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Tiny Fish, Big Tank - sublunary's RSR 250


sublunary

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Welcome to my tank thread for my first sumped tank, a Red Sea Reefer 250.  This will be a similar focus to my prior tanks - small peaceful fish, neat inverts, LPS and softies. 

 

I've been in the hobby since 2009, I think.  I started with a 12 Gallon NanoCube, and upgraded to an IM Nuvo 16 in 2017.   In November 2018, I upgraded from an apartment to a house and thought the tank deserved an upgrade too.  

 

 

Equipment:

RSR 250, with v3 sump

Clearview Pieces EXO lid

Sicce Syncra Silent 3.0 return pump

Icecap 1k and 2k Gyres with wifi controller

AI Prime HD x2

Neptune Apex EL

Reef Octopus 150 skimmer

 

To Set Up:

doser

SmartATO

ikea cabinet dry side

new lights coming soon!

 

Foundations:

Fiji Pink sand

Marco Rocks, Two Little Fishies Stax, CaribSea Belize branch rock, ReefSaver shelf rock

Fritz RPM salt/ TLF Accurasea salt

BRS 4-stage RODI water + extra carbon stage

Pods from Algae Barn, Reefcleaners and Seahorse Savvy

 

Corals and Polyps:

Green Toadstool Leathers

Neon Green Nepthea

Assorted Photosynthetic Gorgonians

Assorted Ricordea Florida

Blue Sympodium

Assorted Blastos

Assorted zoas

Fox coral

Cabbage Leather

Assorted clove polyps

Hammer

Fat Head Dendro

 

 

Inverts:

Snails: Nassarius, Marginella, Cerith, Astrea, tegula

ORA tuxedo urchin

nano conch

2 Blue leg Hermits 

2 scarlet cleaner shrimp

2 pom pom crabs

purple porcelain crab

emerald crab

Caribbean feather duster

Candy Striped Pistol Shrimp

bristle worms, spaghetti worms, micro brittle stars

hitchiker stomatella, trochus, collonistas, rissoids

 

 

Fish:

Yellow Rose Goby

ORA Yellow Assessor

2 Panamic Barnacle Blennies

2 flaming prawn gobies

Biota Rainford Goby

 

 

2 Biota Whitespotted Pygmy Filefish (RIP, missing in action)

Yasha Hase (RIP little jumper)

 

 

Latest FTS:  12/2/20

 

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The tank:

 

I went with the RSR largely because of the plug-and-play aspect.  I don't trust myself to do anything involving plumbing or drilling or stand-building, so this was a good way to jump into a sumped tank with minimal danger of me screwing it up.   

 

It arrived super quickly and the delivery guy was super nice.  Everything said it was curbside delivery only, but he brought the tank right into my garage.  I suspect it was partially to distract me from the puncture wound at the top of the box...

 

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Luckily the only thing damaged was the removable part of the overflow grate.   Once I contacted Red Sea customer service I had a whole new set of grates within 3 days.  I've very pleased with their responsiveness.

 

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Tank is set up in the living room.  There are a few things about the placement that are less than ideal, but it's definitely the best spot in the whole house for it.  My partner was really pushing for a kitchen set up so he didn't have to worry about me ruining carpets, but it would have been too much in the way. 

 

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Everything was fairly easy to put together, with the exception of the things that push the doors open when you push on them (I'm sure they have a name, but I don't know it).  There were no pre-drilled holes, and I got blisters from forcing screws into the stand to get them on.   The doors don't hang as nicely as they should - they actually don't touch the springy parts, so I feel like I got blisters for nothing.  But other than that, it's a lovely set up and seems incredibly sturdy. 

 

The plumbing was also easy to put together.  The directions were very clear and I feel pretty confident it will hold.  I'm going to use the stock ATO reservoir and float valve to see how I like them.  I have the version that came with the refugium partition, so I'm going to use that as a refugium.  I still need to decide what light to use and whether I want to do something more than a ball of chaeto. 

 

I need to decide on a skimmer and get a dosing pump.  I really want an Apex, but should probably put off that expense just a bit longer.  I also need to decide what heater to get and where to place it.  

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Plan, plan, plan.

 

I’m still learning a bunch as my RSR170 is my first SW and anything bigger than 15 gallons.

