Ultimate 40b build
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My Tank Thread
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Ok waiting!
OP
OP
I am really bad at this...haha...anyway, I had some issues with my camera the other night and have come to the conclusion that Im just going to have to get a new one, such is life. For now I (and anyone still following) will have to suffer through iPad/iPhone pics. I promise I will get those uploaded later :bigsmile:. In the meantime I can TELL you what has been goin on. So I had gotten the blue spot jawfish and the mccoskers wrasse and acclimated them to my two QT tanks. Without any indication as to why, the wrasse died in just a few hours and the blue spot followed the next day. Parameters checked out fine across the board. Stress from shipment and being at the LFS? Not a clue, but thats my best guess. So while grieving over the loss (both the fish and financially) the cycle was cruising right along. Got a big diatom bloom and within a week it had dwindled down.
I got my cuc from Reefcleaners and they did a number on the remaining diatoms and the green film that had begun to form. The parameters settled out and I did a couple 5 gallon water changes in preparation for a royal gramma from saltwaterfish.com. Fish arrived in great condition and immediately went into one of my freshly redone QTs. He accepted Roggers Reef Food immediately (who wouldnt?) and spent a week under close observation. At the end of the week, I made an executive decision to not run a copper treatment on the little guy. Might I regret it in the future? Of course, theres always that chance, but even QT practices arent perfect. Anyway, the QTs are there as hospitals if anything happens. I got him acclimated to my display and he found himself a nice little cave to call home.
I decided to check out a different LFS, as I had previously only been to one. I was quickly very impressed by what he had/has to offer (and they say the grass isnt always greener...). So, I asked him if he could get me a single Gold Stripe Maroon clown. Turns out we share the same affinity for the fish and he told me he was going to Tampa and Miami that week to pick up fish to fill in some stock at the store and offered to hand pick one for me. The next weekend I was the proud owner of a gorgeous little GSM that had already begun developing the yellow coloring in his stripes! Still a bit concerned about the QT, I acclimated him directly to the display over a couple hours on a drip. I started him off in my Elite Aquatics acclimation box, as I was concerned the royal gramma might show some aggression. Fortunately I was dead wrong. The gramma came out of his cave and swam around the acclimation box a little, checking out the new tankmate, seemingly "shrugged his shoulders" and went back to his home. Out of precaution, I left the clown in the acclimation box overnight and through the next day.
Since, both are eating well and behaving. The clown has taken a liking to a small arch in my rock work, gotta get the little guy a nice RBTA :bigsmile:. Over the past couple days, the two fish have gotten a bit more comfortable with each other. The gramma explores more freely and Ive even caught them hanging out under the arch together lol.
So, a lot has been goin on in recent weeks...oh yeah, I started adding corals too! I started with a couple zoa frags and an acan frag from my LFS. The acan Im not sure Id classify as a rainbow, but it has a purple and green coloration. Im 99% sure one of my zoa frags is a VDM and the other two I have no clue, but they are cool. On top of that, I picked up a custom SPS frag rack from Adam at Battlecorals! I was really really impressed with what I got from him. He didnt have everything I wanted but substituted in similar corals instead. So heres the list of what I got: Ultimate tenuis, Crazy Bananas Milli, Blood red Milli, Rainbow stylo, Birds of Paradise, ATL blue clover stag, ORA red planet, a BC tricolor (I think? kinda like the garf bonsai), and one that is slipping my mind at the moment..itll come back to me later lol. Safe to say Im pretty close to my limit with sps....but wait...theres more!!
Ok not really much more but I was lucky enough to be part of the WWC live sale last weekend and even more lucky to actually win two corals! I picked up a WWC silver surfer acro frag, which Ive been eyeing on their site for a while now andddddd...drumrollllll.....I GOT a WWC HALLE BERRY ZOA FRAG FOR $.01!!!!! Sorry if I beat ya to that :angel:. Im going to pick those up Saturday, as its only a 45 minute drive...and Ive decided its a good excuse to use my Universal annual passes while Im at it (no Im not going to pick up the corals first lol).
So thats whats been goin on with the tank lately. Pictures WILL come later as promised...for real this time...but dont expect sick macro shots lol.
Oh, yeah, one more thing..I started my BRS 2 part (3 part since it includes mag?) dosing. Still doing equal daily doses of Alk and Cal to get the levels back to where I want them since my new sps collection started sucking the life out of the water haha.
I got my cuc from Reefcleaners and they did a number on the remaining diatoms and the green film that had begun to form. The parameters settled out and I did a couple 5 gallon water changes in preparation for a royal gramma from saltwaterfish.com. Fish arrived in great condition and immediately went into one of my freshly redone QTs. He accepted Roggers Reef Food immediately (who wouldnt?) and spent a week under close observation. At the end of the week, I made an executive decision to not run a copper treatment on the little guy. Might I regret it in the future? Of course, theres always that chance, but even QT practices arent perfect. Anyway, the QTs are there as hospitals if anything happens. I got him acclimated to my display and he found himself a nice little cave to call home.
