ponies will swim up to the tank just to go for a ride in it, ha ha! 1 Quote Link to comment
Orangutran Posted February 10, 2016 Author Share Posted February 10, 2016 Great looking frags! Those are going to be wonderful additions to your tank. So how is your basement sump working out? I thank you again for your advise when I did mine. I am glad I used 1" ID line on the return as I have excellent flow. The ponies will swim up to the tank just to go for a ride in it, ha ha! Thanks, I'll need a FTS with the new frags, although since they are frags, it won't look like much. Now I just have to be patient and wait a year or two for them to grow out! Aren't basement sumps awesome??! I was just securing my plumbing with metal straps a couple nights ago, as my flex tubing was getting a bit droopy. Also made a rack for filter floss, where my drain goes into the tank (instead of filter sock). I like the fuge in your sump! That's something I'm missing!! Your ponies think they are riding the EAC! 1 Quote Link to comment
Orangutran Posted March 10, 2016 Author Share Posted March 10, 2016 I finally found a pink streaked wrasse! Bought from a local reefer who special ordered a bunch and had 1 left. Had to stake out across the room with my zoom lens to get this picture, he's quite shy still... Nice big green monti "frag" that I got for 20 bucks. The chromis love to play in it. First macro shot of my rainbow monti. First time using extension tubes with my 50mm, so I'm still a newb with macro photography. And the ONLY good shot from the public aquarium, everything else was too fast to capture, and lighting wasn't the best… 2 Quote Link to comment
vlangel Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Hey orangutran, nice pics. Glad to hear from you! That is a very cool cuttlefish pic. 1 Quote Link to comment
Orangutran Posted March 13, 2016 Author Share Posted March 13, 2016 Hey orangutran, nice pics. Glad to hear from you! That is a very cool cuttlefish pic. Thanks! I've been extremely busy at work, and that takes away my N-R time. Also just realized I have bryopsis on some frags in my sump, good thing it hasn't gotten to my display. So I need to get rid of those frags and turn off the sump light, and hope for the best!! 1 Quote Link to comment
vlangel Posted March 13, 2016 Share Posted March 13, 2016 Thanks! I've been extremely busy at work, and that takes away my N-R time. Also just realized I have bryopsis on some frags in my sump, good thing it hasn't gotten to my display. So I need to get rid of those frags and turn off the sump light, and hope for the best!! That sounds like a good plan to get rid of the bryopsis. 1 Quote Link to comment
Orangutran Posted April 28, 2016 Author Share Posted April 28, 2016 So I'm thinking about getting a nocturnal fish that eats pods, and it looks like the banggai cardinal fits the bill! (never knew they were nocturnal, no wonder they got the big eyes...) Anyone have experience with them? And yeah, I'll make sure it's captive bred, given that they are endangered and all. Reason for a night time pod eater is that when my lights go out, the killer amphipods come out and munch on my (healthy) zoas! I lost a nice frag already, and now another frag is being eaten (6 heads down to 3). These mofos are huge! 2 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted April 28, 2016 Share Posted April 28, 2016 So I'm thinking about getting a nocturnal fish that eats pods, and it looks like the banggai cardinal fits the bill! (never knew they were nocturnal, no wonder they got the big eyes...) Anyone have experience with them? And yeah, I'll make sure it's captive bred, given that they are endangered and all. Reason for a night time pod eater is that when my lights go out, the killer amphipods come out and munch on my (healthy) zoas! I lost a nice frag already, and now another frag is being eaten (6 heads down to 3). These mofos are huge! I have the same problem in my 4g tank. But in my 10g tank, they started showing up until I got my pink streaked wrasse. Now I never see any in that tank, night or day. Lots of people report six line wrasses are great for this too, although they also have a reputation for being d*cks. Quote Link to comment
Orangutran Posted April 29, 2016 Author Share Posted April 29, 2016 I have the same problem in my 4g tank. But in my 10g tank, they started showing up until I got my pink streaked wrasse. Now I never see any in that tank, night or day. Lots of people report six line wrasses are great for this too, although they also have a reputation for being d*cks. My pink streaked wrasse sleeps at night, and that's when them amphipods come out for the zoa buffet! These guys are so big, I wonder if the ps wrasse would be scared of them, it's like "hell no I aint eating that!" Btw, you zoa collection is awesome. I wish my sunny d's looked like yours! 1 Quote Link to comment
teenyreef Posted April 29, 2016 Share Posted April 29, 2016 My pink streaked wrasse sleeps at night, and that's when them amphipods come out for the zoa buffet! These guys are so big, I wonder if the ps wrasse would be scared of them, it's like "hell no I aint eating that!" Btw, you zoa collection is awesome. I wish my sunny d's looked like yours! Thanks! The sunny d's are one of my favorite varieties. I've thought about the problem with wrasses sleeping at night when the amphipods come out. But mine seem to stay under control anyway. I wonder if it's just a matter of the PSW getting old and big enough to take on the big amphipods. Like you said, some of them are pretty scary Have you thought about a mandarin goby? They are notorious for living off of pods. I don't have any experience with the bangai cardinals so I can't comment on that option. 1 Quote Link to comment
Orangutran Posted May 4, 2016 Author Share Posted May 4, 2016 Update: So this past Saturday, my return pump (mag7) stopped just as I was about to step out to get get food for my wife's birthday party! I threw the heater into the display, and didn't look at the problem until Sunday morning. Found a tiny snail stuck against the impeller, and did a vinegar bath while the pump was out. Anyway, the mag is making more noise than usual, so I'm thinking about getting a dc pump, since the damn govt keeps jacking up the cost of electricity no matter how much we try to conserve… Also, I just discovered that the stringy stuff in my tank is digitate hydroids! Never knew such a thing existed, I knew they annoyed my corals, but thought it was just some type of worm feeding. So yeah, I'm not panicking, just wait and see if they go away. Quote Link to comment
vlangel Posted May 4, 2016 Share Posted May 4, 2016 Update: So this past Saturday, my return pump (mag7) stopped just as I was about to step out to get get food for my wife's birthday party! I threw the heater into the display, and didn't look at the problem until Sunday morning. Found a tiny snail stuck against the impeller, and did a vinegar bath while the pump was out. Anyway, the mag is making more noise than usual, so I'm thinking about getting a dc pump, since the damn govt keeps jacking up the cost of electricity no matter how much we try to conserve… Also, I just discovered that the stringy stuff in my tank is digitate hydroids! Never knew such a thing existed, I knew they annoyed my corals, but thought it was just some type of worm feeding. So yeah, I'm not panicking, just wait and see if they go away. Stupid snail. O well a good excuse to upgrade. No I never heard of those hydroids either. Quote Link to comment
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