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I have a few pics for everybody today. I got some sun polyps last night - I already know that they are coming out for feedings cause I've been the one feeding them at the lfs . I don't have a pic of them all the way out, but they were out a bit this morning so I took a pic.



I also got two new shrooms, one is MIA because I guess I didn't glue him down well. I didn't have any netting to tie him down that way, hopefully the coral glue method will be ok. The other mushroom I have a pic of from this morning.



The pulsing xenia:



Capanella:



Rainford's Goby:



And a cute pic I got of my yellowheads(note the second one in the back):

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Nice!

Could you give us another full view. You might have mentioned this all ready. What is the substrate (crushed coral?)



My Scapes

I like it too,

Although almost everything you say sounds like Chinese to me .

Your yellowheads are a courious couple, aren't they!

And nice picture taking as well.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Tetratech - I suppose I could do another full view . The substrate is aragonite sand.

LF - Thanks, I just take a whole bunch of pics and show you guys the ones that turn out ok .

The Yellowheads just have the best personality, they are too much fun to watch - always peeking around corners for danger(and for food, those pigs).

I just ran up all the tests and I'll jot down my results. I've been slowly upgrading to salifert test kits. I've read that everything else is pretty unreliable.

pH - 8.2 (salifert)
NH4 - 0ppm (marine enterprises)
NO2 - 0ppm (marine enterprises)
NO3 - 0ppm (aq pharm)
PO4 - .1ppm (red sea)
Ca - 375ppm (salifert)
Alk - 3.0 meq/L (aq systems)

I think the calcium is nearly in order now, but the alkalinity I still need to get up. I've been dosing B-Ionics for the last few weeks. Before that I was dosing a 1 part all-in-one that wasn't doing anything for me. I guess I learned my lesson .

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

better watch tht rainfords goby is still there in the moring!

better watch tht rainfords goby is still there in the moring!

Why's that? He's been in there 2 days now and there haven't been any problems.

As promised a full tank shot:


mattyboombatty attached this image:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Coming along very nicely Matty.

I hope those sun polyps do well for you! They certainly are one of the prettiest corals around. What are you feeding?

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

gorgeous, glad you went with the sun coral idea, it looks
gorgeous.

:^)

Thanks Ferretfish, Megil

I've been feeding cyclop-eeze(taking them out and placing them in a bucket w/airstone), and I noticed they just grabbed up a mysis shrimp, but I'd gladly take any other suggestions as well.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Those are the best for them. PE mysis as well. Sounds like somebody has already steered you in the right direction.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Matty,
First congrats on the new tank. I think your off to a great start.

I'm glad you did this, because I've already learned alot from you and I have been thinking for a long time about doing a saltwater liverock setup, but not yet. I have to ease my wife into it. I started with a 12g, moved up to a 46g and now the 72g. I do have an empty 46g sitting around.

One question, was the liverock you used cured or uncured and how long did the tank take to cycle.



My Scapes

So I've finally gone over to the dark side....I have myself a 30G with another 30G sump. In reality there's about 45-50G of water in the system. I have an Amiracle overflow with a Mag-Drive 350 return pump. Right now I only have a shoplight over the main tank, but will be getting some power compacts in the next couple of weeks (money issues). In the main tank I have about 35 lbs. of Fiji live rock, and will continue looking for smaller 1-3 lb peices as this will be my major filtration. I have 2 powerheads which in total are rated to 500 gph.

In the sump I have a refugium that's 13 inches deep with a 4 inch DSB with about 20 lbs of base rock and some macro algae cuttings. I have 30W of NO flourescent over the refugium. I just got my protein skimmer today, from ebay I got an Aqua-C urchin, which I've read some good reviews about.

The tank has been up for about two weeks and right now I have the sp gravity at 1.025, pH @ 8.3, my ammonia readings are at about .025ppm with a very slight reading of nitrItes. I haven't bothered testing anything else yet. Once I toss on the lights, I will start dosing calcium and ALK and will then test for those.

There's nothing in the tank yet, except for a small crab of unknown type....which I can't find. I plan on growing some soft corals and polyps and getting reef friendly fish.

To the pics:
Full tank shot with self made stand and plumbing:


Main Tank:


Sump:


Refugium:


Skimmer:


Another of the main tank:


Last edited by mattyboombatty at 05-Oct-2005 21:32[/font]

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I was going to try hard not to comment on the wallpaper...really I was! ah well...I suppose it can't be helped (*snickers quietly*) .

Cant comment on the darkside much....but may I suggest moving the piece of LR that's on the top left of your scape to the top right where it may help hide some of the equipment better?

^_^ [hr width='40%']
"in any case, chocolate is hardly a rare comodity." said Chaos. "There are planets covered in the stuff"
REALLY?
"Indeed."
IT MIGHT BE BEST, said Death, IF NEWS LIKE THAT DID NOT GET ABOUT. ~ Theif of Time [link=Terry Pratchett]http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link]

Background coming soon.... unfortunately I can't help much with the wallpaper...stupid apartments.

and eventually I'll be getting around to the aquascaping part. Right now I just kinda threw it all in there. I still need a bunch more before I really try to work on the scape and hiding things.