 

It may be the conditions in my office, but the ATO only lasts me 2 days tops... I would plan for the biggest ATO FW tank you can fit into your space.

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Display tank plans:

 

For the most part, I plan to keep the livestock to what I know and love.  It will largely be a softy and gorgonian tank.  I may go back to some of the flowy LPS that I haven't kept in a while.  I miss having duncans and frogspawn.  I want to stay away from high light corals.  I love my AI Prime on the smaller tank, and would rather run 2 of those near full power than upgrade to something pricier.  But, I also want to eventually keep a maxima again, so an upgrade may be in order once the tank is mature enough for that. 

 

I am a huge fan of small fish, and plan to continue that in the bigger tank.  My Yasha and candy striped pistol will be moving over.  I want a yellow assessor.  I may get a bimaculatus blenny or firefish.   I would LOVE to find a group of trimma tevegae, but have more or less given up on finding them ever, so I might go for a few trimma rubromaculatus instead.   Of course, the ultimate aim is a pair of captive bred green mandarins, but that's maybe a year down the road.  I need to learn to culture phyto and pods first, in addition to letting the tank mature.  I will also be getting a mesh screen to cut down on jumping, because I also tend to like fish who jump.

 

As far as scape, I fell in love with what @vlangel did in her main tank.  I have some Two Little Fishies Stax rock, and want to use it to make  a retaining wall so the tank would be part deep sand and part shallow sand.  With the pistol shrimp, I probably will not get an anoxic DSB going, so this would be mostly for the aesthetic effect.   One side of the tank would have my gorgonian forest, the other side would have a taller rock structure for mounting corals.  I'm not sure if it would come together anything like I'm imagining, but I'm excited to play around with the rocks.  

 

Flow in the tank will be from an Ice Cap gyre.  Probably one of my biggest concerns in setting up the terraced sand bed is figuring out how it would affect flow in the tank, and whether the gyre should be mounted on the low sandbed side or the high sandbed side.  

 

This will likely be an all dry rock tank.  I know with the bigger tank it's going to be harder for me to spot invasive hitchhikers and harder to motivate myself to get in there and get rid of them, so it's better to just avoid the problem from the start.  But I do miss the diversity you get from live rock, and I know I'd get a more robust microfauna population with live, so the matter isn't entirely settled.  

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Thanks so much for the compliment on my scape.  And guess what?  I got an I

Ice Cap gyre for Christmas so I will let you know how the flow goes.  I also do not know which side of the tank that I am going to set it up but I plan to play with it.

In many ways our tanks will be similar because I am also going with little fish in a big tank, plus I enjoy the inverts too.

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  • 1 year later...

Hello NR!  I still live.  This tank is almost living too.

 

One of our big house projects was to upgrade the electric, including new breakers for hot tub and central air, and I realized it would be lovely to have a closer outlet put in for the tank.  So I waited.. and waited... and it was finally done a couple weeks ago!  Since then, I got myself an RODI and spent a LOT of time playing with rocks.   I scrapped the bi-level sandbed idea, spent a lot of time drooling over bonsai scapes, realized I did not trust myself to do anything like that even if I had the tools, and went back to the drawing board.

 

So, here we are...

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Assuming all goes well with my schedule, we will have water tomorrow or Tuesday, and I can get this cycle rolling!  

 

The Nuvo 16 is still running in my basement.  It's been a bit out of sight/out of mind, and has developed a  hair algae problem.  So I'm going to do my best to transfer the corals and not the algae, but I'm a bit nervous about it.  Once it's empty, I will probably scrub it and turn it into a QT. 

 

Plans haven't changed too much in the year it sat empty.  Will be mostly gorgonia and softies, with some LPS mixed in.  I will probably try my hand at some display macro.  There will definitely be a goby/pistol shrimp pair and some other assorted small peaceful fish.  I'm still thinking a yellow assessor, debating a McCosker's wrasse.  The mandarin pair is still on the eventual wishlist.  My fancy clearview lid is in production and should be here around when the cycle stabilizes.  So I have a bit of time to debate my first fish purchase. 

 

The RSR is my first tank with a sump, and the closer I get to water, the more scared I am.  I am real worried about screwing something up.  It is as plug-and-play as can be, and I'm still freaked out.  There's also still a lot to do in the sump.  I will be butchering a piece of ikea furniture to create a dry side divider and controller board.  This will be my first time using an apex, and a skimmer, both of which I find more intimidating than I should lol. 

