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Dr. Felicia's Back to Basics IM14 - Retired 2/25/2020


Felicia

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13 minutes ago, Felicia said:

Its really unique!  I'm excited to see it in person!  Yeah I never want to pay $50 in shipping for corals online either.  I rarely want more than one or two things from a vendor at one time, which makes it hard to justify the shipping cost.  It works out that Legendary Corals is somewhat local for me and willing to meet at the LFS.

 

 

 

 

Tank Updates

Alright, so I did a bunch of tank maintenance type stuff today.  I turkey basted all the rocks and blew off the remainder of the shedding skin from the gorgonians.  Then I did a big 5 gallon water change and sucked up all the detritus from the shedding gorgonians and vacuumed the sand bed which had areas of diatoms.  After the water change, I removed the new corals from their plugs and glued them into place.  Everything was angry from all of that, so I didn't take photos tonight.  Hopefully tomorrow I can get some good photos.

 

However, I did snap a few quick and fun photos while I was working on the tank.  First off, the porcelain crab was out and about during the whole cleaning.  He wasn't the least bit phased about me basting the rocks where he was or gluing gorgonians right next to him.  I even bumped my hand into him once by accident and he just waved his claws at me like, "This is my spot and I'm not moving!"  I fed him some PhytoFeast tonight, so I also have a fun video of him eating that I will post shortly.

 

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Lily was having fun watching the whole cleaning process and was hanging out on the dresser by the tank watching what I was doing.

 

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In other news, my name is Felicia and I have a coral buying problem... :lol:  I posted that I purchased that toadstool from Legendary Corals and then a bit later on Friday I got sucked into Pacific East Aquaculture's 35% off sale plus $19.99 shipping for orders over $150.  I haven't ever purchased from PEA, but I've heard good things.  I checked out the sale and they had SOOOO many awesome softies and leathers.  I just could not resist.  I got so excited purchasing corals that I forgot to save the photos until after I checked out, so I just have the tiny thumbnail images of what I got.  They'll give you the idea though.  I requested that these arrive on Tuesday.

 

Long Polyp Toadstool

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Green Toadstool and Purple/Blue Cespitularia

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Green Kenya Tree (Capnella)

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Thick Finger Leather

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Blue St. Thomas Mushroom

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Blue Photosynthetic Sponge (This was my PEA nugget selection for spending over $100)

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I can't wait to see these new corals in person and get them all placed in the tank.

 

I'll finish off the post with another cute photo of Lily sleeping on one of the couch pillows like its her throne.

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Nice finds!  I just got a little St. Thomas mushroom at an LFS, a steal for $20!  Very nice selection you got there.  And Queen Lily looks regal as ever, even in repose! :lol:

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12 minutes ago, Lula_Mae said:

Nice finds!  I just got a little St. Thomas mushroom at an LFS, a steal for $20!  Very nice selection you got there.  And Queen Lily looks regal as ever, even in repose! :lol:

Thanks!  I'm hoping they all look as good in person. :)  $20 for a St. Thomas mushroom is definitely a steal!  I paid about $32.50 for the one from PEA on sale.  It was originally $50.  Lily is definitely a queen! 

 

 

 

Alright, here's the promised porcelain crab video.

 

 

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14 minutes ago, Felicia said:

Thanks!  I'm hoping they all look as good in person. :)  $20 for a St. Thomas mushroom is definitely a steal!  I paid about $32.50 for the one from PEA on sale.  It was originally $50.  Lily is definitely a queen! 

 

 

 

Alright, here's the promised porcelain crab video.

 

 

:wub: Makes me miss my porcelain!  Stupid hitchhiking hermit killed her. :(

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21 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

:wub: Makes me miss my porcelain!  Stupid hitchhiking hermit killed her. :(

I'm loving this porcelain crab.  He's super fun to watch and is not being shy anymore, which is nice.  Its been too long since I had a porcelain crab.  I'm hoping he finds the ricordea soon.  There are 4 of them for him to hang out on now. :)  Sorry to hear about your porcelain crab. :(  Sounds like its time to find a new one.  I feel like they're in season right now or something because my LFS had a ton, and normally they don't have any.

16 hours ago, kimberbee said:

Lily is adorable :wub:

She says thank you!  :flower:

13 hours ago, gena said:

Oh.....loved the almost FTS with Lily :wub:.  Gorgonians look so perfect!

