Patrick's minireef

[Patrick17]

3 hours ago, Droy008 said:

Those photos loom great!

Im especially drawn towards the cleaner shrimp, he just looks so handsome!

Thank you ? 

 

I love the shrimp, they manage to keep an empty tank interesting. Everyone who comes round comments on them. I think it's nice that they aren't being overlooked and are the stars of the tank for now

3 hours ago, Lula_Mae said:

Love this shot with the cat looking in the tank! I don't know much about scolys but yours looks nice and puffy which I'd think is a good sign. 

 

And yes, happy birthday! 

We have to make sure all our tanks have lids, the cats just can't resist the heat from the light and height in the room; such funny animals! 

 

I thought that would be the case with the scoly, assuming that's what it is still! I just wanted to to make sure really having lost as much as we did recently 

[Patrick17]

My partner's dad is a keen diver and loved a trip around the lfs with us this morning. After all our problems earlier this year, he is keen to help out and would love to buy some fish for the tank. It's an amazing sentiment and we're so grateful for his interest and support.

 

The thing he loved most was a pair of Clarkii clowns hosting in a rbta; as the clowns are on our own wishlist and not too expensive to ask for, this seems ideal.

 

My question is about the rbta; everything I had read suggests needing a stable mature tank and suitable lighting and flow. The tank is 13 months old now and I have a Maxspect gyre xf150 for flow (currently at 10%) ticking two of the boxes. 

 

The lighting is different though. I have read that the rbta are not too demanding of lighting, but also that they require strong lighting - helpful! I saw a recommendation of 4w per gallon, however I cannot see sense in this as tanks have different dimensions. These ratings also seemed to correspond to fluorescent lighting and LED is far more efficient in terms of lumen output per Watt. 

 

On the scale of NPS < soft < LPS < SPS, where would you put rbta? I get that my scale is simplistic and even within LPS, euphillia, duncans and fungia will require different, I'd just love a comparative idea of required lighting  levels! 

 

I have the stock light on my tank still, I believe it to be 40w LED which is not particularly strong however a scoly and fungia are doing well, along with my softie selection. Would a rbta work for me? 

[Patrick17]

I've got my UV! Finally  decided on deltec 20w, just need to find two spare sockets, space in the sump and time to set it up. 

 

The tank is actually looking a little dirty at the moment, got a build up of green algae on the sand and the glass needs a scrape. Not all bad though as the corals are looking extra puffy and our porcelain crab finally moulted  

 

I'll have to find time this weekend to clean things up again! In the meantime, here's a few dirty photos

[Patrick17]

On 05/11/2017 at 7:19 PM, Patrick17 said:

I have the stock light on my tank still, I believe it to be 40w LED which is not particularly strong however a scoly and fungia are doing well, along with my softie selection. Would a rbta work for me? 

Still not sure on the bta, changing my mind from day to day. Think it'll be A. Percula or A. Occelaris rather than other larger clowns though so I suppose we are getting there slowly! 

 

Not had any luck identifying the sponge/SPS I posted a page back, I'd say if anything, it's grown further 

[Patrick17]

On 31/10/2017 at 9:10 AM, Patrick17 said:

 

 

I've also started to plan my stocking and the order for introduction, however I really haven't got too far with that! I've tried to include Latin names in case there is a difference in common names between lfs, currently it's looking like;

 

- yellow clown goby (gobiodon okinawae) 

- starry blenny (salarias ramosus) 

- pair of clowns (Fiji skunk, Clarkii, Percula or Occelaris; not decided yet!)

 

My partner and I both then have a list of fish we would like to add but are unsure of for a whole list of reasons, they include;

 

- Firefish (Nemateleotris magnifica) 

- Fang blenny (meiacanthus sp.) 

- Dwarf angel (C. Argi or C. Loricula) 

- Sixline wrasse (Pseudocheilinus hexataenia) 

- Fairy or Flasher wrasse 

- Talbot damsel (Chrysiptera talboti) 

 

And a bit of a showpiece fish along the lines of these, however we appreciate that their inclusion would be questioned by some and without further research not advisable;

 

- Yellow longnose butterfly (Forcipiger flavissimus) 

- Atlantic longnose butterfly (Prognathodes aculeatus) 

- Yellow eye kole tang (Ctenochaetus strigosus) 

- Swallowtail angel (Bellus or Lamarck) 

 

 

My partner and I have been thinking about stocking options for a couple weeks now and feel like we are getting somewhere. Currently we are looking at: 

 

Yellow clown goby

Ruby red scooter

Rose/Green BTA with clown pair

Starry/tailspot/dot-dash blenny 

Possum wrasse 

 

+1 other from:

 

Fairy/Flasher wrasse

Yellow/longnose butterfly 

Dwarf/Swallowtail angel 

Kole tang 

 

I'm pleased that mine and my partner's lists are so similar to a couple weeks ago, it feels like we have settled on what we would like to work towards 

 

As always, any input is welcomed as I have undoubtedly missed things which are obvious to the more experienced amongst us

 

[Patrick17]

We still haven't heard about the competition results yet, so impatient! 