 

 

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Filling went relatively smoothly yesterday, up until I hit the overflow.  The return pipe apparently wasn't connected as securely as it should be and I was getting a small river of drips coming down the outside of the pipe into the sump.  Ugh. 

 

This seems to be a common issue with RSRs,  and easily fixable.  I wasn't able to tighten the pipe any more, so I removed everything, added some PTFE tape and put it back together.  I'm waiting a bit before I dump more water in the overflow to test it.   I'm really hoping that's enough and I don't need to re-silicone anything. 

 

There also seems to have been some settling overnight and the water level disparity front-to-back is a little more than I'm comfortable with, so shims are on order. 

 

 

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So, early troubleshooting has been successful.  Leak around the return pipe - fixed!  Microbubbles firing out of the return nozzle - fixed!  Super noisy drain pipe - fixed!  Not level tank - fixed!   Crowbar - purchased!  Salinity and temperature - right where I want them!

 

I officially started the cycle a little over  week ago with Microbater and ghost feeding. A few days later I added some cheato to the sump and pods to the tank.  This was my first time using Algae Barn and I am quite happy so far.  Cheato certainly looked clean and it's already growing.  Pods have kind of disappeared, but I'm sure they're in their getting ready to multiply. 

 

I'm about to go away for a week, and will start testing when I get back.  I expect to be cycled enough to order some micro critters.   I'm going to start with a smaller clean up crew than I have in the past.  My last tank never really went through the new tank uglies, and I'm hoping to avoid it this time as well, so don't want to starve anything.   Of course, I will probably end up introducing hair algae when I move stuff over from the Nuvo.  I plan to do a lot of scrubbing and peroxide, but that only goes so far...

 

Here's where we are now - with water! 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm back home after a week away and all is good.  I set up a 5 gallon container with smart ATO to fill up the built in ATO reservoir and it was just a bit more than enough to cover the whole time away.  Nothing exploded while I was gone.  No cats went swimming. 

 

Tank is cycled, chaeto is growing, pods have multiplied enough to be noticeable on the glass, and I'm starting to get a bit of film algae.  We're about ready to add some critters!  Probably this weekend I'll transfer everything from the 16 gallon and finally break down that tank.  I'll be doing a lot of peroxide dipping (and probably make a huge mess) to try and minimize the hair algae transfer.  I've been dosing vibrant in the 16, which has helped a lot, but I'll probably still have an issue.  The gyre will probably help though.  Since the Nuvo 16s had a reputation for cracking, I was too afraid to put a powerhead in the display, so a lot of its problems were due to insufficient flow.  No fear of that now!

 

I can't wait to start playing around with the flow rates/patterns. And hook up the lights.  There's been no word yet from ClearView on whether my lid is still on schedule.  Fingers crossed they aren't too affected by the craziness right now. 

 

My plans to build a dry side in the sump also need to wait a bit, since we have to visit someone to use their tools to cut the ikea cabinet pieces down to size.  Sadly social distancing isn't giving me much more time to work on the tank - my job is all hands on deck right now, and it's iffy whether we'll be able to switch to work from home.  But it is nice to have a project waiting for when I do have free time...

 

 

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This week I finally moved in the livestock from the 16 and added a few new purchases.  The lights are on, and I feel like we're really up and running!

 

Looks a little less empty, but we've got a long way to go!

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The duncan is a new purchase.  It opened up super quick, and seems to be happy with the flow.

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Tiny yasha immediately went into hiding.

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I didn't realize how tiny a candy striped pistol would look in the new tank.  So tiny.

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The leather seems perfectly happy with the upgrade. 

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The blue sympodium was on a larger rock in the 16, so I broke off the parts I wanted.  It will hopefully be a nice little blue garden at the front of the tank when it opens up more. 

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The yuma I ordered (which is super pissed and I'm not sure will make it) came on a rock with some aweosme sponges.  I think the black thing is some sort of tunicates.  Anyone seen something like it before?  Sadly, I think the rock also has some cyano and a baby aiptasia, so I have some cleaning to do tonight. 

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This is Alex, "helping" me do maintenance.  Sigh. 

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So next projects:

Find a light schedule I like.  I'm trying the Saxby program and it's bluer than I like, so I'm not sure if I'll keep it.

