FishProfiles.com Message Forums

Ohhh I forgot about the froggie.

I'm scared to frag that though.

When I think of my corals I actually only think of SPS. I dont know why.

My digi's are actually finally starting to color up again, after a minor bleaching incident. You should see the polyps on my orange one, they are like traffic guard orange. Soooo pretty.

I dont know that book, if it's a good read maybe I'll ask for it for Christmas.

The Book of Coral prop is excellent. I promise that you can read it over and over and still learn something new every time. I cannot wait for the sequel. (Shows what a geek I am...)


-Ferret [img src='/images/forums/halo.gif' border=0]

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Algae #1 ...Codium sp...uses calcium, slow growing making it poor for nutrient export but excellent for a "decoration".

Algae #2...On the left, Halimeda..uses calcium, slow growing, making it poor for nutrient export but excellent for decoration

On the right..some form of kelp

Pic #3...not sure what the non hairy stuff is...but the red hairy stuff is nasty bad! It can be a pain to get rid of so Id manually harvest as much as you can to try and keep it from getting into your display. It is Gelidium sp.

Just got Calfo's book today! I'm excited to start reading it. I've skimmed through a bit of it and it seems to cover everything. I'm glad I got it with a few days off coming up so I can read it.

That book you're talking about, is that the "Corals" book by Eric Borneman

Yeah, I think that's the one. Very heavy as you said, but very informative.

My digi's are actually finally starting to color up again

Well I for sure wouldn't mind a frag of those, or the birdsnest when they get bigger.

but the red hairy stuff is nasty bad! It can be a pain to get rid of so Id manually harvest as much as you can to try and keep it from getting into your display. It is Gelidium sp

Thanks! I'll definitely be getting that outta there.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

do u have ur own ro/filter?, or r u running tap water

Nathan has employed himself as the FP nutrient boy...



-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

I like algae I think thats what Im gonna do with the funky dimension 90g that I have...algae/Mantis tank

I know this may be considered rude but I have been thinking of a similar tank.
How much has it cost you?

Just a rough estimate would be nice
Thanks your post has anwsered a lot of my questions.

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man" Simpsons

do u have ur own ro/filter?, or r u running tap water

Niether for the moment....but with some recent cash influx/gift certs I'll be ordering a spectrapure 3 stage 40gpd unit sometime this week. To completely answer your question, I'm hauling RO/DI water from work...PIA. I'll also be looking to create an auto/semiauto top off for my tank after that.

How much has it cost you?

Not rude at all. But I'm not sure... *walks away to think*


*comes back 10 minutes later*

Actually not much. Maybe about 7-800 USD including livestock. But unless you have some/most of your equipment starting out, do some DIY, AND work at a good LFS, you'll easily be paying 2-3 times as much.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Oh...almost fogot to post some pics of new stuff


New "silver" pulsing xenia:


Galaxia?:


Acropora, hasn't completely opened up it's polyps the last couple days. I put it way way up top. It's about 2-3 inches from the surface of the water, and there's maybe 4 inches from the water to the lights. I thought this would be plenty of light....anybody think it's not enough? I also made sure it's in the path of one of my powerheads cause I've read the thicker acros need more water flow. It hasn't really lost any color - the base was always a brownish/greenish tint, but the polyps are a super bright green. Any comments? Anyways here's the pic:


I also got another small frag of an acanthastrea, but I couldn't get a decent pic of it. It's red with a green center. Looks pretty cool.[/font][/font][/font]

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

how about an update

Yeah, how about a full tank shot??

---

Back in the saddle!

*joins the chant*



-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Alright alright, I'll get some pics. But you'll have to wait till tomorrow. I'm heading off to another 13hr day of work....*yawn*.

BTW I've been incredibly lazy with this tank as far as water changes go. It's been about a month, however I planned on starting some water last night for a change this weekend, but found out that my roommates used my salt vat as a mopping bucket]:|]:|. Now I've got to wait another week for a day off. I have tested everything though, and still no nitrates or phosphates or anything. And algae is still disappearing, except for the coralline.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

pics:

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I dont understand how your tank looks SO big? It really looks a lot bigger than 30 gallons. That's for sure. Nothing wrong with that though.

You've got some real nice life in there. I'm very impressed. I'd like to see SPS of course, but... Is that a goni waving in the current?

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

I dont understand how your tank looks SO big

It is only the skills of a photographer.

In reality it's because everything I put in there is soooo small. spatial ratios or something like that.

You've got some real nice life in there. I'm very impressed. I'd like to see SPS of course, but...

Thanks. But my sps aren't doing well...actually just the acropora. I don't think it's going to make it really. I think it might be bleaching out, but I'm not sure. Plus it's super brown. If it gets worse, I'll get out the snippers to try and save some of it, maybe send it off to you. The montipora is doing REALLY well though. Lots of growth from that guy. I may replace the acropora with a purple monti cap.