I think that's one of my new favorite photos.  Lily is really enjoying this tank and it is so cute.  I love seeing her hang out next to it and check it out.  She was up there pawing at the gorgonians through the glass today.  She also noticed the new Spin Stream return and spent a good 5 minutes just watching it spin.

 

I'm happy with the gorgonians so far.  Its nice to have height and movement in this tank already.  I'm still not sure I'm happy with where I placed them.  I actually moved two of them today.  I need to get a few more corals in there and then I'll have a better idea of how I want to place things.

12 hours ago, RIP Sebastian said:

Lily is soooo cute!

 

Oh, and the tank is great, too! :P

Its ok, Lily is pretty freaking adorable, so I'm totally fine with her outshining my tank.  If I had to choose, I'd pick her over the tank any day.  She's a sweetheart. :wub:

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As promised, I took some photos tonight now that the gorgonians are nice a fluffy.

 

FTS 9/24/17

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New Gorgonians

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Other Corals

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Inhabitants

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1 hour ago, Felicia said:

As promised, I took some photos tonight now that the gorgonians are nice a fluffy.

 

FTS 9/24/17

37046745700_c5c8c07439_c.jpg

 

37255327996_edb0c8419e_c.jpg

 

36593106224_c85b191d30_c.jpg

 

New Gorgonians

37445305425_dd50310a45_c.jpg

 

36593108964_61d18ecf49_c.jpg

 

37046743390_a602b3c614_c.jpg

 

37046744330_525a614f20_c.jpg

 

Other Corals

37046745260_386268e423_c.jpg

 

36593107354_7a9fd7d3e2_c.jpg

 

Inhabitants

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Gorgeous!  Your purple ribbon is such a rich purple!  My little purple cactus frag is a much lighter purple, though I'd thought it was the same kind.  Your gorgs are so fluffy!  And yes, if I can find a porcelain, I will bring it home.  I rarely see them locally, sadly.

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6 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Gorgeous!  Your purple ribbon is such a rich purple!  My little purple cactus frag is a much lighter purple, though I'd thought it was the same kind.  Your gorgs are so fluffy!  And yes, if I can find a porcelain, I will bring it home.  I rarely see them locally, sadly.

Yeah I was thrilled with the color on this one. I think this is like my 4th purple ribbon gorg and I've had several different shades of purple, including a much lighter purple. Most of the photosynthetic gorgonians vary in color shade within the same species. And yep, now that they're done shedding they're nice and fluffy. GCE sent some nice healthy pieces!

 

You could always order a porcelain crab online, although that always creates the issue of having to pay a huge shipping fee for an inexpensive little invert. I usually try to place a big enough order wjth KPA to justify the shipping and get some nice inverts that way. They have porcelain crabs, emerald and ruby red mithrex crabs, anemone and cleaner shrimp, serpent and brittle stars, snails, etc. I really just lucked out finding this one locally. When I was a specific invert I can rarely find them locally. Now I'm on the hunt for a Pom Pom crab, so we'll see how long it takes to find one of those locally.

 

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Christopher Marks

Wow the gorgonians look fantastic, polyps out and happy, they're each so different! I think you need just one more gorg in there though, for odd numbers sake :D 

 

Can't wait to see all the new soft corals too, they're coming in tomorrow?

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1 hour ago, Christopher Marks said:

Wow the gorgonians look fantastic, polyps out and happy, they're each so different! I think you need just one more gorg in there though, for odd numbers sake :D 

 

Can't wait to see all the new soft corals too, they're coming in tomorrow?

Thank you, Chris!  I love how each of the varieties of gorgonians has different textures and shapes.  I wish I could restrain myself at just adding one more! :lol:  I've got 3 more specific species that I am planning on ordering as soon as KP Aquatics reopens.  I'm specifically planning to order a purple sea rod, a yellow sea whip, and a knobby sea rod.  I'm planning to order those in smaller sizes though to have a mix of different sizes and so this tank isn't completely crammed to the gills. :lol:  You can never have enough gorgonians!  The lovely thing is you can always squeeze in more because the base where they attach to the rock doesn't take up hardly any space and they can touch each other without doing any damage.

 

I'm excited to get the new softies in the tank as well!  I just got an email update from PEA that they are definitely shipping today for arrival tomorrow.

