Tonapah's IM38 build

TonapahNorth · Nov 6, 2013

I promised some pics today.
Here goes.

Tona

Tona

When all is said and done, there is too much said than done. - Grandpa

Tonapah's-IM38-build https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135783

TonapahNorth · Nov 6, 2013

I forgot one - the coolest

Tona

Tona

When all is said and done, there is too much said than done. - Grandpa

Tonapah's-IM38-build https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135783

KingOfPain86 · Nov 6, 2013

Very nice! I'm glad things are coming along well for you. I have always wanted one of those blennys and what is that blue coral?

TonapahNorth · Nov 6, 2013

The Benny the Blenny is a Midas

The blue stuff is called Ultra Blue Sympodia - or so I was told. Naturally, the LFS guy said it's rarer than rare but I didn't fall for that part. It's probably quadrupled in size since I got it.

Tona

When all is said and done, there is too much said than done. - Grandpa

Tonapah's-IM38-build https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135783

TonapahNorth · Nov 7, 2013

I discovered asterina starfish today. I've seen these things before in there but I didn't even think to look twice. I was watching one this evening and it was moving very fast across the rock. This surprised me so I grabbed my turkey baster and sucked it up.

Here it is.

Anyway, I find out by posting elsewhere on R2R what they are. I hear they "multiply rapidly" and eat zoas. While I don't plan on having zoas, I intensely dislike the idea of any infesting pest. I spent the next 30 minutes sucking out about a dozen of them.

Thus begins the battle - Tona v The ***'terina!

I'll keep you updated.

Tona

When all is said and done, there is too much said than done. - Grandpa

Tonapah's-IM38-build https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135783

TonapahNorth · Nov 12, 2013

I've been looking for asterina over the last week and have only found one, which I promptly removed. My family enjoyed looking at it and thought it should go back in the tank. I thought we should err in the side of caution not knowing what kind of asterina starfish they were. They relented - it is my tank after all.

I moved a couple of the chalices lower in the tank. No noticeable difference in apparent happiness - they don't talk much and can't do backflips. Oh well. They seem fine. Color looks the same. Bad news. When I moved one, I decided to remove it from the plug and it splintered off a piece. I just left the splintered piece in the tank. Maybe it will grow an eye or something. Who knows.

My LED's are Ecoxotic Panorama Pro Fixture strips. The blues and whites are great and obviously the corals are doing well. I read that some folks recommend other colors than merely white and blue. Any thoughts on this? Ecoxotic offers RGB strips and color spectrum about anything you can shake a bag of skittles at. I was thinking of getting a strip or two and offer my corals some magenta. I'd value any input here.

Today is Day 30! Water parameters are going great. Tank water is clear. There doesn't seem to be much excess of detritus. If I'm failing at anything, I think it's twofold: first, I'm constantly messing with it. Whether it's the skimmer cup ( which I had dialed in and now is out of whack - I'll get it back I'm sure) or whether I'm moving corals. I think I should let it be. Second, I think I overfeed. The Blenny eats like a horse though. I stopped spot feeding the Mycenium and the Duncan and the plate. They are doing just fine without me force feeding them.

1.026
79.6 degrees
Phosphate - 0ppm
nitrites - 4ppm
nitrates - 0ppm
Ammonia - 0ppm
Ca - 400
Mg - 1300
KH - 8.7dKH (this is the lowest it's ever been and I'm going to do a water change tomorrow to try and get this upwards)

Anyway, happily having fun. I'm getting some new corals in soon and I'm extremely pumped.

Tona

TonapahNorth · Nov 16, 2013

Not much to report.
Green algae on the rocks. It doesn't feel slimy and it won't come off the rocks no matter how hard I scrub with a toothbrush. I'm thinking it might be the start of spreading coralline. Not sure.

I see little bugs (soooo tiny) on the glass. Thoughts have ranged from Copepods to my fear of flatworms. I'll keep an eye out I suppose.

Water parameters look great as they have remained consistent. I've maintained 5g water changes every 5 days.

My IM ATO Hydrofill is acting up. Water level dropped below the lowest sensor without a refill yesterday. One more thing to keep an eye on.

Some update pics.
Emerald Green Ricordia

Duncan - crazy growth

Plate - no idea what kind

Bird's Nest - seems to be growing

Ultra-Blue Sympodia

I have no clue what this is. looks cool though

Cheers
Tona

KingOfPain86 · Nov 16, 2013

Looking great!