Is that a goni waving in the current?

I haven't figured that out yet. I put it there because I thought it wasn't a rough and tumble area, but got some flow. I'll have to move it somewhere else if it's getting too much flow. Any care tips on th alveopora?

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Looking very nice there matty!

Oh right, it's alveo not goni. Doh. >.< I didn't think it looked like a goni.

Both of those corals are ones we have trouble figuring out how to care for in captivity. It's just something we haven't truly figured out yet. Since you have a tiny frag though, I wouldn't doubt if you could get it to last awhile. Most pieces last at least a year anyway.

My best advice would be good water quality, good flow, but not to the point where the polyps are like blasting off, and an occasional meaty target feeding. Occasional being like 1x-2x a month only.

I'll look them up in Dr. Ron's book later and see what he says.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Thanks FerretFish that would be great. I don't like the idea of such a nice coral just up and dying on me is a short time like that.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I just got a frag of a blasto that I've been eyeing up for the last 6 months at work. The salt manager was waiting for it to get large enough to frag, and he finally fragged it last week. It's a super bright red outside rim with a neon green center. B-E-A-utiful. It has 3 large heads and and 4-5 smaller heads. I'm far too excited about this guy. The anticipation was killer. Pics after acclimation .

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

any pics?

nope, maybe this weekend....sorry. The blasto is still getting adjusted anyways, not quite fully open yet.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Well my new RO/DI unit came yesterday, set up today, and is currently making water...yay! Water changes abound!


Red/green blasto came out to play today:


pink/green blasto out nicely now:


all green blasto:


Monti cap(has grown about 1/2 inch all the way around):


That's all for now

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Tank looks wonderful!

How expensive was your RO unit? and whats the GPD rated at?

Nick

Nick
"Impossumable- unable to play dead"

Thanks swiftshark

The RO unit cost me $150 with shipping. I got it from aquasafe on ebay. It's rated at 100 GPD, but it seems to be working realistically at about half that. I'm sure it's because of water pressure and temperature, things like that on my end. So far the unit works great, no leaks or anything, but they forgot to send me the free tds meter. I sent an email out to them saturday(got the package friday) asking them to send me one. Hopefully they will. Then I will only have positive things to say about them.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

finally got a good shot of my clown goby resting on my monti cap:



mattyboombatty attached this image:

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

That's the biggest clown goby I've seen in awhile. What a cutie. Beautiful yellow color.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

And can you believe it....he's eating flake food?!?!

Last edited by mattyboombatty at 18-Jan-2006 16:39

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Matt where do u get most of ur fish/livestock do u
go online or local fish store thanks .. Austin





In the age of darkness the blind man is the best guide. In the age of insanity look towards the mad man to show you the way

Everything I've gotten has come from the LFS where I work. I may have to wait for things I want, but the price is right and I get to see everything before I buy it. That's a big reason I wouldn't want to buy any livestock on the internet. Who knows what kiind of shape it will arrive in?

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

If you buy from a good internet company there shouldnt be a problem with it arriving just as it was pictured on their site...other than initial bleaching/browning out from shipping stress. I order almost all of my livestock online and havent had a problem yet

i gwt my fish from drsfostersmith all of myn have been helty so far lol any ways they have a 14 day warenty

In the age of darkness the blind man is the best guide. In the age of insanity look towards the mad man to show you the way

Well I guess I may consider it in the future then, if people are having success with it. I just like to see what I'm buying before I get it. Not to mention my employee discount makes the prices very hard to beat.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

when and if you are ready to take the "internet purchasing" plunge, let me know and Ill give you a couple of places to purchase from

Thanks DRO, I will .

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

A couple pics from today:

Some cool zoanthids that I got a couple weeks back(lost and found again):


And the unseen capanella that I chucked into a dark corner that is STILL growing like a weed:
[/font][/font]

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I haven't read that anywhere, and I haven't seen any evidence of it from my goby. The only sps I have in there anymore is the monti cap. It's still doing great.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Ive ordered on;ine from liveaquaira, and i havn't had any probelms. They send nice stuff, it arrives in great condition and they have 14 day guarantee.

Nick

Nick
"Impossumable- unable to play dead"

thats wher i orderd myn. all my fish from liveaquera is still alive tho they havent sent me my fox face..LO ... still on back order lol.



In the age of darkness the blind man is the best guide. In the age of insanity look towards the mad man to show you the way

( could have left one of the posts SB)


yeah i knw a few people tht have had big problems with them.

i just got four fish in form them and they're all fine.

Nick
"Impossumable- unable to play dead"

Matty,

most of the stuff that is discussed here is way beyond my comprehension level, but all in all it looks very nice.

Like Ferret, I think you did a great job in making this tank look much bigger than it is.