I decided to check out a different LFS, as I had previously only been to one. I was quickly very impressed by what he had/has to offer (and they say the grass isnt always greener...). So, I asked him if he could get me a single Gold Stripe Maroon clown. Turns out we share the same affinity for the fish and he told me he was going to Tampa and Miami that week to pick up fish to fill in some stock at the store and offered to hand pick one for me. The next weekend I was the proud owner of a gorgeous little GSM that had already begun developing the yellow coloring in his stripes! Still a bit concerned about the QT, I acclimated him directly to the display over a couple hours on a drip. I started him off in my Elite Aquatics acclimation box, as I was concerned the royal gramma might show some aggression. Fortunately I was dead wrong. The gramma came out of his cave and swam around the acclimation box a little, checking out the new tankmate, seemingly "shrugged his shoulders" and went back to his home. Out of precaution, I left the clown in the acclimation box overnight and through the next day.
Since, both are eating well and behaving. The clown has taken a liking to a small arch in my rock work, gotta get the little guy a nice RBTA :bigsmile:. Over the past couple days, the two fish have gotten a bit more comfortable with each other. The gramma explores more freely and Ive even caught them hanging out under the arch together lol.
So, a lot has been goin on in recent weeks...oh yeah, I started adding corals too! I started with a couple zoa frags and an acan frag from my LFS. The acan Im not sure Id classify as a rainbow, but it has a purple and green coloration. Im 99% sure one of my zoa frags is a VDM and the other two I have no clue, but they are cool. On top of that, I picked up a custom SPS frag rack from Adam at Battlecorals! I was really really impressed with what I got from him. He didnt have everything I wanted but substituted in similar corals instead. So heres the list of what I got: Ultimate tenuis, Crazy Bananas Milli, Blood red Milli, Rainbow stylo, Birds of Paradise, ATL blue clover stag, ORA red planet, a BC tricolor (I think? kinda like the garf bonsai), and one that is slipping my mind at the moment..itll come back to me later lol. Safe to say Im pretty close to my limit with sps....but wait...theres more!!
Ok not really much more but I was lucky enough to be part of the WWC live sale last weekend and even more lucky to actually win two corals! I picked up a WWC silver surfer acro frag, which Ive been eyeing on their site for a while now andddddd...drumrollllll.....I GOT a WWC HALLE BERRY ZOA FRAG FOR $.01!!!!! Sorry if I beat ya to that :angel:. Im going to pick those up Saturday, as its only a 45 minute drive...and Ive decided its a good excuse to use my Universal annual passes while Im at it (no Im not going to pick up the corals first lol).
So thats whats been goin on with the tank lately. Pictures WILL come later as promised...for real this time...but dont expect sick macro shots lol.
Oh, yeah, one more thing..I started my BRS 2 part (3 part since it includes mag?) dosing. Still doing equal daily doses of Alk and Cal to get the levels back to where I want them since my new sps collection started sucking the life out of the water haha.
ethridge78
Valuable Member
Sorry about the fish that sucks.
OP
OP
Good news! my hobbyist/amateur photographer mom has a spare dslr camera laying around and is bringing it back to Florida from Cali next time she's in town.
Also, I got my Bubble Magus dosing pump set up..I'm running 10mL/day each of cal and alk and a 15% dose of mag which does out to 3mL/day. Should do the trick for now...at least until my now 11 different sps corals start to grow!
Using 1000mL Nalgene bottles I got for like $8 each from US Plastics
Hungry acan and the sps island
Also, I got my Bubble Magus dosing pump set up..I'm running 10mL/day each of cal and alk and a 15% dose of mag which does out to 3mL/day. Should do the trick for now...at least until my now 11 different sps corals start to grow!
Using 1000mL Nalgene bottles I got for like $8 each from US Plastics
Hungry acan and the sps island
SeahorseKeeper
Where's the mysis?
Looking good!! SPS island is going to look awesome as the corals grow out!! 
OP
OP
Got my BTA this weekend! It's fairly small, maybe 3 inches when fully open..it's found a nice little spot on the empty rock island, unfortunately it's put itself on the back side but hey if it's happy I'm happy lol. I've got a couple pics but the iPhone can't capture the true color of the nem...only a month and a half before the camera gets here (maybe I should offer to pay to have it sent to me lol)
My gsm Chief Osceola in his new home
Here's a pic I found online (not mine) that gives you an idea of the coloration
It took the gsm a couple days to gain acceptance from the nem so it was a nice surprise to come home from work yesterday to see him nestled in it. Pretty cool seeing him feed his new partner in crime, I just hope he doesn't love it to death
My gsm Chief Osceola in his new home
Here's a pic I found online (not mine) that gives you an idea of the coloration
It took the gsm a couple days to gain acceptance from the nem so it was a nice surprise to come home from work yesterday to see him nestled in it. Pretty cool seeing him feed his new partner in crime, I just hope he doesn't love it to death
OP
OP
So things are just puttin along as they do with reef tanks, lots of watching and waiting. A few weeks ago my royal gramma got too close to the GSM and his nem and lost the fight...
