Planeden Posted June 25, 2013 Author Share Posted June 25, 2013 Dennis, With respect to red macro, I will link to macro handbook at Gulfcast EcoSystems on my next post using my PC. However, the point that I want to make is the depth that it is collected at is between 30'-130'. If you look at the spectrum of light that is available at that depth, you will see that it favors blues and purples. I should rethink my use of 5K as a good universal source of photosynthetic energy. For certain macro and coral, it only wants a specific spectrum. I think that the Red Grapes and Dragons Breath both fall into that category. Good fortune with the rock. Patrick I have turned the blues back on for the sake of the macro. i just turned them off for a little bit while i was studying it and taking the pictures. i didn't mean to cause confusion. here is a picture with the whites, blues, and royals on. the reds just don't have quite the same pop. So the inhabitants of my tank will have their happy lighting most of the time, but they will have to deal with the occasional disappointment of my selfish peering at times . oh, and thanks for the links. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted June 26, 2013 Author Share Posted June 26, 2013 more fun. best laid plans, though. plan was to go to the store and get a royal gramma and probably a zoa or paly. but, no grammas. no yellow watchman goby (sorry james, nothing to fight over), nothing on our planned list. so, we were planning on buying two items, right? so what were we to do? certainly not be civilized. so we got a dendro. it is very pretty. the other "one" we got was a rock that has some palys and zoas on it. dendro: Paly (zoas shown, but still unhappy in their new environs and haven't opened yet): OK, so the dendro lost it's head, well one of them, which is probably why it was affordable. but the dead head has living material on it and is sprouting some new buds. hunter said if i keep it fed they will grow up big and strong. i also realized my mistake and forgot about coral warfare. the corals are farther apart now than they are in the picture. my fancy rock is between them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 Rats, and I was thinking of stopping up at the Dome today.. still might to look though as I want to add something to my little tank. Nice additions. If those are the same green paly's I have, they will spread and spread. The dendro is really nice, I used to have a bright orange sun coral. The hardest part for me and NPS corals is keeping up with the feedings on them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 Love dendros. Never seen any in stores. Would like to have some as well. Those green palys are I think the one coral I've seen in just about everyone's tank including my own. Seen them go anywhere from dark brown to super bright green and huge. Haven't figured out what seems to cause that either way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted June 26, 2013 Author Share Posted June 26, 2013 Thanks guys. James, they do have an orange spot goby that was perched in his little burrow. I've heard you feed dendros anywhere from every couple of days to once a week. Just poke some mysis shrimp in his little craters. Maybe if I put him high in the tank... Bpb, they had another colony of many heads (7+) that was $250. I think they may have had another smaller frag as well. Hunter said he hasn't had any in the store for the last 7 years. Zoas are open too. And the dendro is open even wider. Will feed him today because right now it just sounds fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted June 26, 2013 Share Posted June 26, 2013 I saw a few gobies... I ended up finding a really large yellow watchman they had there, but it was in it's second color phase of olive green. I decided to go for it since they had a few nice tiger pistol shrimp also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted June 27, 2013 Author Share Posted June 27, 2013 I saw a few gobies... I ended up finding a really large yellow watchman they had there, but it was in it's second color phase of olive green. I decided to go for it since they had a few nice tiger pistol shrimp also. cool. glad you found some good stuff. You going to post pictures in your thread? i did see a big goby, but i did not realize they changed colors as they get older. i wonder if it is the guy i was thinking of. They may have some royal grammas coming in tomorrow, so I will try to get one this weekend. if no one beat me to it, i suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 I saw a few gobies... I ended up finding a really large yellow watchman they had there, but it was in it's second color phase of olive green. I decided to go for it since they had a few nice tiger pistol shrimp also. cool. glad you found some good stuff. You going to post pictures in your thread? i did see a big goby, but i did not realize they changed colors as they get older. i wonder if it is the guy i was thinking of. They may have some royal grammas coming in tomorrow, so I will try to get one this weekend. if no one beat me to it, i suppose. I would if everything was not hiding The goby and shrimp went immediately to work and dug a cave under the rock... they now hide there. I see the goby the most when I fed tonight. The possum is being shy also. And of course the porcelain crab is hiding inside my kenya tree coral. So yeah, not much outward activity going on in the tank right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted June 27, 2013 Author Share Posted June 27, 2013 I thought I had some pictures of my zoas opened, but apparently I don't. they are very timid little guys and close up at the drop of a hat. so, no