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The urchin or the paly?
Tony's 72g Mixed Reef Build
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TonysReef
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The urchin. Not sure if I should remove it or not, can't figure out an ID online. If it's going to eat coralline or mess with stuff then I'll remove, but it is beautiful.
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TonysReef
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Thanks for that.
Seems not reef safe, so unfortunately I guess I'm going to have to remove it. Shame.
If anybody seeing this is in NYC and wants one, let me know. Otherwise I'll post on a local forum. Would hate to have to kill it.
edit: nevermind (for now), removing one was difficult and it didn't make it. Although I do see another one further in a rock.
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TonysReef
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Some updates. Blue carpet hasn't looked great since I got it, it started to pick up a little, but then got less happy when I put in the red one on Friday. Red one is finally settled I think and is enormous, I love it. And only cost $630 shipped, which was a steal.
Purple is still more of a lavender. Apparently this is what it was meant to look like vs. what I got. I'm optimistic it will color up.
Ritteri is up on the glass, which I prefer to where it was on the overflow box. Still waiting to see if it colors up. It eats well though and remains the only anemone the clowns will go into.
Updated full tank shot:
Purple is still more of a lavender. Apparently this is what it was meant to look like vs. what I got. I'm optimistic it will color up.
Ritteri is up on the glass, which I prefer to where it was on the overflow box. Still waiting to see if it colors up. It eats well though and remains the only anemone the clowns will go into.
Updated full tank shot:
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TonysReef
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Huge moment. I only took one poor pic because I didn't want to disturb them, but I just cleaned the glass and immediately afterwards some of the harem seemed to realize they could live in the Haddonis also!! Super happy right now.
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TonysReef
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Got in my light diffusers today, which came super fast and fit great. Mutes and dampens the light nicely. No more disco effect, but after having gotten used to it the tank seems duller now. C'est la vie.
Before
after
Closer
Before
after
Closer
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Just cleaned the glass and everyone seemed happy so I snapped a quick pic.
Have a rainbow BTA coming in tomorrow, which I'm excited for; and got an orange biscuit starfish yesterday, which was an impulse buy and I don't think it was super healthy, but I have never seen one before and couldn't resist. Hopefully with some spot feeding I'll be able to fatten it up and get it healthy.
From LFS:
hiding under the center arch in my tank:
Blue Haddoni has also been looking better. Mouth is still not quite as tight as it should be, but it is a marked improvement over when I got it, so I remain optimistic that it's bouncing back well.
Have a rainbow BTA coming in tomorrow, which I'm excited for; and got an orange biscuit starfish yesterday, which was an impulse buy and I don't think it was super healthy, but I have never seen one before and couldn't resist. Hopefully with some spot feeding I'll be able to fatten it up and get it healthy.
From LFS:
hiding under the center arch in my tank:
Blue Haddoni has also been looking better. Mouth is still not quite as tight as it should be, but it is a marked improvement over when I got it, so I remain optimistic that it's bouncing back well.
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TonysReef
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Starfish has started to come out. I tried spot feeding it, but no real reaction. I even snuck a piece of food under him at one point and an emerald crab was spotted a few minutes later reaching in to steal it.
Next to my sympodium, which are honestly one of my favourite parts of the tank.
Have some macroalgae growing on the powerhead guard, which doesn't bother me (for now)
Woke up this morning to the side glass (which I decided to stop scraping) crawling with pods. The fish were picking off the larger ones. First time I noticed how many of them I have. Although with my red light sneak peeks into the tank after lights out I've seen a couple of swarms of them free-swimming, so that's also interesting. (terrible pic, but the spots are all pods).
New rainbow BTA came in yesterday, smaller than I expected, but doing well so far. Hopefully it expands some more. It's the nearest one in each pic.
with the black widow in the background
Lastly, I have a snail that keeps flipping itself upside down. Any idea why it might do that? It's alive, and if I right it then it flips again. I can't imagine what's wrong to cause that behaviour. I still have a suspicion that I have a mantis shrimp or something that is harassing some of the inverts as I've had a few trochus snails bite the dust with no explanation and sometimes the *clicking* noise form the tank can be quite loud. I keep trying to spot the culprit, but no luck so far.
I don't want to just give up on this guy, so any ideas appreciated.
Next to my sympodium, which are honestly one of my favourite parts of the tank.
Have some macroalgae growing on the powerhead guard, which doesn't bother me (for now)
Woke up this morning to the side glass (which I decided to stop scraping) crawling with pods. The fish were picking off the larger ones. First time I noticed how many of them I have. Although with my red light sneak peeks into the tank after lights out I've seen a couple of swarms of them free-swimming, so that's also interesting. (terrible pic, but the spots are all pods).
New rainbow BTA came in yesterday, smaller than I expected, but doing well so far. Hopefully it expands some more. It's the nearest one in each pic.
with the black widow in the background
Lastly, I have a snail that keeps flipping itself upside down. Any idea why it might do that? It's alive, and if I right it then it flips again. I can't imagine what's wrong to cause that behaviour. I still have a suspicion that I have a mantis shrimp or something that is harassing some of the inverts as I've had a few trochus snails bite the dust with no explanation and sometimes the *clicking* noise form the tank can be quite loud. I keep trying to spot the culprit, but no luck so far.
I don't want to just give up on this guy, so any ideas appreciated.
