Aaarrrggg

Thanks for the advice guys! Unfortunatly my prized anemones haven't been doing so well. After a few days of stretching out into the light, the sunburst BTA retreated back behind the rock and starting spitting out zooxanthellae again. I have no idea how the poor thing has any left to loose!

The rose has also been showing it's continued displeasure by moving constantly. Water params seem good, so I guess it just quite get comfortable light/flow wise. I let it go about it's business until one night I found it splatted against one of the mp40s...

Thank goodness the foam cover was on, or it could have been a lot worse! It managed to go in head first, which is the best you can hope for really. I turned the pump off and it began to crawl out:

It looked like it was having some trouble getting traction with it's foot in the air, so I held a glass up to it and it eagerly grabbed on. Once it was free, I placed it back on the rocks. It lost half of it's tentacles and looked pretty p*ssed off, but at least there was no foot damage:

Over the next couple of weeks both nems shrunk and lost all of their bright colors. They didn't bleach exactly, (in fact if anything the sunburst got darker,) they just both went an ugly brown. I kept feeding them chopped up silversides and squirts of enriched mysis/Rods food, but they just kept looking more and more like they were starving (stubby, unsticky tentacles, occasional gaping mouths.)

That was when I read a thread on another forum about other peoples BTAs declining in a similar fashion. Although it wasn't conclusive, one thing that seemed common among everyone's tanks were cleaner shrimp. My 2 had been making it incredibly difficult to feed my nems and I had seen one of them stealing food right out of the mouth of the rose before. I really like cleaner shrimp, but I decided it would be better for the nems if I traded them in.

With the shrimp gone the rose at least appears to be on the mend. No more gaping mouth and it's beginning to get some rosiness back on the tips of it's tentacles.

Unfortunately after being stationary for the longest time, it's off on the move again. I don't know how it's managed it but it turned up on the center pillar yesterday. I was planning on containing the nems to the right pillar, but I guess it had other ideas...

The jury is still out on whether the sunburst will recover or not. It's looking decidedly awful, but it gives me hope that it's still hanging on in there. It's still in a very hard to reach spot, but I've been squirting enriched PE Mysis/Rods food over it's tentacles whenever I see it inflated.

The most frustrating thing about all of this is I did great with BTAs in my first tank! It didn't have a sump or an ATO, so the params were all over the place, but that rose never left the rock I bought it on and gave me 4 happy clones! I thought I knew what I was doing with BTAs, but I just can't seem to make these ones happy.

Welcome! Looking forward to seeing your build; always coveted that nuvo tank at aquatek!

Good deal on the dominos. Basically QTed dominos for half the price! I'm all clowned up, but good luck with the sale.

Too cute!! Gratz!!

Thanks for the frags! Really nice to meet you amd see your beautiful tanks!

PMed!

Happy Birthday Spongebob!

Wow that's a cool looking coral! Like a chalice on roids!

Happy birthday guild leader!

Great crop! Unfortunately clicking on images for more info doesn't appear to work in TapaTalk, (just shows bigger images.)

AI Sol Blue & Controller

Comes with custom built light stand/hanger!

VorTech MP10 w/ EcoSMART Driver

Manufacture date: Jan 13th 2011

Elos Digital Osmocontroller

Comes with skimmer injector cleaner mod to keep the skimmer working at tip top efficency.

Azoo Titanium 100w with external control

Perfect fit in sump either horzontally or vertically.

JBJ Nano-Glo 4-LED Magnetic Refugium Light

Fits perfectly in sump next to bio chamber.

Random Extras:
- Custom made mesh lid!


- Used Filter Socks (washed, but grubby looking)

Edit: NEW PRICE $900 for EVERYTHING!!!

PM me if you'd like to come and check it out. Most afternoons after 3pm, or evenings (we stay up pretty late) work for me. We're in North Austin, near Parmer & Lakeline Blvd. Will hold for PayPal. Not looking to part out just yet, but might go that route later if I can't find a buyer for the complete package.

Everything SOLD!! Thanks for the interest everyone, happy to say it's gone to a good home!

The time has come to sell my Elos Mini. It's a top notch nano, but don't have time for it anymore with my big tank running. You can read above it's life thus far in it's Build Thread.

When it was running:


Now:


I'm including everything you need to get started. You can literally buy this system, add sand, water and rocks to start cycling your new nano TODAY! Heck I even have some nice Marco rocks left over you can dip into if you like!

I'd prefer to sell everything together, but I'll list the individual prices here so you can see how I get to the final number (and where the savings are!)

ELOS MINI Aquarium
http://www.marinedep...CCKTSTT-vi.html
ELOS MINI pool with ELOS overflow and front pane in crystal clear glass (17”x17”x16” approx. 20 US gallons)
Clean and scratch free (as far as I'm aware.)

ELOS Mini Sump
ELOS SQUARE (17”x17”x35.5") ELOS SUMP 100 with built in top off reservoir
How it looked when it was running:


Now: (Could do with a little bit of a clean.)