pictures now, either. but trust me, they do open. i picked up a long polyp sarcophyton leather coral today from a guy on the forums. unfortunately, i had to drive it around with me for a while, and it was hot outside, and his water got hot, and by the time i got home all his little feeders were hanging out his head like he was panting. i set him on a slow drip and let it go until the temp seemed about right and put him in. i can't tell if he has perked up any, or if it just my imagination. i'm not sure what to do. i put him in right at the end of the daily photoperiod. so, it is already mostly dark in the tank. i'm not sure if i should extend the lights for a little bit to give him so energy. perhaps give him a little food (the crab seemed very happy when i fed the tank this afternoon). it may be best to just let him sit in the dark overnight and see what happens in the morning, though. The coral seemed perfectly healthy when i picked it up. I see no fault with the seller. I don't want there to be any shade thrown at someone unfairly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted June 27, 2013 Author Share Posted June 27, 2013 I saw a few gobies... I ended up finding a really large yellow watchman they had there, but it was in it's second color phase of olive green. I decided to go for it since they had a few nice tiger pistol shrimp also. cool. glad you found some good stuff. You going to post pictures in your thread? i did see a big goby, but i did not realize they changed colors as they get older. i wonder if it is the guy i was thinking of. They may have some royal grammas coming in tomorrow, so I will try to get one this weekend. if no one beat me to it, i suppose. I would if everything was not hiding The goby and shrimp went immediately to work and dug a cave under the rock... they now hide there. I see the goby the most when I fed tonight. The possum is being shy also. And of course the porcelain crab is hiding inside my kenya tree coral. So yeah, not much outward activity going on in the tank right now. Too bad. I hate it when you put something and spend days trying to figure out where it's hiding and if it's still alive. One advantage of coral I suppose, doesn't really move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 Move the coral to a low light, medium flow area to recover. Give it a few days to a week. My rhodactis and yuma's take almost 3 or 4 days to get their heads back in the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted June 27, 2013 Author Share Posted June 27, 2013 Move the coral to a low light, medium flow area to recover. Give it a few days to a week. My rhodactis and yuma's take almost 3 or 4 days to get their heads back in the game. Thanks esacjack. Glad I didn't do anything considering pumping more light to was flat wrong. It's already pretty low flow, so that should be good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 no prob, just make sure it gets enough flow to dislodge any sediment or slime that may come off it in its adjustment phase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted June 27, 2013 Author Share Posted June 27, 2013 no prob, just make sure it gets enough flow to dislodge any sediment or slime that may come off it in its adjustment phase. oh, wow, thanks again. i misread your post. low light, medium flow. got it. now to find a place that has medium flow . poor little guy is laying his head in the sand napping now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted June 27, 2013 Share Posted June 27, 2013 I saw a few gobies... I ended up finding a really large yellow watchman they had there, but it was in it's second color phase of olive green. I decided to go for it since they had a few nice tiger pistol shrimp also. cool. glad you found some good stuff. You going to post pictures in your thread? i did see a big goby, but i did not realize they changed colors as they get older. i wonder if it is the guy i was thinking of. They may have some royal grammas coming in tomorrow, so I will try to get one this weekend. if no one beat me to it, i suppose. I would if everything was not hiding The goby and shrimp went immediately to work and dug a cave under the rock... they now hide there. I see the goby the most when I fed tonight. The possum is being shy also. And of course the porcelain crab is hiding inside my kenya tree coral. So yeah, not much outward activity going on in the tank right now. Ok, I was wrong .. I didn't get a yellow watchman .. but a blue spotted watchman (which I now remember the Dome saying). It looks like the picture on Live Aquaria. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted June 27, 2013 Author Share Posted June 27, 2013 Ok, I was wrong .. I didn't get a yellow watchman .. but a blue spotted watchman (which I now remember the Dome saying). It looks like the picture on Live Aquaria. Those are pretty, too. We were sort of on a mission for a royal gramma and corals, so I didn't look that closely at all the fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted June 27, 2013 Author Share Posted June 27, 2013 no prob, just make sure it gets enough flow to dislodge any sediment or slime that may come off it in its adjustment phase. see what you did? you saved him! i repositioned him again this morning to get him a little more flow and he instantly responded. he stood up straight (well, leaning a bit towards the light that i cut down to 25%) and his hair is growing and shrinking. i think i need to get another powerhead for my OT and set it up blowing the long way across. i am really only getting any sort of flow right there in that corner. maybe a koralia nano 240 or 425 to either supplement or replace the hydor pico evo mag 180. 