Keep it up

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks thanks

I have about 150 burning a hole in my pocket so I'm looking to get a few new lps frags from a guy that lives around here. Echinophylia sp. and hopefully acan. lords. I've been trying to get in touch with him the last few days, with conflicting schedules, but hopefully tonight's a go. That is really the only update I have, I haven't gotten any new stuff lately.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Just came back from getting some new corals. I ended up with 3 echinophylias(green, red, and pink) and a purple/green blasto from RandyO(as known on RC). Man did he have some SHWEEET lps. I'll be getting some acans from him when he ends up fragging those.


Pics when settled in/:'

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Geesh, Im gonna have to send Randy a PM on Marine Depots forums and tell him to not give you anymore good stuff unless he overcharges you for it

Don't worry I only took the small stuff

Can't wait for some of those acan lords though, I'm in lub.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Indeed....the Lord's have some nice colors and the prices have come down quite a bit. . Im in a Chalice, and Blasto mood again though....and I know of a site that has some very nice blasto's and Lord's (even though some are mislabled as lords) for a pretty reasonable price

*Edit.....almost forgot. Watch the Capnella...they are famous for cutting loose floaters and if you dont catch them they will take over your tank and be attached to everything!

How can you not be in the mood for those! Randy's got a lords that's orange with purple centers......I asked him to save me a frag of those can't wait for those!

I'll keep an eye on them...and hack them up when they get big enough. It's the only reason I still have them in my tank. I think there's still plenty of light for them back there somehow.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Got pics of the echinos, they are all lookin good. The blasto isn't out today due to some rough handling on my part, I had to get it attached to something so it wasn't moving around the tank and I think I bothered it a little. It's not sliming up or anything, just closed up. I'll get a pic of those when they come out.

Red echino:


Pink echino with whites on:


Pink echino with actinics only:


Green echino:


Acan and red/green blast(finally got a good shot of these):

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I got some pretty funky lookin pics(like the pink echino above) when I was playing with the actinic lighting and the white balance on my camera. These aren't photoshopped, I just messed with my camera and then reduced the size and cropped them. Thought people might enjoy them:

actinics only:


The rest were under actinic lighting and I changed the white balance and exposure time

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

new blasto:

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

The difference between the freshwater tank enthusiast and the reef enthusiast can be described thus:

The freshwater tank person spends his time and money ridding his tank of slimy squishy things and preventing their return; the reef person spends his time and money accumulating and caring for them.

But seriously matty, those are some mighty fine lookin' slimy squishy things you've got there, whatever they may be. Nice pics too.

---

Back in the saddle!

The freshwater tank person spends his time and money ridding his tank of slimy squishy things and preventing their return; the reef person spends his time and money accumulating and caring for them.

Thanks nowhereman. I'm always keeping an eye out for new slimy squishy things, it's true.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Anybody know what this guy is? Nobody at the store knew what it was. My manager said it came in on another coral and he chipped it off to grow it and he never figured out what it was.

Here's a picture of it(notice small size):


Here's some growth, which is the weird part(encrusting?):

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Anybody?

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

When I finish this sociology paper i'll look it up, I think I have an idea.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Thanks ferret

Good luck on your paper

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Can you get a pic of it with its tentacles out? Kinda looks like a blasto to me

I'll try to get it when it's "out" but it really isn't much different from the picture, only a bit more fluffy. It doesn't have any tentacles that I've seen. If it does then they are small and I haven't paid them any attention, we'll see. And I'm pretty sure this is not a stony coral. It seems to just grow in a mat, like green star polyps. So I was thinking it was a soft coral, but I dunno, I'll try to get an unhandled picture of it.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Im pretty sure its an lps as I can see the skeleton ridges in the picture under the tissue..

Ok here's the green thing out and as happy as I've seen him yet.....sorry if you can't see it, this is as zoomed in as I can get without compromising detail.



New heads sprouting out on my hammer coral, there's actually 3, the other new head is smaller than these and on the other side of the coral. I noticed these about a month ago, but haven't gotten a good picture to show.



This is some weird worm sharing a rock with my sun polyps. It hasn't caused anybody harm, and actually helps me out a bit when the tank is cloudy after a water change or something. Here he/she is with it's mucus strands catchin some debris:

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

If it's an lps, how would it form such a thin layer over top of the epoxy? I'm just confused....

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

How about a nice full tank shothavent seen one in awhile.

Aright, just for you Loaches.



Attached Image:

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

YAY!!!

Looks really nice man,keep up the good work


thanks again

hmmm....guess not.

Anyways, here's the froggie. It's not as colorful as some that I've seen, but I stil like it(it was a deal too).

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Lovely full tank shot Matty

I love the moss ball on the far right

Just kidding, you lost me a long time ago. I barely can read the names of your "things", but I think you did a great job making this tank look huge.

