Ben's 28g redux

revhtree · Jan 21, 2014

Well done Ben! Great photos and livestock!

Carron0 · Jan 21, 2014

benny z said:
ok, ok - one last one for macro monday!

this green nepthea photobombs a lot of my images, but i've never posted a picture of it, i don't think.

neon green and grows slow as snot - i've had this piece in this tank since twinspots_goby reluctantly gave me a frag when i initially set the tank up years ago. it's the only coral i kept for the redo.

Beautiful tank!!! i have this in my 29 gallon as well but the polyps don't extend like yours does. Do you have any idea why? I have tried it everywhere in the tank and it just cannot find a happy place.

rock_lobster · Jan 21, 2014

Loving that nepthea so vivid I need one asap!

StikHedRon · Jan 21, 2014

Tanks looking good Ben!

benny z · Jan 21, 2014

Thanks everybody! I was told today by Tony Vargas that the nepthia is actually a sinularia, based on polyp structure.

I'd say place it and leave it alone. There are days it is completely closed up, but then comes out bigger/stronger the next.

Cheers!

benny z · Jan 28, 2014

FINALLY mounted my micromussas tonight. also picked up a sweet new tri-color torch and mounted my gold torch on top of it. the new one had 3 heads, but 1 was dead so i used some putty and molded the orange one right on top of the dead head of the new one. the last pic is a top-down of that.

some more pics:

MrDJeep123 · Jan 28, 2014

Next time the sweepers are out you should see if it stings. You'll have to be my guinea pig. Nice additions! How's that little wrasse doing?

benny z · Jan 28, 2014

Oh I know it stings!!! Those favia are brutal!

Wrasse is doing well - actually out in the open more now, and has learned to come up front to meet the turkey baster for feedings.

MrDJeep123 · Jan 28, 2014

Good to hear!

benny z · Jan 29, 2014

new fts since everything is mounted.

few notes - not everything is always all good. my montis were all dying. first the starburst cap, then the superman digi, then the seasons greetings cap. i couldn't figure out what was going on until i finally figured out i have digitate hydroids, and the sweepers were stinging them. have now been toothbrushing the ones i see and i'm hopeful the montis will recover. another reason to use the toothbrush - hair algae! i think nutrients got a little out of control while i was overfeeding the tank w/ virtually no fish while preparing for the bioload of 5 new fish at once. i was overfeeding for a couple of months and it finally resulted in hair algae. the outburst of digitate hydroids is probably also due to the overfeeding/high nutrient level.

i have it mostly under control now with some large water changes, religiously blowing off the rocks, and frequent filter floss changing. i also started using carbon and gfo in a single bag inside the oem media basket along with the filter floss. i added a few turbo snails to hopefully clean up the remaining hair. it is unhealthy, as i can easily wisp it off the rock, and it is losing color. i don't think it will be around much longer.

otherwise, i'm pretty happy with how things are going!

revhtree · Jan 30, 2014

LOve the fts!

jweintraub · Jan 30, 2014

Tank looks great! Loving those macro shots!

benny z · Jan 30, 2014

thanks guys. the fts i have never liked shooting. i am never happy with them! the shadowed areas have more indirect/reflected light on them than what these pictures show. i always seem to try to not overexpose the sand, but that makes the shadows very dark. i'd rather shoot close-up macros any day! lol

benny z · Feb 4, 2014

Video! Just a handheld video cam here with no editing. But you get to see the possom wrasse!

http://youtu.be/V0lLQDrARUo

MrDJeep123 · Feb 4, 2014

Snail down! Snail down! Initiate Operation Upright!

. Pretty cool video. That wrasse sure is shy. Out of curiosity, why did you pick him versus the white striped possum?

benny z · Feb 4, 2014

Hmm - I think between the basslets and pygmy perchlet that I had enough red in fish. So I went with the more purple/yellow possom. No real reason beyond that I don't think. I took another video of them all eating also - maybe I'll get time to put something nicer together for a video. Really need to borrow a DSLR that shoots video. This camcorder doesn't exactly capture the colors the best.

KoleTang · Feb 5, 2014

The tank is looking awesome!

I may have missed it, but what are you running for filtration?

Any info on the LEDs (colors and amount of them)?

benny z · Feb 5, 2014

thanks!

i'm running filter floss and a bag with gfo/carbon mixed in the oem media basket. i had bought and modified a tunze nano skimmer for this tank, and was using it for a while. but i found i missed the mechanical filtration of the floss and clarifying carbon, plus was battling some algae and figured that with my weekly ~8g water changes that gfo would help more than the skimmer. i do think the skimmer helped add oxygen to the tank, but i don't worry about that much.

i do the weekly water change religiously, and a couple of times per week have been taking a toothbrush to the rocks to brush down any algae and digitate hydroids i may see. i also blow off the rocks with a turkey baster almost every day, change the filter floss 2-3 times per week, and swap the gfo/carbon pretty frequently. seems to be working - the algae is thinning and visibly weakening.

there is another thread where i detailed the lighting with no replies.

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/le...oad-spectrum-light-emitting-diodes-blend.html

few more pictures!

this baby's breath was unrecognizable when i got it - seller said it had been fully shaded and getting no light. it's coloring up very nicely - can't wait to see it in another month.

this is the aqua sd rainbow mille. last week i knocked over a rock onto it, kocked it off the plug, and broke off the tip. that's what i get for not securing all the rocks and going after algae with a toothbrush! but it is recovering, as you can see by the new tissue over the break. also - the resulting accidental frag has healed!

these apparent jawbreaker-family red discoma with purple splotches from vietnam are metallic in person. i *think* there is now more purple around the edge of the biggest one than when i got them, and i can now see purple beginning on bits of the smaller one. the tiny baby has grown considerably since i've had them.

"ironman" blastos...

and one last thing, another crappy video - but with the addition of crappy music!

Fish Eating - Nano Reef - YouTube

cheers!