Thanks for the comments though

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Got my lights today....Dual 96W Coralife PC fixture with one actinic and one 10,000K. It looks a little too blue for my taste so I may go with one 50/50 and one 10,000K in the future.

Any opinions if I might be able to grow some sps near the top? I figured I'd definitely be able to grow lps and softies, but I wasn't sure about sps.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I recently added a background to hide the paisley...

I also tacked on a "door" to my sump to hide the wiring and what not.





and a mushroom that came in on the liverock.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I just got another 8 lbs of liverock last night, so I'm thinking of aquascaping, and as Babel suggested I'll try to hide the overflow box. I'll update with some pics later.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Nice Matty I'm like the rest though and don't know diddly squat about the darkside, except it costs more than I'm willing to spend right now, and I couldn't keep corries in it Otherwise it looks like a great beginning.

What size of tank is it? I have thought many times of tempting fate, just haven't gotten up the guts to do so yet:88)

Heidi

EDIToops sorry how did I miss that it was 2; 30 gallon tanks? Blonde moment I suppose...hml

Last edited by houston at 12-Oct-2005 19:06

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

Thanks Heidi, But you shouldn't dismiss it just cause of the lack of cories, there are plenty of super interesting marine fish - like the jawfish. I noticed there's not a whole lot of activity over here in salty land. I appreciate the replys!

Well I just cleaned some algae and wiped the salt streaks. So this is about how it looks right now. I think I might still need a few more small ppieces of LR to create some front to back depth instead of it looking like a wall. I was hoping to go with the crescent look, I think it's supposed to be called an atoll formation? However I'm not sure if my tank is wide enough for that look.


mattyboombatty attached this image:


Looks blue right?

Last edited by mattyboombatty at 13-Oct-2005 12:59[/font]

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Here's my lonesome critter - a rock crab or somesuch thing.



mattyboombatty attached this image:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Matty,

I think it looks already very pretty.

That's unfortunately all I can say as a freshwater guy

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

looking good realy like the aqua scape!!! the crab looks like a manthraemerald) crab generly very good for your tank.

LF - Marine tanks are WAAAAAY easier than a successful planted tank. You are actually trying to grow algae . In all seriousness though, I think you could handle it with some reading.

Nano Reefer - Thanks! I'm still trying to get the perfect 'scape. I'll probably end up jamming another 5-6 lbs of rock in there.

The crab unfortunately isn't an emerald crab, that would have been nice. First it's brown, without a speck of green anywhere, and second, it's got big ol' hairy legs.

So I've been thinking about the stocking, and these are the fish I like - not the final stocking list by any means.

Royal Gramma

Yellow assessor

Yellowhead Jawfish

Pajama Cardinal
Banggai Cardinal

ocellaris clown

Any of the flasher wrasses
six/twelveline wrasse

rainfords goby
Green or yellow clown goby
neon goby
Blackray shrimp goby

Purple firefish

1-2 gobies of some sort are a MUST for me, as I really like them. I think I might get a couple/few yellowhead jawfish for my refugium (DSB). Everything else I'm still undecided about.

I don't even think I'm going to touch the corals list yet, except for some pulsing xenia and maybe some hammer coral, they tend to catch my eye. Otherwise I have no idea where I'm going with that.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Hi matty

Nice set up happening
You give us freshy's hope
I tend to agree with you on the 'blue' look. (although I have seen some beautiful tanks with that look).

I think you need to determine what corals/sponges (clams etc) that you want before you put them in and deal with your lighting prior to introducing them.
Only because I think if you put in some lovely corals and they start thriving with the blue lighting and then suddently change the spectrum you could end up with certainly a sudden change in those inhabitants and possibly even disastrous results. I think (Someone in the Reef section should be able to help you out here)

Anyway, I just thought I'd let you know that I think you tank is looking way-beautiful and I hope when I'm better in the future to be able to follow in your footsteps with my current 4' x 2' x 2' tank. Your leap is inspirational

Deb
BTW: A school of blue/green chromis would be nice
& PS: sorry this went to the other post in error first too




In wildness, nature is not human-hearted!

Thanks deb, If you need help setting your tank up in the future I'd be glad to help!

I'll try to take the lighting into consideration, but I don't plan on getting any delicate corals for a long time. So any changes I make in the lighting would be minimal. For now though I'm trying to get used to it.

It's too bad that the chromis get a little too big for my measly 30G tank. Otherwise, I would definitely get those...or maybe the blue reef chromis, which are awesome.

I got another 5 lbs of VERY porous rock (forget the name already) and changed around my rockwork. I think I'm really close to what I want it to look like now. I'll post some pics as soon as the batteries charge(and the dust settles).

In the last week or so I've been getting some pretty nasty algae which my cleanup crew isn't keeping up with. I've read though that this is to be expected, so I'm not freaking out yet.

I've also read recently that coulerpa(sp?) isn't the greatest macroalgae for use in the fuge. What I've read is that it can reproduce sexually on a large scale and can travel from the sump to the main tank and take over there as well. I really don't want this to happen, so I'll be trying to get rid of all of it from my sump.

