Lula Mae's full circle 5.5--the end.

[Weetabix7]

11 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

I finally completed training at my job so I decided to celebrate!  I made the trip into Charlotte to visit the one LFS that's easy for me to get to and came away with a nice little haul!  I got a tiny blue mushroom, a reddish cabbage leather, a St. Thomas mushroom and an amazing blasto, and the whole thing only ran $45!  They usually have a nice little selection of stuff for affordable prices, which is why I like them.  Then I went to Petco, since the LFS didn't have any small clowns except some pricey designer ones, and I really wanted to try again on a fish.  At Petco, I found the cutest little misbar clownfish and when the guy fed the tank, it ate eagerly (and the flame angel stole a flake right out of its mouth, poor thing!) so I had him bag it up for me.  It hasn't eaten for me yet but hopefully it settles in soon!  The guy at Petco asked (when I mentioned having a 5.5) if I ever went on Nano-Reef and then said, like any forum, there's some elitists.  I did not mention my forum name in case he thinks I am one of them LOL.

 

Also, while at Petco, they had a 15 gallon long tank, which is a size I've wanted to do a reef in since I was in college and new to the hobby.  I had pretty much settled on a standard 10 for my "big" tank since 15s are hard to come by, but when I saw it, it somehow ended up in my cart and came home with me.   I'm still gathering stuff for the new tank build but once I get stuff together I will be making a tank thread!

 

A few pics since that's what we're all here for:

 

Got another soap dish to hold the new arrivals.  I didn't turn pumps off so it's a bit blurry:

 

 

 

And the new clownfish right after going in the tank:

 

 

Fingers crossed it does well for me, I'm tired of losing fish.

 

Ohmigosh, I love all the new stuff!!!

All of it, love the corals you got and the markings on the new fishy, and I'm super excited to see what you do with a 15L!!!!

That's a cool tank size. 

[Lula_Mae]

6 minutes ago, Weetabix7 said:

 

Ohmigosh, I love all the new stuff!!!

All of it, love the corals you got and the markings on the new fishy, and I'm super excited to see what you do with a 15L!!!!

That's a cool tank size. 

Thanks Weetie!  I saw the blasto on their FB page and knew I had to make a trip in, it's hard to see but the rim is purplish with bright green streaks that match the center.  And I was pretty stoked to find a St. Thomas mushie too!  I've missed mine since I lost them in the crash last spring.  The Petco I went to in college (where I bought my first-ever lump of live rock!) used to have a 15L set up on top of this gorgeous dark wood stand and I always thought it looked so classy!  I couldn't afford it then, of course, and I don't believe they've carried that stand in years, but I am excited to be able to do this tank anyway.   May have to refigure out lighting though lol.

 

Forgot to mention, last night I tried to pull the paly on the top rock to get the bubble algae off it's frag plug, didn't realize it was partially attached to the rock!  Oops, sorry paly!

[kimberbee]

Cute fishie!! 

[fishfreak0114]

Love the newest additions!!  I didn't even know that a 15l was a thing, I look forward to seeing it!  I hope your new clown starts eating soon!

[debbeach13]

Quick ? How long is the 15L? Love all your new livestock. Seems like very good coral prices.

[Lula_Mae]

1 hour ago, fishfreak0114 said:

Love the newest additions!!  I didn't even know that a 15l was a thing, I look forward to seeing it!  I hope your new clown starts eating soon!

Thanks, me too! I don't think 15L is very common, though @Clown79 has one that she is upgrading. It's getting, though, cuz my 9 year old freshwater is a 15H lol.

 

47 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Quick ? How long is the 15L? Love all your new livestock. Seems like very good coral prices.

Thanks!  Yeah they had some good stuff this time and even a little $5 section where I found the mushroom and leather! The 15L is 24" long, 13" deep and 12" high I believe, I think it's basically 20H footprint, just shorter.

[gena]

Awesome LFS haul

 

Can't wait to see the 15L.  That size sounds amazing.  I'm curious about the dimensions too .

[BustytheSnowMaam]

Yay for fishy!  S/he is a cutie.  15L are a good choice- you can do a lot with them.  

[Lula_Mae]

9 hours ago, gena said:

Awesome LFS haul

 

Can't wait to see the 15L.  That size sounds amazing.  I'm curious about the dimensions too .

 

1 hour ago, tashayar said:

Yay for fishy!  S/he is a cutie.  15L are a good choice- you can do a lot with them.  

Thanks!  Yeah the 15L is a nice size, it's only an inch or so wider than the 10 and only 4 inches longer, but that inch in width makes a huge difference!

[Lisa166]

The fish is so pretty! Does he/she have a name yet?

[SeaFurn]

Neat clown! I love my pair! 

Darn, I haven't seen any 15L in my Petco. I'm going to have to go again and see if they do! 

[Lula_Mae]

2 hours ago, Lisa166 said:

The fish is so pretty! Does he/she have a name yet?