I was reading an article this week that suggested that reef tanks should actually be built on just a gentle slope, or even flat. This way they would resemble a reef (the area with all the critters) more naturally and also would increase the surface area on which light hungry corals etc. can be placed.

Am I suggesting you change your tank design? Hell no , just thought I want to share this info.

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks for the reply LF, it's a little lonely over here in salty land.

I was reading an article this week that suggested that reef tanks should actually be built on just a gentle slope, or even flat

I would agree with this statement. However, I would like to see some sand too, and in a tank as shallow(front to back) as mine is, there's not much room to do things that way. I'd love to get a wider tank, like a 30 breeder or something. Then I could aquascape the tank a little better that way. I feel my planted tank suffers from the same shortcomings of a tall and skinny tank. They are very difficult to aquascape.

My dream reef tank is only a 40 breeder. I don't think I'll ever want a tank bigger than that. Too much maintanance. The 33 breeders are interesting tanks too. Maybe next year I'll upgrade both my tanks - 40 reef, 33 planted. ahh....one can dream, right?

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Matty..without being able to touch it to see if there is a skeleton under it I have to stick with my guess of it being an LPS...tissue on lps can spread like a soft coral also.

BTW, your weird worm..isnt a worm, its a snail Vermetid Snail to be exact

Thanks DRO, I can't help being a little antsy sometimes....especially when I don't know what something is in my tank. Thanks for putting up with all my questions. I think I'm going to borrow an ID book at the store, I'll start my search under LPS.

Oh, how can I tell by touch if it's skeleton or if it's just underlying rock? If it's skeleton, it will have little pokey parts? I know that the echinata I have has pointy ridges. This guy didn't have anything like that. Maybe I'll check again, it did just get knocked over by the stupid hermits again. I swear I've moved more hermits into the sump lately than I thought I bought in the first place. I think these guys can be more harm than good.

Oh yea vermetid snail...I knew I had read that somewhere. I take it by your response that I have nothing to worry from this guy(I actually have 2)?

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

My dream reef tank is only a 40 breeder

Dude, I hear ya on this one. I remember my first thread here talking about tank sizes and metagon (who used to be a different name that I shamefully can't remember) said "If you're going to get a tank that size get a 40 breeder" rather than the 46 bowfront. Just be thankful you didn't go with a bowfront - they're too tall, have an awkward shape which makes designing difficult, and the bowed glass makes it impossible to take pictures from certain angles. Wish I had listened, they're so much better for all the reasons you listed above. When I move out of my current apartment I may make the switch in a year or so, but, as you said... a man can only dream.

Sorry to go OT, just wanted to echo your sentiments on these overlooked tanks.

---

Back in the saddle!

No I definitely understand. Though tough, I have seen some nice bowfront aquascapes, and yours is definitely very nice.

metagon = Shinigami BTW.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Actually, I have a bowfront reef tank.

A 72 gallon one.

And I'm pretty happy with it.

The sleek bowfront design actually increases surface area, and allows more room for oxygen exchange.

It may make taking pictures tricky, but I think bowfront tanks can be VERY appealing.

I know Nate has a friend with a rather large (300-400 gallon) bowfront reef, and it's one of the most beatiful tanks I've ever seen.

Check out the current TOTM on ReefCentral, you'll be very impressed I think.


(BTW Matty, idk if somebody ID'd that coral for you, but I had a look in my book and it wasn't what I thought it was once you posted the most recent pictures.)

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

I think we meant smaller bowfronts, cause once you hit the 72 bow, it's just as high and long as a 75 regular, so it's actually a nicer tank(that HUGE bowfront TOTM on reef central is I saw that earlier). The smaller ones though, are really tall compared to their straight front equivalents.

And no, nobody really figured out what the green thing is. DRO narrowed it down to most likely an LPS.

That only means one thing....I have the rarest coral in the hobby. Booyah.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

hows the aquasafe ro/di i am considering one?

TDS = 0

I'm pretty satisfied with it. I got the 100gpd 6 stage RO/DI unit, I'm not sure what they called it online, but it works just fine. Everything came as expected escept for the free TDS meter, which they sent out once they received their shipment. As you can see by the pics, I get very little algae.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I picked up some more stuff from RandyO. Now I can drool at my own tank instead of at other tanks. I got the "orange crush" acan echinata, a blue chalice, and some acan lords. Oooo baby. I'll make sure to place these guys on the left side of the tank so my night stalker doesn't find them(unless that is who I in fact caught this morning).

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

how bout some pics

Nope I'm going to let the anticipation build.

They are already feeders out and comfy though. I gave them some krill just now and they are eating.







p.s. - maybe some pics tomorrow

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Do those polyp things grow from the live rock(I'm a noob with only FW, just wondering)?

