Getting back in after about a 4 year absence!

[RacingTiger03]

oh, the fun begins. My wife surprised me with a couple devil fish.. I mean.. uh damsels. She decided they we're hungry and accidentally dumped in nearly 1/4 cup of shrimp pellets (a cat was involved from what I understand) ... Fortunately, the combination of events was enough to start the diatom bloom! 4 hours later my tank was red from the die in the food. Fortunately again, turns out a skimmer can also separate the red die particles (I've got some creepy looking skimmate fella's LOL). Looks like the damsels will be replacing the snowflakes I wanted though if they survive the cycling. Ah well, apparently the kids picked them out, and they were the ones that wanted clowns anyway *shrug*


Bonus points to the wifey.. she properly acclimated the fish, and they were buzzing happily around the tank when I got home. All without my help or input! She described each step to me So proud, LOL... now if only she would take such an interest in my car.. hah.

 

[Captain Nemo]

Sounds like my luck.... Went to pressure wash the rocks and guess what....... No gas. What a day!

 

[RacingTiger03]

brown muck abound, what is this crap and why is it taking over my tank?!?!!?
:tape:


I kid I kid, but in all seriousness, diatom bloom in full affect. Running skimmer full time and it's pulling all kinds of yuckies from the tank .. I don't recall it EVER (corallife for now, I want to replace it with a tunze nano or hydor variant at some point)having worked this well before. Apparently it needed a 4 year break and a vinegar soak *shrug*. I'm emptying it every day! The little bit of a CuC I got is still surviving just fine (3 snails (margaritas and a nasarius) 4 hermits). Nitrates are.. OK... as they should be for a cycling tank. I REALLY need to snatch up an ammonia and nitrite tester as well though. I should be good to start adding some coral in a few more weeks time and get rid of or hang onto these damsels... I suppose the kids will decide that, apparently they like them better than clowns after all, LOL.


Would a flame angel do OK with 2 yellow-tail damsels in a 29G? Eventually I'll be upgrading to a larger cube or corner tank, and will start with a small flame, I just worry about territorial issues with the damsels in the mean time (couple years maybe).

Does anyone have just a nitrite and ammonia test I could buy really cheap? It's the only two I lack, and I hate to pay $20 for a whole kit with other tests I already have... then again.. 4 years old... but nitrate appears to be testing ok.

 

[merle.mitchell.7]

The flame angel should do fine. They are always on the move and mind their own business. The damsels may try to push it around but will more likely not. I had several damsels and an eboli eye angel as well as the clowns (Ocilaris) without issue.
Lol what am I saying! I still do!!!
I have a 3 - stripe damsel and three clowns. Biggest issue I's the most dominant male clown trying to catch the damsel.

 

[merle.mitchell.7]

I worried at first but after several days of watching, and a little book work, I've learned that the clowns' behavior is normal and he stands no chance of catching that damsel!
I monitored the damsels respiration and what not in looking for signs of stress. None. He swims circles around the clown, in and out of the rock work. I think he is trying to 'dash the clown upon the rocks'!

I bought a Seachem Alert Series for ammonia at a big box store while on clearance. It works great and continuously, so I know at a glance from toxic (0.5ppm) to safe (<0.02ppm). I don't know if they have any other alert series kits for nitrate or nitrite but I will find out.

 

[RacingTiger03]

I don't know if I could trust a "permanent" PH sticker. I barely trust some of the titration methods... I would much rather they tell you the concentration and number of drops to clear or the correct color for a completed titration and PPM for each drop. 100x more accurate, but leaves room for user error that way I suppose :/.... then again so do "calibrated" print samples of the "correct" color. Reminds me of how to get a failing grade on titration tests in chemistry lab, LOL.

The flame I wasn't too worried about, but adding clowns after damsels concerns me a bit, as both are fairly aggressive to similiarly shaped fish. I'm looking at 6mo - 1 yr before I can support an angel anyway since I'm starting up with basically no LR on this tank . Clowns could come at 3-4 months though. Most importantly, I want a lot of SPS in this tank, and the flame is iffy at best as it can mistake it for algae and nip at it very easily. I only had a problem with my last one regarding a digitata with green polyps, and I'm going to concentrate on green/blue/purple in this tank. With that in mind, I think the angel is out regardless as much as I love the flame

Parameters that I can test for are staying in the safe zones so far (Phosphates 0ppm, nitrates 5-10ppm, salinity 1.024, haven't tested anything else much yet, but these are daily tests hah.) Not where I would like it ultimately of course, but for a startup tank I'm pretty happy with that. I'm also getting a nice green film algae in combination with the brown diatom bloom now, which my snails and hermits are LOVING, LOL. The margaritas do a much better job cleaning than I thought, I can quite literally see everywhere they've been overnight now! As my tank was primarily hermits before, this is rather new to me... and I'm liking what the snails do. But at the same time, I like the even trimming the crabs do as they don't really pick a spot clean like the snails (good thing as far as nutrient export goes).