 

We have been fallow for 10 weeks, everything else has thrived without fish apart from a frag of xenia and some brown palys. We're seeing growth in our Kenya trees, mushrooms and GSP; our fungia looks happy to me and all the leathers are full and fluffy.

 

Not noticed any growth on our gorgonians but a couple of months later and they are doing well. I was lead to believe that they could waste away quickly, *touching wod* everything seems alright so far though. 

 

I haven't managed to find any photos to compare with on the Internet on any of the usual forums but does anyone know what a bleached paly would look like? All fine and brown one day, small and almost colourless the next with no change in placement etc. I'll attach a FTS, you can see them under the large toadstool on the right (they look a little more colourful on the photo though!). I hid them under there to see if it helped them recover. 

 

Our leathers in the bottom two corners are also slowly turning a lovely shade of yellow from their original brown; is this a good thing? 

 

*bonus sleeping Poppy photo *

[Christopher Marks]

I love all those happy gorgonians, beautiful update @Patrick17! The yellowing leathers are a positive change, that's their original color! Yellow leather corals are lovely to have.

 

Do you feel like these changes could be related to your addition of a UV sterilizer earlier in the month?

[Patrick17]

4 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

@Patrick17

Do you feel like these changes could be related to your addition of a UV sterilizer earlier in the month?

I'm not sure to be honest; I'd like to say that it's not a coincidence but having been running without fish could have made a difference too. I can say it has made a big difference to water clarity though 

 

Would you say that the colouring of the leathers reflects on my current lighting? 

[Christopher Marks]

24 minutes ago, Patrick17 said:

Would you say that the colouring of the leathers reflects on my current lighting? 

I'd say so, but your water quality has a role as well. The water clarity in that last FTS is noticeable.

On 11/12/2017 at 7:02 AM, Patrick17 said:

Yellow clown goby

Ruby red scooter

Rose/Green BTA with clown pair

Starry/tailspot/dot-dash blenny 

Possum wrasse

I like this list!

On 11/12/2017 at 7:02 AM, Patrick17 said:

+1 other from:

 

Fairy/Flasher wrasse

Yellow/longnose butterfly 

Dwarf/Swallowtail angel 

Kole tang

I feel like anything from this list will lead to heartbreak in the end. These are expensive and difficult fish to keep long term, especially in a higher bio-load system with the fish from the list above. They are undoubtedly beautiful, but better left to larger systems in my opinion.

 

You may have touched on it earlier, but are you directly feeding the gorgonians in any way?

[Patrick17]

50 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

I'd say so, but your water quality has a role as well. The water clarity in that last FTS is noticeable.

I like this list!

I feel like anything from this list will lead to heartbreak in the end. These are expensive and difficult fish to keep long term, especially in a higher bio-load system with the fish from the list above. They are undoubtedly beautiful, but better left to larger systems in my opinion.

 

You may have touched on it earlier, but are you directly feeding the gorgonians in any way?

Im excited by that list too, the only thing I'm not sure about is the BTA; that's why I was wondering about the relationship between light and colour changes in what I know is a lower light coral. 

 

I'm not doing much for the gorgonians; I just give the sand a thorough turn over weekly and a couple pinches of Polyp Lab Reef Roids when I remember (which embarrassingly isn't particularly often) 

[Patrick17]

1 hour ago, Christopher Marks said:

I feel like anything from this list will lead to heartbreak in the end. These are expensive and difficult fish to keep long term, especially in a higher bio-load system with the fish from the list above. They are undoubtedly beautiful, but better left to larger systems in my opinion.

Would you have a suggestion for my partner for a fish that would be more of a swimmer, as opposed to the fish in the second list? I'd thought about a talbot damsel too, we'd just like something that will be out and about more than the others without being difficult to care for/too big 

[Christopher Marks]

A damsel could work great with the clownfish, so long as it's not an aggressive type. Have you considered a cardinal fish of some sort?

[Patrick17]

5 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

A damsel could work great with the clownfish, so long as it's not an aggressive type. Have you considered a cardinal fish of some sort?

