Grog's 33 Long Build

[+Grog]

Nem may not be too unhappy. Just ate a small piece of silversides.

[+KimP]

I've really enjoyed following along on your tank build. The thing you are wondering if it's a sea fan or mushroom looks like what's called a mermaids fan. It's a hard calcareous macro algae. A few pictures down you have another one called halimeda. Those gorgonians are beautiful! I hope your sponges stick around!

[+Grog]

I've really enjoyed following along on your tank build. The thing you are wondering if it's a sea fan or mushroom looks like what's called a mermaids fan. It's a hard calcareous macro algae. A few pictures down you have another one called halimeda. Those gorgonians are beautiful! I hope your sponges stick around!

I'm glad you are enjoying my posts. I've wondered if I tend to ramble at times.

Thanks for the ID on the macros. I would not have pegged those as algae as they are so hard. The one you say is halimeda has greened up in the last 24 hours. Looks a lot more happy today. The mermaid's fan is just sitting there, looking the same.

I'm hoping this stuff makes it. Sponges and all. I'm trying to do my best to help everyone have a fighting chance.

[+Grog]

Had a bit of an ammonia spike after adding the second part of the package but that seems to be OK now. All the critters are still alive except two. Appears that I lost what a very tiny stone crab (so probably not a bad thing to have die) and one of the cukes. Cuke was my fault, I crushed it when I was redoing the aquascaping. No telling about the stone crab. I didn't even know it was in the tank until it was floating.

Took a bit of time to clean up last night and finally glue the large gorg to a piece of live rock. It kept falling over and was irritating me, so I used super glue to fix it down. Gluing kinda sucked, took a few tries for it to work. Not a fan of the super glue, so I think that I need to try the Ecotech glue. When I get it, I'll test it on the smaller gorg, and probably relocate it. Its doing fine stuck in the substrate for now and I don't want to mess with it just yet.

My aquascaping is about where I want it to be. Now I can focus on cleaning up my somewhat neglected freshwater tanks and working on my stocking plan.

Here is a FTS as of tonight.

Left side zoom

Right side zoom

[+Grog]

Did a bit of rearranging over the past few weeks. Capturing a gorilla crab kind of forced that. No new FTS but I took a bit of time to get a shot of my flower anemone, Balthazor, under actinics.

Cup corals have grown. They fully extend now and like their new location but, the cup corals are a booger to photograph. I guess the auto-focus can't get a grip on them. I'm going to keep trying though. Sooner or later I'll get a good shot.

[Michae52]

Looking good

[+Grog]

Stopped at Petco today during the rain. They had a good looking condy that was recently received and about the size I wanted.

The gal who works there removed the condy from the rock pretty easily with her hand, so I duplicated the technique when I got home. I got it off of the plastic bag, and wasn't stung. Guess I was a little paranoid with my first other anemone.

The anemone, now named Claudia, decided to snuggle up between two rocks, on top of the donkey dung cucumber. I'm not going to get in the middle of that little situation. They can sort it out. This is a good spot for everyone involved (except for the donkey dung), nice flow, good light, and in the front where I can view her easily.

This is probably the last thing I'm adding to this tank for a while, except for a planned addition of a sally light foot crab in two weeks and some frags I may get at the frag swap.

I fed the tank mysis tonight, and Claudia snagged a couple for herself.

[ClarkiiCircus]

Hey Grog, *in reference to your march 4th ID's*

The thing you think is a mushroom or "hard" seagrass is actually a kind of green macroalgae called Udotea, not sure of the particular species without being able to look at it more closely. They love the gulf and the Caribbean. Feels hard from some nice calcification going on. The stacked hard one is also likely Udotea, as like halimeda, they stack but not as completely.They need a sandy substrate to stay anchored so make sure they stay "planted". My inner phycologist is reallyreally jealous of you. I love macros.