Thanks!  Not yet, was waiting to see if it lived lol.  BUT it's eating!  Omega One Marine pellets with garlic, s/he has trouble with the bigger pellets but manages to eat them without too much difficulty.

 

1 hour ago, SeaFurn said:

Neat clown! I love my pair! 

Darn, I haven't seen any 15L in my Petco. I'm going to have to go again and see if they do! 

Most Petcos I've been in don't carry them, but you could inquire about ordering one.  I may have the SKU number if needed.

[Lula_Mae]

Pictures! 

 

Fishy likes the rock.

 

The St. Thomas has a pretty blue-purple hue in real life, the blue mushroom has expanded, and I tried to get a few pics showing the streaks on the blasto's rim:

 

 

 

Edit: posted before I was done.

 

Lastly, a FTS to show...I cleaned the glass!  Hurray!

 

(Well, the inside at least, I forgot to wipe the drips off the outside lol).

[debbeach13]

I think 24" long will give you a lot of lighting choices.

[cfaye@Delaware]

[Lisa166]

Whoopwhoop, fishy ate! Also (s)he is adorbs! The tank looks cool as well. 

[gogeta]

I don't believe it that actually looks like clean glass on your tank!

 

also in my head I hear Like boys 2 men playing and the clown putting the moves on that rock lol. 

[StinkyBunny]

Those 15s are hard to come by, good find.  There's a guy locally that has an old Metaframe stainless steel rimmed 15 that I'd love to have.

[Lula_Mae]

On 9/21/2017 at 7:14 PM, gogeta said:

I don't believe it that actually looks like clean glass on your tank!

 

also in my head I hear Like boys 2 men playing and the clown putting the moves on that rock lol. 

It's true, it's true!  And the clown hasn't left that area, she is either inside the PVC or at the inside of the bend, or on the rock.  She is a fan of her pellets and she eats SO much compared to my bettas, I'm not used to this!

On 9/21/2017 at 8:19 PM, StinkyBunny said:

Those 15s are hard to come by, good find.  There's a guy locally that has an old Metaframe stainless steel rimmed 15 that I'd love to have.

They are, I spent years looking for them after leaving the area where I went to college and the Petco there.  Was pretty stoked to find it, and the only one they had!  An old stainless frame would be neat, someone on here just found a small framed tank at a thrift store.

[StinkyBunny]

One word of caution about the old Metaframe tanks is to make sure the glass is where it should be in the frame and reseal the tank just to be safe. People on Craigslist piss me off with not responding to their ads, I missed 2 tanks because of it.

[Lula_Mae]

Been a busy few weeks over here lol.  The algae (which I suspect is bryopsis or another turf algae) was very aggressive so last night I ended up taking out two of the big rocks and moving one from the GSP garden over here.  I had to pry off the frogspawn, portieria, mushroom, toadstool and Grandis paly, which was pretty easy, and then the sexy peach galaxy palys, some of which got squashed...I glued them to rubble bits, not sure if they would survive, but today they are opening up!  I am happily shocked.  I also moved a bunch of corals around and put some in the GSP garden.  Still have more peroxiding to do on some frags and rocks but I was tired after all that lol.  Oh, I also found my pom pom crab!  Was not happy about being shaken off its rock lol.  Also pom-less.  Sadly, I found a few bits remaining of Valerie, and Miracle Max is gone as well.

 

Yesterday I had the chance to stop by my favorite LFS and found a RED St. Thomas mushroom, which I've wanted for years but never bought because they are always $100+, but they had three of them for $30!!!  I also picked up a scarlet hermit (this time an actual crab in the shell ), a couple astreas, and a GORGEOUS big feather duster, all of which went in the GSP garden but I forgot to take a FTS of it lol. 

 

Pics:

Pom pom when I put it back in the tank:

 

Feather duster while acclimating, it is HUGE!  Like 3-4 inches across!  It's purple, gold and white.  Also, it poops a lot.

 

Sexy peach galaxy palys opening up after their traumatic night!

 

St. Thomas mushroom.  It looks a bit orange and green under my lights but it is a definite red and blue.

 

FTS before I added water back in.   New scape feels more stable than the old one, the middle rock had always been very wobbly.

 

[fishfreak0114]

I love the new St. Thomas!  Sorry to hear about the algae troubles, hopefully you can wipe it out quickly!

[gogeta]

How's that feather duster gonna fit! 

[Lula_Mae]

7 hours ago, fishfreak0114 said:

I love the new St. Thomas!  Sorry to hear about the algae troubles, hopefully you can wipe it out quickly!

Me too! It's so pretty  Yeah, I don't want bryopsis in my big tank lol.

 

4 hours ago, gogeta said:

How's that feather duster gonna fit! 

Lol it's in the 3 gallon and it takes up almost the whole front section lol

[gogeta]

Are you gonna do this pico contest?