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Coral Vue Hydros

Tybee Island old school contest tank Retired


kimdawg

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On 4/5/2019 at 7:17 PM, kimdawg said:

You can still get Tab around here at Kroger.  I turn 60 on Christmas Day this year.  I'm getting old but it is a lot better than the alternative.

We put the lens in today and it does make a big difference.  Thanks for telling me to try it.

I turn 60 next Feb 17th so I am right behind you. 

Wow, so you were a Christmas baby!  

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16 hours ago, vlangel said:

I turn 60 next Feb 17th so I am right behind you. 

Wow, so you were a Christmas baby!  

Awesome we can celebrate the big 60 together on the net.  A Christmas birthday has its good and bad points, but I am used to it now. My husband's birthday is Dec. 22nd and we got married on Dec. 22nd so we celebrate that whole week and then do something together in the middle of the summer for our anniversary.

 

I plan to do another water change and move the rocks around a little bit in the next few days.  I will add before and after pictures on here.  My candy canes and acans looked really bad in my 75 because of low calcium.  It was below 300 before the water change this past Friday.  I may move all of them to this small tank because it is easier for me to do water changes on this tank.  I have never dosed a tank so I think I need to read up on that for the bigger tank.  It has been great reading all of the tank journals for the contest tanks.  I have kept my hands out of mine for several days and several of my one polyp frags are all ready adding a head.

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Water change day today.  I am going to add some more frags today and rearrange the rock.  Here is a pic before the water change.  1536619353_beforewaterchange.thumb.jpg.ab18390e8b40f5473aa4bc029674843e.jpgI am also going to add the DIY surface skimmer my husband made out of a piece vacuum cleaner tube.  I hope it will work.

 

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I completed the water change and my husband took a quick picture without anything open.  I removed the rock the acans were on and just placed them on the bottom of the tank on small frag rocks.  I added 3 more frags of zoas.  Each of my frags is just a few polyps taken off of a frag that I got for 5-10 dollars.  The rest of the polyps are left in the 75 where they have been growing for about six months.  I added a RFA on a small shell and a barnacle with some of the new zoas on it.  The tank and scape now look jumbled and janky, so I guess it really belongs in this contest. 

 

44347480_freshchange.thumb.jpg.9ea6619b61ca9f5835cec2d61c6898a5.jpg I do not like the rock work but I guess I keep my hands out of the tank and let it grow for a while.  Then I can remove the parts I like least.  This photo shows the mess so if anyone has any suggestions on what to do let me know.  Tomorrow I will try to post a pic if the frags open back up.  My arm got tired while I was working on it and I dropped them repeatedly so it may take a few days for them to recover.

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I have two shots of the tank with most of the coral opened up.  They don't show how bright the colors are.  My husband ordered the gels to get more realistic pics, but they won't be here until next week.58441887_leftside.thumb.jpg.88dd095598e54cd9b0f356c680f954c2.jpg479846126_rightside.thumb.jpg.a8b5768b548cd0e75d42c67ce9cf3a71.jpgThe first shot is the left side and the second is the right side of the tank.  I think it looks really jumbled but I am going to keep my hands out of it until next week.  So I open to all constructive criticism until then.  I like the diy surface skimmer the top is much cleaner and it blends in with the black background.

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Wow, that's a lotta cool corals already!

Mine is still cycling & I haven't decided on my rock scape either, so I'm not much help there.

 

I'm curious about your diy surface skimmer... Can you post a picture of it when you're able, pretty please?

 

I've been working on a surface skimmer & am not happy with it yet... sigh....

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11 minutes ago, Wendy said:

Wow, that's a lotta cool corals already!

Mine is still cycling & I haven't decided on my rock scape either, so I'm not much help there.

 

I'm curious about your diy surface skimmer... Can you post a picture of it when you're able, pretty please?

 

I've been working on a surface skimmer & am not happy with it yet... sigh....

Thanks Wendy, I figured I would just frag a bunch of zoas from my other tank and throw them in there.  Most of the rics and mushrooms grew from ones in my other tank.  The acans and candy cane looked awful in the big tank because I don't dose and and I only get help to change about 15% of the water monthly.  I love this little tank because it is so easy to mix a gallon and change weekly.

 

The diy surface skimmer was a small black round piece from a vacuum cleaner.  You can kind of see it in the left side pic posted.  He cut it to the proper height, cut teeth around the top and drilled a few holes around the bottom, and then he glued a piece of acrylic to the bottom.  It works great.  I will get him to get a better picture of it tomorrow if he can.  If I try to take it out of the tank I am afraid my beautiful rock scape will fall. HaHaHa!