53 minutes ago, Nano sapiens said:

The gorgs are looking real nice in there!  Coming along nicely :)

Thank you!  Its much more enjoyable now that it has some corals in it to look at :D

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50 minutes ago, Felicia said:

Thank you, Chris!  I love how each of the varieties of gorgonians has different textures and shapes.  I wish I could restrain myself at just adding one more! :lol:  I've got 3 more specific species that I am planning on ordering as soon as KP Aquatics reopens.  I'm specifically planning to order a purple sea rod, a yellow sea whip, and a knobby sea rod.  I'm planning to order those in smaller sizes though to have a mix of different sizes and so this tank isn't completely crammed to the gills. :lol:  You can never have enough gorgonians!  The lovely thing is you can always squeeze in more because the base where they attach to the rock doesn't take up hardly any space and they can touch each other without doing any damage.

 

I'm excited to get the new softies in the tank as well!  I just got an email update from PEA that they are definitely shipping today for arrival tomorrow.

Thank you!  Its much more enjoyable now that it has some corals in it to look at :D

I know Gena has it too, but if you're ever looking for some Grube's, I have a ton. It's probably my best growing coral, and I'm curious to see how well it would do with shipping, especially because I really will need to trim it up soon!

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5 hours ago, Felicia said:

Yeah I was thrilled with the color on this one. I think this is like my 4th purple ribbon gorg and I've had several different shades of purple, including a much lighter purple. Most of the photosynthetic gorgonians vary in color shade within the same species. And yep, now that they're done shedding they're nice and fluffy. GCE sent some nice healthy pieces!

 

You could always order a porcelain crab online, although that always creates the issue of having to pay a huge shipping fee for an inexpensive little invert. I usually try to place a big enough order wjth KPA to justify the shipping and get some nice inverts that way. They have porcelain crabs, emerald and ruby red mithrex crabs, anemone and cleaner shrimp, serpent and brittle stars, snails, etc. I really just lucked out finding this one locally. When I was a specific invert I can rarely find them locally. Now I'm on the hunt for a Pom Pom crab, so we'll see how long it takes to find one of those locally.

 

Yup, I usually order online and lucked out finding her locally. 

1 hour ago, kimberbee said:

I know Gena has it too, but if you're ever looking for some Grube's, I have a ton. It's probably my best growing coral, and I'm curious to see how well it would do with shipping, especially because I really will need to trim it up soon!

I am betting a healthy frag would survive 2-day priority with no issues.  If you want to experiment, I am happy to buy a frag as a guinea pig. ;) I think the frag Diver's Den sent wasn't too healthy and is part of why polyps never came out and it died.

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3 hours ago, kimberbee said:

I know Gena has it too, but if you're ever looking for some Grube's, I have a ton. It's probably my best growing coral, and I'm curious to see how well it would do with shipping, especially because I really will need to trim it up soon!

That's super nice of you, Kimber!  Once I get the other gorgonians from KPA added, I'll decide if I have space to squeeze in one more!  I've had a Grube's in the past and its a nice, easy, fact growing gorgonian.  I bet it would do great with two-day USPS priority shipping.

1 hour ago, Lula_Mae said:

Yup, I usually order online and lucked out finding her locally. 

I am betting a healthy frag would survive 2-day priority with no issues.  If you want to experiment, I am happy to buy a frag as a guinea pig. ;) I think the frag Diver's Den sent wasn't too healthy and is part of why polyps never came out and it died.

Yep, I definitely think you wouldn't have any issue shipping the Grube's.  Generally, if gorgonians are healthy to begin with, they're super hardy and have no issues with shipping.  I've gotten gorgonians sent 2-day USPS on multiple occasions with no losses.  KPA even ships gorgonians just wrapped in wet paper towels down inside bags of air instead of in bags of water and they do great that way too.

1 hour ago, cfaye@Delaware said:

This is beautiful, loving the purple.......everything looks like it's wonderful, happy.......keep going !!!!

Love your kitty she is a looker......

Lots of purple right now!  I'm excited to add some nice pops of green in between the purple with the new leathers/softies I ordered.  I'm glad you like it so far!

 

And yep, Lily is a cutie.  I joke that she's the cat equivalent of a super model. :lol:

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3 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Yup, I usually order online and lucked out finding her locally. 

I am betting a healthy frag would survive 2-day priority with no issues.  If you want to experiment, I am happy to buy a frag as a guinea pig. ;) I think the frag Diver's Den sent wasn't too healthy and is part of why polyps never came out and it died.