 

[RacingTiger03]

Hadn't posted an update here in awhile, but upgraded to a 55G, and am re-working the rock scape non-stop since, lol. + a few of my goodies No love shot of my favorite magicians, but they're always PO'ed or facing the wrong way when I'm near the tank -.-

 

[Aaron Gustafson]

Looking good!

 

[Captain Nemo]

Looking good! Nice Acans! Be careful with those damsels, they can be boogers.....

 

[RacingTiger03]

yeah, unfortunately my wife wanted to keep them, I had them trapped before the move to the 55. Had the kiddos convinced to give them up, lol. Introduced a new guy today though, and they're getting along good. They didn't even bother him when he swam right up to them!

yellow candy hogfish in the DT as of 30 minutes ago

On the plus side the 3 are a gorgeous pairing. Blue to yellow on the damsels, yellow with red on the hogfish

 

[RacingTiger03]

my little photobombing fish add-in..

A few updates
I also got a wonka berry frag yesterday, haven't had a chance to get a shot of it yet though

 

[Captain Nemo]

Beautiful pics!! Looks really good, congrats!

 

[RacingTiger03]

thanks, it's getting there . A year or two grow-out and it should look really good. Not much left to add. I wanna grab a blueberry and strawberry shortcake, eventually, but first a cheap acro to see if I can support it without PO'ing my chalice. If it does, I'll trade the chalice for the sticks I want - easy enough? LOL.

I'll probably either trade off the zoas or let them grow out as rock cover only... we'll see. Not a huge fan of zoa's really, but there are a few I like, and they add some nice color. These Acans OTOH, I'm loving! Too bad they're happier in the shade, or I would cover my tank in them, lol. Ah well. Also love my chalice.. but the sentiment isn't shared by the rest of the household . The magicians.. I could have a magician farm in this tank and be happy!

Also looking for a purple and green Galaxia. Anybody have some and willing to frag.. or have a frag?

 

[Aaron Gustafson]

Looking good! I had a nice galaxea colony but I sold it to Jon.

 

[RacingTiger03]

just my luck, lol. I know they have some nice galaxea colonies. Guess I'll just have to swing by there. I'm just not a fan of paying their prices,... no credit with them, and not much that I would want to trade in yet (I buy a good bit from them, but they aren't my first choice on fish/corals most of the time). I need some grow-out first!

Oh I did forget.. I got a couple lunar eclipse zoa's in on the wonka berry frag as a bonus for a few reasons Gotta move these guys to another spot though, they're being shaded out by the wonka berry zoas on the plug and aren't coloring well in the low light spot I have the wonka berry very happy in, lol.


BTW, how are your magicians and ding dang's doing?

 

[Aaron Gustafson]

just my luck, lol.

Oh I did forget.. I got a couple lunar eclipse zoa's in on the wonka berry frag as a bonus for a few reasons Gotta move these guys to another spot though, they're being shaded out by the wonka berry zoas on the plug and aren't coloring well in the low light spot I have the wonka berry very happy in, lol.

I’d love to see some pix. I got in some Rastas and Sunny Ds the other day. Going to try to set up a proper frag tank in the coming days.

BTW, how are your magicians and ding dang's doing?

So far so good. Matt was gonna trek up here to pick up some more stuff from me, but has not set up a time yet. I have like 3-4 frags for him. I also have some ORA Bird of Paradise if you’re keen on adding some sticks.

On a side note, my chiquitas have been REALLY unhappy since I fragged them for Matt. I hope I didn’t **** them off too much. It was a clean frag & they had been doing really well. :-(

 

[RacingTiger03]

I actually just grabbed one this morning.. it's not all that great a shot of the zoa's, but better than nothing . that I'll have until things calm down and I can get some personal time with my camera. It seems to only come out for shoots anymore, LOL. 2 small lunar eclipse polyps with 4 of the wonka berry. The wonka's have some nice white specks that don't show up very well in photos. What I find really cool is that the white specs are also on the closed polyp in the same places! (not zoa pox.. freaked me out at first, LOL.)

 

[RacingTiger03]

So far so good. Matt was gonna trek up here to pick up some more stuff from me, but has not set up a time yet. I have like 3-4 frags for him. I also have some ORA Bird of Paradise if you’re keen on adding some sticks.
On a side note, my chiquitas have been REALLY unhappy since I fragged them for Matt. I hope I didn’t **** them off too much. It was a clean frag & they had been doing really well. :-(

I think I want to stick to acropora millepora, thanks though! Beautiful bird you do have though!

Sorry to hear that about the chiquitas! Those things were pretty, albeit tiny, lol. I would offer advice, but you know zoas far better than I! It's really surprising to hear. normally zoa don't even know or care they've been fragged lol.

 

[Aaron Gustafson]

Sorry to hear that about the chiquitas! Those things were pretty, albeit tiny, lol.

Well, they were big (dime sized). They have shrunk tremendously.

 

[RacingTiger03]

really? The ones I saw were only tiny tiny, maybe a little bigger than a push button on a pen . Granted that may be my mind skewed towards those gorgeous utter chaos I saw too, lol. Or the fragged ones were already slighted and not opening big.. interesting either way.