ckyuv Posted June 3, 2023 Share Posted June 3, 2023 Love the frogspawn as well! Are you good at taking pictures or is your kessil not very blue? The pics are harder to take than I thought haha 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted June 3, 2023 Author Share Posted June 3, 2023 They are blueish depending on the time of the day. I'm running the standard Tuna Blue 'recipe' that comes wiht it. Amazon.com : Coral View Lens Professional Photography 10 in 1 Kit 2inch Large Reef Lenses : Electronics This $30 gadget will drastically improve your photos. I use the yellow and orange filters. It filters out the blue. Then I do a little post processing in GIMP. I can share my steps if you care. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted June 7, 2023 Author Share Posted June 7, 2023 Checking in with periodic Hollywood Stunner growth pics. Filename bad. I overwrote my old file. Either way, tons of new mouths on the rims. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 (I've never done that! Honest! ) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted June 29, 2023 Author Share Posted June 29, 2023 Other cool growth progression. Three months between the first photo and the last two. Green Birdsnest. NOTES: My photos are getting better, and there is lots of good stuff showing up on the back glass. March Photo End of June Photos Top View Side Shot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted July 7, 2023 Author Share Posted July 7, 2023 Updated FTS and new blue hammer. Rearranged a little and pulled some things out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted July 10, 2023 Share Posted July 10, 2023 Looking good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted July 14, 2023 Author Share Posted July 14, 2023 I have space in this tank for another fish. I want to keep its current calm demeanor. Thinking of seeding with pods and then adding a mandarin about a month later. Any opinions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted July 15, 2023 Share Posted July 15, 2023 They're expensive but get a captive raised one you can feed prepared foods. There have been exceptiona but most of the wild mandarins I've seen do well feeding off 'pods reproducing in a system have been larger systems, 90 - 100 gallons or larger. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted July 25, 2023 Author Share Posted July 25, 2023 New additions. Coral banded shrimp and some unknown freebie coral. Unknown is gonna move to the TBD frag tank after I get home from overseas next month. Hammer is kinda PO'ed as I was messing in the tank. Moody thing.... And yes, I need to vacuum my sand this week. Also added to emerald crabs to fight a small algae issue. They are camera shy tho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted July 26, 2023 Share Posted July 26, 2023 Yeah, most corals aren't very touchy, feely personality types. Your shrimp should have it's missing claw back as soon as it molts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted October 7, 2023 Author Share Posted October 7, 2023 Haven't posted about the 40 in a while. Life gets in the way sometimes. Tank has had some ups and downs. Went through some bacterial issue and lost all the hammers and bird's nest. Didn't seem to impact the stunner, zoas, candy cane, or gorgs. It hit hard and fast though, killing some of the hammers in days. Then I had an algae bloom from hell. Was doing very frequent water changes and it was just keeping it level, not improving. 'Life Rock' arch got removed and replaced with more TBS rock. I'll get another order into them in a few weeks and add about 20# more so I get an arch look between these two islands. Here is a FTS shot and shots of some of the livestock. Sad to lose the hammers but as long as the stunner is growing, I'm happy. I'm liking all the encrusting I'm seeing in the tank, and the sponges growing in the HOB filter. Added another fire shrimp as well. You may notice some angular dark lines in the FTS. That is shade from the dowels which support my screen. That was shading the stunner, so it has been moved and rotated. You can see the spot with low growth where the shade was on the stunner. Not adding anything new to the tank, other than that rock in a few weeks. Gonna let it all settle out. After that I'll adjust the lights a tad, and try to get some better colors out of the stunner. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted October 8, 2023 Share Posted October 8, 2023 Let me know when you're ready to try some more euphyllia. This time having some amoxicillan or cipro for dips would be handy. Since we moved stuff between your 40 and one of my frag tanks I'm still thinking the problem I had with the same gold hammer is related sinve it happened at alsmost the same time. The 5 or 6 polyps that survived after a 2 hour dip with ammoxicilan (~125 mg / 1 gallon) are doing well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted October 10, 2023 Author Share Posted October 10, 2023 Better lighting this time of day, and I got out my lens filters. So, who would have thought that I'd have better zoa pictures today? I'm happy with these zoas. Doing well. Each on their own 'islands' so they can have their own zones and not compete with each other. Eagle Eyes are my favorite, but I like them both. I'm also really happy with the improvement in my photography skills. I look back at my old photos and I used to be terrible. Eagle Eyes Fire and Ice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted October 10, 2023 Share Posted October 10, 2023 I'm a much bigger fan of "islands" for zoas than "gardens" with several varieties together sooner or later one overgorws the others. With "islands" it's also easier to get frags from the edges. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted October 10, 2023 Author Share Posted October 10, 2023 I made that mistake myself in previous builds. Steel palys are cool looking until they choke out your expensive, more colorful, zoanthids. Steel palys are great but very weedy. Don't see them offered much any more. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted October 15, 2023 Author Share Posted October 15, 2023 Been doing some rearranging. The idea now is that the 40 breeder will be the mixed reef. The 75 (180 to be) will become FOWLR, or very lite reef. Slowly relocating corals from the 75 over to the 40 and rearranging it. Moved one Galaxea and the Palythoa Grandis rock yesterday. Next, I need to figure out how to move the large rock I have in the 75 with my Purple Milka Stylos over, and have it fit. The little Galaxea will be easy, but that large rock will be a task. There is not a lot of room here. Also found a lawnmower blenny in the tank. My only assumption is that it was on the Palythoa Grandis rock when I pulled it from the 75 and came over. Otherwise, it has been in the tank for a long time, and I still have two in the 75. 