Candi_MI Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 Been about a month since last post, time for new updates and photos Link to comment
icenine Posted July 10, 2006 Author Share Posted July 10, 2006 It has been a while since I've thrown up an update hasn't it? I really had not done much with the tank, up until this past weekend anyway. I wound up having to remove the peppermint shrimp because it had decided to go on feeding rampage. ...now I originally added the pep because it was a nice looking shrimp and did a bang up job or eating aiptasia. I've had the shrimp since sometime in august (post last summers crash at least). We....while I had not seen a pest anemone since sometime last fall, there were other anemones in this tank. Specifically the mini carpets and the flower anemone. ...well it should not seem to be a big jump that the pep would go after the other anemones, but at least for the past ten months or so that had not been the case (and the pep had spent time time in the pico with them) ....until last week that is. Now, the pep had always stolen food from the anemones but never did any damage. In the span of a week it ate not one but five of them. Ripped them to shreds. It also tore apart a freshly molted porcelain crab... the thing has got to go. I didn't think that removal would be a big deal. Previously the shrimp had eaten out of my hand and always gravitated to anything that was stuck into the tank, but suddenly this behavior had vanished and anytime I stuck my hand, a net, feeding tongs anything into the tank it hid. I figured to trap it with the glass and food method (champagne glass and a net ready to drop over it to trap 'em in. No dice there either. So I switch to a small fish trap and have it in the tank for several days, nothing. The shrimp won't go near it. ...it did however decide to go to work on the "big anemone", the crucifer that is now in excess of eight inches in diameter. Now this there is no way the shrimp is going to manage to consume that anemone fast enough to keep a carcass for fouling the water, so not only is this shrimp going to eat a very pretty anemone, it's going to nuke the whole tank as well... it had to go and now it was an emergency. So Sunday I break the entire tank down to fish the bugger out. The whole freaking aquascape came out. It was a tremendous PITA. I got him out though. No, he did not find a new home. Given it's recent behavior, no one's tank I knew would be suitable for it. I'll get some new pics up shortly, the 'scape is a little different...but not much. I still have not gotten around to installing the chiller and my just sell it. Temps have been really stable and I'm thinking that it just will not be needed. ...I'm also now sure that I can live without a skimmer all together, the large scale water changes keep water quality as good as I can imagine it being anyway. Other than that everything is doing just fine, including the indigo dotty. There is no aggression between the fish at all, and the dotty bothers no inverts. (almost unfortunately, I might have appreciated it if the dotty would have beat on the pep some and maybe held it in check) Link to comment
travisurfer Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Awesome tank! I love the little cherub. That sealifeflorida place is great. I want to try to setup a tank completely from their livestock lists with the angel as the sole inhabitant. I think I am going to get the purple mouth flower anemone for my current tank. Link to comment
Timbertdi Posted July 25, 2006 Share Posted July 25, 2006 Awesome tank!! Are You still running the hydor flo? Do you have any splashing problems with it? Steven Link to comment
SoLiD Posted August 16, 2006 Share Posted August 16, 2006 I'm new to reefing, but I'm really diving into it. I've always wanted a saltwater tank with fish and coral but only recently could afford it. This thread in particular has really peaked my interest and is the reason I am going to purchase a nano 24G system to go with my new 150G custom acrylic system. Thanks to Icenine for all of your hard work and information. It is really appreciated. Link to comment
blackplagued Posted September 16, 2006 Share Posted September 16, 2006 Do you happen to know what kind of feather duster that is? That thing is really interesting! Where did you get it? Link to comment
icenine Posted September 17, 2006 Author Share Posted September 17, 2006 It was just a generic "feather duster" ...I never got a solid id on the sp. I really should post some new pics, the reef has past the year and a half mark now. There has not been much of anything new, just occasional fragging things out. Link to comment
quy_nquyen Posted September 17, 2006 Share Posted September 17, 2006 beautiful tank! the fish looks awesome. Link to comment
icenine Posted September 23, 2006 Author Share Posted September 23, 2006 Thanks for all the compliments.... here are a few updated pics. I made a new addition this week, a big fat red Trachyphyllia from sharkys. I traded away the green brain I had for a year... I was just looking for a splash of red to spice things up a bit. I've thinned out the zoa garden a bit and now have about half the morphs I did six months ago. There area few reasons behind the thin out. Some I just traded away, but a couple morphs just got choked out by more aggressive ones. Most things have been fragged at some time recently. I have a little ric factory going on in the lower right corner of the pod along with some zoa frags. The kenya tree is still po'ed from it's latest frag/move. I've managed to keep the xenia contained to one isolated rock in the center and removed it from the main rockwork. ....gsp has kind of escaped however and is currently attempting to choke out some of the green purple eaters I added as some of the first coral in the tank. For comparison... this is what the reef looked like about a year and a half ago: Updated FTS... New Brain: Some acan lords I nursed back from next to nothing: This was a freebie from sharkys reef.... it's starting to show some really neat colors: A couple more enchinos.... the pic really does not do the lower one justice... it is really super bright pink. Link to comment
