ADA - the 2 island reef

[Andreww]

Thank you. After 2 hours messing with powerheads and rubber forceps I was able to remove it from the rock it was deeply anchored in. I thought I’m going to rip it’s foot apart but I’m glad I was patient. Guy working there was nice enough to let me take care of this.

 

[Andreww]

New is getting acclimated and started moving an inch or so....Midnight clown acclimating to the new anemone as well by sucking on its tentacles. I’m a bit annoyed, my clowns are really rough. They need to chill a little?

[Andreww]

Forgot to say, I cut 2 pieces of frosted acrylic 1/4” thick (85% light transmission) to cover refugium area to cut down on the amount of light I’m getting on the chaeto....without a screen it bleaches fast.

Ive has this for a few days now and the bleaching stopped and chaeto is growing new green strands. Looks like it’s working really well.

It covers half the sump and should cut down some on evaporation as well.

[Andreww]

A short video of one of my clowns playing in the new home:) 

 

[kinetic]

Best thing to do is to give your nem some time to establish itself. They're hardy, but if you want it to find a good spot to settle down quickly and avoid any problems, isolate the clowns in an isolation box for a couple days.

[Andreww]

Good advice but the problem is , my clowns were easy to catch the first time around, but with the new aquascape they just dash in and out of the rockwork whenever they see me. Pretty hard to reach around the rockwork in a 12” wide tank.

 

They bite my hand every time I put my hand in there . 

I seriously think that’s not an option at the moment. 

 

I tried catching them with an acrylic trap I have but they wouldn’t go in there even if I feed them scallops lol

 

Theyre fed every day so they don’t care.

The new anemone planted its foot in a crevice already on top of the other 2 anemones.

 

Looks like the big clown still hangs out in its old friend while the small black clown likes the new addition.

How soon after introduction do you recommend starting to feed it?

[banshee]

Beautiful nems! I wish I was brave enough to try a BTA.

[kinetic]

10 hours ago, Andreww said:

Good advice but the problem is , my clowns were easy to catch the first time around, but with the new aquascape they just dash in and out of the rockwork whenever they see me. Pretty hard to reach around the rockwork in a 12” wide tank.

 

They bite my hand every time I put my hand in there . 

I seriously think that’s not an option at the moment. 

 

I tried catching them with an acrylic trap I have but they wouldn’t go in there even if I feed them scallops lol

 

Theyre fed every day so they don’t care.

The new anemone planted its foot in a crevice already on top of the other 2 anemones.

 

Looks like the big clown still hangs out in its old friend while the small black clown likes the new addition.

How soon after introduction do you recommend starting to feed it?

That sounds terrible. My clowns eat out of my hand, and I can pick them up out of the water in my palm without any struggles. I guess they're used to it. I was trying to catch one clown in a net, and they all got in as if it was a ride. It was harder to catch just one than all of them. So dumb haha. I guess you can just leave them in? Might be a better option. If you ever needed to catch them, just don't feed them for 2 or 3 days (they'll survive just fine), and will be hungry enough to jump in a trap.

 

You almost never need to feed a BTA if it's healthy and you have the right lighting. IF you feed it, it will start growing. Your tank is pretty small, I would probably not feed it and let it grow slowly IMO. Otherwise, wait at least a week. Feed small things, like mysis, so it can digest it well. At first don't feed more than once a week. After a few months, you can do it daily if you wanted it to grow a lot.

[JoeR]

1 hour ago, kinetic said:

That sounds terrible. My clowns eat out of my hand, and I can pick them up out of the water in my palm without any struggles. I guess they're used to it. I was trying to catch one clown in a net, and they all got in as if it was a ride. It was harder to catch just one than all of them. So dumb haha. I guess you can just leave them in? Might be a better option. If you ever needed to catch them, just don't feed them for 2 or 3 days (they'll survive just fine), and will be hungry enough to jump in a trap.

 

You almost never need to feed a BTA if it's healthy and you have the right lighting. IF you feed it, it will start growing. Your tank is pretty small, I would probably not feed it and let it grow slowly IMO. Otherwise, wait at least a week. Feed small things, like mysis, so it can digest it well. At first don't feed more than once a week. After a few months, you can do it daily if you wanted it to grow a lot.

I can’t believe your clowns do that, mine bites my hand every time it’s in the tank. Really makes me want to get rid of it honestly lol

[Andreww]

Mine used to be docile and eat from my hand as well but that was a long time ago before they got their first BTA. They’re defending their home now and I totally understand that.

They make sure to let the other fish know that that’s their territory

[Andreww]

Loving this nem!

[Andreww]

The new nem has planted its foot in the same crevice as My 2 legged anemone. It covers it too, and the old one is getting irritated.

 

I am expecting it to move ...if so, I’ll have to remove it and bring it in to the LFS for credit. I’ll still have the small one that split and the new rainbow.

Enough for my tank lol. Good thing they have their own rock that they’re sharing with the frogspawn.

If it gets out of control, frogspawn will be moved. 

[Justind823]

Great looking nem!