😃 Today's FTS. I'm liking this better. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted November 23, 2023 Author Share Posted November 23, 2023 A few updates. I got all of my coral out of the 75 and it is all in the 40 now. With the exception of some gulf native colony and an anemone that came with the live rock. Hollywood is growing nicely. Image below shows how much growth. Second picture you can see the rock it is mounted to. Today's picture you cannot see the rock at all. Basically, doubled in size in 6 months. FWIW this picture is a better representation of the actual colors. I'm actively working to get it to a bluer coloration. Lights have been ramped up weekly and are at about max right now. If you notice the little gaps in growth, that is where there was a small dowel shading the light it was receiving. I've moved it to a central location without any shading and the gaps are filling in. And the FTS after rescaping. The stylos are in here now. I've added a mushroom, and some additional zoas. The paly grandis are coloring up nicely. I'm happier with th this layout. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted December 20, 2023 Author Share Posted December 20, 2023 Monthly check in on the tank. Hollywood is growing. Galaxea opening. Palys coloring up and getting new growth. Stunner really took off. Wonder if it will have some downward growth or if that sag area will fill in and become thicker. Who knows? Lol. Either way its growing. I can't get the night time sweeper pics but at night it is insane the length and quantity of tentacles on this thing. I've been feeding a small bit of food at night about 10 PM so this guy and the candy cane get some extra oomf. Toadstool and zoas Galaxea, which I think is growing. I need to do more pictures and measurements. But looking back I think it is larger. I like the sweepers though. Paly Grandis has good colors and extra heads. They eat pellets from my observations. I'm not target feeding but when I toss pellets in, they catch them, close up for a bit, then reopen. Maybe why they are growing so well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckyuv Posted December 22, 2023 Share Posted December 22, 2023 The sweepers on the galaxea look cool, everything is looking great! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted January 4 Author Share Posted January 4 Seems like tank maintenance is becoming a twice a month thing with this tank. Parameters are stabilizing. Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate: All 0 PH: 8.0 Phosphate: .15 Calcium: 380 Temp: 80 First time testing Calcium. Petco had it for $4.00 and I have Vital Care so I got it for like $3.75. Tank looks pretty good. Had a bit of a fright with my lighting over the holiday. Seemed like the left side was a little darker. Didn't think much of it. Come Monday it was OBVIOUS that it was not the same. Did some looking and ugh. Several of the LED on the left channel of the Kessil AP9X were totally fried. Never would have noticed but there were a few on the right fried too. Maybe 3 or so. Luckily, I'm at month 10 of the 12-month warranty. Emailed them and they are sending me an RMA and another unit. I'm impressed with how responsive Kessil was. Super-fast responses and didn't give me a bunch of run around. Very good of them to honor the warranty but I'm not going to keep them on the 40 anymore. If and when the new unit arrives, it will be listed at $500 on Craigslist or $400 here for members. (Over 50% off of MSRP.) I've already purchased a metal halide and T5 combo for my system, and just want to break even on what I paid for the MH fixture and bulbs. Someone can get a good deal on an AP9X. I'm just not trusting it again. Fortunately, I had a T5 fixture with new lights for the 180 and I was able to get some lighting over my corals. New MH will be 1 250W bulb and 4 ATI True Actinic. NOTE: This post is NOT meant to be a slag on Kessil. I liked the light a lot. Their support and response were great, but I want something on my tank I can depend on. I'm out of town a lot, and don't want to leave failures to my wife and or pet sitter. That was a big part of what killed my last tank. Going for what I know is rock solid, with redundancies in case of a single point of failure. Here is what the LED damage looks like. Pretty awful. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted January 4 Share Posted January 4 That's too bad! Comparing the two LED assemblies it almost looks like initially something got between the led and lens that started to fry the lens. I've always liked Kessils, over the years thier A360s have been one of the most reliable fixtures I've worked with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted January 4 Author Share Posted January 4 I'm just glad I was home when it happened and I wasn't off shore chasing tuna. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Grog Posted January 4 Author Share Posted January 4 I'm being spammy today after being off for the holidays. New stuff came in today. I made a big order for myself as a birthday gift to me and told them to hold off on shipping till after the New Year. Box of love came in today. New corals are: Purple photosynthetic gorgonian 3X Neon Stylos Blood Pool Montipora Proud Leopard Chalice Alien Eye Chalice (moved to frag tank. Too similar to the Hollywood Stunner in looks. Will go in the 180 and look awesome under good lights.) Starry Night Cyphastrea All came in great shape and large frags. I'm happy with the way Pacific East Aquacultre handled everything. They even called me at noon to see if everything was good. Proud Leopard was the show piece, on a 4" frag square. Now I have to figure out how to arrange everyone. My pics are a little different color than normal. The T5s take photos easier than the Kessil did but the colors are not the same. Plus, I'm at the tail end of some algae issues. FedX just dropped off the box with my halide fixture. Good day for Groggie. Enough rambling. You want pictures. Most are just starting to open. Alien Eye (Different colors due to frag tank) Starry Night Purple Gorgonian Monti and Sylos Proud Leopard FTS 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted January 6 Share Posted January 6 I don't know why you bothered, that Hollywood Stunner is going to cover the tank soon enough. 😃 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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