Where the Wild Things Are: 100 Days (rezing the thread)

[mitten_reef]

6 minutes ago, lkoechle said:

So, I was playing with the DSLR today.  And I don't mean "play" as in "Oh look I me, I'm a hobbyist and take pro pics".  I legit mean play.  I suck at it.  BUT O-M-GOODNESS, I took an FTS that surprised myself:

 

 

And other stuff:

 

 

-whispers- love this...  

 

 

This tank is amazingly colorful!  Assuming not all gorgs/sponges are photosynthetic, what do you feed the gorgonians and sponges, anything specific?  I have the orange ruffle/flower sponge and the Mennella Gorg (red w/ gold polyp), but they aren't looking anywhere near this good.

[fishfreak0114]

Wow, that FTS is a stunner!

[lkoechle]

2 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

It all looks great, but I love the pic of Maru!!!!

Me too! I love how his markings are showing.

[lkoechle]

2 hours ago, micoastreefing said:

This tank is amazingly colorful!  Assuming not all gorgs/sponges are photosynthetic, what do you feed the gorgonians and sponges, anything specific?  I have the orange ruffle/flower sponge and the Mennella Gorg (red w/ gold polyp), but they aren't looking anywhere near this good.

I know one is photosynthetic, the others I treat as NPS and one I am 90% sure is NPS.  I feed either phytofeast or reefroids every other day and dose KZ SpongePower (1 drop) and Brightwell Silica SpongeExcel (3 drops) daily.  I also pour in the thawed water from mysis and stuff since I read they like the "milk".  I will say they have a strong feeding response for sure.

 

ETA: this is also a pretty high flow tank.  and with the gorgonians specifically, I notice they prefer it for shedding their skin.

 

1 hour ago, fishfreak0114 said:

Wow, that FTS is a stunner!

Thanks!

[Thunder Goose]

OK. I went back and started reading the beginning of this build thread. I have to say you stole my idea! 

 

Accept all (or almost all) hitchhikers. Check

 

Aim for a Florida/Caribbean bio-tope. Check.

 

Order live rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater. Check.

 

[pout]

 

Now, you did come up with the idea first...

 

And I did look at this tank as inspiration before I even started mine...

 

But you must have gotten into a time machine and looked at my tank before you set up yours. Yeah, that's right. A time machine [can you tell me how my tank looks in the future?]. 

[lkoechle]

11 minutes ago, Thunder Goose said:

And I did look at this tank as inspiration before I even started mine...

Pretty sure that means you copied me. lol

[mitten_reef]

5 hours ago, lkoechle said:

I know one is photosynthetic, the others I treat as NPS and one I am 90% sure is NPS.  I feed either phytofeast or reefroids every other day and dose KZ SpongePower (1 drop) and Brightwell Silica SpongeExcel (3 drops) daily.  I also pour in the thawed water from mysis and stuff since I read they like the "milk".  I will say they have a strong feeding response for sure.

 

ETA: this is also a pretty high flow tank.  and with the gorgonians specifically, I notice they prefer it for shedding their skin.

 

Thanks! I've read that sponges need extra supplements, just didn't know what specifically. I've never heard of either the products you mentioned, but certainly will take a look at them (sponge supplements weren't really on the radar before).  I feed my tank with reef roids and goniopower. I definitely agree that the red gorg really likes the mysis "milk".  

Do you run phosguard or phosbond? I noticed that those would remove silica, which is supposed to be important to sponges.  I just started about a tablespoon in a media bag free floating in the rear aio chamber, should I take it out? All my hitchhiker sponges seem to be unaffected by the new addition tho. 

[samnaz]

Wow those cup corals (Phyllangia americana?) look fantastic!

[frahny]

Wow! This tank turned out great!

[lkoechle]

9 hours ago, micoastreefing said:

Thanks! I've read that sponges need extra supplements, just didn't know what specifically. I've never heard of either the products you mentioned, but certainly will take a look at them (sponge supplements weren't really on the radar before).  I feed my tank with reef roids and goniopower. I definitely agree that the red gorg really likes the mysis "milk".  

Do you run phosguard or phosbond? I noticed that those would remove silica, which is supposed to be important to sponges.  I just started about a tablespoon in a media bag free floating in the rear aio chamber, should I take it out? All my hitchhiker sponges seem to be unaffected by the new addition tho. 