ELOS NS100 skimmer
Comes with Eheim compact 100 pump. Eheim compact 1000 pump and all plumbing included.

(I did rinse it with hot water but you know how skimmers are!)

ELOS MINI Stand with white door

Wow!

Highly recommended app!

Funny li'l chaps! I do so enjoy critters, ESP ones that associate with nems! Great read, thx for sharing. Hope somebody ends up fancying someone else!

Gratz on the purchase! Make sure you start a build thread; such a beautiful tank deserves one!

Thanks Kevin! The ARC logo is absolutely perfect! Proud to have it on my car & wall!

Happy birthday!

The sunburst ended up lurking in the shadows for 2 weeks, pooping out large amounts of brown stringy zooxanthellae almost daily...

I can only assume my Radion LEDs where too much of a shock for it, although I don't really get how, as it spent the majority of that time in the dark. It remained sticky and tight mouthed so I left it be to sort itself out, although I must admit I was getting rather worried about it. To my relief, it finally decided to reach out into the light a couple of days ago and I got my first good look at it under the lights.

Freshly bleached, but you can definitely make out those famous yellow tips!

Here they are together (sorry not the clearest shot... the curved glass working against me)

Thankfully the tentacles are still nice and sticky so I've starting feeding enriched PE Mysis or small bits of Silversides every day. As much as it pains me to do so, I'm going to leave the fake nem in there for the time being while I nurse the sunburst back to it's former glory.

FTS from today:

No spawning from the clowns yet, but they have definitely paired. They spend most of their time together and Marley lets Guybrush into the rubber nem in the daytime... although he's still relegated to the back of the tank come bedtime.

Thanks to my new camera I finally got some better pics of them both...

They spend most of the day begging for food, but I have noticed them paying some attention to the rock around the base of their fake nem. I'm hoping this might be some sort of cleaning/nesting behavior, but it's been going on for a little while now with no other signs, so maybe not?

The most exciting news though is my tank finally turned 6mths old...and you know what that means...?!

Anemones!! REAL ones!

This is my dream nem, a Colorado Sunburst BTA direct from Gonzo himself! (Gonzo's pic)

Delivery day!

Looking a little bedraggled after the trip from Colorado...

After waiting 6mths to get a real anemone I was kind of miffed to have my prize vanish behind the rocks...

I had a fever... and the only prescription, was MORE BTAs!!

I'd had my eye on this beauty in the trading forums for a while and my new found nem-lust finally inspired me to pull the trigger...

Without the long journey of the sunburst, this guy (Sherman rose I believe?) acclimatized quickly and starting roaming around the rock pillar. It tried a few spots out but eventually decided to settle near the sunburst around the far side of the pillar. It seems my aquascape has yielded the perfect BTA spot in the very worst viewing spot! Oh well, eventually the whole pillar is going to be heaving with nems and they can't all fit around there (can they...?)

Kululu the Blue Spotted Jawfish has settled in nicely and continues to be the star of the show.

I've heard him jump once more, but after last time we added foam covers (made from filter foam) so there's been no more "overflow adventures." (Canopy off in this picture... definitely NEVER try a jawfish in an open top tank!)

He didn't end up staying very long in my "jawfish condo," opting instead to make his own 2 burrows on the right side of the tank. There's the spacious "manor house" and more modest "vacation home"...which he visits occasionally to keep up on maintenance.

For a while the manor house would keep collapsing, at which point he'd switch to the holiday home and look at me as if to say...

I'd dutifully demolish the manor and try a different arrangement. He'd then move back in and make adjustments to my design. It's rather weird collaborating on a project with a fish, but through trial and error I think we've finally developed something we're both happy with.

The trick in the end was sinking a large-ish piece of LR rubble under the sand to act as a foundation for his front wall. Before this, I'd just been piling the rubble up on top of the sand; but of course as soon as he starting moving the sand around the rubble would shift and front wall would collapse. I think my other mistake was adding that fresh bag of sand just before his arrival. Now the sandbed has aged it doesn't blow around as much, so he's not constantly fighting to keep it out of his burrow (and piling it up in ugly sand dunes outside!)

It's been fascinating to watch his home improvements. He definitely likes having at least 2 entrances, (preferably more!) which is surprising because most man-made "jawfish condos" only have one. The manors configuration shifts around, but it usually has 3 or 4 doors which he enjoys popping in and out of like a gopher.

The other odd thing about him is he never sleeps! If anything he becomes more active when the moonlights come on, practicing diving in and out of the various burrows and performing maintenance on the vacation home. In the last month I've noticed a marked improvement with his skittishness. He seems to have developed an understanding for how the glass works and isn't so easily freaked out by lights being turned on and off nearby. He's also spending a lot more of the daytime swimming in the water column, begging to be fed.

With the tank looking a bit better after the Chemiclear; I treated myself to some corals from AquaSD. They sadly didn't all make it as I discovered a little too late that my Halloween hermit had developed a taste for LPS (bye bye golden torch... ow.)

I also picked up some nice looking zoas at River City (skirts go a nice bright yellow under actinics.)