180 GPH is 20X turnover, but it is such a narrow stream that is almost has to be pointed directly at something to make it wibble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted June 29, 2013 Share Posted June 29, 2013 Ok, I was wrong .. I didn't get a yellow watchman .. but a blue spotted watchman (which I now remember the Dome saying). It looks like the picture on Live Aquaria. Those are pretty, too. We were sort of on a mission for a royal gramma and corals, so I didn't look that closely at all the fish. I finally nabbed a good picture of him... it is in my 24g thread. Your new coral additions look nice. The way cool thing about that leather is how large they can get. I started with one about that size and it ended up growing to about half the size of my old 24g tank. At that point it started dropping some babies ... and then I took a knife to it and made lots-o-babies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted June 29, 2013 Author Share Posted June 29, 2013 Thanks james, I've heard they can get big. Have to try to figure that in when I put him in there. Mission was a success today. I got my royal gramma. Havent seen him since I put him in, though. Also got another powerhead for the OT. Flow is much better now. Tomorrow I get my frogspawn and then I'm done buying stuff for a while. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted June 30, 2013 Author Share Posted June 30, 2013 Found my royal gramma, unfortunately it was quite dead. Yesterday when I was adding a coral i tasted some of the water and it seemed super salty. if i did test it, which makes sense, i do not remember the results. i do remember having to a lot of fresh water to get it back to 1.025, so it must have been high. i need to remember to top off my OT tank frequently (as people have mentioned) and also I should test salinity before adding things (at least until I get myself and the tank stable). So, while I thought I killed him, I found out that most of the royal grammas that came in last week died, so it may or may not have been me. a lesson was learned regardless. there was still one left, but no one involved thought it was a good idea to buy/sell him. so no new fish today. I did pick up another little powerhead on friday and the flow is much better now. I may still have one deadish spot, but I don't really want to mess with it any more until I get these corals moved into the main tank. I did get three heads of Purple Tip Frogspawn from acfilmz yesterday and it is already expanding and waving at me today. My Dendro seems to have at least four baby heads growing on it. The Long-polyp Sacrophyton/Leather is also very happy. This one is neat when it eats, too. Anyway, a parting FTS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 Sorry to hear about the gramma loss It is unfortunately part of the risk of this hobby. The corals are looking nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esacjack Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 did you say you tasted the water?.... yuck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted July 1, 2013 Author Share Posted July 1, 2013 Sorry to hear about the gramma loss It is unfortunately part of the risk of this hobby. The corals are looking nice! Thanks. I really like the corals, too. But yeah, lost fish is a sad bit of it. Better when they are days old than years, though. did you say you tasted the water?.... yuck. I'm not good at siphoning without tasting. It's not like I just dipped in a cup to check my levels . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted July 3, 2013 Author Share Posted July 3, 2013 So far it has been the rock from Subsea and the zoa/paly rock from that I've found all the hitchhikers on. Subsea's rock has some worms, an anemone, and maybe a little sponge or turnicate. But, the sponge could be something else like orange coraline algea or another type of worm with a little nest. ID of these things has not proven to be my strong suit. With the help of you guys in the forums, I IDed a patch of anthelia. I haven't decided whether or not to try to move it to it's own rock or just try and kill it so it doesn't take over my Zoa that i purposely paid for. But it is pretty, so if I can keep it on it's own rock I may. Just have to ponder my real estate options and read more up on it as to whether it will spread off its island. Today when I fed my dendro and paly's i saw a few tentacles of a brittle star. i think. I wouldn't mind encouraging this guy to come out and live in my OT. But that may be harder than it is worth and it may hitch a ride to the main tank in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted July 3, 2013 Share Posted July 3, 2013 Sorry to hear about the gramma loss It is unfortunately part of the risk of this hobby. The corals are looking nice! Thanks. I really like the corals, too. But yeah, lost fish is a sad bit of it. Better when they are days old than years, though. >did you say you tasted the water?.... yuck. I'm not good at siphoning without tasting. It's not like I just dipped in a cup to check my levels . You need one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Python-Squeeze-Starter-Aquarium-Adapter/dp/B0017JHPA6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1372880585&sr=8-3&keywords=python+pump I have one at the end of my siphon hose, works great. I also snake my siphon hose through one of these to let it hand on the tank rim: http://www.amazon.com/ProClear-Aquatics-Siphon-Tube-Prefilter/dp/B0006JLV12/ref=sr_1_1?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1372880641&sr=1-1&keywords=clear+u+tube Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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