I had considered a cardinal but to be honest, every one of a decent size I have ever seen has seemed dull and faded to me.

 

My partner doesn't think of them as being much of a swimmer either, although I appreciate anything that would be, such as anthias etc wouldn't necessarily be suitable either 

[Patrick17]

My partner found a pair of these red spot gobies (Trimma rubromaculatus I believe) in a spontaneous lfs trip on her way home. I convinced her to leave them for today with the aim of going back tomorrow after a little research. 

 

I read that they are happy in groups and peaceful towards other fish but wanted to ask if I've missed anything? Are they suitable for a ~50gallon peaceful reef? Would they prevent us from getting a clown goby or are they prone to being picked on by blennies etc.? 

[Patrick17]

22 hours ago, Patrick17 said:

My partner found a pair of these red spot gobies (Trimma rubromaculatus I believe) in a spontaneous lfs trip on her way home. I convinced her to leave them for today with the aim of going back tomorrow after a little research. 

 

I read that they are happy in groups and peaceful towards other fish but wanted to ask if I've missed anything? Are they suitable for a ~50gallon peaceful reef? Would they prevent us from getting a clown goby or are they prone to being picked on by blennies etc.? 

In the end we decided to leave the gobies, we don't want to take any chances with stocking. 

 

I have been in touch with a couple lfs today trying to find a ruby red scooter, possum wrasse and pink streaked wrasse; hopefully within the next month we can find some 

 

Does anyone have any experience of keeping a pair of talbot's damsels? 

[Patrick17]

We took a drive over to our lfs this afternoon to speak to them about my partner's father's wish to get us a BTA and clowns for Christmas - to our huge surprise they'd already managed to get out one in for us.

 

They had ordered a medium but instead of a 3" anemone, this 6" monster was waiting there for us. He's a beaut! 

 

Is there anything I should look out for? His foot looked intact and inflated and he's been moving round his current tank. None of the clowns were being hosted yet, but they are young and tank-bred so they have time to learn yet. 

 

Personally, I prefer the green ones to rose

[Patrick17]

Had a great day today, been to the LFS and picked up a few goodies; we finally have new fish 

 

It's been a long 3 months since we lost everything to ich, but we have made it through to the other side of running fallow. Currently, drip acclimating in the sump are a pair of tiny, as of yet unnamed, ocellaris clowns, a green BTA and a strawberry conch. 

 

Apparently the BTA was unhappy yesterday, however today was back to normal and shows no signs of illness. We checked the foot for any damage and agreed with the owner that it would be replaced for free if anything happens within a week and set off home, unable to hide our excitement. 

 

I've cleared the rock I would choose if I were a BTA and am just left waiting now, drip by drip. I realise that the nem will go where it wants, but I thought that starting off in the best spot seemed sensible - we shall see! 

 

Here are a couple of photos, however nothing too exciting just yet. Please excuse the filthy glass, I'm going to clean it when I've finished splashing and introducing life this evening. You should be able to see the empty spot and my current view of the nem. 

 

[Patrick17]

Well that's the next step done, BTA is on the rock; I can see it relaxing and attaching as I type 

[Cannedfish]

There are few things in this hobby more comical than conch eyes. It's like nature had some googly eyes lying around, and after a few beers decided to punk a snail. Real mature, nature. Real Mature. 

[Patrick17]

It's taken a little rearranging of the right hand side of the tank, the nem would not stick in the slightest bit; I've rotated the rock so it's flatter and at my last check it was for the first time not upside down on the sand. Fingers crossed ? 

 

And the meantime, our little kitten Poppy got to our dinner before us... Apparently a film wrapper and cardboard box isn't enough to stop her getting in and licking it clean! 

[Patrick17]

I've got the return pump on now, hopefully he's attached and can start to find somewhere comfortable. I'll get the gyre back on in the morning 

[Patrick17]

Early days still but the anemone is finally attached and water movement back on. I'll try and feed this evening but I'm encouraged *touching wood*

[Patrick17]

It's been a roller coaster day on the reef; BTA gave me a heart attack this morning!

 

Long story short; he hid, faked his own death and settled behind the rock in the back right corner with his clowns. 

 

Let's see what tomorrow brings... 

 

Photos show last night, this lunchtime and this evening

[Christopher Marks]

Anemones can be a rollercoaster of emotion  

[Patrick17]

15 minutes ago, Christopher Marks said:

Anemones can be a rollercoaster of emotion  

Let's hope he settles down... I can't cope with this