Zibba's Reefs -- ADA 90P & Envision 100g

[zibba]

Amazing pic's ....I never get bored looking at your photos .
That skimmer looks like its rock'n now ..:thumbup:

Oh man, thanks Buddha! Yeah, I'm super happy with the skimmer now. It's quieted down and really kicks out the goo. Still need a filter sock over the skimmer's exhaust to prevent micro-bubbles from entering the display, but I can live with that.

 

[MarvinsReef]

Oh yeah, almost forgot...my skimmer's working pretty well

skimming wet eh? is that the normal skim you'll go for?

 

[zibba]

Thats actually pretty dry for me. Not really a science to it for me, just trying to find a level that leaves me cleaning the skimmer once a week or so.

 

[Naka]

Super clear pics. Thanks for sharing


• James

 

[zibba]

Thanks for checking in and thanks for the compliment James!

 

[MarvinsReef]

Thats actually pretty dry for me. Not really a science to it for me, just trying to find a level that leaves me cleaning the skimmer once a week or so.

that sounds like a good plan. same here. once/week cleaning is good.

 

[zibba]

New coral!! My lady-reefer found this gem yesterday in one of our favorite local stores, The Aquarius. It's an ultra-neon orange fungia (or cycloseris -- I can never tell).

 

[zibba]

Here's a FTS comparison -- lots of tiny twigs so not much to look at! Just waiting for them to grow out!


2/4/13

3/15/13

 

[LILBUDDHA]

I do some some nice growth .Great job .It's hard to notice it if you look at a tank every day .

Sent from my Moto HD on Jelly Bean

 

[zibba]

Definitely. I've noticed a lot of the frags encrusting and getting thicker rather than growing up and out.

 

[Aquaph8]

Looking good Zibba, Ive had some incrust for two years before even thinking of growing upward.

 

[zibba]

Thanks Brett! Hope all is well down in Tucson!

 

[Mirelyght]

i just read this entire thread....epic. great pics, they really helped motivate me. i'll be doing a 75-100 gallon this year and your pics really helped out my list of corals

i don't remember, are you running a refugium for the 2 tanks? if so got any pics of that? (i know way less photo friendly i'm sure)

 

[zibba]

i just read this entire thread....epic. great pics, they really helped motivate me. i'll be doing a 75-100 gallon this year and your pics really helped out my list of corals

i don't remember, are you running a refugium for the 2 tanks? if so got any pics of that? (i know way less photo friendly i'm sure)

Whoa, thank you so much for taking the time to read through the entire thread and the great compliment!! I hope to see your thread up here soon too.

I do have a small refugium in the sump. It's plumbed so that the return splits off and feeds directly to it. It holds about 7-10 gallons and has a 5" sand bed, 10lbs of rock and chaeto on a reverse lighting cycle. If I were to do it over again, I'd ditch the sand bed. I'll likely pull the sand down the road simply because I'm a little concerned about it being a detritus trap. I'll try to sneak some pictures soon for ya.

 

[Mirelyght]

my wife was watching me check out your pics (i have a 32" HD TV for a monitor) and she was like "welp, you're gonna want me to take some pics aren't you?" and started ordering new batteries and a tri-pod for her camera lol. which is huge because she's kind of anti-fish tanks. the tank i'm going to be putting is is a 10 year anniversary gift from her, so anything that kind of gets her more into it is good.

 

[Mirelyght]

i was actually gonna do miracle mud because of its positive coloration effects on fish. with mini baffles to keep it in place on the bottom. but i might just put it in between two mini baffles and then maybe a small easy to move rubble pile to generate pods. i really wanna get into generating as many pods as i can so that after the tank is matured i can try my hand with a mandarin.

 

[zibba]

my wife was watching me check out your pics (i have a 32" HD TV for a monitor) and she was like "welp, you're gonna want me to take some pics aren't you?" and started ordering new batteries and a tri-pod for her camera lol. which is huge because she's kind of anti-fish tanks. the tank i'm going to be putting is is a 10 year anniversary gift from her, so anything that kind of gets her more into it is good.

i was actually gonna do miracle mud because of its positive coloration effects on fish. with mini baffles to keep it in place on the bottom. but i might just put it in between two mini baffles and then maybe a small easy to move rubble pile to generate pods. i really wanna get into generating as many pods as i can so that after the tank is matured i can try my hand with a mandarin.

Sounds like an awesome 10-year anniversary gift, that's for sure! I've never used miracle mud but it seems that it works for a lot of people despite all of the controversy. Regarding the pods, my advice is that you're going to be best served by finding a starter colony and leaving the tank fish-less for as long possible. Both of my tanks had pods running all over the sides of the tank before I added fish. They're not covered like they once were, but I can still see them scurrying around the rock work and on the glass when the lights are off. My refugium doesn't have any fish so it's a good breeding ground for them. How many make it from the refugium to the displays is hard to tell though.

 

[zibba]

Picked up some more new fish this past weekend and I'm really excited about these new additions.

For the ADA:

Blue Spot Jawfish

It started making its home in the front of the tank in a great location, but the last few days it's been in different locations. I've added a nice amount of rubble so it can start building a home, so we'll see where it ends up. Keeping my fingers crossed that it ends up somewhere that it can be easily photographed. Such a beautiful fish with a great personality.

A pair of "Blacker Ice" (not sure who bred these -- I need to figure that out)

These are not great pictures but it's the best I've got so far. I'll keep trying! They're begging to be shown off.

For the Envision:

Flame Angel

Gorgeous fish! Hasn't nipped yet.

Pygmy Angel

Tiny little duder -- only an inch or so. Also, hasn't nipped yet.


Tailspot Blenny

We also picked up a breeding pair of Fire Shrimp. They are wicked beautiful and even dropped eggs in the bag at the LFS (stress induced, but still cool). They’re happily hanging out under one of the ledges right in the middle of the tank. Very cool to watch. Pictures to come!

 

[zibba]

With these new additions, I finally got my butt in gear and built the screen tops:
Building the top for the Envision.

So focused I didn’t even realize that pictures were being taken.

Here was the final product – the top for the ADA (didn’t get a picture of the top for the Envision – it’s the same, just white)

Really really glad I put the screen tops on because the very next morning I went to get the two-part from under the ADA and I heard the jawfish jump, hit the screen mesh (not very hard) -- even splashed water on me! – and go back down to the bottom of the tank. Phew!!!!!!!!

In other, more boring news, I did a 20 gallon water change last night. It had been about 14-days since the last one so things were getting a little nasty in the sump. Sucked up a lot of detritus and things looked good this morning. Prior to the water change, the Alk was finally around 7.5 – right where I wanted it – for about 4-days and I thought that polyp extension was better. Could be completely unrelated, but I’d like to keep it below 8. I checked the water this morning (about 8-hours after the water change) and it was back to 8.5. I think I’m going to find a new salt with a little lower Alk once this bucket is done. I already started mixing up more salt for another water change. I’m planning to do two 10-gallon water changes over the next 7-days because I didn’t get a chance to stir the sand bed and siphon the refugium like I wanted to with the last WC.

I’ll probably be adding some more inverts and perhaps a few corals but the wallet is hurting right now and the tanks are filling up don’t expect too many new additions!

 

[LILBUDDHA]

Good thing u did the net in time .
Congrats on the jaw fish save .
Someone caught u off guard .lol