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150g Indio-Pacific Biome


Sascha D.

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Are you planning on dripping in display or in the sump? Patrick

I was thinking of having it drip into the sump, either in the return section or in the refugium so the pods can snack on it. My canopy is pretty full with lights, but I could rig it outside of the canopy and have it drip directly into the return flow. Any suggestions?

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Week 6 Picture Time!

These clownfish love the overflow. Too bad they can't find their way back into the tank every day! I used some eggcrate to form a barrier.

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post-2552-0-89875900-1378254113_thumb.jp Full tank shot

post-2552-0-95541600-1378254128_thumb.jp Devil's Hand

post-2552-0-41211200-1378254139_thumb.jp Frogspawn

post-2552-0-89900100-1378254148_thumb.jp Mohawk Zoanthids

post-2552-0-46147300-1378254159_thumb.jp Colt Coral (left) & Yellow Polyps (right)

post-2552-0-57995200-1378254170_thumb.jp Green Starburst Polyps & Halemida hitchhiker (SCORE!)

post-2552-0-36659000-1378254181_thumb.jp Green Bubble Tip Anemone (I just fed him)

post-2552-0-57269400-1378254191_thumb.jp Copper Penny Palythoas

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Looks real good. Wonder why the clowns keep going down the overflow?

Thanks! No idea what they like in there so much. I found them in there every morning, before I blocked it. Now they hang out under the return nozzle at night.

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Week 6:

I went in with some fellow reefers from ARC and got a Reefs2Go order.

Fish

  • 12 - Blue Chromis
  • 1 - Yellow Watchman Goby
  • 1 - Royal Gramma

Corals

  • Eye of Rah Zoanthids
  • Radioactive Dragons Eye Zoanthids
  • Candycane Coral
  • Duncan

Inverts

  • Tiger Pistol Shrimp

Time to get our bioload on!!

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Green Chromis

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Yellow Watchman Goby and his Tiger Pistol Shrimp buddy.

I had the neat idea to cut a 1/2" PVC pipe in half and put it in the front of the tank. Instant burrow!

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That picture just solidified my decision to get a watchman goby and pistol shrimp

Literally one of the coolest things I've ever put into the tank. I paid less than $20 for the pair and my whole family watched them for half of the night.

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That picture just solidified my decision to get a watchman goby and pistol shrimp

Literally one of the coolest things I've ever put into the tank. I paid less than $20 for the pair and my whole family watched them for half of the night.

my guys are quite shy. i still love them, but it is very exciting to catch the rare glimpse. but we do hear wesson shooting at something fairly often.

Mr. D, I've been away for a bit but your tank is really coming along. congrats.

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That picture just solidified my decision to get a watchman goby and pistol shrimp

I didn't realize just how far the pistol shrimp would dig to make his burrow. My sandbed is about 3 inches and the pipe that I put in was 4-5 inches, turned diagonally at about 180 degrees towards the surface. He's already dug down at least 2" past the end of the PVC I put in there. I'm not sure how far he'll go but it's fun to watch.

That picture just solidified my decision to get a watchman goby and pistol shrimp

Literally one of the coolest things I've ever put into the tank. I paid less than $20 for the pair and my whole family watched them for half of the night.

my guys are quite shy. i still love them, but it is very exciting to catch the rare glimpse. but we do hear wesson shooting at something fairly often.

Mr. D, I've been away for a bit but your tank is really coming along. congrats.

Thanks! The goby is out all the time. I haven't heard the shrimp shoot yet. I guess he's busy digging up a storm. What and how often do you feed him?

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That's really neat! Is all the digging keeping your water cloudy?

The water hasn't gotten cloudy at all. He's not really digging it furiously like say a dog would. The pistol shrimp picks it up with his claws and carries it like a mover would at your house. He's actually really careful about where he puts the stuff. If he doesn't like the position then he'll move it over and over again until it's exactly right. I saw him pick up a snail and move him. When the snail tried to scurry away, the shrimp moved him back again.I laughed so hard!

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That's really neat! Is all the digging keeping your water cloudy?

The water hasn't gotten cloudy at all. He's not really digging it furiously like say a dog would. The pistol shrimp picks it up with his claws and carries it like a mover would at your house. He's actually really careful about where he puts the stuff. If he doesn't like the position then he'll move it over and over again until it's exactly right. I saw him pick up a snail and move him. When the snail tried to scurry away, the shrimp moved him back again.I laughed so hard!

Yup, I'm def getting this duo! that sounds hilarious!

