Flip's Reef

MarvinsReef · Dec 14, 2012

Flipside said:
In that 75... Hmmm... Maybe 8 RBTA's and 3 GBTA's. The clowns were definitely not from the same clutch. They were bought all over town, and some ordered. I had a serious problem back thing. LOL! They were together, with no issues, for at least a year. Never lost one in that tank. The only clown I ever lost was a Grade B Picasso. It was very small, and a jumper. I hated losing that one because it was one of my first, designer clowns. It did get me hooked, though.

I don't plan on getting hooked on them again. I had big dreams of breeding them and giving them away to the local guys, but that just requires more work than I want to do. I want the hobby to remain a hobby.

okee dokee. thanks for the info.

Flipside · Dec 14, 2012

NP! Sorry it was so vague... It was years ago...

Flipside · Dec 15, 2012

New little guys are in the tank. I'm going to do a ritteri and hope it hosts them. Should be ready to go into the tank tomorrow.

Also, I put around 200-250lbs of LR in my 'fuge tonight. Fish are all happy, so must be good.

And here's the skimmer how it sits right now. I guess I have a decent bioload.

Can't wait to clean that thing out. LOL!

MarvinsReef · Dec 15, 2012

Skimmer is kickin' behind. Little guys look awesome. They probably feel lost with all that space.

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Flipside · Dec 15, 2012

LOL! Well, I'm hoping after I throw the Ritteri in there tomorrow, they'll feel a bit more at home. I'm hoping the Ritteri stays on that left island structure. I may move a rock out of the way to make it so.

I may still do another RBTA in there, just to put more clowns in the tank. A local guy has an awesome set of platinum's I've been eyeballin!

MarvinsReef · Dec 15, 2012

Good luck with the Mag. I badly want one but it's so hard to find a healthy one. Do you have experience combining BTA's & Mags? I've seen some people having success (revhtree) with BTA's and Mag together but I'm very hesitant. Hahaha..

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Flipside · Dec 15, 2012

No, dude. I have no experience with mag's at all! LOL! However, I have a great group of friends around me that do. The one I have is gorgeous, healthy, and only cost me chump change because of 2 reasons. 1) My buddy only wants one in his tank. He had 4 in his 80g and lost a couple to the powerhead monster. D'oh! And 2) my buddy knows I have lots of live rock that he can sink his grubby hands into.

We do a lot of trading back and forth. As a matter of fact, almost everything I have in my setup is done with local hobbyists that are great friends of mine. If anything comes from someone I don't know, it gets QT'd for a very long time. I still dip every coral though.

I'm going to add a couple more fish tomorrow too. They have been in QT for 4 weeks. I think they are ready to sprawl their fins out.

Lots of stuff going in tomorrow, I guess.

MarvinsReef · Dec 15, 2012

Flipside said:
No, dude. I have no experience with mag's at all! LOL! However, I have a great group of friends around me that do. The one I have is gorgeous, healthy, and only cost me chump change because of 2 reasons. 1) My buddy only wants one in his tank. He had 4 in his 80g and lost a couple to the powerhead monster. D'oh! And 2) my buddy knows I have lots of live rock that he can sink his grubby hands into. We do a lot of trading back and forth. As a matter of fact, almost everything I have in my setup is done with local hobbyists that are great friends of mine. If anything comes from someone I don't know, it gets QT'd for a very long time. I still dip every coral though.

I'm going to add a couple more fish tomorrow too. They have been in QT for 4 weeks. I think they are ready to sprawl their fins out. Lots of stuff going in tomorrow, I guess.

good luck with the additions. I'll follow along.

Flipside · Dec 16, 2012

Thanks man!

Here's a shot of the fuge, top down, with the flow off. It's cleaning up nicely. Was pretty nasty a few hours ago:

Flipside · Dec 16, 2012

Okay, I think everything went well, in terms of acclimation, today.

Here's what I added:

1. Squamosa Clam (tridacna squamosa) - It's about 6-7". He cost a little more than I wanted to spend, but I fell in love with him.
2. Temmincki Fairy Wrasse - That's how it was sold to me, but I dunno... It's an awesome fish, and very social.
3. Melanurus Fairy Wrasse - This guy has yet to come out and play.
4. 3 x Bartlett's Anthias
5. Starry Blenny
6. Ritteri Anemone (heteractis magnifica) - Got from a good friend. It's very large when fully open... hasn't opened up in my tank yet.

To my surprise, my new clowns jumped right into the mag just now! My wife was pretty stoked.

Here's some pics, but I couldn't get everyone:

LILBUDDHA · Dec 16, 2012

Flipside said:
New little guys are in the tank. I'm going to do a ritteri and hope it hosts them. Should be ready to go into the tank tomorrow.

Also, I put around 200-250lbs of LR in my 'fuge tonight. Fish are all happy, so must be good.

And here's the skimmer how it sits right now. I guess I have a decent bioload.

Can't wait to clean that thing out. LOL!

