mojo

In addition to the achilles, I got a Hawiian flame wrasse, Cirrhilabrus jordani.

His jumping tendencies necessitated putting a lid on the tank. Instead of egg crate, which is bulky and not too nice to look at, I fashioned a top out of bird netting and a window screen. All materials were purchased cheaply from Lowes, and this is a well-described top. You may have noticed it in the tank photos above, but if you didn't here's a better look.

I also picked up 2 cleaner shrimp and 2 linkia starfish. The orange one isn't looking so hot, whereas the blue one is doing quite well so far.

Here's my red gorgonian with white polyps. It's hard to get this in focus, especially with the pumps on.

I hope you all like the pics, and thanks for following along.

Here are some long-overdue pics. First, the obligatory FTS. You can probably appreciate the difference in color with my new lamp configuration, more blue than before and more natural, IMO.

Slightly different angle.

Side view.

Added a couple critters as well .

cont ...

Stephen,

Wow man, sorry to hear about your losses. It's really rough when you lose a fish that you've had for so long, and I agree about feeling like they're pets. My daughter was really attached to the two 'nemos' and I've got to find replacements, eventually. That's really nice of you to offer up your sixline. I had a sixline almost the entire time I had my 30g cube before it jumped out only a few months before the transfer to the new tank. It's a great fish but I've already ordered 3 wrasses that I'm going to quarantine, then place into my system. I'll have to do some research and see if the sixline would get along with the ones I've ordered. Thanks so much for the offer, and I'll let you know what I'd like to do soon. Good luck with your new Elos, those are bad-a$$ systems!

Mike

Cindy - Thanks for your generous offer! The corals are actually doing fine, as the flatworms I have are pretty harmless to corals. I just don't like having them. I'll get some wrasses eventually and that should keep them at bay.

Andrew - The clowns are a HUGE loss for me, as I've had them for over 2 years and one was one of the first fish I ever had. I take fish losses pretty hard, so this was tough for me. Glad you like the lights.

James - You're right about my bad luck with fish. I'm a friggin' mess when it comes to fish. From now on, mandatory 6 wk in quarantine before going into my tank. Period. I'm sure all of my fish would have been fine if I would have quarantined that PBT. The corals are all growing pretty well, but the color could be much better. I'm hoping the new lamps will fix that. The fiji purple really adds some pop to the color, I think I like it quite well, although I wouldn't recommend adding many as the PAR is not as high as many other lamps you might like to use. As for a ZEOvit talk, sure, I'd be game.

I haven't updated this blog in a while so here's the skinny. All of my fish died, I've got flatworms (NOT AEFW), and there's a cyano bloom, probably from adding too much ZEOvit product without titrating the doses. That's about a month's worth of frustration boiled down to one sentence. Regarding the fish, I'm keeping the tank fallow for a full six weeks before adding any more. I'll get some wrasses to eat the flatworms, until then it just bothers me that they're in there. I tried a FWeXit treatment but the worms just laughed and the snails just died.

In more positive news, I finally got the opportunity to change out the ballast on my Powermodule. If you recall, the ballast that controls lamps 1 and 2 went out, and I received a replacement from Reefgeek a while ago but didn't have the time to make the switch. Wow, this was a pain, but it was a success and I now have all 10 lamps firing. I took the opportunity to clean the unit well and I changed out a few of the lamps to give a bluer spectrum which I hope will color up the corals better. I removed a UV Aquasun and replaced it with a KZ Fiji purple, and I removed an Aquablue (which actually looks white) and replaced it with a Blue plus (20K look). Here's the new array.

For those keeping track, the lamps are as follows:

top

blue plus

auablue

super actinic

pro color

blue plus

fiji purple

blue plus

super actinic

blue plus

aquasun

bottom

"Top" corresponds to the front of the tank, while "bottom" corresponds to the rear. I'm in the midst of some maintenance but I'll get a photo of what the tank looks like with this lamp configuration soon.

Well there we have it, living proof that absense truly does make the heart grow fonder! Clint, you must be so delusional that by now you think aiptasia are beautiful. Did you SEE my cali tort? It used to be a deep, dark, rich blue, and now it's barely sky blue. The purple selago is now a light-blue color, and the Miyagi tort, which used to be dark purple with a green base, is now pretty much white with purple highlights. I'm still trying to be patient, and I think the colors will eventually turn around, but they're nowhere close to what your corals looked like. Trust me on this one.

The "acro sp" was purchased from Austin Aquafarms. Matt didn't know exactly what it was either, but I thought it looked nice and had potential. I doubt it's one of the ones you listed, but I think it will turn out great eventually.

And speaking of Austin Aquafarms, that is an incredible place. We are lucky to have such a facility in our back yards, and Matt is great to work with. I would encourage everyone to support that facility so that it thrives, not only for Matt's benefit, but also so that we can continue to have a local source for premium imported corals.