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Update on the pistol shrimp / goby combo:

The Tiger Pistol Shrimp spent the first 3 days digging his burrow with his goby buddy keeping a constant watch. On the third day I heard a three-round burst coming from the aquarium! For one reason or another, the shrimp expelled his goby from the burrow. The goby looked lost the whole next day; swimming continuously in the current at a very fast rate. The shrimp began narrowing the opening of his burrow and covered the glass viewing area with sand. Today is day 6 and I haven't seen the shrimp or the goby in 2 days.

Perhaps they are just shying away like Planedon suggested. The goby definately hasn't jumped out of the tank and the sump looks clear. I spent a good portion of time looking for him yesterday but the tank is quite large and the rock is very pourous.

Those chromis look awesome. Hopefully they all make it.

So far so good. All of the chromis survived the first week. They stopped schooling after the second day and spread out to occupy all levels of the water column. I have seen some of the more dominant ones chasing others at times. The chase lasts less than a second and I've been expecting it based on what I've read on the species. No fin damage or stress has been observed and all fish are eatting.

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Update on the pistol shrimp / goby combo:

The Tiger Pistol Shrimp spent the first 3 days digging his burrow with his goby buddy keeping a constant watch. On the third day I heard a three-round burst coming from the aquarium! For one reason or another, the shrimp expelled his goby from the burrow. The goby looked lost the whole next day; swimming continuously in the current at a very fast rate. The shrimp began narrowing the opening of his burrow and covered the glass viewing area with sand. Today is day 6 and I haven't seen the shrimp or the goby in 2 days.

Perhaps they are just shying away like Planedon suggested. The goby definately hasn't jumped out of the tank and the sump looks clear. I spent a good portion of time looking for him yesterday but the tank is quite large and the rock is very pourous.

Those chromis look awesome. Hopefully they all make it.

So far so good. All of the chromis survived the first week. They stopped schooling after the second day and spread out to occupy all levels of the water column. I have seen some of the more dominant ones chasing others at times. The chase lasts less than a second and I've been expecting it based on what I've read on the species. No fin damage or stress has been observed and all fish are eatting.

Don't fret. They're expert hiders. My yasha goby only comes out when i turn the pumps off to feed (suck it pavlov's dogs, I'm coining Moede's yasha goby!). I rarely see my pistol shrimp, only the mount of clean white substrate that he pushes out of the burrow.

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I haven't gotten a very good handle on taking pictures with this camera yet. Sorry some of the pictures came out fuzzy. As of now, all of the Zoanthids and Palythoas are unidentified. One of them is Radioactive Dragoneye and one is Eye of Rah, but I'm not sure which yet.

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The white macro algae in the 2nd refugium picture is Red Spicifera (Acanthophora Spicifera). It came in the macro pack that we got in our Reefs2Go order. Nobody wanted it so it went into my refug. The Marine Plant Book says it's not commonly available and should stay white under my lighting. I might move a sprig up to the DT and see how it does.

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Week 7 Tests:

  • Salinity - 1.025
  • PH - 8.4
  • Ammonia - 0
  • Nitrites - 0
  • Nitrates - 0

Are all the chromis doing well? I had a hard time keeping them from pestering each-other to death.

Yup I still have the full school of 11. I had ordered 12 but one arrived DOA. I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary with them so far. No excessive bullying, no fin damage, no stress marks, no hiding etc. I feed them twice a day - M, W, F they get mysis and all other days they get spurlina pellets.

The idea behind keeping a large school like this is the same as with African Cichlids. If you keep the population high, then they will not become territorial and kill each other off. It looks promising so far.

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Regarding the chromis, I think the multiple feedings a day help too. Things tend to fight less when they are all fat and happy. I had a large school before and they all picked each other off until there were only 3 left. I only fed 1x/day so I hope my new theory on feeding them multiple times a day will prove fruitful.

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Week 7 Update:

It has been an interesting week. I got an energy bill that was 500% higher than normal!! First, I freaked out!! Next, I changed my energy plan. Then, I thought about alternatives.

The tank has still be running hot and I haven't had any luck finding a fan to install. The aquarium temp goes up to 85 during the day and dropped to 83 at night. Up until this week I had been running my DT lights 12 hours a day and my refugium 12 hours on a reverse photoperiod. After the cyanobacteria outbreak was squelched I started the DT on an 8 hour period with a simultaneous 8 hour refugium lighting period. The change in lighting schedule lowered the temp by 2 degrees.

I also upgraded the light based on a forum recommendations in this thread, from a 100w 6500k incandescent to a 14-Watt (60W) 5,000k twist CFL. I like the look of the white light better than the yellow light, the macros don't seem to mind and I lowered my temp by another degree.

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