________________________________________________
I like Led Zeppelin.

Nope, you gotta buy corals seperate.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

What all stuff grows out of live rock? Do you have to acclimate the live rock like a fish?

________________________________________________
I like Led Zeppelin.

Some live rock has to be cured. Other than that it jst needs salt water, no real acclimation. Mostly Live rock will carry algaes and beneficial bacteria, but sometimes you get lucky and get cool stuff like feather dusters. Other times you are unlucky and get some nasty hitchikers like crabs and mantis shrimp, though some people like to keep mantis, they are pretty cool lookin.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I have lots of pics today. I got the last fish that I'll add to this tank. It's a shweet flasher wrasse. It's still getting used to everything, but came out to eat, so I think all's good there. There will be a couple pics of him, as well as some of the corals I recently got, and a full tank shot. Enjoy.

Flasher wrasse:
It's hard to get a good pic of this guy, he's quick and doesn't stop moving for very long



Acan Lords:


My froggie has colored up a bit since the last pic:


Orange echinata:


Blue chalice, forgot the real name:

[EDIT]: remembered the real name, Oxypora.

Full tank shot:

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

amazing flasher wrasse do you know what species

Looks the most to me like a filamented flasher wrasse Paracheilinus filamentosus or a variant of it.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

WOW, it is really hard to keep up with this guy. He's very fast. I took about 60 pictures tonight and ended up with 2 that weren't embarassing to show people. When he flashes at (I'm guessing) his reflection, he changes all sorts of colors, his top fins even become white . This guys is nuts, but he sure gets his excersise. Now I know why he's supposed to be fed so much .

To the pics:






In other events....I think I found the animal responsible for harassing fish and coral alike. I think the culprit is/was a large rock crab that I jammed into a cave with some epoxy. Hopefully this won't be too detrimental when he dies. I had to move a lot of the rockwork around to get him, and I think I got most of it back to where it was originally.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I'm starting to think maybe I should have gotten a smaller tank so that I could buy more cool stuff like you.

My tank is so empty! How is this fair!

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Heck yea. I've decided that a 40 breeder is my dream tank. Stocked with sweet LPS....lots of different colored acans, blastos, chalices, and a section that sways. Maybe a nice big hammer or froggie. Of course, multicolored zoos would fill the gaps. Thankfully I love the corals that aren't so picky about water quality.

But I wouldn't worry if I were you. Your tank will fill up in time, and I'll be left wondering where I could possibly fit another coral.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

My tank will be even further away from being filled when we do the upgrade.

Talking with a guy in my club who's taking down a 120, if I dont buy his tank, i'm buying a new 90 and we're moving to the basement, upgrading everything and doing an in wall reef. Sweetness.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

any updates?

yep.

Just got back from Cali to find that my ghetto top off system didn't work. I had it set up the entire day before I left for 1 drip per 2 seconds. It seems that it stopped dripping the moment I left. All 5 (minus about an inchof water) gallons of water were still in the bucket. The entire left chamber in my sump had drained, the pump was runnung dry(luckily still running) and the heater, no longer submerged, broke. After taking out the heater, I filled the sump with a mix of fresh and salt water that I had already mixed. I didn't bother checking the salinity, I'm sure I would have freaked. The temperature, however, was 70 F down from the usual 78 F. With this, I was lucky. My housemates forgot to turn the heat down when they left. Otherwise the tank could have been as low as 55-60F. Currently I have my backup heater bringing the temp up slowly, and my drip system back up and running to bring the salinity down.

I estimate that the left chamber of the sump emptied enough to cause problems yesterday sometime. Needless to say everything looked awful, but thankfully still alive. I think I got lucky here, but we'll see in the next few days.

Welp, here's to being stupid

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Here's how crappy my xenia and galaxia look right now:



Some other things look back to normal, while the majority of things look annoyed, and a few things look like *&%$. The fish seem to be ok for now, they are still active and eating. I hope there's not an ich outbreak or something.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

A pic of the xenia as of today:


And my hammer, which looks pretty awful:


Fish still look really good, I don't think it even fazed them. Most of the corals are beginning to look better now. Some are just lacking a bit in color. The hammer is the extreme. The xenia has made a slow recovery, but still has a ways to go IMO. I'll be getting a float switch sometime this week, so hopefully this never happens again.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Well, live and learn!

Be thankful it wasn't worse.

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

Well, live and learn!

and then get Luv's.

I hear ya on that. I'm still a newbie I guess, having only been salty for the last six months or so. e to make a mistake here and there. I have a feeling my next one will be at the end of may, moving day. Might get nasty.

I ordered my float switch from autotopoff.com today, hopefully it will be sent out tomorrow. This should be fun, no more topoffs...yay!

Anybody think that hammer will live? It still looks pretty white. At least it's coming out.