My wife took the pictures with her camera, and she did use a tripod. She doesn't have a flash for this new camera, though, and she thinks the images will look better once she gets a flash.

Thanks for the compliment, Clint, I do appreciate it.

We had a great male blonde naso in my office tank (450g) who would greet us every time we went up to the tank, he would even allow you to pet him. Sadly he died suddenly just a couple weeks ago while looking just great. What a sad loss that was.

At least I'm good at SOMETHING!

Yes, the tenuis has bluish-purplish tips, very pretty and poorly represented above. I don't have the acans in their final positions as of yet, but I'll be sure to provide them with plenty of room, thanks! Nice avatar, BTW.

Mike

Yep, that's where I got it. Game on!

Cali tort (BFBA)

blue-tipped stag

aussie acan

more aussie acans

acro tenuis - color not well represented here, this is actually one that looks pretty good in reality

acro sp.?

Here's my poor PBT with ich. I thought it was getting better, but the ich has come back again. It doesn't seem to bother the fish, but his color is pale, and I can't stand to see this. There's now even some ich on the true percs. This has got to end, soon I hope.

monti cap

Miyagi tort (BFBA)

pink with green polyp mille

Idaho grape

green slimer - not happy in this much flow, was much more polyped out before it was mounted in this position. I was gonna move it but I really like where it is, so I'm hoping it will come around and get used to its current condition. A little out of focus, sorry.

favites

duncan

I had a photo session last night. My wife got a new camera, a Nikon D300, but unfortunately the cheap loser who bought it for her (that's me) didn't get a macro lens. Additionally, the front 2 lamps on the Powermodule were out due to a faulty ballast, so these pics don't show the true appearance of the tank and corals. But I had to post some pics, for fear of losing everyone's interest in this thread. I didnt' get shots of many of the corals, but this should give you an idea of what's going on in the tank at the moment.

sunset monti

purple selago (badly faded but alive = BFBA)

frag from wild colony pink table and efflo

montipora confusa

pink eye oxypora

Wait, there's more ...

Thanks Clint, but I'm about to bust your bubble. I'm loading pics up right now. You be the judge.

Dude, don't mock me! My SPS look like crap, not even 1/2 has good as yours looked. I'll take pics tonight to prove it.

Thanks James! The flow between the Mag12 and RD4.5 is actually quite similar, although the RD will be much more reliable, create less heat, and use much less electricity. It was actually pretty warm in the house yesterday, so much in fact that the chiller turned on for the first time in a long time, so I can't say the temperature in the tank dropped after the pump change. But I'm positive that the RD puts out MUCH less heat, and a lower temperature will be the result.

The ZEO rocks are turned while the reactor is on. This releases the "mulm" which is delivered to the main display. Many zeovit users report that their corals display massive PE in response to the mulm, but I've not had that experience.

So as an overall update, the tank is doing quite well. Coralline algae is starting to take off. The new additives haven't had any ill effects, and I might be hallucinating, but it seems like the corals are looking a little better to me. Maybe it's a placebo effect, not sure, but I'm really liking the way things are going. I removed the Deltec reactor that was used for running carbon, and I placed some KZ carbon in a media bag which sits atop the ZEOlith rocks. The ZEO reactor runs 3hr on/3hr off, so it's like an intermittently-active running of carbon. I'll change this carbon every 3 weeks. Removing the reactor gave me the necessary room in the sump to install this.

This pump replaces the Mag12 as the main sump return pump. I installed an elbow on the intake, aiming down to reduce microbubbles and to ensure it's adequately submerged. If you recall, I had problems with the RD 6.5m3, but this one works like a charm. I'm convinced that pump was defective, and so is Aquarium Specialty who gave me a full refund for that pump.

Since I had the camera out to photograph the pump, I snapped a couple of some fish, just for grins.

I know there are better iodine supplements out there, I think Brian has used Seachem iodine like, forever! This is just a short-lived temporary thing. I'm still interested in hearing what you would recommend.

Today I made a 2 lb. batch of food. First I went to Kingfish and picked up:

Brightwell Aquatics Vitamarin-M, 250 ml

Brightwell Aquatics Vitamarin-C, 250 ml

Brightwell Aquatics Fish Amino Acids, 250 ml

Selcon, 60 ml

PE mysis, 1 pack

H2O Life Cyclops, 1 pack

H2O Life Mini Mysis, 1 pack

H2O Life Fish and Reef #2

H2O Life Brown Algae

At the grocery store I picked up:

1 lb. fresh shrimp

1/2 lb. fresh scallops

1/4 lb. fresh squid with tentacles

10 live clams

I then pulled out some Cyclop-Eeze, Kent Garlic X-treme and some green algae (nori) that I already had at home. All of the fresh ingredients were kept very cold. I rinsed the PE mysis in some RO water, but nothing else was rinsed.

