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Grog

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Grog last won the day on March 18

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About Grog

  • Birthday December 28

Profile Information

  • Location
    Bastrop or Palacios
  • Tank Size
    180 - 10
  • Gender
    Male
  • Interests
    Beer, Fish, DIY, and Firearms

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  1. Grog

    40 Breeder Build

    Water change yesterday. No real updates but the Hollywood Stunner is liking the T5 lighting. Like a lot! Tons of growth. This will be it's tank soon. Had to remind myself. Macros are not nutrient export unless you actually remove it from the tank. Pulled a boatload of caulerpa out. I think it is out competing the hair algae. I'll take that a a minor victory. Pic of the Stunner. All the white edges are new growth. Pretty much all since the light change. Still hoping it blues up..... Oh well. Can't have everything 🤣
  2. The word I hear the mot regarding lawnmower blennies is : personally. And they have it for sure.
  3. You may be right. He does like to perch on stuff.
  4. Cherub angel, blenny, royal gramma.
  5. So, Every morning, I notice that my Hollywood Stunner has about 1/2 a teaspoon of sand and or gravel in it. Something is filling the cup up. I don't have crazy flow stirring up the sand bed, so something or things, are putting sand in the chalice. It is not directly on the sand bed either, and its edges curve upwards. Who is the cuprit? A snail? A fish (blenny) or something else? Seems like an odd thing to do... My plating monti does not get these deposits. Something likes the HS.
  6. Looking at that made my teeth hurt.
  7. Grog

    40 Breeder Build

    Something cool. One of my crabs. Not sure if it's the mitrhax or pithos has molted and changed colors to a powder blue. I'm liking this. I think it is the mitrhax as the pithos have a different shape. He's been hanging out under the Hollywood Stunner and munching algae. 😎
  8. Welcome back! I'm beginning to think people don't actually leave this hobby. Only tank long vacations.
  9. Grog

    40 Breeder Build

    I guess today is a progress report day. Other corals I don't talk about a lot. Purple Stylo: Not sure why this isn't on everyone's beginner or easy to grow coral list. Looks like the 'stick' corals but super easy to grow and isn't fazed by anything. As in, I've seen crabs hanging on it, snails, light changes, nutrient levels, it is fairly bullet proof. So much so when I got the frags in the mail, they had good polyp extension on arrival, in the bag. I liked the purple so much I bought some green to go along with it. But the purple is a great color in the tank. Highly recommend. Here is what they looked like when I got them in May of 2023. Small frag. Here is what they look like today. Excellent growth and the frag plugs are totally encrusted. Yes, there is an algae problem. Not sure why but that one rock is a trouble spot in the tank. I scrape it weekly. But hey, I'll show the good and the bad. This hobby is fun, but it ain't all roses. The Caulerpa I don't mind so much but the hair algae is awful.
  10. Grog

    40 Breeder Build

    Happy Friday people! Here are Galaxea doing Galaxea things. I looked back at old pictures of this one. It is growing well. My best guess is about 25-30% increase in size via polyp counts and eyeball math. It appears to be expanding outwards not vertically. The side on the right is where I see growth. The colony is not radial per say, it has become kind of liver shaped. My hope is that this one takes over the middle of the tank and fills in spaces between the rocks. Second picture is the green variant. It is growing too. The things on the bottom were indeed new heads. Picture from today attached and you can see the polyps emerging. I'm in agreement with Tim though, I the white spongy stuff is some sort of sponge. It is strange. It grows and contracts over the weeks. IMO the green variant is a much slower grower. It almost NEVER has any sweepers. I'm not saying it doesn't, but I've never witnessed any out. I guess the white one makes up for it. Last picture is the whiter Galaxea when I bought it in April of 2023 for reference.
  11. A little bit every day... Got glass tops cut at a local glass shop yesterday and picked them up this morning. Way cheaper than buying stock ones. They are just big enough to cover the openings but I can slide them towards the center brace to get access without actually removing them. I'd call them eel-tight. And eel-tight will be good. Sump is done and I put it underneath. Fits just right. Have lots of room to the right for gear. I'll start working plumbing next. May not get the tank wet again till after Panama. I don't think my house sitter is up for dealing with a leak in the garage. 🤣 I'm happy with the Fiji Cube sump baffle kit. It fits well and was pretty easy to install. I should be able to have a deep sand bed and several inches of water on top of it. I need to think of what oddities I want to put into this area. The intent is to keep it cryptic, so maybe a non-reef safe star and the mantis may end up there too. I'm not going to run any lighting in the sump. No macros, no reverse lighting schedule etc. Just a plain old sand bed and a few rocks. One other thing I learned from my previous builds. I didn't go with the largest sump I could fit. I think this will work fine, and I have enough room to mess around in there. When I had the larger sump under my 140 it was a total PITA to service pumps and clean it. This will make cleaning filter socks, pumps, swapping rocks out all way easier.
  12. Mithrax are easy, just grab them with your fingers when you see it, they are kinda slow and I've never been pinched. Don't do that with a blue or rock crab. Those you need to grab by the swimmers.
  13. Project is moving along albeit slowly. Tank trim painted to match the stand, bye bye woodgrain. Tank has been moved onto the stand. Eventually, there will be removable panels on the stand but I'm not bothering till it is all set up. They would be in the way during the move, and probably get dinged up. The blue background on the tank got the best of me. I've tried 10 different removers and it ain't budging, so I'm going to rely on GSP to hide the gaps in the back paint. I intend to have only easy corals in here: GSP, Xenia, Kenya Tree, Mushrooms, Toadstool, Stylo, Candy Cane, Zoas. The one tough thing I plan to add is a Magnifica anemone as the focal. So.... GSP and the nem get to hide the goofy background eventually. I know people worry about GSP taking over but this is mainly a fish tank so IDK. Also, I think the nem will keep it at bay on that part of the tank and I'm going to try to restrain it to the rear wall. Purchased a Fiji Cube acrylic sump kit for the 40-breeder sump. Totally happy with it. Easy to install, it fits easily, no cutting acrylic, etc. Came with a filter sock section, filter socks, adjustable baffle for water height, little filters and shelves for media for the bubble trap section. Worst part is peeling off the protective film from the acrylic. Assembled it and siliconed it in over the last day or two. It is curing now, and I'll move it under the tank tomorrow and work on a little plumbing next week. I had to get the sump knocked out before starting plumbing. (Picture below doesn't have the adjustable baffle installed. It goes in the section with the blue tape on it.) Having said that, I need a break this weekend, so I'm hitting the coast tomorrow. No tank work after I do my water changes tomorrow morning. Need some chill time, so going to a couple of parks and may do some fishing too. Project can wait. This weather is too nice to miss out on.
  14. Red Mithrax Crab – Tampa Bay Saltwater (tbsaltwater.com) I agree with your assessment. It will likely get darker, less striped, and less hairy after a molt or two. Fun to watch them develop. Good guy. I'm keeping red, green, and pythos in my tank right now. Love some inverts!
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