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After my water change and moving the rocks, I left my candy cane pretty high in the tank.  The flow of the ac50 was hitting it pretty hard and by the time I noticed it the polyp was hanging out of the skeleton.  It came off last Monday and dropped to the bottom of the tank.  We were heading out of town and I didn't have time to take it out.  When I got home today and looked at it  I noticed it is attached to the bottom of the tank and has three nice puffy mouths.

 

Can it live like that and will it grow another skeleton?  I have never had this happen and don't know if I should take it out or let it continue to grow on the bare bottom.

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6 hours ago, kimdawg said:

After my water change and moving the rocks, I left my candy cane pretty high in the tank.  The flow of the ac50 was hitting it pretty hard and by the time I noticed it the polyp was hanging out of the skeleton.  It came off last Monday and dropped to the bottom of the tank.  We were heading out of town and I didn't have time to take it out.  When I got home today and looked at it  I noticed it is attached to the bottom of the tank and has three nice puffy mouths.

 

Can it live like that and will it grow another skeleton?  I have never had this happen and don't know if I should take it out or let it continue to grow on the bare bottom.

 

Your tank is coming right along. I can’t wait to see it fill in. 😊

 

 If the coral is stuck to the bottom I would leave it and see what happens. Pulling it now may cause more damage. 

 

I use the same light on my 2.2 Gallon cube and it seems to grow coral just fine...... not bad for the price. 

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On 4/20/2019 at 12:36 AM, kimdawg said:

Can it live like that and will it grow another skeleton?  I have never had this happen and don't know if I should take it out or let it continue to grow on the bare bottom.

I'm with Christy, I'd probably leave it be for now.  However, I've never seen an ejected LPS polyp grow a skeleton.

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I was afraid that would be the case.  A hermit is sitting on the polyps right now.  I don't know what will be left when he moves on and the lights just went out.  I guess I will find out in the morning if it is still alive.

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I now have 5 1/2 heads of my candy cane on the bare bottom of the tank.  There was only 4 1/2 when it was in the hard skeleton.  So for now it is spreading, but I still don't know if there is any real chance for it to stay alive without a skeleton.

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Googled Tybee Island and thought, "I bet it'd be nice to live there".  Googled home prices and thought, "nevermind, couldn't afford it".  Ha!

 

Can't wait to follow along with your tank.  Good luck!

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37 minutes ago, TatorTaco said:

Googled Tybee Island and thought, "I bet it'd be nice to live there".  Googled home prices and thought, "nevermind, couldn't afford it".  Ha!

 

Can't wait to follow along with your tank.  Good luck!

It is a great place to live.  We have almost everything we need on the island and can order in what we don't have.  We ride our golf cart all the time on the island.  Tourist are a pain sometimes but they help us pay for the place so you get used to it.

 

My tank is a simple janky but I sure am enjoying it.

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On 4/12/2019 at 9:04 PM, kimdawg said:

I completed the water change and my husband took a quick picture without anything open.  I removed the rock the acans were on and just placed them on the bottom of the tank on small frag rocks.  I added 3 more frags of zoas.  Each of my frags is just a few polyps taken off of a frag that I got for 5-10 dollars.  The rest of the polyps are left in the 75 where they have been growing for about six months.  I added a RFA on a small shell and a barnacle with some of the new zoas on it.  The tank and scape now look jumbled and janky, so I guess it really belongs in this contest. 

 

44347480_freshchange.thumb.jpg.9ea6619b61ca9f5835cec2d61c6898a5.jpg I do not like the rock work but I guess I keep my hands out of the tank and let it grow for a while.  Then I can remove the parts I like least.  This photo shows the mess so if anyone has any suggestions on what to do let me know.  Tomorrow I will try to post a pic if the frags open back up.  My arm got tired while I was working on it and I dropped them repeatedly so it may take a few days for them to recover.

 

On 4/13/2019 at 8:37 PM, kimdawg said:

I have two shots of the tank with most of the coral opened up.  They don't show how bright the colors are.  My husband ordered the gels to get more realistic pics, but they won't be here until next week.58441887_leftside.thumb.jpg.88dd095598e54cd9b0f356c680f954c2.jpg479846126_rightside.thumb.jpg.a8b5768b548cd0e75d42c67ce9cf3a71.jpgThe first shot is the left side and the second is the right side of the tank.  I think it looks really jumbled but I am going to keep my hands out of it until next week.  So I open to all constructive criticism until then.  I like the diy surface skimmer the top is much cleaner and it blends in with the black background.

Full tank, cant wait to see all this fill out. Looks great.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I did a complete water change today and changed a lot of things in the tank.  I removed the all of the acans and candy canes.  They are back in the 75 gallon.  I got in two orders today one from gulf coast ecosystems and one from salt critters.  I am very happy with everything I got.  The zoas are amazing colors already and the riccordea look really promising.