[+Grog]

Cleaned the tank yesterday, so I figure it is time for a mini update. Things are going well in my little tank. I'm beginning to see lots of coraline growth on the powerheads and the back glass. Aside from my coral beauty doing a jumping trick, no deaths since the last post. Although I do have a crab that has unknown whereabouts right now.

All of my corals are going well and my anemone is loving the highest flow and highest light in the tank. I think she has grown since last month! (See picture above.)

The clowns had to get in the picture. They usually stay way from Claudia. Here is another picture of her and the clowns, with the happy gorg on the side.

Got the anemone from Don of Frags and More during the frag swap, it has found a spot it likes too and seems to be adjusting nicely.

Here is some pulsing xenia I got from another club member a few weeks ago, and another of my anemones in the substrate. Yes, I love my anemones. haha

The snail was not to be outdone by the clowns and had to get its moment in the camera too. (snails seem drawn to the front glass...) All of these pictures were taken by my wife, not me. Which is why they look decent for a change.

That's all for now.

-Grog

[sifuentes31]

Looking Great Grog!! Beautiful Anemones........

[bige]

Very nice. Love the tank dimensions. Love all the chosen inhabitants.

[+Grog]

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback. I need to do a census of the tank. Maybe this weekend....

[Sascha D.]

Nice build. The tank looks very natural.

[+Grog]

TIme for some new pics.

First, Timfish came by yesterday and encouraged me to snap some shots of my hidden cup corals. They are notoriously difficult to photograph. They tendrils are ghostly and my camera tries to autofocus elsewhere. So, today I fiddled with the settings and got a couple of good pictures. This is the outcome of over 100 pictures. I have a video of them, I'll post that tomorrow.

These guys came on my liverock and have sprouted a couple of new 'heads'. The small one on the right is new. There is another new one that is in a location where a shot is not possible. I'm happy they are spawning new growth.

Here is another picture. This was taken with an old Canon A470 point and shoot, and I'm a terrible photographer. I think this is better with the color adjustments. They are one of my faves.

Here are some teal palys I purchased from another club member a few months ago. I put them next to this rock and they transfered over to it. Removed the mother rock yesterday.

Tube corals came with the live rock too. Look about the same as when I got them. Guys in the back look white and aren't open in this pic but they do open. Just look different than the others. I was worried for a bit but they and the cup corals are moody.

Here are some zoas I picked up a few months ago. Did the same thing I did with the palys. Stuck them next to my rock and let them migrate. Something interesting, note the nuke dragons and the ones next to them. Note how they have taken on some of the green, especially on the tendrils? They are kind of hybridizing.

The next picture shows what the other zoas originally looked like. These are on the other side of the same rock. At first there were Nuke Dragon Eyes and this other variety, Armor of God or Armor of Ra. I don't remember. I can't keep up with the names.

Now the ones in between have the attributes of both. Kinda cool. Maybe the ones in the middle are Dragon Armor now. lol

The zoas are about the same size as the hidden cup corals. Zoas are much easier to take pictures of. Translucent is tricky.

[jestep]

Very cool tank. I hadn't seen this until now. Definitely some unique dimensions to work with.

[+KimP]

Wow, your cup corals look great! I love mine too! Everything looks nice.

You should post a recent fts

[+Grog]

Wow, your cup corals look great! I love mine too! Everything looks nice.

You should post a recent fts

Thanks!

FTS below

Right side of the tank. Claudia is happy today.

[Teresa]

What kind of sea rods do you have in the middle of the tank?

[Crab Rangoon]

These guys came on my liverock and have sprouted a couple of new 'heads'. The small one on the right is new. There is another new one that is in a location where a shot is not possible. I'm happy they are spawning new growth.

LOVE these things. I used to have them many years ago / many tanks ago. They came on my liverock as well, and I had two slightly different varieties - three or four colonies total. It took many months for them to really polyp out and be full, but I took to feeding them Hikari and PE Mysis and they really began to multiply.

[+Grog]

What kind of sea rods do you have in the middle of the tank?