I split the above ingredients into 2 batches. The liquid additives were poured into the processor, then the fresh seafood and algae sheets were added. These were permitted to soak for about 5 minutes so that the seafood and nori would absorb the vitamins and aminos. I then added the frozen bits and about 10 droppers full of Garlic X-treme before grinding up the gruel. The contents were poured into ziploc bags and flat frozen immediately. I intended to add banana to the mix as well, but I didn't have any at home and by the time I realized it, I was already committed. Let's hope the charges appreciate their upcoming meals!

I've also begun adding some additional ZEOvit supplements. Included are B-Balance, Pohl's Coral Vitalizer, Amino Acid High Concentrate, and perhaps the most exciting product of them all, Sponge Power. I'm also adding a little iodide (Lugol's) to the tank, albeit very sparingly, to hopefully help with coral coloration. I really need to take some pics.

More specifically, the fans need to be blowing directly onto the T5 lamps. It does very little to blow air between the lamps and the water, which is what people traditionally do to dissipate heat from MH bulbs.

Another PAR monster is the ATI Aquasun, although I'm not very partial to its color.

One cheesecake for me, please . I'll almost certainly be there!

Andrew - You can get a PAR map like that of your tank. I'll come over to your house and I'll have my meter with me!

James - Thanks for posting those "natural" PAR values, most enlightening (excuse the pun). I appreciate your comments and particularly your optimism that my colors will eventually adapt and learn to enjoy their new light spectrum. I definitely want to map out the PAR of the office tank, as well as other peoples' tanks to get a better comparison of just how much light the really healthy and colorful corals are getting. A PAR mapping day sounds great, maybe we can set this up for after the new year. And don't be jealous, you can use the meter whenever you want.

I have some bad news to report. The CBB died last week. It just completely stopped eating one day, and the next day it was gone. I'm not sure why it died, and due to its poor track record I don't think I'll be trying another one anytime soon. I did manage to get some replacement fish three days ago. They include a yellow tang, a powder blue tang, and a Swale's reef basslet (Liopropoma swalesi). The yellow is, well, a yellow tang, not much else to say about it, except for the fact that it's been at John's shop for a year and if it dies on my watch, I'll never hear the end of it. The powder blue is simply exquisite in coloration and there's not a speck of ich to be seen. These two tangs have already rid my tank of almost all algae. I'm going to get some nori and broccoli tomorrow as well as some veggie cubes for these guys. They're both larger than I had hoped for, but they looked so good I couldn't pass them up. I don't think I'll have a problem when I eventually add a Chevron tang, since it's in a different genus, but I'll need to get a pretty good-sized purple tang or it will get completely harrassed by this yellow dude. As for the Swale's basslet, it's been in hiding since it went in the tank. I've located it in caves on opposite ends of the tank and it appears healthy, although it doesn't come out to eat. I'm providing enough food so that the current takes food particles to every hole in the tank, so it's probably getting enough. If not, it's also known to eat small crustaceans, and since my tank is teeming with pods I feel fairly certain that it's not starving. This fish is fairly squeemish and will occasionally remain out of sight for weeks to months before venturing out, but its colors are so stunning that I really wanted to give this fish a try.

I also had another issue with the OM 4-way, although this was easily solved. On Friday when acclimating my new arrivals I heard the CL return plumbing smacking and rattling around with a loud thumping sound. After some inquiring on the OM forum I deducted that this was a "water hammer" which was fixed by removing the lid of the 4-way and cleaning off the magnets and relubricating them. Pretty quick fix. While doing this I realized something that I could have improved upon. At first I thought the water hammer was created by something, perhaps a snail, inside the return plumbing that was being banged around. Withought SUBVs directly beneath the tank's returns I realized that I simply don't have the ability to remove or replace any section of plumbing between the 4-way and the tank. When I eventually get a larger tank that's something I'll do for sure.

I finally put some SPS in the tank 9 days ago, and some of them are losing their color despite good PE. At first I thought it was attributable to something I may have been doing wrong with the ZEOvit method, but I also suspected bleaching from excess light. I got an early holiday gift, a PAR meter, so I thought I'd take some objective measurements. Here they are, with the ATI Powermodule located 6" above the water line. It should be obvious but I'll just mention that larger size numbers are closer to the camera, and smaller size numbers are farther away. Oh, and these photos are old and don't show my new corals, although most of the PAR readings were taken at areas where I have new corals mounted. For instance, I have a frag of Paletta blue acropora that's located at the "580" marker, and this coral is now a light sky blue as opposed to the deep rich blue of its parent colony.

So what do you think, PAR masters out there? Those are some pretty steep numbers, eh?

The rock is now sold as well, everything is gone. Thanks and hope you feel like you got some good deals!

Mike

Everything is sold except for the rock. This was done on a 1st come, 1st served basis. Thanks for everyone's interest.

Mike