I already have my other LPS eating again, they didn't feel like it at first(don't blame them really). My lords is even starting to puff up again. Definitely glad it wasn't worse.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I think your hammer will be fine It probably just dumped a little zoo from the stress and with proper light and feedings (if it will take it) it should gain the zoo back in a short time. If the tissue isnt receeding and it hasnt started to brown jelly then I think it will be just fine

Well the hammer still looks the same, no better or worse. I hope it will make it.

I did get my unit from autotopoff.com. It came in 2 days. I can't wait to hook it up, but I didn't think it would come in so quick, so I haven't bought a small pump for it yet. I might stop over at work tomorrow and pick up a pump, cause I want to get this thing goin.

I also picked up a couple pretty good sized blasto wellsi today. one is a nice deep red, and the other is a greenish blueish color. I can't decide which color it is yet. The red probably has 20 heads on it, the blue is smaller, has maybe 10 or so. I'll get some pics in when they get comfortable.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Just a bunch of pics here.

New red wellsi:





New Teal Wellsi:


Clown Goby and flasher wrasse waiting for munchies:


EDIT: It really looks like I edited(very poorly) the clown goby in here for some reason. It looks like the left side of him was chopped of in the editing process or something. It just doesn't look right.

Xenia, completely recovered:

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

how do u guys do ur rock woork it loks so good ... myns looks liek crap what do u guys do... i must say nice tank any ways

In the age of darkness the blind man is the best guide. In the age of insanity look towards the mad man to show you the way

Thanks Norrec, I just messed with my rockwork until I liked it, and I must say, I've seen way better scaping than mine.

I cleaned up my fuge a little bit this weekend while doing a water change, and it looks pretty good, wo I thought I'd share. Before I was a bit embarrassed, that's why there haven't been recent pics of it. I just switched out the bulbs, the OLD ones were from my planted tank, and were a plant grow 4500K bulb and a daylight 6700K bulb. They were probably over a year old. These sprouted up some nastys I must say. I switched to a 10000K and a 50/50 and things are looking a bit better.

Fuge shot:


Yellowhead Jawfish:


Some zoanthids that were too algaefied for my main display:


The Autotopoff system, performing admirably:


The autotopoff system is working great so far. The only problem I had was the zip ties they came with broke when I tried to tighten them. That's how you adjust what level the float switch is in your sump, and the backup one too. I didn't really like that idea much anyways. Everything else seems to be quality. I have it up with lots of rubberbands until I figure out something more permanent. Any ideas?

I'm also thinking of taking my recent xenia cuts and putting them in the fuge to see if they grow with that little lighting(40W), the zoanthids seem to be doing ok and growing a little too. If they do well I may be inclined to even upgrade the lighting a little more, maybe a PC fixture.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Nice Blasto's Matty!

The rubberbands wont last too long so I would look for a long term solution..Id say try a good quality zip tie and see how it works?

Thanks DRO. The instant I saw them I said "yoink"! My boss hates when I take all the good stuff, I always promise him I'll bring some back eventually.

I replaced the rubberbands with a few zip ties I got at home depot for $1.50. These didn't break on me. I thought about grabbing some duct tape for awhile.

The topoff unit is sweet. Ahhh the easy life. It makes me wonder what automatic water changes are like *imagines sipping a cold one and watching the tank water change itself*. That might take all the fun out of reefkeeping. The 5 gallon bucket of RO lasted 6 days. Too bad I can't stretch that a full week and just remember to fill up on a certain day of the week. Ah well, I'll quit rambling now....

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

*imagines sipping a cold one and watching the tank water change itself*. That might take all the fun out of reefkeeping

Trust me, it doesnt take any of the fun out of it...it actually makes it more fun/enjoyable cause you have more time to sit and look at the tank.

Things are really starting to settle in again. It's amazing how long I could see the after affects of my mishap. I still am with the hammer, the main head looks ghost white, but the good news is that the 3 little baby heads have grown and have some good color. I haven't figured that out yet, but I'll just be happy about it.

Onwards to the pictures -->

FTS:


Left:


Hehe, I need to trim the xenia weeds

Right:


Torch has split heads, now there's 3! I like to call this one the torchspawn, it can't decide whether it wants to be a torch or a frogspawn*shrugs*.


One of my favorites showing some new bits of growth:


Another of my favorites, also showing a few new heads(red and green):

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I like to call this one the torchspawn, it can't decide whether it wants to be a torch or a frogspawn*shrugs*.

i love the name

let me know if you need anyone to take some xenia frags off your hands, ive got plenty of room.

wonderful pictures, tank looks great.

i like how in your full tank shot it looks nice and busy and crowded, in mine, its oh look theres somthing all the way over there, or here. i guess its nice to have lots of room, but im shooting for eventually having as many corals and fish as possible, only its going to take a few years.

overall, it looks splendid/:'

Nick
"Impossumable- unable to play dead"

Right now I have about 8 small frags that are going to the lfs I work at on thursday to pay for the most recent coral I bought. Right now I'm the area supplier of xenia elongata. Sad to say, but true.