Looks Great .. That skimmer is working great . I am skimmerless atm ..I was told my RLSS would get here last week .NOT ...
Something about a cargo strike just ending in Long Beach (sigh) . Keep an eye on the refuge lights for salt creep damage .
I would put them on a GFCI plug just in case .Wouldn't hurt to keep a few spare's around too. I learned that one the hard way

POP.....CLICK was not a good thing to hear .. I was glad I was at home when it happened .

Flipside · Dec 16, 2012

LOL! Will do, man.

I'm going to probably go a different route with the refugium, anyway. I think it be ugly.

I'm going to have a contractor run some outlets for me over on that side of the garage... maybe on the wallboard that I have over there. I'll make sure he puts a GFCI outlet on it. I still want to do a subpanel and run a 220 and 110 outlet over there. I guess we'll see what the pocketbook can handle after all of this is done.

Hope you post some pics of the RLSS in action!

zibba · Dec 17, 2012

Sweet, Flip! Congratz on the new addition and it's really cool the clowns jumped right into the nem. That clam is a beauty and is a great center piece. Melanarus wrasses are beautiful -- that's the wrasse I posted pictures of in my thread (I forgot to respond to your comment on that).

Flipside · Dec 17, 2012

Thanks!

And it's all good, bro! I kinda' thought it was, but you never know with wrasses. I love the way mine looks, but he's buried himself. I'm hoping he comes out tonight.

I'm not even sure about the purple one I have, tbh.

That's what the guys told me it was, though... :: shrugging shoulders ::

MarvinsReef · Dec 17, 2012

Flipside said:

fillin' in. 1smile1

Flipside · Dec 17, 2012

My wife worked from home today. She said that she saw the melanarus wrasse when the lights were still out. That's good to hear. I've haven't seen him since the QT...

The tangs were giving the bigger fairy wrasse heck last night, so I killed the light early. That put that matter to bed, and they seem to be more accepting today. Whew! I don't even want to say how much that had me worried. I'm still watching closely though.

My wife mentioned that we were missing some cleaner shrimp so I purchased some tonight. One it's looking rough but the other appears strong. They are the blood red type. I'll probably not keep them in my holding tank for too long. I really doubt that one of them will pull through...

I also purchased a PM kalk reactor (used... I think it's a 620 model), 2 new Radiums 250w moguls (mine are good, but I like to swap them early), a new mj400 for the kalk reactor (spare), and 2 new Vortechs (MP40wES') from our local fish store. They have me a great discount on everything! They literally gave me hundreds off.

Will try and get some pics up later. Don't know if I'll have time tonight though...

zibba · Dec 18, 2012

Flipside said:
My wife worked from home today. She said that she saw the melanarus wrasse when the lights were still out. That's good to hear. I've haven't seen him since the QT...

The tangs were giving the bigger fairy wrasse heck last night, so I killed the light early. That put that matter to bed, and they seem to be more accepting today. Whew! I don't even want to say how much that had me worried. I'm still watching closely though.

My wife mentioned that we were missing some cleaner shrimp so I purchased some tonight. One it's looking rough but the other appears strong. They are the blood red type. I'll probably not keep them in my holding tank for too long. I really doubt that one of them will pull through...

I also purchased a PM kalk reactor (used... I think it's a 620 model), 2 new Radiums 250w moguls (mine are good, but I like to swap them early), a new mj400 for the kalk reactor (spare), and 2 new Vortechs (MP40wES') from our local fish store. They have me a great discount on everything! They literally gave me hundreds off.

Will try and get some pics up later. Don't know if I'll have time tonight though...

Successful day at the LFS! I forgot you were running Radiums too. Well, I shouldn't say "too" because technically I'm running a XM 15k during the first few months while the tank matures but I have 2 250w Radiums on stand by. How many hours/day are you running them and how often are you swapping them out?

Sorry to hear that one of the shrimp might not make it. How long do you QT those guys? I don't think my QT is robust enough to properly QT inverts.

Let's see some pics!

MarvinsReef · Dec 18, 2012

Man, you went shopping!

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Flipside · Dec 18, 2012

zibba said:
Successful day at the LFS! I forgot you were running Radiums too. Well, I shouldn't say "too" because technically I'm running a XM 15k during the first few months while the tank matures but I have 2 250w Radiums on stand by. How many hours/day are you running them and how often are you swapping them out?

Sorry to hear that one of the shrimp might not make it. How long do you QT those guys? I don't think my QT is robust enough to properly QT inverts.

Let's see some pics!

For shrimpies, typically just a week. I should probably go longer, but I never have with them or CUC items/inverts. I have another CUC on standby/order and I'll QT them longer.
I'm going to move the shrimp to the DT later this week. The CUC will go in the display fuge that my buddy's building for me.

I'll try and get some pics up tonight. I had to drive over 80 miles last night, in Houston rush hour traffic, just to get to one of our LFS'. Luckily a couple of guys are opening shop closer to me (I live near The Woodlands, TX) so I'll have one 5 miles away, and one 10 miles away. Both are good friends of mine.