Well, this tank does have macro algae so I am not too worried about phosphates and I do a 4 gallon water change every week (which is like a 40% waterchange, with the rock displacement theres only about 9.5 to 10 gallons of water).  I wiuld take the phosban out though.  from what I rrad (and all my reading is linked in the first post), sponges consume a very large amount of silica daily.  So for me, that'd trump the use of phosban.  Maybe add macroalgae if phosphates really are an issue?

 

I only have filter floss, carbon, and purigen in the back and a ball of chaeto.

 

6 hours ago, samnaz said:

Wow those cup corals (Phyllangia americana?) look fantastic!

Yep! P. Americana!  I think they're really cool.  They remind me of this glitter nail polish I LOVED in elementary school.  lol

 

 

6 hours ago, frahny said:

Wow! This tank turned out great!

Thanks so much!

[mitten_reef]

Wow! Cool write-up for the first post - gonna have to spend some time reading that! I have the habit of skipping to the last page, ha. Especially when the thread says something about new photos. 

[kimberbee]

Soooo pretty!!

[lkoechle]

'Nother Photo Dump

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

^^ Puppy was being bad and eating kids toys.  This is her protest ^^

 

 

 

 

 

[Weetabix7]

2 minutes ago, lkoechle said:

'Nother Photo Dump

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

^^ Puppy was being bad and eating kids toys.  This is her protest ^^

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautimous. 

[xEL Chupacabrax]

This tank is awesome 

[Lula_Mae]

I love the one of the twin hermits!

[Pinner Reef]

On 6/22/2017 at 0:43 PM, lkoechle said:

So, I was playing with the DSLR today.  And I don't mean "play" as in "Oh look I me, I'm a hobbyist and take pro pics".  I legit mean play.  I suck at it.  BUT O-M-GOODNESS, I took an FTS that surprised myself:

 

 

And other stuff:

 

 

-whispers- love this...  

 

 

 

 

[SeaFurn]

Amazing pics! Amazing tank! Bravo! 

 

[lkoechle]

12 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Beautimous. 

Thank you for your made up word.

 

12 hours ago, xEL Chupacabrax said:

This tank is awesome 

Thanks

 

12 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

I love the one of the twin hermits!

I was actually trying to get a good one of the red hermit for like 10 minutes, and when i finally got it, I realized the blue one had come on to the sponge at some point as well. lol

 

11 hours ago, Pinner Reef said:

 

 

 

11 hours ago, SeaFurn said:

Amazing pics! Amazing tank! Bravo! 

 

Thanks!

[MaineReefkeeper]

This tank is amazingly beautiful!! So colorful and full of life!! Love it!!

[Lula_Mae]

53 minutes ago, lkoechle said:

Thank you for your made up word.

 

Thanks

 

I was actually trying to get a good one of the red hermit for like 10 minutes, and when i finally got it, I realized the blue one had come on to the sponge at some point as well. lol

 

 

Thanks!

Clearly, Blue wanted his moment in the spotlight!

[samnaz]

I've said it before and I'll say it again.... simply BEAUTIFUL.

 

You got this contest in the bag  

[Pjanssen]

nice dump

[lkoechle]

FTS WEEK 8

 

I need to get a glass scraper.  I've got that hard green algae coming in now and uglifiying my glass.  Everything's chugging along.  My yellow sponge (the one at the end of the arch) popped off its rock (UUUUURRRRCCCHHHHHIIIINNNNN!!!!!!!!!!) <--imagine in Cpt Kirk voice yelling "khan!"-- So I'll be epoxying that today... We'll see how it goes.  Not all the NPS gorgs are open in this pic because they're shedding their skin ATM.  The red hermit crabs LOVE it.  It's their fav time of the week.

 

The view I get every time I walk from the formal living room (formally known as the fish room, but that's ironic because it only has the SPS tank while the family room has two tanks). Love it...  Overall, still really happy with this tank. Still paranoid I'm going to wake up and find it's crashed somehow.  We need to get battery powered air pumps for the tanks.  I wish Ecotech made a battery supply for non-ecotech stuff, because I'd buy a pack for every tank.  I love it on my SPS tank.

 

The storms up here have been really strong lately and with hurricane season just around the corner...   

[kimberbee]

Seriously my favorite tank right now. Loooove the colors. I'm sure you've said it before - what do you use for feeding the nps gorgs, how much, and how often?