Fielder's IM40 Mixed Reef

[mfield16]

Took a trip to 3 hardware stores looking for the thickest screen spline out there. The tank came with a IM mesh screen lid, but the screen wasn't taught at all. I have 3 sizes of spline on hand, and of course none was even remotely thick enough for the channels. I think it's .25" and the largest I could find in stores was .19. 

 

All good, amazon will deliver it tomorrow. 😎

 

I need to do some research, but I am leaning towards potentially a small school of blue/green chromis. Or an anthias. Or a wrasse. 🤷‍♂️ I wonder how many chromis I can fit?

 

[mfield16]

October Update! It's crazy what can happen in a month. I'm writing this in the hospital as my wife is in labor. 👶

 

The last month was a ton of me dealing with her nesting, getting projects done before the baby comes, etc. So not much time to log anything here. 

 

I've been dialing in my DOS with Tropic Marin All For Reef. It's been problematic at times, either not dosing at all, or dosing, but air bubbles in the line skewing the numbers. I think I have it no. Alk had dropped to 6.5, but I have gotten it back to 7.5 and climbing. 

 

Mid-Sept I won a raffle on a local FB group. I've done a ton of these, but this was the first win! Nothing special; but not bad for $20. JF Toxic Pie Chalice, Rhodactis x4, Neon Hammer, Bowerbanki. 

 

9/18/2020 FTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mfield16]

Last week I picked up a dragon soul torch. Paid for 1 head, got 2. Love when a vendor is so awesome. He said he couldn't cut it, so considered it 1 head.  It's got killer reach to it. Plan to move my trumpets and add it directly in between my other two torches. 

 

 

[mfield16]

Added a decent sized emerald crab with hopes that it would go after the small, random patches of GHA here and there. It's really active during the day. I've read they are pretty much hidden all day, so it would be lovely if this one was less shy. 

 

[mfield16]

Thought this top-down view was fun. Personally it's my favorite way to view the tank. 🔥🔥🔥

 

[Murphs_Reef]

On 10/10/2020 at 3:58 AM, mfield16 said:

Added a decent sized emerald crab with hopes that it would go after the small, random patches of GHA here and there. It's really active during the day. I've read they are pretty much hidden all day, so it would be lovely if this one was less shy. 

 

I just got an emerald crab yesterday too.. making very quick work of the GHA 👍🏼

[mfield16]

On 10/11/2020 at 1:41 AM, Grimes said:

I just got an emerald crab yesterday too.. making very quick work of the GHA 👍🏼

Mines still out and about munching on everything. How is yours doing? I saw my one of my fish picking at his shell yesterday which was interesting to watch. The emerald froze, as if it was playing dead. Fish left, crab kept on trucking along. 

 

In other news, I haven't seen my YWG in days. Not at night, and not while feeding. I will try to spot feed the pistol shrimp burrows this evening and see if he's just being super shy. 

 

 

[Murphs_Reef]

7 hours ago, mfield16 said:

Mines still out and about munching on everything. How is yours doing? I saw my one of my fish picking at his shell yesterday which was interesting to watch. The emerald froze, as if it was playing dead. Fish left, crab kept on trucking along. 

 

In other news, I haven't seen my YWG in days. Not at night, and not while feeding. I will try to spot feed the pistol shrimp burrows this evening and see if he's just being super shy. 

 

 

Yeah getting on well, he is in constant algae control mode which is great.

[mfield16]

Alkalinity is holding steady again, and we have the first signs of coralline growth!

 

 

Added a few zoas. I am not exactly sure they are what the guy says. 

 

Sold as pink candy apple:

 

 

Sold as Sunny D 

 

 

Pizza Paly

 

 

 

And here's the "hybrid" Frogspawn I added a few weeks ago. The neon green tips and black tentacles look amazing under the blues. 

 

 

 

 

[mfield16]

I should note the negatives as well. I got a nice neon tip 3-head torch locally. It melted within 2 days, and I took it out so nothing else dies. 

 

A also added a clown goby, as I love small, fun fish with personality. TTM QT, it was eating well. Added to the main tank to a breeder box, and in 2 days that too had died. 

 

Everything else in the tank looks great, with the exception of my forest fire digitata. That's receded from the base up, but has slowed down and the top portions look amazing. I think the alk swing caused that.

 

[mfield16]

Newest additions: 

 

Bowser Zoas:

 

Blue Macua/Black Hornets:

 

Toxic Ooze Monti:

 

ASD Rainbow Phoenix:

 

Jason Fox Kung Pao - Though I think the vendor is incorrect on ID. 

 

Also a Rainbow Granulosa that I cannot get a good pic of. 

 

[mfield16]

Wow almost 2 months since an update. Guess that's what having a newborn at home does to you. 

