My first tank ever!

[ManOfSalt]

So I finally got around to purging one of the bigger fireworms in my tank today. He was getting awfully close to my heliofungia and it was starting to make me uncomfortable. Not to mention Ali my coral branded shrimp didn't like him at all! Constantly trying to eat his food lol. It was a funny thing to watch Ali always try and shoo the worm away. These creatures have such awesome personality.

In other news I haven't checked my params in a while since everything has been established so I decided to check today since there's been 6 fish swimming around for a good week now. Ammonia and Nitrites 0, and Nitrates haven't climbed at all! They've been around 10-20 ppm since my very first water change! That must mean the 10" DSB in my fuge chamber is effective! I would assume the nitrates would have climbed eventually but they just havent! Granted I did do a 5% water change last week but that had no effect on my nitrates as I checked them before and after. That makes me happy!

Just 4 more weeks until it's back to the states for my wedding in my hometown of Las Vegas! I may be able to sneak one more fish or coral in before then. If I can get my hands on a Sailfin tang that will be the one! If not, then perhaps either a sand sifting goby or another nice LPS coral. We'll see where the future takes me!

 

[ManOfSalt]

Strombus snail says goodnight.

 

[ManOfSalt]

Found a good online source for LPS coral! I picked up a couple pieces since im such an LPS freak. I ordered a nice sunflower coral that hopefully looks exactly like the picture

and I've been dying to get my hands on a Duncan but from what I read they were only available in the Pacific Ocean region in the states. But it turns out they are found in Western Australia as well! Happy days. Anyway I ordered a green stem duncan which will hopefully look like this when i get it

should arrive via courier on Monday! I can't wait!

 

[vlangel]

Wow, sounds exciting! Do the sunflower coral need fed?

 

[ManOfSalt]

ya they do. I gotta find a nice long turkey baster. My brine shrimp feedings do have a nice even spread throughout the tank though so if I put it in a good area I may not need it.

 

[vlangel]

Let me know how they do, I've always wanted to try sun coral but never did because of the feeding. I've thought about some of the NPS corals like carnations too but again never tried them.

 

[vlangel]

Those Duncan's look amazing. I have Duncan's but they are ordinary in color, just the pale greenish pink. Mine have grown a lot and now have quite a few heads and they have good polyp extension.

 

[ManOfSalt]

I managed to find a decent feeding prong at an online shop. It's called a Sea Squirt and it can extend up to 35 inches! A perfect find. That should hopefully make the process a bit easier. I totally forgot you had Duncan's Dawn! I just went and checked them out. I love where and how you placed it! I was thinking about maybe moving my heliofungia back to the rock it was on but modify it a bit so it has growing room, and then putting the Duncan in place of the heliofungia. Maybe plant it in the substrate or something.

 

[vlangel]

Is the feeding prong telescopic? That does sound like a handy tool, especially if it telescopes to a smaller size for storing.

 

[ManOfSalt]

I believe the default length is 21 inches and then it extends to 35 from there. Unfortunately it doesn't get any smaller than that =\ Not too bad though because I use a grabber at the moment to feed and it's also 21 inches so itll fit in well with my current storage

 

[ManOfSalt]

Busy week! My corals came today however. The guy called this morning saying the sunflower he got in was bleached so he offered an extra large alveopora instead. Here's some snaps with them put in about 4 hours ago.

Duncan

Alveopora

They're starting to come out now. I think I may have placed the Duncan at too high of a spot but we'll see how we go!

 

[vlangel]

Excited to see them fully out! I'm guessing an Alveopotra is an SPS? Its a cool shape. Are the polyps also blueish or a different color? Duncan's , like torches can be a little finicky until they settle in and then they are tough as nails, or at least that had been my experience.

 

[ManOfSalt]

The Alevo is actually an LPS coral! It does look a bit SPSish when it's fully retracted doesnt it? I hope I positioned it right =\ The polyps are apparently a pinkish purpleish color and they extend well beyond their base. I noticed a bit of extension this morning just before heading out to work. I'll see how they go today with a full light cycle.

I noticed the right half of the duncan starting to come out quite a bit as well. The other half is a bit slow. I'll take some snaps when I get home to see how much its progressed in a day.

 

[vlangel]

Now that I know the Alevo is an LPS I am really excited to see it when its fully out!

 

[ManOfSalt]

a bit more progress since yesterday:

Alveopora

Duncan

Still curious as to whether it's too close to the light but everyday it seems to come out more. Same with the alveopora. Suppose I'll just wait and see what happens!

 

[vlangel]

I know duncans are not supposed to like a lot of light but mine is fairly high in the tank. Since yours is opening up I agree about just giving it some time to settle in. The Alveopora looks pretty neat.

 

[ManOfSalt]

A bit more progress after about 5 or 6 days.

Alveopora

Duncan

In other news Ali my coral banded shrimp just molted again. He didn't eat yesterday and I guess that's because he was about to molt! Same thing happened the first time. Speaking of eating, I think I'm going about feeding him the wrong way. I read that CBS normally hunt bristleworms and besides that just scavenge algae or detritus off rocks. I never see Ali doing any of that unless he's doing it in the dark. He does like to roam in the dark come to think of it. Anyway I think I may try and reduce how often I feed him to see if he will change his habbits and maybe hunt some bristleworms! I'll switch to a tiny piece of shrimp maybe every other day and see how we go.

Oh and another thing. I discovered another mysterious creature in the tank the other day. I'll have to get better footage on it so i can get an ID. It's all black, swims quite fast, has this crazy light blue and orange mouth that splits into two. He could almost pass for a worm if he didn't swim so fast, maybe a shrimp?

[video=youtube_share;QLrCDSjdP_4]http://youtu.be/QLrCDSjdP_4[/video]

 

[vlangel]

The coral seem to be settling in. Lookin'good. If Ali is molting that much he must be getting enough to eat. I've had CBS but I didn't know they hunted bristle worms. I guess mine never had to hunt either. Creatures in my tank have a soft life!

 

[ManOfSalt]

Haha so do mine! Although I need to harden some of them up a little. Mainly because I'm going out of town for a while and things are going to change a lot in my tank. I can't expect the guy who's looking after my tank for me to be as pedantic or involved as I am. Not everyone is an obsessed hobbyist lol.

Not to mention that at the beginning I had this idea for the perfect Permaculture in my tank and my CBS (along with my Blenny and of course the rest of the CUC) was a big part of that idea. I think the more I feed him the more I'm messing up that idea. At first he didn't look like he was into the idea of hunting he just sort of found his home, chilled and sort of just grabbed at any food that came his way. Now I know that he roams at night and is probably finding the most of his food there. I currently spot feed tiny pieces of cocktail shrimp to him as it didnt seem to get any brine shrimp when I would broadcast feed the tank (spot feeding brine shrimp didn't do well either. He's not good at catching it). I'll try and go a couple of days without spot feeding and see how he goes. I mostly want him to get use to completely fending for himself at least until I get back. I love giving my pets treats

 

[vlangel]

Micah, I would pre-measure fish food while you and Sarah are gone unless your fish baby sitter is an experienced aquarist. You would not believe how many aquarist go on vacation to come home to a disaster. When I go away I only have the fish fed every other day and I pre-measure it. They can live a month on a modified diet if they have been well fed going into it. Also do you have a battery back up pump on your aquarium. They only cost about $15 and worth the investment. They kick on automatically if the electric goes off.