TonapahNorth · Nov 16, 2013

KingOfPain86 said:
Looking great!

Thanks! I'm working on getting another fish or two. The Midas looks lonely. Haha

TonapahNorth · Nov 20, 2013

Full tank shot. All looks great. I'm a little nervous because the nitrates have been hovering around 10ppm and Phosphates are at .06-.08ppm or so. I'm running Phosban still even though I was running my reactor too fast and some Phosban particles leaked into the tank. I dialed it back and the skimmer pretty much cleaned it up.

The ATO was acting up. I talked to Mike at Innovative Marine and he walked me through a few things to try and dial it in. Great customer service!

New corals arriving in a few days. I'm excited!

I'm still looking for some fish. I haven't seen anything that wows me yet. Benny the Blenny needs a tank mate.

Tona

Edit** That photo looks really blue but it was LED's on 100% including mostly whites and a few blues.

TonapahNorth · Nov 22, 2013

[video=youtube_share;3r9Io_fYtmU]http://youtu.be/3r9Io_fYtmU[/video]

I thought I'd give you all a quick video of the tank. It's looking and feeling good. I wanted to put this on here so as to save the view. I am getting new corals in today from Nicewrasse.com ... a sweet plate and a torch. I will post pics after they acclimate a bit and open up.

I wasn't able to video my feeding of the pink pucker chalice but the mysis i put on top just drift off after a long time. It doesn't appear to be dying but I see no "eyes" actively eating either. I don't know what to think. I'll keep trying to watch it.

I'm also receiving a couple new fish sometime soon. I ordered a paired Premium Picasso set. I'm excited. I'm trying to get a 10g QT set up as we speak. Well, back to it.

Tona

TonapahNorth · Nov 23, 2013

Couple new corals from the Coral of the Month Club. Thanks nicewrasse for great service, prices, and product. Check out these beauties!

TonapahNorth · Nov 26, 2013

New ORA Premium Picasso bonded pair delivered today.

KingOfPain86 · Nov 27, 2013

Very nice! Love those fish. And your corals look great. Keep up the good work.

djoutkast22 · Nov 27, 2013

TonapahNorth said:
New ORA Premium Picasso bonded pair delivered today.

Nice looking clowns

TonapahNorth · Nov 27, 2013

Thank you. Thank you.

Corals looked great until I noticed this morning that the torch must have nuked the alien eye chalice. I noticed last night that the torch had this one tentacle really really long and waving in the flow. Man that thing must have a crazy reach and went far enough over to touch the chalice. I'm going to have to move it over a bit I guess because it just ate a whole right in the chalice where it touched. Wow!

TonapahNorth · Dec 5, 2013

Things have been stable. My 3.5 inch Blenny died. I couldn't find him for a day and looked all over the tank for an hour or so. He was gone. I originally thought the crabs may have Pearl Harbored him in his sleeping hole. I found the dead Blenny the next morning laying in the carpet back behind the tank. He MUST have jumped out through the grated lid that I made. I don't know how else it could have happened other than the Blenny literally just threaded the needle in the most perfect high speed jump ever and fit through 1/2 inch hole. I guess I will have to find some finer 1/4 inch mesh lid.

I found a new Blenny though and put him in. He's closer to 1.5 inches and looks a little pale and skinny. I'll try to fatten him up a bit. But the clowns seem to accept him. He's smaller than the first one and I think the clowns were a little bully'ish to the first Blenny. I'm hoping the smaller one won't be bothered by the clowns.

I also added a Helfrichi Firefish. Beautiful fish. He is considered peaceful and is very calm. He is also eating frozen mysis and brine. I think it's hilarious that he literally sleeps in the same sand "hole" as the clowns and all three of them are all piled on top of each other.

Anyway, here he is.

rito · Dec 5, 2013

That is one gorgeous firefish. Sorry to hear about Mr. Blenny.

TonapahNorth · Dec 6, 2013

rito said:
That is one gorgeous firefish. Sorry to hear about Mr. Blenny.

Thanks. I thought I'd show you a picture of them all sleeping on top of each other. I think it's kind of cute how they huddle up considering its a 38g tank with plenty of room.