Susan's 75

[Susan C]

On the sump, I also forgot to mention that I keep a bag of carbon and a folded over piece of filter pad between the baffles from the skimmer compartment to the return, and a little bag of Purigen between the baffles from the fuge to the return. This seems to force most of the water to go through my media. I use the big open area to the right of the skimmer to dose Ca and Mg every day. I keep the skimmer turned so the intake is away from where I add these supplements. I add my ALK to my ATO, which drips into the drain area. I do find that I can't have the water level in the sump much above 9 inches or it bows fairly alarmingly, but that is what my skimmer is supposed to sit in anyway, so it works out.

 

[Susan C]

So, I am torn on what to do about my back glass. I have always been a "scrape-all-the-glass-all-the-time" kind of person, but this tank has a piece of textured plastic across the overflow box that can't be scraped. At first I kept the rest of the back scraped clean, but that rectangle of coralline-covered plastic really bothered me. So lately I've been letting the coralline cover all of the glass, and it definitely makes the overflow less noticeable, but it just doesn't look as clean to me. Opinions? Anything I could cover the textured plastic with on a running tank that would let me scrape it?

 

[Susan C]

I meant to say that the rectangle of the overflow box visible through the back also bothered me. See what I mean, below the plastic you can see three sides of a rectangle..

 

[Susan C]

Tank is doing well overall, although zoas just seem to fade away even though palys do fine. It has taken forever but the rock is finally coloring up nicely. Maybe because I got my calcium on a doser and am keeping parameters more stable. Just added a Marine Pure ceramic block to the sump. Following the advice in a "Saltwater University" video I watched on Youtube, I added a little bit of vinegar, coral food and BioDigest to it first.

Fun photo of the goby telling the bicolor angel to get OUT of his territory!

Latest acquisition is a rock flower anemone - I really like these creatures. If it thrives for a while I may get more.

Chalice is doing well, but is in a hard spot to photograph

Hammer (that looks like a cross between a hammer and a frogspawn, but I guess it just has little hammers!) Plus some red mushrooms.

 

[RobinsonReef]

nice tank! I just ordered a flower anemone. excited about adding it in.

 

[Susan C]

Love my newest residents, a starry blenny and a mimic saddle puffer, both from Diver's Den. Have had them for a few months.

The mimic puffer (actually a type of filefish) is a slow eater and a weak swimmer but seems to need to eat his bodyweight in food every day, so I made him a "creep feeder" box that he can go into and eat without fighting the current or the faster fish. It is pretty funny, he goes in and stares at me until I feed him ;-)

 

[Tahoe61]

That is pretty funny, smart fish and cleaver you.

 

[Susan C]

That is pretty funny, smart fish and cleaver you.

LOL - that fish has, without a doubt, the most personality of any fish I've owned. He attacks and bites me if I put my arm in the tank, but not if I put food in the box first. He also sleeps in the box. One bizarre thing I've noticed is he bites down onto something while he sleeps. As in, he is actually attached to the plastic box, and before that he held onto the silicon seam of the tank all night. It is so odd, but I guess it keeps him from drifting around.

 

[maroun.c]

Looking good. I was always scrapping the back glass on my tank till 80x30 surface at 34,inches distance became a back breaker so I let that go. It bothered me at first but when coralline darkened up in color it kinda looks nice now. I always itch to scrap it once for a new set of pictures.
Love those livestock additions.

 

[Susan C]

Good feeling to come home & find the tank survived my absence during an 8 day vacation! Did a water change yesterday & cleaned the glass & all is well. I've got everything automated for the most part, and have a pet sitter who feeds the tank, but I still worry when I'm away... Even the hard to see starry blenny makes an appearance around the 40 second mark

 

[rebekwl]

Beautiful tank! Starry blenny and flame hawkfish are 2 of my favorites. Definitely on the list for my new tank!

 

[Susan C]

Beautiful tank! Starry blenny and flame hawkfish are 2 of my favorites. Definitely on the list for my new tank!

Thank you! And yes, those two fish have so much personality

 

[Susan C]

Got a new 60 mm macro lens for Christmas- can't help myself, sorry for all the photos. Still learning how to use it, but I love it!

 

[Leaellynasaura]

Those are some really amazing shots!

 

[Susan C]

Those are some really amazing shots!

Oh, thank you!

 

[Susan C]

Waiting to be fed!

 

[Lovemyreef2015]

I really like your bicolor angel. How's the tank doing?

 

[ReeferReefer]

Crazy that you can light the whole tank with a gen 1 radion!

 

[Susan C]

I really like your bicolor angel. How's the tank doing?

Doing well, can't believe it has been almost a year since I updated this thread! Here's a video from today. All of the same fish, plus a longnose hawk I got last month. The clownfish have eggs, as always.

 

[Susan C]

Crazy that you can light the whole tank with a gen 1 radion!

I know, and I never go above like 40 % intensity! I do have it hung really high, and did modify it to the wide angle lens, but still!