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TonysReef
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So I decided to take one fish out of the harem. As a reminder, the breakdown is 10 orange storms, 7 black storms, and 4 da vincis. Strangely the da vincis have claimed the favored anemone (bleached ritteri), but are really not aggressive. They are also about the largest fish in the tank. The black storms seem to hold their own all around, but there is some aggression amongst the orange storms. With one fish seeming to be quite the bully.
Ironically the bully is one of two fish with a largely white pattern that I thought would end up getting singled out and picked on. But no, he manages to keep about five of the smaller storms in the corner all the time and can get quite aggressive. So in the morning I'll net him and try to find a good local home.
If anyone is around NYC with a nice tank that is interested, let me know. (will replace photo with a better one in the AM)
Ironically the bully is one of two fish with a largely white pattern that I thought would end up getting singled out and picked on. But no, he manages to keep about five of the smaller storms in the corner all the time and can get quite aggressive. So in the morning I'll net him and try to find a good local home.
If anyone is around NYC with a nice tank that is interested, let me know. (will replace photo with a better one in the AM)
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I would tend to think that that one may be starting to transition to female being larger and bossy 
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TonysReef
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I would tend to think that that one may be starting to transition to female being larger and bossy
I considered that, but it isn't being aggressive all around. And it's not the largest fish in the tank, it also seems to defer to the da vincis. I'm fairly confident that it's just a jerk fish. And it really is only picking on the five or six smallest fish in the tank. If it were throwing it's weight around with everyone I would think that and be fine. But this is just a mean fish targeting the little guys. Time to go.
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My 2 frostbite clowns will bicker but it goes both ways. What I believe to be the female is larger and bossy but he will stand toe to toe with her. but she doesn't chase any other fish unless they get too close. She's not the biggest fish in my tank and doesn't care about it either.
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TonysReef
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Unfortunately in trying to catch that fish it managed to propel itself out the back of the tank and by time I found it it was too late. R.I.P.
Sunday was maintenance day, so I did a 5 gallon sand cleaning/water change and rearranged the sump. Cut out much of the platform the skimmer and clarisea sit on. Moved the box of crushed coral to the left in the new space so that I could put a carbon reactor on the right, which was the plan from the start. I've been running carbon, but two bags of it which obviously isn't ideal. Those are still in and will probably remain/get replaced, because why not.
While cleaning the sand yesterday I actually poked around to make sure my tiger conchs were still alive as I hadn't seen them out in a while. They were, and today one came out to say hi.
Macro on the vortech is getting bigger, it still doesn't really bother me
Ritteri remains bleached. Going to post more about that in the dedicated thread I have about it.
Ordered some more chaeto from a member, which will arrive Wednesday. What I have in the sump is growing slowly, but I really want more as a bubble trap, so I'm jump starting things. It's a big footprint, 22x10 and 9" deep, so lots of space for chaeto. I also may have picked up a used H380 over the weekend...
And the latest impulse purchases as of ten minutes ago:
The one I posted last from aqua SD is doing well, although still pretty drab. It's only been a few days, so I remain optimistic it will color up. And I love the blue color on the new purchase. Haven't found a big green one and this green seems to have potential and was a good deal. Green one is 5-7", Blue one is 4-6".
Sunday was maintenance day, so I did a 5 gallon sand cleaning/water change and rearranged the sump. Cut out much of the platform the skimmer and clarisea sit on. Moved the box of crushed coral to the left in the new space so that I could put a carbon reactor on the right, which was the plan from the start. I've been running carbon, but two bags of it which obviously isn't ideal. Those are still in and will probably remain/get replaced, because why not.
While cleaning the sand yesterday I actually poked around to make sure my tiger conchs were still alive as I hadn't seen them out in a while. They were, and today one came out to say hi.
Macro on the vortech is getting bigger, it still doesn't really bother me
Ritteri remains bleached. Going to post more about that in the dedicated thread I have about it.
Ordered some more chaeto from a member, which will arrive Wednesday. What I have in the sump is growing slowly, but I really want more as a bubble trap, so I'm jump starting things. It's a big footprint, 22x10 and 9" deep, so lots of space for chaeto. I also may have picked up a used H380 over the weekend...
And the latest impulse purchases as of ten minutes ago:
The one I posted last from aqua SD is doing well, although still pretty drab. It's only been a few days, so I remain optimistic it will color up. And I love the blue color on the new purchase. Haven't found a big green one and this green seems to have potential and was a good deal. Green one is 5-7", Blue one is 4-6".
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TonysReef
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So I just did my nightly spying on the tank and found something really really cool. One of my emerald crabs is preggers!! Will try to get a better pic during the day. But this is cool. Two of them in the pic, big guy on top, smaller one on bottom upside down has the eggs on her belly.
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TonysReef
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Put a 1k Icecap Gyre on the tank today, upped the flow tremendously. Even at only 10% power.
Looking forward to the rest of the chaeto tomorrow, hoping to be able to cut down on algae in the tank, but I doubt it as it gets hit with direct sun for about an hour each morning. So I'm always having to clean the glass.
I also may, just MAY have added one last carpet onto my aqua SD order for Friday
Looking forward to the rest of the chaeto tomorrow, hoping to be able to cut down on algae in the tank, but I doubt it as it gets hit with direct sun for about an hour each morning. So I'm always having to clean the glass.
I also may, just MAY have added one last carpet onto my aqua SD order for Friday
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Isn't this way way too many carpets for this space? You're not giving them any room to grow...
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TonysReef
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The new ones are small, and I'll be done after that.
I'm rarely feeding them, so not expecting a ton of growth; and I'll be upgrading to a larger tank in the not too distant future. Worst case I'll have to sell one or two down the line.