 

I am happy with my aquascape now and the zoas and riccs are doing great and growing so I plan to just keep those and the one RFA that I have.  They will have six months to grow and color up hopefully.

 

I see my red and blue hermit every day, but saw my pom pom crab for the third time today.  He hides all the time and I only see him when I take all of the rock out of the tank to clean it.  I may never see him again because I am happy with the scape and will not remove the rock any more for water changes.

 

My husband used the color gels in some of the pics today.  He doesn't know how to get the really close up shots that most of you know how to take, so any hints are welcomed.IMG_6203.thumb.JPG.4e6bbc44d567e4d7db8ce9563991b4d5.JPG

This is my early May full tank shot without the gel I think

 

IMG_6208.thumb.JPG.b9779e6b98ac3e7ea88fb839335cd157.JPG

Zoanthid close up.  I don't know the name of any of them, I just buy what I think is pretty.

 

IMG_6205.thumb.JPG.24eabbbb31c1d9f9850803716764bbaf.JPG

One of the new riccs with several mouths.

 

IMG_6206.thumb.JPG.3ff05014e8575b8aba708600a4dc6bfe.JPG

My only RFA in this tank.  It has grown some since I added to this tank.IMG_6211.thumb.JPG.ebd53099335b4a90c06795ffbc273ae6.JPG

And one last shot of the tank close up

IMG_6210.JPG

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3 minutes ago, 748S911 said:

Looking good KD, your tank is already packed with all sorts of stuff love it.  Sea horse adds a nice touch.

Thanks.  I think I am happy with the way it looks now too.  I have lots of beach decor so I can change it up when I want a different look.

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Wow, lovely! I have ordered from salt critters in the past and was very pleased, have been debating making another order from them recently, and this just makes me wanna order even more! Looking really good!!

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Thanks Meta,

The order from salt critters was all zoas and they were opening up while I was gluing them to the rock.  The Gulf Coast riccs were huge, some had 4 mouths and were super cheap.  Most of the riccs were not bright colors but I am hoping that will change in the coming months.

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I did a water change Wednesday yesterday so it is time for a picture update.

first, a full tank shot.  I haven't added anything this week just changed up the out of tank decor.  We found the shell and sea biscuit while hookah diving in Key Largo.  That was a fun trip.IMG_6258.thumb.JPG.45ba877148e483ea7766ed7696ae5a5d.JPGIMG_6272.thumb.JPG.9912b2de2a0ee260a18f8a5644faa97e.JPGThis is the best top down shot my husband could get.  He is still trying to figure out how to get good pics.  He is using Iphone six.  We have the colored gels and the eleven piece lens kit.  He just can't combine it all and get a clear pic so if anyone has any tips please let me know.  My tank is crystal clear and we cut of the filter but it still looks cloudy.IMG_6274.thumb.JPG.95170ff0c948e22fce44792a28316504.JPGIMG_E6268.thumb.JPG.ed60c3d6a11f825f2e73c902fd86d6e1.JPGIMG_6279.thumb.JPG.df54658a94e0d3b3060f6ca65b9da7f5.JPGT

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3 minutes ago, kimdawg said:

I did a water change Wednesday yesterday so it is time for a picture update.

first, a full tank shot.  I haven't added anything this week just changed up the out of tank decor.  We found the shell and sea biscuit while hookah diving in Key Largo.  That was a fun trip.IMG_6272.thumb.JPG.9912b2de2a0ee260a18f8a5644faa97e.JPGThis is the best top down shot my husband could get.  He is still trying to figure out how to get good pics.  He is using Iphone six.  We have the colored gels and the eleven piece lens kit.  He just can't combine it all and get a clear pic so if anyone has any tips please let me know.  My tank is crystal clear and we cut of the filter but it still looks cloudy.IMG_6274.thumb.JPG.95170ff0c948e22fce44792a28316504.JPGIMG_E6268.thumb.JPG.ed60c3d6a11f825f2e73c902fd86d6e1.JPGIMG_6279.thumb.JPG.df54658a94e0d3b3060f6ca65b9da7f5.JPGT

 

I use my iPhone without any filters. I hold it as close to the tank as possible.......Sometimes even right against the glass. I experiment at different times of the day to get the best light in the room. You can also adjust your tank light for photos. 

 

The Zoas are looking good in there. 😊

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Thanks Christy, he held it against the glass for some of them but was trying different arrangements of gels and filters.  The best shot he got was the full tank shot, it was taken from about four feet with a yellow filter.  I just want him to get the shots like other people do of close up coral with the great colors.

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