Here they all are together in the tank:

My existing corals have been multiplying/growing... well except for my orange Yuma, which has been with me about a year now and doesn't seemed to have changed one bit!

Growth pics of green toadie from KimP.

Oct 2011

Today (May 2012)

Good news on the cardis! One day Miria was looking super fat:

...and the next day Issac had a mouth full of eggs!

Issac is carrying the 3rd spawn at the moment. The first one was held for 29 days, then he was allowed 9 days off for R&R. The second really had me worried as he held onto them for 35 days (5 weeks!) He was famished when he was finally able to eat again. I've been upping the feedings during his "free" time. The poor thing never gets long though; 9-10 days later Miria always "has her way" with him again. I've yet to catch the actual transfer of eggs, or the fry being released, or a single baby for that matter. Sadly I think they might fall victim to the overflow monster...

Well at least I know where my brittlestar got to now!

At some point I'd like to have a go at raising the fry, but I've been so busy I haven't gotten around to figuring out rotifers.

I've been trying to catch a good shot of the babies peaking out of his mouth. This is the best I've managed so far, but we just got a new faster camera so I'll hopefully be able to get a sharper one this month.

When the sand started looking like Fraggle fur I gave in and treated with Chemiclear. Worked wonders on the cyano but the diatoms remained pretty bad for a while. I guess adding that extra bag of sand (=silicates) just before introducing the BSJ didn't help matters there.

Apart from the obligitary (old fashioned) large water change after the Chemiclear dose; the WCs have been performed soley by the Litermeter automatic waterchanger. I even left everything on auto pilot when we went away for 5 days!

Speaking of the waterchanger... we decided to spruce up the fish cupboard a bit with some decals!

When the tank started getting grotty around the 5mth mark I began to worry that slow/constant WCs might not cut it long-term; but the tank came through that (with a little help from Dr Tim's Waste Away bacteria) and it looks better than ever now! Here are some close ups of the Marco rocks getting nice and purple!

Shot looking down on highest shelf rock (the yellow circle is the top of the lawn marker peg used for aquascaping)

IPSF critter update!

Spagetti (aka Mama Mia) worm burrows have popped up throughout the whole sandbed. (Extreme close up, those are grains of sand)

I accidentally turned up one of the sand clams, so they're alive and well too. Managed to snap this pic before it disappeared below the surface again (they're surprisingly fast.)

Around the time of the "Supermoon" (extra large full moon) I started noticing these tiny "Metroid" looking things appearing on the glass:

After some research I believe they are Strombus Snail eggs! I've been careful to avoid them when cleaning the glass.

The pods have continued to multiply. Looks like amphipods have a taste for the strombus snail egg sacks:

I'm resisting the urge to run out and buy a mandarin. Being a good girl and waiting till Christmas.

Doesn't time fly?! I can't believe it's been over 2 and a half months! Sorry for my lack of updates. Work's been hectic and tbh not that much as been happening in the tank. I know it sounds nuts but I still only have 5 relatively small fish in a 144g!

My main concern has been QTing. I took down my Elos Mini (it's too nice a tank to keep using as a QT) and diligently cycled a cheap 20g system in the utility room. Technically it's been ready for fish for a while now, and I've even seen a few fish at the LFS that peaked my interest; but they've never been quite charming enough to tempt me through 3-4 weeks of QT. It's bad I know, I'm just so terrified of buying something and then killing it with too many meds and/or not enough water changes! Thank goodness for All WYSIWYG! I'm just going to buy all my fish through them now! Yay for pre-QTed fish!! I've got my first couple of orders over there now, so if all goes well you should be hearing about them in 2-3 weeks.

I did have a couple of new arrivals since I last posted; 2 pairs of shrimp:

The skunks have been rather sweet together, hanging under the same shelf at nighttime. I'm afraid I can't say the same for the fires though...

Cannibal! (This was taken only an hour or so after adding them!)

I guess the other reason for the lack of updates is the tank was looking a bit blurgh. I'm not sure if it's something that just happens when you use dry rocks to start out, but both this tank and the nano before it have come down with a nasty case of cyano around the 5mth mark. I left it for ages hoping it would sort itself out, and if I'm honest, out of morbid curiosity...

Not too bad...

Hmmm kinda gross...

...ARGH!

Here was the FTS from March 11th. You can't see it so well in this but the sand was pretty lousy with cyano and diatoms.

Nice tank build - thanks for all the detailed instructions! Love the tank!

Thanks!

I have the same tank as yours and have a skunk clown (the male, I think) that has taken a bachelor holiday into the overflow twice. The first time, I was able to get him out by shutting off my drain and letting the overflows fill higher and shutting the tank down for a little while. He just swam to the top and i was able to scoop him back into the main tank. the second time i did the net thing, and boy what a pain! I need to get some plexiglass to just set over the top. I also have some of the light diffuser panels on the back of my hood like you do.

Great posts. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for your thread too! I found it when I was researching 144g. Definitely helped my choice on purchasing it! Such beautiful tanks!