Last edited by mattyboombatty at 20-Oct-2005 12:35

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

How do you plan to get rid of the coulerpa? Will you have to strip the sump down?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

LF - Thankfully it hasn't been in there long enough to become fully entrenched. So I'll manually remove the big clump(green stringy algae in the front of the sump in above pics) and try to even get rid of the roots(brush down any rocks it has perched on). This stuff is really invasive and can grow back from seemingly nothing I guess, so it may take a while to get rid of. While doing a good job of nutrient export - it has its drawbacks.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Some pics from today:

Full view:

mattyboombatty attached this image:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

The overhang in the middle:

mattyboombatty attached this image:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

and a new shroom:


mattyboombatty attached this image:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

If its a crab and its hairy, get rid of it. They will stalk your fish when they are sleeping and you will end up with dead fish. Hairy crabs are very opportunistic and will munch on just about anything and everything.

I've also read recently that coulerpa(sp?) isn't the greatest macroalgae for use in the fuge. What I've read is that it can reproduce sexually on a large scale and can travel from the sump to the main tank and take over there as well. I really don't want this to happen, so I'll be trying to get rid of all of it from my sump.

Not only will the spores spread to the main tank, but if a big enough portion of it goes sexual, it can cause an ORP crash...thus most likely crashing your tank. It also releases a toxin called caulerpin. There are ways to fight it going sexual though....very regular prunings, and 24/7 photoperiod over the refugium seem to work well.

I would however remove it and add Chaeotmorpha algae to the fuge instead. It grows just as fast, isnt invasive, and rarely if never goes sexual.

BTW, the last pic of the new shroom you posted....looks like a ricordia to me..nice freebie

Thanks DRO - the crab has been banished to an isolated section of my sump where it can't do any damage. I couldn't bring myself to kill it.

I thought the shroom might be ricordia, but wasn't sure - I "stole" it out of one of the display tanks @ work. It's tiny, about dime size, hopefully it will grow and spread .

Yeah I'll go ahead and take out the caulerpa - sounds like it could be bad news. Is chaetomorpha called "brillo pad" algae? I've got quite a few different algaes in my fuge that I don't really know what they are. Maybe I'll post up some pics of each one, and maybe you guys know what they are. I've looked around a little on line but haven't really been able to ID them myself. Some look really similar.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Chaetomorpha is indeed "brillo pad" algae

I took out most of the caulerpa last night, and also got my first new fish! I got two yellowhead jawfish, both are settled into their new homes/holes in my sump. They even ate today, which made me extremely happy (so I overfed a little, bah!). I took some pics this morning, here's the best one I took:

mattyboombatty attached this image:

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Hey think when you get done with yours maybe you could stop by my house and help me figure out how to set up mine? I REALLY need help figuring out all that stuff lol

PLEEEEASE!!! lol

Tank looks great! Are you going to put fish in it or just snails and such?


Christina

Matty,

Upfront, excuse my ignorance and total lack of knowledge.

The one thing I don’t like about your tank is that greenish rock on the left bottom. Is there something on it that makes it look so green?

Another question: Why do you add fish to the sump and not the main tank?

Otherwise, it looks very nice. I can’t wait to see a lot of corals and other stuff () growing in your tank, not to mention some colorful fish.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Christina - look up(above your post) and see my first fish! And I'll definitely help you any way I can.

LF- that rock is pretty nasty isn't it? It's the only rock covered with algae - I think I need a bigger clean up crew, but I think the algae mess is supposed to be normal in the first few months. It should clear up after a bit, maybe with the help of some algae grazers.

As to the fish in the sump question - I think they will be the most happy there. They need a BUNCH of sand to burrow in, and there's not enough sand in my main display for them. Plus they are a little skittish - the jumpy type. Nobody will bother them down there. The reason I got them first is because, well, they were available and I really wanted them. They have quite the personality - always jumping in and out of their hole.

I should be getting my first corals this friday. Just some pulsing xenias and some colorful zoo's from a friend at work. The hardy stuff first so I don't kill anything .

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Is he in your main tank? What kind of goby is he? He looks quite friendly and OH so adorable! I am a little dumb when it comes to saltwater tanks. I know some good information about freshwater tanks, but I would LOVE to learn more about saltwater tanks. For starters, why do you have a sump? What exactly are they? Can I have a saltwater tank without them?


I will leave that for now....

Chrstina

Christina - The Yellowhead jawfish is just that - a jawfish. I have them in my sump because I feel they will be happy there, with all the sand and cover the algae will give them.

Sumps are very good for marine tanks for a number of reasons. They increase water capacity, increase oxygenation, add places for multiple types of filtration, and get the heaters/filters/other gadgets out of the main display. However good they are, they are not a "must" have.

Have a read at [link=wet web media]http://www.wetwebmedia.com" style="COLOR: #FFD700[/link] about sumps/refugiums and their use.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

It was cured. I never saw a "cycle" I just had to wait a few week for trace amounts of ammonia to disappear. I let it stay fallow for another month before I added anything, just for good measure.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients