MAX Insanity 20g Tall

Eienna · Jul 27, 2013

The little basslet ate his first meal this morning like a good little fishy, which is always a good sign <3

Sorry about no photos yet...the little fellow's too nervous right now.

Genesis Corals · Jul 27, 2013

My basslet took awhile to come out, he is about 3" now, nice and fat. He should come out eventually.

Eienna · Jul 27, 2013

Well, he is venturing about an inch away from his hiding place until someone gets too close XD

He's in a relatively bare tank for quarantine. I'm not surprised he's a little shy right now, given that and the fact that I only acquired him yesterday evening.

It surprises and pleases me that he's already eating. It's not even live food!

I noticed that the store fed kind of a mixed "soup" of foods with a turkey baster (when I asked to see the basslets eat) so I did the same. I like to think it helped. I figured he'd recognize the baster.

Zero Nitrates · Jul 27, 2013

Nice tank! Love the purple monti!

Eienna · Jul 27, 2013

Zero Nitrates said:
Nice tank! Love the purple monti!

Thanks!

Genesis Corals · Jul 28, 2013

I love my chalk basslet, they can be shy at first, but they get braver in time. The mandarin is going to get expensive as he gets bugger if you have to keep supply the pods. Maybe look into culturing them yourself or adding some more LR to the tank for the pods to live. The tank looks good, glad to see you made it through the green water.

Eienna · Jul 28, 2013

Genesis Corals said:
I love my chalk basslet, they can be shy at first, but they get braver in time. The mandarin is going to get expensive as he gets bugger if you have to keep supply the pods. Maybe look into culturing them yourself or adding some more LR to the tank for the pods to live. The tank looks good, glad to see you made it through the green water.

I appreciate that...

I saw one at MAX and it was a real eye-catcher. This kid's gonna be one too, I'm sure.

And yeah, I know the mandarin's going to get seriously expensive as he grows if he stays on this diet >.< I really wish I had known beforehand how much these guys eat!! I'm trying to get him to start taking frozens and possibly pellets, though. We will see how that works out.

Hey, do you know anyone who sells the appropriate tiny organisms for a deep sand bed? I was considering garf.org but they haven't updated their site for so long I'm beginning to wonder if the company still exists.

LukeG · Jul 28, 2013

Deep sand beds are going out of style. If you want to use one, I suggest trying it in your sump. Add a ton of substrate and try to get a few handfuls of substrate from the oldest tank your can find. Maybe your LFS would sell some.

Eienna · Jul 28, 2013

LukeG said:
Deep sand beds are going out of style. If you want to use one, I suggest trying it in your sump. Add a ton of substrate and try to get a few handfuls of substrate from the oldest tank your can find. Maybe your LFS would sell some.

The 20g is sumpless...and I'm not going to put the dough into giving it one since I'm upgrading to a 125g ASAP. Once I do that this 20g will merely be quarantine.

I'll maybe put up an ad for sand with lots of organisms, lol.

Ditzy3 · Jul 28, 2013

Very nice tank and frags!! I love goniporas they are complex at times, but a good challenge.. I bought

Ditzy3 · Jul 28, 2013

Sirry.. I bought my 4th one yesterday.hehe

love the colors.just wanted to show a few faves if mine.. im pretty new..

this is another fsve... lol

Eienna · Jul 28, 2013

Ditzy3 said:
Sirry.. I bought my 4th one yesterday.hehe

love the colors.just wanted to show a few faves if mine.. im pretty new..

this is another fsve... lol

Cool. n.n Goniopora is my favorite coral.

Have you seen this yet? Any goniopora keeper should read it.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/nftt/index.php

Eienna · Jul 28, 2013

I just discovered that the baby basslet likes Rod's Fish-Only food. Very much, in fact.

Eienna · Jul 29, 2013

Well, it's been a little over a week since my CC corals arrived, and they're all doing wonderfully. I couldn't be happier with them. <3

The little basslet seems healthy, too, though he will still be going through the full QT period. He's a surprisingly brave little fish. I come up to the tank and he looks up, hoping I'll drop food XD

Eienna · Aug 1, 2013

There's my little fella <3

And now a couple of inverts....

Eienna · Aug 1, 2013

I LOVE MY REEF.
Haha. I had to say it. My setup, while smaller than I'd like, just...feels _right_. I look at it and it makes me happy. I AM battling a small population of aiptasia (tried the boiling water method...didn't work so I picked up some aiptasia-X to try today), but on the whole I am very happy and proud of it. And it's still young! Juvy fish, little frags...and so much potential. I don't know when I'll be able to upgrade, but for the moment I am crying with joy and pride.

I want to extend thanks to the great people on this forum and fishlore.com's forum for their help. I also want to thank Cherry Corals and Deep Sea Creations in particular for providing me with some terrific animals for my little slice of the ocean, and for being so dedicated to the creatures in their care...and for their terrific customer service.

Eienna · Aug 9, 2013

Okay...ran into some problems...probably leading to the death of one of my acans, I'm sad to say, but it looks hopeful for the rest of my corals.

Bottom line? Keep up with top-offs and water changes. Seems I wasn't doing enough of either because of how problematic it has been to get water. My phosphate, nitrate, alk and salinity all got too high. My RODI unit came today, but despite my best efforts I'm hurting so much and am so exhausted I can't think straight to finish setting it up tonight. I did have enough purchased water to do a 25% change so here's hoping.

My poor acan. It looked like this:

But now it looks like this T.T

When I came home to that yesterday night I almost dissolved into tears. Nothing like flashbacks to a recent disaster that nearly wiped out my entire 50g population of freshwater fish...and these corals are extremely precious to me. Thanks to the good folks on this forum, I believe I've pinpointed the problems and the cure in time to save the other acan and the rest of my beautiful little frags. Gosh, I'm exhausted...good night, everyone...I'll finish setting up the unit in the morning when things don't feel like they're processing in slow motion.

Eienna · Aug 10, 2013

I need to thank my fellow R2Rers for all the help. The Aussie may not come back (has anyone heard of acan polyps regenerating from mere shreds?) but it does not appear to be getting any worse, and my other corals, including the fiery depths acan, are acting normal again. I think I've got things back under control. Whew! I have to admit that when I saw that acan falling apart I started having some nasty flashbacks to a disaster I had with my 50g freshwater tank. Something was wrong with the tap water I added during a routine change, and by the time the tank was full my beloved fish were dying one after another at such a rate that I'm amazed I saved any of them. I even lost my favorite, a gold nugget plecostomus named Vegas. That night ripped me apart and it seems I may never be completely over it.

Thanks for helping me keep this from becoming another disaster, guys. :') I seriously freaked out, and I don't do that.

Upgrading can't come soon enough. Messing up the chemistry in a 20g tank is just too easy for my liking.

On another high note, my RODI unit works a treat and I'm slowly getting everything back under control in my other tanks, which got a little neglected while I had to buy water. I had to let my FO and freshwaters go in favor of protecting my reef. Everyone seems to have come through that period without noticeable harm, thankfully.