Set up the Apex.  I could not get it to connect to wifi today, so hopefully tomorrow I'll have patience to figure it out.

Build dry side and organize controllers/wires

Figure out how to use a skimmer

Play around with camera settings and practice taking better pictures.

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Diatoms have arrived, along with algae on the glass.  I realized somewhat belatedly that I don't have a magnet cleaner rated for this thick glass, so i need to wait til the new one arrives Saturday to get things looking nice again.

 

I've had algae pop up badly on two of the gorgonians, so they are getting an extra peroxide scrub. I think it's just gha, but man is it persistent...

 

I received my IPSF order today.  Just micro brittle stars, spaghetti worms and plankton.  I didn't do one of their mix-and-matches this time, because I didn't really want another leather coral.  Guess what they sent me as a freebie?  lol. 

 

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I now have a fancy ClearView lid!  It came exactly to spec and looks great.  I got the solid inserts, in case I ever need to cut down on evap/trap heat, but I'm wondering if I'll ever feel the need to use them.   My flipper magnet also arrived today, so things are half presentable.

 

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The new leather is starting to open up, and it's a very striking green.  Hopefully it stays that bright.

 

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Both gobies have been sighted!  The Yellow Rose is surprisingly brave, and is spending a lot of time hovering where I can see it.  The yasha disappeared for a week, but resurfaced to check out food this evening.  No sign of the pistol yet.  I did get my credit for the second pistol BZA forgot to put in the box, so I'll be ordering another soon.  Debating if I want to get cleaner shrimp in that order, or wait on them a while.

 

Tomorrow I should be getting the PAR meter I'm renting from BRS.  I'm excited to play with it.  I've never used one, or had any idea what my lights were putting out.  So I'm glad the lid arrived when it did, so I'll have accurate readings through the mesh. 

 

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  • sublunary changed the title to sublunary's RSR 250
On 4/2/2020 at 7:41 PM, sublunary said:

Diatoms have arrived, along with algae on the glass.  I realized somewhat belatedly that I don't have a magnet cleaner rated for this thick glass, so i need to wait til the new one arrives Saturday to get things looking nice again.

 

I've had algae pop up badly on two of the gorgonians, so they are getting an extra peroxide scrub. I think it's just gha, but man is it persistent...

 

I received my IPSF order today.  Just micro brittle stars, spaghetti worms and plankton.  I didn't do one of their mix-and-matches this time, because I didn't really want another leather coral.  Guess what they sent me as a freebie?  lol. 

 

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They do love to send those free leather corals. 😄

 

the lid looks nice. 

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18 hours ago, WV Reefer said:

They do love to send those free leather corals. 😄

 

the lid looks nice. 

 

 

😄 I guess I can't blame them... one or two more and I'm going to start giving them to everyone I know too!

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I got my rented PAR meter this weekend and the results have been... illuminating.  At full intensity, my lights were topping out way lower than I expected.  The highest point of branch rock was over 350, but everywhere else was below 200.   And I was not running them on full intensity.  So I've lowered the lights, tweaked the settings, and I think I've got a wider variety of intensities now.  I'll do one more test to give myself a reference map before sending the meter back.  

 

Yellow Rose Goby has set up shop int he front right corner of the tank.  It was the tinier and more beat up looking of the two fish, so I was kind of worried about it when I put it in.  But it's swimming around looking for food like it doesn't have a care in world.   It might be the least human-shy fish I've ever had - approaching the tank doesn't seem to bother it at all. 

 

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One of my stress responses is online shopping, so it is no surprise I placed three reef-related orders the other night.  I've ordered some Nyos test kits.  I've heard good things and want something more reliable than the API ones I've always used.  On Saturday I'll be getting some more snails from ReefCleaners.  I've ordered a mexican turbo - I've never had one before because of their size.  I hope it lives up to it's reputation.  I've started to hit the uglies and want to make sure they don't get out of hand.

 

Last purchase was a coral order from Chaos Aquaculture that really should have waited a few weeks.  But I got it in my head that I needed things now, and here we are. 

 

This started because I saw pictures of bubblegum digitata and when I found out how affordable they are I needed one.  It's also the thing I'm most worried about, since I've never kept digitata before and the tank is so new.   It's prettier in person, I promise...

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Torches have been part of my plan for this tank, so I'm starting with a green tipped purple.