Maybe next time I can send one out to you, I've never shipped anything live...I'm not sure exactly how it would go.

That's why I think I'm going to stick with small tanks. The price goes up exponentially for larger tanks. I can barely afford this one. I can't imagine trying to fill such a big tank.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Sorry if you lost any links or info tetratech...let me know if you still have some questions, I don't mind going over anything again.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Sorry if you lost any links or info tetratech...let me know if you still have some questions, I don't mind going over anything again.

Thanks Matty, I'm definitely on my way to the darkside. I'm just debating whether I should setup a sump with my tank. I'm using a 46g that isn't drilled. I plan on placing my order soon for a coralife skimmer. Your tank isn't drilled either right? So you setup the over the edge overflow. if I want to make a basic sump I guess I could use a 10g and create a separation for the intake and the return.

...or should I just use the hang on the back skimmer, with alot of rock and use my extra eheim ecco and fill with mostly bioballs.

Glad things came back for you. I love all the little activity all over the place.




My Scapes

Nah, I don't recommend bioballs really, stick to LR for biofiltration if you are going to do a reef, and if you use the canister for mechanical/chemical it should be cleaned out weekly, religiously. You don't want any gunk to sit in there for any length of time. That kind of becomes a hassle, which is why cannisters aren't used on reefs very much.

If you are going to do a sump, do a sump. 10G would be a waste of your time and money IMO. The only thing you are gaining with that is removing some equipment, water flow, and the risk of an overflow due to the small size of your sump. Note I didn't say you are gaining water volume, because you would probably only gain a few gallons.

You want your sump to be able to handle all the water that will flow out of your display should the power go out. In my tank, 5 gallons easily drops into the sump in that situation(probably more for you then). My sump is just as large as my display, so it can hold that extra volume(and more) running the sump just a little low.

In a 46G I would use a 20 Long or bigger. You should aim for at least 1/3 of your tank volume. This way you can probably get 12 or so gallons out of the deal too. If you aren't going to put a 'fuge in your sump, at least add a few baffles to cut down on the microbubbles that are caused by falling water. You can always mod your sump in the future with a dsb and lights and algae if you like.

None of that is needed, but each little extra thing you do, makes your life, and running the tank a lot easier. In terms of excess nutrients I don't need to do waterchanges. I only change water to replace the chemistry of the saltwater.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

or you can get what i have a WET/DRY filter. Which works just as well as the sump. A WET/DRY filter super charges biological filtration.

but..

there useally isnt a lot of romm to put equiptment in (i.e. heaters, skimmers) but there is useally a lil' space to put a heater. and you can useally find a WET/DRY with a skimmer.

>>>----> <----<<<

pnh

wet/drys are sorta outdated IMO...

-Formerly known as the Ferretfish

havent look at your thread for a while matty. looking good!

How about some hyper-colour zoanthids? i got a few rocks and hold and cant wait to place them

How are the jawfish going? im thinking of adding some to my sump

Thanks patchy.

I actually have a few nice zoanthids. They just don't get the spotlight as much as everything else. I have some intense green ones that are growing crazy, but ATM they are getting attacked by my frogspawn. I've tried to put up a barrier between them, and it seems to be helping a little. I also have some orange ones in my sump, and theres a pic a page back I think. I have a little 6 polyp frag(started with 2 polyps) of what look to be eagle eyes or something similar. They have a few different rings of color. I also have a rock with some that have purple rings. I'll try to get a pic of all these for ya sometime soon.

The one jawfish I have left is doing terrific. There's a pic with him in it a page back as well. Just make sure you get them a nice size sand bed and some rubble for them to build with. Mine has constructed quite a nice house in my sump. He closes the "door" which is actually the foot of a deceased turbo snail at night so he can sleep without being disturbed.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Matty,

Thanks for the sump recco. How do you normally divide the sump from intake and the return. Do they sell special tanks with all the accessories with it or are you using a standard aga tank and DIYing the divider.

My Scapes

They do make prefab sumps, but can be entirely too expensive. Think hundreds of dollars. My sump is a 30 AGA and I got some glass cut at my local hardware store, home depot might do it as well. It doesn't need to be thick, as it's not really holding any weight. I'll post a sump pic from a while back so you can see what I did. The only thing I wish I would have done different was to make a "box" for my overflow pipe. This would create a lot less splash, and salt creep in that area. It would be a simple rectangular box with a hole cut at the top to fit the overflow pipe. A simple solution for me to do now would be to cut some tupperware to size instead. The glass could have been cut a little higher so there would be more volume in the sump, but that's just details. I went on the safe side with the cuts, I didn't know exactly how much water would flow from the display when I cut the pump, so I kept the water level a bit lower (cut the glass shorter) just in case.