I've since made some changes to the tank and added some new inhabitants! I removed the refugium from my sump as it didn't seem to be helping much. I will be adding an upflow algae scrubber soon as a replacement. Last weekend my tank gained a few critters. I added 6 blue/green chromis and a cleaner shrimp. Didn't take long for one of the chromis to fall victim to the gsm but hey his fault for getting too close I guess.
Here's a few pics I've taken with my new Samsung galaxy s5 and the fv-5 app!
I've since made some changes to the tank and added some new inhabitants! I removed the refugium from my sump as it didn't seem to be helping much. I will be adding an upflow algae scrubber soon as a replacement. Last weekend my tank gained a few critters. I added 6 blue/green chromis and a cleaner shrimp. Didn't take long for one of the chromis to fall victim to the gsm but hey his fault for getting too close I guess.
Here's a few pics I've taken with my new Samsung galaxy s5 and the fv-5 app!
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ethridge78
Valuable Member
Sweet scoly
ethridge78
Valuable Member
Yea that's better
OP
OP
been a while since Ive posted anything..probably because Ive been fighting diatoms for the last month lol..slowly getting it under control, but not before it spread over my rocks and covered a few of my sps frags to the point of killing them :/
otherwise my zoas, clam, acans, and scoly are doing really well..my bubble tip is growing at a pretty incredible rate and I just cant get enough of sitting there watching my GSM swim in and out of it ensuring the 4 chromis mind their distance (1 of them wasnt so lucky lol).....
....but this has led me to a bit of a fork in the road..Id like to keep my sps frags going as its always been a goal of mine to have thriving sps colonies, but Im also in love with the relationship between clowns and a host nem (not to mention the color and movement they provide)..so Im torn right now, my lfs would surely take the corals I have in exchange for store credit (aka more BTAs!) and Ive got a good friend whos obsessed with zoas that would jump at the chance to get some more...as for the clam and the scoly, well the scoly isnt going anywhere lol so Ill probably just move him a few inches away from the rocks and have him as a center focal point..the clam? yeah, he can stay too.
so with the slight change of direction here, whats the consensus on adding a second GSM to a tank that already has one established? could I get away with adding a pair of designer clowns to host some of the other nems or am I just asking for trouble?
otherwise my zoas, clam, acans, and scoly are doing really well..my bubble tip is growing at a pretty incredible rate and I just cant get enough of sitting there watching my GSM swim in and out of it ensuring the 4 chromis mind their distance (1 of them wasnt so lucky lol).....
....but this has led me to a bit of a fork in the road..Id like to keep my sps frags going as its always been a goal of mine to have thriving sps colonies, but Im also in love with the relationship between clowns and a host nem (not to mention the color and movement they provide)..so Im torn right now, my lfs would surely take the corals I have in exchange for store credit (aka more BTAs!) and Ive got a good friend whos obsessed with zoas that would jump at the chance to get some more...as for the clam and the scoly, well the scoly isnt going anywhere lol so Ill probably just move him a few inches away from the rocks and have him as a center focal point..the clam? yeah, he can stay too.
so with the slight change of direction here, whats the consensus on adding a second GSM to a tank that already has one established? could I get away with adding a pair of designer clowns to host some of the other nems or am I just asking for trouble?
OP
OP
whoops...haven't been keeping up, probably because I had a lovely cyano outbreak and who wants to share the bad stuff? Happens to everyone at some point though...
Few things have changed, mainly the led for t5 swap! I got an ati 6 bulb sunpower and rigged an ecoxotic pro blue led strip to it..I started out running 4 blue+, coral+, and a purple+ but decided it was a tad too white for my eyes so I swapped the purple plus for an ati actinic bulb and so far I'm pleased with the difference..I'm keeping the purple+ so when the coral+ is done I can just use the purple+ and see if it generates better color or not..
Anyway here's a couple pics after adding the t5s (before swapping purple+ for actinic)
Few things have changed, mainly the led for t5 swap! I got an ati 6 bulb sunpower and rigged an ecoxotic pro blue led strip to it..I started out running 4 blue+, coral+, and a purple+ but decided it was a tad too white for my eyes so I swapped the purple plus for an ati actinic bulb and so far I'm pleased with the difference..I'm keeping the purple+ so when the coral+ is done I can just use the purple+ and see if it generates better color or not..
Anyway here's a couple pics after adding the t5s (before swapping purple+ for actinic)
Attachments