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I also got a frag of pink zoas.. something with sakura in the name, that I seem to have only taken really awful pictures of.  Luckily they threw in some pandora zoas for fee, which are a bit more photogenic.

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I'm really happy with CA - the packaging was great, I didn't find a single pest, and these might be the least stressed I've ever seen shipped corals. 

 

I think my next stress purchase is going to be one of those clip on orange filters, so I can do some prettier showing off....

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Lens filters won't get here for another 2 weeks, so I'm stuck playing around with my phone settings in the meantime. 

 

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Turbo has come out of shock and started earning his keep.  I accidentally thought of him as Biggie Snails and now I can't stop thinking it....

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I traded out my filter sock for a second filter cup.  I like the idea of a reusable filter in principle, but in reality I will be much more diligent just changing out filter floss.   While I was down there, I cut back my chaeto.  I'm really pleased with how much it's growing, but a bit surprised given how much algae is in the DT right now. 

 

Another box of goodies is coming Thursday.  I have already forgotten most of what I ordered, so I get to be surprised.  I do know I will be getting 2 scarlet cleaner shrimp,  It's been a while since I've had cleaners, and I'm looking forward to their antics - and their cleaning up my inevitable heavy-handed feeding.   it will also be a good time to move some of last weeks frags closer to their final positions.  I just need to figure out where I actually want that torch...

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Another week, another bunch of presents for myself!  My lens kit arrived 2 weeks earlier than expected.  It's not a cure-all, but with some practice I think it will help me get some good pictures.  It came with yellow, orange and macro lenses.  The yellow seems to do much more than the orange.  I'm struggling with the macro, because it seems to make my phone camera want to focus on the glass instead of what's in the tank.  But I'll figure it out. 

 

I'm trying to steer away from green corals for a while, so have a rainbow florida ricordea and blood sucker zoas from Top Shelf Aquatics.

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I mostly placed this order because Top Shelf was the only place with scarlet cleaners in stock.  So far, they have been mostly hiding behing the rock, but one is starting to venture into the cave. 

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My ill-advised purchase from this order is a sunset stylocoeniella.  This is a coral I had never heard of until a week or so ago, but really called to me.  It's care requirements sound surprisingly easy as far as sps go, and I would like to have something encrusting this shelf of rock, so it seemed worth a try. 

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So here we are for now.  Torch is moved near what I think will be it's final spot.  I want to mount it on the side of one of those sloping branch rocks, so I want to get it used to the light at that level before attempting glue and epoxy.   I should make a little epoxy shelf now, so it will be solid by the time I move the torch. 

 

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I still don't have my Apex set up.  I continue to have connection problems, and neptune's helpdesk responded long past my bedtime last night, so hopefully over the weekend that will be sorted.

 

Also, I think I've decided what I want on that center shelf - something I never in a million years thought I'd be into - goniopora.  When I was last active in the online part of the hobby, they were all hideous and impossible to keep.  Suddenly people are having more success with them and the varieties available now are stunning!  So this is now on my "will probably never actually buy because holy crap that price tag" wishlist: https://www.tidalgardens.com/wysiwyg-glitter-bomb-goniopora.html

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Technical problems have been overcome, and the Apex is all hooked up!  I feel like I accomplished something.  Tomorrow night, I try to figure out the skimmer again.  It makes bubbles, but not enough to travel up the neck.  I've tried messing with the water intake and the air intake and gotten nowhere.  I know a lot of people ahve to lift their skimmers up, but I'm not finding any guidance on where the water level should be. Oh well, more to learn. 

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On 4/17/2020 at 12:25 PM, sublunary said:

Another week, another bunch of presents for myself!  My lens kit arrived 2 weeks earlier than expected.  It's not a cure-all, but with some practice I think it will help me get some good pictures.  It came with yellow, orange and macro lenses.  The yellow seems to do much more than the orange.  I'm struggling with the macro, because it seems to make my phone camera want to focus on the glass instead of what's in the tank.  But I'll figure it out. 

 

I'm trying to steer away from green corals for a while, so have a rainbow florida ricordea and blood sucker zoas from Top Shelf Aquatics.