icenine Posted September 23, 2006 Author Share Posted September 23, 2006 The clown has finally decided to host with something that does not seem to mind her. Here she is feeding the new brain: Link to comment
firefishbrain Posted September 23, 2006 Share Posted September 23, 2006 where do you go for lfs? or are yo ustrictly online? I love the tank btw, and would you be willing to frag that acan sometime if it get big enough. great find... I gotta get me a mh or two... Link to comment
icenine Posted September 23, 2006 Author Share Posted September 23, 2006 I've bought next to nothing from a LFS, which is sad commentary. There are a few decent shops in the Chicago area... but the good shops are in general a long drive from my near west burb. The online vendors I have gotten most live stock from: Seacrop Sharky's Reef (Now a NR.com sponsor, yipee! ...and actually, you can pick up in the chicago area rather than ship) sealifeflorida Of course I'm willing to frags things those acans are a ways off from fragable yet... but in a couple months I should have some extra polyps. Link to comment
icenine Posted October 21, 2006 Author Share Posted October 21, 2006 Forgot to mention this addition. It came from sharky's about a month ago... I know thye do not have a good track record, but I figured our system is established enough to give one a shot. Very active, very intersting addition to the reef. reverse: Link to comment
travisurfer Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 very nice, i love this tank Link to comment
Izzue Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 Forgot to mention this addition. It came from sharky's about a month ago...I know thye do not have a good track record, but I figured our system is established enough to give one a shot. Very active, very intersting addition to the reef. reverse: Awesome work Iceee Ya I tried a red one of those with my tank over a year mature and he only made it bout 3 months...1St sign will be one of the end of legs starting to go away until the end. Ive had a 3 inch Teal linka in the tank for over 6 months now and hes still doing great. Good luck Izzue Link to comment
junkitu Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 Very nice icenine. I like the red additions (brain and star). It looks like your gorgonians are happy and healthy. What's your feeding routine for the tank? I'd love to add some to my system, but I'm not running a skimmer and worry about elevated nitrates. Link to comment
SoLiD Posted November 23, 2006 Share Posted November 23, 2006 Sweet. My Nano Cube 24 Deluxe has been up fot 2 months now. Thanks Ice for your inspiration. SoLiD OUT Link to comment
frag Posted November 23, 2006 Share Posted November 23, 2006 Tank looks really good. What camera are you using?(sorry if you already posted this but I did not read the whole thread) Link to comment
icenine Posted December 1, 2006 Author Share Posted December 1, 2006 Tank looks really good. What camera are you using?(sorry if you already posted this but I did not read the whole thread) Thanks. A Nikon Coolpix 4200 I got on e-bay more than a year ago for less than a hundred bucks to my door. It's time to upgrade but it has served us well. Link to comment
icenine Posted December 13, 2006 Author Share Posted December 13, 2006 New guy I added a few weeks ago... free via a sharky's reef gift certificate I won at the November CMAS meeting. There are actaully three color morphs mixed in here. Yellow, Black and a few tiny heads of orange. Link to comment
junkitu Posted December 13, 2006 Share Posted December 13, 2006 New guy I added a few weeks ago... free via a sharky's reef gift certificate I won at the November CMAS meeting. There are actaully three color morphs mixed in here. Yellow, Black and a few tiny heads of orange. Very cool. How do you plan to care for it? I recently picked up an orange specimen and would love to hear about your plans. Link to comment
icenine Posted December 13, 2006 Author Share Posted December 13, 2006 I've got a little feeder I made from the top of a 24 oz Mountain Dew bottle to keep a squirt of arctic pod or something else around the suns and away from the other voracious creatures in the reef... but I already don't use it for every feeding. They open right up when the tank is being fed, and I'm able to see if they are managing to grab some food from the water column... if it looks like they got some I leave it be. At times I'll hand feed small bits of krill or silversides to them. I spot fee a lot of the LPS in the tank that way. In general, this is what I feed the tank: From Reed Mariculture (reef nutrition) Roto feast Phyto feast Arcti pods Copepods (live) From DT's Premium Reef Blend (phyto) Oyster eggs Rod's food (a local product in the Chicago area, but you can get it from Premium Aquatics) Link to Rod's food @ PA Other stuff Formula one flake Formula two flake Frozen Krill Frozen Silversides Fresh Nori ...now, I don't feed all of that at once. It's the current arsenal I'm choosing from right now. What gets fed is always a mix and match from what's on hand. Rod's stuff is an all purpose frozen reef diet comprised of a little bit of everything. Prior to that, I had been using a home brew version of Eric Borneman's reef recipe with maybe extra nori and some fish roe. I don't feed every day. I only really "feed" once every three days or so. Maybe a little (very little) shot of arcti pods, or flake in between that. I'll almost always time a feeding to be the day before a water change, and keep in mind I'm still a devotee of the church of the large volume water change in a nano. Link to comment
TEALCOBRA Posted December 31, 2006 Share Posted December 31, 2006 Hey Marc, can you take a current FTS with the newest additions from Sharkys ??? Doug Link to comment
danoreef Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 I just recieved my aquapod 24 gallon tank, and I don't want to have any of that filter matter in the back. how did you set up the filter area of yours? what kind of filter material are you running? if any. Link to comment
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