[kinetic]

23 hours ago, JoeR said:

I can’t believe your clowns do that, mine bites my hand every time it’s in the tank. Really makes me want to get rid of it honestly lol

That sucks! If it were me, I'd definitely consider it haha.

 

22 hours ago, Andreww said:

Mine used to be docile and eat from my hand as well but that was a long time ago before they got their first BTA. They’re defending their home now and I totally understand that.

They make sure to let the other fish know that that’s their territory

That's so crazy. One of my pairs is in a Magnifica right now, and they kind of rush at my hand, but moreso looking for food. They do chase other clowns and fish away from their anemone, but maybe they're still too young to show real aggression. Also, maybe when they peck at me, they're really trying to disembowel me instead of looking for food, but since they're about 1.75", it doesn't feel like anything harmful.

 

21 hours ago, Andreww said:

The new nem has planted its foot in the same crevice as My 2 legged anemone. It covers it too, and the old one is getting irritated.

 

I am expecting it to move ...if so, I’ll have to remove it and bring it in to the LFS for credit. I’ll still have the small one that split and the new rainbow.

Enough for my tank lol. Good thing they have their own rock that they’re sharing with the frogspawn.

If it gets out of control, frogspawn will be moved. 

Normally BTA won't venture onto sand. So they will probably stay there, unless they let go and float around to another area.

[Andreww]

The old guy just moved one of its feet a little down the rock and is happy now lol

This nem is so weird with its 2 feet I feel like I have an abnormal animal in my tank .

 

Heres a picture from a few weeks ago when it was a little “discolored” but it shows the separation in the foot. It split in 2 then started splitting again and stopped mid-way and it’s been like this ever since.

All I could think of is stress cuz it lost color and split after I changed the aquascape and trashed it around a bit in the bucket then back up in the display.

 

Slowly coming back to its former glory now.

Thing is, this thing always kept its bubbles so it would be neat to have a bubbling one and the new one with the long tentacles in the same tank.

[Andreww]

Gotta love ESV salt. Instant clear water and no residue . Just awesome! This picture is taken 2 min after mixing all the separate items . 

My Aquavitro Salinity used to take a couple hours at least to be somewhat clear . 

[Andreww]

So I’m going to start experimenting with raw Manuka honey dosing as a form of carbon and amino acids in my tank. 

I always have it in my house and Im willing to try it after reading a lot on it and seeing these results in particular :

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2204097

 

Anyhow, I don’t know what kind of honey he used but this Manuka honey is supposed to be the best out there. I take it every day, hopefully it’ll do as well for my tank .

I am going to start diluting 1 drop in RO/DI water /day and see what results I get in a few weeks from now .

Call me crazy but everyone that was interested in dosing honey after seeing that tank (see link) was too scared to test it on their tank...I’m willing to try it on mine and post results over the next few weeks with daily dosing.

[JoeR]

2 hours ago, Andreww said:

So I’m going to start experimenting with raw Manuka honey dosing as a form of carbon and amino acids in my tank. 

I always have it in my house and Im willing to try it after reading a lot on it and seeing these results in particular :

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2204097

 

Anyhow, I don’t know what kind of honey he used but this Manuka honey is supposed to be the best out there. I take it every day, hopefully it’ll do as well for my tank .

I am going to start diluting 1 drop in RO/DI water /day and see what results I get in a few weeks from now .

Call me crazy but everyone that was interested in dosing honey after seeing that tank (see link) was too scared to test it on their tank...I’m willing to try it on mine and post results over the next few weeks with daily dosing.

That’s a new one. Can’t say I would do it but I’ve just ever heard of dosing honey or even “Manuka” honey. I thought it was funny you said you “take” honey every day lol, like a pill. Just add it to some hot tea or something, tea would make it a health bonus!

[Andreww]

Lol yes I “take” it just like that. A teaspoon every day followed by 2 pills of propolis and a pill of olive leaf extract. Too much info already haha

Mixing it with hot tea loses much of its benefits. Just like pasteurized honey loses its good stuff when exposed to the high temperatures, mixing honey with hot liquids is not recommended for that purpose.

But that’s just me. A health freak. Take whatever I say with a drop of Manuka honey instead of the typical grain of salt?

[Andreww]

[pal]

Wow that anemone  glows..

2 hours ago, Andreww said:

 

So I’m going to start experimenting with raw Manuka honey

 

Have you seen this?

 

[Andreww]

Thanks @pal, interesting read for sure.

I have plenty of fish and feed every day, sometimes twice a day. I skim heavily as well, Carbon through a reactor once in a while to remove fishy smell mostly.

Algae is minimal in my display.

I’m not expecting anything crazy to come out of this honey dosing, but I thought I’d give it a go instead of the regular aminos I used to dose. Maybe after all I won’t see any benefits and stop who knows.

 

[MortalWombat]

53 minutes ago, pal said:

Wow that anemone  glows..

Have you seen this?

 

There are some funny comments in there! 

[Andreww]

so I know what’s going on with this new anemone. it was a split and it barely formed a mouth . Couldn’t see that in the store for some reason...

It started eating mysis now and it’s slowly suffocating the old one. Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s gonna let go or move from that spot...

 

[Andreww]

Fighting conch doing an awesome job at cleaning the sand.