1441913428_2020_04.17floridaric.thumb.jpg.bfa6b3ffbf45f7a8abb178af5fadee3f.jpg

343304795_2020_04.17ricandzoa.thumb.jpg.69a2d10ebf2431367e7432b0f2cbe45e.jpg

 

I mostly placed this order because Top Shelf was the only place with scarlet cleaners in stock.  So far, they have been mostly hiding behing the rock, but one is starting to venture into the cave. 

1231236730_2020_04.17leftside.thumb.jpg.7aa37c603b02c1000d704a6f77d76d2e.jpg

 

My ill-advised purchase from this order is a sunset stylocoeniella.  This is a coral I had never heard of until a week or so ago, but really called to me.  It's care requirements sound surprisingly easy as far as sps go, and I would like to have something encrusting this shelf of rock, so it seemed worth a try. 

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So here we are for now.  Torch is moved near what I think will be it's final spot.  I want to mount it on the side of one of those sloping branch rocks, so I want to get it used to the light at that level before attempting glue and epoxy.   I should make a little epoxy shelf now, so it will be solid by the time I move the torch. 

 

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I still don't have my Apex set up.  I continue to have connection problems, and neptune's helpdesk responded long past my bedtime last night, so hopefully over the weekend that will be sorted.

 

Also, I think I've decided what I want on that center shelf - something I never in a million years thought I'd be into - goniopora.  When I was last active in the online part of the hobby, they were all hideous and impossible to keep.  Suddenly people are having more success with them and the varieties available now are stunning!  So this is now on my "will probably never actually buy because holy crap that price tag" wishlist: https://www.tidalgardens.com/wysiwyg-glitter-bomb-goniopora.html

I have two types of stylocoeniella and they are a very underrated coral in my opinion. 

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On 4/19/2020 at 9:44 PM, WV Reefer said:

I have two types of stylocoeniella and they are a very underrated coral in my opinion. 

So far, I agree!  They're really striking.  I hope mine continues to do well.

 

In fishy news, my yasha has decided YRG has the right idea, and now they're both hanging out in the front corner.   i've had a couple of pistol shrimp sightings, but he's mostly been digging away under the rocks. 

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One of my shrimp has decided to join the club, but the other is happier hiding.  

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I'm really really tempted to continue my fish purchases, but luckily the fish I want are not in stock anywhere, so I'm forced to slow down a little.  I hope that prices don't skyrocket too much when the supply lines reopen.  I suspect a lot of fish sellers are going to be slammed with orders as soon as they do. 

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20 hours ago, Difrano said:

Following, Nice setup! Where did you buy the tank from?

 

Thanks!  Tank (and a lot of other stuff) is from Bulk Reef Supply.  Well, through BRS, they don't actually warehouse the tanks.   I'm a real huge fan of them right now - it turns out the pump on my skimmer is bad, and the warranty expired before I even took it out of the box, but they're giving me a half refund anyway. It's nice to feel taken care of. 

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Someday I will get out the fancy camera, clean the glass, and take some decent pictures.  Today is not that day. 

 

First, blurry pictures of a hitchhiking isopod. 

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Best match I can find for him is a Paracerceis sculpta, a herbivorous isopod species who live in sponges and are studied for their interesting sexual morphology.  There are males that look like this guy, males that masquerade as females, and super tiny males who basically dive-bomb females with sperm bombs and hope some stick.  I've seen a couple more males and one female or beta male.  So my guess is they came in on the rock with the sponges and tunicates.  I used mostly dry rock, so I'm pleasantly surprised to have gotten a hitchhiker I've never encountered before, especially one that will get by eating algae.  It didn't come through in the photo, but each one seems to have a unique spot pattern on it's back, which is kind of neat.

 

I've added a couple new things since last post, including another florida ric, and this rusty gorgonian. 

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I made the mistake of getting some sellers choice zoas, and of course they were those 2 patterns that end up in every newbie tank.  Oh well. lol.

 

I'm really loving the stylocoeniella (and some day I will learn to spell it without google's help)  The polyps are just so cool.

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Someone knocked my monti digi over onto it the other day.  The stylo is none the worse for wear, but the digi doens't look so good.  Sigh.  Here's hoping it recovers. 

 

Yellow Rose goby has moved its burrow entrance into the field of sympodium, which I think is aweosme.  The sympodium dusagrees.

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And lastly, pistol shrimp has finally started making appearances, after which is gets quickly chased back into the hole by the yasha. 

 

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