The two gorgs in the middle? They are corky sea finger IIRC. The one is all closed up. Dunno why. One next to it is fine but the other doesn't like something. Beginning to wonder if it is OK. Been closed for days. Rest of the tank is happy though.

Picked up a cardinal fish yesterday.

[+Grog]

Been over two months since I've taken any pictures of the tank. So, I tried to do it last night, and failed because of the camera batteries. Tried tonight and had the brilliant idea of turning the pumps off. Much better.

Lots of palys in this set!

First picture is a newer gorg I picked up from LivePlants.com Ordered one but received two different ones. Can't complain there! Clowns had to get in the picture too.

Next are shrooms. Rhodactics and Ricordea. Both have more than doubled in a few months.

Fungia is newer. Never would have expected it to look so cool. I'm enjoying it. Thanks Tim!

Steel Palys I picked up from Hydro a while back. I purchased 5, they are doing quite nicely. (Think I counted 21 around the rock today.) Easily one of my favorites, I love the long skirts/tentacles on the sides. I wouldn't be shocked to see these take over the rock. They are very healthy and not nearly as moody as some of my other specimens. I'd totally recommend these as a beginner paly to anyone. Hardy!

Next are my nuke green palys, these were originally from Hydro too. Got 5 of these to start with. They are growing and look great but not nearly as robust as the steel palys. Awesome colors though.

One thing I always struggle with is a sense of scale. Here are the nuke greens next to the steelies. You can see how much larger the steelies are in comparison.

That's all for now. I'll try and get pics of my sexy shrimp, frogspawn, and zoas next time. I'll also get a shot of the purple death palys, I totally forgot them this go around. Purple death are growing very slow in my tank...

[Peter Gott]

I just got the package for my aquarium too! It is incredible eh? Richard goes WAY above and beyond in terms of customer service. He have me so much more than what I ordered that I actually had to bring some to Aquatek to trade in for store credit...and I have to admit, were it not for the specific coral I want to grow in here, I'd be happy just to let the already existing species that came with the rock grow out! His rock is like a whole reef in itself, waiting to happen!

[Peter Gott]

This tank is looking super beautiful, man. I love your aquascaping and livestock choices. 8}

[+Grog]

Thanks Peter!

I agree that Richard has both top notch service and includes way more than what the ordered quantity. I will definitely send business to TBS again when I upsize, except for a few branch shaped pieces I need for a specific idea I have.

[+Grog]

Did a water change yesterday. Things look good today.

Claudia starts things out. She's the star of the tank. She sits at the top of the rock work, almost out of the water, getting as much light as possible. She's at the back of the tank, directly in front of the overflow from an Aquaclear 110. When she's fully open she is as wide as the AC 110. Here she is at about 75%. When she shrinks up into her orange sheath, she is about the size of a large shot glass and makes the transformation during the course of a few hours.

Took about a hundred pictures of the clowns. Sorted through them and came up with this. One is from Petco and the other is Alphonse, from Patrick. Both are doing well and have hosted in/with the frogspawn but I couldn't get these camera hams to hang with their coral for a good shot. They are both pigs and practically beg for food when I come around the tank.

The mushrooms are filling into their little area in the sand bed nicely. The Ricordea continues to do well. If I were to add something else to this tank, it would be another Ric. I love the texture on them. I may harvest a few of the green fuzzy Rhodactis for trade soon. They all came from one small piece the size of quarter. (Thanks acfilmz!) The Ricordea I got from RCA, it was about nickel sized but is near a silver dollar in diameter.

Last pic in the update is a small plate coral I picked up in a trade from Timfish. I never would have bought one of these based on the descriptions I've read of them. It was very funny looking, small and hard when I got it, but it has opened up. It has a cool translucent green hue with vertical tendrils that open up. It also has seemed to 'ooze' over the substrate. I'd like to get another of a different color. Fun specimen and seems to be more open and larger daily. I hope it is as long lasting as the frogspawn and condy. This was the best shot I could get of it.