I'll start looking into how I can ship!!

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2 minutes ago, vlangel said:

Wow, this tank came together so beautifly.  I love the gorgs, and recordia.  Its such a cute little tank.

Certainly agree.  Quite relaxing, all that to-and-fro movement of the Gorgs.

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14 hours ago, gena said:

You have the perfect movement in there :wub:.  I want a yellow sea whip too!  I wonder if I can squeeze one in LOL.  That's my favorite gorgonian that KPA sells :D.

Thank you, Gena!  I just love the movement that gorgonians add to a tank.  Its soothing to watch them swaying.  I especially like how they're moving now that I added the Spin Stream to the return.  The yellow sea whips are really pretty.  I haven't had one since the seahorse tank.  Maybe you could squeeze one in, but your little tank is looking pretty full.  I wonder if you go do a tiny one in a pico jar 

5 hours ago, vlangel said:

Wow, this tank came together so beautifly.  I love the gorgs, and recordia.  Its such a cute little tank.

Thank you!  There's not too much in there just yet, but I'm happy with the gorgonians and the ricordea so far.  I need to find some ricordea of other colors now.  I especially want some orange and bright green ones.  I want to have a nice ricordea carpet in that area.  Its amazing how gorgonians are like instant reef.  You put them in and they make a big difference in how the tank looks!  This tank is pretty tiny, but I'm enjoying it and its nice dimensions for being small.  We'll see how long it takes me to stuff it full of corals.

5 hours ago, Nano sapiens said:

Certainly agree.  Quite relaxing, all that to-and-fro movement of the Gorgs.

Thank you!  I'm really enjoying this tank. :)  Gorgonians are definitely my favorite type of coral at this point.  I couldn't imagine having a tank without them now.

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Tank Updates!

 

Ok, so I have multiple tank updates for today.

 

1) My order from Pacific East Aquaculture arrived today and all the frags made it safe and sound.  I gave them a Revive dip and now they're in the tank and were starting to open and put out polyps before the light went out.  Maybe tomorrow they'll open all the way and I can get some nice photos.  Everything looks really healthy, so I think these will do well.  They're all pretty small frags, but that's perfect for this little tank.  I was also super impressed with PEA's customer service.  They even gave me a phone call to check in after the package was delivered and see if everything was doing well.  I also got an email saying thank you for my order and offering me a free frag of their choice if I place an order within the next 30 days.  They seem like a great operation and I'm sure I'll be a repeat customer.

 

Here are the bags floating for temperature acclimation.

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Lily is super interested in all the stuff going on with this tank.

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Here's my Revive dip set-up.  All the corals were soaked for 10 minutes and then rinsed with fresh saltwater before being added to the tank.  I'm really trying to prevent the introduction of pests in this tank.

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2) The cleaner shrimp molted last night.  I found his molt this morning.  He seems to be doing well in the tank and has been out and about today following his molt.

 

3) The firefish actually came out for a while earlier.  She's super shy.  I'm hoping she gets more outgoing.  I haven't seen her eat yet because she won't stay out of the rocks long enough.  Hopefully she'll start eating soon and coming out more.  She's super pretty, so I'd love to see her out and about.

 

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4) I got my clownfish pair today too!  My friend who breeds clowns was awesome enough to offer me a pair of percula clowns that he bred and raised himself.  They're somewhere between 1 and 2 years old, and they're truly a mated pair.  They're at the point where they dance and may end up laying eggs at some point in the near future.  They're from two different lineages (unrelated), so he was planning to breed them eventually, but when I inquired about whether he had a pair, he offered them to me.  One is a Picasso and one is a misbar.  I was supposed to pick them up this past weekend, but then my friend got busy and I wasn't able to get them.  He texted me this evening and said he had time if I wanted to get them, so I went over and picked them up.  These are my first ever fancy clownfish and they're super cute.  They've been in the tank for a few hours now and they seem a tad stressed, but I think they'll be ok.  They have lived their whole life in a cube tank as part of my friend's clown breeding system.  That system has no corals and just has terra cotta pots for each clown pair to lay in.  So they've never been in a reef and they're used to much lower lighting and flow.  Hopefully they'll settle in ok.  Here's a few quick photos I took right after adding them.  Sorry about the bad lighting, I had turned the light down a ton to not stress them so much.

 

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