 

Honestly not much has changed, other than adding corals.  I am completely out of space for corals in the sand. I've added an Alveopora, a cotton candy torch, a button scoly, and an orange tip frogspawn most recently. Not too long ago a rasta torch, a bunch of rics and shrooms, a pink skirted RFA, and a bunch of zoas. Scrambled Eggs, Pink Diamonds, Yellow Brick Road, Fruit Loop, Pinkie Pies, Blue Infusions, Citrus Coolers, and some kind of Utter. 

 

Coolest, and the one that most hurt my wallet, was a colony of Holy Grail micromussa. 😬

 

2020-11-05_12-30-23

 

Then there's the dragon soul torch. There's a tiny RFA in a crevice right next to where I put the DS torch. I think it the torch was too close, clocked some light, and the RFA was pissed. Overnight it died. RIP.

 

20201029_080554

 

 

[mfield16]

Here's the Alveopora. 

 

 

Thought this was fun. YWG and his tiger pistol buddy. Not easy to grab a shot of. If you look closely, the goby is missing an eye! 🥺

 

 

On November 22nd I took the wife to a local reefer who gets fish as a wholesaler. She couldn't resist this beautiful melanurus wrasse: 

 

 

[mfield16]

Some of the zoas and the ricordia added last month. I created a ricordia rock and moved a lot of stuff around on the sand bed. It's a never-ending rearrange in there. 

 

[mfield16]

December FTS. This was right before I found a GIANT vermetid snail on the acan rock. Had to remove 3 of the colonies to it. Stabbed it with a thick needle that was in my coral propagation kit. Glad to finally get some use out of that! 

 

I also went on a rampage with bone cutters and snapped off a bunch of tiny vermetids, if I could reach them. It was somewhat cathartic. 

 

 

 

I also found a new DS torch to replace the one that died a while back. It's one of my favorite. Couldn't resist. Being from, and living in Baltimore, the Ravens colors are a huge plus. It was nuts though. I added it to my tank, on a frag rack down low, and the next morning it was a pale blue/purple. I slowly moved it up every day, and in 6 days it is now almost back to that beautiful gold/purple. 

 

 

[mfield16]

I now have 6 somewhat nice torches. Rasta, Dragon Soul, Cotton Candy, a possible Avocado, and a cool deep purple with neon green tips. I am thinking of adding some rock, or finding a pre-fab rock, where the acans are on the front right, to create a torch tree of some sort. I know I am just talking to myself here ☺️ but if anyone has some input on that, feel free to share.

[debbeach13]

Congratulations on the new baby. Your tank looks great.

[mfield16]

8 minutes ago, debbeach13 said:

Congratulations on the new baby. Your tank looks great.

Thank you! It's a fun ride for sure. 10wks old yesterday. We started sleep training the little nugget and she is doing quite well. Not sure if it's us and the training, or if she is just an angel. We are getting 12hrs of uninterrupted sleep out of her. 🤗

[debbeach13]

Wow that's great!

[mfield16]

Decided to grab another dragon soul torch. Lights came on the next day and it looked like this: 

 

 

 

Didn't look anything like a DS. I was pretty upset,  but the guy said to give it time and would color back up.  I never knew torches did that. 

 

Sure enough,  10 days later:

 

 

[mfield16]

Things were getting pretty crowded on the sandbed, and for the last few months I've been thinking about taking my acans off their island,  and building it up for a torch tower.  The dragon soul torch wanted his own throne anyway,  and I've had my eyes on a 5x4" trachy/wellso radiata from a vendor I buy some stuff from.  So I started gluing rocks to create my tower. 

 

Here's the before, crazy packed floor and all: 

 

And here's everything in their new home! 

 

 

Everyone was a little upset with my hands being in the tank so much.  But after a full day,  the acans were the puffiest they've ever been,  and torches are looking great.  It took me 3 days to get the rock in,  as I had to build in underwater,  piece by piece,  waiting a day for the epoxy to cure.  

[mfield16]

New additions arrived today.  Trachyphyllia radiata and an indo gold torch.  Torch was pretty upset after shipping,  but check out this trachy! It's about 5"x4"🔥

 

 

Here's a closeup of the button coral,  which I thought was big until this guy came along.  

 

 

[mfield16]

Tried to post a video, came back and it was forbidden? 

[mfield16]

Trachy is not doing so well. Not sure why but maybe flow or light is too much. I rented a PAR meter and it's in about 225 PAR. Moderate flow. I've gotten it to eat once in the last week, but the skeleton is starting to show. I don't have a good feeling about this 😕

[Odyssey350kc]

The tank looks awesome after getting all the frags off the sand, and i love your rock flower anemones. This tank will be amazing if you let everything grow out and fill in the gaps. You won't be able to see the rock!