So lets see...

1 is the return
2 is the fuge
3 is the baffle area which keeps bubbles to the right
4 is the water coming from the display via overflow

If you can't see the two left peices of cut glass are touching the bottom and siliconed all the way around and are the border for the fuge. The peice of glass farthest right traps bubbles in the right most section of the sump. It isn't resting on the bottom of the tank, it's about an inch and a half off the bottom. That one wasn't easy to silicone there and I had to hold it there for 5ish minutes before it held. It's a really simple design and can be improved upon in many ways. feel free to get imaginative.

Attached Image:

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Thanks alot Matty

So if I'm not going with a Fuge, I could just have one piece of glass separating the intake from the return section with all my filter media in the intake side?

Also, do you have a pic if your overflow from the display?

Thanks much

My Scapes

Tetratech, to answer your question, you would 2, or more depeding on bubles. You need to be able to for the bubbles to the surface, so you would want a over-under, or the other way around.

its me sk8freak20...i need to get premie so i can change my name back

Yep, I agree with RBMark. You should at least put in a set of baffles to reduce the amount of bubbles. If you want, go ahead and put these all the way over to the right or left like I have so you could add a fuge later if you wanted....or at least some macroalgae and a light.

I'll get you a pic of the overflow tomorrow. I don't have a nice clean pic from setup. It's going to be a little.....used looking . We'll probably see some little feather dusters and sponges and stuff. So umm...top down I guess is what you are looking for, maybe from the side?

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

O.K. now I'm with you. I didn't notice the over / under at first. thanks much guys

So Matty, all you have in the intake side is the protein skimmer, no pads, etc.



My Scapes

Actually I do have a mesh bag with carbon and one with phosguard. There's also a backup heater in that section. I had to run two heaters this winter because my housemates wouldn't raise the heat above 60. 17-18 degree difference was making the one 300W heater run constantly so I put two in there. One on the left and one on the right.

There's two places I have mechanical filtration. One is a prefilter for the overflow. The other is the prefilter for the return pump. If I cause a sandstorm, I have a HOB filter I use to help clear things up, but I don't run it all the time.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Some pics of some stuff including my new coral.

My new "chalice" echinophyllia of some sort:


I got it a couple weeks ago now, and it is continuing to color up. it started off as the fleshy orange that you see with just specks of pink/red, and none of the blue/green stuff. I'm pretty sure it will keep coloring up - might even get to be something really nice. Even if it stopped now, I still like it. At first a couple of it's mouths opened up to where you could see skeleton, but for the most part have healed up. The only one I'm still worried about is the mouth on the bottom left that you can see in the pic.

Here's a closeup for the nice colors:


Macro of my galaxia:


Zoos for Patchy:






I promise I'll get you that overflow pic tetratech - I wanted to get a full tank shot so I started cleaning the glass and forgot all about both. I'll post again later today with both.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Ok as I promised, overflow from overhead:



And the FTS:

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

That tanks is really looking nice! It looks to be alot bigger than the size it is, and I think thats awesome!/:'

its me sk8freak20...i need to get premie so i can change my name back

looking great!

filling out very nicely...you may need another tank soon!

That tanks is really looking nice! It looks to be alot bigger than the size it is, and I think thats awesome!

Thanks, I keep getting people saying it looks big. In person it looks tiny...but it is crammed with stuff.

filling out very nicely...you may need another tank soon!

I KNOW! But I can't I won't let myself set tup another one....It's going to be be killer moving them in a few weeks.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

updates, hows that wrasse i thknig aobut getitng one hwen my tank is set up

your tank (matty) is so much cleaner then myn i have the stupid dumb brown algae and hair algae all over the place and it grows back so fast gurrr

>>>----> <----<<<

pnh

The wrasse is doing great. I personally wouldn't put one in anything smaller than a 30G(not 29) as I think they need at least the 3ft to swim in. They are pretty active swimmers. I can't imagine ever not having a wrasse of some sort now that I have mine. They are very colorful and fun to watch.

your tank (matty) is so much cleaner then myn i have the stupid dumb brown algae and hair algae all over the place and it grows back so fast gurrr

IMO it's all about how the tank is set up. Do it right from the start and things fall in line pretty quick. Taking shortcuts in the beginning makes things tougher in the long run and usually end up being more expensive. That's why I always recommend people to research their setup for weeks(if not months) before starting up and trying to use more than the necessities. All the "extras" like RO/DI, sumps, fuges, quality protein skimmers, etc really make things easier.

I've been researching my next setup for a few months. So far I have the tank size and lighting I want. Everything else is still up in the air.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients