Mike and Terry's 300g Reef

Mike&Terry · Jan 9, 2013

swannyson7 said:
Everything is filling in beautifully! I love your tank! :wink:

Thank you Scott! That means a lot coming from you as you have a BEAUTIFUL reef! :bigsmile:

ritter6788 said:
Outstanding! Always one of the best.

Aquaph8 said:
Beautiful update M&T :tongue:

Thanks so much Gabriel and Brett we truly are appreciative! :bigsmile:

Rikerbear said:
That is absolutely amazing! Truly my dream tank made flesh. You guys are awesome!
My husband would NEVER understand

Thank you! As for your husband, this is a very addictive hobby... you just need to get him hooked on something (coral, fish, whatever) that he REALLY likes and reel him in. :xd:

-M&T

zibba · Jan 9, 2013

Now that's reefin' done right! Phenomenal from top to bottom.

Mike&Terry · Jan 10, 2013

zibba said:
Now that's reefin' done right! Phenomenal from top to bottom.

Thank you so much for that awesome compliment!

-M&T

JasonKlink · Jan 13, 2013

What bulbs are you running? Have you noticed a dramatic change in your corals when you switched from 250W to 400W?

Mike&Terry · Jan 18, 2013

JasonKlink said:
What bulbs are you running? Have you noticed a dramatic change in your corals when you switched from 250W to 400W?

Hi Jason,
Sorry for the slow reply... We are currently using 20k Radiums, but switch between them and Ushio 14K's. We have better growth and color using the 400w bulbs and less shaded areas than we did with the 250's. With the 250's, we had a lot of acropora corals browning out - the ones that did ok were sitting directly under the light in the top 1/3 of the tank.

-M&T

revhtree · Jan 18, 2013

Somebody is up late!

Mike&Terry · Jan 21, 2013

revhtree said:
Somebody is up late!

Busted, LOL!

Mike&Terry · Jan 23, 2013

We were standing in front of the display the other night and saw an unknown, rather large crab try to invade our little blue eyed, hairy coral crab's home. To say he was a fierce defender is an understatement, LOL. We both thought that the coral crab was crazy to go after the big hulking invader and knew he'd be a goner without some intervention. To our amazement and before we were able to intervene, the coral crab ripped the larger beast to shreds.

Here's a closeup of the coral crab (Cymo andreossyi)

He has groomed, sculpted and protected his hyacynthus colony home for several years. here's a shot of the right side of the tank where the colony resides:

_Alex_ · Jan 23, 2013

That's awesome the crab was able to defend its colony!! Beautiful tank, needs all the protection it can get!!!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Mike&Terry · Jan 23, 2013

_Alex_ said:
That's awesome the crab was able to defend its colony!! Beautiful tank, needs all the protection it can get!!!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Thanks Alex! It's too bad that neither of us thought about grabbing the camera to catch the action, LOL.

-M&T

Alex27 · Jan 23, 2013

You have an amazing tank. I've also seen your 30 gallon thread, all I can say is keep up the good work. You both seem to love the hobby and thats great.

chefb_5 · Jan 23, 2013

:jaw:

I'm lost for words and all I can say is amazing!!

MarvinsReef · Jan 23, 2013

Mike&Terry said:
We were standing in front of the display the other night and saw an unknown, rather large crab try to invade our little blue eyed, hairy coral crab's home. To say he was a fierce defender is an understatement, LOL. We both thought that the coral crab was crazy to go after the big hulking invader and knew he'd be a goner without some intervention. To our amazement and before we were able to intervene, the coral crab ripped the larger beast to shreds.

Here's a closeup of the coral crab (Cymo andreossyi)

He has groomed, sculpted and protected his hyacynthus colony home for several years. here's a shot of the right side of the tank where the colony resides:

wOw! that's intense. how long did the battle take place? I wonder how long the unknown crab has been trying to invade the coral?

BTW, your corals look fake... :wink:

_Alex_ · Jan 23, 2013

Oh that would have been a great video!!

Sent from my iPhone by spaceships!

Mike&Terry · Jan 23, 2013

Alex27 said:
You have an amazing tank. I've also seen your 30 gallon thread, all I can say is keep up the good work. You both seem to love the hobby and thats great.

Thank you so much for that compliment! It definitely helps that we both share the same passion for the hobby.

chefb_5 said:
:jaw:

I'm lost for words and all I can say is amazing!!

Seriously, it was shocking to see. Otherwise, one of us would have grabbed the camera, lol.

MarvinsReef said:
wOw! that's intense. how long did the battle take place? I wonder how long the unknown crab has been trying to invade the coral?

BTW, your corals look fake... :wink:

We weren't sure what was going on at first, but couldn't help but notice that the crab did not belong in our tank. It may have come in on a piece of rock that we moved from the sump the other day to get some coralline algae to grow on it before moving the rock to another tank. It was obvious that the intruder had munch thru the polyps on a small coral colony that sits adjacent to the hyacinthus before he attempted the invasion though.

As for how long the battle insued, I'm guessing somewhere around 3 minutes from the time we realized what was happening.

As for our corals, didn't we mention we purchased them from the bargain bin at Petco? Can you believe they are making these things with realistic looking polyps now?!? :tongue:

_Alex_ said:
Oh that would have been a great video!!

Sent from my iPhone by spaceships!

It sure would have. If something like that ever happens again, we will get some video, LOL!

-M&T

Zack · Jan 23, 2013

Absolutley awesome tank!!!

Reefltx · Jan 23, 2013

So the hairy blue eyed crab is a good guy? I always thought they were bad and the white crabs were good. I always picked the hairy ones out and feed it to my wrasse whenever I find them on acros I buy.

MarvinsReef · Jan 23, 2013

Mike&Terry said:
As for our corals, didn't we mention we purchased them from the bargain bin at Petco? Can you believe they are making these things with realistic looking polyps now?!? :tongue:

that's it! I'm heading to Petco tomorrow and find these secret bargain bins. LoL. but seriously M&T, you're tank is simply amazing and I always look forward to seeing updates. fish, corals, equipment, and design.. all top notch. I'm just happy to join you guys in your journey. :marv :marv :marv

Mike&Terry · Jan 23, 2013

Zack said:
Absolutley awesome tank!!!

Thank you Zack!

Reefltx said:
So the hairy blue eyed crab is a good guy? I always thought they were bad and the white crabs were good. I always picked the hairy ones out and feed it to my wrasse whenever I find them on acros I buy.

We've had a few of the blue-eyed crabs and have never had any issues. It may be related to the size of the colony the crab comes in on. It needs to be large enough that the crab stays in the colony and is able to groom and nip a few polyps here and there without doing true damage to the coral.

-M&T

Mike&Terry · Jan 23, 2013

MarvinsReef said:
that's it! I'm heading to Petco tomorrow and find these secret bargain bins. LoL. but seriously M&T, you're tank is simply amazing and I always look forward to seeing updates. fish, corals, equipment, and design.. all top notch. I'm just happy to join you guys in your journey. :marv :marv :marv

Marvin, thank you for that awesome compliment - it means a lot coming from you!

-M&T